Colin Cowherd dives into Kevin Durant’s rocky debut with the Houston Rockets and what it reveals about the 2x NBA Finals MVP’s current place in the league. Is KD still a franchise-changing superstar, or has the league passed him by?
In the NFL, Colin makes a bold comparison between Packers quarterback Jordan Love and a prime Aaron Rodgers, explaining why Love might already be outperforming the legendary QB he replaced in Green Bay
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
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Speaker 2 (00:21):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 1 (00:25):
Oh, here we go on a Wednesday. NBA opened up
last night. That was fun. Way to go in NBC.
That wasn't bet at all. Little MJ. Here we are
wherever you may be, however you may be watching or listening.
We're in Chicago. It's the hurt Well Crisp this morning.
(00:46):
It's in Chicago. Is the NBA season starts in earnest?
Last night? Jay Mac? Everybody yesterday is talk. We've discussed this.
The West is loaded, it's insane. I don't think Golden
State's going to be a playoff team. I think the
Lakers will st go like a six or seven if
Lacron is healthy. I think Minnesota could win it. I
think okay See's good. I think Denver could win it.
(01:07):
I think Dallas is wildly underrated. Houston is the team
to keep your eye on because there's elements. They have
two young stars I love, but they brought in an
old guy last night, Kevin Durant. And let's talk about
Kevin Durant. So Kevin Durant came in last night, played okay,
but if you watch the game, is you know they
(01:29):
got to figure out how to get in more shots.
He was kind of lost, especially late in the game.
So they are a collection of talent at this point.
This is I'm a little bit of a pushback guy
on Houston. They lost their point guard Fred Van Vliet injury,
so they're a team without a quarterback. There are a
collection of really talented musicians with no conductor or lead singer.
And at the end of the game, I mean they
(01:50):
led by twelve, and the third they led by six
with four minutes to go. But when two good NBA
teams play, it always comes down to the final four
or five possessions, final two and a half minutes. That's
that's what it comes down to. And Katie was lost.
They were disorganized. He called a timeout they didn't have.
He wasn't bad. He looked like he was a hired mercenary.
(02:10):
Oh wait, that's what Kevin Durant is at this point,
he is a thirty seven year old gifted bucket getter
in Oklahoma City. All these guys have been playing together
for a couple of years. Oka, see, you better beat
him soundly if the games are close, especially now with
all the KD brand new to Houston. They're not going
to look good late. They look good first half, they
(02:33):
look good, third quarter, they look good with about five
minutes to go, but late in the game. Okay, see,
he's been through this. These guys been playing together three
four years. So at this point, Kevin Durant not a
culture guy. He's not a two way player. Actually, he's
not a grind for eighty two game guy. He is
a mercenary. In fact, his Twitter handle is easy money
(02:55):
Sniper And that's only because I get paid to shoot.
Lot was too long. That's what he is. And in
the final, I mean he had more fouls than buckets made.
In the second half of OT he just didn't do much,
and that's because it's brand new. He's kind of a
limited great sniper. He comes out and makes big shots
and okase, he's got defenders and depth and size and
(03:18):
experience now and youth and They're just better team that's
been playing together longer, so he has value. Kevin Durant
clearly has value. But when I watched Houston last night
without a point guard, it's point guard by committee. Amen
Thompson great talent. Alprin Shen Gun best player on the Rockets,
much better than Kadi at this point. Kid made the
All Stars at twenty two, he's now twenty three. Alprind
(03:41):
Shen Gouon's their best player. He's basically about ninety eighty
percent of Jokic. He didn't. He's not as big and
forceful as Jokic, but the touch, the finesse, he can pass,
he can hit threes. Kevin doesn't need to be their
best player, and he's not gonna be. He's not the
athlete of him and Thompson. He doesn't have the youth
and the overall skill and ability and of Al Prince Shengoon.
That's not what he is. He's paid to hit buckets
(04:03):
and he'll hit a lot of them. But I watched
them last night. My takeaway on Houston, and again, it
was a fun game, and Houston for three quarters was rolling,
But it reminded me of the Clippers for years when
they had Paul George and Kawhi Leonard, and who's the
point guard, who's running the show, who's getting us into
the offense. That's what it felt like last night. And
(04:24):
so the Rockets late looked a little lost. And it's
a team without a quarterback, with a lot of good
receivers and a lot of good bucket getters. Because a
man Thompson's a stud. You're one of the best athletes
in the league. Not a point. I mean, he can
play it, but he's not a point. And al Prince
Shenngun is unbelievable like Jokich. He can handle the ball,
(04:45):
but he's not a point either. And Katie down the
stretch fouls calling the timeout they didn't have. He took
the hit for the loss. After the game, a.
Speaker 2 (04:55):
Foul from Dan kla Seek put them up.
Speaker 3 (04:58):
Warren, I think those two plays the reason he loves you. Yeah, sure,
I gotta be that for you.
Speaker 4 (05:07):
Throw down as stay down, be more disciplined for those opportunities.
Speaker 2 (05:10):
To get a stop, to say the game that I'll
come around for offense. So I gotta be more take
more eventage goes.
Speaker 1 (05:16):
Okay. Meanwhile, as we predicted, Skinny Luca skinny jeans. Luca
is gonna score a lot of points, and he did
forty three and the Lakers lost to the Old Warriors.
So Skinny lucas we told you he's gonna lead the
NBA in usage rate. I think he has a chance
(05:38):
to win the scoring title. Last night, you saw that
he can attack the basket. Now I'm sorry he lost
twenty four. I can actually see his shoulders now. He's
going to attack the rim, attack the basket. He beats
guys quicker off the dribble. So that is what we
thought and what we saw. Secondly, the game, same issues
the Lakers had last year, they have him this year.
They lack athleticism on the wing. They're going to struggle
(06:00):
against teams like Minnesota and OKC on the wing. They're
bad defensively in the post. They were last year they
are this year. And Lebron's older and will be available
in spurts and he'll be great in spurts. But Luca,
Skinny Luca, he's gonna score a lot of points. They
are a top heavy roster. Last night, Austin Reeves, who
(06:24):
scored a lot of stuff late, and Luca combined for
sixty nine points. Nobody else had more than ten. Okay,
that's what they're gonna be when Lebron doesn't play by
the way the Warriors had four guys fifteen or more. So. Essentially,
the Lakers are Luca plus old Lebron plus lack of
athleticism plus really lousy defending the rim, and that is
(06:44):
not good enough in the West with the Tea Wolves
and the Thunder and the Mavericks. I mean, the West
just loaded the Nuggets. I'm not sure. I'm not sure
who I like. I think Dallas is better than anybody's
given him credit for so and the other thing the
Lakers are and JJ Reddy got kicked off about this.
Last year, the Lakers were a terrible third quarter team,
and last night, despite the fact that Luca in twelve
(07:06):
minutes at thirteen points, last night, they were a terrible
third quarter team. Why this is my opinion, because the
third quarter is when you go in at half and
they're really smart coaches, pull some levers. Let's have a
good say, how many levers are there? Pull? They can't
defend the rim, they're not athletic enough. Lebron didn't play
heavy reliance on Luca thirteen points twelve minute. There's not
(07:29):
a lot of levers here right there. They're just so much.
I mean, it's just like sometimes NFL teams, the Raiters
can go in at half. Gino's Gino, where are the levers?
Some teams have multiple levers. Denver's got levers. You know,
Eagles have levers. The Tampa Bay's got them. What are
the Lakers? What do you? What do you do at half?
(07:50):
What are you going to change? So my takeaway is,
remember this is very important to remember, and this is
why Lebron felt a little disengaged last night. And this
is a real thing. So Laker fans don't forget this
next sentence. They have got new ownership, but they made
the Lakers' new owners made a very public statement this
(08:12):
summer they want to be flexible in twenty twenty six
and twenty twenty seven. Uh huh, it's twenty twenty five.
It is the first time in Lebron's career. They're not
going for a ring. The games are going to be
sold out, Skinny Luca Lebron maybe his last year. For
the first time ever, the ownership is not afraid of Lebron,
(08:35):
and they're not building a team for Lebron, the Lakers
are Luca jj Reddick and the future and flexibility next year,
in the year after the draft. Next year is going
to be very good. There's going to be opportunities down
the road. So the new Laker own and took this
Laker ownership, this new group. When they bought the Dodgers,
(08:55):
it wasn't about winning a World Series the first year.
They identify their stars moved off, some embraced others. Long
term build to be viable, like the Dodgers are thirteen
straight postseasons. So these new owners this is a Luca
jj Reddick long term build. They would love to be
(09:18):
a playoff team. They would love to have home playoff games.
They would love to drive that playoff resident revenue. They'd
love to win a title. They're not winning a title.
They're not getting out of the West. They're not getting
to Western conference finals. Luca old Lebron, lack of athleticism,
no rim protector. Defensively, in the East, you could get
(09:39):
to a conference final. In the West, it's gonna be
hard to win a series. So Lebron's not happy about it.
But for the first time he's not driving this bus. Luca,
though the weight loss, he's quicker. He attacks the rim.
He didn't do that last year. A lot of fallaways,
a lot of settling. He's back to attacking the rim.
(10:00):
Luke after, Yeah, I feel like I say, no, less tiring,
better shape. So just trying to get a win.
Speaker 2 (10:10):
You've got to try and be physical.
Speaker 5 (10:12):
You know, obviously if they're in bonus it's a little
bit harder.
Speaker 2 (10:16):
But the end, you got to get a stop and
that's what kind of winning the game.
Speaker 1 (10:20):
Yeah, this is not gonna be a great defensive team.
Great defensive teams are great protecting the rim and hyper athletic.
That's why, like Minnesota when they played them last year,
go bear protects the rim. You know, they got their
very highly athletic wing defenders. There are certain components you
need to be a good passing team in the NFL,
like a good offensive line, a quarterback over five to ten,
(10:44):
maybe a viable veteran tight end, good twitchy young receivers.
