February 28, 2025 • 44 mins
Colin talks about how LeBron James still has it, reacting to breaking news as the Los Angeles Rams & Matthew Stafford agree to a restructured deal to keep him in LA, and Tomorrow’s Headlines Today!
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to The Herd podcast. Be sure to
catch us live every weekday on Fox Sports Radio in
noon to three eastern nine am to noon Pacific. Find
your local station for The Herd at Fox Sportsradio dot com,
or stream us live every day on the iHeartRadio app
by searching Fox Sports Radio or FSR. Thanks for listening
to the Herd podcast. All right, here we go. It's
(00:23):
our three live in Los Angeles. It's the Herd. Wherever
you may be and however you may be listening. Thanks
for making us part of your day. Matt Stafford is
staying with the La Rams. New York Giants reportedly now
interested in Aaron Rodgers. I'm not sure I feel about
that yet. He's obviously better than what they have in
the building. Aaron may want to stay in New York
(00:44):
and not come West. He's got a place there. I'm
not sure. But the bigger story with a better team
is the Rams retained Matt Stafford. I thought they had
the money because they don't pay anybody on defense, so
that doesn't surprise me. I will tell you. I was
told yesterday that Stafford and his people thought it was
(01:05):
a fifty fifty proposition whether he stayed. It got a
little bit contentious with Matt Stafford, and contentious maybe is
the wrong word, but they had a market and they
made sure they kicked the tires on the Raiders. That's
why they went skiing. They and I told you this,
why did that skiing thing get out? Because Stafford and
(01:25):
his agent wanted it out. Stuff gets out when people
wanted out. So Stafford and his agent wanted everybody to
know that he and Tom were up skiing in Montana.
But to me, that was the signal that he really
wanted to be a Ram. If that doesn't get out,
that you know, let me ask yourself. This stuff gets
out when you want it out. If it doesn't, there's
a lot of secrets in the world that don't get out.
(01:47):
Nobody wants them out. So when I saw that, my takeaway,
he's trying to make things uncomfortable for the Rams, and
he probably got more money. But once I heard the
Raiders and the Giants did not offer Stafford a third year,
what's the point of leaving? That's that's that's the advantage.
If you give me another fifty million that I wasn't
going to get from the Rams, I'm taking the money,
(02:08):
especially in Nevada with no state tax, and I'm planning doors,
so I would take the money. So as Stafford is in,
this is a guy that has a chance the next
two years. If you look at that roster, if they
can get a left tackle in a corner, they have
a chance to win another trophy. That's a real team.
So this is not this is not a small bit
(02:28):
of news. This's a big deal. And Stafford is intellectually
in a very elite group in this league. And McVeigh
makes his quarterbacks be dialed in and prepared and Stafford,
I mean you've seen those social media clips. There's been
little documentary on Stafford's work ethic. It is very aligned
(02:49):
with McVeigh. It was funny McVeigh went out during contract negotiations.
Usually your bosses don't say good things about you because
you know they're trying to you know, they don't want
to tell you how great you are. McVeigh came out
and said, yeah, yeah, like he's unbelievable. So what it's
telling you is McVeigh wanted it to happen, but Stan
Cronky ultimately makes the call the owners right in the checks.
(03:11):
So McVeigh wanted it out there that Stan Cronky knew
yet there's nobody. We are not going to be the
same football team without Matt Stafford. We are not going
to be the same franchise. So for Sean McVeigh to
give Flowers, you know, a week before they signed him,
that was a message to Stan Cronky and the Rams
(03:33):
are rolling. I mean, you got you got Hardbaugh and
Herbert in the same stadium. You don't want to ham
an eggorant quarterback. I do think they thought about Aaron Rodgers,
but you know, I saw a story yesterday that Aaron
was interested in bringing Devonte Adams. They're already They've already
got a receiver in Cooper Cup they're trying to move
off of They don't want another expensive receiver, so this
feels like the right fit. Well, let's let's be honest,
(03:55):
coming off an injury, Luca is not playing great right now.
Won for nine last night from three point land. But
everybody hedges their bet in the media. We've all been
doing this for years, including me on Lebron. We just
don't want to say, you know, is Lebron like the
(04:17):
second best player in the league. Nobody wants to say
that right, it's hey, jo Kich Joannis. I have watched
Lebron in the last week outplay Aunt Edwards, Luca Jokic,
and Kyrie Irving. He has been the best player in
the NBA in the last week. On every single night,
(04:39):
is Lebron the best player in the league? No, on
any given night is Lebron the best player in the league.
Speaker 2 (04:43):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (04:44):
His defense right now, it looks like he's twenty seven.
It's insane. His energy better than Luca. His shooting right now,
better than Luca, His on ball defense, his scoring. Lebron
at forty years old, has better consistent energy than any
other Like and now Austin Reeves is close. Austin plays
hard all the time. But Lebron's fourth quarter energy, it
(05:06):
doesn't even make sense. His on ball defense right now,
this is the best defense he's played in eight years.
He's a better defender at forty than Luca is at
twenty six. His energy, I'm telling you right now, is
Lebron showing off. And I'll get to Steph in a second.
It feels like Steph is kind of showing off to
Jimmy Butler, like listen to old man, you know, and
(05:27):
I feel when Tom Brady beat Mahomes at Arrowhead Stadium
in the AFC Championship, and then he beat him in
the Super Bowl, everybody by then was falling in love
and sort of was saying it, you know, like Brady's
old Brady. You know, not a lot left in the
tank for old Tommy. Ma Holmes is the new king.
(05:51):
And Brady beat him twice in Arrowhead and overtime, and
in the Super Bowl. Tom Brady reminding you, yeah, it
go through me, and Lebron is reminding everybody right now, yeah,
the West for ten years, the East went through me,
ten twelve years, however long he was over there. Now
(06:11):
the West is going to go through me, so at minimum.
And I understand that Luca got hurt, hadn't played for
a long time. He's playing himself back into shape, like
I get it, and he'll be a better shooter. His
jumper right now is short consistently. That's like Cardio that's legs.
His jumper short. But at forty years old, Lebron James
(06:34):
last year had last year, at thirty nine years old,
Lebron had eighty four dunks. When Michael Jordan was thirty nine,
mj had twenty one, four times the dunks of a
guy known for dunks, Michael Jordan at the same age.
And I think Lebron this year is better than Lebron
last year. And the other thing is because Ad was
(06:55):
traded to Dallas. Lebron is hyper aware that he has
to play better defense because Luca is a lousy defensive
player and Austin Reeves is limited. So Lebron is like, oh, oh,
you need me to do that too, all right? His
defense is insane. So he's averaging twenty five eight to nine.
That's what That's not the part that's blown me away.
(07:17):
It's the energy in the defense. And you know this,
it's I feel like I've said this for years. I
think the NBA playoffs should be a three game first
round and then five games even through the finals. I
think create urgency, I mean march madness. College basketball doesn't
have much talent and it gets tremendous ratings. Why there's urgency.
(07:38):
I mean, you know, Cooper Flag, take him off, Duke.
They got a couple of decent players, but a Duke
game with Cooper Flag against Xavier will get a better
rating maybe than like the Western Conference or Eastern Conference. Finals,
because it's like you have to watch, you got two
and a half hours. Somebody's out could be Duke and
Cooper flag and so I think there needs to be
no more urgency. And I also think in the NBA
(08:00):
regular season, I'd cut it down to sixty eight games
started six weeks later. Get away from college and pro football,
you know, start playing Christmas. Start playing Christmas, not your
first TV game, Start play then. So I understand that
if you're Lebron, you're Steph Curry, and you're not with
a championship team, You're on a treadmill to nowhere. It
(08:21):
is so clear between Steph and Lebron that these moves
have absolutely energized these guys. And just watched Lebron's defense.
It is elite, and he has outplayed aunt, Luka, Kyrie
and Jokic in the last week. He has been the
best player on the floor. And here is H, here's Lebron.
Speaker 3 (08:43):
After we know we.
Speaker 4 (08:44):
Could have been a lot better offensively, but we've been
hanging our head under the defensive end. And you know,
when you don't shoot the ball well, you got to
be able to get stops.
Speaker 2 (08:53):
And they made a ruin. They're really good team.
Speaker 4 (08:55):
We saw what they did a couple nights ago against Okay,
see when it was down big, and those young guys
came in small, gave him good energy. So you know,
they cut down to three, I believe at one point.
But he was able to excute up today and get
some timely stops and was able to come home with
the win.
Speaker 1 (09:09):
So lebron in February twenty nine and a half points,
ten rebounds, seven and a half assists, shooting fifty five
percent from the floor, forty six percent on three pointers,
and playing elite on ball defense at forty. At thirty nine,
he had eighty four dunks. At thirty nine, MJ had
twenty one. Like you're a watching this is unprecedented. You know,
(09:30):
we're always looking ahead. Don't just live in this moment.
What you're watching doesn't make any sense. It makes it's
Brady and Tampa. It makes no sense that Brady was
that year first second best quarterback in the league. All right,
Once again, the breaking news happened thirty twenty five minutes ago.
Matt Stafford staying with the Rams new contract couple years.
(09:51):
I guess one hundred million guaranteed two years. J Max
says a little tastier than that. I do not know
if you're the New York Giant. Reportedly now they will
shift their attention to Aaron Rodgers. Now, my take is
I got him with the Rams, and I got Aaron
Rodgers with the Jets. Like those two I get. I'm
(10:14):
not sure if he wants to go to another franchise
that can't get attacked together. That is an ugly way
to end it for Aaron Rodgers. I think I would
call it a career if the Giants is the only
thing I had.
Speaker 5 (10:27):
I remember that Dabel historically likes mobile quarterbacks. Josh Allen,
Daniel Jones, Rogers is at mobile. I don't think he
fits what the Giants really want to do. Can you
turn him into a pocket passer when you can't protect
the quarterback? Their offensive line is one of the worst
in league. Thomas was good, but other than that and
very shaky.
Speaker 3 (10:45):
I think the.
Speaker 5 (10:45):
Raiders kind of become interesting here. Would he work with
the Raiders?
Speaker 1 (10:49):
Like, Yeah, they don't want Davonte Adams back, do they?
So that's kind of a weird.
Speaker 5 (10:56):
Yeah, that would be awkward, and maybe Devanta Adams kind
of poison the Raiders for Rogers knowing what's going on
in the organization, although some things have changed obviously, right.
Speaker 1 (11:04):
I don't. I just don't. If I'm Aaron Rodgers, I
just got my first taste the last two years of
a dysfunctional operation. I want to I want to go
to one that's even worse. I mean, at least the
Jets have a roster that's redeemable. The Jets have some players,
and Aaron played well down the stretch, even the left tackle,
who I like a lot for the Giants. He's had
(11:26):
health issues, he gets Thomas gets banged up. But Pittsburgh
Steelers in Aaron Rodgers doesn't fit at all at all. Culturally,
it just doesn't work at all. They can't get their
O line right. It's all about defense, Prima Donna, wide
receiver stuff like. I don't think Pittsburgh and Aaron fit
at all.
