June 24, 2025 • 42 mins
He also talks to Nick Wright from First Things First to rank the last 7 NBA champions and why the Thunder deserve more respect
Airious "Ace" Bailey is probably making a huge mistake before the NBA Draft
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Episode Transcript
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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
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dot com, or stream us live every day on the
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Speaker 2 (00:21):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 1 (00:25):
Here we go. It's hour two tomorrow at this time,
Rick Patino, NBA Draft Nick right in five minutes live.
We're in Los Angeles today. It's The Herd. Wherever you
may be and however you may be listening. Thanks for
making us part of your day. You know, John, Like
everybody else, I have to be on my phone from
time to time. I'm not a huge fan of sort
of the sky is falling sort of narrative constantly on
(00:47):
the phone. It gets a lot of clicks. It's grievance,
it's outrage, it's the sky is falling, it's doom. I
don't buy into that. My favorite sandwich is still peanut
butter and jelly. I take naps every day. I still
watch television. I've been hearing for years. TV is dying.
Everything's up on TV. So I was thinking about this
a number, John, and you still you're like me. When
(01:10):
everybody says you got to get rid of your cable,
I'm like, I like college football. How do I get
rid of cable?
Speaker 2 (01:15):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (01:16):
I need to watch my Big Dead football. There's games
on cable. So I was thinking about this game seven
on ABC delivered the most watched NBA Finals game in
six years. People are starving for content. I've been hearing
for you. Oh, television is dying. I don't know. I
watch a lot of it. The NFL's up, the WNBA
is up, Indy car Racing is up. The Gold Cup.
(01:38):
Our B team against Haiti was up from last year.
I don't know. Everything's up. Baseball's up now. I do
think there are challenges in hockey and basketball and baseball
during the regular season because we're becoming very much an
event country. But I've never bought into the television it's
going away. I heard that about newspapers forty years ago,
(02:01):
and I have never been a subscriber to more newspapers
than I am today. I like content. The other thing
I don't buy into is the NBA is doomed. Global
League seventy six billion dollar TV deal Amazon and NBC
and ESPNS involved. The Lakers just sold for ten billion
(02:24):
dollars and their number one sponsors YouTube. The NBA is
just fine. The other thing I don't believe in is
that market size. For years and years I banged on this,
stop being afraid of New York. Look at the NFL
the last five years. You could argue that two New
York teams in Chicago were the biggest tire fires. You
know who's great, Buffalo, Kansas City, Green Bay, I say Buffalo.
(02:49):
Look at the NBA, Indye, Oklahoma City, Boring, Denver. I
mean Boston actually didn't get the number, Okasee and INDI
just got. Look at the WNBA, the Indian NAF and
their star players from Iowa. So I've never bought into
the NBA's dying. Everybody is getting rich in the NBA.
It works with young people. It's amazing on social Look
(03:10):
at how much money the players now make on shoes
in apparel. The league is fine. You may not like it,
but there's a lot of fourteen to thirty three year olds.
It's their favorite sport. It's fine. The TV deal shows that,
and the rating shows that. The other thing is, you know,
big markets the league is rig for big markets. Let
me tell you. If the NFL and the NBA are
(03:31):
rigged for big markets, they're doing an atrocious job. The
NFL's dominated by small markets. I mean, Cincinnati should have
made the playoffs with Joe Burrow. We already got Buffalo, Baltimore,
Green Bay, Kansas City. The New York team stink. I'd
argue the New York teams are the most hopeless in
the NFL this year, the two New York teams. So,
(03:52):
I mean, we had a pack twelve with all big markets.
La San Francisco Seattle had dried up. They moved over
to the Big ten because they're a lot more money
in the Big ten than the glamorous pac twelve. With
the La San Francisco Seattle markets, we're all gonna be okay.
Shaq talked about market size recently.
Speaker 3 (04:11):
Yeah, when I was coming up, it was small market.
You're too small. You probably need to go to a
big market. I'll take old of them. But now every
market is the same. Nobody cares with city here and anymore.
This ain't the nineties. Bigger market doesn't matter. Social media
is the market now.
Speaker 1 (04:28):
Yep, social media is the market. So yesterday. I don't
know why I got heat for this. I thought it
was incredibly rational. I said, over the last seven years,
we've had seven different champions. We know they're not as
good as the KD Splash Brothers, Draymond team. We know
they're not as good as the Duncan, Jenobli, Parker Popovich.
We know they're not MJ's Bulls. They're not Shaq and Kobe,
(04:49):
they're not Showtime, they're not the Michale Bird the Walton team.
We know they're not that. It's more seventies, which I
grew up with. I love the rick Berry Warriors, Walton Blazers,
in the in the DJ and Gus Williams, Jack Sick Masonics.
I love those teams. The Washington Bullets with unsealed Hayes, Shaneer,
Bobby Dandridge. I love those teams. But the following decade
(05:13):
sort of there was a rebirth of the NBA. So
Nick Wright is joining me. So yesterday I ranked I
ranked the last seven champions.
Speaker 4 (05:22):
Catching a lot of heat colin which I know, listen,
I know you're not checking your mentions, but I know
you got plenty of people on your multiple staffs that
come to you and they're like Colin, the internet's ripping you,
so can I if I just.
Speaker 5 (05:37):
Can jump in?
Speaker 4 (05:38):
Yeah, my My only major gripe would be I would
I would at the very least flip flop Thunder Warriors.
I think you're under selling the Thunder a bit. And
I think that Warriors team. It was a great postseason
run and Steph was unbelievable, but when their second best
(05:58):
offensive players Andrew Wiggs, I think that there's and they
weren't a dominant regular season team. So I would have
the Thunder at least at four, if not at three.
But what people are ripping you for is a version
of Lebron James derangement syndrome. How could you have the
twenty twenty Lakers number one when here are the facts
(06:21):
about one of the most disrespected champions, maybe the most
disrespected champion of the last twenty five years. Agree that
Laker team started the year twenty four.
Speaker 5 (06:32):
And three, they earned home.
Speaker 4 (06:35):
Court advantage throughout the NBA playoffs, did not get that
home court advantage because it was in the bubble, and
still swept through the West in five games in every series,
and then won the finals in an easy six despite
remarkable Jimmy Butler performance. They then followed that up, well,
(06:57):
how did they defend their title the day Lebron James
got hurt when Solomon Hill did a somersault into his ankle.
The Los Angeles Lakers. It was they were twenty eight
and thirteen. It was the midway point of the next season.
They had the best record in the entire NBA halfway
through the season following their title. I would then add this,
(07:21):
Take the best player on all of those champions twenty twenty.
Lebron is eye to eye with twenty three Joker in
twenty one Giannis. And take the second best player on
all those champions twenty twenty Anthony Davis is markedly better
than any of these other team's second best player.
Speaker 6 (07:42):
That was So that.
Speaker 4 (07:42):
Is here's the deal, Colin. Here's why you know that
there is a fan and some media obsession with misremembering
the career of Lebron James.
Speaker 5 (07:59):
Almost all of.
Speaker 4 (08:00):
The NBA's biggest myths or biggest lies either have to
do with tearing down Lebron or uplifting a guy.
Speaker 5 (08:10):
He's competing with.
Speaker 4 (08:11):
There isn't a single NBA myth or lie that you're like,
oh what, oh, that's interesting that one works in Lebron's favor.
Speaker 5 (08:19):
No, they all go in one direction.
Speaker 4 (08:22):
And the idea that the twenty twenty Lakers got lucky
by the bubble being no home court advantage when they
had home court advantage is one of the most ridiculous
things I've ever heard, but it's what everybody says.
Speaker 1 (08:35):
And by the way, it should be noted it was
the only time in my life in the playoffs where
young teams overwhelmingly flourished because the older, married players missed
their kids and family, and the Lakers were an old team.
They were the only old NBA team with veterans that
crushed all the other so they had to fight, you know,
because as you get older, you get kids and family.
(08:56):
You have kids and family, you don't want to go
to four week Roadian or Land. So the bottom line is,
I'm with you. People forget how good they were to
start that season. They were dominant through twenty seven to
thirty games.
Speaker 4 (09:09):
Okay, yeah, go ahead, absolutely, go ahead, No, no, no, they
were dominant that year.
Speaker 5 (09:13):
They rolled through the playoffs.
Speaker 4 (09:15):
They then had the best record in the NBA at
the midway point of the next season. They were the
favorites the day Lebron got hurt. They were the Vegas
favorites to go back to back, and so it's just
total recreation of history. We all agree that with I
think the only real other controversy. You're probably undersilling thunder
(09:35):
a bit, but otherwise finalists, you shouldn't have gotten dragged
on Twitter.
Speaker 5 (09:38):
I have your back up.
Speaker 1 (09:39):
Okay, So I said this about Kevin Durant is that
I didn't understand his lack of market I'm like, listen,
players like him. He doesn't need the ball in his hands.
He's arguably the best jump shooter in the league. He's
not a great defender. But Houston has so much damn length,
and so does san Antonio. I'm like, this guy is
(10:01):
a this is a mi You don't have to bake him.
He's a microwave player. You need about four practices in
two games and he'll give you twenty five. I think
Houston is a great fit. Let's start with this. Were
you surprised at the pushback on well, you'd have to
sign a couple of big years. I'm like, bench guys
(10:23):
make fifteen million. I was surprised there wasn't a livelier market.
Speaker 4 (10:28):
Well, so I wasn't surprised by the market, because I
do think you have to thread the needle of like
I don't think Kevin Durant would have made as much
since for San Antonio or Miami because neither one of
those teams are Kevin Durant away from winning a championship.
Speaker 5 (10:49):
And when you.
Speaker 4 (10:49):
Trade for him, what you are really trading for is
this coming season, and you hope next season as well,
the twenty seven season, and then after that he'll be
forty and it's probably in a different situation. So I
understood the market, but I agree with you wholeheartedly in
this regard. This is the perfect trade for Houston. So
(11:13):
Houston replaces Jalen Green, who in the playoffs, despite having
I think a thirty seven point single game, averaged thirteen
points on less than forty percent from the field, less
than thirty percent from three. He could not make a shot,
he could not create a shot, and you replace him
(11:33):
with one of the best shot makers and shot creators
for himself in the history of the league. You have
now a starting lineup of Van Bliet, who's a steady champ.