It's the same thing in the NBA. You want to
be a great defensive team, you have to be a
great rim defender. You gotta have somebody at the iron.
They don't really have that. They didn't last year. They
made a move. They don't this year they are, and
they're not super athletic on the wing, at least not
athletic enough to be the OKC or a Minnesota in
(11:05):
a series. So I think, But I do think if
you love Luca, I can see his shoulders now. I mean,
what has he lost? Twenty seven twenty eight pound me?
He's much much quicker, plays downhill much more often. That
was fun. J Mack. I know you're a bit of
a Laker fan. That must have felt really good last night.
Speaker 3 (11:25):
Oh my gosh, it was excellent. First of all, happy
the NBA's back. Second of all, Luka Doncts looks again
like the best player in the league. I don't want
to hear this SGA's better than Luca nonsense. But I
think you're overreacting, just a tad on the Lakers. Okay,
two new starters. You're missing an All NBA player in Lebron,
the top two minutes. Guys off the bench just joined
the team, Like, let's pump the brakes on the panic
(11:47):
can't win a series. I think this team definitely has
the players to get to the NBA Finals, undeniably. I
would would not surprise me at all. Problem is you
got to get everybody healthy.
Speaker 1 (11:57):
Is that that for a honest trade at the deadline?
Speaker 3 (12:01):
I think, are you giving up Austin Reeves in a
package for you?
Speaker 6 (12:04):
Honest?
Speaker 3 (12:04):
I don't know if I am Colin? Okay, I probably am.
What Austin Reeves was really strong last night?
Speaker 1 (12:12):
Yeah, and by the.
Speaker 3 (12:12):
Way, Warriors take Warriors not going.
Speaker 1 (12:15):
To the playoffs.
Speaker 6 (12:16):
That veteran team looked really good together.
Speaker 1 (12:19):
Yeah, three months off, it's easy to look great in
the opener. Yeah, check in, check in in February eighth
and see how young.
Speaker 6 (12:27):
They look the dog days of February.
Speaker 1 (12:29):
Right. Oh, there's a lot of stuff going on today.
Sean Payton insulted Russell Wilson, and he clapped back. Joel
Klatt stops by. I am going to Michael Jordan showed
up for NBC. I've got some thoughts on that around
the corner as well.
Speaker 2 (12:45):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
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Speaker 7 (12:54):
Hey it's me Rock Parker. Check out my weekly MLB podcast,
Inside the Parker for twenty two minutes of piping Hot
Baseball Talk, featuring the biggest names and newsmakers in the sport.
Speaker 6 (13:08):
Whether you believe in analytics or.
Speaker 7 (13:10):
The Ie test, We've got all the bases covered. New
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Speaker 1 (13:24):
All right, welcome back, Joe Klatt top of next hour.
So very interesting game for the first time ever, former
Packer great Aaron Rodgers now as Steeler. He and the
Steelers will host Dream Bay. Aaron tends to have a
long memory. He's gonna face the team, the Packers he
(13:47):
built his legacy on, and let him go and move
down to Jordan Love. So the Packers in the Indianapolis
Colts are the only teams in the NFL left with
only one loss. Packers also have a tie against the Cowboys,
and nobody quite knows what to do with Jordan Love.
So I went back this morning and I went to
Aaron's Super Bowl winning year that's twenty ten, and I
(14:08):
went back and looked where was he through six games?
And I looked at Jordan Love through six games. Their
first six games, Jordan was way better passer rating, fewer picks,
team was scoring more, much better completion percentage, one more game.
So Jordan Love this year through the first six was
better than Aaron in the year he won his first
(14:30):
Super Bowl and both were twenty seven years old. Aaron
was cooler. Aaron's personality was more out there. Aaron kind
of plays the position, although I think Jordan Love's cool.
Aaron the way he lets go of the ball was
kind of, you know, throws it with no feet on
the ground. Aaron was a very unique quarterback, and he
(14:51):
was cool, and he was carrying the torch. At that time,
when he was twenty seven, it was a very thin
group of ascending young quarterbacks. Farv was in his forties
and McNabb was still around, and it was you know,
Aaron's making a Pro Bowl and he's in, you know,
mid twenties, twenty six, twenty seven years old, and it
was Brady and it was Breeze, and it was Manning
(15:12):
and Farb's around and there's McNabb and older Tony Romo
was getting beat up every week before the Cowboys had
a great offensive line, and then it was Aaron. Well,
the difference is Jordan Love. There's all sorts of great
young quarterbacks now, even the ones were not totally sold on.
Caleb Williams are insanely talented. Drake May looks like a
pro bowler. Jaden Daniels last year unbelievable. Justin Herbert, there's
(15:35):
just more good quarterback play. You go back to Aaron
at Jordan Love's age, and it was like Aaron and
a bunch of old guys were still in the headlines.
It was it was a bunch of Farb and Brady
and Manning and Breeze and McNabb was still hanging around.
Now Aaron's the old guy, and the league is all
young quarterbacks. It is just a bunch of kids. And
(15:59):
so I actually think Aaron is going to do very
well Sunday night. I think Aaron's the kind of guy
that I think when you're older, you could be a broadcaster,
you could be a political figure, you could be a
football player. When you get older, you can't work seventy
hours a week, you can't grind like he used to.
But your best game is still great. The late great
(16:19):
Kobe sixty last game, he played like you can stuff.
Brett Fahr was old and rickety. He was still great
at the very end, right, So I think Aaron's gonna
play well. Steelers are at home. The Packers are very talented.
They play with their food a little, They let you
hang around for a while. Here's Mike Tomlin on the
(16:41):
matchup of Aaron and the Steelers against his former team.
Speaker 4 (16:46):
Aaron's been added a long time. You know, he's got
an awesome relationship with this game. I hadn't been with
him for a long time, but he's been fired up
every single week. I'd imagine it's going to be the same.
Imagine some external things are gonna make more out of
it than it is for him. He's playing and playing
(17:06):
to win. That's what he does.
Speaker 1 (17:09):
It's just interesting is when when Aaron was Jordan's current age,
he felt like he was the young star that was
going to carry the next generation of quarterbacks. And as
good as Jordan Love is better numbers than Aaron at
his age. Right, Like in space, it's just so many
good young quarterbacks. There are so many. We're still waiting
for Caleb to be great. Jayden already is. I mean
(17:30):
bo Nick's thirty three points in a quarter on a
sudden Jackson Dart looks like he's a player. So it's
just a different world now. The quarterback play in the NFL.
This is the golden age. Don't listen to anybody. Don't
listen to anybody you know, glamorize and romanticized the Lway
Morino years. There's never been close to this much quarterback talent.
It is unbelievable. I mean, this year, the next NFL
(17:53):
draft may have six quarterbacks drafted May and the best
one of them may be the younger red shirt freshman
at Notre Dame, him Car. He may be the best.
He's not draft eligible. J Mack with the News. Turn
on the news.
Speaker 2 (18:08):
This is the herd line news.
Speaker 3 (18:11):
All right, Colin, Let's start with the only thing more
exciting than Cooper Flag in Dallas. That's the Cowboys offense.
Holy cal it has taken off like a rocket ship.
Ceedee Lamb is in the sixth year of his career
and he says he has never seen this good of
an offense in Dallas.
Speaker 1 (18:29):
This one the best one I've been on, and I've
been on some grave ones. It's just the way that
we can move around these pieces and these players and
everybody know everywhere to go.
Speaker 6 (18:38):
We could line up faster than any.
Speaker 1 (18:41):
It's tough.
Speaker 3 (18:42):
It's tough, Yeah, I said yesterday. Schottenheimer deserves a lot
of credit. I mean, obviously Dak Prescott's been sensational, Pickens
has been big, but I got to give Schottenheimer props.
This was a guy who languished with my Jets for
many years, bounced around the league as an OC. Never
did anything like this, so pretty impressive stuff. I didn't
(19:02):
see this coming.
Speaker 1 (19:04):
Yeah, I don't think anybody did, except diehard cowboy fan
who's thought they were going to be great the last
thirty years. I don't think I will say this, I
like draft picks. By giving up just a third round pick,
which is a about a fifty to fifty hit rate
to get George Pickens was a smart move. Like I
(19:25):
understand when people like I like accumulating a lot of picks.
But even in the first round, what is the hit
rate sixty percent? By the third round it's forty five
to fifty percent. I think a big part of this
is George Pickens. It forces safeties, can't cheat in the box.
What does that mean? It helps the run game? You
can't when Ceedee Lamb goes down. Without George Pickens, you'd
(19:49):
just cheat, You'd put your safeties in the box. Javonte
Williams nowhere to go because it's not a great offensive line.
It's not the Lions, that Broncos, the Eagles. But with
Pickens and Ceedee Lamb both in there, you have to
be on with your coverage. So absolutely the receiving depth
elevates the run game. You can't cheat on the Cowboys
with Pickens and Ceedee Lamb, So it's made. I mean,
(20:10):
I think the biggest surprise isn't that George Pickens is good.
We knew he was good in Pittsburgh. The run game
for the Cowboys with a so so offensive line I
think has been surprisingly good.
Speaker 3 (20:21):
Yeah. Interesting matchup with the Broncos. So Certan has not
been amazing.
Speaker 6 (20:27):
We know he's talented in former Defensive Player of the
Year year.
Speaker 3 (20:31):
Do you have him follow around one of those two
or do you just have him go to one side
This weekend, I'm interesting.
Speaker 6 (20:37):
To see how Dallas combats this.
Speaker 3 (20:38):
This will be a much different different opponent defensively than
the Cowboys have seen recently come So, I don't know
that it's a lot that they cook this weekend.
Speaker 1 (20:47):
No, I think. I think, first of all, if you
watched the Broncos this year, all their games are crazy.
There's there's no non crazy Bronco game. They're all weird.
