June 30, 2025 • 41 mins
Colin reacts to breaking NFL news with the Steelers trading for 3-time All Pro Jalen Ramsey continuing to add to their defense despite the NFL clearly trending towards offense-first over the past 10 years
Thoughts on LeBron James choosing to opt-in with the Lakers
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
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Speaker 2 (00:21):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 3 (00:26):
It is a Monday, lots going on.
Speaker 1 (00:30):
We are live. It is The Herd. Wherever you may
be and however you may be listening. Thanks for making
us part of your day. Jamac I was thinking about
this this morning when a story broke, is that, you know,
all of us have budgets.
Speaker 3 (00:47):
Most of us have budgets, not everybody, but you can.
Speaker 1 (00:50):
Kind of tell what people spend their money on by
the time they're fifty or sixty, based on the kind
of financial situation they're in. You know, I tell my
kids all the time, Dad doesn't have a problem with
you spending money, spend on.
Speaker 3 (01:01):
The right stuff, spending on smart stuff.
Speaker 1 (01:05):
And there's an NFL team that has driven me crazy
for about five years, the Pittsburgh Steelers, and breaking news
this morning, j Mack.
Speaker 3 (01:14):
They did it again this morning.
Speaker 1 (01:17):
So the Steelers can't stop spending money on defense. So
this morning, what do you know, bounce around the league guy,
Jalen Ramsey twenty six and a half million dollars. The
Steelers went and got him. Now, they did move off
of Minka Fitzpatrick. But Minca is low maintenance, seven million
(01:38):
dollars a year, cheaper a leader in the room, not
a bounce around the league guy. So the Steelers can't
help themselves. Now they're spending seven and a half million
dollars more than they were yesterday in the secondary. And
for the record, Pittsburgh has led the NFL in defensive
(01:58):
spending three years in a row. This will guarantee it's four.
The New York Giants and the Steelers spend all their
money on defense. You know who spends it on offense?
The Rams and the Eagles have the two cheapest defenses today,
and the Chiefs spend the most money in the league
on offense. Chiefs, Steelers, Rams. What do they have in common? Momentum?
(02:21):
Winning perpetually interesting. In the NFL, everybody's got a budget,
it's called the cap. Where do you spend their money?
I've told my kids my entire life, the two ease,
education and experiences. That's where I'm going to spend my
money on great memorable things when dad has gone, great
(02:42):
memories and to educate. All Right, if you're spending on
cars a third, if you're spending it on clothes, I'm
going to be able to tell over time you didn't
spend it wisely. Stop spending money on defense. I thought, Oh,
they're moving off Mika Fitzpatrick, who didn't have a great
I mean he was like fifty second ranked safety. A
(03:02):
good player, but a team leader. And by the way,
they're number one in defensive spending and they don't have
the TJ. Watt contract finalized. That's going to be forty
five million annually, so you have that TJ. Watt issue
to deal with. And he's your best defensive player and
Jalen Ramsey two things. He's a very very loose player.
That's why the Rams moved off him. They wouldn't bad
(03:24):
mouth him publicly. But he's kind of an independent guy
doing his own thing. He's an independent contractor. He's going
to do what he wants on his terms. And the
Rams after he got burned two or three times in
that playoff Super Bowl run, you know, they got tired
of it. So he's also a player. He's very dependent
on his environment. And so when he was with the
loose Dolphins and the loose Jacksonville Jaguar organizations, he wasn't
(03:50):
as good.
Speaker 3 (03:50):
He was loose, he made mistakes.
Speaker 1 (03:52):
When the Rams got him, I thought at his he
was probably the best Jayalen Ramsey, I've said this before
about Randy Moss. When Randy had the pay treats, he
broke NFL records. When he was with the Stable Vikings,
Randy Moss was great putting on the Raiders.
Speaker 4 (04:05):
Uh oh.
Speaker 1 (04:06):
So there's just a lot of people in life, and
a lot of professional athletes in life. They're very much
a reflection of the environment they're in. And so Mina Fitzpatrick,
he's going to be good anywhere. It didn't matter if
the Steelers are loose. Minka Fitzpatrick is a pro, a leader, dependable.
Jalen Ramsey much more reflection of the environment. So he
goes to an organization that remember last week, Remember James
(04:29):
Harrison last week saying the best part about Mike Tomlin
he's a players coach. The worst part about Mike Tomlin,
he's really a player's coach, and some players are not
great with players coaches. Now, James Harrison was undrafted, totally driven,
a complete grinder, absolutely laser focused. But not every Steeler,
(04:49):
as we've found out, is James Harrison. So this is
a great example of how do you spend your money? Chiefs, Rams, Eagles,
they spend it on offense. They win every year.
Speaker 3 (05:01):
The Steelers and the Giants keep doubling down on defense.
It's weird.
Speaker 1 (05:06):
It's almost as if the Steelers, trying to solve their
offensive issues, looked at last year's Jets and said, let's
do what they're doing.
Speaker 3 (05:15):
Remember what the Jets did.
Speaker 1 (05:17):
They added Hassan Reddick, didn't really need him, and then
signed Aaron Rodgers. The Steelers, wait, give us some of that.
Let's sign a guy that really isn't as productive as
he used to be on defense and is not an
expensive and a forty year old quarterback. I'm just gonna
say this, probably don't want to watch the New York
(05:39):
Jets ever, and say I'll take two heaping tablespoons of
what the New York Jets are doing, and that looks
that's what the Steelers did this morning. I could have
been okay, getting and moving off Mika Fitzpatrick though I
liked him, but then adding a guy that's looser as
a bounce around the league guy now and the seven
and a half million dollars more you're guaranteed to pay
(06:00):
pre TJ Watt contract not good. Let's talk about something
that is good. So we are one year away. I
think it's eleven months. One year away from the World
Cup on US soil. And it's a big eie because
this is the best group of talent we've ever had
in terms of attacking and scoring. Now many of them
(06:21):
are not playing. This is sort of our B team.
But we were on a four game skid before the
Gold Cup. But our biggest issue before the Gold Cup
is we don't have a goalie. Before yesterday we didn't
have a goalie, and last night we finally found one.
Matt Freeze, who may have struggled for a moment against Haiti,
(06:42):
but against Costa Rica in the shootout, he was absolutely brilliant.
First of all, Matt Freeze in the shootout three different
times made us save that is remarkable. Another two times
he got his hand on it. So say what you
want about shootouts. I hear people they're not real soccer.
Yes they are, Yes they are. They're better than our
(07:04):
overtimes in college and pro football and their tension filled
and they're all about execution. And that's the one thing
we were worried about with Team USA without Christian Polisic.
Can we execute when we get penalty kicks, when we
get corner kicks, when we have set pieces? Can we execute?
Because when you have.
Speaker 3 (07:23):
Polisic, it always seems to work.
Speaker 1 (07:25):
So tip of the cap to Tyler Adams and Malik
Tillman and Alex Freeman and Damian Downs.
Speaker 3 (07:31):
But we did not have a goalie.
Speaker 1 (07:34):
In fact, on the pregame show, our guys were saying
on Fox, is Matt Turner going to start? Matt Freeze
had and We've had incredible goalies in my lifetime. We're
a hands country. We're good when you need to use hands,
not always great with Jeff's feet. But Matt Freeze, after
that Haiti moment where he froze, you're thinking we're not
(07:58):
good enough to be bad and the nets, We're just
not good enough. Matt Freeze yesterday the greatest moment in
the entire Gold Cup, not just for us. It was
tension filled and by the way, wasn't the world last
World Cup decided.
Speaker 3 (08:14):
By p case.
Speaker 1 (08:15):
Yes, I'm gonna I'm not going to spend some time
debating whether or not shootouts matter. They're all about execution
and that's what wins in the World Cup. Details goaltending
and execution. And also on Mauricio Pochettino, it should be
noted made three changes to the lineup and two of
(08:37):
the guys that were inserted in scored, so that momentum
as we're onto the semis, regardless of what happens next,
you have a sense of execution. We found our goalie,
which is absolutely essential in the World Cup. And we
always talk about offensive lines in the NFL. You're just
(08:57):
not going to win a Super Bowl with a battle line.
Patrick Mahomes has been blown out twice in his career,
like he humiliated twice in Super Bowls when the O
line was a mess. You can't win a Super Bowl
with a bad old line. And you're not winning a
World Cup or or you're going to struggle to get
out of a group stage. And maybe maybe unless you're
like a Brazil or Argentina, you're gonna struggle to get
(09:19):
out of the group stage. Unless you're really good in
goal at Matt Freeze yesterday talked about his remarkable performance.
Speaker 5 (09:27):
Penalties are my thing.
Speaker 4 (09:30):
You know.
Speaker 5 (09:30):
I've been the plane ride over here to UH to
Minnesota and I was studying the penalties and so you know,
I've been stunning them all week and I was ready
for it if you needed it. And the one that
I didn't didn't move on suggestion from my goalkeeper coach
Tony Jimenez, and uh, you know, he's the here's the
reason I saved his made.
Speaker 1 (09:48):
So I gotta tell you, j Mac, there's very few
things in sports in America globally that are more riveting
then when you go to PKS. I'm sitting there for
ten minutes and I'm in the world stops and it
was like a real moment, and all of a sudden,
(10:10):
when Burholter's son misses, I'm like, oh, no, this is
gonna go sideways.
Speaker 3 (10:14):
No, this can't happen.
Speaker 1 (10:16):
But our guys delivered and it was about as good
as ten to twelve minutes of live sports can be.
Speaker 3 (10:23):
So tip of the cap to our guys.
Speaker 4 (10:24):
Yeah, and let's be real.
Speaker 6 (10:26):
They are heavy favorites in the semifinals against Guatemala. Yes,
and we're looking at a USA Mexico final, which would
be incredible obviously for the country.
Speaker 4 (10:34):
For soccer fans.
Speaker 6 (10:35):
I will say soccer purists, Colin, they hate pks as
an ending, Yeah, they're like all this running around for
two you know, two hours and we end up penalty kicks.
Speaker 4 (10:43):
So silly, But you're right, thrilling television, just gripping.
Speaker 1 (10:46):
Well, remember, if you run around for two hours, the
last thing that's going to decided is running around for
another fifteen minutes. This is soccer, perhaps not at its
purest form, but in its most crucial form of execution.
