Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to The Herd podcast. Be sure to
catch us live every weekday from twelve to three eastern,
nine to noon Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and FS one.
Find your local station for The Herd at Fox Sports
Radio dot com, or stream us live every day on
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Fox Sports Radio. Oh are we loaded this on a Wednesday?
(00:28):
Is the Herd? Wherever you may be in however you
may be listening. We're on iHeartRadio, We're on Fox Sports Rudio,
and we are on FS one. Cleanly shaven, wearing my
Raptor black. Joy is in Golden State Warrior goal. I
am nice, sort of looks like it tip of your hands,
(00:50):
and it kind of is. But I'm going with the
Raptors with an upset win tonight, all right, m I uh,
I don't know if I've ever used this line on
the air, Joy, but I do think you and I
I think I know you enough well enough to say this,
and I know this describes me. I believe in life
(01:11):
we all become what we overcome, not what mom gives you,
not the prep school. You will become all you guys listening.
All you parents listening, your kids will become what they
have to overcome, and that will create a metal and
an armor and a toughness and a drive and a focus.
(01:33):
Charles Barkley, who I love, disagree with a lot, but
I love him, said this about Kevin Durant going to
the Knicks. He goes He's one of the greatest players
I've ever seen. He's also got some of the thinnest
skin I've ever seen. I don't know if you're made
for New York City arguing with these teenagers online, not
going to be able to deal with the New York media.
He's a great person, he's a great player. I don't
(01:54):
think he has the mental makeup to play in New York.
Charles is right, and I don't blame Kevin Durant. You
become what you overcome, and I want you to think
about this. Let's talk about Michael Jordan for a second.
Probably the greatest basketball player of all time, cut from
his high school team, goes to Carolina, the number one
(02:17):
or number two basketball power total microscope hell. He may
be the second biggest program in his own state. Acc
was easily the best conference in college basketball. Goes to Chicago,
two coaches fired, battles with teammates the entire time. Quentin Daily,
Orlando Woolridge, they called him a ballhog. Then they get
a new coach and he can't get past Detroit. Three
(02:40):
straight years of Pistons beat him. He leaves, go to
baseball and struggles in minor league baseball, can't hit the curve.
Comes back first year to Chicago, people forget about this,
loses to Orlando in the playoffs. Three more titles. What
made Michael Jordan? All the adversity, all the no, all
(03:03):
the rejection. Let's take Lebron James. Now, it's not quite
as difficult for Lebron because every generation has generally every
basketball star generation's got a little easier life. But it's sixteen.
He's on the cover of SI under a microscope. He
goes to his hometown Cleveland. Well pressure, gotta win, two
coaches fired, doesn't get along with the owner, can't beat
(03:23):
the Boston Celtics. Adversity. He goes to Miami, gotta win
four titles, gotta win five, some of it self inflicted pressure,
lose the first year, the decision getting crushed. Then he
goes to Cleveland. There's a lot of adversity, a lot
of adversity. Now, Michael faced more than Lebron, simply because
(03:45):
Lebron had more money earlier, and because generally it's easier
for basketball stars today than it was thirty years ago.
But Lebron multiple times has been the villain, battling an owner,
fired coach, adversity. Now let's go to Vin Durant. You
are what you overcome. Kevin Durant goes to a football
school to play basketball. Actually, for as great as he is,
(04:08):
that's sort of low profile. How often do I talk
Texas college basketball? Then he goes to Seattle, which geographically
might as well be Juno, Alaska, isolated. Then they go
to Oklahoma City, small market media, mostly beloved, I mean
mostly beloved. He once complained about a headline in a newspaper.
He didn't like it. Then he goes to Golden State. Well,
come on, so the Ritz Carlton of basketball teams. The
(04:30):
coach is smart, the players are great, the systems in place.
Where's the adversity. I'm not saying his life is all rainbows,
but we become what we overcome. Michael Jordan just went
through gravel road and off road and Kevin Durant's basketball
life has been a football school, hiding in Seattle, comfortable
(04:53):
in Oklahoma City, joining the greatest team ever. So that's
what he is now. He is a great, great basketball player.
But does he have the metal? Does he have the
metal to deal with New York? And let me throw
this in and because I've lived this experience, when you
stay at the Ritz Carlton, it's much much more difficult
(05:13):
to then stay at the Bates Motel. Like if you
never stayed at a Ritz Carlton or a four Seasons
or a Mandarin or all the and you just always
stayed like at the Hilton. Hiltons are nice, right, They're solid.
I stayed a lot of Hilton's. Well, then if you
have to stay at the Bates Motel, you're like, well,
it's not as nice. But when you live at the Ritz.
And that's what the Warriors are. The culture the GM played,
(05:35):
the coach played, Steph. Steph curries the easiest superstar to
play with. Clay Thompson doesn't talk the rough guy to
get along with his Draymond Green and a lot of
people say Draymond and Katie are actually closer than people think.