They're all dramatic for differ for reasons other than the
Tennessee game in Week one, which that was one of
our blazing five picks. Like you know, cam Ward against Denver,
(21:07):
remember that first game of the year. Yeah, and they won,
but it was choppy. It did not look good. I
remember that did not look good. They won, but cam
Ward actually had some success, has had less sins. So
all Denver games are wild. I think. I think they'll
beat Dallas, but it will be crazy.
Speaker 3 (21:23):
Yeah. Let's move on to the San Francisco forty nine
ers and brock Purty, one of your favorite targets. He
hasn't played much colin two of the seven games, that's
all brock Perty's played in due to shoulder and tow injuries.
I know you're gonna blame it on his size, but
sometimes guys just get unlucky. Now, Party didn't try to
work out leading up to last week's game. Didn't feel good.
(21:45):
Now Diana Russini is reporting his status is up in
the air. Everybody thought he would be back. They got
the Texans this week. Texans had their own issues with
Nico Collins concussion. But this brock Party stuff is starting
to get depressing.
Speaker 6 (22:00):
I just looked around the league.
Speaker 3 (22:01):
There's ten Week one starters who will not be suiting up,
likely this weekend.
Speaker 6 (22:05):
Brock Party one of them.
Speaker 3 (22:07):
I know mac Jones has been good, but Colin rock
Party's better and gives his team a much higher year.
Speaker 1 (22:13):
I think brock Perdy's ability to move is better, but
mac Jones is healthier, throws as good a ball, and
his sneaky athletic not like athletic, but he runs in
some key spots. I think let's be totally clear here.
If we're gonna give love to Baker and we're gonna
give love to Donald and Gino Smith on their reclamation projects,
(22:33):
that's what mac Jones is. He's just a younger version
like Gino disappeared for years and Donald bounced around, and
Baker went to Carolina and mac Jones was that long ago.
I made a Pro Bowl, disappeared in Tampa. He's just
a young reclamation project. But we have to be totally
fair here. Behind a very mid offensive line. Mac Jones
(22:57):
has been very good. We have to be fair, he's
been very good. He's a younger reclamation. Usually it's like
you got you got to get humiliated. I mean, at
one point you got to you know, I mean a
Baker basically got cut. Uh you know, Donald was a
disaster with a Jets and Carol lot. Mac just sort
of disappeared. He went Bermuda Triangle in Jacksonville. Now as
(23:17):
a young guy, mac looclutt, I'll be totally honest, he
looks like a franchise quarterback.
Speaker 6 (23:23):
Well wait, let's slow down.
Speaker 3 (23:24):
So first of all, Donald won fourteen games in Minnesota
and he's great again this year.
Speaker 6 (23:28):
So a little it's like a twenty games.
Speaker 1 (23:31):
Donald's a world class athlete, Ma's not. And for right now,
look at quarterback playing the league with a battle line.
Are you kittle gone?
Speaker 6 (23:41):
He has McCaffrey, who's.
Speaker 1 (23:43):
Okay, okay, okay, but he's he's got no weapons and
he's winning and they're asking him to throw forty times
a game. Mac Jones has been one of the revelations
of the season. I'm not ready to say he's a
franchise quarterback.
Speaker 6 (23:56):
He is. He has Kyle Shanahan. Okay, he looks good.
Speaker 1 (24:01):
Can we kill it?
Speaker 2 (24:02):
Can we leave it?
Speaker 6 (24:02):
I mean, we don't need to go overboard.
Speaker 1 (24:04):
So I'm saying he looks good. If a quarterback's good
in twenty twenty five, he's a franchise quart up.
Speaker 6 (24:10):
The Jets would take good in a heart at all.
Speaker 1 (24:12):
But he were, Jets would ruin him. But he looks good.
Speaker 2 (24:15):
Stop it.
Speaker 6 (24:16):
Final stories of Baltimore Ravens Colin. Things not looking good.
Speaker 3 (24:20):
I just saw that the Baltimore Ravens have removed ping
pong tables from the locker room. No more video game consoles,
the basketball hoop, it's all gone.
Speaker 1 (24:31):
According to some.
Speaker 3 (24:32):
Ravens beat reporters, it's all business now. And listen, here's
the worst news. Lamar Jackson not at the podium today
meeting the media. This is just happening right now.
Speaker 1 (24:41):
This is when.
Speaker 6 (24:41):
Lamar's supposed to talk if he's a starter. So the
Ravens media is panicked.
Speaker 3 (24:46):
I don't I don't know what to make it is.
Are the Bears going to get a free win here?
First of all, ping pong tables and video games?
Speaker 1 (24:53):
What is this? Google?
Speaker 6 (24:54):
What you're supposed to have like a laid back atmosphere.
Speaker 1 (24:58):
It's pull football. It's not a tech company in Palo Alto.
It's not bring your dog to work day at Apple.
These are professional athletes. Go to work, do sit ups,
lift a lot of weight, learn plays, and go play
ping pong tables.
Speaker 3 (25:15):
Listen, it's practice.
Speaker 6 (25:17):
It's during the week. Now, I see why they don't
have a ping pong table on the set here.
Speaker 2 (25:21):
We got room for it.
Speaker 1 (25:22):
We used to have a basketball court. Somebody got rid
of that. I'll just leave it at that.
Speaker 6 (25:26):
Man, he's selling one of these hard driving bosses.
Speaker 1 (25:30):
I just say, if.
Speaker 3 (25:32):
Lamar doesn't play and they lose this game and fall
to one on six, it's so they're not coming back
from one to six.
Speaker 1 (25:37):
We're in five. You can go back to the real
story here, the fact that they allowed ping pong tables
and video games in a workplace.
Speaker 3 (25:45):
Yet one of the most successful NFL franchises in the
last twenty years.
Speaker 6 (25:48):
Oh man, sorry to allow fun. I didn't know you
were the fun police.
Speaker 1 (25:53):
What it's called when you drive up and pull up
the fox, you know what it's called work, It's not
called play. That's when you're on your South Bay Elsagundo
Knights jacking up threes, that's play.
Speaker 3 (26:04):
Why don't you ask Andy Reid if they have ping
pong tables?
Speaker 1 (26:07):
Altimately, I will?
Speaker 6 (26:09):
I have my phone ext Brett vieats right now.
Speaker 3 (26:12):
Hey, do you guys have a basketball hoop at the facility?
Is there any fun allowed? Video game consoles? I guarantee
you most teams have this. No you sound listen.
Speaker 1 (26:24):
I would be fifty to fifty on whether I'd allow
them to eat at the facility. I want sit ups, playbook,
film and get out of here. I'm sorry that ping
pong tables at work?
Speaker 3 (26:39):
No?
Speaker 1 (26:39):
Thanks Jmack with the news.
Speaker 2 (26:42):
Well that's the news, and thanks for stopping by the
herd Line News.
Speaker 1 (26:48):
It's like when you pull up the Fox, it's called
work coffee machines, absolutely, ping pong tables shoesh I'm sorry
some of you young Sparky's out there is weekends are
for fun, home is for fun. Being plung tables at work?
(27:11):
What is going on? So let me say this. I
thought it was cool that NBC had MJ on their coverage.
He's sixty two, reminiscing, embracing the good old days. The
(27:36):
NBA is falling into a trap that baseball had for
about twenty years. He's a way to play the game.
It was way better years ago. And no, it wasn't that. Pacers.
Next series, they made a thirty for thirty on was
an ugly free throw shooting contest. Nobody could hit an
eighteen footer outside of Reggie Miller. It was a bunch
(27:56):
of bigs who couldn't dribble, didn't have handles, and couldn't
shoot pass like seven feet. But it made for a
great thirty for thirty that it did. But last night
the NBA had sixty two year old MJ in the
pregame and was hoping they get forty year old lebron
in thirty seven year old Steph to get TV viewers.
Baseball has done a rum. I gave up on regular
(28:18):
season baseball for twenty years. Baseball has done an unbelievable
job in the last three years. Sped the game up.
They got rid of the grumpy old guys, the old
veteran players. They just stopped worrying about the rear view
mirror and they started operating through the windshield. And Eli
(28:39):
de la Cruz cal Raley, Julio Rodriguez, Otani Betts. There
is so Paul schemes. There is so much young, amazing
talent in baseball, and they are creating games in London,
the home run derby, a game in a cornfield. Events
(29:00):
like baseball deserves a ton of credit. For twenty years,
I stopped talking about it. The last two three years,
I'm totally into baseball. The game's fast, there's more base runners,
more stolen bases. You don't have to commit three and
a half hours in the regular season to watch a game.
You sit down for forty five minutes. You can get
three innings if the pitching's good. You know. I like
the NBA. I've been watching it since nineteen seventy two.
(29:22):
But they have a little dilemma on their hands, and
that is most of the best players are international, and
they're not wildly dynamic personalities. They come into the country,
head down, sleep, ball, rinse and repeat. They don't want
to do commercials. They don't have big shoe deals. I
mean they have some, they have some, but you don't
have a Barkley, you don't have an MJ. You don't Okay,
(29:44):
So how do you solve it? First of all, promote,
embrace market and over and over and over again, get
Tyreese Halliburton's not ready to play it because he's injured.
Get him on all the broadcasts. I want Tyrese Halliburton
F four or seven on every broadcast. The guy lights
the room up. What else would I? Oh, Cooper Flag
(30:07):
put him on TV is thirty times this year forty
times Cooper Flag. And my take on that, there's nothing
against Sga, Yo Kisch Giannis, great players, I mean Yokich
best player, Shan Goon, unbelievable. A lot of these international guys,
we didn't watch them in college, we didn't watch them
in high school. Right they PLoP into the league and
they're unbelievable within like two to three years. Not big personalities.
(30:30):
It's not their fault. The quality of basketball right now
in the NBA is the best that's ever been. Everybody
can handle the ball, everybody can run the floor, everybody
can shoot. It's unbelievable. How good the quality of play is.