Speaker 5 (11:44):
I'm in Thompson, who.
Speaker 4 (11:45):
Is a future star, defensive player of the Air caliber guy,
Kevin Durant, Jabari Smith, the top five pick and Shngoon
And you didn't decimate your bench coming off the bench.
You still have Tarry Eason, Steve Adams, Reied Shepherd who
they took in the top five last year. But Udoka didn't,
(12:06):
you know, want to play a rookie. But he'll play
a lot in cam Whitmore. You go nine deep, you
can defend, you have a great coach. You now have
a bucket at the end of games. And Shingoon is
the connector. And so the critique on Durant has been
about leadership stuff. Udoka will take care of that. I
think right as we sit here today, and you know
(12:29):
it's early. Obviously season ended two days ago, but when
I look at next year, I think the Rockets have
a real path to being the Western Conference champion. And
I would I miss seeing Kevin Durant in big games.
Some of that has been bad luck, some of that's
been bad choices, some of that's been bad teams. Like
(12:50):
you know, it's a big stew some of it's on him,
some of it's not. But the fact of the matter
is this Colin in the six years before he went
to Golden State his final six Oklahoma City. He made
the conference finals four of those six years, in the
NBA finals once in the three years in Golden State,
obviously three straight NBA finals. In the six years since then,
(13:12):
he has won two playoff series. He has never been
out of round two. For a guy who lived at
you know, mid May, end of May, beginning of June
NBA playoff basketball for the first decade of his career.
I want him to have one last act. And I
still think he's right around the tenth best player in
the league.
Speaker 3 (13:32):
He is.
Speaker 4 (13:33):
It is a great addition, and I do not think
they gave up too much at all.
Speaker 1 (13:38):
Okay, so I'm looking at my topics here. I don't
you get so agitated when I pick the Chargers over
the Chiefs, so as you do it every year, I am.
Speaker 5 (13:50):
And it's not and it's not home. I don't.
Speaker 4 (13:53):
And by the way, it's not out of Chiefs defense.
It's out of Colin Coward protectionism. You know how much
you've meant to me, you know how much I love you,
and I hate that every year you do this to yourself,
that every year it's either the Bronco and you flip
a coin. Is it Sean Baiton and the Broncos or
is it my friends the Chargers who are gonna beat
the Chiefs And then you're just wrong? But go ahead,
(14:15):
I'll let you do it again, I guess.
Speaker 1 (14:17):
Okay, So John and I John Middlakoff. Do you know John?
Have you met John before?
Speaker 3 (14:21):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (14:21):
Of course, never in person, but I obviously know Johnny
does a great job. And his three bold predictions made
a lot of sense, unlike yours.
Speaker 1 (14:29):
So let's just go to mind. Let's not let's not
throw shade at John. So no, John's were great, okay,
and you and you probably do agree. The Dolphins are
no steak in a lot of sizzle. I think they're gonna.
I think they're they're gonna and I think to so
the one that bothers you are the Chargers when the
AFC West. And here's my take is that I've watched
(14:49):
Harbaugh and year two everywhere. First year he builds the culture,
but he needs two years to build the roster. And
their roster is now really really good good. And I
don't know what the Chiefs O line is. I don't
know what it is they're receivers. I hope they stay
out of personal issues. But that's been sketchy. Don't you
(15:10):
think it's time? Didn't you see the vulnerability of the
Chiefs last year when.
Speaker 4 (15:16):
Mahomes played and they went fifteen and one and were
seventeen in one, Mahomes playing going into the Super Bowl? Yeah, listen,
I said it before and I'll say it again. The
twenty twenty four of Kansas City Chiefs were, without a doubt,
the worst one lost two time defending champion I've ever seen.
Speaker 5 (15:31):
Now they're the only one lost two time defending champion.
Speaker 1 (15:35):
But yeah, but I just.
Speaker 4 (15:37):
I somebody and the I know the Chiefs looked bad
in the Super Bowl.
Speaker 5 (15:41):
They did.
Speaker 4 (15:42):
I also know your beloved Justin Herbert is. I think
he just threw another pick against the Texans. That game's
been over for four months. But I'm sure they're flying
high going into the offseason. But here is the problem.
The problem is this. Patrick Mahomes in his career is
thirty five and five against the AFC West. Patrick Mahomes
(16:05):
in his career has started seven years. They have won
the division seven times. They have played in the AFC
Championship seven times. They have won the conference five times.
To pick against Reid and Mahomes is just lunacy, and
I would evidence it by whenever you do your other divisions,
(16:29):
every other team in the league that you believe clearly
has the.
Speaker 5 (16:34):
Best coach and quarterback.
Speaker 4 (16:36):
In its division, you will pick to win that division,
except for the team that always wins the division, that
is always there. And so I think that I do
think like maybe because sometimes you know, there's like take
Osmosis and j Mack has just been he's you know,
he is playing, he's betting zero on the roulette wheel
(16:58):
every time. He's like, when it comes up, I'm gonna
be a genius. And so he's just betting into the
Chiefs every year, and I think it is rubbed off
on you a bit now. So maybe with middle coolf
there now, I thought John's predictions were excellent.
Speaker 5 (17:11):
I also though, if he has.
Speaker 4 (17:14):
The Patriots and who's the other team he is in
the playoffs, Oh.
Speaker 5 (17:17):
The Colts.
Speaker 4 (17:18):
I respect that because that's going to mean there are
some teams everyone has penciled into the playoffs that are
going to be left without a chair, and so obviously
the Bengals are one of them. According to John. So
I do respect a non chalky prediction, but.
Speaker 5 (17:36):
I'll tell you this much.
Speaker 4 (17:37):
It's not gonna be the Chiefs without a chair, and
it's not gonna be the Chiefs not winning their division.
Speaker 1 (17:42):
Okay, that's fair, let's see. Okay, one more thing. The
draft is tomorrow, I said earlier. I always defect. I
never like going to a restaurant that's got a signature dish, like,
just do everything well. Last night, I by the way
overlooking palm trees in the Pacific Ocean and in Santa Monica,
I had a vhy swaan, a nice cocktail thinking of you,
(18:03):
and as I had dinner, I was in a restaurant
where everybody ordered a bunch of stuff and it was
all amazing. And my take is, I don't want to
go to a place that's got a sixteen egg Omelet
just dude. And I've always said Lebron doesn't have a
signature move, and my take is, because he does everything well,
I don't need the skyhook. He just gets the best
(18:24):
players the best shots. So they're saying Cooper Flag doesn't
have a bag, and my take is it's been the
most overrated thing of my life. Kareem had one because
he didn't have the ball in his hands. You didn't
give centers the ball like you do now at mid court,
like you had to wait for the ball late in
the shot clock. What do you make about the criticism,
(18:45):
You know, Lebron he didn't have a go to signature
move like Jay.
Speaker 4 (18:51):
Yeah, so I also this, right, of course this is
but this is again to go back to what I
first said, Every NBA myth starts and ends.
Speaker 5 (19:03):
With the same theme. We must elevate.
Speaker 4 (19:06):
Michael Jordan at the expense of Lebron James. And so
there's just there there. It's never the other direction on
the myths. There's some of that on the facts, but
not the myths. So like, does Lebron have one single move,
Like you close your eyes and you think of Lebron,
that's what he did. And the answer to that question
is it's actually probably a chase down block, right, that's
(19:29):
you close your eyes, you think of it. But on offense,
when you can do everything, then you don't have to
do any one thing specifically. People will say for Jordan,
his signature move was the mid range turnaround, but that's
only only young people think. Young Ish people think that
because that was a ninety six to ninety eight Jordan's
(19:52):
signature post baseball. Jordan's signature early in his career was
I'm gonna go down the middle of the lane, jump
in the and figure it out about four seconds later
because I can hang and I'm such a great athlete
that I can figure this out on the fly.
Speaker 1 (20:09):
It was.
Speaker 4 (20:09):
He wasn't this mid range assassin he became later in
his career. Here's what I will say about Cooper Flag.
There is not a single person alive who was a
finished product at what they ended up being at eighteen
and a half years old. The most important number with
Cooper Flag is his date of birth. He reclassified he
(20:32):
is when he gets to the league. Since we're talking
about Lebron, he will be only two weeks older, two
weeks older than Lebron was when Lebron entered the league
and Lebron skipped college. He turns nineteen nineteen in December of.
Speaker 5 (20:49):
His rookie year.
Speaker 4 (20:50):
So the fact that Cooper Flag does basically everything pretty
well is to me a brilliant place to start. He'll
figure out a couple things he does great. But what
I think sometimes happens to young star athletes, and maybe
this is why signature moves can be at times overrated,
(21:13):
is they figure out what they do really well, and
they end up spending all their time or a lot
of their time perfecting that as other things atrophy a bit.
It feels to me like Cooper Flagg, you know, is
a B to an A minus at almost everything you
can be. And so he'll figure out, you know, where
(21:34):
his ultimate strength is. But listen, I do I think
he's a future league MVP. I think that's a little strong.
Do I think he's a no doubt consensus first overall?
Pick absolutely, and I think he'll be just fine.
Speaker 1 (21:47):
Nick Right bringing the heat. Really enjoyed it today. You know, basically,
I'm I'm here a little bit of your speedback, but
I enjoy that. I enjo fil te.
Speaker 5 (21:56):
Well, No I gave you credit, I had you listen you.
Speaker 4 (22:00):
Our relationship on this show is actually a perfect It's
just a homeostasis where when you're right, I affirm you,
and when you're wrong, I try to prevent you from
public embarrassment, and if I can't, then I just.
Speaker 5 (22:14):
Have to inflict it. That's all it is. I'll talk
to you.
Speaker 1 (22:17):
Later, Nick Right, for things first, Trust and Will dot
Com makes it easy to do the right thing protect
your family. Visit trust and Will dot com today for
total peason.
Speaker 2 (22:31):
One more heard. The Herd streams twenty four hours a day,
seven days a week within the iHeartRadio app. Search Herd
to listen live or on demand whenever you like. Hi,
this is Jay.
Speaker 7 (22:42):
I'm the producer of the Pauli and Toni Fusco Show.