And then you go to the Knicks owner, I'll pass roster,
terrible front office. People say it's good, prove it to me.
(05:58):
You know, you start looking at KD. I don't think
it could just not be about titles. I think New
York could be a disaster for him. Brett Farve went
from the well run Packers. Say what you want about
green Bay pretty darned well run for most of the
last twenty five years. They don't always have the perfect coach,
but they draft well, they're smart, They're not a lot
(06:19):
of chaos. He goes to the Jets man overboard. When
you have been without chaos and then you're inserted with
pressure to chaos. Also throw this in. If I said
to you, name the star in the NBA who is great,
but it can be a little difficult to deal with,
(06:40):
and he's a little erratic, Kyrie Irving, that's who would
join you. I'd take a d and heartbeat over that.
So this is not a criticism of Kevin Durant. It
is not. But his basketball reality is not Michael Jordan's
basketball reality cut Carolina, massive pressure, fighting with teammates, coaches fired,
(07:05):
can't get past Detroit by the time Michael Jordan finally
won a title. He grabbed that trophy like it was
a puppy and started bawling because that he had been
through so many obstacles and Kevin Duran's first title, he
loved it. I don't remember the crying. I mean the
(07:26):
tougher the road, the longer the cry. And again, I
like k d I think he's the best basketball player
in the world. I'm a fan. He's sensitive, but here's
a little video. He does get a little sensitive with
the social media and the criticism thing. I have nothing
to do with the Knicks. I don't know who traded porzingis.
They got nothing to do with me. I'm trying to
(07:47):
play basketball. Y'all come here every day, asked me about
free agency, as my teammates, my coaches, who rile up
the fans about it. Let us play basketball, That's all
I'm saying. And now when I don't want to tell
the os a problem with me, come on, man, you
are talking, we're talking, So who are you? Why do
(08:08):
I got to talk to you? How are you playing?
How as a team playing in the last couple of weeks.
I'm done. You know you don't care about that. Listen
he's not mean spirited. He's a good guy. But Charles
Barkley here summed it up. He's arguing with teenagers online.
That's true. That's why we all laugh when he says that.
(08:29):
We're like, oh my god. He's right. He is arguing
with teenagers online. You are you become what you overcome.
He hasn't overcome to the level of MJ level of Lebron,
I don't think in my opinion. All right, let me
shift to this. So yesterday, about halfway through our show Joy,
the story broke that Anthony Davis and Rich Paul have
(08:52):
told the Pelicans listen, we love you. Nice couple of breakfasts,
but we're out of here. So the Pelicans, the story
broke yesterday the Pells now David Griffin, smart guy, used
to be in Cleveland with Rich Paul. Lebron knows him well,
they're gonna make a move for him. And remember this,
don't kid yourself on this. I've been told this by
(09:12):
more than one executive. When you make a big draft
pick or you make a trade, as an executive, got
to make sure the owner thinks you won the trade.
That's a real thing. You don't That's why a lot
of times executives float rumors to see how it plays
on media, talk show, radio, TV. Okay, it's not a disaster.
(09:36):
Here's the narrative. Don't kid yourself. It's a real thing.
So Anthony Davis and Rich Paul now they have the
leverage as My golden rule of trades is when a
star player said I want out, get him out of town.
Because every day, every month, every trading deadline that passes,
the power goes to the agent and the star player.
(09:56):
Because now everybody knows it's official, Pelicans have to trade him,
and frankly, with Zion Williamson come to town, they probably
have to trade him soon in the next month. If
you really want to clean break start over, give Zion
and draft pick, get the team. And everybody knows Lebron
and the Lakers right they want him, and we know
Anthony Davis has said there's three teams I want. So
(10:17):
let's eliminate Boston because Anthony Davis has shown no interest
in Boston. Danny Ainge has shown no interest in losing
a trade, and he's not given up Jason Tatum without guarantees.
So let's just take Boston out of it. Anthony Davis
has said Knicks, Clippers, Lakers, that's all play. So that's
where he's gonna end up. Let me eliminate the Knicks.
(10:37):
They don't have any players. They have better draft picks
that got no players. You can't win with a bunch
of nineteen year olds in this league. You want to
get some players. You got to get some guys who
can play and are proven. You can't have nine draft
picks with Zion and Drew Holliday. So take the Knicks out.
They don't have the players. Let's take the Clippers out.
(10:57):
I'm told the Clippers Jerry West there lukewarm on Anthony Davis.
They're not going to cobble together a package the Knicks
of the Lakers. What they like him. They love Kawhi Leonard.
They'll sell the farm for Kawai, they won't for Anthony Davis. Okay,
So now that leaves the Lakers, who I think have
an advantage. So remember my initial premise. You've got to
(11:19):
be able to go to your owner as an executive
and say we won the trade. Here's what I believe
the Lakers would have to give up to get Anthony Davis.