I mean, when you watch the great teams that win
the World Cup, goal scores and goalkeeping decide World Cups.
(11:11):
That's what decides it. The great attacker, the great score,
and somebody makes a great save and you put them
up front, up close and personal. This is what's going
to decide this match. And again, if you go ninety
minutes and you're tied, often in the blazing sun, I
don't need you to play longer. I want execution, and
their team USA deliberate it.
Speaker 6 (11:33):
Let me quickly add you know, we talked about like, hey,
this is the B team with some C guys.
Speaker 4 (11:37):
They're not going to be in the World Cup.
Speaker 6 (11:39):
Freeze just made a case to Potchata. Yeah, hey, man,
I know Matt Turner is a guy I won in.
I want a legitimate shot. Yeah, and Diego Luna has
been playing incredible, incredible, certified a spot for himself.
Speaker 1 (11:51):
Tyler, Tyler Adams, I should make the team as well.
Speaker 3 (11:54):
So I did.
Speaker 1 (11:56):
Thinkino came out and said I'm going to make some
lineup changes and they all worked. And he's always been
a fan of change and youth and development, so that's
why they brought him in and moved off Greg Berhalzer.
So you know, strength is, I'm gonna use young guys,
I'm gonna develop them, I'm gonna give them opportunities, and
they delivered.
Speaker 6 (12:15):
We're gonna beat Guatemala, that's for sure. Lock that up,
and then we're in the finals and then it's hey,
we play Mexico hopefully in what should be another classic
game between the two countries.
Speaker 3 (12:24):
Yeah, I can't wait.
Speaker 2 (12:26):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
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Speaker 7 (12:35):
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Speaker 8 (12:41):
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Speaker 1 (13:09):
Colin Wright, Colin Wrang, top of Next Hour forty minutes away,
plus Matt Hasselbeck. It is a Monday and a lot
to talk about, so listen. I have been overwhelmingly a
Lebron defender my entire career, but there are a couple
of things recently that he's done that give his critics,
(13:29):
and there's a lot of them. Mjy's always been more popular,
that's not even disputable, and I would say about seventy
five to eighty percent of the people think MJ's the goat,
not Lebron. But he's done something recently I saw yesterday
where he picked up his fifty two point six million
dollar Laker option, and then the press release, well, Lebron
wants to win titles, Well, then you can't pick up
(13:50):
the option. You can't play for fifty two million dollars.
It's a hard cap. Now, no owner's going to blow
through it. So first of all, he get into that
silly ring debate about a two weeks weeks ago where
he talked about something that he didn't truly believe, which
is the ring culture. It's over emphasized. And then the
piece of video emerged of Lebron saying everyone in Cleveland, Hey,
(14:11):
that ring I think make me the greatest of all time. Well,
I thought the ring cultures overemphasized. Rings matter to everybody,
including Lebron, and he knows it. But he's not as
popular as mj. The numbers we remember about Michael are
six for six, and Michael is considered the goat by
a lot of people, including some notable people like a
(14:32):
Phil Jackson. And that's just the reality of it, Okay,
it is, And Michael's much more popular. His shoes still
leading sellers. They're like collector's items and they still sell
and so the reality is that debate was silly. It
was projection. And then the second thing is, you know
Lebron's always been, hey, I'm about winning, which I've always argued.
(14:53):
He plays winning basketball, he elevates teammates, He's like a
more athletic Magic Johnson. But then when you do this,
the Lakers need at least two centers. Two that's what
Oklahoma City has, you know, that's what the Knicks have,
That's what you know, the better teams in the league.
They've got a couple of bigs by the way Denver
drafted a biggie got hurt, but they'll have two next year.
Speaker 3 (15:14):
Like you've got to have bigs.
Speaker 1 (15:16):
And the Lakers have one and the coach JJ Reddick
doesn't want to play him, so they need two centers.
Dorian Finney Smith is opting out they need two wing defenders. Then,
and you can't do it at all if you're if
you're taking Max's because they got to pay Luca this
summer and Austin Reeves just declined money and they take
They tell everybody they love Austin Reeves, and so you're
gonna have to pay Lebron and he's opting in for
(15:38):
fifty two point six millions, So again, what is it
are you about winning? Because I've seen O Tawny take
pay cuts and Josh Allen and Tom Brady and Tim
Duncan and Jalen Brunson. That's about winning. Tom did it
for winning. He was the best quarterback in the world
and he kept taking pay cuts. So you're gonna have
to pay Luca And I'm told you're gonna pay eventually,
Austin reeves. So if Lebron is often in, it's not
(16:01):
a championship team, okay, And I've seen the great ones.
I mean Lebron now, and I don't envy it. They're
no animosity. I don't think anybody holds it against Lebron
that he's a billionaire. We don't care. There's billionaires everywhere.
Everything we buy on Amazon run by a billionaire who
just got married in Venice, and Venice is mad. But
you know, most Americans were capitalists, were good with it.
Speaker 3 (16:22):
That's not it.
Speaker 1 (16:23):
But when you're telling me ring culture doesn't matter, and
you're telling me winning it's all about winning, No, it's not.
You just watched Okay, see in Indiana that had like
eight deep rotations that played eight or nine guys. The
Lakers don't even trust their starting center, JJ Reddick does it.
Lebron's getting older, Luca is hopefully in shape. They're going
to have to pay Austin Reeves. I'm told they love him,
(16:45):
So you're given your critics cannon fodder to criticize you.
And for years, I've always been Lebron's about winning. Nah
Brady was about winning, Duncan was about winning, Josh Allen's
about winning. O Tawani's about winning. That's what I'm Jay
Brunson's about winning. That's what truly matters to them. I
don't feel like they're projecting, they're actionable on not taking
(17:07):
the maximum available. So I'm just saying, just be of
your word. The rings matter, of course they do. And
does money matter more than winning at this point? Absolutely yes,
it does. By the way, Kobe Bryant wanted every penny
to the end, but he was honest about it. He
(17:27):
was authentic about it. He was totally upfront about it.
There's multiple quotes about it. Just be honest with us,
that's all we're asking. Jmack with the news.
Speaker 8 (17:42):
No, no, no.
Speaker 2 (17:44):
This is the Herdline News, all.
Speaker 6 (17:47):
Right, My friend, let's get started with the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Speaker 2 (17:51):
Colin.
Speaker 6 (17:51):
They're hoping the old Aaron Rodgers shows up this season.
Speaker 4 (17:54):
I know they had the big trades today.
Speaker 6 (17:56):
Well, Ben Roethlisberger, who played his entire career in Pittsburgh,
was talking about Rogers and for some reason he compared
him to Patrick Mahomes.
Speaker 9 (18:04):
I would take Karon and his prime over Patrick Now,
I think, yeah. I think Aaron Rodgers at his prime
was one of the top few to ever do it,
and some of Patrick Mahomes his prime. Patrick Mahomes is
just just like entering out of his prime. I think
I mean Aaron, Yes, I think Patrick Mahomes is a phenomenal.
(18:26):
He's going to go down as a another arguable goat.
Speaker 1 (18:33):
Okay, Patrick Mahomes, like John Elway, is not only defined
by getting to Super Bowls, but Elway and Patrick Mahomes
are defined by playing from behind to win huge games.
That has always been and you can look it up
the weakness when Aaron gets behind. He has a bizarrely
(18:53):
low number of come from behind fourth quarter wins. Mahomes
is defined by it. That was John Elway strength in
his prime. It was like Lway was never out of
a game. I've said it before. If Aaron throws two
picks in a game, he shuts it down. Andrew Luck didn't,
Brady didn't, l Way didn't. Mahomes doesn't. And I think
(19:14):
that's the definition. It's not We always talk about this.
Jmax quarterback is not how you play with a lead
with great protection in a run game. How do you
play when you're from behind. By the way, that went
over the Niners in the Super Bowl, they are trailing
going into the fourth quarter. Mahomes has always been good
when the chips are down and you need a play.
(19:37):
I've always felt, especially in later years, Aaron is good
with a lead, but he plays it safe, especially if
he throws a pick, which, by the way, Brady had
a pick six in a Super Bowl. Like, you have
to be the same quarterback lead or trailing to be
an all time top four or five. Great to me,
Peyton Manning did not keep track of his interceptions. Raiden
(20:01):
Mahomes doesn't, Josh Allen doesn't. Aaron does keep track. He's
a different quarterback if he's thrown one or two and
he's trailing light.
Speaker 6 (20:10):
Yeah, No, those are very valid points. It's a tough
one because at his height, Aaron Rodgers was I think
multiple time MVP. But remember he's comparing him to current
Patrick Mahomes. Colin Mahomes is coming off his worst season
pretty much as a pro.
Speaker 4 (20:25):
Right, no weapons. Yeah, it's one of splitting hairs.
Speaker 6 (20:30):
I would probably lean Rogers in his prime over current Mahomes,
but Mahomes will end.
Speaker 4 (20:35):
Up with a better career. That's undeniable. All right, let's
stay in the NFL. Go to my jets.
Speaker 6 (20:39):
Sauce Gardner angling become one of the highest paid players
in the league, certainly at his position, so he's eligible
for an extension heading into year four, and for some
reason over the weekend he decided to jump on social
media and RePOP a Dion Sanders take from March. Now,
Colin Wood, does that mean that sauce Gardner perhaps thinks, hey.
Speaker 4 (21:01):
Man, negotiations are not going well.
Speaker 6 (21:03):
Let me let everybody know what Coach Prime said back
in March.
Speaker 1 (21:09):
Well, sauce Gardner did not have a great year, and
he's a remarkably talented player. But I think you and
I have talked about this. You talked about two years
ago being a wide receiver bubble.
Speaker 3 (21:20):
You were about a year ahead of that.
Speaker 1 (21:22):
I've come to terms with there are so many smart
offensive coaches and using so many sets in so much
motion that cornerbacks now having a shut down corner. Now,
I'm not saying you don't need two capable corners, but
the idea of needing a shutdown corner. Outside of Patrick Sirtan,
I'm not sure i'd pay big money for any corner
(21:44):
in the league. Cirtan I would. He is so reliable,
solo maintenance, so dependable, defends the run in pass. But
I think Sauce Gardner's kind of the classic now Guynan
Island very good, can sometimes be a little flash driven,
making the big splash play over the dependable tackle. So
I'm just again, I think he's super talented, But I
(22:06):
the world of having to have a lockdown corner. I mean,
look at the teams that have lockdown corners Cleveland, Atlanta, Pittsburgh, Carolina.