Usually in these promos they ask you to listen to
the show. I'm here to ask you please don't listen
to the show. The hosts are two absolute morons who
have the dumbest takes on sports imaginable. Don't listen to
the show so it can get camped.
Speaker 8 (22:55):
WHA, what the hell are you doing in our studio again?
Speaker 6 (23:02):
Ignore that fool.
Speaker 2 (23:03):
Listen to the Pauline Tony Fusco.
Speaker 6 (23:04):
Show on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcast.
Speaker 2 (23:07):
He's still moving.
Speaker 1 (23:13):
A lot of things going on NBA Draft tomorrow. There's
an emerging story that sounds like trouble. Sometimes young people
just get bad advice. We'll get to that in a bit. First,
John Middlecop with the news. Turn on the news.
Speaker 9 (23:28):
This is the herdline news Well that NFL team up
north for forty nine ers coming off the Super Bowl
had a disastrous season last year, obviously filled with a
ton of injuries. The Niners moved off of Deebo Samuel
and with Ricky Pierce All their former first round pick,
entering year two, he's expected to take a bigger role
on offense. He talked about his growing relationship with quarterback
(23:49):
Brock perty.
Speaker 10 (23:51):
He is the same person no matter what you know
I've It's almost like I kind of knew a side
of Brock when I've seen him from Afar, you know,
being in college and watching him, because he he doesn't change.
That's one What's the one thing about Brock that I
really respect. You know, he's the same person, and you know,
I think that everybody in the building and feels comfortable
and feels the same way a Brock Brock, just because
the way he carries himself and you know, he's he's
(24:12):
about his business.
Speaker 1 (24:14):
I didn't love the Ricky Pearsall pick because at the
time it was like Debo and I, Yuke and Jennings,
I'm like, you don't you're over drafting wide receiver. Then
there was the near tragedy which but I will say
in that offense, and you know the Niners better than
any person I know. In that offense, the Shanahan offense,
(24:35):
it does feel like he's now that Debo's gone. He's
a good fit.
Speaker 9 (24:39):
He showed signs of life last year at the end
of the season. After the catch is big with Kyle right.
Hit the ball in your hands and then make plays.
That's what Debo became a star. I Yuke's really good
at that. The problem is no, I mean, his toughness
he got shot and played in the season was incredible.
But he's been injured a lot with football injuries. When
they drafted him hamstring, shoulder, he was injured in OTAs
(24:59):
or you know the last couple of weeks.
Speaker 6 (25:03):
Brandon at Yuke is hurt right right now.
Speaker 9 (25:05):
So you have major question marks with the skill group.
They need this guy to be a good player. I
mean there's a lot of pressure part of making a transition.
How the Rams did it when they you know, went
through their roster, was they drafted well, so you draft
a guy in the first round. There's a spotlight on
Ricky Pierson well, I mean.
Speaker 1 (25:22):
Hooper was aging and Poka Nakua emerged, sure, otherwise they'd
be in big trouble right now wide receiver.
Speaker 9 (25:27):
I mean, Jenning's a good player, but he can't be
her one, So I mean they need both these guys.
Speaker 6 (25:31):
They'd kittle McCaffrey coming back.
Speaker 9 (25:33):
I'm still bullish on the forty nine ers because their schedule,
but a lot of question marks coming into the season. Yeah,
speaking of we just talked about this, the emergence of
Daniel Jones, mainly because Anthony Richardson has been shelved most
of the OTA's in mini camp with a shoulder injury
earlier this month, that it's opened the door for dj
According to a recent report, Jones has built a significant
(25:54):
lead over Richardson to start for the Colts in his
quarterback one moving forward.
Speaker 1 (26:00):
That doesn't surprise me. I've always said he's not quite
as fluid as Alex Smith. He's a little more I
feel like he's sometimes a little bit more rigid. But
he's a bigger, stronger version of Alex the athlete. His
straight line speed is good. He went to Dooke. He's
he's got to be bright. He's a big strong I
mean I had a friend who was next to him
(26:20):
in an event about a year ago. He's way bigger
than you think. So you know, I always felt they
drafted him. They saw physically, they saw the next d
Lin Manning, and Eli's really special. But he did make
the playoffs and he had no support system. I mean,
the Colts have a better O line than the Giants. Sure,
the Colts have better skilled people now than the Giants do.
(26:41):
So he'll have more to work with than Shane Stike
and most like him more than day Balling to vote
very good.
Speaker 9 (26:47):
I think football is a lot who believes in you,
and he go back to Alex Smith. Jim Harbaugh believed
in him a couple of years ago, the Baker Mayfield,
Tampa believed in him last year, the last couple of
years of Sam Darnold, from Kyle Shanahan to Kevin O'Connell
now to John Schneider. I think this team not only
believe they need this guy. And let's face it, the
Anthey Richardson. He is the new version of Trey Lance.
They swung for the fences that they whiffed. Did this
(27:09):
thing's over before it even started?
Speaker 1 (27:12):
Yeah, Richardson is one of those. He only played thirteen
college games at Florida so you were taking a bit
of a gamble. But again I go back to Chris Fallard,
I lose luck. I swing the fence on Wentz, who
people were like, whoa, he was very good, actually twenty
seven touchdowns and then you go get a really old
Philip Rivers and that hit. They were looking to bridge
(27:35):
the gap with the Kansas cities of the league in
Buffalos and Baltimore's and they're like, listen, the kid physically
is insanely talented. And I think they looked at the
AFC and thought, well, we don't have a quarterback. We're
going to roll the dice.
Speaker 9 (27:46):
I think it's hard sometimes when you pigeonhole yourself. The
Steelers are going to be in this position. We've seen
other teams where you've got to take a quarterback that's
you know, the Belichick did it with Mac Jones, the
Steelers did it with Kenny Pickett. When you can just
let's just take this guy, Dak Prescott, Brock Birdie hurts in.
Speaker 2 (28:00):
The second round.
Speaker 9 (28:01):
Sometimes it's an easier landing spot for that player and
there's less pressure.
Speaker 6 (28:05):
This Anthony Richardson Trey Lance.
Speaker 9 (28:07):
You go all in for him and then immediately high expectations.
It blows up in your face real quick. Okay, how
about Dodgers owner Mark Walter. He made headlines last week
after buying the majority share of the Lakers for ten
billion dollars. With the change in ownership, the belief is
that LA is now in a position to make some
significant moves moving forward, and Draymond Green recognizes the position
(28:30):
the Lakers are in.
Speaker 8 (28:32):
Jeanie Buss and the Bus family were one of the
least wealthiest families as far as money goes. They had
the big asset in which they just sold, but that
was that's kind of the source of their income. Now
you got to owner with the deep pockets. He don't say, well, no,
I don't need that money. Take all of that money
(28:54):
and put it back into the team and go get
me this guy, and go give me that guy. And
let's let's let's booth do whatever we want to do
with this roster. We'll pay the tax, we'll do this.
And so I think with getting this new ownership group,
it makes the Lakers so danger.
Speaker 1 (29:11):
Well, the downside to being the Lakers, well, here's one
of the things that Laker fans have to realize. Your
entire brand was built on the ability to seek and
land the superstar. Those days are over now unless you
want to pay just an I don't even know what
(29:31):
the penalties are now for blowing through taps. But if
you look at the Aprons and you look at the
new CBA, you may have a lot of guys that
want to play for you once you pay Luca and
for the next two years Lebron's there's limitations on what
they can fay. They need a center, there's limitations on
what they can pay to get one unless they move
(29:52):
Austin Reeves. So they always were the team. The Miami
Heat with Riley and the Lakers were like if there
was a top free agent there, you knew they always
got a call. People like in a Winter League going
to Miami and going to LA. The league and the
Aprons and the cbatch a different ballgame.
Speaker 3 (30:10):
Now.
Speaker 9 (30:10):
To me, it's less about the players because of the
Aprons and that you know, most of the teams are
playing on the same level playing field.
Speaker 6 (30:16):
In terms of how much you can.
Speaker 9 (30:17):
Spend, I guess you can spend more on tax money,
but you can't really acquire more players that way. It's
more about what you can do off the court into me.
You know one Bob Myers, la guy went to UCLA.
Polinka remember him and Magic have a weird relationship. Magic's
part of Washington and the Commander's operation. You know who
I saw sitting in the draft room was Bob Myers
(30:37):
for the Washington Commanders. A lot of connections there, from
pat Riley to Phil Jackson to Jared They like these
big stars.
Speaker 6 (30:44):
Bob Myers looks the part, so does Pelinka.
Speaker 9 (30:46):
But you wonder if this comes full circle, because that's
what they did when they bought the Dodgers, right, they.
Speaker 6 (30:51):
Brought in their guy, Andrew free Well.
Speaker 1 (30:53):
Bob Myers lives in Los Angeles.
Speaker 6 (30:55):
I'm telling you you can see it coming from a
mile away.
Speaker 2 (30:58):
He ran a team.
Speaker 3 (30:59):
You know.
Speaker 9 (30:59):
I think the Warriors spent almost seven hundred million dollars
in tax money, but they were winning championships and it
was worth it. A guy that has experience with the dynasty,
I do think that Magic Polenka relationship could kind of
come full circle here now with the Dodgers gaining control.
Not great for Polinka, who, in fairness, pulled off one
of the greatest heights in the middle of the night.
Speaker 1 (31:18):
Oh they also got Austin Reeves.
Speaker 6 (31:20):
He's got a good job.
Speaker 1 (31:21):
No, no, the Westbrook move whatever, but they've done they
haven't they. I'll defend Polenka. He's made some nice moves
and the Luca one will go on. You know his
Wikipedia page as one of the great steals in late history. Uh,
just ran into Bob Myers. He was right down the street,
just slit the part. Huh. And it's one of the
(31:42):
most gracious, likable people I've ever met in sports. Yeah,
the love great guy. John Middelkoff with the News.
Speaker 2 (31:49):
Well that's the news, and thanks for stopping by the
Herd Line News.
Speaker 1 (31:54):
Patino is gonna come on our show tomorrow, and I
mean almost a savant with his knowledge and understanding basketball
and what he did for Saint John's. You know, when
Louis Carnaseca left, they just tried a lot of different people,
capable people in Saint John's and it didn't work. And
Rick Patino arrived and suddenly they were really good, really fast.