There's a story out today the Pelicans, and Griffin love
brandon Ingram. He's going We also know the Lakers have
(11:40):
the fourth pick. Griffin's gonna want another pick, right, they're rebuilding, right,
so he's gonna take brandon Ingram. Griffin loves him. We
know he likes picks, so they'll take the fourth pick.
My belief is they'll try to get the Lakers first
round pick next year, but that's not important for this segment.
Push it off. But I also believe they'll want Lonzo Ball.
(12:03):
People are telling me Griffin and the Pelicans like Lonzo.
And by the way, if you've got Zion and you
got brandon Ingram, you got two young guys who can score,
but they're not really You need a guard that can
create things for them and they can finish. They're not
like spot up shooters. Right, Lonzo works, And then the
(12:28):
Lakers would be able to keep They would land Anthony
Davis and keep Kyle Kuzma. So let's look with my
proposed trade, what the Pelicans could take to their owner.
David Griffin could take to his owner Lonzo Ball, Zion Williamson,
All Star, Drew Holiday, brandon Ingram, and the number fourth pick.
(12:49):
You can absolutely take that to Gail Benson and say
this is amazing, this is unbelievable. You can say we
got the two Laker players we liked outside of Lebron,
we loved Ingram, we like Lonzo. They gave us both
and the fourth pick. Now, let's see what Rob Polinka
can say to Genie Buss. Here's what the Lakers can say, Hey,
(13:11):
we didn't have to give up Kyle Kuzma. He's the
guy like Brandon Ingram, except unlike Brandon Ingram and Lonzo,
Kyle Kuzma can stay healthy. And the Lakers have Lebron, James,
Anthony Davis, Kyle Kuzma. That's an exceptional front court and
one of the hardest working players Josh Hart in the backcourt.
So Rob Polinka can go to Genie and say, I
(13:32):
got your second star, and we got you the young player,
the hard worker, leadership qualities stayed in college, never gets hurt.
You gotta be able to go to the owner and say,
I think we won the deal, whether you did or not.
And I think David Griffin could do it if he
gets Brandon, Lonzo and a four pick. And I believe
(13:52):
Rob Polinka can do it if he says I got
your second star and the one young player who never
gets hurt and own real leadership qualities. So I think
that's the Lakers advantage. I'm not saying I'm not crossing
my fingers on this. I would prefer more stars come
(14:13):
to my hometown. But I'm just telling you I think
I've been told that before. In fact, I was told
years ago by a general manager assistant general manager in
the NBA. It's a funny story, but he I won't
go too far into the story, but he said, sometimes,
like your second round pick, or if you have a
later pick, like an eighteenth twentieth pick in the NBA,
(14:34):
and you don't think he's ever going to be a
starter for you, sometimes you just take the guy who
was pretty good in the NC Double A tournament because
it's the only college basketball the owner watches. And if
you have an international player, the owner's never seen and
he's not significantly better according to your scouts than the
kid at the final four who are Elite eighth that
was good, and your owners they have them both you
(14:55):
have you have the grades are equal. Take the domestic
Elite eight final for American kid over the international guy
because the owner watch the kid in the final four
and can go to his rich buddies and go, yeah,
I love that kid. I saw that kid at Kansas.
He was fantastic, and he can tell his wife and
his mistress and his rich friends. Yeah, I know a
lot about basketball. That was my pick. I like it.
(15:16):
It's hard to sell the kid from Dusseldorf that nobody
saw a play so appeasing your owner. In these professional
sports leagues, it is a thing. All Right, We're packed today,
Baker Mayfield in Cleveland. Baker calls out Duke Johnson yesterday
or did he that? Coming up? Nick Wright too, And
(15:37):
I'm gonna have one of my favorite segments ever on
the show today. Ever, I am going to annoint ten
young people, men and women in America as the next
great thing. A lot of pressure. These are the ten
stocks in American sports to buy. And they're all twenty
(15:59):
two years of age or younger. Very excited for this.
I'm wearing Raptor black today. Well, how is that Raptor black?
You know what it is? In Los Angeles, you do
everything the sun, It's it depends on the lighting. Be
(16:20):
sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays at
noon Easter nine a Empacific on Fox Sports Radio FS
one and the iHeartRadio app. Great to have you in,
Nick write in ten minutes. Um, so listen, couple. It
was a few days ago, Baker Mayfield. I put a
bunch of stuff on Twitter, like my staff put stuff
on Twitter, and Baker Mayfield reacted to it and took
(16:43):
shots at me, and I didn't react. I have no
interest in winning the debate on Twitter. Everything to me
is the long play. When I do this show, I
don't worry about daily ratings. I'm worried about year to year.