Speaker 3 (11:46):
I don't know where he goes.
Speaker 1 (11:47):
I think Vegas or Busts. But I'm not. And you
could say, well why would he Because it's closer West.
It's Pete Carroll, it's Chip Kelly, it's brock Bowers. They've
got their left tackle. I think the Raiders actually have
some really good pieces go watch them play. Go watch
the replays of those Kansas City Raider games with bad
quarterback play. They went toe to toe with the Chiefs
(12:08):
in Arrowhead. So I don't Aaron Rodgers giants. I just
do not see that.
Speaker 2 (12:16):
I don't.
Speaker 1 (12:17):
I think Aaron could.
Speaker 5 (12:18):
Call a career going out with this Silarice.
Speaker 1 (12:21):
I wouldn't want to.
Speaker 5 (12:23):
But is there a quarterback he could shove out? Maybe
in Seattle? Would you dump Gino Smith and get on
board with Aaron Rodgers? Does that keep DK DK metcalf around.
There's a lot of chatter about him and Lockett maybe
being done in Seattle. They could be in flux.
Speaker 1 (12:40):
All Worth discussion. But Stafford is a ram live in
Lance The Herd.
Speaker 6 (12:46):
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Speaker 1 (13:48):
Media that's Covino and Rich. Guys, listen. I think the
Mavericks made a bad, bad trade. Rick Buker joining us
live Fox Sports NBA analyst. I took a lot of heat,
I said, but if you watched the first five games,
and I know he was inactive since Christmas, there is
a little bit of what Dallas was fearful of He's
(14:08):
not a defender, he's not in great shape. His energy
level gets sapped very quickly. He looked exhausted in that
fourth quarter against the MAVs. And then a story comes
out today that they called Minnesota for Ant and they
were like, Minnesota said no, thank you, which I would
have said. I know the Lakers stole him, But if
(14:28):
you watch him, could I make just the argument if
a d was healthy right now, Dallas would be a
more complete Dean than the Lakers, who are very heavy
playmaker but still are going to run into a big
log jam where they won't stop bigs in the playoffs.
Speaker 3 (14:42):
Yeah. No, it's hypothetical, but I agree with you.
Speaker 8 (14:45):
We wouldn't be looking at this as a lopsided trade
if Ad is available.
Speaker 3 (14:50):
Saw a glimpse of.
Speaker 1 (14:51):
It right when they played Houston.
Speaker 3 (14:52):
When he first came out.
Speaker 1 (14:54):
You're like, oh my god.
Speaker 8 (14:55):
And it's why, you know, most of us covering the
league were like, you know what, Dallas is going to
be really good. I think so for the next year
or two. That's the gamble. And that's how why anybody
who's judging this now, you can't judge this over the
next five six games or the next few months.
Speaker 3 (15:13):
It is going to be who.
Speaker 8 (15:15):
Wins a championship if if if Luca comes to LA
and especially if they you know, if they win it
this year, which I still still think is a reach,
but if he wins a championship over the next five
years in LA and the and the Mavericks are basically
betting short they're gonna win it in the next year
or too.
Speaker 3 (15:33):
That's their best opportunity.
Speaker 1 (15:35):
Uh.
Speaker 8 (15:35):
If Dallas wins a championship in the next year or two,
then then I'm saying they won the won the trade.
Speaker 3 (15:40):
Yeah, and they're simply what they decided.
Speaker 8 (15:43):
Was one of one of the reasons Minnesota wasn't willing
to make that is because it's not what Luca has
done to this point. It's what he's going to do
for the next five years, and you're going to invest
three hundred and forty five million dollars in it. So
is he going to be Lebron James or Steph Curry
in turns of durability?
Speaker 2 (16:01):
No?
Speaker 3 (16:01):
Or is he going to be closer to Joel and Beaters.
Speaker 8 (16:04):
Iion Williamson, who you look at signed Max Steele's and
ended up that's a regrettable decision in both in both cases,
so based on what he's done at this point, I'm
not making the comparison in terms of what Joel and
Zion had done.
Speaker 3 (16:18):
Luca has defied that.
Speaker 8 (16:21):
But when he was coming out, Look, when I looked
at what he did in Europe going into into the draft,
there should have been no question he was the number
one pick. It should have been like Cooper Flag this year,
or Lebron coming out deanre Ayton and like you're going
to take him over over over Luca. But the question
(16:43):
was his lifestyle, his condition even then, and his body
coming out, people had questions.
Speaker 1 (16:51):
I remember, I remember looking at the video and saying
on the air, is he athletic enough?
Speaker 8 (16:56):
He just looks now he's look i Q off the
charts and and has and that's the biggest element to
his game and why he's dominated in the NBA.
Speaker 3 (17:08):
He's just he's so smart.
Speaker 8 (17:10):
He makes you play his game, and he has been
terrific to this point. But I there's two parts here,
and we're seeing it. This is not the first player
that a team was looking at having to give a
max contract, a supermax contract at this point and said
we're not going to do it. Ellie Clippers did it
(17:31):
with Paul George. We'd rather let him walk than give
him the Supermax. Miami Heat would rather let Jimmy Butler
walk or take less on the dollar then give him
a Max. And Luka doncis is that in that same category?
Speaker 1 (17:47):
No, I threw this out, Rick. It's one thing when
you paid Lebron forty million once the number seventy five
million is that. I think you're going to see more
stars move because once I have to pay you seventy
five million, your conditioning matters, your injury history matters. You're
gonna make more than Patrick Mahomes. I don't care if
you're a billionaire. Forty million feels more like a rounding
(18:10):
air for Steve Balmer. Sure, seventy five million guaranteed five
years is not a rounding air to any billionaire, including
Elon Musk. And I think what's gonna happen is the
player saw themselves. It's a win. No, it's a microscope.
Now I'm counting everything. And when I have four calf
injuries and you are a bad defensive player, I can
(18:33):
even move Luca Sure. I didn't think he's the last
star to get moved.
Speaker 8 (18:37):
I'm with you, or the last star who's facing like
we got to give him a supermax you know what,
I think we'd like to get off of that and
get something else because what we have seen with the
teams that are winning is the balance of your team.
You can't I mean, we're still in this mindset of
big threes, like if I have a big three and
(18:59):
I can fill the rest, I can't afford to have
a big three, Like if I do that, then I
have no other pieces, I have no other money to spend.
And that's just not the way you get to a
championship these days. And if you are going to go
that direction, if you are going to give super maxims
to two guys, then they better be available seventy to
seventy five games during the regular season and they better
(19:21):
be able to play an additional twenty games in the postseason.
Speaker 1 (19:24):
Are you because analytics? I had said this about six
to eight weeks ago. Just get Jimmy Butler with step,
get him in the building. He's a very intentional player.
He's the anti Wiggins is that every possession is intense,
and you remember every one of his points. Wiggins can
give you twenty eight and I don't remember three baskets,
(19:45):
and I'm like, he's the anti Wiggins. Get him in
the building. I don't care what analytics say, because analytics
were like, nah, are you a little surprised that it's
been this seamless.
Speaker 8 (19:57):
I'm not surprised that it's been this seamless. I've been surprised,
and I think I would disagree with you on the analytics.
I believe that Jimmy has answered the analytics as well,
because he's filled gaps that Andrew simply did not.
Speaker 3 (20:13):
Number One, he gets to the free throw a lot.
Speaker 1 (20:16):
Yes, they were the Warriors when Steph was well, I
mean they just didn't get to the line. Yeah, they
were less. I checked.
Speaker 8 (20:22):
They were still last in free throw percentage and they
were twenty third in free throw attempts, and that since
Jimmy's come on averaging nine free throws a game, so
they had to have been in the bottom five, right,
And when you have thirty somethings like Jimmy and Steph
and Draymond, when you're getting to the free throw line,
One that's built in rest during the course of the game.
(20:46):
And two it allows you to set your defense. So
you're not getting beat in transition, which the Warriors were
getting a lot of early on. The other element that
doesn't fit in analytics, that's the intangible is Jimmy comes
with swagger and Draymond Green. Since his game has fallen
off a little bit, he always provided that bravado. The
bravado doesn't play as loud when you're not quite as impactful.
(21:11):
Jimmy comes in and now doubles down. Now you have
two loud bravado guys. That adds to the entire atmosphere
and environment. So you add the free throws. Also finishes
at the rim, Wiggins. They have about the same finishing
percentage at the rim. But Jimmy takes almost more than
(21:32):
a third of his shots at the rim.
Speaker 3 (21:35):
Andrew did not do that. So He's filled a lot
of gaps that they did not that needed to be filled.
And it is made of a uteta.
Speaker 1 (21:44):
All right, fine, that's a big topic. So yesterday I said,
Tom Cruise is a movie star. Jeremy Irons is a
great actor. John malcovic is a great actor. Jeremy Iron's
great actor. Denzel and Tom Cruise walk into a room.
Those are RelA stars. Jason Tatum is a is a
great NBA player. He is not a face of the league.
(22:06):
He has no aura. I have seen him play live
four times and I've seen him play four times. He's
been excellent. Yeah, there have been times Jalen Brown like
talk to a hand I'm going to control and I'm like,
that's not a face of the league guy?
Speaker 3 (22:24):
Yeah, yeah, why not? No, not at all.
Speaker 8 (22:26):
I mean it's why we kind of shoehorned Anthony Edwards
into this. Can he be the face of the league
because he's got the attitude that you want, He's got
the dynamic, he's aggressive, he's got the dynamic game and
personality that you want as the face of the league.
He just doesn't have the resume like Jason Tatum has
the resume, right, but he doesn't have the persona and
(22:48):
you have to have.
Speaker 1 (22:50):
There's a formula to it. Lebron, Magic and Michael all
great businessmen. Very early on they got the value of
Corporate America, shoe deal, get on TV, make yourself available
for interview. Lebron to this day is always available after
(23:11):
I mean literally can be a sideline reporter in Orlando.
Lebron walks right over outside of the Luca game in
LA against the Mavericks where he left so that Luca
could get the shine on that and get the love.
So let me throw this out there. Here's our final topic.
So he and I disagree on this. I think inside
the NBA is an entertainment show. Barkley acknowledges he doesn't
(23:34):
watch all the games. They are one of the They
are to me, the only NBA show of note that
has bite and teeth and will call players out, load
management and crap. Other than that, because nobody wants to
lose access, it's a bit of a fawning media coverage league.
NFL reporters are hard. They're hard on everybody, including Lamar Jackson.
(23:56):
NBA meetings a little fawning. So Lebron said this about
the face of the league conversation, I want to be
the face.
Speaker 4 (24:03):
Of the league when all all to put all the
people that you know that cover our game and talk
about our game on a day to day base on
everybody you had that responsibility, that's it's just weird.