I watched. I mean, I couldn't say the last time
(32:14):
I was that into Saint John's. It was the Louis
carnosecond days. So he's gonna come on tomorrow with the draft.
There is one player in this draft I think making
a big mistake, and we'll talk about that coming up next.
Speaker 2 (32:31):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
and neon eastern nine am Pacific on Fox Sports Radio
FS one and the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 9 (32:43):
Alex Pulo looks to continue his legendary season and hold
off Award Newgarden, Kirkwood and the rest of the pack
as the IndyCar Series.
Speaker 6 (32:53):
Roles in the midd Ohio July sixth on Fox.
Speaker 1 (32:58):
So a couple stories. First of all, Ace Bailey, who
was not the best player on Rutgers this year. The
best player is going to get drafted number two, the
guard Harper, and Ace Bailey was a big He's not
a playmaker. One assist a game, takes a lot of
tough shots. He's talented, he's long, but he is the
(33:20):
mystery man of the draft. He's trying to manipulate the
draft before he's in the league. He's not actually going
to workouts. And I think it's a big mistake because
I think this is a very rich draft, and so
maybe it was. If it was an awful draft, he'd
have more leverage and you know, this is a little
(33:42):
bit of Shador Sanders and John because he's a former
scout and has a lot of sources in the league.
You and I were talking this morning. This is a
little what Dion and Shadeur did where we're going to
try to pick the team before we're in the league.
Speaker 9 (33:57):
I think a lot of the good teams in the NFL,
let's say the playoff teams want to talk to shade
or Sanders during the draft process. Well, he declined, because
of course they have quarterbacks and their mindset is, well, one,
you're not gonna go as high as you think.
Speaker 6 (34:12):
And two people move now right, gms move.
Speaker 9 (34:15):
Quarterbacks are constantly traded, Zach Wilson, Trey Lance, Justin Fields,
Mac Jones.
Speaker 6 (34:21):
Look how many teams all these guys have already been on.
Speaker 9 (34:23):
Look at the NBA for example, SGA and Tyler's Tyrese
Holliborton were both traded within a year and a year
and a half of this start of their career. So,
unless you are Cooper Flag or Lebron James or Trevor Lawrence,
it does you a disservice to me in the draft
process to literally not talk to everybody because that guy
in two years could be acquiring you and then extending you.
Speaker 6 (34:46):
I mean, it makes no sense.
Speaker 2 (34:47):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (34:48):
Now John Elway, who by the way, is still to
this day the greatest quarterback prospect ever, he did say
using leverage, I'm not playing for this team. But Elway
would talk to teams. Elway just said I'm not playing
for the Colts because they're a tire fire and I
don't want to play for him. That's different than Shadu
Or who was a B to a B minus prospect,
(35:08):
saying I'm not talking to the good teams and then
his dad during Super Bowl Week says we're not going
to the bad teams. So he shrunk his market to
a tiny market. This kid in a very good draft
and he's the kind of player. He's not a playmaker.
He doesn't necessarily play well with others. Which, as we're
watching the NBA, that's the league.
Speaker 3 (35:28):
Now.
Speaker 1 (35:28):
The league is not about your bag. The league is Halliburton,
The league is SGA, The league is Tatum. Can you
because you can't stack stars, do you play well with others?
And Ace Bailey not necessarily. You know, he's not a playmaker.
You don't get any assists out of him. So I
think this is a big mistake.
Speaker 9 (35:47):
Even Caleb Williams remember the controversy with the dad and
you know you had talked about it. He was going
to meetings. We all knew he's going number one to Chicago.
He's still meeting with Minnesota, like you. It does you
a big disservice your can I think you know your
brand to not talk to all these gms and coaches.
Speaker 6 (36:05):
These aren't difficult. You're just talking about basketball or football.
This isn't rocket science. It's not that compliment.
Speaker 1 (36:10):
I think anytime you're going into any industry, have as
many allies and friends as you can. You talk to everybody.
Here's a second thing. So yesterday, it's so funny, So
we do prep. John's been sitting in on the prep
here and you know, he's first time on our show,
has heard line has been great, and he's kind of
(36:30):
sitting in our process. It's about an hour and a
half process and we just go through the day's stories.
And yesterday the last thing we threw in we were
done with our prep and I said, you know, seven
year seven champs, I'm just gonna rank them. And we
spent about five minutes on it, I said, bang bang
bang bank, this got apparently big play. I stay off
(36:52):
my phone in the afternoons. This apparently got big play.
So I put the Lakers number one. And my reasoning was, well,
Anthony Davis was the two. And if you say, it's
Anthony Davis better than Jalen Brown the Celtics two.
Speaker 2 (37:06):
Yes?
Speaker 1 (37:06):
Is he better than Jamal Murray the Nuggets too? Yes?
Was he better than like Andrew Wiggins or Draymond the warriorship?
Speaker 3 (37:13):
Yes?
Speaker 1 (37:14):
Was he better than Chris Middleton?
Speaker 11 (37:15):
Yes?
Speaker 1 (37:15):
Is he better than chet Holmgren or who was the
two for the Raptors, Fred van Vliet, you know whoever
it was. My take is Lebron was outside of Jokic,
arguably better than all the ones because Lebron was closer
his prime and Anthony Davis was easily the best two.
And if you have the two best players and you
forget that team had Caruso and KCP. But we didn't
(37:38):
know what Caruso was. Well, Sam Prestyt Oklahoma City, did
he went to Chicago? He was excellent. He was excellent
for OKAC. So people just didn't know what Caruso was.
He's really good player who plays a lot and can
defend multiple positions. And KCP has always been a shop maker.
But Alex Caruso, who I like. I've seen him live
play several times. He's a strong guy, size, excellent defender.
(38:02):
He was on the Laker team and he's on this
OKC team, and he down played a little of that
PREVIEU and COVID championship with the Lakers. Now I got
a real one. I don't know if you can say anything.
Speaker 11 (38:17):
Yeah, I think just because of the way the team
is constructed now versus the team I had in twenty twenty, Like,
it was much harder with this team just because of
the experience, right, And everybody talked about any experience to
win a championship. For me, I've seen greates do it,
so I knew, I knew the way. I knew, I
knew the mindset. But to see these guys do it, man,
it's it's really cool to see it in person, and
(38:39):
I'm so happy for the guys.
Speaker 6 (38:40):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (38:40):
By the way, you know why I was harder this
time because he didn't have Lebron and Ad. That's why
it was harder because that team was better than this team. Yeah,
that team had all of the experience. That's why they
would have beaten this team. Okay, Lebron, outside of Jokic
was better than all the other team's best player. Give
me a break on Yannis, he still can't shoot a umper.
And Ad was the best two and they had really
(39:03):
good players behind them in good depth. So yeah, it
was weird. Here's how I look at COVID. Anybody in
any industry who succeeded deserves credit. I'm the opposite of
the market. The market is telling you, well, what a break?
A break? Do you know how hard it was to
(39:25):
perform with COVID. I mean here at Fox, in the building,
there were arrows on what bathrooms you could use just
getting through the building. Here was the matrix. So anybody
in any industry, if you're a financial planner, if you're
a nurse, if you're a basketball player, anybody that succeeded
with all that sort of drama and trauma we were
all dealing with for a year and a half. I
(39:46):
got your back. I think it and Nick Wright talked
about this earlier. We forget how good that Laker team
was before the league shut down.
Speaker 5 (39:56):
Twenty twenty.
Speaker 4 (39:56):
Lebron is eye to eye with twenty three Joker in
twenty one Giannis, and take the second best player on
all those champions. Twenty twenty Anthony Davis is markedly better
than any of these other team's second best player. The
idea that the twenty twenty Lakers got lucky by the
(40:18):
bubble being no home court advantage when they had home
court advantage is one of the most ridiculous things I've
ever heard.
Speaker 1 (40:25):
Yeah, they were twenty four in the league when the
league shut down, and they would have had home court advantage.
Where when lebron gets home court advantage when the best
the top two tenem have home court advantage in NBA
playoff history. Unlike the Celtics this year, the Lakers were
good at home, so it was a major, major disadvantage
that they were the best team. Then they fly through
(40:46):
it win All the other older veteran teams regressed and
just kind of unraveled because they missed their families. Older
players have families and kids. Older teams. The Lakers had
to deal with a lot of drama. They had the
two best players were older players, and they just dealt
with it. The following year they came back, they were
still the best team in the league, and then Lebron
got hurt, rolled on his Solomon, rolled on his leg.
(41:08):
As Nick pointed out, So the way I always looked
at COVID, it didn't matter the profession. I don't care
if you're a podcaster or a physician. If you flourished
during COVID, you get credit. I'm just going to give
you credit. I don't think it was easy, and I
think for the record, I acknowledge for the radio audience,
(41:29):
I'm showing the seven best teams in order. It was Lakers, Celtics, Nuggets, Warriors, Bucks,
under Raptors. I acknowledged the Celtics had the better overall roster,
but it should be noted you want to know who
won championships during COVID, Tom Brady and Lebron the two
most focused professional athletes of my life. Oh yeah, the
(41:51):
Dodgers did too. So it's not like it was who
won the World Series, the Pittsburgh Pirates, you know who
won the you know, start looking at who won Brady,
Lebron and the Dodgers. So this idea that it was
this quirky COVID thing where all of a sudden, the
Washington Wizards won the NBA title. Then I would discount
(42:11):
it because they've been dog food for twenty years. But
it was big brands, focused stars. I'm good with it,
and John hates the Lakers, so this doesn't go over well.
Speaker 9 (42:21):
It pains me to say that the Warriors you could
have had them last. It's kind of It was the
defining championship for Steph Curry, but it was his worst team.
Speaker 6 (42:30):
That their team. I get backing up.
Speaker 1 (42:32):
I give him credit because I thought Wiggins was the
best he ever was as a Warrior. I think Steve
curR is arguably the best coach on that entire list.
So and Steph Curry had some phenomenal games in the playoffs.