I mean, I just I think quarterbacks, pass rushers, left tackles,
and good coaches connect to the playoffs well. So I
don't think having a great corner.
Speaker 6 (22:27):
Is quarterbacks on a rookie deal, which probably he'll say
he gets been a little extra on a corner.
Speaker 4 (22:32):
I'm looking at Soasce Gardner, So what really hurts him
Colin is his first year in.
Speaker 6 (22:36):
The league, he grated out as the best cornerback in
the NFL.
Speaker 4 (22:40):
Then he fell to third, and in year three he
stepped back to thirty first.
Speaker 6 (22:45):
So he's not trending the right way heading into a
contract year. And I'm assuming the Jets are playing hardball
as they should. But Sauce Gardner retweeting this from Dion
Sanders is a sign that he's not thrilled with the
direction things are going.
Speaker 4 (22:58):
Listen, I don't problem.
Speaker 6 (23:00):
Is that Jets don't have a quarterback, so you can
probably pay Sauce in that category of j c Orr.
Speaker 3 (23:07):
Before the last season.
Speaker 1 (23:09):
Before last season, when they hit on two rookies, the
Eagles had below average corners, they really had a bad secondary.
They kept ending up an NFC championship. The Rams right now,
probably the biggest weakness I would say is corner and
their defense is unbelievable. I think the league's gotten really smart.
I think it's you can't press guys like you used to.
(23:32):
You can't touch them after two or three yards. I
think having a great corner you can marginalize that position,
and how many great corners want to tackle on run plays.
Speaker 3 (23:42):
Not that many.
Speaker 4 (23:43):
That's a good point. I will add the first great
year he had Robert.
Speaker 6 (23:47):
Sala's defense, Robert Salah great defensive mastermind. Last year he's
bounced in a month, and Sauce did not end up
playing as great.
Speaker 4 (23:56):
Final story, coll Let's go to the.
Speaker 6 (23:57):
NBA, where the Celtics continue to flow with trading Jalen
Brown or Derek White.
Speaker 4 (24:04):
In regards to White, how about this one.
Speaker 6 (24:05):
Reports indicate Boston is looking for a mckail bridges like return.
Remember bridges cost four unprotected ones and a pick swap
and another verse. So if you want Derek White, you're
not getting him on the team. They think he's worth
McHale bridges. I don't necessarily agree with that, but White's
(24:29):
resume is pretty good, and let's be honest, well, Bridges,
he's not like.
Speaker 4 (24:32):
An all NBA guy.
Speaker 1 (24:33):
I really like Derek White. I think he's a varied
three and D guy. If he's an excellent three point shooter.
He's also the other thing about Derek White, J mack.
He's played now in a lot of big games, pressurized games.
The Celtics those games. Boston's a hard place to play
in the NBA. So he's played in big games. Excellent
three point shooter, he has these knives where he explodes,
(24:53):
like you can get thirty points out of Derek White
and it doesn't shop you. Excellent defender, good locker room guy,
doesn't need the ball.
Speaker 3 (25:03):
He's a team guy.
Speaker 1 (25:04):
You never hear anything about Derek White. He's been a grinder.
He didn't come in, you know, five star athlete. I
think he's just a really underrated NBA player.
Speaker 6 (25:14):
You know where he fits perfect, it won't happen. But Detroit,
they're losing Malik Beasley, the great shooter that they had
last year. They need a shooting, a shooting play defense
to Kate cunning him. Derek White would make all the sense.
Speaker 4 (25:27):
Yea there, I just can't.
Speaker 6 (25:29):
I don't see Detroit giving up like four ones for
Derek White.
Speaker 1 (25:33):
Like, well, they've go out. I mean, that's weal a
good point. So they've got their one in Kate cunning Him,
they've got their centerpiece. Derek White would be their second
best player. I'd rather be my third. Yeah, okay, so
but again, you're developing young players. If Derek's your third,
you're a very good playoff team. If he's your second,
you may not be. But he's he made all NBA
(25:54):
defense now I think the last two years.
Speaker 8 (25:57):
So he is an.
Speaker 1 (25:57):
Elite long, hard, hard working, focused defensive player who won
any night, can give you twenty seven.
Speaker 6 (26:04):
Yeah, and this I remember we talked about the Lakers
maybe going after him or Austin Reeves would then be
their fourth best. But the Lakers are not giving up
four first round picks for Derek White.
Speaker 1 (26:13):
They well, if you gave up old Austin Reeves, you
have yourself.
Speaker 6 (26:17):
We're not parting with Austin Reeves in a Derek White deal.
Speaker 3 (26:20):
What do they need?
Speaker 4 (26:22):
I would take Giannis for you, Austin Reeves.
Speaker 1 (26:23):
I would give up Derek White. I would give up
Austin Reeves for Derek White tomorrow, because you know what,
Derek White solves your wing defensive hole. I mean that
the Lakers need at least two bigs because they have
one and the coach doesn't like it.
Speaker 3 (26:38):
They need too bigs. You're not getting those for.
Speaker 1 (26:39):
Free, and you absolutely have to upgrade at wing defender.
Speaker 6 (26:43):
You may get one for free at player was just
released here we'll talk about it next hour.
Speaker 3 (26:47):
A big yeah, I was sure it's a chemo lodge
at one level. S J.
Speaker 1 (26:52):
Mack with the News, Well, that's the news, and thanks
for stopping by the herd Line News. You know it's
funny because because Austin Reeves plays for the Lakers, he's
viewed up here. Derek White's a better defender by far
and a better three point.
Speaker 3 (27:06):
Shooter, and the Lakers need both.
Speaker 1 (27:09):
So if you told me Austin Derek White straight trade,
I would do it in one second. And that's not
a knock on Austin Reeve. Derek White maybe the most
underrated player in the league. He may be the most
underrated player in league. I think Boston knows it. And
Boston saying the league may underrate him, we don't. We
want four unprotecteds. So I saw this story. Listen, here's
(27:31):
all we do for a living. There's football season and
waiting for football season. So I would be the first
to admit that when I see one of these tantaalizing
NFL topics, I can't.
Speaker 3 (27:40):
Get my teeth off it.
Speaker 1 (27:41):
So A Saquon Barkley had said this, who right now
when McCaffrey's healthy I think he's the best running back
in the league. But I think Saquan has been healthy
more often, so he's probably viewed as the best running
back in the league. He said, I never heard a
word from the Commanders or the Dallas Cowboys when I
was available, So I'll give the Commanders a little bit
(28:01):
of a pass. New ownership a lot of moving parts.
I'll give them a little pass. But the Cowboys had
the worst running back room in the league, and they
didn't make a phone call on Derrick Henry or sat
Kawan Barkley, and we were talking about this this morning.
I've never owned a Maserati, but the Cowboys and Maseratis
are that luxury brand that feel like they've been way
(28:23):
too much time in the shop, And right now, I
think it's hard for people to wrap their brains around
I think Dallas is a bottom quarter, bottom fifth NFL franchise,
but because they've been such a luxury brand, it's hard
to wrap your brain around that. Like you think the
Cowboys and you think winning. But right now, I would
(28:43):
argue weakest head coach in the sport and not a
very good overall staff, because the weaker the coach, the
weaker the staff he can assemble. They have not had
back to back hits in a draft for five years,
and that was the Cede Lamb first round, Trayvon Digg's
second round. Those are great, those were good hits. That's
the last time they did that. So in terms of
(29:05):
drafting and development and execution, strategic execution in the front
office and coaching staff. You know, this has been my
three year narrative. They're not well run. And they were
not in the Dereck Henry market. And remember I didn't
I wasn't gravy training on this. I said the Derrick
Henry move six months before it happened.
Speaker 3 (29:25):
I said, you got it.
Speaker 1 (29:25):
They need Dereck Henry to help Dak Henry goes to
Baltimore crushes and now we've we've since learned they couldn't
afford him right. Well, now with this Michael Parsons thing coming,
this huge contract, I just think their strategy and execution.
Speaker 3 (29:46):
Is really poor.
Speaker 1 (29:47):
And this is what I was on with the Lakers
for seven or eight years, is that it was mom
and pop. There were too many friends of the Bus
family in the building. You need outside eyes. When the
Lions lose both their coordinators, Aaron Glenn goes to the Jets,
and then Ben Johnson bears. My take was, you can't
hire from within the building. These were arguably the two
best coordinators in the league. The answer can't be in
(30:11):
the building. At least one of those moves. One of
those coordinators got to go outside the building. The Cowboys
and the Lakers never go outside the building. It's always
friends of Jason Garrett, Brian Schottenheimer, it's always friends of
So it's it's I mean, for years, Dan Snyder was
such an awful owner in division that it kind of
(30:32):
didn't matter if Dallas made a mistake because everybody sort
of acknowledged he's not Dan Snyder. Dan's now been dismissed,
basically forced out, rightfully sold by the NFL. And now
you're seeing now it's a different kind of dysfunction. But
since two thousand, not that long ago, teams that have
(30:54):
more postseason wins than the Cowboys. When you think I'm
hyperbolic here, since two thousand, the Jets, Bengals, Titans, Cardinals, Panthers.
Speaker 3 (31:05):
Have more playoff wins.
Speaker 1 (31:08):
I'm not just saying it to say it, like Saquon
Barkley's like, yeah, I didn't hear from him. Wouldn't you
just call him to keep them away from Philadelphia or
drive the price up or something. I mean, wouldn't you
just Sometimes I've seen this in network television. You may
not want a sporting event. I can remember when I
was at the other place. The other place didn't really
want the Olympics, but they wanted to drive the price
(31:30):
up so NBC would pay more for the Olympics. I
can remember that very well. Sometimes you get involved in
negotiations just to be annoying to your rivals, just to
make them do extra paperwork.
Speaker 3 (31:41):
I've heard coaches say this before.
Speaker 1 (31:42):
They'll run a trick play in a blowout win, like
if they feel comfortable in lead, just to put it
on film so the other team has to worry about
it and practice against it. They're gonna waste practice time
on that. I think you get into the Derek. I
think you get into the Saquon Bark market just to
(32:02):
make it difficult in case Philadelphia would want to sign in,
which they did.