It is unbelievable. So so it's okay. Not everything has
to be globalized to the max. You can say our
domestic and I think there's a lot of things that
(30:51):
the NBA did wrong that they're trying to switch. Adam
Silver would admit this. Please embrace college basketball. College basketball's
best players are now staying in college longer because of
the nil. Embrace March madness. Put your arms around March Madness,
get Anton TV, Cooper Flag on TV, and got Tyrese
(31:11):
Halliburton on every network, Amazon, NBC, ABCESPN during your telecast.
The kid is completely likable, he's engaging, he's funny. So
my take is the last American MVP was James Harden
in twenty eighteen. That is your reality. The best players
are international and they're unbelievable. I mean, KD is not
(31:32):
the player alprin Chendunz. Last night, Changune couldn't hit threes
and pass and rebound. It's unbelievable. How good these international
bigs are unbelievable. But we've seen the KD and the
staff and Lebron and MJ sixty two and they're all great.
But you got to turn the page on this thing.
You got to market your young guys. Baseball's done it.
Take a page from baseball. They've done a great job.
(31:55):
So that's my take on it. I'm not anti old guy.
As one with gray hair, I'm not anti old guy,
but I would put Cooper Flag on television. I would
open with Cooper Flag last night. That's my opener. That
is my opener, and my closer, and thirty eight times.
In the middle of the season, here was Jason Kidd
(32:18):
talking about Cooper Flag's debut.
Speaker 5 (32:21):
He competes his ability to make plays. I mean, as
farm why he's out there. I think so. I think
you can look for a great season from Cooper. He
does have a high basketball IQ. I think when you
look at you know the plays he's made, you know
on the offensive event and defensive event. He understands the
game of basketball for an eighteen year old, and it
(32:42):
will only get better with the more reps that he's playing.
Speaker 1 (32:46):
Yeah, just Halliburton and Cooper Flag. There's nothing wrong embracing
the domestic product too, That's okay, that's okay. I mean
if we send our soccer players over to England and
they're tremendous Christian Polisic, but you know over there, you
(33:06):
know they want they want to talk about their their stars.
They're guys. That's okay. I mean, when you watch the
Olympics in Italy, they root for Italians. I got nothing
against Canadians. I want us to beat the Canadians. It's okay,
it's not the end of the world. But I do
think you need to embrace these college stars. They're not
in college very long, and I think you need to
embrace them. I'm not against I got nothing against them MJ.
(33:28):
MJ's great, he's my favorite player. But I just think
it's interesting. You know, the decisions basketball has made the
last couple of years, and I've watched baseball, just take
embrace all these young guys and and and speed their game.
Anytime you speed anything up, you're gonna get younger viewers.
The longer something takes in sports, I mean over in
(33:49):
the UK, I would imagine that demographics are better for
young viewers with soccer than with cricket. Cricket takes days,
Soccer takes ninety five minutes, right like it. Just my
guess would be that's what the demographics would tell you,
that crickett has a little bit of an older audience.
So J Max some thoughts on that this is.
Speaker 6 (34:11):
A good take.
Speaker 3 (34:12):
There's a lot there. I will just say the embracing
the old people. Remember the NFL last year kind of
screwed the Jets by putting Aaron Rodgers in primetime because
they wanted New York Aaron Rodgers old quarterback Aaron Rodgers
the Marquee game again this week. So the leagues, I understand,
wanting to usher in, you know, a proven commodity air venteran.
Speaker 1 (34:32):
Aaron playing the Packers again is absolutely to you mer,
that's massive.
Speaker 3 (34:36):
Aaron with the Jets, Well, it was on TV all
the time. I mean, hell, Aaron Rodgers apparently delayed his
going to the Steelers, remember, because he didn't want them
to be shoved into primetime a lot. That's what these
leagues do. But I don't know Colin. This Anthony Edwards stuff.
I like Anthony Edwards a lot. He has this weird
habit where he just says the F word in every interview.
Speaker 6 (34:57):
Yes, he's getting fined in the locker room because he
can't stop. Like dude, he's got to grow up a
little bit.
Speaker 3 (35:02):
No, and I don't want to be old guy, but like,
come on, man stoup cursing every interview, Well, you sit
down with him and you talk to him.
Speaker 1 (35:07):
That's just you know, it's whether it's parenting or managing.
I mean, young people are they've got their own spirit
and energy and juice and that's okay. But I again,
as I watched the broadcast last night, my takeaway watching
NBA last night was Steph Lebron on the bench KD MJ.
My takeaway was, guys, Cooper flag should be I want
(35:28):
forty minutes of Cooper flag here. That So those are
all conscious decisions when they do the scheduling at Christmas
or Opening night, these were all conscious decisions. Who do
we want? The best player for Houston is not Kevin Durant, No,
it's Shen Goon and it's not even close. He is.
He was an All Star last year. I think he's
(35:49):
I think he's twenty three years old.
Speaker 6 (35:50):
He's awesome.
Speaker 1 (35:52):
Jokic is the best player in the league. By the
end of this year, shen Goon could be like third
best player in the league. I'm serious. He's that good.
Speaker 3 (35:59):
Hey, but you did note that these European foreign players,
by the way, there's one hundred and thirty five of
them in the league this year on record, they come
in and their practice games rinse, repeat.
Speaker 6 (36:10):
I think that's exactly what you said.
Speaker 1 (36:11):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (36:12):
Interesting, So, uh, you know, the no ping pong tables
in the locker rooms in the NBA.
Speaker 6 (36:17):
Huh, you just want all business.
Speaker 1 (36:19):
That's so.
Speaker 6 (36:20):
You like the European players.
Speaker 1 (36:21):
Best players in the NBA right now are euros International
guys there and here's what they do. They tend to
be more loyal. That's why Luca was so devastated when
he was traded. Yeah, I mean American players like we
get traded like Luca was devastated. He was angry. He
literally they talked to him this summer. He was still
deva and he went to the Lakers. He didn't go
(36:43):
you know, he didn't go to allows Me for he
had to go to the Wizards. He went to the Lakers,
which is better for business, and he was still devastated.
International players tend to be more loyal. They come over
here and it's all business. It's bad. And by the way,
season's over, first jet home. They want to go home.
I'm defending them. And they're unbelievable players, way better than
(37:05):
the Jordan era forwards and centers, not even close. But
so they're not dynamic personalities. Embrace College Basketball. Halliburton is
a Marketer's dream, good looking, funny, quick witted dad, little
Craig Cray. It's all great like Embrace it Cooper Flag
(37:25):
and and swears too much. I swear too much. You know,
people just don't hear it. I am proposing a massive
NBA trade. Also Russell Wilson, He's tired of getting ripped.
Speaker 2 (37:41):
Next, be sure to catch live editions of The Herd
weekdays and noon Easter not a Empacific Friday.
Speaker 6 (37:53):
The World Series begins.
Speaker 3 (37:55):
On Fox has show Hey Otani and the Ringing Jimpie.
Dodgers take on Vlad Junior in the Blue Jays. Game
one of the World Series. Coverage begins Friday at seven
Eastern on Fox.
Speaker 1 (38:08):
Yeah, everybody thinks this is going to be a blowout.
I think you're nuts. I ran into a guy at
the train station this morning. His name was Mark, and
he used to play in a farm system. I think
it was Houston's farm system. We were talking about the
World Series. He's a big baseball fan, and we were
talking about this, and I'm like these people. First of all,
Toronto led all of baseball in hits. So Toronto gets
(38:31):
runners on and then they've got Vlad and Springer or
the power hitters. But they get the table set for them.
They've got a lot of runners on base, they got
contact hitters. The Dodgers swept the Reds, they were overwhelmed, shockingly,
swept the Brewers, and disposed of Philadelphia much more easily
than I would have guessed. I think Toronto's better than
all those teams. Go ask the Yankees. So but I
(38:54):
will say this, if the Dodgers sweep the Blue Jays
or beat them in five, the Dodgers are the greatest
baseball team ever or in modern history. Because the Phillies
were good, the Brewers were excellent, the Blue Jays are better,
and Cincinnati at least had talent. So we all know
it's not about winning regular season games. Like the Dodgers
(39:16):
very obviously when they got Blake Snell and Tyler glassnow
they got those guys for September and October. They knew
Snell had arm injuries. They knew Glass go at glassdown
had struggled to stay healthy. So the Dodgers built a staff.
This is the advantage of the Dodgers' money. It's not
just signing OTAWNI. The Dodgers have an advantage financially, and
what they do with it is they go find pitchers
(39:39):
that they don't need thirty starts from they don't need
twenty starts from Snell. They need four great starts in
September and October. Same with same with the kid from Tampa,
so Andrew Friedman. Everybody looks at the money and goes
the money is a great advantage because you get Molkie bets.
A lot of people could have afforded Mookie bets. That's
not it. Where the Dodger use their money brilliantly is
(40:02):
getting these high end starters who do have a history
of injuries that other teams are reluctant to spend money
on because they need the starts, and the Dodgers are like, no,
we got Roki and Yoshi, we got a bunch of
young arms. We'll get through it. We'll bring you on.
You don't have to play that much in the regular season.
We don't need that many starts be ready by September
(40:24):
and October. That's where the Dodgers' money is lethal against
the sport. Because Snell goes out against Milwaukee and looks
like Sandy Kofax. They could not get bat on ball,
didn't hit a ball to the infield fast to third inning,
which is why I didn't understand why they pulled him.
So the Dodger's money helps in a lot of areas.
But that's where it's lethal that they can go get
(40:47):
glassnow and Snell. They don't need them until September and
October mostly don't need them. I don't remember how many
starts Snell have it. It was like ten to eleven. He
didn't start that much. But if they dispose of the
Blue Jays, I mean, this season, here's the runs scored
in baseball Toronto seventy one, the Dodgers at forty six.
(41:08):
So the idea that you're gonna just fly through Toronto,
no way, they get on base, they put press. Nobody's
put pressure on the Dodgers in the postseason. There's nobody
on base. Toronto will put pressure on the Dodgers. They'll
make Dave Roberts that bullpen will be up, fourth, fifth,
sixth inning the entire series. My guess, I think it's
(41:31):
gonna be a very competitive series. I'll take the Dodgers,
but they're not. They're not. This is not gonna look
like the Milwaukee Series at all. Joe Clatt on the
corner
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):
Oh, here we go on a Wednesday. NBA opened up
last night. That was fun. Way to go in NBC.