So I got a great player, a great coach, best
defensive player at all time, and playoff experience. I probably
had the Warriors maybe a slot hid
Thanks for listening to The Herd podcast. Be sure to
catch us live every weekday on Fox Sports Radio in
noon to three Eastern nine am to noon Pacific. Find
your local station for The Herd at Fox Sports Radio
dot com, or stream us live every day on the
iHeartRadio app by searching Fox Sports Radio or FSR.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 1 (00:25):
Here we go. It's hour two tomorrow at this time,
Rick Patino, NBA Draft Nick right in five minutes live.
We're in Los Angeles today. It's The Herd. Wherever you
may be and however you may be listening. Thanks for
making us part of your day. You know, John, Like
everybody else, I have to be on my phone from
time to time. I'm not a huge fan of sort
of the sky is falling sort of narrative constantly on
(00:47):
the phone. It gets a lot of clicks. It's grievance,
it's outrage, it's the sky is falling, it's doom. I
don't buy into that. My favorite sandwich is still peanut
butter and jelly. I take naps every day. I still
watch television. I've been hearing for years. TV is dying.
Everything's up on TV. So I was thinking about this
a number, John, and you still you're like me. When
(01:10):
everybody says you got to get rid of your cable,
I'm like, I like college football. How do I get
rid of cable?
Speaker 2 (01:15):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (01:16):
I need to watch my Big Dead football. There's games
on cable. So I was thinking about this game seven
on ABC delivered the most watched NBA Finals game in
six years. People are starving for content. I've been hearing
for you. Oh, television is dying. I don't know. I
watch a lot of it. The NFL's up, the WNBA
is up, Indy car Racing is up. The Gold Cup.
(01:38):
Our B team against Haiti was up from last year.
I don't know. Everything's up. Baseball's up now. I do
think there are challenges in hockey and basketball and baseball
during the regular season because we're becoming very much an
event country. But I've never bought into the television it's
going away. I heard that about newspapers forty years ago,
(02:01):
and I have never been a subscriber to more newspapers
than I am today. I like content. The other thing
I don't buy into is the NBA is doomed. Global
League seventy six billion dollar TV deal Amazon and NBC
and ESPNS involved. The Lakers just sold for ten billion
(02:24):
dollars and their number one sponsors YouTube. The NBA is
just fine. The other thing I don't believe in is
that market size. For years and years I banged on this,
stop being afraid of New York. Look at the NFL
the last five years. You could argue that two New
York teams in Chicago were the biggest tire fires. You
know who's great, Buffalo, Kansas City, Green Bay, I say Buffalo.
(02:49):
Look at the NBA, Indye, Oklahoma City, Boring, Denver. I
mean Boston actually didn't get the number, Okasee and INDI
just got. Look at the WNBA, the Indian NAF and
their star players from Iowa. So I've never bought into
the NBA's dying. Everybody is getting rich in the NBA.
It works with young people. It's amazing on social Look
(03:10):
at how much money the players now make on shoes
in apparel. The league is fine. You may not like it,
but there's a lot of fourteen to thirty three year olds.
It's their favorite sport. It's fine. The TV deal shows that,
and the rating shows that. The other thing is, you know,
big markets the league is rig for big markets. Let
me tell you. If the NFL and the NBA are
(03:31):
rigged for big markets, they're doing an atrocious job. The
NFL's dominated by small markets. I mean, Cincinnati should have
made the playoffs with Joe Burrow. We already got Buffalo, Baltimore,
Green Bay, Kansas City. The New York team stink. I'd
argue the New York teams are the most hopeless in
the NFL this year, the two New York teams. So,
(03:52):
I mean, we had a pack twelve with all big markets.
La San Francisco Seattle had dried up. They moved over
to the Big ten because they're a lot more money
in the Big ten than the glamorous pac twelve. With
the La San Francisco Seattle markets, we're all gonna be okay.
Shaq talked about market size recently.
Speaker 3 (04:11):
Yeah, when I was coming up, it was small market.
You're too small. You probably need to go to a
big market. I'll take old of them. But now every
market is the same. Nobody cares with city here and anymore.
This ain't the nineties. Bigger market doesn't matter. Social media
is the market now.
Speaker 1 (04:28):
Yep, social media is the market. So yesterday. I don't
know why I got heat for this. I thought it
was incredibly rational. I said, over the last seven years,
we've had seven different champions. We know they're not as
good as the KD Splash Brothers, Draymond team. We know
they're not as good as the Duncan, Jenobli, Parker Popovich.
We know they're not MJ's Bulls. They're not Shaq and Kobe,
(04:49):
they're not Showtime, they're not the Michale Bird the Walton team.
We know they're not that. It's more seventies, which I
grew up with. I love the rick Berry Warriors, Walton Blazers,
in the in the DJ and Gus Williams, Jack Sick Masonics.
I love those teams. The Washington Bullets with unsealed Hayes, Shaneer,
Bobby Dandridge. I love those teams. But the following decade
(05:13):
sort of there was a rebirth of the NBA. So
Nick Wright is joining me. So yesterday I ranked I
ranked the last seven champions.
Speaker 4 (05:22):
Catching a lot of heat colin which I know, listen,
I know you're not checking your mentions, but I know
you got plenty of people on your multiple staffs that
come to you and they're like Colin, the internet's ripping you,
so can I if I just.
Speaker 5 (05:37):
Can jump in?
Speaker 4 (05:38):
Yeah, my My only major gripe would be I would
I would at the very least flip flop Thunder Warriors.
I think you're under selling the Thunder a bit. And
I think that Warriors team. It was a great postseason
run and Steph was unbelievable, but when their second best
(05:58):
offensive players Andrew Wiggs, I think that there's and they
weren't a dominant regular season team. So I would have
the Thunder at least at four, if not at three.
But what people are ripping you for is a version
of Lebron James derangement syndrome. How could you have the
twenty twenty Lakers number one when here are the facts
(06:21):
about one of the most disrespected champions, maybe the most
disrespected champion of the last twenty five years. Agree that
Laker team started the year twenty four.
Speaker 5 (06:32):
And three, they earned home.
Speaker 4 (06:35):
Court advantage throughout the NBA playoffs, did not get that
home court advantage because it was in the bubble, and
still swept through the West in five games in every series,
and then won the finals in an easy six despite
remarkable Jimmy Butler performance. They then followed that up, well,
(06:57):
how did they defend their title the day Lebron James
got hurt when Solomon Hill did a somersault into his ankle.
The Los Angeles Lakers. It was they were twenty eight
and thirteen. It was the midway point of the next season.
They had the best record in the entire NBA halfway
through the season following their title. I would then add this,
(07:21):
Take the best player on all of those champions twenty twenty.
Lebron is eye to eye with twenty three Joker in
twenty one Giannis. And take the second best player on
all those champions twenty twenty Anthony Davis is markedly better
than any of these other team's second best player.
Speaker 6 (07:42):
That was So that.
Speaker 4 (07:42):
Is here's the deal, Colin. Here's why you know that
there is a fan and some media obsession with misremembering
the career of Lebron James.
Speaker 5 (07:59):
Almost all of.
Speaker 4 (08:00):
The NBA's biggest myths or biggest lies either have to
do with tearing down Lebron or uplifting a guy.
Speaker 5 (08:10):
He's competing with.
Speaker 4 (08:11):
There isn't a single NBA myth or lie that you're like,
oh what, oh, that's interesting that one works in Lebron's favor.
Speaker 5 (08:19):
No, they all go in one direction.
Speaker 4 (08:22):
And the idea that the twenty twenty Lakers got lucky
by the bubble being no home court advantage when they
had home court advantage is one of the most ridiculous
things I've ever heard, but it's what everybody says.
Speaker 1 (08:35):
And by the way, it should be noted it was
the only time in my life in the playoffs where
young teams overwhelmingly flourished because the older, married players missed
their kids and family, and the Lakers were an old team.
They were the only old NBA team with veterans that
crushed all the other so they had to fight, you know,
because as you get older, you get kids and family.
(08:56):
You have kids and family, you don't want to go
to four week Roadian or Land. So the bottom line is,
I'm with you. People forget how good they were to
start that season. They were dominant through twenty seven to
thirty games.
Speaker 4 (09:09):
Okay, yeah, go ahead, absolutely, go ahead, No, no, no, they
were dominant that year.
Speaker 5 (09:13):
They rolled through the playoffs.
Speaker 4 (09:15):
They then had the best record in the NBA at
the midway point of the next season. They were the
favorites the day Lebron got hurt. They were the Vegas
favorites to go back to back, and so it's just
total recreation of history. We all agree that with I
think the only real other controversy. You're probably undersilling thunder
(09:35):
a bit, but otherwise finalists, you shouldn't have gotten dragged
on Twitter.
Speaker 5 (09:38):
I have your back up.
Speaker 1 (09:39):
Okay, So I said this about Kevin Durant is that
I didn't understand his lack of market I'm like, listen,
players like him. He doesn't need the ball in his hands.
He's arguably the best jump shooter in the league. He's
not a great defender. But Houston has so much damn length,
and so does san Antonio. I'm like, this guy is
(10:01):
a this is a mi You don't have to bake him.
He's a microwave player. You need about four practices in
two games and he'll give you twenty five. I think
Houston is a great fit. Let's start with this. Were
you surprised at the pushback on well, you'd have to
sign a couple of big years. I'm like, bench guys
(10:23):
make fifteen million. I was surprised there wasn't a livelier market.
Speaker 4 (10:28):
Well, so I wasn't surprised by the market, because I
do think you have to thread the needle of like
I don't think Kevin Durant would have made as much
since for San Antonio or Miami because neither one of
those teams are Kevin Durant away from winning a championship.
Speaker 5 (10:49):
And when you.
Speaker 4 (10:49):
Trade for him, what you are really trading for is
this coming season, and you hope next season as well,
the twenty seven season, and then after that he'll be
forty and it's probably in a different situation. So I
understood the market, but I agree with you wholeheartedly in
this regard. This is the perfect trade for Houston. So
(11:13):
Houston replaces Jalen Green, who in the playoffs, despite having
I think a thirty seven point single game, averaged thirteen
points on less than forty percent from the field, less
than thirty percent from three. He could not make a shot,
he could not create a shot, and you replace him
(11:33):
with one of the best shot makers and shot creators
for himself in the history of the league. You have
now a starting lineup of Van Bliet, who's a steady champ.