Speaker 2 (24:14):
It's weird energy from the people that you know. I
don't know, but Channing, he said it. He said it perfectly.
Speaker 3 (24:23):
No, No, Channing did not say it perfectly.
Speaker 1 (24:26):
I think it's I think this stuff is overstated. Ninety
percent of NBA coverage, even on the inside the NBA,
they like the players. But if you don't call your
crap out.
Speaker 3 (24:37):
This is this is this is the problem.
Speaker 8 (24:40):
The problem is that you have all of these young
players coming in and we look at statistics, particularly offensive statistics,
and we have people out there saying fawning, media saying, oh,
this guy. In fact, we just had this conversation this
(25:01):
guy is better than this guy and we talk about
a legend.
Speaker 2 (25:05):
Yeah.
Speaker 8 (25:07):
J Mack just have me on his podcast. He said,
You're not gonna like this. Paalo ben Cao is better
than Karl Malone. I'm like, what are we doing? What
are we doing? And the problem is is that when
you then say that, then there's the pushback. I love
Paalo ben Carro. He's in the book that I'm working
on right now. Love everything about him. Immensely talented. I
(25:30):
think he's a winning player. I think Orlando's got the future.
Don't tell me he's better than Karl Malone.
Speaker 3 (25:37):
He's gotten. He's done nothing to justify that.
Speaker 8 (25:40):
So what happens is we put him on that pedestal
and then anybody who actually looks at the league in
entirety goes, no, he's not, and so now you end
up criticizing or taking apart Paalo ben Carro when that's
never was never my intention.
Speaker 1 (25:56):
My take is there's two sports where athletes really believe
them is too hard, International soccer stars and NBA stars.
Why because they're both star driven, and so we're constantly
comparing iconic stars. In football, it's like outside of Mahomes Brady,
it's a team structure. We don't really we're just like, yeah,
(26:16):
Josh Allen's great. We bang on the coaches, we talk
coordinators in the NFL. So when you're a star driven sport,
messi Ronaldo Rooney in his prime, Imbope will deal with this.
Or if you're Lebron Steph or Ant in those two
worlds star driven, they make the most money. NFL you
(26:37):
don't make the money. You don't make the money. So
when you're start it's like Hollywood.
Speaker 8 (26:41):
Well, the other part is with the NFL there is
no access. You're not trying to protect any access.
Speaker 3 (26:47):
Good Bye and Lard's your access.
Speaker 1 (26:49):
If you're covering the league or something.
Speaker 8 (26:51):
It's with the GMS and the coaches, right right, it's
not with the players. The players aren't going to say
anything anyway. So I agree with you. I think that
the attempt to maintain access has has us saying things
about players in the game today.
Speaker 3 (27:09):
I'm just like, look, I like that guy, but don't.
Speaker 8 (27:13):
Tell me he's better than so and so. And usually
we're going to have that, like with a Jason Tatum,
We're going to have that conversation about guys who are
in the conversation for facing the league. The best players
are going to be compared to yesteryear's greatest players, and
they're going to be put on a pedestal that they
haven't warranted, and then they're gonna get knocked off of that,
(27:35):
and so it makes it look like they're being unfairly criticized.
Speaker 1 (27:38):
I've been in a room with Lebron. Lebron has an aura.
I've been in a room with Magic. Magic's got an aura.
I've been in a scrum, a media scrum with Michael Jordan.
I watched Jason Tatum four different times. I've gone and
watched him play on the court. He used to really
talented guy. Yeah, like that's just the reality of his game.
He's not a knock on him. He's just a really
talented guy without any charsma.
Speaker 8 (28:00):
Yeah, no, he's I mean, he's a really good guy.
His game is not exploded. Like, tell me the number
of Jason Tatum plays.
Speaker 1 (28:09):
You remember I said this yesterday. Close your eyes and
think of Magic Johnson. You can see the highlight. Oh yeah, you.
Speaker 3 (28:16):
Can do it with Anthony Edwards.
Speaker 1 (28:18):
Be honest, if you close your eyes on Jason Tatum
and I just see twenty six a night. Yeah, good,
good good. Uh, A very willing defender.
Speaker 8 (28:28):
Would love to have him on my team. But am
I marketing my team? I might need to get somebody
else along with him.
Speaker 1 (28:37):
All right, good stuff, bukes Jmack with a news No, no,
this is the head. I really irritated.
Speaker 5 (28:45):
Jire biting my tongue, really hot under my collar. Jason Tatum,
Oh my god. All right, let's go to Travis Hunter
and the NFL draft column combines popping off. A lot
of draft boards have Travis Hunter near the top. But
Michigan cornerback Will Johnson all American in college, He's MVP
of the Natty two seasons ago. Feels like he's the
(29:07):
best corner in the draft. Here's his quote. A lot
of respect for him. He's won the Heisman, did a
lot of great things. But I know I'm the best
corner in this draft. I'm gonna just wait until I
get on the field and on my play. Dude, the're
talking Colin unequivocally.
Speaker 1 (29:20):
He's not wrong.
Speaker 5 (29:21):
He's the best cornerback in this draft.
Speaker 1 (29:23):
No, it's not a great draft, but he and Mason
Graham are both play right away.
Speaker 2 (29:29):
Guys.
Speaker 1 (29:30):
He's excellent. He was banged up a little bit of Michigan,
but when he was on the field, he was a
complete game changer.
Speaker 2 (29:34):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (29:35):
Now he's kind of in the Richard Sherman mole long
range ee yep, and.
Speaker 1 (29:39):
This guy's done it.
Speaker 5 (29:39):
I think he's a top ten pick. Maybe might slide
a little bit depending on trades, but I like this
kid a lot. He's immensely talented. Second story is just
breaking recently, Colin, and this is getting ugly in Phoenix.
According to NBA insider Chris Haynes, a few weeks ago,
Mike Budenolzer number he got hired because they fired a
coach after one season. Bud called a meeting with Devin Booker,
(30:03):
telling him to be less vocal on the court and
in the huddles, telling your star be less vocal on
the court and the huddles. Coach Bud asked Booker to
vocally tone it down and allow the coaches to be heard. Well,
Booker was shocked. He kind of came out. It was
he was, oh, my gosh, what last night. The Sun's
lost their tenth in a row. And Booker talked about
(30:24):
communication postgames.
Speaker 9 (30:26):
Oh, everybody has to be on the on the same page.
You know, you can start with the leaders of the
team obviously meet Brad and Kay and coach. But you know,
from from my history, there's you know, there's fifteen to
twenty guys on the sideline that know the game plan,
that know what's going on, and in the huddles, you know,
(30:48):
just constant communication, skipping over the details and you know,
always taking the you know, get him next game mentality.
At some point you gotta draw a line and should
have been drawn a long time ago.
Speaker 5 (31:03):
Oo that is that's not good food and halls are
in a little trouble. I don't think you can fire
another coach back to back. No, I think what you
can do is try to blow this whole thing up
Kevin Durant, SA, Devin Booker.
Speaker 1 (31:16):
Sea, No, I think that's what's gonna happen. That's not working,
So let's let's I mean, Ishbia has proved he he's
not a real patient person. Like they're gonna make move.
Speaker 5 (31:25):
It's like the the whole Mark Zuckerberg thing at Facebook
was moved fast and break things. A lot of people
think that works. The Sons have tried that, Hey, let's
just get stars, let's get none of it's working. They
got swept last year. They're probably not going to make
the playoffs this year. With Kevin Durant and Devin Booker,
two Hall of Fame locks Olympians. Colin this is really
(31:46):
ugly now the coach squabbling with Booker. But who do
you keep on that team? Booker or Kadi or neither?
Speaker 1 (31:53):
I think I think it's a good question. I I
could move everybody there, well except Bradley Beale because his contract.
I would get younger. It's a good NBA city, you
got a very wealthy owner. I think you have to
start over. I'd consider anything. I think you have to
(32:15):
start over, and I, by the way, Booker is going
to have a huge market there's end.
Speaker 3 (32:20):
Listen.
Speaker 5 (32:20):
I know you don't.
Speaker 1 (32:21):
Booker is going to have a massive, huge market. I
know you want a team.
Speaker 5 (32:25):
High school hoops a lot, but there are some major,
big time prop like Cooper Flag level Wings who are
coming up in the high school ranks, Gobert Arenas's son,
it's one of them. So if you tear it down
starting now, you could get like a super So I'm
talking like these are big time guys coming out of here.
Speaker 1 (32:40):
You could get. You could get a very good player
and two number one picks for Booker. Booker is a bucket. Yeah,
and he's on his prime.
Speaker 9 (32:48):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (32:48):
No, I mean Booker is going to get you a hole.
Speaker 5 (32:51):
Would he be a number one on a team?
Speaker 1 (32:53):
No, he's a great two. He is a great two
in a championship team. Like like, I'll give you the
game to the finals and he will give me an
example if you if you said Carl Anthony Towns to Phoenix, uh,
you get a the Knicks make a move and say, okay,
we're gonna get We're gonna get Booker in the wing.
We'll get rid of Carl Anthony Towns because he just
gets exposed in the pick and rule. I'm just throwing
(33:15):
a team out. But I'm I'm Booker is gonna get
a lot.
Speaker 5 (33:21):
But I would keep an eye on the Miami Heat,
you know, Pat, There you go, there you go, destination.
They're smart. Yeah, yeah, very interesting to follow. Final story
is back to the NFL ole Miss quarterback Jackson Dart
doing a media tour at the Combine when he was
asked to his favorite quarterback to watch right now is hmmm,
take a listen.
Speaker 1 (33:39):
To this one.
Speaker 10 (33:41):
I feel like it's a little bit of a cop
out because you just won the Super Bowl. But you know,
I love Jay Hurts and what he does. I feel
like I'm very similar in my play style to him.
I feel like we we can do a lot of
the same things. You know, obviously he's an elite player
and I'm trying to reach that level. But you know,
he's been somebody that I try to resemble my game after,
just because of his versatility, being able to run and
throw the ball, and just you know, how strong he
(34:03):
is in the pocket. I think that that's something that
I've had a lot of fun, you know, watching and
observing his play style.
Speaker 1 (34:10):
Jackson Dart has two advantages. Lane Kiffin's coach in the NFL,
So we got real coaching and he played in the SEC,
which is generally the best defensive conference. So he's an
NFL quarterback. I don't I don't know where he is,
but he is one of those Riley Leonard, Kyle McCord
guys that he probably isn't going to play year one,
but he got real NFL coaching with Lane Kiffin and
(34:30):
that absolutely matters.
Speaker 5 (34:32):
How to break these quarterbacks down is so tough now,
I mean, it's just increasingly difficult. Was it the system
for Dart or does he have actual no? No, no translate
great to the NFL.
Speaker 1 (34:42):
Well, no, he he chs an NFL ball. That's that.
I've seen him play. I've seen him in person to
the camp. Jackson Dart's got town, There's no doubt about that.