That wasn't bet at all. Little MJ. Here we are
wherever you may be, however you may be watching or listening.
We're in Chicago. It's the hurt Well Crisp this morning.
(00:46):
It's in Chicago. Is the NBA season starts in earnest?
Last night? Jay Mac? Everybody yesterday is talk. We've discussed this.
The West is loaded, it's insane. I don't think Golden
State's going to be a playoff team. I think the
Lakers will st go like a six or seven if
Lacron is healthy. I think Minnesota could win it. I
think okay See's good. I think Denver could win it.
(01:07):
I think Dallas is wildly underrated. Houston is the team
to keep your eye on because there's elements. They have
two young stars I love, but they brought in an
old guy last night, Kevin Durant. And let's talk about
Kevin Durant. So Kevin Durant came in last night, played okay,
but if you watch the game, is you know they
(01:29):
got to figure out how to get in more shots.
He was kind of lost, especially late in the game.
So they are a collection of talent at this point.
This is I'm a little bit of a pushback guy
on Houston. They lost their point guard Fred Van Vliet injury,
so they're a team without a quarterback. There are a
collection of really talented musicians with no conductor or lead singer.
And at the end of the game, I mean they
(01:50):
led by twelve, and the third they led by six
with four minutes to go. But when two good NBA
teams play, it always comes down to the final four
or five possessions, final two and a half minutes. That's
that's what it comes down to. And Katie was lost.
They were disorganized. He called a timeout they didn't have.
He wasn't bad. He looked like he was a hired mercenary.
(02:10):
Oh wait, that's what Kevin Durant is at this point,
he is a thirty seven year old gifted bucket getter
in Oklahoma City. All these guys have been playing together
for a couple of years. Oka, see, you better beat
him soundly if the games are close, especially now with
all the KD brand new to Houston. They're not going
to look good late. They look good first half, they
(02:33):
look good, third quarter, they look good with about five
minutes to go, but late in the game. Okay, see,
he's been through this. These guys been playing together three
four years. So at this point, Kevin Durant not a
culture guy. He's not a two way player. Actually, he's
not a grind for eighty two game guy. He is
a mercenary. In fact, his Twitter handle is easy money
(02:55):
Sniper And that's only because I get paid to shoot.
Lot was too long. That's what he is. And in
the final, I mean he had more fouls than buckets made.
In the second half of OT he just didn't do much,
and that's because it's brand new. He's kind of a
limited great sniper. He comes out and makes big shots
and okase, he's got defenders and depth and size and
(03:18):
experience now and youth and They're just better team that's
been playing together longer, so he has value. Kevin Durant
clearly has value. But when I watched Houston last night
without a point guard, it's point guard by committee. Amen
Thompson great talent. Alprin Shen Gun best player on the Rockets,
much better than Kadi at this point. Kid made the
All Stars at twenty two, he's now twenty three. Alprind
(03:41):
Shen Gouon's their best player. He's basically about ninety eighty
percent of Jokic. He didn't. He's not as big and
forceful as Jokic, but the touch, the finesse, he can pass,
he can hit threes. Kevin doesn't need to be their
best player, and he's not gonna be. He's not the
athlete of him and Thompson. He doesn't have the youth
and the overall skill and ability and of Al Prince Shengoon.
That's not what he is. He's paid to hit buckets
(04:03):
and he'll hit a lot of them. But I watched
them last night. My takeaway on Houston, and again, it
was a fun game, and Houston for three quarters was rolling,
But it reminded me of the Clippers for years when
they had Paul George and Kawhi Leonard, and who's the
point guard, who's running the show, who's getting us into
the offense. That's what it felt like last night. And
(04:24):
so the Rockets late looked a little lost. And it's
a team without a quarterback, with a lot of good
receivers and a lot of good bucket getters. Because a
man Thompson's a stud. You're one of the best athletes
in the league. Not a point. I mean, he can
play it, but he's not a point. And al Prince
Shenngun is unbelievable like Jokich. He can handle the ball,
(04:45):
but he's not a point either. And Katie down the
stretch fouls calling the timeout they didn't have. He took
the hit for the loss. After the game, a.
Speaker 2 (04:55):
Foul from Dan kla Seek put them up.
Speaker 3 (04:58):
Warren, I think those two plays the reason he loves you. Yeah, sure,
I gotta be that for you.
Speaker 4 (05:07):
Throw down as stay down, be more disciplined for those opportunities.
Speaker 2 (05:10):
To get a stop, to say the game that I'll
come around for offense. So I gotta be more take
more eventage goes.
Speaker 1 (05:16):
Okay. Meanwhile, as we predicted, Skinny Luca skinny jeans. Luca
is gonna score a lot of points, and he did
forty three and the Lakers lost to the Old Warriors.
So Skinny lucas we told you he's gonna lead the
NBA in usage rate. I think he has a chance
(05:38):
to win the scoring title. Last night, you saw that
he can attack the basket. Now I'm sorry he lost
twenty four. I can actually see his shoulders now. He's
going to attack the rim, attack the basket. He beats
guys quicker off the dribble. So that is what we
thought and what we saw. Secondly, the game, same issues
the Lakers had last year, they have him this year.
They lack athleticism on the wing. They're going to struggle
(06:00):
against teams like Minnesota and OKC on the wing. They're
bad defensively in the post. They were last year they
are this year. And Lebron's older and will be available
in spurts and he'll be great in spurts. But Luca,
Skinny Luca, he's gonna score a lot of points. They
are a top heavy roster. Last night, Austin Reeves, who
(06:24):
scored a lot of stuff late, and Luca combined for
sixty nine points. Nobody else had more than ten. Okay,
that's what they're gonna be when Lebron doesn't play by
the way the Warriors had four guys fifteen or more. So. Essentially,
the Lakers are Luca plus old Lebron plus lack of
athleticism plus really lousy defending the rim, and that is
(06:44):
not good enough in the West with the Tea Wolves
and the Thunder and the Mavericks. I mean, the West
just loaded the Nuggets. I'm not sure. I'm not sure
who I like. I think Dallas is better than anybody's
given him credit for so and the other thing the
Lakers are and JJ Reddy got kicked off about this.
Last year, the Lakers were a terrible third quarter team,
and last night, despite the fact that Luca in twelve
(07:06):
minutes at thirteen points, last night, they were a terrible
third quarter team. Why this is my opinion, because the
third quarter is when you go in at half and
they're really smart coaches, pull some levers. Let's have a
good say, how many levers are there? Pull? They can't
defend the rim, they're not athletic enough. Lebron didn't play
heavy reliance on Luca thirteen points twelve minute. There's not
(07:29):
a lot of levers here right there. They're just so much.
I mean, it's just like sometimes NFL teams, the Raiters
can go in at half. Gino's Gino, where are the levers?
Some teams have multiple levers. Denver's got levers. You know,
Eagles have levers. The Tampa Bay's got them. What are
the Lakers? What do you? What do you do at half?
(07:50):
What are you going to change? So my takeaway is,
remember this is very important to remember, and this is
why Lebron felt a little disengaged last night. And this
is a real thing. So Laker fans don't forget this
next sentence. They have got new ownership, but they made
the Lakers' new owners made a very public statement this
(08:12):
summer they want to be flexible in twenty twenty six
and twenty twenty seven. Uh huh, it's twenty twenty five.
It is the first time in Lebron's career. They're not
going for a ring. The games are going to be
sold out, Skinny Luca Lebron maybe his last year. For
the first time ever, the ownership is not afraid of Lebron,
(08:35):
and they're not building a team for Lebron, the Lakers
are Luca jj Reddick and the future and flexibility next year,
in the year after the draft. Next year is going
to be very good. There's going to be opportunities down
the road. So the new Laker own and took this
Laker ownership, this new group. When they bought the Dodgers,
(08:55):
it wasn't about winning a World Series the first year.
They identify their stars moved off, some embraced others. Long
term build to be viable, like the Dodgers are thirteen
straight postseasons. So these new owners this is a Luca
jj Reddick long term build. They would love to be
(09:18):
a playoff team. They would love to have home playoff games.
They would love to drive that playoff resident revenue. They'd
love to win a title. They're not winning a title.
They're not getting out of the West. They're not getting
to Western conference finals. Luca old Lebron, lack of athleticism,
no rim protector. Defensively, in the East, you could get
(09:39):
to a conference final. In the West, it's gonna be
hard to win a series. So Lebron's not happy about it.
But for the first time he's not driving this bus. Luca,
though the weight loss, he's quicker. He attacks the rim.
He didn't do that last year. A lot of fallaways,
a lot of settling. He's back to attacking the rim.
(10:00):
Luke after, Yeah, I feel like I say, no, less tiring,
better shape. So just trying to get a win.
Speaker 2 (10:10):
You've got to try and be physical.
Speaker 5 (10:12):
You know, obviously if they're in bonus it's a little
bit harder.
Speaker 2 (10:16):
But the end, you got to get a stop and
that's what kind of winning the game.
Speaker 1 (10:20):
Yeah, this is not gonna be a great defensive team.
Great defensive teams are great protecting the rim and hyper athletic.
That's why, like Minnesota when they played them last year,
go bear protects the rim. You know, they got their
very highly athletic wing defenders. There are certain components you
need to be a good passing team in the NFL,
like a good offensive line, a quarterback over five to ten,
(10:44):
maybe a viable veteran tight end, good twitchy young receivers.
It's the same thing in the NBA. You want to
be a great defensive team, you have to be a
great rim defender. You gotta have somebody at the iron.
They don't really have that. They didn't last year. They
made a move. They don't this year they are, and
they're not super athletic on the wing, at least not
athletic enough to be the OKC or a Minnesota in
(11:05):
a series. So I think, But I do think if
you love Luca, I can see his shoulders now. I mean,
what has he lost? Twenty seven twenty eight pound me?