Speaker 3 (32:10):
Colin Wright, Colin Wrong.
Speaker 1 (32:11):
Top of Next Hour, It's The Herd.
Speaker 2 (32:15):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
and noone Easter not a empacific.
Speaker 1 (32:22):
Jmak just told me during the break he wants to
play a little trivia here. So I just said, I
have defended Lebron, you know, and this could be our
last Lebron topic for a while. I've defended Lebron for
years that he's a winning player, He's more magic than Michael.
He elevates teammates, he doesn't get in trouble. I'm a
Lebron fan. Who's the best ever, I don't really care.
(32:43):
They're different players totally. Kobe was more Michael, Lebron's more magic.
Speaker 3 (32:48):
I don't care.
Speaker 1 (32:49):
But there have been moments where I feel like Lebron's
not being totally honest with us. Like the whole Ring
culture arguments like Lebron. It's a strong argument. We all
know Barkley's great, but the reason he isn't as good
as you or Michael or magic is you guys do
have a lot of rings. Rings do matter, and everybody
knows it. Also, you can't tell me it's about winning
(33:11):
when you take the Max. By the way, Kobe Bryant
took the Max. But Owas said, I'm not given. I
may love the Bus family, I'm not giving them discounts.
Players shouldn't give discounts. Just be honest with me. Kobe
was always upfront about that. Lebron tends to be a
little you know, it's a little passive aggressive.
Speaker 3 (33:28):
I want to win.
Speaker 1 (33:29):
Well, not really, because this team needs two centers and
probably now two wing defenders. That's why I would make
an Austin for Derek White trade. But okay, so you
were gonna ask me a trivia question about salary.
Speaker 6 (33:40):
Well, okay, so I brought up the salary because this idea,
and I'm not saying you're saying this, but this idea,
Lebron should just take less if he wants to win.
That's really nonsense. Okay, Kobe demanded to be the number
one paid player Lebron last year. Can you guess where
he ranked in salary last season alone? And I'll give
(34:01):
you Steff Curry was the leader at a fifty five
million dollar captain.
Speaker 1 (34:04):
Well, remember, because a lot of people had contracts negotiated
last year with new CBA, I'd say it's probably fifteenth
last year.
Speaker 4 (34:13):
Oh wow, that's pretty good.
Speaker 6 (34:14):
Lebron was the fourteenth highest paid player last year, after
just legends such as Bradley Beal, Carl Anthony Towns, Damian Lillard,
like Lebron's already making less than them.
Speaker 4 (34:28):
I just don't want to hear this.
Speaker 6 (34:30):
Hey, just take less lebra Well, it doesn't apply to Otani,
it doesn't apply to Tom Brady.
Speaker 1 (34:34):
The difference is Lebron's already a billionaire number one, and
you're giving me awful contracts and saying, well, Lebron's isn't
that bad.
Speaker 3 (34:43):
Well, yeah, this shouldn't be.
Speaker 1 (34:45):
Lebron is thoughtful, he's smart, he's a billionaire, he's got
a production company, he's got a shoe deal. So Lebron
can't be held the cat's standard. So if the Knicks
are also a bad franchise that had to make deals,
Lebron now is in the cat bird seat, I would say,
for fifteen years in this league, like Brady. At the end,
Brady was making money endorsements. His wife was worth three
(35:08):
four hundred million dollars at the time or more. So
you couldn't compare Brady to like anybody else. It might
take his Listen, if Lebron wants to win. And by
the way, if Lebron came out and just said, hey, listen,
I'm not taking pay cuts, all players should get the
most they can because these guys are all billionaires. I
am totally okay with that, but I don't want the
(35:30):
press release to say, hey, it's about winning Okac's roster.
Speaker 3 (35:34):
Lakers aren't close.
Speaker 8 (35:36):
Well, they're not.
Speaker 3 (35:37):
They're not. They have nine young no, no, no, no, no,
no no no.
Speaker 1 (35:41):
They have two functional centers, nine guys they trust on
the floor in the finals. Lakers do not have a
trustable big guy from the coaching staff.
Speaker 4 (35:50):
Hertenstein is their highest paid player, like they look it.
Speaker 1 (35:53):
But again, because they're not paying anybody else, the Lakers
are different.
Speaker 3 (35:58):
You're like, you're looking to win the argument.
Speaker 1 (36:00):
Luca is guaranteed two forty this summer, right, okay, And
Luca is a guy that we're hoping he's healthy and
in shape. So the bottom line is the Okase has
two functional centers.
Speaker 3 (36:12):
The Lakers have none.
Speaker 4 (36:14):
None.
Speaker 1 (36:15):
You cannot win the West against jokicch against OKC size.
This is a golden state's running into. Okay, you can
pay Raymond and Steph you have no size. You have
to go pay for bigs.
Speaker 6 (36:29):
Well a, you can't have it all. That's just not
realistic unless you look into it. Like the thunder did
building a team in struggling. But Kain, let me just
bring this up. You you've said eloquently that Lebron really
ushered in the player empowerment erap.
Speaker 3 (36:44):
Yeah, I love that.
Speaker 6 (36:45):
Do you know what it would look like if Lebron said, hey,
I'll take thirty mil, it would be doing the opposite.
That would be a sign to every veteran in the league, Hey,
don't get your money.
Speaker 4 (36:54):
Take left.
Speaker 6 (36:55):
Well, Lebron took less. He put up twenty four, eight
and seven.
Speaker 4 (36:58):
You ain't doing that.
Speaker 6 (36:59):
Take lefe and it would be like the opposite, and
it would look pretty bad for players.
Speaker 1 (37:04):
Would you not agree, Well, then don't release time and
time again the press release saying it's all about winning championships.
Sports fans have always had, in my opinion, a better
beat on stuff like this than actual media, which tends
to protect players like the fans know. The fans can
(37:24):
see it. The ring culture stuff. Silly argument and it's
all about winning.
Speaker 3 (37:28):
No, it's not.
Speaker 1 (37:29):
I mean, Austin Reeves is a better player than a
lot of guys. Maybe in the league, he's not better
than Derek White. Make the deal, give up picks if
it's all about winning Lebron's last great year. Lebron is
now saying I got one year left. He's saying that
one or two year if you've got one or two years.
Austin reeves, no center Lebron at forty one forty two
(37:50):
and LUCA is not a championship team in the West.
Speaker 4 (37:53):
Hey, let me ask you this.
Speaker 6 (37:54):
Since the report came out that Lebron is going to
opt in, notice if the Lakers have not said anything,
it's been twenty four hours. Are you surprised by that
because everybody's just assume, Okay, it's a done deal. To me,
it's the Lakers not really confirming it yet. Means maybe
this isn't a done deal.
Speaker 4 (38:13):
I don't know.
Speaker 6 (38:13):
Does it leave the door open for some something?
Speaker 1 (38:16):
Well, if you go look at the Mark Walter group,
first thing they did with the Dodgers get better upstairs
in the front office. They got Andrew Friedman from Tampa.
They're gonna make a move in scouting in the executive suite.
The second thing the Dodgers have done since the Mark
Walter group arrived, They'll move off Manny Machado, Zach Grinkey,
(38:38):
Corey Seeger, Cody Bellinger. They will move off people if
the money and the production and the age isn't right.
They've done it time and time again. So I'm telling
you what the Laker is gonna do. Expand the analytics
and scouting and start moving off some pieces. Mark my words.
They're always It's amazing the Dodgers have all the money,
(39:00):
yet they're always seeking the very best of the best.
They will pay for the very best. So they moved off.
Speaker 6 (39:07):
MVPs that Lebron is not with the Lakers next year
and he's somewhere in the East trying to win a title.
It sounds like he can't go to Cleveland. The money
can't be made, right, But I don't know. There's some
excellent guys out there. Do you think he's out on
the Lakers like five percent?
Speaker 4 (39:21):
Ten?
Speaker 1 (39:24):
Oh. I'm just telling you that the Bus family needed
Kobe and Lebron for merchandise sales and tickets. They were
the poorest or one of the poorest ownership groups. Believe
it or not, the Lakers were. Steve Balmer's the richest, right.
Steve Balmer makes a billion dollars a year on dividend
for Microsoft. He makes a billion dollars a year on
(39:45):
dividend for Microsoft. The Clippers owners the richest in the NBA.
The Lakers were bottom two or three. The Mark Walters
group is going to be much more like Ballmer where
like if they wanted to build their own stadium, they would.
The Lakers don't need that, obviously, they are going to
operate differently.
Speaker 4 (40:03):
But right now or do they win a year?
Speaker 2 (40:05):
Now?
Speaker 4 (40:06):
Okay?
Speaker 1 (40:07):
Everything, if I bought a business for ten billion, you
think I'm gonna say, you know, I'm gonna act differently.
In about a year from now, everything is gonna change.
They're gonna attack the scouting, the analytics. They're gonna make
the executive suite the best in the league. I mean,
when is the last time the Dodgers called them a
minor leaguer and they weren't exceptional, Like.
Speaker 3 (40:27):
They just don't miss on anything.
Speaker 6 (40:28):
It feels unlikely that they would the Lakers would move
off an international global icon right now. I know Luca is,
you know, a superstar in the future of the Lakers,
but moving off Lebron would be a massive surprise to me.
Speaker 1 (40:43):
Like, I'm not predicting it, I'm just saying, unlike the
previous owners, they could and not lose a second of sleep. Now,
the NBA culture is different than base Baseball's got like
ten year deals. Baseball ten the romanticize and lean into
the past, but the Dodgers don't. The Dodgers run their
(41:07):
operation like an NFL team.
Speaker 3 (41:09):
What did you do last week? Not good enough?
Speaker 1 (41:11):
We're upgrading. That's not what baseball teams do. Baseball teams
tend to lean into the past, understand the romance, the
lore of history, all that stuff. Dodgers don't. You can
be an MVP trading deadline off to a bad start.
We're getting draft picks and a better player. They'll move off.
They just and by the way, that's how you should
run a franchise that are now valued at ten billion dollars.
(41:34):
I'm gonna make sure we're hyper efficient and only pay
for the very best call on right, wrong, next,
Thanks for listening to The Herd podcast. Be sure to
catch us live every weekday on Fox Sports Radio and
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 3 (00:26):
It is a Monday, lots going on.