Speaker 5 (11:44):
I'm in Thompson, who.
Speaker 4 (11:45):
Is a future star, defensive player of the Air caliber guy,
Kevin Durant, Jabari Smith, the top five pick and Shngoon
And you didn't decimate your bench coming off the bench.
You still have Tarry Eason, Steve Adams, Reied Shepherd who
they took in the top five last year. But Udoka didn't,
(12:06):
you know, want to play a rookie. But he'll play
a lot in cam Whitmore. You go nine deep, you
can defend, you have a great coach. You now have
a bucket at the end of games. And Shingoon is
the connector. And so the critique on Durant has been
about leadership stuff. Udoka will take care of that. I
think right as we sit here today, and you know
(12:29):
it's early. Obviously season ended two days ago, but when
I look at next year, I think the Rockets have
a real path to being the Western Conference champion. And
I would I miss seeing Kevin Durant in big games.
Some of that has been bad luck, some of that's
been bad choices, some of that's been bad teams. Like
(12:50):
you know, it's a big stew some of it's on him,
some of it's not. But the fact of the matter
is this Colin in the six years before he went
to Golden State his final six Oklahoma City. He made
the conference finals four of those six years, in the
NBA finals once in the three years in Golden State,
obviously three straight NBA finals. In the six years since then,
(13:12):
he has won two playoff series. He has never been
out of round two. For a guy who lived at
you know, mid May, end of May, beginning of June
NBA playoff basketball for the first decade of his career.
I want him to have one last act. And I
still think he's right around the tenth best player in
the league.
Speaker 3 (13:32):
He is.
Speaker 4 (13:33):
It is a great addition, and I do not think
they gave up too much at all.
Speaker 1 (13:38):
Okay, so I'm looking at my topics here. I don't
you get so agitated when I pick the Chargers over
the Chiefs, so as you do it every year, I am.
Speaker 5 (13:50):
And it's not and it's not home. I don't.
Speaker 4 (13:53):
And by the way, it's not out of Chiefs defense.
It's out of Colin Coward protectionism. You know how much
you've meant to me, you know how much I love you,
and I hate that every year you do this to yourself,
that every year it's either the Bronco and you flip
a coin. Is it Sean Baiton and the Broncos or
is it my friends the Chargers who are gonna beat
the Chiefs And then you're just wrong? But go ahead,
(14:15):
I'll let you do it again, I guess.
Speaker 1 (14:17):
Okay, So John and I John Middlakoff. Do you know John?
Have you met John before?
Speaker 3 (14:21):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (14:21):
Of course, never in person, but I obviously know Johnny
does a great job. And his three bold predictions made
a lot of sense, unlike yours.
Speaker 1 (14:29):
So let's just go to mind. Let's not let's not
throw shade at John. So no, John's were great, okay,
and you and you probably do agree. The Dolphins are
no steak in a lot of sizzle. I think they're gonna.
I think they're they're gonna and I think to so
the one that bothers you are the Chargers when the
AFC West. And here's my take is that I've watched
(14:49):
Harbaugh and year two everywhere. First year he builds the culture,
but he needs two years to build the roster. And
their roster is now really really good good. And I
don't know what the Chiefs O line is. I don't
know what it is they're receivers. I hope they stay
out of personal issues. But that's been sketchy. Don't you
(15:10):
think it's time? Didn't you see the vulnerability of the
Chiefs last year when.
Speaker 4 (15:16):
Mahomes played and they went fifteen and one and were
seventeen in one, Mahomes playing going into the Super Bowl? Yeah, listen,
I said it before and I'll say it again. The
twenty twenty four of Kansas City Chiefs were, without a doubt,
the worst one lost two time defending champion I've ever seen.
Speaker 5 (15:31):
Now they're the only one lost two time defending champion.
Speaker 1 (15:35):
But yeah, but I just.
Speaker 4 (15:37):
I somebody and the I know the Chiefs looked bad
in the Super Bowl.
Speaker 5 (15:41):
They did.
Speaker 4 (15:42):
I also know your beloved Justin Herbert is. I think
he just threw another pick against the Texans. That game's
been over for four months. But I'm sure they're flying
high going into the offseason. But here is the problem.
The problem is this. Patrick Mahomes in his career is
thirty five and five against the AFC West. Patrick Mahomes
(16:05):
in his career has started seven years. They have won
the division seven times. They have played in the AFC
Championship seven times. They have won the conference five times.
To pick against Reid and Mahomes is just lunacy, and
I would evidence it by whenever you do your other divisions,
(16:29):
every other team in the league that you believe clearly
has the.
Speaker 5 (16:34):
Best coach and quarterback.
Speaker 4 (16:36):
In its division, you will pick to win that division,
except for the team that always wins the division, that
is always there. And so I think that I do
think like maybe because sometimes you know, there's like take
Osmosis and j Mack has just been he's you know,
he is playing, he's betting zero on the roulette wheel
(16:58):
every time. He's like, when it comes up, I'm gonna
be a genius. And so he's just betting into the
Chiefs every year, and I think it is rubbed off
on you a bit now. So maybe with middle coolf
there now, I thought John's predictions were excellent.
Speaker 5 (17:11):
I also though, if he has.
Speaker 4 (17:14):
The Patriots and who's the other team he is in
the playoffs, Oh.
Speaker 5 (17:17):
The Colts.
Speaker 4 (17:18):
I respect that because that's going to mean there are
some teams everyone has penciled into the playoffs that are
going to be left without a chair, and so obviously
the Bengals are one of them. According to John. So
I do respect a non chalky prediction, but.
Speaker 5 (17:36):
I'll tell you this much.
Speaker 4 (17:37):
It's not gonna be the Chiefs without a chair, and
it's not gonna be the Chiefs not winning their division.
Speaker 1 (17:42):
Okay, that's fair, let's see. Okay, one more thing. The
draft is tomorrow, I said earlier. I always defect. I
never like going to a restaurant that's got a signature dish, like,
just do everything well. Last night, I by the way
overlooking palm trees in the Pacific Ocean and in Santa Monica,
I had a vhy swaan, a nice cocktail thinking of you,
(18:03):
and as I had dinner, I was in a restaurant
where everybody ordered a bunch of stuff and it was
all amazing. And my take is, I don't want to
go to a place that's got a sixteen egg Omelet
just dude. And I've always said Lebron doesn't have a
signature move, and my take is, because he does everything well,
I don't need the skyhook. He just gets the best
(18:24):
players the best shots. So they're saying Cooper Flag doesn't
have a bag, and my take is it's been the
most overrated thing of my life. Kareem had one because
he didn't have the ball in his hands. You didn't
give centers the ball like you do now at mid court,
like you had to wait for the ball late in
the shot clock. What do you make about the criticism,
(18:45):
You know, Lebron he didn't have a go to signature
move like Jay.
Speaker 4 (18:51):
Yeah, so I also this, right, of course this is
but this is again to go back to what I
first said, Every NBA myth starts and ends.
Speaker 5 (19:03):
With the same theme. We must elevate.
Speaker 4 (19:06):
Michael Jordan at the expense of Lebron James. And so
there's just there there. It's never the other direction on
the myths. There's some of that on the facts, but
not the myths. So like, does Lebron have one single move,
Like you close your eyes and you think of Lebron,
that's what he did. And the answer to that question
is it's actually probably a chase down block, right, that's
(19:29):
you close your eyes, you think of it. But on offense,
when you can do everything, then you don't have to
do any one thing specifically. People will say for Jordan,
his signature move was the mid range turnaround, but that's
only only young people think. Young Ish people think that
because that was a ninety six to ninety eight Jordan's
(19:52):
signature post baseball. Jordan's signature early in his career was
I'm gonna go down the middle of the lane, jump
in the and figure it out about four seconds later
because I can hang and I'm such a great athlete
that I can figure this out on the fly.
Speaker 1 (20:09):
It was.
Speaker 4 (20:09):
He wasn't this mid range assassin he became later in
his career. Here's what I will say about Cooper Flag.
There is not a single person alive who was a
finished product at what they ended up being at eighteen
and a half years old. The most important number with
Cooper Flag is his date of birth. He reclassified he
(20:32):
is when he gets to the league. Since we're talking
about Lebron, he will be only two weeks older, two
weeks older than Lebron was when Lebron entered the league
and Lebron skipped college. He turns nineteen nineteen in December of.
Speaker 5 (20:49):
His rookie year.
Speaker 4 (20:50):
So the fact that Cooper Flag does basically everything pretty
well is to me a brilliant place to start. He'll
figure out a couple things he does great. But what
I think sometimes happens to young star athletes, and maybe
this is why signature moves can be at times overrated,
(21:13):
is they figure out what they do really well, and
they end up spending all their time or a lot
of their time perfecting that as other things atrophy a bit.
It feels to me like Cooper Flagg, you know, is
a B to an A minus at almost everything you
can be. And so he'll figure out, you know, where
(21:34):
his ultimate strength is. But listen, I do I think
he's a future league MVP. I think that's a little strong.
Do I think he's a no doubt consensus first overall?
Pick absolutely, and I think he'll be just fine.
Speaker 1 (21:47):
Nick Right bringing the heat. Really enjoyed it today. You know, basically,
I'm I'm here a little bit of your speedback, but
I enjoy that. I enjo fil te.
Speaker 5 (21:56):
Well, No I gave you credit, I had you listen you.
Speaker 4 (22:00):
Our relationship on this show is actually a perfect It's
just a homeostasis where when you're right, I affirm you,
and when you're wrong, I try to prevent you from
public embarrassment, and if I can't, then I just.
Speaker 5 (22:14):
Have to inflict it. That's all it is. I'll talk
to you.
Speaker 1 (22:17):
Later, Nick Right, for things first, Trust and Will dot
Com makes it easy to do the right thing protect
your family. Visit trust and Will dot com today for
total peason.
Speaker 2 (22:31):
One more heard. The Herd streams twenty four hours a day,
seven days a week within the iHeartRadio app. Search Herd
to listen live or on demand whenever you like. Hi,
this is Jay.
Speaker 7 (22:42):
I'm the producer of the Pauli and Toni Fusco Show.