Are we growing? It's the long play. It's how Tom
Brady quarterbacks. Tom Brady is the classic versus Time. It's
all about the long play. It's not about getting into
(17:03):
feuds and arguments and winning. So Baker Mayfield yesterday, Duke
Johnson talks about wanting to be traded. Duke Johnson's a
really good running back, and then the Browns have him,
and then they draft another running back, Nick Chubb, who's
also excellent, and then they make a deal to get
Kareem Hunt, and Duke Johnson's like, I got no touches here,
And so there's been rumors he's on the trade block,
and he said yesterday, you know just I'd rather I
(17:25):
want to play Baker Mayfield. Then this is his personality.
He wants to win the moment, he wants to win
the press conference, he wants to win the debate. Calls
out Duke Johnson. That's self inflicted. It is what it is.
It's not awkward for anybody else in this building. He's
got to do his job, he said, he's a professional.
I hope he does his job. We have guys that
want to be here. They'll show that. They'll voice that
(17:45):
you're either on this train or you're not. It's moving.
You can get out the way, or you can join us.
So it is what it is. And Baker won the
moment and he feels great. But Duke's still a teammate
and you're gonna need him. This is who Baker is.
This is the maturity, and this is what kids do.
They gotta win the Twitter battle, they gotta win the
press conference, they gotta win the moment. The police video's classic,
(18:09):
the police pull up to Baker Mayfield. He doesn't think
of consequences. Even if he escaped the cops, you'd still
figure out. It's Baker Mayfield right, but he wanted to
win the moment. I'm gonna escape those cops with no
thought of consequences as a quarterback in college, planting the flag,
(18:31):
grabbing the crotch, winning the moment, winning the press conference,
winning the debate, no sense of long play, long term consequences.
Russell Wilson lost a Super Bowl. Richard Sherman emotional, barry people,
rip coaches, He's out of Seattle. Russell Wilson was like,
(18:54):
this hurts, but I want to be here for twelve years.
Baker stopped trying to win the moment, win the press conference,
win the sound bite, whin the debate, when the Twitter war,
Drew Brees, back to back years, has lost a heart
clutching game in the NFC, a playoff game that you
(19:16):
have one in, you lose, and the rest of New
Orleans the crazy fans yell, scream, blame NFL bro death.
Drew Brees's response is the long play. There's nothing we
can do about it, so it's unfortunate. You can go
one of two directions, you know, either either you can
(19:37):
go in the tank or you can find a way
for this to come together for good. And that was
the mindset we took last year after the loss, and
it really brought us together as a team and strengthened us.
And then I hope that this will too. I plan
on being here next year and making another run out
of a grown up not blaming the NFL, blaming the league,
(19:58):
blaming the Rams, blaming Goodell. Bay quarterback is a grown
up position. The long play. You buy stocks, Baker Mayfields
a day trader, buy a stock seller stock won the
stock nine dollars Solder for ten. I got a dollar.
I won the debate. I call on my team and
I got Brady is like I buy the stock, worn buffet,
and I hold the stock. Sometimes I have to move
(20:19):
off the stock, but I do so covertly and quietly
so it doesn't disrupt the system and create noise. Folks,
we have a precedent. Noise is bad in the NFL.
Asked the Steelers last year seven and two got noisy.
Asked the Seahawks had a dynasty ended quickly when Belichick
and Brady the only time they've had disruption, got noisy
(20:39):
for about two months. Whether you agree with Baker yesterday
calling out Duke, it's noise, it's winning the moment. It's
not what quarterbacks about in this league. Joey Taylor the news, No, no,
this is the herd Line news. Well, the Warriors have
the injury, Bud pretty bad versus Boogie, then Katie than Iggy,
(21:00):
and now Clay's status for tonight's Game three is up
in the air. While Durant and Kavan Looney are already
rolled out, Clay's injury is a little bit more of
a gray area, and so was the answer on his status. Obviously,
I'll do anything I can to be out there, but
it's all in their hands, and there's any pain, it
(21:21):
would be a no go just because of the physition
we're in. It'll be a game time decision. But for
me personally, it'd be hard to see me not playing.
So hopefully I'll feel much better tomorrow and be a
go for tip off. I wouldn't play him. I'd roll
a dice without him. Well, the issue is he's talking
(21:43):
about the trainers when he says it's in their hands.
The issue is if you play him and it gets
worse since it's done for the rest of the series,
which you cannot afford. Joy, couldn't I make an argument
when Boogie came back and played really well at home.