Speaker 1 (00:30):
We are live. It is The Herd. Wherever you may
be and however you may be listening. Thanks for making
us part of your day. Jamac I was thinking about
this this morning when a story broke, is that, you know,
all of us have budgets.
Speaker 3 (00:47):
Most of us have budgets, not everybody, but you can.
Speaker 1 (00:50):
Kind of tell what people spend their money on by
the time they're fifty or sixty, based on the kind
of financial situation they're in. You know, I tell my
kids all the time, Dad doesn't have a problem with
you spending money, spend on.
Speaker 3 (01:01):
The right stuff, spending on smart stuff.
Speaker 1 (01:05):
And there's an NFL team that has driven me crazy
for about five years, the Pittsburgh Steelers, and breaking news
this morning, j Mack.
Speaker 3 (01:14):
They did it again this morning.
Speaker 1 (01:17):
So the Steelers can't stop spending money on defense. So
this morning, what do you know, bounce around the league guy,
Jalen Ramsey twenty six and a half million dollars. The
Steelers went and got him. Now, they did move off
of Minka Fitzpatrick. But Minca is low maintenance, seven million
(01:38):
dollars a year, cheaper a leader in the room, not
a bounce around the league guy. So the Steelers can't
help themselves. Now they're spending seven and a half million
dollars more than they were yesterday in the secondary. And
for the record, Pittsburgh has led the NFL in defensive
(01:58):
spending three years in a row. This will guarantee it's four.
The New York Giants and the Steelers spend all their
money on defense. You know who spends it on offense?
The Rams and the Eagles have the two cheapest defenses today,
and the Chiefs spend the most money in the league
on offense. Chiefs, Steelers, Rams. What do they have in common? Momentum?
(02:21):
Winning perpetually interesting. In the NFL, everybody's got a budget,
it's called the cap. Where do you spend their money?
I've told my kids my entire life, the two ease,
education and experiences. That's where I'm going to spend my
money on great memorable things when dad has gone, great
(02:42):
memories and to educate. All Right, if you're spending on
cars a third, if you're spending it on clothes, I'm
going to be able to tell over time you didn't
spend it wisely. Stop spending money on defense. I thought, Oh,
they're moving off Mika Fitzpatrick, who didn't have a great
I mean he was like fifty second ranked safety. A
(03:02):
good player, but a team leader. And by the way,
they're number one in defensive spending and they don't have
the TJ. Watt contract finalized. That's going to be forty
five million annually, so you have that TJ. Watt issue
to deal with. And he's your best defensive player and
Jalen Ramsey two things. He's a very very loose player.
That's why the Rams moved off him. They wouldn't bad
(03:24):
mouth him publicly. But he's kind of an independent guy
doing his own thing. He's an independent contractor. He's going
to do what he wants on his terms. And the
Rams after he got burned two or three times in
that playoff Super Bowl run, you know, they got tired
of it. So he's also a player. He's very dependent
on his environment. And so when he was with the
loose Dolphins and the loose Jacksonville Jaguar organizations, he wasn't
(03:50):
as good.
Speaker 3 (03:50):
He was loose, he made mistakes.
Speaker 1 (03:52):
When the Rams got him, I thought at his he
was probably the best Jayalen Ramsey, I've said this before
about Randy Moss. When Randy had the pay treats, he
broke NFL records. When he was with the Stable Vikings,
Randy Moss was great putting on the Raiders.
Speaker 4 (04:05):
Uh oh.
Speaker 1 (04:06):
So there's just a lot of people in life, and
a lot of professional athletes in life. They're very much
a reflection of the environment they're in. And so Mina Fitzpatrick,
he's going to be good anywhere. It didn't matter if
the Steelers are loose. Minka Fitzpatrick is a pro, a leader, dependable.
Jalen Ramsey much more reflection of the environment. So he
goes to an organization that remember last week, Remember James
(04:29):
Harrison last week saying the best part about Mike Tomlin
he's a players coach. The worst part about Mike Tomlin,
he's really a player's coach, and some players are not
great with players coaches. Now, James Harrison was undrafted, totally driven,
a complete grinder, absolutely laser focused. But not every Steeler,
(04:49):
as we've found out, is James Harrison. So this is
a great example of how do you spend your money? Chiefs, Rams, Eagles,
they spend it on offense. They win every year.
Speaker 3 (05:01):
The Steelers and the Giants keep doubling down on defense.
It's weird.
Speaker 1 (05:06):
It's almost as if the Steelers, trying to solve their
offensive issues, looked at last year's Jets and said, let's
do what they're doing.
Speaker 3 (05:15):
Remember what the Jets did.
Speaker 1 (05:17):
They added Hassan Reddick, didn't really need him, and then
signed Aaron Rodgers. The Steelers, wait, give us some of that.
Let's sign a guy that really isn't as productive as
he used to be on defense and is not an
expensive and a forty year old quarterback. I'm just gonna
say this, probably don't want to watch the New York
(05:39):
Jets ever, and say I'll take two heaping tablespoons of
what the New York Jets are doing, and that looks
that's what the Steelers did this morning. I could have
been okay, getting and moving off Mika Fitzpatrick though I
liked him, but then adding a guy that's looser as
a bounce around the league guy now and the seven
and a half million dollars more you're guaranteed to pay
(06:00):
pre TJ Watt contract not good. Let's talk about something
that is good. So we are one year away. I
think it's eleven months. One year away from the World
Cup on US soil. And it's a big eie because
this is the best group of talent we've ever had
in terms of attacking and scoring. Now many of them
(06:21):
are not playing. This is sort of our B team.
But we were on a four game skid before the
Gold Cup. But our biggest issue before the Gold Cup
is we don't have a goalie. Before yesterday we didn't
have a goalie, and last night we finally found one.
Matt Freeze, who may have struggled for a moment against Haiti,
(06:42):
but against Costa Rica in the shootout, he was absolutely brilliant.
First of all, Matt Freeze in the shootout three different
times made us save that is remarkable. Another two times
he got his hand on it. So say what you
want about shootouts. I hear people they're not real soccer.
Yes they are, Yes they are. They're better than our
(07:04):
overtimes in college and pro football and their tension filled
and they're all about execution. And that's the one thing
we were worried about with Team USA without Christian Polisic.
Can we execute when we get penalty kicks, when we
get corner kicks, when we have set pieces? Can we execute?
Because when you have.
Speaker 3 (07:23):
Polisic, it always seems to work.
Speaker 1 (07:25):
So tip of the cap to Tyler Adams and Malik
Tillman and Alex Freeman and Damian Downs.
Speaker 3 (07:31):
But we did not have a goalie.
Speaker 1 (07:34):
In fact, on the pregame show, our guys were saying
on Fox, is Matt Turner going to start? Matt Freeze
had and We've had incredible goalies in my lifetime. We're
a hands country. We're good when you need to use hands,
not always great with Jeff's feet. But Matt Freeze, after
that Haiti moment where he froze, you're thinking we're not
(07:58):
good enough to be bad and the nets, We're just
not good enough. Matt Freeze yesterday the greatest moment in
the entire Gold Cup, not just for us. It was
tension filled and by the way, wasn't the world last
World Cup decided.
Speaker 3 (08:14):
By p case.
Speaker 1 (08:15):
Yes, I'm gonna I'm not going to spend some time
debating whether or not shootouts matter. They're all about execution
and that's what wins in the World Cup. Details goaltending
and execution. And also on Mauricio Pochettino, it should be
noted made three changes to the lineup and two of
(08:37):
the guys that were inserted in scored, so that momentum
as we're onto the semis, regardless of what happens next,
you have a sense of execution. We found our goalie,
which is absolutely essential in the World Cup. And we
always talk about offensive lines in the NFL. You're just
(08:57):
not going to win a Super Bowl with a battle line.
Patrick Mahomes has been blown out twice in his career,
like he humiliated twice in Super Bowls when the O
line was a mess. You can't win a Super Bowl
with a bad old line. And you're not winning a
World Cup or or you're going to struggle to get
out of a group stage. And maybe maybe unless you're
like a Brazil or Argentina, you're gonna struggle to get
(09:19):
out of the group stage. Unless you're really good in
goal at Matt Freeze yesterday talked about his remarkable performance.
Speaker 5 (09:27):
Penalties are my thing.
Speaker 4 (09:30):
You know.
Speaker 5 (09:30):
I've been the plane ride over here to UH to
Minnesota and I was studying the penalties and so you know,
I've been stunning them all week and I was ready
for it if you needed it. And the one that
I didn't didn't move on suggestion from my goalkeeper coach
Tony Jimenez, and uh, you know, he's the here's the
reason I saved his made.
Speaker 1 (09:48):
So I gotta tell you, j Mac, there's very few
things in sports in America globally that are more riveting
then when you go to PKS. I'm sitting there for
ten minutes and I'm in the world stops and it
was like a real moment, and all of a sudden,
(10:10):
when Burholter's son misses, I'm like, oh, no, this is
gonna go sideways.
Speaker 3 (10:14):
No, this can't happen.
Speaker 1 (10:16):
But our guys delivered and it was about as good
as ten to twelve minutes of live sports can be.
Speaker 3 (10:23):
So tip of the cap to our guys.
Speaker 4 (10:24):
Yeah, and let's be real.
Speaker 6 (10:26):
They are heavy favorites in the semifinals against Guatemala. Yes,
and we're looking at a USA Mexico final, which would
be incredible obviously for the country.
Speaker 4 (10:34):
For soccer fans.
Speaker 6 (10:35):
I will say soccer purists, Colin, they hate pks as
an ending, Yeah, they're like all this running around for
two you know, two hours and we end up penalty kicks.
Speaker 4 (10:43):
So silly, But you're right, thrilling television, just gripping.
Speaker 1 (10:46):
Well, remember, if you run around for two hours, the
last thing that's going to decided is running around for
another fifteen minutes. This is soccer, perhaps not at its
purest form, but in its most crucial form of execution.
I mean, when you watch the great teams that win
the World Cup, goal scores and goalkeeping decide World Cups.
(11:11):
That's what decides it. The great attacker, the great score,
and somebody makes a great save and you put them
up front, up close and personal. This is what's going
to decide this match. And again, if you go ninety
minutes and you're tied, often in the blazing sun, I
don't need you to play longer. I want execution, and
their team USA deliberate it.
Speaker 6 (11:33):
Let me quickly add you know, we talked about like, hey,
this is the B team with some C guys.