But he's you know, it's like, I think he's a
better I think he's a better prospect than Will Levis,
and Will Levis went in the second round. I was
never I think Jackson Dark can play in the NFL.
I don't think he's ready to carry a franchise, which.
Speaker 5 (35:05):
Nobody thought Dyalen Hurts was ready to carry. And by
like year what four he's in the super Bowl and
then New Year six or whatever the numbers are. He's
already won a super Bowl. It's tough. Then quarterback really
is difficult. Now where he goes matters. I'll tell you
right now. If the Rams take Jackson Dart in the
third round.
Speaker 1 (35:23):
He's gonna be good.
Speaker 5 (35:24):
You go to McVey, You're gonna be.
Speaker 3 (35:25):
Good, yea.
Speaker 1 (35:26):
J mckl the news.
Speaker 5 (35:28):
Well, that's the news, and thanks for stopping by the.
Speaker 6 (35:31):
Herd Line News.
Speaker 1 (35:32):
Heard Line News is over, but Jay Mack Tomorrow's headlines today.
Speaker 6 (35:38):
Next be sure to catch live editions of The Herd
weekdays and noone Easter not a Empacific.
Speaker 2 (35:43):
All right.
Speaker 1 (35:43):
We are in the heart of the NBA season. You've
noticed that with some of our topics this week. Matt
Stafford's deal, according to Ian Rappaport, agreed and finalized over
the next couple of weeks around free agency. But they
have agreed to terms. They'll get it all finalized. That's
the way contracts were. We call it. Tomorrows headlines today,
(36:04):
Jane Mack, let's do some NBA. What's the headline for
the suddenly temperamental Phoenix sung.
Speaker 5 (36:09):
Yeah, we just talked about that Devin Booker versus the
coach they almost tried to trade Kevin Durant. Things are
going sideways. The headline will Bae not all sunshine and rainbows.
Katie's rain ends in the rain hol On. I think
it's over for the Suns. I'm looking. They are twenty
seventh in the league in defense, twenty seventh, can't make
the playoffs with that, They are two and a half
(36:31):
outside of the tenth spot. I don't see them making
a big push here over the final twenty six games.
You got the infighting, the uncertainty. Kevin Durant's got one
foot out the door. Anybody who covers the NBA knows
right now Kevin Durant is the bell of the ball
this offseason. I don't know where he goes, but I
have a feeling in July we'll be talking about him.
I think it's over for the Suns. This was an
unmitigated disaster. They tried the Big three failed.
Speaker 1 (36:52):
Yep, took a swing, it missed. It's okay. I appreciate
the swing. Tomorrow's headlines today a team I'm out on
headline for the turbulent seventy sixers.
Speaker 5 (37:02):
Feeling ten straight losses. Wow, Eric Gordon just had surgery.
They got everybody injured. The headline for Philadelphia will be
Liberty Hell. Philly finally crumbles. Colin twenty second in the
league in offense. When you've got Paul George, Joel Embiid
and Tyrese Maxey. The problem is they keep getting hurt.
Embiads miss nineteen games, Joel Embiads miss forty one. Jared McCain,
(37:26):
the young kid from Duke who TikTok sensation, really talented player,
Shooter could have been Rookie of the Year.
Speaker 1 (37:31):
He got hurt.
Speaker 5 (37:31):
He's done. This has been really bad for Maria. I
know he is your guy. And again another team who
took a big swing. Hey, let's go big three Paul George,
Embiid and Maxwell.
Speaker 1 (37:41):
Like the Paul George move I did.
Speaker 5 (37:42):
It has been you know, I don't want to pin
this fully on Embiid because injuries happened, and win as
a team loses a team. But Embiid is the guy
who pushed for that MVP two seasons ago, and he's
never been the same.
Speaker 1 (37:54):
Tomorrow's headlines today, no Ad, But how about the MAVs.
Speaker 5 (38:00):
This is one of your I feel like this is
your Denver Broncos, Washington Commanders pick. You think there's something I.
Speaker 1 (38:06):
Think if Ad and Lively come back, I think they
can beat anybody in the league, even the Celtics.
Speaker 5 (38:11):
I think they're that good. Sounds like Lively's out the
rest of the regular season. Ad expected maybe to give
it a go. In like a week, we'll see the
headline for Dallas will be we got a rock down
to Electric MAVINU. We wish our seed was higher. I
got Dallas in the play in. I don't think they
can get out of the play of Colin. It's the
(38:32):
Warriors are too hot right now, and I don't think
Dallas is gonna get enough guys. Back that being said,
if they're the eight seed, oh remember the Lakers made
the Conference finals two years ago as a seventh seed. Yeh,
Dallas is going to be a threat. If you've got
Kyrie and Ad.
Speaker 1 (38:46):
They've got remarkable size, really nice Spencer, Dinwiddie, PJ. Washington,
and an unstoppable force in Kyrie.
Speaker 5 (38:55):
Good role players. And don't forget about my man Max
Christy aka super Max christ They're calling him to Dallas.
Speaker 3 (39:01):
They love him.
Speaker 5 (39:02):
If this team gets healthy and you didn't even mention
Klay Thompson, who right there, still a great shooter. We
saw his second half against the Lakers. Yeah, this MAVs
team can be dangerous, but are we gonna see ad survive,
you know, through the regular season and then the playoffs.
I would be very nervous if I was, Okay, see
facing this Dallas team. I'm sorry, that's not gonna be
a five game series. That's probably gonna go six or seven.
Speaker 1 (39:24):
Yep, tomorrow's headlines today. How about those playmakers in Los Angeles?
Speaker 5 (39:30):
Yeah, if you know, I love me some Lakers right now.
They are I think sixteen and twenty or sixteen and
four in their last twenty games. Yeah, number one defense
in the league during that duration. That's a fourth of
the league, fourth of the season, Colin, The headline for
the Lakers will be take the ring, leave the Canoli,
Don Luca re crowned the King. Yes, a little godfather. Actually,
(39:53):
I gotta work on my accent there, sorry, Alex Colin.
This is just such a diverse team and I've broken
this down with a lot of it hoops. Guys out
here in LA love this. So we know that they
have their core four closing, Ruie, Lebron, Luca.
Speaker 1 (40:06):
They can score. Last night we saw.
Speaker 5 (40:08):
Jared Vanderbilt get under Anthony Edwards's skin, hit a couple
of big shots. You know, it might be against the Warriors,
Gabe Vincent game, chasing around Steph Curry. It could be
an Adulton connect game. They are versatile, They've got options. Listen,
They're gonna have the two best players in any series
in the West right now. The way Lebron's playing. You
said he's like MVP Lebron from his prime.
Speaker 1 (40:30):
Oh, he's been. I've seen him out play Jokic, aunt
Kyrie and Luca in the last week.
Speaker 3 (40:34):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (40:34):
And Luca's gonna get healthy. They're gonna They're not gonna
do him in these back to backs that they got
coming up. They're not gonna do that. Luca gets healthy,
Reeves Lebron, they win the West, Buddy, They're going to
the finals.
Speaker 1 (40:43):
They are a very dynamic team Offensively, They've got three
different playmakers and Ruey from the corner is a deadye shooter.
Tomorrow's headlines today. Listen, they don't want to hear it, folks,
but the Celtics remain the king.
Speaker 5 (40:58):
They've been quiet all season. Yeah, let the Calves run
out to a big league We don't care. We're good.
The headline for the Celtics will be irish. Hello Celtics,
sneaking to O'Brien's Again.
Speaker 1 (41:11):
It's tough to pick.
Speaker 5 (41:11):
Against Boston, I know. I just want to warn people
who are picking the Caves and the thunder guys take
a deep barat It's the regular season. Boston just won
a title. Their foot is off the gas. Who's their
fifth best player?
Speaker 2 (41:23):
Call him?
Speaker 5 (41:24):
Is it Derek white Mill? He would be a three
on like ninety nine per teams in the league. He's
their fifth best guy.
Speaker 1 (41:30):
Yeah, they're they're really And by the way, we worried
about are they well coached because it was like a
coach oh Missoula. Yeah, yeah, they're well coached.
Speaker 5 (41:38):
He knows what he's doing.
Speaker 1 (41:38):
He knows what he's doing.
Speaker 5 (41:39):
I know people don't love the threes. They're gonna shoot
fifty threes in the game.
Speaker 3 (41:42):
You know what.
Speaker 5 (41:43):
They're one of the best three point shooting games in
the league.
Speaker 1 (41:45):
And they also they're a fairly eagleless team for a
championship team like they they I mean, this is one
of Tatum's gifts is. They're a very giving team. Drew Holiday,
That's why he was such a great get. Drew Holiday
works with everybody. Poor Zingis had a bad rap, but
actually he works with a team. It is a really
(42:05):
high character, high eq team. Like they like each other.
Speaker 5 (42:10):
Yeah, it's like, you know, we look around the league
and oh, that guy's got swag and look at John
Moran's dunks and Anthony Edwards dribbling. Tatum doesn't care about
that stuff. He's like, you know what, I'd rather win.
And by the way, Jason Tatum is in line Colin
to win his to be first team All NBA for
the fourth year, okay, fourth straight year first team, meaning
he's the best in his league at his position. You
(42:30):
know how many for Dirk Noovitski First Team All NBAS Dwayne Wade,
go look him up. Jason Tatum is accomplishing stuff they
took guys their entire career to do. Tatum's still in
his prime.
Speaker 2 (42:40):
Now.
Speaker 5 (42:40):
I'm telling you, this Boston team is so stacked. No
way I'm picking against him. I thought the Knicks could
push him, but it hasn't looked good in that match.
Speaker 1 (42:47):
All right, Indy car Practice is next very fast cars.
I want to throw this out, Adam Schefter reporting. With
Matt Stafford remaining with the Rams, the Raiders are going
to now investigate Russell Wilson, Justin Fields, and Sam Darnold.
According to sources, So Darnald is the best of those
(43:07):
three in his prime athletically good arm Fields is a
lively athlete. We don't know in the pocket if he's
consistent enough. Russell and Pete again feels a little clunky
in that.
Speaker 5 (43:21):
My name is missing. Aaron Rodgers.
Speaker 1 (43:25):
Yeah, no, no, good, good good.
Speaker 5 (43:26):
Guess why would they not include him? They don't want
to get in that business.
Speaker 1 (43:30):
I just don't. I think that's that's right. Listen, remember
the Jets and I had a source on this. The
Jets said, we don't want to get into Aaron the
football player or airon the guy business. They wanted to
get out of that business. Aaron comes, he's a moody player.
It's not taking shots at him. He can be prickly,
he can be moody. He is not for everybody, and
(43:51):
yes he'll be a Hall of Famer. IndyCar practices next.
Have a great weekend, a wonderful, safe weekend live in La.