Steph dram on Boogie Iggy, I couldn't you roll the
(22:04):
dice joint? I mean you're saying his strength in numbers. Look,
Klay Thompson isn't is a huge piece of this. But
these soft tissue injuries are delicate. And if you've ever
I mean we're not professional athletes, obviously, but if you
ever tweet something like this, it's you need to rest it,
and it's it's very easy to make it worse, and
you're just you're just kind of ginger on it the
(22:25):
entire time that you're performing. So, look, they have a
ton of injuries. Obviously they need Klay Thompson, and obviously
Clay Thompson wants to be out there. But I really
don't know what to expect. I'm biking Toronto either way,
I'm sitting Clay. I feel really good. Once Boogie came
back and gave me that night, I walk and I
think to myself at home, Steph Draymond, Iggy, Boogie, Bogat,
(22:48):
quinn't cook off the bench. And by the way, if
I lose, I didn't get a healthier Clay for Game
four and Kd's back. I'll roll with that. I still
don't believe Katie is going to be back. Clay was
reportedly active during practice and getting up shots, and he
said it was feeling a lot better than it was
a few days ago. A little fun stat for you,
the Warriors have played five hundred and eleven games over
(23:10):
the past five seasons, so this situation was kind of inevitable.
They played a lot of games. That is a ton
yeah stat. So a lot's being made about media market
sizes and how that influences players, especially free agents. Well,
Donovan Mitchell says playing in a big market isn't a
requirement to win a ring. He told The Athletic I
don't think you have to have to have a big
(23:32):
market twinter championship. You look at Milwaukee, Oklahoma City competed
for many years and it was still completing competing. Portland
is on the way. It's be honest. I think it's
kind of overrated at times, and I think the things
that are precious to small market teams, I think that's
what special and creates that culture, especially that we have
in the locker room. What do you make of that?
I feel like overall, he has a point about the culture.
(23:56):
It's easier to build a culture, I think in a
smaller market because you are likely going to last the stryers,
you're less distracted. You have usually a great, very loyal,
dedicated uplifting fan base because it's probably one of the
few teams. But the teams there, they don't have any titles,
well tachnically technically, the Sacramento Kings and the Chroma City
(24:21):
Thunder have titles in their previous lives. But the issue
for me is not that it's a small market. It's
about where the star wants to go play. We know
that you need a superstar in the small market. It
has to happen, so you either have to have the
ability to draft that superstar or get lucky in a
(24:41):
situation like Lebron. You know, it's funny, Like my wife
and I talk about this all the time. I don't
want to live in the middle of a big city,
but I like the proximity too. I'm a twenty minute
drive to downtown LA. I don't mind not being in
the biggest market in the world. Okay, are you showing
my hometown here? It's funny, Well, I mean, most people
(25:01):
in a lake don't live in downtown lot. But I
would say there are places like Utah and Oklahoma City
that feel and I love, by the way, I go
to Utah all the time skate. But I do think
access to big is good. Like San Antonio's not a
big city necessarily, but it is in of Texas. It
feels of Texas. Like I think people say big markets
(25:24):
are overrated. Maybe, but you don't want to be two
out in the boonies either. Well, you also have the
ability very easily to become dysfunctional in a big market. Yeah,
if you look at these top ten media markets, the
next the nets have not been consistent at all. We
all know what's going on with the Lakers, I mean,
where are the Bulls seventy six ers haven't gone over
the hunt yet, the Wizards, I mean, the Rockets are competitive,
(25:48):
but they have they made it happen yet now, so
I don't He does have a point as far as
building a competitive culture in a smaller market. But the
free agent thing is San Francisco, by the way, is
like the fourth big city in the country. Let's not
make that Mayberry like. It's not like Golden States playing No,
of course, not in San Luis Obispo and they're moving
(26:09):
from Oakland to San San Francisco into a bigger part. Right,
So finally, the Cowboys are coming off a successful season.
They made the playoffs and won the NFC East. They
even won a playoff game before falling to the Rams
in the second round. But now the Cowboys are slight
underdogs to even make it back to the playoffs in
twenty nineteen. Look at some of the notable NFC odds,
So they are not favored to make the playoffs. The Cowboys.
(26:31):
Those are perfect odds because I think the word narrowly. Yes,
they'll either narrowly make it or narrowly miss it. And
that's exactly how I feel about the Cowboys. They're narrowly
in or out. That's a great word, also the kind
of interesting. The Seahawks and the Minnesota Vikings are also
not favored, and that's how I feel about Seattle of Minnesota.
They're I think Minnesota narrowly misses and Green Bay wins
(26:54):
the division that I actually now they have Philadelphia as
a narrow miss. No, they are favorites to make the playoff. Okay,
yes they should be. Those are the two teams I love. Yeah,
good stuff. Join with the news. Well that's the news,
and thanks for stopping by the herdline. So I read
a great story yesterday by Jason Jenks. It was on
the Athletic dot Com and you gotta pay for those articles,
(27:15):
but they're very good. They talked they had a story
about Kawhi Leonard and they went back to his college
days and they literally it was a fascinating story. He
used to take a lamp to the gym, break into
the gym, not break in, but get into the gym
at San Diego State and play basketball and shoot all night.
The guy is completely obsessed. The quotes go up and
on and on about Kawhi Leonard, the hardest working player ever,
(27:38):
the hardest working player. Uh. Tim Shelton was his college teammate.