He's much much quicker, plays downhill much more often. That
was fun. J Mack. I know you're a bit of
a Laker fan. That must have felt really good last night.
Speaker 3 (11:25):
Oh my gosh, it was excellent. First of all, happy
the NBA's back. Second of all, Luka Doncts looks again
like the best player in the league. I don't want
to hear this SGA's better than Luca nonsense. But I
think you're overreacting, just a tad on the Lakers. Okay,
two new starters. You're missing an All NBA player in Lebron,
the top two minutes. Guys off the bench just joined
the team, Like, let's pump the brakes on the panic
(11:47):
can't win a series. I think this team definitely has
the players to get to the NBA Finals, undeniably. I
would would not surprise me at all. Problem is you
got to get everybody healthy.
Speaker 1 (11:57):
Is that that for a honest trade at the deadline?
Speaker 3 (12:01):
I think, are you giving up Austin Reeves in a
package for you?
Speaker 6 (12:04):
Honest?
Speaker 3 (12:04):
I don't know if I am Colin? Okay, I probably am.
What Austin Reeves was really strong last night?
Speaker 1 (12:12):
Yeah, and by the.
Speaker 3 (12:12):
Way, Warriors take Warriors not going.
Speaker 1 (12:15):
To the playoffs.
Speaker 6 (12:16):
That veteran team looked really good together.
Speaker 1 (12:19):
Yeah, three months off, it's easy to look great in
the opener. Yeah, check in, check in in February eighth
and see how young.
Speaker 6 (12:27):
They look the dog days of February.
Speaker 1 (12:29):
Right. Oh, there's a lot of stuff going on today.
Sean Payton insulted Russell Wilson, and he clapped back. Joel
Klatt stops by. I am going to Michael Jordan showed
up for NBC. I've got some thoughts on that around
the corner as well.
Speaker 2 (12:45):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
and noon eastern non am Pacific on Fox Sports Radio
FS one and the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 7 (12:54):
Hey it's me Rock Parker. Check out my weekly MLB podcast,
Inside the Parker for twenty two minutes of piping Hot
Baseball Talk, featuring the biggest names and newsmakers in the sport.
Speaker 6 (13:08):
Whether you believe in analytics or.
Speaker 7 (13:10):
The Ie test, We've got all the bases covered. New
episodes drop every Thursday, so do yourself a favor and
listen to Inside the Parker with Rob Parker on the
iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcast.
Speaker 1 (13:24):
All right, welcome back, Joe Klatt top of next hour.
So very interesting game for the first time ever, former
Packer great Aaron Rodgers now as Steeler. He and the
Steelers will host Dream Bay. Aaron tends to have a
long memory. He's gonna face the team, the Packers he
(13:47):
built his legacy on, and let him go and move
down to Jordan Love. So the Packers in the Indianapolis
Colts are the only teams in the NFL left with
only one loss. Packers also have a tie against the Cowboys,
and nobody quite knows what to do with Jordan Love.
So I went back this morning and I went to
Aaron's Super Bowl winning year that's twenty ten, and I
(14:08):
went back and looked where was he through six games?
And I looked at Jordan Love through six games. Their
first six games, Jordan was way better passer rating, fewer picks,
team was scoring more, much better completion percentage, one more game.
So Jordan Love this year through the first six was
better than Aaron in the year he won his first
(14:30):
Super Bowl and both were twenty seven years old. Aaron
was cooler. Aaron's personality was more out there. Aaron kind
of plays the position, although I think Jordan Love's cool.
Aaron the way he lets go of the ball was
kind of, you know, throws it with no feet on
the ground. Aaron was a very unique quarterback, and he
(14:51):
was cool, and he was carrying the torch. At that time,
when he was twenty seven, it was a very thin
group of ascending young quarterbacks. Farv was in his forties
and McNabb was still around, and it was you know,
Aaron's making a Pro Bowl and he's in, you know,
mid twenties, twenty six, twenty seven years old, and it
was Brady and it was Breeze, and it was Manning
(15:12):
and Farb's around and there's McNabb and older Tony Romo
was getting beat up every week before the Cowboys had
a great offensive line, and then it was Aaron. Well,
the difference is Jordan Love. There's all sorts of great
young quarterbacks now, even the ones were not totally sold on.
Caleb Williams are insanely talented. Drake May looks like a
pro bowler. Jaden Daniels last year unbelievable. Justin Herbert, there's
(15:35):
just more good quarterback play. You go back to Aaron
at Jordan Love's age, and it was like Aaron and
a bunch of old guys were still in the headlines.
It was it was a bunch of Farb and Brady
and Manning and Breeze and McNabb was still hanging around.
Now Aaron's the old guy, and the league is all
young quarterbacks. It is just a bunch of kids. And
(15:59):
so I actually think Aaron is going to do very
well Sunday night. I think Aaron's the kind of guy
that I think when you're older, you could be a broadcaster,
you could be a political figure, you could be a
football player. When you get older, you can't work seventy
hours a week, you can't grind like he used to.
But your best game is still great. The late great
(16:19):
Kobe sixty last game, he played like you can stuff.
Brett Fahr was old and rickety. He was still great
at the very end, right, So I think Aaron's gonna
play well. Steelers are at home. The Packers are very talented.
They play with their food a little, They let you
hang around for a while. Here's Mike Tomlin on the
(16:41):
matchup of Aaron and the Steelers against his former team.
Speaker 4 (16:46):
Aaron's been added a long time. You know, he's got
an awesome relationship with this game. I hadn't been with
him for a long time, but he's been fired up
every single week. I'd imagine it's going to be the same.
Imagine some external things are gonna make more out of
it than it is for him. He's playing and playing
(17:06):
to win. That's what he does.
Speaker 1 (17:09):
It's just interesting is when when Aaron was Jordan's current age,
he felt like he was the young star that was
going to carry the next generation of quarterbacks. And as
good as Jordan Love is better numbers than Aaron at
his age. Right, Like in space, it's just so many
good young quarterbacks. There are so many. We're still waiting
for Caleb to be great. Jayden already is. I mean
(17:30):
bo Nick's thirty three points in a quarter on a
sudden Jackson Dart looks like he's a player. So it's
just a different world now. The quarterback play in the NFL.
This is the golden age. Don't listen to anybody. Don't
listen to anybody you know, glamorize and romanticized the Lway
Morino years. There's never been close to this much quarterback talent.
It is unbelievable. I mean, this year, the next NFL
(17:53):
draft may have six quarterbacks drafted May and the best
one of them may be the younger red shirt freshman
at Notre Dame, him Car. He may be the best.
He's not draft eligible. J Mack with the News. Turn
on the news.
Speaker 2 (18:08):
This is the herd line news.
Speaker 3 (18:11):
All right, Colin, Let's start with the only thing more
exciting than Cooper Flag in Dallas. That's the Cowboys offense.
Holy cal it has taken off like a rocket ship.
Ceedee Lamb is in the sixth year of his career
and he says he has never seen this good of
an offense in Dallas.
Speaker 1 (18:29):
This one the best one I've been on, and I've
been on some grave ones. It's just the way that
we can move around these pieces and these players and
everybody know everywhere to go.
Speaker 6 (18:38):
We could line up faster than any.
Speaker 1 (18:41):
It's tough.
Speaker 3 (18:42):
It's tough, Yeah, I said yesterday. Schottenheimer deserves a lot
of credit. I mean, obviously Dak Prescott's been sensational, Pickens
has been big, but I got to give Schottenheimer props.
This was a guy who languished with my Jets for
many years, bounced around the league as an OC. Never
did anything like this, so pretty impressive stuff. I didn't
(19:02):
see this coming.
Speaker 1 (19:04):
Yeah, I don't think anybody did, except diehard cowboy fan
who's thought they were going to be great the last
thirty years. I don't think I will say this, I
like draft picks. By giving up just a third round pick,
which is a about a fifty to fifty hit rate
to get George Pickens was a smart move. Like I
(19:25):
understand when people like I like accumulating a lot of picks.
But even in the first round, what is the hit
rate sixty percent? By the third round it's forty five
to fifty percent. I think a big part of this
is George Pickens. It forces safeties, can't cheat in the box.
What does that mean? It helps the run game? You
can't when Ceedee Lamb goes down. Without George Pickens, you'd
(19:49):
just cheat, You'd put your safeties in the box. Javonte
Williams nowhere to go because it's not a great offensive line.
It's not the Lions, that Broncos, the Eagles. But with
Pickens and Ceedee Lamb both in there, you have to
be on with your coverage. So absolutely the receiving depth
elevates the run game. You can't cheat on the Cowboys
with Pickens and Ceedee Lamb, So it's made. I mean,
(20:10):
I think the biggest surprise isn't that George Pickens is good.
We knew he was good in Pittsburgh. The run game
for the Cowboys with a so so offensive line I
think has been surprisingly good.
Speaker 3 (20:21):
Yeah. Interesting matchup with the Broncos. So Certan has not
been amazing.
Speaker 6 (20:27):
We know he's talented in former Defensive Player of the
Year year.
Speaker 3 (20:31):
Do you have him follow around one of those two
or do you just have him go to one side
This weekend, I'm interesting.
Speaker 6 (20:37):
To see how Dallas combats this.
Speaker 3 (20:38):
This will be a much different different opponent defensively than
the Cowboys have seen recently come So, I don't know
that it's a lot that they cook this weekend.
Speaker 1 (20:47):
No, I think. I think, first of all, if you
watched the Broncos this year, all their games are crazy.
There's there's no non crazy Bronco game. They're all weird.
They're all dramatic for differ for reasons other than the
Tennessee game in Week one, which that was one of
our blazing five picks. Like you know, cam Ward against Denver,
(21:07):
remember that first game of the year. Yeah, and they won,
but it was choppy. It did not look good. I
remember that did not look good. They won, but cam
Ward actually had some success, has had less sins. So
all Denver games are wild. I think. I think they'll
beat Dallas, but it will be crazy.