Speaker 4 (11:37):
They're not going to be in the World Cup.
Speaker 6 (11:39):
Freeze just made a case to Potchata. Yeah, hey, man,
I know Matt Turner is a guy I won in.
I want a legitimate shot. Yeah, and Diego Luna has
been playing incredible, incredible, certified a spot for himself.
Speaker 1 (11:51):
Tyler, Tyler Adams, I should make the team as well.
Speaker 3 (11:54):
So I did.
Speaker 1 (11:56):
Thinkino came out and said I'm going to make some
lineup changes and they all worked. And he's always been
a fan of change and youth and development, so that's
why they brought him in and moved off Greg Berhalzer.
So you know, strength is, I'm gonna use young guys,
I'm gonna develop them, I'm gonna give them opportunities, and
they delivered.
Speaker 6 (12:15):
We're gonna beat Guatemala, that's for sure. Lock that up,
and then we're in the finals and then it's hey,
we play Mexico hopefully in what should be another classic
game between the two countries.
Speaker 3 (12:24):
Yeah, I can't wait.
Speaker 2 (12:26):
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 (12:35):
Hey, it's Ben, host of The Fifth Hour with Ben
Maller with Me and a lot to have you join
us on our weekly auditory journey.
Speaker 8 (12:41):
You're asking, what in God's name is the Fifth Hour.
Speaker 7 (12:44):
I'll tell you it's a spin off of the Ben
Maler Show, a cult hit overnights on FSR.
Speaker 8 (12:49):
Why should you listen? Picture if you will? A world will?
We chat with captains of industry in media.
Speaker 7 (12:54):
Sports, and more every week explore some amazing facts about
human nature and more. Listen to The Fifth with Ben
Maller on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcast or wherever you
get your podcast.
Speaker 1 (13:09):
Colin Wright, Colin Wrang, top of Next Hour forty minutes away,
plus Matt Hasselbeck. It is a Monday and a lot
to talk about, so listen. I have been overwhelmingly a
Lebron defender my entire career, but there are a couple
of things recently that he's done that give his critics,
(13:29):
and there's a lot of them. Mjy's always been more popular,
that's not even disputable, and I would say about seventy
five to eighty percent of the people think MJ's the goat,
not Lebron. But he's done something recently I saw yesterday
where he picked up his fifty two point six million
dollar Laker option, and then the press release, well, Lebron
wants to win titles, Well, then you can't pick up
(13:50):
the option. You can't play for fifty two million dollars.
It's a hard cap. Now, no owner's going to blow
through it. So first of all, he get into that
silly ring debate about a two weeks weeks ago where
he talked about something that he didn't truly believe, which
is the ring culture. It's over emphasized. And then the
piece of video emerged of Lebron saying everyone in Cleveland, Hey,
(14:11):
that ring I think make me the greatest of all time. Well,
I thought the ring cultures overemphasized. Rings matter to everybody,
including Lebron, and he knows it. But he's not as
popular as mj. The numbers we remember about Michael are
six for six, and Michael is considered the goat by
a lot of people, including some notable people like a
(14:32):
Phil Jackson. And that's just the reality of it, Okay,
it is, And Michael's much more popular. His shoes still
leading sellers. They're like collector's items and they still sell
and so the reality is that debate was silly. It
was projection. And then the second thing is, you know
Lebron's always been, hey, I'm about winning, which I've always argued.
(14:53):
He plays winning basketball, he elevates teammates, He's like a
more athletic Magic Johnson. But then when you do this,
the Lakers need at least two centers. Two that's what
Oklahoma City has, you know, that's what the Knicks have,
That's what you know, the better teams in the league.
They've got a couple of bigs by the way Denver
drafted a biggie got hurt, but they'll have two next year.
Speaker 3 (15:14):
Like you've got to have bigs.
Speaker 1 (15:16):
And the Lakers have one and the coach JJ Reddick
doesn't want to play him, so they need two centers.
Dorian Finney Smith is opting out they need two wing defenders. Then,
and you can't do it at all if you're if
you're taking Max's because they got to pay Luca this
summer and Austin Reeves just declined money and they take
They tell everybody they love Austin Reeves, and so you're
gonna have to pay Lebron and he's opting in for
(15:38):
fifty two point six millions, So again, what is it
are you about winning? Because I've seen O Tawny take
pay cuts and Josh Allen and Tom Brady and Tim
Duncan and Jalen Brunson. That's about winning. Tom did it
for winning. He was the best quarterback in the world
and he kept taking pay cuts. So you're gonna have
to pay Luca And I'm told you're gonna pay eventually,
Austin reeves. So if Lebron is often in, it's not
(16:01):
a championship team, okay, And I've seen the great ones.
I mean Lebron now, and I don't envy it. They're
no animosity. I don't think anybody holds it against Lebron
that he's a billionaire. We don't care. There's billionaires everywhere.
Everything we buy on Amazon run by a billionaire who
just got married in Venice, and Venice is mad. But
you know, most Americans were capitalists, were good with it.
Speaker 3 (16:22):
That's not it.
Speaker 1 (16:23):
But when you're telling me ring culture doesn't matter, and
you're telling me winning it's all about winning, No, it's not.
You just watched Okay, see in Indiana that had like
eight deep rotations that played eight or nine guys. The
Lakers don't even trust their starting center, JJ Reddick does it.
Lebron's getting older, Luca is hopefully in shape. They're going
to have to pay Austin Reeves. I'm told they love him,
(16:45):
So you're given your critics cannon fodder to criticize you.
And for years, I've always been Lebron's about winning. Nah
Brady was about winning, Duncan was about winning, Josh Allen's
about winning. O Tawani's about winning. That's what I'm Jay
Brunson's about winning. That's what truly matters to them. I
don't feel like they're projecting, they're actionable on not taking
(17:07):
the maximum available. So I'm just saying, just be of
your word. The rings matter, of course they do. And
does money matter more than winning at this point? Absolutely yes,
it does. By the way, Kobe Bryant wanted every penny
to the end, but he was honest about it. He
(17:27):
was authentic about it. He was totally upfront about it.
There's multiple quotes about it. Just be honest with us,
that's all we're asking. Jmack with the news.
Speaker 8 (17:42):
No, no, no.
Speaker 2 (17:44):
This is the Herdline News, all.
Speaker 6 (17:47):
Right, My friend, let's get started with the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Speaker 2 (17:51):
Colin.
Speaker 6 (17:51):
They're hoping the old Aaron Rodgers shows up this season.
Speaker 4 (17:54):
I know they had the big trades today.
Speaker 6 (17:56):
Well, Ben Roethlisberger, who played his entire career in Pittsburgh,
was talking about Rogers and for some reason he compared
him to Patrick Mahomes.
Speaker 9 (18:04):
I would take Karon and his prime over Patrick Now,
I think, yeah. I think Aaron Rodgers at his prime
was one of the top few to ever do it,
and some of Patrick Mahomes his prime. Patrick Mahomes is
just just like entering out of his prime. I think
I mean Aaron, Yes, I think Patrick Mahomes is a phenomenal.
(18:26):
He's going to go down as a another arguable goat.
Speaker 1 (18:33):
Okay, Patrick Mahomes, like John Elway, is not only defined
by getting to Super Bowls, but Elway and Patrick Mahomes
are defined by playing from behind to win huge games.
That has always been and you can look it up
the weakness when Aaron gets behind. He has a bizarrely
(18:53):
low number of come from behind fourth quarter wins. Mahomes
is defined by it. That was John Elway strength in
his prime. It was like Lway was never out of
a game. I've said it before. If Aaron throws two
picks in a game, he shuts it down. Andrew Luck didn't,
Brady didn't, l Way didn't. Mahomes doesn't. And I think
(19:14):
that's the definition. It's not We always talk about this.
Jmax quarterback is not how you play with a lead
with great protection in a run game. How do you
play when you're from behind. By the way, that went
over the Niners in the Super Bowl, they are trailing
going into the fourth quarter. Mahomes has always been good
when the chips are down and you need a play.
(19:37):
I've always felt, especially in later years, Aaron is good
with a lead, but he plays it safe, especially if
he throws a pick, which, by the way, Brady had
a pick six in a Super Bowl. Like, you have
to be the same quarterback lead or trailing to be
an all time top four or five. Great to me,
Peyton Manning did not keep track of his interceptions. Raiden
(20:01):
Mahomes doesn't, Josh Allen doesn't. Aaron does keep track. He's
a different quarterback if he's thrown one or two and
he's trailing light.
Speaker 6 (20:10):
Yeah, No, those are very valid points. It's a tough
one because at his height, Aaron Rodgers was I think
multiple time MVP. But remember he's comparing him to current
Patrick Mahomes. Colin Mahomes is coming off his worst season
pretty much as a pro.
Speaker 4 (20:25):
Right, no weapons. Yeah, it's one of splitting hairs.
Speaker 6 (20:30):
I would probably lean Rogers in his prime over current Mahomes,
but Mahomes will end.
Speaker 4 (20:35):
Up with a better career. That's undeniable. All right, let's
stay in the NFL. Go to my jets.
Speaker 6 (20:39):
Sauce Gardner angling become one of the highest paid players
in the league, certainly at his position, so he's eligible
for an extension heading into year four, and for some
reason over the weekend he decided to jump on social
media and RePOP a Dion Sanders take from March. Now,
Colin Wood, does that mean that sauce Gardner perhaps thinks, hey.
Speaker 4 (21:01):
Man, negotiations are not going well.
Speaker 6 (21:03):
Let me let everybody know what Coach Prime said back
in March.
Speaker 1 (21:09):
Well, sauce Gardner did not have a great year, and
he's a remarkably talented player. But I think you and
I have talked about this. You talked about two years
ago being a wide receiver bubble.
Speaker 3 (21:20):
You were about a year ahead of that.
Speaker 1 (21:22):
I've come to terms with there are so many smart
offensive coaches and using so many sets in so much
motion that cornerbacks now having a shut down corner. Now,
I'm not saying you don't need two capable corners, but
the idea of needing a shutdown corner. Outside of Patrick Sirtan,
I'm not sure i'd pay big money for any corner
(21:44):
in the league. Cirtan I would. He is so reliable,
solo maintenance, so dependable, defends the run in pass. But
I think Sauce Gardner's kind of the classic now Guynan
Island very good, can sometimes be a little flash driven,
making the big splash play over the dependable tackle. So
I'm just again, I think he's super talented, But I
(22:06):
the world of having to have a lockdown corner. I mean,
look at the teams that have lockdown corners Cleveland, Atlanta, Pittsburgh, Carolina.