Usually in these promos they ask you to listen to
the show. I'm here to ask you please don't listen
to the show. The hosts are two absolute morons who
have the dumbest takes on sports imaginable. Don't listen to
the show so it can get camped.
Speaker 8 (22:55):
WHA, what the hell are you doing in our studio again?
Speaker 6 (23:02):
Ignore that fool.
Speaker 2 (23:03):
Listen to the Pauline Tony Fusco.
Speaker 6 (23:04):
Show on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcast.
Speaker 2 (23:07):
He's still moving.
Speaker 1 (23:13):
A lot of things going on NBA Draft tomorrow. There's
an emerging story that sounds like trouble. Sometimes young people
just get bad advice. We'll get to that in a bit. First,
John Middlecop with the news. Turn on the news.
Speaker 9 (23:28):
This is the herdline news Well that NFL team up
north for forty nine ers coming off the Super Bowl
had a disastrous season last year, obviously filled with a
ton of injuries. The Niners moved off of Deebo Samuel
and with Ricky Pierce All their former first round pick,
entering year two, he's expected to take a bigger role
on offense. He talked about his growing relationship with quarterback
(23:49):
Brock perty.
Speaker 10 (23:51):
He is the same person no matter what you know
I've It's almost like I kind of knew a side
of Brock when I've seen him from Afar, you know,
being in college and watching him, because he he doesn't change.
That's one What's the one thing about Brock that I
really respect. You know, he's the same person, and you know,
I think that everybody in the building and feels comfortable
and feels the same way a Brock Brock, just because
the way he carries himself and you know, he's he's
(24:12):
about his business.
Speaker 1 (24:14):
I didn't love the Ricky Pearsall pick because at the
time it was like Debo and I, Yuke and Jennings,
I'm like, you don't you're over drafting wide receiver. Then
there was the near tragedy which but I will say
in that offense, and you know the Niners better than
any person I know. In that offense, the Shanahan offense,
(24:35):
it does feel like he's now that Debo's gone. He's
a good fit.
Speaker 9 (24:39):
He showed signs of life last year at the end
of the season. After the catch is big with Kyle right.
Hit the ball in your hands and then make plays.
That's what Debo became a star. I Yuke's really good
at that. The problem is no, I mean, his toughness
he got shot and played in the season was incredible.
But he's been injured a lot with football injuries. When
they drafted him hamstring, shoulder, he was injured in OTAs
(24:59):
or you know the last couple of weeks.
Speaker 6 (25:03):
Brandon at Yuke is hurt right right now.
Speaker 9 (25:05):
So you have major question marks with the skill group.
They need this guy to be a good player. I
mean there's a lot of pressure part of making a transition.
How the Rams did it when they you know, went
through their roster, was they drafted well, so you draft
a guy in the first round. There's a spotlight on
Ricky Pierson well, I mean.
Speaker 1 (25:22):
Hooper was aging and Poka Nakua emerged, sure, otherwise they'd
be in big trouble right now wide receiver.
Speaker 9 (25:27):
I mean, Jenning's a good player, but he can't be
her one, So I mean they need both these guys.
Speaker 6 (25:31):
They'd kittle McCaffrey coming back.
Speaker 9 (25:33):
I'm still bullish on the forty nine ers because their schedule,
but a lot of question marks coming into the season. Yeah,
speaking of we just talked about this, the emergence of
Daniel Jones, mainly because Anthony Richardson has been shelved most
of the OTA's in mini camp with a shoulder injury
earlier this month, that it's opened the door for dj
According to a recent report, Jones has built a significant
(25:54):
lead over Richardson to start for the Colts in his
quarterback one moving forward.
Speaker 1 (26:00):
That doesn't surprise me. I've always said he's not quite
as fluid as Alex Smith. He's a little more I
feel like he's sometimes a little bit more rigid. But
he's a bigger, stronger version of Alex the athlete. His
straight line speed is good. He went to Dooke. He's
he's got to be bright. He's a big strong I
mean I had a friend who was next to him
(26:20):
in an event about a year ago. He's way bigger
than you think. So you know, I always felt they
drafted him. They saw physically, they saw the next d
Lin Manning, and Eli's really special. But he did make
the playoffs and he had no support system. I mean,
the Colts have a better O line than the Giants. Sure,
the Colts have better skilled people now than the Giants do.
(26:41):
So he'll have more to work with than Shane Stike
and most like him more than day Balling to vote
very good.
Speaker 9 (26:47):
I think football is a lot who believes in you,
and he go back to Alex Smith. Jim Harbaugh believed
in him a couple of years ago, the Baker Mayfield,
Tampa believed in him last year, the last couple of
years of Sam Darnold, from Kyle Shanahan to Kevin O'Connell
now to John Schneider. I think this team not only
believe they need this guy. And let's face it, the
Anthey Richardson. He is the new version of Trey Lance.
They swung for the fences that they whiffed. Did this
(27:09):
thing's over before it even started?
Speaker 1 (27:12):
Yeah, Richardson is one of those. He only played thirteen
college games at Florida so you were taking a bit
of a gamble. But again I go back to Chris Fallard,
I lose luck. I swing the fence on Wentz, who
people were like, whoa, he was very good, actually twenty
seven touchdowns and then you go get a really old
Philip Rivers and that hit. They were looking to bridge
(27:35):
the gap with the Kansas cities of the league in
Buffalos and Baltimore's and they're like, listen, the kid physically
is insanely talented. And I think they looked at the
AFC and thought, well, we don't have a quarterback. We're
going to roll the dice.
Speaker 9 (27:46):
I think it's hard sometimes when you pigeonhole yourself. The
Steelers are going to be in this position. We've seen
other teams where you've got to take a quarterback that's
you know, the Belichick did it with Mac Jones, the
Steelers did it with Kenny Pickett. When you can just
let's just take this guy, Dak Prescott, Brock Birdie hurts in.
Speaker 2 (28:00):
The second round.
Speaker 9 (28:01):
Sometimes it's an easier landing spot for that player and
there's less pressure.
Speaker 6 (28:05):
This Anthony Richardson Trey Lance.
Speaker 9 (28:07):
You go all in for him and then immediately high expectations.
It blows up in your face real quick. Okay, how
about Dodgers owner Mark Walter. He made headlines last week
after buying the majority share of the Lakers for ten
billion dollars. With the change in ownership, the belief is
that LA is now in a position to make some
significant moves moving forward, and Draymond Green recognizes the position
(28:30):
the Lakers are in.
Speaker 8 (28:32):
Jeanie Buss and the Bus family were one of the
least wealthiest families as far as money goes. They had
the big asset in which they just sold, but that
was that's kind of the source of their income. Now
you got to owner with the deep pockets. He don't say, well, no,
I don't need that money. Take all of that money
(28:54):
and put it back into the team and go get
me this guy, and go give me that guy. And
let's let's let's booth do whatever we want to do
with this roster. We'll pay the tax, we'll do this.
And so I think with getting this new ownership group,
it makes the Lakers so danger.
Speaker 1 (29:11):
Well, the downside to being the Lakers, well, here's one
of the things that Laker fans have to realize. Your
entire brand was built on the ability to seek and
land the superstar. Those days are over now unless you
want to pay just an I don't even know what
(29:31):
the penalties are now for blowing through taps. But if
you look at the Aprons and you look at the
new CBA, you may have a lot of guys that
want to play for you once you pay Luca and
for the next two years Lebron's there's limitations on what
they can fay. They need a center, there's limitations on
what they can pay to get one unless they move
(29:52):
Austin Reeves. So they always were the team. The Miami
Heat with Riley and the Lakers were like if there
was a top free agent there, you knew they always
got a call. People like in a Winter League going
to Miami and going to LA. The league and the
Aprons and the cbatch a different ballgame.
Speaker 3 (30:10):
Now.
Speaker 9 (30:10):
To me, it's less about the players because of the
Aprons and that you know, most of the teams are
playing on the same level playing field.
Speaker 6 (30:16):
In terms of how much you can.
Speaker 9 (30:17):
Spend, I guess you can spend more on tax money,
but you can't really acquire more players that way. It's
more about what you can do off the court into me.
You know one Bob Myers, la guy went to UCLA.
Polinka remember him and Magic have a weird relationship. Magic's
part of Washington and the Commander's operation. You know who
I saw sitting in the draft room was Bob Myers
(30:37):
for the Washington Commanders. A lot of connections there, from
pat Riley to Phil Jackson to Jared They like these
big stars.
Speaker 6 (30:44):
Bob Myers looks the part, so does Pelinka.
Speaker 9 (30:46):
But you wonder if this comes full circle, because that's
what they did when they bought the Dodgers, right, they.
Speaker 6 (30:51):
Brought in their guy, Andrew free Well.
Speaker 1 (30:53):
Bob Myers lives in Los Angeles.
Speaker 6 (30:55):
I'm telling you you can see it coming from a
mile away.
Speaker 2 (30:58):
He ran a team.
Speaker 3 (30:59):
You know.
Speaker 9 (30:59):
I think the Warriors spent almost seven hundred million dollars
in tax money, but they were winning championships and it
was worth it. A guy that has experience with the dynasty,
I do think that Magic Polenka relationship could kind of
come full circle here now with the Dodgers gaining control.
Not great for Polinka, who, in fairness, pulled off one
of the greatest heights in the middle of the night.
Speaker 1 (31:18):
Oh they also got Austin Reeves.
Speaker 6 (31:20):
He's got a good job.
Speaker 1 (31:21):
No, no, the Westbrook move whatever, but they've done they
haven't they. I'll defend Polenka. He's made some nice moves
and the Luca one will go on. You know his
Wikipedia page as one of the great steals in late history. Uh,
just ran into Bob Myers. He was right down the street,
just slit the part. Huh. And it's one of the
(31:42):
most gracious, likable people I've ever met in sports. Yeah,
the love great guy. John Middelkoff with the News.
Speaker 2 (31:49):
Well that's the news, and thanks for stopping by the
Herd Line News.
Speaker 1 (31:54):
Patino is gonna come on our show tomorrow, and I
mean almost a savant with his knowledge and understanding basketball
and what he did for Saint John's. You know, when
Louis Carnaseca left, they just tried a lot of different people,
capable people in Saint John's and it didn't work. And
Rick Patino arrived and suddenly they were really good, really fast.