It's the hert
Thanks for listening to The Herd podcast. Be sure to
catch us live every weekday on Fox Sports Radio in
noon to three eastern nine am to noon Pacific. Find
your local station for The Herd at Fox Sportsradio dot com,
or stream us live every day on the iHeartRadio app
by searching Fox Sports Radio or FSR. Thanks for listening
to the Herd podcast. All right, here we go. It's
(00:23):
our three live in Los Angeles. It's the Herd. Wherever
you may be and however you may be listening. Thanks
for making us part of your day. Matt Stafford is
staying with the La Rams. New York Giants reportedly now
interested in Aaron Rodgers. I'm not sure I feel about
that yet. He's obviously better than what they have in
the building. Aaron may want to stay in New York
(00:44):
and not come West. He's got a place there. I'm
not sure. But the bigger story with a better team
is the Rams retained Matt Stafford. I thought they had
the money because they don't pay anybody on defense, so
that doesn't surprise me. I will tell you. I was
told yesterday that Stafford and his people thought it was
(01:05):
a fifty fifty proposition whether he stayed. It got a
little bit contentious with Matt Stafford, and contentious maybe is
the wrong word, but they had a market and they
made sure they kicked the tires on the Raiders. That's
why they went skiing. They and I told you this,
why did that skiing thing get out? Because Stafford and
(01:25):
his agent wanted it out. Stuff gets out when people
wanted out. So Stafford and his agent wanted everybody to
know that he and Tom were up skiing in Montana.
But to me, that was the signal that he really
wanted to be a Ram. If that doesn't get out,
that you know, let me ask yourself. This stuff gets
out when you want it out. If it doesn't, there's
a lot of secrets in the world that don't get out.
(01:47):
Nobody wants them out. So when I saw that, my takeaway,
he's trying to make things uncomfortable for the Rams, and
he probably got more money. But once I heard the
Raiders and the Giants did not offer Stafford a third year,
what's the point of leaving? That's that's that's the advantage.
If you give me another fifty million that I wasn't
going to get from the Rams, I'm taking the money,
(02:08):
especially in Nevada with no state tax, and I'm planning doors,
so I would take the money. So as Stafford is in,
this is a guy that has a chance the next
two years. If you look at that roster, if they
can get a left tackle in a corner, they have
a chance to win another trophy. That's a real team.
So this is not this is not a small bit
(02:28):
of news. This's a big deal. And Stafford is intellectually
in a very elite group in this league. And McVeigh
makes his quarterbacks be dialed in and prepared and Stafford,
I mean you've seen those social media clips. There's been
little documentary on Stafford's work ethic. It is very aligned
(02:49):
with McVeigh. It was funny McVeigh went out during contract negotiations.
Usually your bosses don't say good things about you because
you know they're trying to you know, they don't want
to tell you how great you are. McVeigh came out
and said, yeah, yeah, like he's unbelievable. So what it's
telling you is McVeigh wanted it to happen, but Stan
Cronky ultimately makes the call the owners right in the checks.
(03:11):
So McVeigh wanted it out there that Stan Cronky knew
yet there's nobody. We are not going to be the
same football team without Matt Stafford. We are not going
to be the same franchise. So for Sean McVeigh to
give Flowers, you know, a week before they signed him,
that was a message to Stan Cronky and the Rams
(03:33):
are rolling. I mean, you got you got Hardbaugh and
Herbert in the same stadium. You don't want to ham
an eggorant quarterback. I do think they thought about Aaron Rodgers,
but you know, I saw a story yesterday that Aaron
was interested in bringing Devonte Adams. They're already They've already
got a receiver in Cooper Cup they're trying to move
off of They don't want another expensive receiver, so this
feels like the right fit. Well, let's let's be honest,
(03:55):
coming off an injury, Luca is not playing great right now.
Won for nine last night from three point land. But
everybody hedges their bet in the media. We've all been
doing this for years, including me on Lebron. We just
don't want to say, you know, is Lebron like the
(04:17):
second best player in the league. Nobody wants to say
that right, it's hey, jo Kich Joannis. I have watched
Lebron in the last week outplay Aunt Edwards, Luca Jokic,
and Kyrie Irving. He has been the best player in
the NBA in the last week. On every single night,
(04:39):
is Lebron the best player in the league? No, on
any given night is Lebron the best player in the league.
Speaker 2 (04:43):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (04:44):
His defense right now, it looks like he's twenty seven.
It's insane. His energy better than Luca. His shooting right now,
better than Luca, His on ball defense, his scoring. Lebron
at forty years old, has better consistent energy than any
other Like and now Austin Reeves is close. Austin plays
hard all the time. But Lebron's fourth quarter energy, it
(05:06):
doesn't even make sense. His on ball defense right now,
this is the best defense he's played in eight years.
He's a better defender at forty than Luca is at
twenty six. His energy, I'm telling you right now, is
Lebron showing off. And I'll get to Steph in a second.
It feels like Steph is kind of showing off to
Jimmy Butler, like listen to old man, you know, and
(05:27):
I feel when Tom Brady beat Mahomes at Arrowhead Stadium
in the AFC Championship, and then he beat him in
the Super Bowl, everybody by then was falling in love
and sort of was saying it, you know, like Brady's
old Brady. You know, not a lot left in the
tank for old Tommy. Ma Holmes is the new king.
(05:51):
And Brady beat him twice in Arrowhead and overtime, and
in the Super Bowl. Tom Brady reminding you, yeah, it
go through me, and Lebron is reminding everybody right now, yeah,
the West for ten years, the East went through me,
ten twelve years, however long he was over there. Now
(06:11):
the West is going to go through me, so at minimum.
And I understand that Luca got hurt, hadn't played for
a long time. He's playing himself back into shape, like
I get it, and he'll be a better shooter. His
jumper right now is short consistently. That's like Cardio that's legs.
His jumper short. But at forty years old, Lebron James
(06:34):
last year had last year, at thirty nine years old,
Lebron had eighty four dunks. When Michael Jordan was thirty nine,
mj had twenty one, four times the dunks of a
guy known for dunks, Michael Jordan at the same age.
And I think Lebron this year is better than Lebron
last year. And the other thing is because Ad was
(06:55):
traded to Dallas. Lebron is hyper aware that he has
to play better defense because Luca is a lousy defensive
player and Austin Reeves is limited. So Lebron is like, oh, oh,
you need me to do that too, all right? His
defense is insane. So he's averaging twenty five eight to nine.
That's what That's not the part that's blown me away.
(07:17):
It's the energy in the defense. And you know this,
it's I feel like I've said this for years. I
think the NBA playoffs should be a three game first
round and then five games even through the finals. I
think create urgency, I mean march madness. College basketball doesn't
have much talent and it gets tremendous ratings. Why there's urgency.
(07:38):
I mean, you know, Cooper Flag, take him off, Duke.
They got a couple of decent players, but a Duke
game with Cooper Flag against Xavier will get a better
rating maybe than like the Western Conference or Eastern Conference. Finals,
because it's like you have to watch, you got two
and a half hours. Somebody's out could be Duke and
Cooper flag and so I think there needs to be
no more urgency. And I also think in the NBA
(08:00):
regular season, I'd cut it down to sixty eight games
started six weeks later. Get away from college and pro football,
you know, start playing Christmas. Start playing Christmas, not your
first TV game, Start play then. So I understand that
if you're Lebron, you're Steph Curry, and you're not with
a championship team, You're on a treadmill to nowhere. It
(08:21):
is so clear between Steph and Lebron that these moves
have absolutely energized these guys. And just watched Lebron's defense.
It is elite, and he has outplayed aunt, Luka, Kyrie
and Jokic in the last week. He has been the
best player on the floor. And here is H, here's Lebron.
Speaker 3 (08:43):
After we know we.
Speaker 4 (08:44):
Could have been a lot better offensively, but we've been
hanging our head under the defensive end. And you know,
when you don't shoot the ball well, you got to
be able to get stops.
Speaker 2 (08:53):
And they made a ruin. They're really good team.
Speaker 4 (08:55):
We saw what they did a couple nights ago against Okay,
see when it was down big, and those young guys
came in small, gave him good energy. So you know,
they cut down to three, I believe at one point.
But he was able to excute up today and get
some timely stops and was able to come home with
the win.
Speaker 1 (09:09):
So lebron in February twenty nine and a half points,
ten rebounds, seven and a half assists, shooting fifty five
percent from the floor, forty six percent on three pointers,
and playing elite on ball defense at forty. At thirty nine,
he had eighty four dunks. At thirty nine, MJ had
twenty one. Like you're a watching this is unprecedented. You know,
(09:30):
we're always looking ahead. Don't just live in this moment.
What you're watching doesn't make any sense. It makes it's
Brady and Tampa. It makes no sense that Brady was
that year first second best quarterback in the league. All right,
Once again, the breaking news happened thirty twenty five minutes ago.
Matt Stafford staying with the Rams new contract couple years.
(09:51):
I guess one hundred million guaranteed two years. J Max
says a little tastier than that. I do not know
if you're the New York Giant. Reportedly now they will
shift their attention to Aaron Rodgers. Now, my take is
I got him with the Rams, and I got Aaron
Rodgers with the Jets. Like those two I get. I'm
(10:14):
not sure if he wants to go to another franchise
that can't get attacked together. That is an ugly way
to end it for Aaron Rodgers. I think I would
call it a career if the Giants is the only
thing I had.
Speaker 5 (10:27):
I remember that Dabel historically likes mobile quarterbacks. Josh Allen,
Daniel Jones, Rogers is at mobile. I don't think he
fits what the Giants really want to do. Can you
turn him into a pocket passer when you can't protect
the quarterback? Their offensive line is one of the worst
in league. Thomas was good, but other than that and
very shaky.
Speaker 3 (10:45):
I think the.
Speaker 5 (10:45):
Raiders kind of become interesting here. Would he work with
the Raiders?
Speaker 1 (10:49):
Like, Yeah, they don't want Davonte Adams back, do they?
So that's kind of a weird.
Speaker 5 (10:56):
Yeah, that would be awkward, and maybe Devanta Adams kind
of poison the Raiders for Rogers knowing what's going on
in the organization, although some things have changed obviously, right.
Speaker 1 (11:04):
I don't. I just don't. If I'm Aaron Rodgers, I
just got my first taste the last two years of
a dysfunctional operation. I want to I want to go
to one that's even worse. I mean, at least the
Jets have a roster that's redeemable. The Jets have some players,
and Aaron played well down the stretch, even the left tackle,
who I like a lot for the Giants. He's had
(11:26):
health issues, he gets Thomas gets banged up. But Pittsburgh
Steelers in Aaron Rodgers doesn't fit at all at all. Culturally,
it just doesn't work at all. They can't get their
O line right. It's all about defense, Prima Donna, wide
receiver stuff like. I don't think Pittsburgh and Aaron fit
at all.
Speaker 3 (11:46):
I don't know where he goes.
Speaker 1 (11:47):
I think Vegas or Busts. But I'm not. And you
could say, well why would he Because it's closer West.