He said, Kawhi at a lamp on different occasions, he'd
been there late, the lightbox would be locked, so he'd
bring a lamp in there. He'd put his finger under
the door on Latchett, he'd go in there and shoot
with just he and the lamp. And once again, it's
the story of hard work. And I love this story.
(27:59):
It's the same Michael's story, the same Kobe story, the
same Brady story, said DJ Gay, his college teammates, by
far the hardest worker I've ever come across I've ever known.
Several times I tried beating him to the gym, No
matter how early I got there, he was there before
I was. This story, of course, reminds me of Corey mcgetty,
who lives close to Kobe Bryant. They're friends. One day
(28:23):
they decided to meet the next morning at six am
for a workout. Corey mcgetty pulled his Mercedes into the
gym at six am. Kobe was leaving, rolled the window down,
See you tomorrow, bro. Kobe had been there since four
to thirty am. Reminds me of the story of Wayne Gretzky.
My dad comes up to Wayne Gretzky one time and says,
(28:45):
my son is really talented. How do I instill this
sort of work ethic that I've read about you? And
Wayne said, you don't. You couldn't pull me off the ice.
My dad would take me off a rink he made
at midnight because I had to go to bed. It
(29:07):
reminds me of the story of the greatest tennis player
I've ever watched, Roger Feeder in his prime is average
day was five sets, an hour of conditioning, an hour
of drills. That was an average work day, not a
great work ethic day. That was every day, folks. The
(29:28):
world offers all sorts of choices, and people lose their focus.
But all these stories from Rush Limbaugh in my business
is dedication, work ethic, shooting basketballs with the lights off,
taken a lamp to the gym, driving up to meet
Kobe at six in the morning, and he's driving out
of the gym because he's been there since four forty am.
(29:52):
I know your mom's gonna put you in a prep
school and your dad tells you that the best ever
and you got this fund and that fund in that
school and that advice and a resume. Nah, It's like
in my business, good luck on having a great agent.
Awesome LinkedIn page. Are you willing to put four hours
three hours of prep into the show? Because that's what
(30:13):
does it. The Kawhi Leonard story isn't really new. It's
very predictable. Serena Federer, Ronaldo, Kobe, Michael Kawhi, Johannis ever
noticed they're always the hardest working guy anybody's ever played with.
Nick right around the corner First Things First Herd. Be
(30:36):
sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays and
noon Easter ninety Empacific. Alright, game three tonight, So fired
up for this. My buddy Nick Wright, First Things, First
call host. Let's bring him on via the Coward Global
Satellite Network. All right, we got three things ahead, and
let's first start with this. I led my show with it.
I agree with Charles Barkley durranso amazing and a quality guy,
(30:58):
but I think New York could be a disaster. He's
arguing with teenagers online. I don't know always agree with Barkley.
I kind of agree Nick. What say you? All right?
So sometimes I think you being a I don't not
an older guy, but an elder statesman to me, presents
enormous advantages. Like I think your advice to Baker Mayfield
(31:19):
at the top of the show, he will wish one
day he heated it. And I love Baker, but that
is the advice of a veteran, of someone who's seen things.
I also think there's some disadvantages, and here's one of them. Man.
New York media is something media folks think is a
real thing. And folks that played in Barkley's Eero think
is a real thing. You think Kevin Durant cares what's
(31:39):
on the back page of the New York Post, No,
he cares what's on the front page of Bleacher Report.
You cannot have more people following a team than he's
dealing with right now with the Warriors in the Bay Area.
I love frank Is Sola, but I don't think he's
gonna make Kevin Durant's free agent decision any harder. So
(32:00):
I think the New York media is more of a
relic of what was when you didn't have the NBA
at the heights that it is now, the internet media
being so important and the international contingent being so important.
So I just I think Kevin Durant, the fact that
he argues with teenagers online speaks to the point there's
(32:22):
nowhere he can go and hide because he seeks it out.
But I don't think the New York media is actually
going to be much worse or different than what he's
dealt with in these last three years playing for one
of the greatest teams we've ever had. And as you
put it, the Bay Area is not Bismarck. It's a
pretty big market. Itself. Okay, I said it at the
(32:45):
top of the show. You gotta be able to take
a trade to your owner and say, at least I
think we won the trade. I don't think the Celtics.
I don't think Rich paulinad are going to get set
of them. I think it's coming down to the Knicks.
It's coming down to the Clipper. It's coming down to
the Lakers. And what I said is I believe brandon
(33:05):
Ingram Lonzo Ball in a four pick for the Pelicans.