I mean, I just I think quarterbacks, pass rushers, left tackles,
and good coaches connect to the playoffs well. So I
don't think having a great corner.
Speaker 6 (22:27):
Is quarterbacks on a rookie deal, which probably he'll say
he gets been a little extra on a corner.
Speaker 4 (22:32):
I'm looking at Soasce Gardner, So what really hurts him
Colin is his first year in.
Speaker 6 (22:36):
The league, he grated out as the best cornerback in
the NFL.
Speaker 4 (22:40):
Then he fell to third, and in year three he
stepped back to thirty first.
Speaker 6 (22:45):
So he's not trending the right way heading into a
contract year. And I'm assuming the Jets are playing hardball
as they should. But Sauce Gardner retweeting this from Dion
Sanders is a sign that he's not thrilled with the
direction things are going.
Speaker 4 (22:58):
Listen, I don't problem.
Speaker 6 (23:00):
Is that Jets don't have a quarterback, so you can
probably pay Sauce in that category of j c Orr.
Speaker 3 (23:07):
Before the last season.
Speaker 1 (23:09):
Before last season, when they hit on two rookies, the
Eagles had below average corners, they really had a bad secondary.
They kept ending up an NFC championship. The Rams right now,
probably the biggest weakness I would say is corner and
their defense is unbelievable. I think the league's gotten really smart.
I think it's you can't press guys like you used to.
(23:32):
You can't touch them after two or three yards. I
think having a great corner you can marginalize that position,
and how many great corners want to tackle on run plays.
Speaker 3 (23:42):
Not that many.
Speaker 4 (23:43):
That's a good point. I will add the first great
year he had Robert.
Speaker 6 (23:47):
Sala's defense, Robert Salah great defensive mastermind. Last year he's
bounced in a month, and Sauce did not end up
playing as great.
Speaker 4 (23:56):
Final story, coll Let's go to the.
Speaker 6 (23:57):
NBA, where the Celtics continue to flow with trading Jalen
Brown or Derek White.
Speaker 4 (24:04):
In regards to White, how about this one.
Speaker 6 (24:05):
Reports indicate Boston is looking for a mckail bridges like return.
Remember bridges cost four unprotected ones and a pick swap
and another verse. So if you want Derek White, you're
not getting him on the team. They think he's worth
McHale bridges. I don't necessarily agree with that, but White's
(24:29):
resume is pretty good, and let's be honest, well, Bridges,
he's not like.
Speaker 4 (24:32):
An all NBA guy.
Speaker 1 (24:33):
I really like Derek White. I think he's a varied
three and D guy. If he's an excellent three point shooter.
He's also the other thing about Derek White, J mack.
He's played now in a lot of big games, pressurized games.
The Celtics those games. Boston's a hard place to play
in the NBA. So he's played in big games. Excellent
three point shooter, he has these knives where he explodes,
(24:53):
like you can get thirty points out of Derek White
and it doesn't shop you. Excellent defender, good locker room guy,
doesn't need the ball.
Speaker 3 (25:03):
He's a team guy.
Speaker 1 (25:04):
You never hear anything about Derek White. He's been a grinder.
He didn't come in, you know, five star athlete. I
think he's just a really underrated NBA player.
Speaker 6 (25:14):
You know where he fits perfect, it won't happen. But Detroit,
they're losing Malik Beasley, the great shooter that they had
last year. They need a shooting, a shooting play defense
to Kate cunning him. Derek White would make all the sense.
Speaker 4 (25:27):
Yea there, I just can't.
Speaker 6 (25:29):
I don't see Detroit giving up like four ones for
Derek White.
Speaker 1 (25:33):
Like, well, they've go out. I mean, that's weal a
good point. So they've got their one in Kate cunning Him,
they've got their centerpiece. Derek White would be their second
best player. I'd rather be my third. Yeah, okay, so
but again, you're developing young players. If Derek's your third,
you're a very good playoff team. If he's your second,
you may not be. But he's he made all NBA
(25:54):
defense now I think the last two years.
Speaker 8 (25:57):
So he is an.
Speaker 1 (25:57):
Elite long, hard, hard working, focused defensive player who won
any night, can give you twenty seven.
Speaker 6 (26:04):
Yeah, and this I remember we talked about the Lakers
maybe going after him or Austin Reeves would then be
their fourth best. But the Lakers are not giving up
four first round picks for Derek White.
Speaker 1 (26:13):
They well, if you gave up old Austin Reeves, you
have yourself.
Speaker 6 (26:17):
We're not parting with Austin Reeves in a Derek White deal.
Speaker 3 (26:20):
What do they need?
Speaker 4 (26:22):
I would take Giannis for you, Austin Reeves.
Speaker 1 (26:23):
I would give up Derek White. I would give up
Austin Reeves for Derek White tomorrow, because you know what,
Derek White solves your wing defensive hole. I mean that
the Lakers need at least two bigs because they have
one and the coach doesn't like it.
Speaker 3 (26:38):
They need too bigs. You're not getting those for.
Speaker 1 (26:39):
Free, and you absolutely have to upgrade at wing defender.
Speaker 6 (26:43):
You may get one for free at player was just
released here we'll talk about it next hour.
Speaker 3 (26:47):
A big yeah, I was sure it's a chemo lodge
at one level. S J.
Speaker 1 (26:52):
Mack with the News, Well, that's the news, and thanks
for stopping by the herd Line News. You know it's
funny because because Austin Reeves plays for the Lakers, he's
viewed up here. Derek White's a better defender by far
and a better three point.
Speaker 3 (27:06):
Shooter, and the Lakers need both.
Speaker 1 (27:09):
So if you told me Austin Derek White straight trade,
I would do it in one second. And that's not
a knock on Austin Reeve. Derek White maybe the most
underrated player in the league. He may be the most
underrated player in league. I think Boston knows it. And
Boston saying the league may underrate him, we don't. We
want four unprotecteds. So I saw this story. Listen, here's
(27:31):
all we do for a living. There's football season and
waiting for football season. So I would be the first
to admit that when I see one of these tantaalizing
NFL topics, I can't.
Speaker 3 (27:40):
Get my teeth off it.
Speaker 1 (27:41):
So A Saquon Barkley had said this, who right now
when McCaffrey's healthy I think he's the best running back
in the league. But I think Saquan has been healthy
more often, so he's probably viewed as the best running
back in the league. He said, I never heard a
word from the Commanders or the Dallas Cowboys when I
was available, So I'll give the Commanders a little bit
(28:01):
of a pass. New ownership a lot of moving parts.
I'll give them a little pass. But the Cowboys had
the worst running back room in the league, and they
didn't make a phone call on Derrick Henry or sat
Kawan Barkley, and we were talking about this this morning.
I've never owned a Maserati, but the Cowboys and Maseratis
are that luxury brand that feel like they've been way
(28:23):
too much time in the shop, And right now, I
think it's hard for people to wrap their brains around
I think Dallas is a bottom quarter, bottom fifth NFL franchise,
but because they've been such a luxury brand, it's hard
to wrap your brain around that. Like you think the
Cowboys and you think winning. But right now, I would
(28:43):
argue weakest head coach in the sport and not a
very good overall staff, because the weaker the coach, the
weaker the staff he can assemble. They have not had
back to back hits in a draft for five years,
and that was the Cede Lamb first round, Trayvon Digg's
second round. Those are great, those were good hits. That's
the last time they did that. So in terms of
(29:05):
drafting and development and execution, strategic execution in the front
office and coaching staff. You know, this has been my
three year narrative. They're not well run. And they were
not in the Dereck Henry market. And remember I didn't
I wasn't gravy training on this. I said the Derrick
Henry move six months before it happened.
Speaker 3 (29:25):
I said, you got it.
Speaker 1 (29:25):
They need Dereck Henry to help Dak Henry goes to
Baltimore crushes and now we've we've since learned they couldn't
afford him right. Well, now with this Michael Parsons thing coming,
this huge contract, I just think their strategy and execution.
Speaker 3 (29:46):
Is really poor.
Speaker 1 (29:47):
And this is what I was on with the Lakers
for seven or eight years, is that it was mom
and pop. There were too many friends of the Bus
family in the building. You need outside eyes. When the
Lions lose both their coordinators, Aaron Glenn goes to the Jets,
and then Ben Johnson bears. My take was, you can't
hire from within the building. These were arguably the two
best coordinators in the league. The answer can't be in
(30:11):
the building. At least one of those moves. One of
those coordinators got to go outside the building. The Cowboys
and the Lakers never go outside the building. It's always
friends of Jason Garrett, Brian Schottenheimer, it's always friends of
So it's it's I mean, for years, Dan Snyder was
such an awful owner in division that it kind of
(30:32):
didn't matter if Dallas made a mistake because everybody sort
of acknowledged he's not Dan Snyder. Dan's now been dismissed,
basically forced out, rightfully sold by the NFL. And now
you're seeing now it's a different kind of dysfunction. But
since two thousand, not that long ago, teams that have
(30:54):
more postseason wins than the Cowboys. When you think I'm
hyperbolic here, since two thousand, the Jets, Bengals, Titans, Cardinals, Panthers.
Speaker 3 (31:05):
Have more playoff wins.
Speaker 1 (31:08):
I'm not just saying it to say it, like Saquon
Barkley's like, yeah, I didn't hear from him. Wouldn't you
just call him to keep them away from Philadelphia or
drive the price up or something. I mean, wouldn't you
just Sometimes I've seen this in network television. You may
not want a sporting event. I can remember when I
was at the other place. The other place didn't really
want the Olympics, but they wanted to drive the price
(31:30):
up so NBC would pay more for the Olympics. I
can remember that very well. Sometimes you get involved in
negotiations just to be annoying to your rivals, just to
make them do extra paperwork.
Speaker 3 (31:41):
I've heard coaches say this before.
Speaker 1 (31:42):
They'll run a trick play in a blowout win, like
if they feel comfortable in lead, just to put it
on film so the other team has to worry about
it and practice against it. They're gonna waste practice time
on that. I think you get into the Derek. I
think you get into the Saquon Bark market just to
(32:02):
make it difficult in case Philadelphia would want to sign in,
which they did.