It's Pete Carroll, it's Chip Kelly, it's brock Bowers. They've
got their left tackle. I think the Raiders actually have
some really good pieces go watch them play. Go watch
the replays of those Kansas City Raider games with bad
quarterback play. They went toe to toe with the Chiefs
(12:08):
in Arrowhead. So I don't Aaron Rodgers giants. I just
do not see that.
Speaker 2 (12:16):
I don't.
Speaker 1 (12:17):
I think Aaron could.
Speaker 5 (12:18):
Call a career going out with this Silarice.
Speaker 1 (12:21):
I wouldn't want to.
Speaker 5 (12:23):
But is there a quarterback he could shove out? Maybe
in Seattle? Would you dump Gino Smith and get on
board with Aaron Rodgers? Does that keep DK DK metcalf around.
There's a lot of chatter about him and Lockett maybe
being done in Seattle. They could be in flux.
Speaker 1 (12:40):
All Worth discussion. But Stafford is a ram live in
Lance The Herd.
Speaker 6 (12:46):
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.
Speaker 7 (12:54):
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.
Speaker 1 (13:07):
Why should you listen to Cavino and Rich?
Speaker 7 (13:09):
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
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.
Speaker 1 (13:25):
Something, right, So check us out.
Speaker 7 (13:27):
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.
Speaker 1 (13:35):
Most interactive show on planetar.
Speaker 7 (13:36):
Be sure to 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 podcasts, and of course on social.
Speaker 1 (13:48):
Media that's Covino and Rich. Guys, listen. I think the
Mavericks made a bad, bad trade. Rick Buker joining us
live Fox Sports NBA analyst. I took a lot of heat,
I said, but if you watched the first five games,
and I know he was inactive since Christmas, there is
a little bit of what Dallas was fearful of He's
(14:08):
not a defender, he's not in great shape. His energy
level gets sapped very quickly. He looked exhausted in that
fourth quarter against the MAVs. And then a story comes
out today that they called Minnesota for Ant and they
were like, Minnesota said no, thank you, which I would
have said. I know the Lakers stole him, But if
(14:28):
you watch him, could I make just the argument if
a d was healthy right now, Dallas would be a
more complete Dean than the Lakers, who are very heavy
playmaker but still are going to run into a big
log jam where they won't stop bigs in the playoffs.
Speaker 3 (14:42):
Yeah. No, it's hypothetical, but I agree with you.
Speaker 8 (14:45):
We wouldn't be looking at this as a lopsided trade
if Ad is available.
Speaker 3 (14:50):
Saw a glimpse of.
Speaker 1 (14:51):
It right when they played Houston.
Speaker 3 (14:52):
When he first came out.
Speaker 1 (14:54):
You're like, oh my god.
Speaker 8 (14:55):
And it's why, you know, most of us covering the
league were like, you know what, Dallas is going to
be really good. I think so for the next year
or two. That's the gamble. And that's how why anybody
who's judging this now, you can't judge this over the
next five six games or the next few months.
Speaker 3 (15:13):
It is going to be who.
Speaker 8 (15:15):
Wins a championship if if if Luca comes to LA
and especially if they you know, if they win it
this year, which I still still think is a reach,
but if he wins a championship over the next five
years in LA and the and the Mavericks are basically
betting short they're gonna win it in the next year
or too.
Speaker 3 (15:33):
That's their best opportunity.
Speaker 1 (15:35):
Uh.
Speaker 8 (15:35):
If Dallas wins a championship in the next year or two,
then then I'm saying they won the won the trade.
Speaker 3 (15:40):
Yeah, and they're simply what they decided.
Speaker 8 (15:43):
Was one of one of the reasons Minnesota wasn't willing
to make that is because it's not what Luca has
done to this point. It's what he's going to do
for the next five years, and you're going to invest
three hundred and forty five million dollars in it. So
is he going to be Lebron James or Steph Curry
in turns of durability?
Speaker 2 (16:01):
No?
Speaker 3 (16:01):
Or is he going to be closer to Joel and Beaters.
Speaker 8 (16:04):
Iion Williamson, who you look at signed Max Steele's and
ended up that's a regrettable decision in both in both cases,
so based on what he's done at this point, I'm
not making the comparison in terms of what Joel and
Zion had done.
Speaker 3 (16:18):
Luca has defied that.
Speaker 8 (16:21):
But when he was coming out, Look, when I looked
at what he did in Europe going into into the draft,
there should have been no question he was the number
one pick. It should have been like Cooper Flag this year,
or Lebron coming out deanre Ayton and like you're going
to take him over over over Luca. But the question
(16:43):
was his lifestyle, his condition even then, and his body
coming out, people had questions.
Speaker 1 (16:51):
I remember, I remember looking at the video and saying
on the air, is he athletic enough?
Speaker 8 (16:56):
He just looks now he's look i Q off the
charts and and has and that's the biggest element to
his game and why he's dominated in the NBA.
Speaker 3 (17:08):
He's just he's so smart.
Speaker 8 (17:10):
He makes you play his game, and he has been
terrific to this point. But I there's two parts here,
and we're seeing it. This is not the first player
that a team was looking at having to give a
max contract, a supermax contract at this point and said
we're not going to do it. Ellie Clippers did it
(17:31):
with Paul George. We'd rather let him walk than give
him the Supermax. Miami Heat would rather let Jimmy Butler
walk or take less on the dollar then give him
a Max. And Luka doncis is that in that same category?
Speaker 1 (17:47):
No, I threw this out, Rick. It's one thing when
you paid Lebron forty million once the number seventy five
million is that. I think you're going to see more
stars move because once I have to pay you seventy
five million, your conditioning matters, your injury history matters. You're
gonna make more than Patrick Mahomes. I don't care if
you're a billionaire. Forty million feels more like a rounding
(18:10):
air for Steve Balmer. Sure, seventy five million guaranteed five
years is not a rounding air to any billionaire, including
Elon Musk. And I think what's gonna happen is the
player saw themselves. It's a win. No, it's a microscope.
Now I'm counting everything. And when I have four calf
injuries and you are a bad defensive player, I can
(18:33):
even move Luca Sure. I didn't think he's the last
star to get moved.
Speaker 8 (18:37):
I'm with you, or the last star who's facing like
we got to give him a supermax you know what,
I think we'd like to get off of that and
get something else because what we have seen with the
teams that are winning is the balance of your team.
You can't I mean, we're still in this mindset of
big threes, like if I have a big three and
(18:59):
I can fill the rest, I can't afford to have
a big three, Like if I do that, then I
have no other pieces, I have no other money to spend.
And that's just not the way you get to a
championship these days. And if you are going to go
that direction, if you are going to give super maxims
to two guys, then they better be available seventy to
seventy five games during the regular season and they better
(19:21):
be able to play an additional twenty games in the postseason.
Speaker 1 (19:24):
Are you because analytics? I had said this about six
to eight weeks ago. Just get Jimmy Butler with step,
get him in the building. He's a very intentional player.
He's the anti Wiggins is that every possession is intense,
and you remember every one of his points. Wiggins can
give you twenty eight and I don't remember three baskets,
(19:45):
and I'm like, he's the anti Wiggins. Get him in
the building. I don't care what analytics say, because analytics
were like, nah, are you a little surprised that it's
been this seamless.
Speaker 8 (19:57):
I'm not surprised that it's been this seamless. I've been surprised,
and I think I would disagree with you on the analytics.
I believe that Jimmy has answered the analytics as well,
because he's filled gaps that Andrew simply did not.
Speaker 3 (20:13):
Number One, he gets to the free throw a lot.
Speaker 1 (20:16):
Yes, they were the Warriors when Steph was well, I
mean they just didn't get to the line. Yeah, they
were less. I checked.
Speaker 8 (20:22):
They were still last in free throw percentage and they
were twenty third in free throw attempts, and that since
Jimmy's come on averaging nine free throws a game, so
they had to have been in the bottom five, right,
And when you have thirty somethings like Jimmy and Steph
and Draymond, when you're getting to the free throw line,
One that's built in rest during the course of the game.
(20:46):
And two it allows you to set your defense. So
you're not getting beat in transition, which the Warriors were
getting a lot of early on. The other element that
doesn't fit in analytics, that's the intangible is Jimmy comes
with swagger and Draymond Green. Since his game has fallen
off a little bit, he always provided that bravado. The
bravado doesn't play as loud when you're not quite as impactful.
(21:11):
Jimmy comes in and now doubles down. Now you have
two loud bravado guys. That adds to the entire atmosphere
and environment. So you add the free throws. Also finishes
at the rim, Wiggins. They have about the same finishing
percentage at the rim. But Jimmy takes almost more than
(21:32):
a third of his shots at the rim.
Speaker 3 (21:35):
Andrew did not do that. So He's filled a lot
of gaps that they did not that needed to be filled.
And it is made of a uteta.
Speaker 1 (21:44):
All right, fine, that's a big topic. So yesterday I said,
Tom Cruise is a movie star. Jeremy Irons is a
great actor. John malcovic is a great actor. Jeremy Iron's
great actor. Denzel and Tom Cruise walk into a room.
Those are RelA stars. Jason Tatum is a is a
great NBA player. He is not a face of the league.
(22:06):
He has no aura. I have seen him play live
four times and I've seen him play four times. He's
been excellent. Yeah, there have been times Jalen Brown like
talk to a hand I'm going to control and I'm like,
that's not a face of the league guy?
Speaker 3 (22:24):
Yeah, yeah, why not? No, not at all.
Speaker 8 (22:26):
I mean it's why we kind of shoehorned Anthony Edwards
into this. Can he be the face of the league
because he's got the attitude that you want, He's got
the dynamic, he's aggressive, he's got the dynamic game and
personality that you want as the face of the league.
He just doesn't have the resume like Jason Tatum has
the resume, right, but he doesn't have the persona and
(22:48):
you have to have.
Speaker 1 (22:50):
There's a formula to it. Lebron, Magic and Michael all
great businessmen. Very early on they got the value of
Corporate America, shoe deal, get on TV, make yourself available
for interview. Lebron to this day is always available after
(23:11):
I mean literally can be a sideline reporter in Orlando.
Lebron walks right over outside of the Luca game in
LA against the Mavericks where he left so that Luca
could get the shine on that and get the love.
So let me throw this out there. Here's our final topic.
So he and I disagree on this. I think inside
the NBA is an entertainment show. Barkley acknowledges he doesn't
(23:34):
watch all the games. They are one of the They
are to me, the only NBA show of note that
has bite and teeth and will call players out, load
management and crap. Other than that, because nobody wants to
lose access, it's a bit of a fawning media coverage league.
NFL reporters are hard. They're hard on everybody, including Lamar Jackson.
(23:56):
NBA meetings a little fawning. So Lebron said this about
the face of the league conversation, I want to be
the face.
Speaker 4 (24:03):
Of the league when all all to put all the
people that you know that cover our game and talk
about our game on a day to day base on
everybody you had that responsibility, that's it's just weird.