You can take that to Gail Benson and say we
won the trade, and then Rob Polinka could go to
Genie and say I got your second star and I
kept Kuzma, who, unlike brandon Ingram's never hurt. I think
the Lakers have a shot here. What do you think, Nick,
so listen, I think the Celtics, you can cross him
(33:26):
off the list because unless Kyrie stays and he's not,
then Danny Ainge is not going to include Tatum. So
take them off the list. The Clippers, I don't think
have the draft pick assets. We do have to keep
in mind that David Griffin before he took this job,
when he was in the media, he said exactly what
(33:47):
he would want if he were trading away Anthony Davis.
Now he's going to be in position trade away, Anthony Davis.
He talked about a blue chip lottery pick, a player
that was a blue chip lottery pick that has All
star potential, potentially a veteran. So now you the only
way the Knicks can trump the Lakers offer is if
the Pelicans are in love with RJ. Barrett. Because if
(34:10):
you look at the Knicks top three young players Knox, Nilikina,
Mitchell Robinson, even if you have the most pessimistic view
of Ingram, Ball Kuzma, the Lakers win all of those
one for one, two for two, three for three. Ye.
So you have to just love RJ. Barrett compared to
(34:31):
who you would take it for, whether that's Reddish, Darius Garland, whomever,
the DeAndre Hunter, whomever you would take it for. So
I think if it's a Knicks Lakers situation, the Lakers
are in the advantageous position. Now I think they might
have to include Kuzma or Heart to go along with
Ball and Ingram, but I think they do that in
a heart meet. But I heard right when I got
(34:51):
off the air today from someone within the Nets that
if the Nets sign Kyrie, they are all already putting
together the trade packages to where they could then try
to trade for Anthony Davis. A lot of dominoes have
to fall into place, and I don't know if the
Nets can beat the Lakers or Nick's offer because they
(35:12):
don't have a top five pick. It depends on what
you think of They are young players, but the Brooklyn
Nets would be interested in doing what the Celtics wanted
to do, which is Paara Kyrie and Anthony Davis. Let's
shift to this game three tonight. I thought it looks
like Steve Kerr said, Durant's gonna practice. Okay, so I'm
gonna get Durant in this series now maybe game five,
(35:35):
six seven. But with Boogie's emergence, I thought he was terrific.
The other night got twenty eight minutes instead of twenty
Kd's coming back. Could I not make an argument sit
Clay tonight, hamstrings can be very easily reaggravated. Roll with
a roll with it tonight at home, Iggy, Draymond, Staff, Boogie,
(35:58):
and then come back and four with the whole crew healthier.
What do you think, Well, I think that might be
what they do, and I think you can make the
argument for doing it. But if Clay Thompson does not
play tonight, the Warriors cannot win. I know you have
dipped your toe in the gambling waters as of late.
I'm telling you right now, if Clay Thompson is ruled out,
(36:22):
I am putting the maximum allowable wager on. However, I
wager we don't need to get into that. On the
Toronto Raptors, the Warriors have struggled scoring with both Splash
brothers out there. We saw what happened to their offense
the moment Clay Thompson went to the bench with injury
with eight minutes left in that fourth quarter. The only
(36:44):
reason the Raptors didn't come back and steal that game
is because their offense. They went three for sixteen the
rest of the way once Clay went out, even though
they had a fresh Kauahi Steph. They don't need Clay
to be great to beat the Raptors, but they need
Clay to be out there. They need someone else that
can draw defense away to where there's some spacing. I
(37:06):
think Toronto is too good of a defense for it
to be Steph Curry and others. And while we were
really impressed by Boogies twenty eight minutes, eleven, ten and six,
the Warriors themselves thought he could only play twenty minutes
that game. We can't now just say he's going to
be able to play thirty. If Clay doesn't play and
the Warriors win, this will be one of the most
(37:28):
impressive wins of the Steph Curry Draymond era. Those are
the two tenth Bowls of this dynasty, the two most
important members of this dynasty. If they find a way
to win with no Clay, no KD. Looney's out, Boogie's limited,
Iggy's limited, it will be a remarkable victory to me.
(37:49):
But Clay has played in one hundred and twenty of
one hundred and twenty playoff games. I don't think that
streak ends tonight. I think he finds a way to
get out there. By the way, before we go, I
have to say this because you know I am your mentor.
As you put it, you are a hit record away
from being Justin Beaver. Whatever you're doing with your hair,
your beautiful wife, you are a style master. I'm so
(38:09):
proud of you. Could you acknowledge the other person in
your life and what she's doing to your appearance, because seriously,
oh okay, you're a melody. Listen, my wife after a decade,
after a decade of prodding, I think this is my
fourth straight appearance, my wife has made a cameo, if
you will, on this show. Credit to you for that. Listen.
She after a decade of prodding, I've grown my hair
(38:31):
out now. The only reason that I'm glad you brought
it up is because my television partner, my brother, a
man i'd lay down in traffic for. Chris Carter, has
been telling the audience this is a two pay damn
it America. The hair is real. I don't know if
it's good or not, but it ain't. No damn tu pay.