Speaker 3 (21:23):
Yeah. Let's move on to the San Francisco forty nine
ers and brock Purty, one of your favorite targets. He
hasn't played much colin two of the seven games, that's
all brock Perty's played in due to shoulder and tow injuries.
I know you're gonna blame it on his size, but
sometimes guys just get unlucky. Now, Party didn't try to
work out leading up to last week's game. Didn't feel good.
(21:45):
Now Diana Russini is reporting his status is up in
the air. Everybody thought he would be back. They got
the Texans this week. Texans had their own issues with
Nico Collins concussion. But this brock Party stuff is starting
to get depressing.
Speaker 6 (22:00):
I just looked around the league.
Speaker 3 (22:01):
There's ten Week one starters who will not be suiting up,
likely this weekend.
Speaker 6 (22:05):
Brock Party one of them.
Speaker 3 (22:07):
I know mac Jones has been good, but Colin rock
Party's better and gives his team a much higher year.
Speaker 1 (22:13):
I think brock Perdy's ability to move is better, but
mac Jones is healthier, throws as good a ball, and
his sneaky athletic not like athletic, but he runs in
some key spots. I think let's be totally clear here.
If we're gonna give love to Baker and we're gonna
give love to Donald and Gino Smith on their reclamation projects,
(22:33):
that's what mac Jones is. He's just a younger version
like Gino disappeared for years and Donald bounced around, and
Baker went to Carolina and mac Jones was that long ago.
I made a Pro Bowl, disappeared in Tampa. He's just
a young reclamation project. But we have to be totally
fair here. Behind a very mid offensive line. Mac Jones
(22:57):
has been very good. We have to be fair, he's
been very good. He's a younger reclamation. Usually it's like
you got you got to get humiliated. I mean, at
one point you got to you know, I mean a
Baker basically got cut. Uh you know, Donald was a
disaster with a Jets and Carol lot. Mac just sort
of disappeared. He went Bermuda Triangle in Jacksonville. Now as
(23:17):
a young guy, mac looclutt, I'll be totally honest, he
looks like a franchise quarterback.
Speaker 6 (23:23):
Well wait, let's slow down.
Speaker 3 (23:24):
So first of all, Donald won fourteen games in Minnesota
and he's great again this year.
Speaker 6 (23:28):
So a little it's like a twenty games.
Speaker 1 (23:31):
Donald's a world class athlete, Ma's not. And for right now,
look at quarterback playing the league with a battle line.
Are you kittle gone?
Speaker 6 (23:41):
He has McCaffrey, who's.
Speaker 1 (23:43):
Okay, okay, okay, but he's he's got no weapons and
he's winning and they're asking him to throw forty times
a game. Mac Jones has been one of the revelations
of the season. I'm not ready to say he's a
franchise quarterback.
Speaker 6 (23:56):
He is. He has Kyle Shanahan. Okay, he looks good.
Speaker 1 (24:01):
Can we kill it?
Speaker 2 (24:02):
Can we leave it?
Speaker 6 (24:02):
I mean, we don't need to go overboard.
Speaker 1 (24:04):
So I'm saying he looks good. If a quarterback's good
in twenty twenty five, he's a franchise quart up.
Speaker 6 (24:10):
The Jets would take good in a heart at all.
Speaker 1 (24:12):
But he were, Jets would ruin him. But he looks good.
Speaker 2 (24:15):
Stop it.
Speaker 6 (24:16):
Final stories of Baltimore Ravens Colin. Things not looking good.
Speaker 3 (24:20):
I just saw that the Baltimore Ravens have removed ping
pong tables from the locker room. No more video game consoles,
the basketball hoop, it's all gone.
Speaker 1 (24:31):
According to some.
Speaker 3 (24:32):
Ravens beat reporters, it's all business now. And listen, here's
the worst news. Lamar Jackson not at the podium today
meeting the media. This is just happening right now.
Speaker 1 (24:41):
This is when.
Speaker 6 (24:41):
Lamar's supposed to talk if he's a starter. So the
Ravens media is panicked.
Speaker 3 (24:46):
I don't I don't know what to make it is.
Are the Bears going to get a free win here?
First of all, ping pong tables and video games?
Speaker 1 (24:53):
What is this? Google?
Speaker 6 (24:54):
What you're supposed to have like a laid back atmosphere.
Speaker 1 (24:58):
It's pull football. It's not a tech company in Palo Alto.
It's not bring your dog to work day at Apple.
These are professional athletes. Go to work, do sit ups,
lift a lot of weight, learn plays, and go play
ping pong tables.
Speaker 3 (25:15):
Listen, it's practice.
Speaker 6 (25:17):
It's during the week. Now, I see why they don't
have a ping pong table on the set here.
Speaker 2 (25:21):
We got room for it.
Speaker 1 (25:22):
We used to have a basketball court. Somebody got rid
of that. I'll just leave it at that.
Speaker 6 (25:26):
Man, he's selling one of these hard driving bosses.
Speaker 1 (25:30):
I just say, if.
Speaker 3 (25:32):
Lamar doesn't play and they lose this game and fall
to one on six, it's so they're not coming back
from one to six.
Speaker 1 (25:37):
We're in five. You can go back to the real
story here, the fact that they allowed ping pong tables
and video games in a workplace.
Speaker 3 (25:45):
Yet one of the most successful NFL franchises in the
last twenty years.
Speaker 6 (25:48):
Oh man, sorry to allow fun. I didn't know you
were the fun police.
Speaker 1 (25:53):
What it's called when you drive up and pull up
the fox, you know what it's called work, It's not
called play. That's when you're on your South Bay Elsagundo
Knights jacking up threes, that's play.
Speaker 3 (26:04):
Why don't you ask Andy Reid if they have ping
pong tables?
Speaker 1 (26:07):
Altimately, I will?
Speaker 6 (26:09):
I have my phone ext Brett vieats right now.
Speaker 3 (26:12):
Hey, do you guys have a basketball hoop at the facility?
Is there any fun allowed? Video game consoles? I guarantee
you most teams have this. No you sound listen.
Speaker 1 (26:24):
I would be fifty to fifty on whether I'd allow
them to eat at the facility. I want sit ups, playbook,
film and get out of here. I'm sorry that ping
pong tables at work?
Speaker 3 (26:39):
No?
Speaker 1 (26:39):
Thanks Jmack with the news.
Speaker 2 (26:42):
Well that's the news, and thanks for stopping by the
herd Line News.
Speaker 1 (26:48):
It's like when you pull up the Fox, it's called
work coffee machines, absolutely, ping pong tables shoesh I'm sorry
some of you young Sparky's out there is weekends are
for fun, home is for fun. Being plung tables at work?
(27:11):
What is going on? So let me say this. I
thought it was cool that NBC had MJ on their coverage.
He's sixty two, reminiscing, embracing the good old days. The
(27:36):
NBA is falling into a trap that baseball had for
about twenty years. He's a way to play the game.
It was way better years ago. And no, it wasn't that. Pacers.
Next series, they made a thirty for thirty on was
an ugly free throw shooting contest. Nobody could hit an
eighteen footer outside of Reggie Miller. It was a bunch
(27:56):
of bigs who couldn't dribble, didn't have handles, and couldn't
shoot pass like seven feet. But it made for a
great thirty for thirty that it did. But last night
the NBA had sixty two year old MJ in the
pregame and was hoping they get forty year old lebron
in thirty seven year old Steph to get TV viewers.
Baseball has done a rum. I gave up on regular
(28:18):
season baseball for twenty years. Baseball has done an unbelievable
job in the last three years. Sped the game up.
They got rid of the grumpy old guys, the old
veteran players. They just stopped worrying about the rear view
mirror and they started operating through the windshield. And Eli
(28:39):
de la Cruz cal Raley, Julio Rodriguez, Otani Betts. There
is so Paul schemes. There is so much young, amazing
talent in baseball, and they are creating games in London,
the home run derby, a game in a cornfield. Events
(29:00):
like baseball deserves a ton of credit. For twenty years,
I stopped talking about it. The last two three years,
I'm totally into baseball. The game's fast, there's more base runners,
more stolen bases. You don't have to commit three and
a half hours in the regular season to watch a game.
You sit down for forty five minutes. You can get
three innings if the pitching's good. You know. I like
the NBA. I've been watching it since nineteen seventy two.
(29:22):
But they have a little dilemma on their hands, and
that is most of the best players are international, and
they're not wildly dynamic personalities. They come into the country,
head down, sleep, ball, rinse and repeat. They don't want
to do commercials. They don't have big shoe deals. I
mean they have some, they have some, but you don't
have a Barkley, you don't have an MJ. You don't Okay,
(29:44):
So how do you solve it? First of all, promote,
embrace market and over and over and over again, get
Tyreese Halliburton's not ready to play it because he's injured.
Get him on all the broadcasts. I want Tyrese Halliburton
F four or seven on every broadcast. The guy lights
the room up. What else would I? Oh, Cooper Flag
(30:07):
put him on TV is thirty times this year forty
times Cooper Flag. And my take on that, there's nothing
against Sga, Yo Kisch Giannis, great players, I mean Yokich
best player, Shan Goon, unbelievable. A lot of these international guys,
we didn't watch them in college, we didn't watch them
in high school. Right they PLoP into the league and
they're unbelievable within like two to three years. Not big personalities.
(30:30):
It's not their fault. The quality of basketball right now
in the NBA is the best that's ever been. Everybody
can handle the ball, everybody can run the floor, everybody
can shoot. It's unbelievable. How good the quality of play is.
It is unbelievable. So so it's okay. Not everything has
to be globalized to the max. You can say our
domestic and I think there's a lot of things that
(30:51):
the NBA did wrong that they're trying to switch. Adam
Silver would admit this. Please embrace college basketball. College basketball's
best players are now staying in college longer because of
the nil. Embrace March madness. Put your arms around March Madness,
get Anton TV, Cooper Flag on TV, and got Tyrese
(31:11):
Halliburton on every network, Amazon, NBC, ABCESPN during your telecast.