Speaker 2 (24:14):
It's weird energy from the people that you know. I
don't know, but Channing, he said it. He said it perfectly.
Speaker 3 (24:23):
No, No, Channing did not say it perfectly.
Speaker 1 (24:26):
I think it's I think this stuff is overstated. Ninety
percent of NBA coverage, even on the inside the NBA,
they like the players. But if you don't call your
crap out.
Speaker 3 (24:37):
This is this is this is the problem.
Speaker 8 (24:40):
The problem is that you have all of these young
players coming in and we look at statistics, particularly offensive statistics,
and we have people out there saying fawning, media saying, oh,
this guy. In fact, we just had this conversation this
(25:01):
guy is better than this guy and we talk about
a legend.
Speaker 2 (25:05):
Yeah.
Speaker 8 (25:07):
J Mack just have me on his podcast. He said,
You're not gonna like this. Paalo ben Cao is better
than Karl Malone. I'm like, what are we doing? What
are we doing? And the problem is is that when
you then say that, then there's the pushback. I love
Paalo ben Carro. He's in the book that I'm working
on right now. Love everything about him. Immensely talented. I
(25:30):
think he's a winning player. I think Orlando's got the future.
Don't tell me he's better than Karl Malone.
Speaker 3 (25:37):
He's gotten. He's done nothing to justify that.
Speaker 8 (25:40):
So what happens is we put him on that pedestal
and then anybody who actually looks at the league in
entirety goes, no, he's not, and so now you end
up criticizing or taking apart Paalo ben Carro when that's
never was never my intention.
Speaker 1 (25:56):
My take is there's two sports where athletes really believe
them is too hard, International soccer stars and NBA stars.
Why because they're both star driven, and so we're constantly
comparing iconic stars. In football, it's like outside of Mahomes Brady,
it's a team structure. We don't really we're just like, yeah,
(26:16):
Josh Allen's great. We bang on the coaches, we talk
coordinators in the NFL. So when you're a star driven sport,
messi Ronaldo Rooney in his prime, Imbope will deal with this.
Or if you're Lebron Steph or Ant in those two
worlds star driven, they make the most money. NFL you
(26:37):
don't make the money. You don't make the money. So
when you're start it's like Hollywood.
Speaker 8 (26:41):
Well, the other part is with the NFL there is
no access. You're not trying to protect any access.
Speaker 3 (26:47):
Good Bye and Lard's your access.
Speaker 1 (26:49):
If you're covering the league or something.
Speaker 8 (26:51):
It's with the GMS and the coaches, right right, it's
not with the players. The players aren't going to say
anything anyway. So I agree with you. I think that
the attempt to maintain access has has us saying things
about players in the game today.
Speaker 3 (27:09):
I'm just like, look, I like that guy, but don't.
Speaker 8 (27:13):
Tell me he's better than so and so. And usually
we're going to have that, like with a Jason Tatum,
We're going to have that conversation about guys who are
in the conversation for facing the league. The best players
are going to be compared to yesteryear's greatest players, and
they're going to be put on a pedestal that they
haven't warranted, and then they're gonna get knocked off of that,
(27:35):
and so it makes it look like they're being unfairly criticized.
Speaker 1 (27:38):
I've been in a room with Lebron. Lebron has an aura.
I've been in a room with Magic. Magic's got an aura.
I've been in a scrum, a media scrum with Michael Jordan.
I watched Jason Tatum four different times. I've gone and
watched him play on the court. He used to really
talented guy. Yeah, like that's just the reality of his game.
He's not a knock on him. He's just a really
talented guy without any charsma.
Speaker 8 (28:00):
Yeah, no, he's I mean, he's a really good guy.
His game is not exploded. Like, tell me the number
of Jason Tatum plays.
Speaker 1 (28:09):
You remember I said this yesterday. Close your eyes and
think of Magic Johnson. You can see the highlight. Oh yeah, you.
Speaker 3 (28:16):
Can do it with Anthony Edwards.
Speaker 1 (28:18):
Be honest, if you close your eyes on Jason Tatum
and I just see twenty six a night. Yeah, good,
good good. Uh, A very willing defender.
Speaker 8 (28:28):
Would love to have him on my team. But am
I marketing my team? I might need to get somebody
else along with him.
Speaker 1 (28:37):
All right, good stuff, bukes Jmack with a news No, no,
this is the head. I really irritated.
Speaker 5 (28:45):
Jire biting my tongue, really hot under my collar. Jason Tatum,
Oh my god. All right, let's go to Travis Hunter
and the NFL draft column combines popping off. A lot
of draft boards have Travis Hunter near the top. But
Michigan cornerback Will Johnson all American in college, He's MVP
of the Natty two seasons ago. Feels like he's the
(29:07):
best corner in the draft. Here's his quote. A lot
of respect for him. He's won the Heisman, did a
lot of great things. But I know I'm the best
corner in this draft. I'm gonna just wait until I
get on the field and on my play. Dude, the're
talking Colin unequivocally.
Speaker 1 (29:20):
He's not wrong.
Speaker 5 (29:21):
He's the best cornerback in this draft.
Speaker 1 (29:23):
No, it's not a great draft, but he and Mason
Graham are both play right away.
Speaker 2 (29:29):
Guys.
Speaker 1 (29:30):
He's excellent. He was banged up a little bit of Michigan,
but when he was on the field, he was a
complete game changer.
Speaker 2 (29:34):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (29:35):
Now he's kind of in the Richard Sherman mole long
range ee yep, and.
Speaker 1 (29:39):
This guy's done it.
Speaker 5 (29:39):
I think he's a top ten pick. Maybe might slide
a little bit depending on trades, but I like this
kid a lot. He's immensely talented. Second story is just
breaking recently, Colin, and this is getting ugly in Phoenix.
According to NBA insider Chris Haynes, a few weeks ago,
Mike Budenolzer number he got hired because they fired a
coach after one season. Bud called a meeting with Devin Booker,
(30:03):
telling him to be less vocal on the court and
in the huddles, telling your star be less vocal on
the court and the huddles. Coach Bud asked Booker to
vocally tone it down and allow the coaches to be heard. Well,
Booker was shocked. He kind of came out. It was
he was, oh, my gosh, what last night. The Sun's
lost their tenth in a row. And Booker talked about
(30:24):
communication postgames.
Speaker 9 (30:26):
Oh, everybody has to be on the on the same page.
You know, you can start with the leaders of the
team obviously meet Brad and Kay and coach. But you know,
from from my history, there's you know, there's fifteen to
twenty guys on the sideline that know the game plan,
that know what's going on, and in the huddles, you know,
(30:48):
just constant communication, skipping over the details and you know,
always taking the you know, get him next game mentality.
At some point you gotta draw a line and should
have been drawn a long time ago.
Speaker 5 (31:03):
Oo that is that's not good food and halls are
in a little trouble. I don't think you can fire
another coach back to back. No, I think what you
can do is try to blow this whole thing up
Kevin Durant, SA, Devin Booker.
Speaker 1 (31:16):
Sea, No, I think that's what's gonna happen. That's not working,
So let's let's I mean, Ishbia has proved he he's
not a real patient person. Like they're gonna make move.
Speaker 5 (31:25):
It's like the the whole Mark Zuckerberg thing at Facebook
was moved fast and break things. A lot of people
think that works. The Sons have tried that, Hey, let's
just get stars, let's get none of it's working. They
got swept last year. They're probably not going to make
the playoffs this year. With Kevin Durant and Devin Booker,
two Hall of Fame locks Olympians. Colin this is really
(31:46):
ugly now the coach squabbling with Booker. But who do
you keep on that team? Booker or Kadi or neither?
Speaker 1 (31:53):
I think I think it's a good question. I I
could move everybody there, well except Bradley Beale because his contract.
I would get younger. It's a good NBA city, you
got a very wealthy owner. I think you have to
start over. I'd consider anything. I think you have to
(32:15):
start over, and I, by the way, Booker is going
to have a huge market there's end.
Speaker 3 (32:20):
Listen.
Speaker 5 (32:20):
I know you don't.
Speaker 1 (32:21):
Booker is going to have a massive, huge market. I
know you want a team.
Speaker 5 (32:25):
High school hoops a lot, but there are some major,
big time prop like Cooper Flag level Wings who are
coming up in the high school ranks, Gobert Arenas's son,
it's one of them. So if you tear it down
starting now, you could get like a super So I'm
talking like these are big time guys coming out of here.
Speaker 1 (32:40):
You could get. You could get a very good player
and two number one picks for Booker. Booker is a bucket. Yeah,
and he's on his prime.
Speaker 9 (32:48):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (32:48):
No, I mean Booker is going to get you a hole.
Speaker 5 (32:51):
Would he be a number one on a team?
Speaker 1 (32:53):
No, he's a great two. He is a great two
in a championship team. Like like, I'll give you the
game to the finals and he will give me an
example if you if you said Carl Anthony Towns to Phoenix, uh,
you get a the Knicks make a move and say, okay,
we're gonna get We're gonna get Booker in the wing.
We'll get rid of Carl Anthony Towns because he just
gets exposed in the pick and rule. I'm just throwing
(33:15):
a team out. But I'm I'm Booker is gonna get
a lot.
Speaker 5 (33:21):
But I would keep an eye on the Miami Heat,
you know, Pat, There you go, there you go, destination.
They're smart. Yeah, yeah, very interesting to follow. Final story
is back to the NFL ole Miss quarterback Jackson Dart
doing a media tour at the Combine when he was
asked to his favorite quarterback to watch right now is hmmm,
take a listen.
Speaker 1 (33:39):
To this one.
Speaker 10 (33:41):
I feel like it's a little bit of a cop
out because you just won the Super Bowl. But you know,
I love Jay Hurts and what he does. I feel
like I'm very similar in my play style to him.
I feel like we we can do a lot of
the same things. You know, obviously he's an elite player
and I'm trying to reach that level. But you know,
he's been somebody that I try to resemble my game after,
just because of his versatility, being able to run and
throw the ball, and just you know, how strong he
(34:03):
is in the pocket. I think that that's something that
I've had a lot of fun, you know, watching and
observing his play style.
Speaker 1 (34:10):
Jackson Dart has two advantages. Lane Kiffin's coach in the NFL,
So we got real coaching and he played in the SEC,
which is generally the best defensive conference. So he's an
NFL quarterback. I don't I don't know where he is,
but he is one of those Riley Leonard, Kyle McCord
guys that he probably isn't going to play year one,
but he got real NFL coaching with Lane Kiffin and
(34:30):
that absolutely matters.
Speaker 5 (34:32):
How to break these quarterbacks down is so tough now,
I mean, it's just increasingly difficult. Was it the system
for Dart or does he have actual no? No, no translate
great to the NFL.
Speaker 1 (34:42):
Well, no, he he chs an NFL ball. That's that.