Speaker 3 (32:10):
Colin Wright, Colin Wrong.
Speaker 1 (32:11):
Top of Next Hour, It's The Herd.
Speaker 2 (32:15):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
and noone Easter not a empacific.
Speaker 1 (32:22):
Jmak just told me during the break he wants to
play a little trivia here. So I just said, I
have defended Lebron, you know, and this could be our
last Lebron topic for a while. I've defended Lebron for
years that he's a winning player, He's more magic than Michael.
He elevates teammates, he doesn't get in trouble. I'm a
Lebron fan. Who's the best ever, I don't really care.
(32:43):
They're different players totally. Kobe was more Michael, Lebron's more magic.
Speaker 3 (32:48):
I don't care.
Speaker 1 (32:49):
But there have been moments where I feel like Lebron's
not being totally honest with us. Like the whole Ring
culture arguments like Lebron. It's a strong argument. We all
know Barkley's great, but the reason he isn't as good
as you or Michael or magic is you guys do
have a lot of rings. Rings do matter, and everybody
knows it. Also, you can't tell me it's about winning
(33:11):
when you take the Max. By the way, Kobe Bryant
took the Max. But Owas said, I'm not given. I
may love the Bus family, I'm not giving them discounts.
Players shouldn't give discounts. Just be honest with me. Kobe
was always upfront about that. Lebron tends to be a
little you know, it's a little passive aggressive.
Speaker 3 (33:28):
I want to win.
Speaker 1 (33:29):
Well, not really, because this team needs two centers and
probably now two wing defenders. That's why I would make
an Austin for Derek White trade. But okay, so you
were gonna ask me a trivia question about salary.
Speaker 6 (33:40):
Well, okay, so I brought up the salary because this idea,
and I'm not saying you're saying this, but this idea,
Lebron should just take less if he wants to win.
That's really nonsense. Okay, Kobe demanded to be the number
one paid player Lebron last year. Can you guess where
he ranked in salary last season alone? And I'll give
(34:01):
you Steff Curry was the leader at a fifty five
million dollar captain.
Speaker 1 (34:04):
Well, remember, because a lot of people had contracts negotiated
last year with new CBA, I'd say it's probably fifteenth
last year.
Speaker 4 (34:13):
Oh wow, that's pretty good.
Speaker 6 (34:14):
Lebron was the fourteenth highest paid player last year, after
just legends such as Bradley Beal, Carl Anthony Towns, Damian Lillard,
like Lebron's already making less than them.
Speaker 4 (34:28):
I just don't want to hear this.
Speaker 6 (34:30):
Hey, just take less lebra Well, it doesn't apply to Otani,
it doesn't apply to Tom Brady.
Speaker 1 (34:34):
The difference is Lebron's already a billionaire number one, and
you're giving me awful contracts and saying, well, Lebron's isn't
that bad.
Speaker 3 (34:43):
Well, yeah, this shouldn't be.
Speaker 1 (34:45):
Lebron is thoughtful, he's smart, he's a billionaire, he's got
a production company, he's got a shoe deal. So Lebron
can't be held the cat's standard. So if the Knicks
are also a bad franchise that had to make deals,
Lebron now is in the cat bird seat, I would say,
for fifteen years in this league, like Brady. At the end,
Brady was making money endorsements. His wife was worth three
(35:08):
four hundred million dollars at the time or more. So
you couldn't compare Brady to like anybody else. It might
take his Listen, if Lebron wants to win. And by
the way, if Lebron came out and just said, hey, listen,
I'm not taking pay cuts, all players should get the
most they can because these guys are all billionaires. I
am totally okay with that, but I don't want the
(35:30):
press release to say, hey, it's about winning Okac's roster.
Speaker 3 (35:34):
Lakers aren't close.
Speaker 8 (35:36):
Well, they're not.
Speaker 3 (35:37):
They're not. They have nine young no, no, no, no, no,
no no no.
Speaker 1 (35:41):
They have two functional centers, nine guys they trust on
the floor in the finals. Lakers do not have a
trustable big guy from the coaching staff.
Speaker 4 (35:50):
Hertenstein is their highest paid player, like they look it.
Speaker 1 (35:53):
But again, because they're not paying anybody else, the Lakers
are different.
Speaker 3 (35:58):
You're like, you're looking to win the argument.
Speaker 1 (36:00):
Luca is guaranteed two forty this summer, right, okay, And
Luca is a guy that we're hoping he's healthy and
in shape. So the bottom line is the Okase has
two functional centers.
Speaker 3 (36:12):
The Lakers have none.
Speaker 4 (36:14):
None.
Speaker 1 (36:15):
You cannot win the West against jokicch against OKC size.
This is a golden state's running into. Okay, you can
pay Raymond and Steph you have no size. You have
to go pay for bigs.
Speaker 6 (36:29):
Well a, you can't have it all. That's just not
realistic unless you look into it. Like the thunder did
building a team in struggling. But Kain, let me just
bring this up. You you've said eloquently that Lebron really
ushered in the player empowerment erap.
Speaker 3 (36:44):
Yeah, I love that.
Speaker 6 (36:45):
Do you know what it would look like if Lebron said, hey,
I'll take thirty mil, it would be doing the opposite.
That would be a sign to every veteran in the league, Hey,
don't get your money.
Speaker 4 (36:54):
Take left.
Speaker 6 (36:55):
Well, Lebron took less. He put up twenty four, eight
and seven.
Speaker 4 (36:58):
You ain't doing that.
Speaker 6 (36:59):
Take lefe and it would be like the opposite, and
it would look pretty bad for players.
Speaker 1 (37:04):
Would you not agree, Well, then don't release time and
time again the press release saying it's all about winning championships.
Sports fans have always had, in my opinion, a better
beat on stuff like this than actual media, which tends
to protect players like the fans know. The fans can
(37:24):
see it. The ring culture stuff. Silly argument and it's
all about winning.
Speaker 3 (37:28):
No, it's not.
Speaker 1 (37:29):
I mean, Austin Reeves is a better player than a
lot of guys. Maybe in the league, he's not better
than Derek White. Make the deal, give up picks if
it's all about winning Lebron's last great year. Lebron is
now saying I got one year left. He's saying that
one or two year if you've got one or two years.
Austin reeves, no center Lebron at forty one forty two
(37:50):
and LUCA is not a championship team in the West.
Speaker 4 (37:53):
Hey, let me ask you this.
Speaker 6 (37:54):
Since the report came out that Lebron is going to
opt in, notice if the Lakers have not said anything,
it's been twenty four hours. Are you surprised by that
because everybody's just assume, Okay, it's a done deal. To me,
it's the Lakers not really confirming it yet. Means maybe
this isn't a done deal.
Speaker 4 (38:13):
I don't know.
Speaker 6 (38:13):
Does it leave the door open for some something?
Speaker 1 (38:16):
Well, if you go look at the Mark Walter group,
first thing they did with the Dodgers get better upstairs
in the front office. They got Andrew Friedman from Tampa.
They're gonna make a move in scouting in the executive suite.
The second thing the Dodgers have done since the Mark
Walter group arrived, They'll move off Manny Machado, Zach Grinkey,
(38:38):
Corey Seeger, Cody Bellinger. They will move off people if
the money and the production and the age isn't right.
They've done it time and time again. So I'm telling
you what the Laker is gonna do. Expand the analytics
and scouting and start moving off some pieces. Mark my words.
They're always It's amazing the Dodgers have all the money,
(39:00):
yet they're always seeking the very best of the best.
They will pay for the very best. So they moved off.
Speaker 6 (39:07):
MVPs that Lebron is not with the Lakers next year
and he's somewhere in the East trying to win a title.
It sounds like he can't go to Cleveland. The money
can't be made, right, But I don't know. There's some
excellent guys out there. Do you think he's out on
the Lakers like five percent?
Speaker 4 (39:21):
Ten?
Speaker 1 (39:24):
Oh. I'm just telling you that the Bus family needed
Kobe and Lebron for merchandise sales and tickets. They were
the poorest or one of the poorest ownership groups. Believe
it or not, the Lakers were. Steve Balmer's the richest, right.
Steve Balmer makes a billion dollars a year on dividend
for Microsoft. He makes a billion dollars a year on
(39:45):
dividend for Microsoft. The Clippers owners the richest in the NBA.
The Lakers were bottom two or three. The Mark Walters
group is going to be much more like Ballmer where
like if they wanted to build their own stadium, they would.
The Lakers don't need that, obviously, they are going to
operate differently.
Speaker 4 (40:03):
But right now or do they win a year?
Speaker 2 (40:05):
Now?
Speaker 4 (40:06):
Okay?
Speaker 1 (40:07):
Everything, if I bought a business for ten billion, you
think I'm gonna say, you know, I'm gonna act differently.
In about a year from now, everything is gonna change.
They're gonna attack the scouting, the analytics. They're gonna make
the executive suite the best in the league. I mean,
when is the last time the Dodgers called them a
minor leaguer and they weren't exceptional, Like.
Speaker 3 (40:27):
They just don't miss on anything.
Speaker 6 (40:28):
It feels unlikely that they would the Lakers would move
off an international global icon right now. I know Luca is,
you know, a superstar in the future of the Lakers,
but moving off Lebron would be a massive surprise to me.
Speaker 1 (40:43):
Like, I'm not predicting it, I'm just saying, unlike the
previous owners, they could and not lose a second of sleep. Now,
the NBA culture is different than base Baseball's got like
ten year deals. Baseball ten the romanticize and lean into
the past, but the Dodgers don't. The Dodgers run their
(41:07):
operation like an NFL team.
Speaker 3 (41:09):
What did you do last week? Not good enough?
Speaker 1 (41:11):
We're upgrading. That's not what baseball teams do. Baseball teams
tend to lean into the past, understand the romance, the
lore of history, all that stuff. Dodgers don't. You can
be an MVP trading deadline off to a bad start.
We're getting draft picks and a better player. They'll move off.
They just and by the way, that's how you should
run a franchise that are now valued at ten billion dollars.
(41:34):
I'm gonna make sure we're hyper efficient and only pay
for the very best call on right, wrong, next,
Hosts And Creators
Colin Cowherd
Jason McIntyre
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