I watched. I mean, I couldn't say the last time
(32:14):
I was that into Saint John's. It was the Louis
carnosecond days. So he's gonna come on tomorrow with the draft.
There is one player in this draft I think making
a big mistake, and we'll talk about that coming up next.
Speaker 2 (32:31):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
and neon eastern nine am Pacific on Fox Sports Radio
FS one and the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 9 (32:43):
Alex Pulo looks to continue his legendary season and hold
off Award Newgarden, Kirkwood and the rest of the pack
as the IndyCar Series.
Speaker 6 (32:53):
Roles in the midd Ohio July sixth on Fox.
Speaker 1 (32:58):
So a couple stories. First of all, Ace Bailey, who
was not the best player on Rutgers this year. The
best player is going to get drafted number two, the
guard Harper, and Ace Bailey was a big He's not
a playmaker. One assist a game, takes a lot of
tough shots. He's talented, he's long, but he is the
(33:20):
mystery man of the draft. He's trying to manipulate the
draft before he's in the league. He's not actually going
to workouts. And I think it's a big mistake because
I think this is a very rich draft, and so
maybe it was. If it was an awful draft, he'd
have more leverage and you know, this is a little
(33:42):
bit of Shador Sanders and John because he's a former
scout and has a lot of sources in the league.
You and I were talking this morning. This is a
little what Dion and Shadeur did where we're going to
try to pick the team before we're in the league.
Speaker 9 (33:57):
I think a lot of the good teams in the NFL,
let's say the playoff teams want to talk to shade
or Sanders during the draft process. Well, he declined, because
of course they have quarterbacks and their mindset is, well, one,
you're not gonna go as high as you think.
Speaker 6 (34:12):
And two people move now right, gms move.
Speaker 9 (34:15):
Quarterbacks are constantly traded, Zach Wilson, Trey Lance, Justin Fields,
Mac Jones.
Speaker 6 (34:21):
Look how many teams all these guys have already been on.
Speaker 9 (34:23):
Look at the NBA for example, SGA and Tyler's Tyrese
Holliborton were both traded within a year and a year
and a half of this start of their career. So,
unless you are Cooper Flag or Lebron James or Trevor Lawrence,
it does you a disservice to me in the draft
process to literally not talk to everybody because that guy
in two years could be acquiring you and then extending you.
Speaker 6 (34:46):
I mean, it makes no sense.
Speaker 2 (34:47):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (34:48):
Now John Elway, who by the way, is still to
this day the greatest quarterback prospect ever, he did say
using leverage, I'm not playing for this team. But Elway
would talk to teams. Elway just said I'm not playing
for the Colts because they're a tire fire and I
don't want to play for him. That's different than Shadu
Or who was a B to a B minus prospect,
(35:08):
saying I'm not talking to the good teams and then
his dad during Super Bowl Week says we're not going
to the bad teams. So he shrunk his market to
a tiny market. This kid in a very good draft
and he's the kind of player. He's not a playmaker.
He doesn't necessarily play well with others. Which, as we're
watching the NBA, that's the league.
Speaker 3 (35:28):
Now.
Speaker 1 (35:28):
The league is not about your bag. The league is Halliburton,
The league is SGA, The league is Tatum. Can you
because you can't stack stars, do you play well with others?
And Ace Bailey not necessarily. You know, he's not a playmaker.
You don't get any assists out of him. So I
think this is a big mistake.
Speaker 9 (35:47):
Even Caleb Williams remember the controversy with the dad and
you know you had talked about it. He was going
to meetings. We all knew he's going number one to Chicago.
He's still meeting with Minnesota, like you. It does you
a big disservice your can I think you know your
brand to not talk to all these gms and coaches.
Speaker 6 (36:05):
These aren't difficult. You're just talking about basketball or football.
This isn't rocket science. It's not that compliment.
Speaker 1 (36:10):
I think anytime you're going into any industry, have as
many allies and friends as you can. You talk to everybody.
Here's a second thing. So yesterday, it's so funny, So
we do prep. John's been sitting in on the prep
here and you know, he's first time on our show,
has heard line has been great, and he's kind of
(36:30):
sitting in our process. It's about an hour and a
half process and we just go through the day's stories.
And yesterday the last thing we threw in we were
done with our prep and I said, you know, seven
year seven champs, I'm just gonna rank them. And we
spent about five minutes on it, I said, bang bang
bang bank, this got apparently big play. I stay off
(36:52):
my phone in the afternoons. This apparently got big play.
So I put the Lakers number one. And my reasoning was, well,
Anthony Davis was the two. And if you say, it's
Anthony Davis better than Jalen Brown the Celtics two.
Speaker 2 (37:06):
Yes?
Speaker 1 (37:06):
Is he better than Jamal Murray the Nuggets too? Yes?
Was he better than like Andrew Wiggins or Draymond the warriorship?
Speaker 3 (37:13):
Yes?
Speaker 1 (37:14):
Was he better than Chris Middleton?
Speaker 11 (37:15):
Yes?
Speaker 1 (37:15):
Is he better than chet Holmgren or who was the
two for the Raptors, Fred van Vliet, you know whoever
it was. My take is Lebron was outside of Jokic,
arguably better than all the ones because Lebron was closer
his prime and Anthony Davis was easily the best two.
And if you have the two best players and you
forget that team had Caruso and KCP. But we didn't
(37:38):
know what Caruso was. Well, Sam Prestyt Oklahoma City, did
he went to Chicago? He was excellent. He was excellent
for OKAC. So people just didn't know what Caruso was.
He's really good player who plays a lot and can
defend multiple positions. And KCP has always been a shop maker.
But Alex Caruso, who I like. I've seen him live
play several times. He's a strong guy, size, excellent defender.
(38:02):
He was on the Laker team and he's on this
OKC team, and he down played a little of that
PREVIEU and COVID championship with the Lakers. Now I got
a real one. I don't know if you can say anything.
Speaker 11 (38:17):
Yeah, I think just because of the way the team
is constructed now versus the team I had in twenty twenty, Like,
it was much harder with this team just because of
the experience, right, And everybody talked about any experience to
win a championship. For me, I've seen greates do it,
so I knew, I knew the way. I knew, I
knew the mindset. But to see these guys do it, man,
it's it's really cool to see it in person, and
(38:39):
I'm so happy for the guys.
Speaker 6 (38:40):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (38:40):
By the way, you know why I was harder this
time because he didn't have Lebron and Ad. That's why
it was harder because that team was better than this team. Yeah,
that team had all of the experience. That's why they
would have beaten this team. Okay, Lebron, outside of Jokic
was better than all the other team's best player. Give
me a break on Yannis, he still can't shoot a umper.
And Ad was the best two and they had really
(39:03):
good players behind them in good depth. So yeah, it
was weird. Here's how I look at COVID. Anybody in
any industry who succeeded deserves credit. I'm the opposite of
the market. The market is telling you, well, what a break?
A break? Do you know how hard it was to
(39:25):
perform with COVID. I mean here at Fox, in the building,
there were arrows on what bathrooms you could use just
getting through the building. Here was the matrix. So anybody
in any industry, if you're a financial planner, if you're
a nurse, if you're a basketball player, anybody that succeeded
with all that sort of drama and trauma we were
all dealing with for a year and a half. I
(39:46):
got your back. I think it and Nick Wright talked
about this earlier. We forget how good that Laker team
was before the league shut down.
Speaker 5 (39:56):
Twenty twenty.
Speaker 4 (39:56):
Lebron is eye to eye with twenty three Joker in
twenty one Giannis, and take the second best player on
all those champions. Twenty twenty Anthony Davis is markedly better
than any of these other team's second best player. The
idea that the twenty twenty Lakers got lucky by the
(40:18):
bubble being no home court advantage when they had home
court advantage is one of the most ridiculous things I've
ever heard.
Speaker 1 (40:25):
Yeah, they were twenty four in the league when the
league shut down, and they would have had home court advantage.
Where when lebron gets home court advantage when the best
the top two tenem have home court advantage in NBA
playoff history. Unlike the Celtics this year, the Lakers were
good at home, so it was a major, major disadvantage
that they were the best team. Then they fly through
(40:46):
it win All the other older veteran teams regressed and
just kind of unraveled because they missed their families. Older
players have families and kids. Older teams. The Lakers had
to deal with a lot of drama. They had the
two best players were older players, and they just dealt
with it. The following year they came back, they were
still the best team in the league, and then Lebron
got hurt, rolled on his Solomon, rolled on his leg.
(41:08):
As Nick pointed out, So the way I always looked
at COVID, it didn't matter the profession. I don't care
if you're a podcaster or a physician. If you flourished
during COVID, you get credit. I'm just going to give
you credit. I don't think it was easy, and I
think for the record, I acknowledge for the radio audience,
(41:29):
I'm showing the seven best teams in order. It was Lakers, Celtics, Nuggets, Warriors, Bucks,
under Raptors. I acknowledged the Celtics had the better overall roster,
but it should be noted you want to know who
won championships during COVID, Tom Brady and Lebron the two
most focused professional athletes of my life. Oh yeah, the
(41:51):
Dodgers did too. So it's not like it was who
won the World Series, the Pittsburgh Pirates, you know who
won the you know, start looking at who won Brady,
Lebron and the Dodgers. So this idea that it was
this quirky COVID thing where all of a sudden, the
Washington Wizards won the NBA title. Then I would discount
(42:11):
it because they've been dog food for twenty years. But
it was big brands, focused stars. I'm good with it,
and John hates the Lakers, so this doesn't go over well.
Speaker 9 (42:21):
It pains me to say that the Warriors you could
have had them last. It's kind of It was the
defining championship for Steph Curry, but it was his worst team.
Speaker 6 (42:30):
That their team. I get backing up.
Speaker 1 (42:32):
I give him credit because I thought Wiggins was the
best he ever was as a Warrior. I think Steve
curR is arguably the best coach on that entire list.
So and Steph Curry had some phenomenal games in the playoffs.
So I got a great player, a great coach, best
defensive player at all time, and playoff experience. I probably
had the Warriors maybe a slot hid
Hosts And Creators
Colin Cowherd
Jason McIntyre
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