The kid is completely likable, he's engaging, he's funny. So
my take is the last American MVP was James Harden
in twenty eighteen. That is your reality. The best players
are international and they're unbelievable. I mean, KD is not
(31:32):
the player alprin Chendunz. Last night, Changune couldn't hit threes
and pass and rebound. It's unbelievable. How good these international
bigs are unbelievable. But we've seen the KD and the
staff and Lebron and MJ sixty two and they're all great.
But you got to turn the page on this thing.
You got to market your young guys. Baseball's done it.
Take a page from baseball. They've done a great job.
(31:55):
So that's my take on it. I'm not anti old guy.
As one with gray hair, I'm not anti old guy,
but I would put Cooper Flag on television. I would
open with Cooper Flag last night. That's my opener. That
is my opener, and my closer, and thirty eight times.
In the middle of the season, here was Jason Kidd
(32:18):
talking about Cooper Flag's debut.
Speaker 5 (32:21):
He competes his ability to make plays. I mean, as
farm why he's out there. I think so. I think
you can look for a great season from Cooper. He
does have a high basketball IQ. I think when you
look at you know the plays he's made, you know
on the offensive event and defensive event. He understands the
game of basketball for an eighteen year old, and it
(32:42):
will only get better with the more reps that he's playing.
Speaker 1 (32:46):
Yeah, just Halliburton and Cooper Flag. There's nothing wrong embracing
the domestic product too, That's okay, that's okay. I mean
if we send our soccer players over to England and
they're tremendous Christian Polisic, but you know over there, you
(33:06):
know they want they want to talk about their their stars.
They're guys. That's okay. I mean, when you watch the
Olympics in Italy, they root for Italians. I got nothing
against Canadians. I want us to beat the Canadians. It's okay,
it's not the end of the world. But I do
think you need to embrace these college stars. They're not
in college very long, and I think you need to
embrace them. I'm not against I got nothing against them MJ.
(33:28):
MJ's great, he's my favorite player. But I just think
it's interesting. You know, the decisions basketball has made the
last couple of years, and I've watched baseball, just take
embrace all these young guys and and and speed their game.
Anytime you speed anything up, you're gonna get younger viewers.
The longer something takes in sports, I mean over in
(33:49):
the UK, I would imagine that demographics are better for
young viewers with soccer than with cricket. Cricket takes days,
Soccer takes ninety five minutes, right like it. Just my
guess would be that's what the demographics would tell you,
that crickett has a little bit of an older audience.
So J Max some thoughts on that this is.
Speaker 6 (34:11):
A good take.
Speaker 3 (34:12):
There's a lot there. I will just say the embracing
the old people. Remember the NFL last year kind of
screwed the Jets by putting Aaron Rodgers in primetime because
they wanted New York Aaron Rodgers old quarterback Aaron Rodgers
the Marquee game again this week. So the leagues, I understand,
wanting to usher in, you know, a proven commodity air venteran.
Speaker 1 (34:32):
Aaron playing the Packers again is absolutely to you mer,
that's massive.
Speaker 3 (34:36):
Aaron with the Jets, Well, it was on TV all
the time. I mean, hell, Aaron Rodgers apparently delayed his
going to the Steelers, remember, because he didn't want them
to be shoved into primetime a lot. That's what these
leagues do. But I don't know Colin. This Anthony Edwards stuff.
I like Anthony Edwards a lot. He has this weird
habit where he just says the F word in every interview.
Speaker 6 (34:57):
Yes, he's getting fined in the locker room because he
can't stop. Like dude, he's got to grow up a
little bit.
Speaker 3 (35:02):
No, and I don't want to be old guy, but like,
come on, man stoup cursing every interview, Well, you sit
down with him and you talk to him.
Speaker 1 (35:07):
That's just you know, it's whether it's parenting or managing.
I mean, young people are they've got their own spirit
and energy and juice and that's okay. But I again,
as I watched the broadcast last night, my takeaway watching
NBA last night was Steph Lebron on the bench KD MJ.
My takeaway was, guys, Cooper flag should be I want
(35:28):
forty minutes of Cooper flag here. That So those are
all conscious decisions when they do the scheduling at Christmas
or Opening night, these were all conscious decisions. Who do
we want? The best player for Houston is not Kevin Durant, No,
it's Shen Goon and it's not even close. He is.
He was an All Star last year. I think he's
(35:49):
I think he's twenty three years old.
Speaker 6 (35:50):
He's awesome.
Speaker 1 (35:52):
Jokic is the best player in the league. By the
end of this year, shen Goon could be like third
best player in the league. I'm serious. He's that good.
Speaker 3 (35:59):
Hey, but you did note that these European foreign players,
by the way, there's one hundred and thirty five of
them in the league this year on record, they come
in and their practice games rinse, repeat.
Speaker 6 (36:10):
I think that's exactly what you said.
Speaker 1 (36:11):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (36:12):
Interesting, So, uh, you know, the no ping pong tables
in the locker rooms in the NBA.
Speaker 6 (36:17):
Huh, you just want all business.
Speaker 1 (36:19):
That's so.
Speaker 6 (36:20):
You like the European players.
Speaker 1 (36:21):
Best players in the NBA right now are euros International
guys there and here's what they do. They tend to
be more loyal. That's why Luca was so devastated when
he was traded. Yeah, I mean American players like we
get traded like Luca was devastated. He was angry. He
literally they talked to him this summer. He was still
deva and he went to the Lakers. He didn't go
(36:43):
you know, he didn't go to allows Me for he
had to go to the Wizards. He went to the Lakers,
which is better for business, and he was still devastated.
International players tend to be more loyal. They come over
here and it's all business. It's bad. And by the way,
season's over, first jet home. They want to go home.
I'm defending them. And they're unbelievable players, way better than
(37:05):
the Jordan era forwards and centers, not even close. But
so they're not dynamic personalities. Embrace College Basketball. Halliburton is
a Marketer's dream, good looking, funny, quick witted dad, little
Craig Cray. It's all great like Embrace it Cooper Flag
(37:25):
and and swears too much. I swear too much. You know,
people just don't hear it. I am proposing a massive
NBA trade. Also Russell Wilson, He's tired of getting ripped.
Speaker 2 (37:41):
Next, be sure to catch live editions of The Herd
weekdays and noon Easter not a Empacific Friday.
Speaker 6 (37:53):
The World Series begins.
Speaker 3 (37:55):
On Fox has show Hey Otani and the Ringing Jimpie.
Dodgers take on Vlad Junior in the Blue Jays. Game
one of the World Series. Coverage begins Friday at seven
Eastern on Fox.
Speaker 1 (38:08):
Yeah, everybody thinks this is going to be a blowout.
I think you're nuts. I ran into a guy at
the train station this morning. His name was Mark, and
he used to play in a farm system. I think
it was Houston's farm system. We were talking about the
World Series. He's a big baseball fan, and we were
talking about this, and I'm like these people. First of all,
Toronto led all of baseball in hits. So Toronto gets
(38:31):
runners on and then they've got Vlad and Springer or
the power hitters. But they get the table set for them.
They've got a lot of runners on base, they got
contact hitters. The Dodgers swept the Reds, they were overwhelmed, shockingly,
swept the Brewers, and disposed of Philadelphia much more easily
than I would have guessed. I think Toronto's better than
all those teams. Go ask the Yankees. So but I
(38:54):
will say this, if the Dodgers sweep the Blue Jays
or beat them in five, the Dodgers are the greatest
baseball team ever or in modern history. Because the Phillies
were good, the Brewers were excellent, the Blue Jays are better,
and Cincinnati at least had talent. So we all know
it's not about winning regular season games. Like the Dodgers
(39:16):
very obviously when they got Blake Snell and Tyler glassnow
they got those guys for September and October. They knew
Snell had arm injuries. They knew Glass go at glassdown
had struggled to stay healthy. So the Dodgers built a staff.
This is the advantage of the Dodgers' money. It's not
just signing OTAWNI. The Dodgers have an advantage financially, and
what they do with it is they go find pitchers
(39:39):
that they don't need thirty starts from they don't need
twenty starts from Snell. They need four great starts in
September and October. Same with same with the kid from Tampa,
so Andrew Friedman. Everybody looks at the money and goes
the money is a great advantage because you get Molkie bets.
A lot of people could have afforded Mookie bets. That's
not it. Where the Dodger use their money brilliantly is
(40:02):
getting these high end starters who do have a history
of injuries that other teams are reluctant to spend money
on because they need the starts, and the Dodgers are like, no,
we got Roki and Yoshi, we got a bunch of
young arms. We'll get through it. We'll bring you on.
You don't have to play that much in the regular season.
We don't need that many starts be ready by September
(40:24):
and October. That's where the Dodgers' money is lethal against
the sport. Because Snell goes out against Milwaukee and looks
like Sandy Kofax. They could not get bat on ball,
didn't hit a ball to the infield fast to third inning,
which is why I didn't understand why they pulled him.
So the Dodger's money helps in a lot of areas.
But that's where it's lethal that they can go get
(40:47):
glassnow and Snell. They don't need them until September and
October mostly don't need them. I don't remember how many
starts Snell have it. It was like ten to eleven. He
didn't start that much. But if they dispose of the
Blue Jays, I mean, this season, here's the runs scored
in baseball Toronto seventy one, the Dodgers at forty six.
(41:08):
So the idea that you're gonna just fly through Toronto,
no way, they get on base, they put press. Nobody's
put pressure on the Dodgers in the postseason. There's nobody
on base. Toronto will put pressure on the Dodgers. They'll
make Dave Roberts that bullpen will be up, fourth, fifth,
sixth inning the entire series. My guess, I think it's
(41:31):
gonna be a very competitive series. I'll take the Dodgers,
but they're not. They're not. This is not gonna look
like the Milwaukee Series at all. Joe Clatt on the
corner
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Colin Cowherd
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