I've seen him play. I've seen him in person to
the camp. Jackson Dart's got town, There's no doubt about that.
But he's you know, it's like, I think he's a
better I think he's a better prospect than Will Levis,
and Will Levis went in the second round. I was
never I think Jackson Dark can play in the NFL.
I don't think he's ready to carry a franchise, which.
Speaker 5 (35:05):
Nobody thought Dyalen Hurts was ready to carry. And by
like year what four he's in the super Bowl and
then New Year six or whatever the numbers are. He's
already won a super Bowl. It's tough. Then quarterback really
is difficult. Now where he goes matters. I'll tell you
right now. If the Rams take Jackson Dart in the
third round.
Speaker 1 (35:23):
He's gonna be good.
Speaker 5 (35:24):
You go to McVey, You're gonna be.
Speaker 3 (35:25):
Good, yea.
Speaker 1 (35:26):
J mckl the news.
Speaker 5 (35:28):
Well, that's the news, and thanks for stopping by the.
Speaker 6 (35:31):
Herd Line News.
Speaker 1 (35:32):
Heard Line News is over, but Jay Mack Tomorrow's headlines today.
Speaker 6 (35:38):
Next be sure to catch live editions of The Herd
weekdays and noone Easter not a Empacific.
Speaker 2 (35:43):
All right.
Speaker 1 (35:43):
We are in the heart of the NBA season. You've
noticed that with some of our topics this week. Matt
Stafford's deal, according to Ian Rappaport, agreed and finalized over
the next couple of weeks around free agency. But they
have agreed to terms. They'll get it all finalized. That's
the way contracts were. We call it. Tomorrows headlines today,
(36:04):
Jane Mack, let's do some NBA. What's the headline for
the suddenly temperamental Phoenix sung.
Speaker 5 (36:09):
Yeah, we just talked about that Devin Booker versus the
coach they almost tried to trade Kevin Durant. Things are
going sideways. The headline will Bae not all sunshine and rainbows.
Katie's rain ends in the rain hol On. I think
it's over for the Suns. I'm looking. They are twenty
seventh in the league in defense, twenty seventh, can't make
the playoffs with that, They are two and a half
(36:31):
outside of the tenth spot. I don't see them making
a big push here over the final twenty six games.
You got the infighting, the uncertainty. Kevin Durant's got one
foot out the door. Anybody who covers the NBA knows
right now Kevin Durant is the bell of the ball
this offseason. I don't know where he goes, but I
have a feeling in July we'll be talking about him.
I think it's over for the Suns. This was an
unmitigated disaster. They tried the Big three failed.
Speaker 1 (36:52):
Yep, took a swing, it missed. It's okay. I appreciate
the swing. Tomorrow's headlines today a team I'm out on
headline for the turbulent seventy sixers.
Speaker 5 (37:02):
Feeling ten straight losses. Wow, Eric Gordon just had surgery.
They got everybody injured. The headline for Philadelphia will be
Liberty Hell. Philly finally crumbles. Colin twenty second in the
league in offense. When you've got Paul George, Joel Embiid
and Tyrese Maxey. The problem is they keep getting hurt.
Embiads miss nineteen games, Joel Embiads miss forty one. Jared McCain,
(37:26):
the young kid from Duke who TikTok sensation, really talented player,
Shooter could have been Rookie of the Year.
Speaker 1 (37:31):
He got hurt.
Speaker 5 (37:31):
He's done. This has been really bad for Maria. I
know he is your guy. And again another team who
took a big swing. Hey, let's go big three Paul George,
Embiid and Maxwell.
Speaker 1 (37:41):
Like the Paul George move I did.
Speaker 5 (37:42):
It has been you know, I don't want to pin
this fully on Embiid because injuries happened, and win as
a team loses a team. But Embiid is the guy
who pushed for that MVP two seasons ago, and he's
never been the same.
Speaker 1 (37:54):
Tomorrow's headlines today, no Ad, But how about the MAVs.
Speaker 5 (38:00):
This is one of your I feel like this is
your Denver Broncos, Washington Commanders pick. You think there's something I.
Speaker 1 (38:06):
Think if Ad and Lively come back, I think they
can beat anybody in the league, even the Celtics.
Speaker 5 (38:11):
I think they're that good. Sounds like Lively's out the
rest of the regular season. Ad expected maybe to give
it a go. In like a week, we'll see the
headline for Dallas will be we got a rock down
to Electric MAVINU. We wish our seed was higher. I
got Dallas in the play in. I don't think they
can get out of the play of Colin. It's the
(38:32):
Warriors are too hot right now, and I don't think
Dallas is gonna get enough guys. Back that being said,
if they're the eight seed, oh remember the Lakers made
the Conference finals two years ago as a seventh seed. Yeh,
Dallas is going to be a threat. If you've got
Kyrie and Ad.
Speaker 1 (38:46):
They've got remarkable size, really nice Spencer, Dinwiddie, PJ. Washington,
and an unstoppable force in Kyrie.
Speaker 5 (38:55):
Good role players. And don't forget about my man Max
Christy aka super Max christ They're calling him to Dallas.
Speaker 3 (39:01):
They love him.
Speaker 5 (39:02):
If this team gets healthy and you didn't even mention
Klay Thompson, who right there, still a great shooter. We
saw his second half against the Lakers. Yeah, this MAVs
team can be dangerous, but are we gonna see ad survive,
you know, through the regular season and then the playoffs.
I would be very nervous if I was, Okay, see
facing this Dallas team. I'm sorry, that's not gonna be
a five game series. That's probably gonna go six or seven.
Speaker 1 (39:24):
Yep, tomorrow's headlines today. How about those playmakers in Los Angeles?
Speaker 5 (39:30):
Yeah, if you know, I love me some Lakers right now.
They are I think sixteen and twenty or sixteen and
four in their last twenty games. Yeah, number one defense
in the league during that duration. That's a fourth of
the league, fourth of the season, Colin, The headline for
the Lakers will be take the ring, leave the Canoli,
Don Luca re crowned the King. Yes, a little godfather. Actually,
(39:53):
I gotta work on my accent there, sorry, Alex Colin.
This is just such a diverse team and I've broken
this down with a lot of it hoops. Guys out
here in LA love this. So we know that they
have their core four closing, Ruie, Lebron, Luca.
Speaker 1 (40:06):
They can score. Last night we saw.
Speaker 5 (40:08):
Jared Vanderbilt get under Anthony Edwards's skin, hit a couple
of big shots. You know, it might be against the Warriors,
Gabe Vincent game, chasing around Steph Curry. It could be
an Adulton connect game. They are versatile, They've got options. Listen,
They're gonna have the two best players in any series
in the West right now. The way Lebron's playing. You
said he's like MVP Lebron from his prime.
Speaker 1 (40:30):
Oh, he's been. I've seen him out play Jokic, aunt
Kyrie and Luca in the last week.
Speaker 3 (40:34):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (40:34):
And Luca's gonna get healthy. They're gonna They're not gonna
do him in these back to backs that they got
coming up. They're not gonna do that. Luca gets healthy,
Reeves Lebron, they win the West, Buddy, They're going to
the finals.
Speaker 1 (40:43):
They are a very dynamic team Offensively, They've got three
different playmakers and Ruey from the corner is a deadye shooter.
Tomorrow's headlines today. Listen, they don't want to hear it, folks,
but the Celtics remain the king.
Speaker 5 (40:58):
They've been quiet all season. Yeah, let the Calves run
out to a big league We don't care. We're good.
The headline for the Celtics will be irish. Hello Celtics,
sneaking to O'Brien's Again.
Speaker 1 (41:11):
It's tough to pick.
Speaker 5 (41:11):
Against Boston, I know. I just want to warn people
who are picking the Caves and the thunder guys take
a deep barat It's the regular season. Boston just won
a title. Their foot is off the gas. Who's their
fifth best player?
Speaker 2 (41:23):
Call him?
Speaker 5 (41:24):
Is it Derek white Mill? He would be a three
on like ninety nine per teams in the league. He's
their fifth best guy.
Speaker 1 (41:30):
Yeah, they're they're really And by the way, we worried
about are they well coached because it was like a
coach oh Missoula. Yeah, yeah, they're well coached.
Speaker 5 (41:38):
He knows what he's doing.
Speaker 1 (41:38):
He knows what he's doing.
Speaker 5 (41:39):
I know people don't love the threes. They're gonna shoot
fifty threes in the game.
Speaker 3 (41:42):
You know what.
Speaker 5 (41:43):
They're one of the best three point shooting games in
the league.
Speaker 1 (41:45):
And they also they're a fairly eagleless team for a
championship team like they they I mean, this is one
of Tatum's gifts is. They're a very giving team. Drew Holiday,
That's why he was such a great get. Drew Holiday
works with everybody. Poor Zingis had a bad rap, but
actually he works with a team. It is a really
(42:05):
high character, high eq team. Like they like each other.
Speaker 5 (42:10):
Yeah, it's like, you know, we look around the league
and oh, that guy's got swag and look at John
Moran's dunks and Anthony Edwards dribbling. Tatum doesn't care about
that stuff. He's like, you know what, I'd rather win.
And by the way, Jason Tatum is in line Colin
to win his to be first team All NBA for
the fourth year, okay, fourth straight year first team, meaning
he's the best in his league at his position. You
(42:30):
know how many for Dirk Noovitski First Team All NBAS Dwayne Wade,
go look him up. Jason Tatum is accomplishing stuff they
took guys their entire career to do. Tatum's still in
his prime.
Speaker 2 (42:40):
Now.
Speaker 5 (42:40):
I'm telling you, this Boston team is so stacked. No
way I'm picking against him. I thought the Knicks could
push him, but it hasn't looked good in that match.
Speaker 1 (42:47):
All right, Indy car Practice is next very fast cars.
I want to throw this out, Adam Schefter reporting. With
Matt Stafford remaining with the Rams, the Raiders are going
to now investigate Russell Wilson, Justin Fields, and Sam Darnold.
According to sources, So Darnald is the best of those
(43:07):
three in his prime athletically good arm Fields is a
lively athlete. We don't know in the pocket if he's
consistent enough. Russell and Pete again feels a little clunky
in that.
Speaker 5 (43:21):
My name is missing. Aaron Rodgers.
Speaker 1 (43:25):
Yeah, no, no, good, good good.
Speaker 5 (43:26):
Guess why would they not include him? They don't want
to get in that business.
Speaker 1 (43:30):
I just don't. I think that's that's right. Listen, remember
the Jets and I had a source on this. The
Jets said, we don't want to get into Aaron the
football player or airon the guy business. They wanted to
get out of that business. Aaron comes, he's a moody player.
It's not taking shots at him. He can be prickly,
he can be moody. He is not for everybody, and
(43:51):
yes he'll be a Hall of Famer. IndyCar practices next.
Have a great weekend, a wonderful, safe weekend live in La.
It's the hert
Hosts And Creators
Colin Cowherd
Jason McIntyre
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