He tells them. I'm five to nine, which I'm not.
I'm just under six one and I wear tupay neither true.
(38:53):
Both well, the hairs, the credit to my wife. The
height is just how I was so thank you. Colin.
You're right yeah. And if anyone I can take hare
advice from its my buddy Nick Right. Good seeing your
first things first with Chris Carter General Wolf good stuff. No,
it's not. I've had people say that to me before
is out of tupe, And I always say, if I
could buy hair, would it looked like this this. I
(39:15):
had guy come up to me one time. He goes,
that's not your real name, and I'm like, you think
I would choose Colin Cowherd that I know it is
actually a very good No. I've already got my name
chosen sky Banister. Oh yeah you did. He told me
about that. Yeah. I've always said Jack Danger or Sky Banister.
I'm gonna stick away from the Danger Danger. Sky would
(39:38):
be Sky. If my name was Sky Banister, I'd be
ten times bigger than Howard Stern if I just walked
around people. Sounds like a like a very serious sounds
like a superhero like Wolf Blitzer. Yeah, and again serious
all the time. That guy's got nothing above the shoulders.
He's a superstar off his name. Oh stop. I saw
(39:59):
him on jeopard one time. He couldn't answer how many
people are in the room, where's your nose? Point to
it on your face? He couldn't get it right. People
ask me if the Joy is my real name all
the time. I think Joy's pretty, I mean, not common name.
I'm happy with it. Can you imagine if it was
Joy Taylor and Sky Banister. Good god, it'd be like
Sean Hannity, get out of the way. Literally, we'd run cable.
(40:22):
I thought you America's media superstar. Alright, I'm America's most
beloved media icon. Yeah, that's right, That's that's how we
say it. I am overcoming this name in this hair
and this nose in these ears. Jamale McGee is gonna
stop by fascinating dude, good dude, gonna be joining us.
Chris Bruce Hard two one more Herd. The Herd streams
(40:42):
twenty four hours a day, seven days a week. Within
the iHeartRadio app, Search Herd to listen live or on
demand whenever you'd like. Ah, this is the Herd, wherever
you may be and however you may be listening. We're
live in Los Angeles. Hour two iHeartRadio, Fox Sports Studio,
and f S one. Joy Taylor is joining me. By
(41:03):
the way, I said last hour, I was talking about
Michael Jordan Lebron, Kevin Durant, and Charles Barkley says, you know,
I don't know, you know, if Kevin Durant would be
great in New York. And you know, one of the
things I talked about if you look at Michael Jordan's
basketball career, I don't know what happened to Michael zero
to fifteen. I didn't know him. I don't know Lebron
zero of fifteen. I know a couple of his friends.
(41:24):
Kevin Durant did have some real childhood drama in his life.
I'm not talking about that. Everybody's overcome something, but I'm
talking about if you look at professional basketball careers, Michael
Jordan's sports career from North Carolina, from high school on
which we all know about, it's amazing how much he overcame.
I mean, it's just a lot of roadblocks, a lot
of crap, a lot of firings, a lot of know,
(41:45):
a lot of battles. Lebron James been under a microscope
since he was sixteen. Kevin Durant's basketball life has not
had a ton of what I would call adversity. You know,
I know Kevin's backstory. How A buddy of mine just
text me. I know. His stories not perfect that that
I'm not you know, I'm not going to talk about
a kid's childhood. Some of that stuff's personal. I don't
want to go there. It's none of my business. And
(42:07):
a lot of those players don't want that stuff out.
But it is interesting with Kevin's basketball career. It has
been a football school way up in Seattle, hidden Oklahoma city,
arms around, small market, beloved, and then they're the rich
Carlton of the NBA, the Golden State Warriors, which are
like bizarrely un chaotic, like bizarrely smooth. And then you
(42:29):
go to New York. And let's be honest, if I
said NBA franchise chaotic, aren't the Knicks Number one? Now?
A lot of people like their coach, David Fizdale, who
I don't know, but i've heard a great guy, and
people like their front office. But you've got to be
honest about this. The Knicks have been chaotic. They have
been just and I you know, you can't overcome a
shaky owner. It doesn't work. There's a reason the Detroit
(42:50):
Lions have never been a dynasty. There's a reason that
Cleveland Browns have never been a dynasty in the last
thirty years. It's not about the players and the coaches.
They've had a lot of good coaches. Belichick coached in Cleveland.
They had a lot of good players. I mean, Joe
Thomas is arguably the best left tackle among he and
Jonathan Ogden Walter Jones in the history of the league.
It's not the players and the coaches, the assistance, the
(43:10):
coordinators of scouts, the jams. It's the owners. So I
really I've said this before. From a basketball standpoint, I'm
rooting for Katie to go to the Knicks because I
love the NBA. Oh, I've loved it since I was
a kid. But from a I'm running Katie's career. I'm
his agent. I wouldn't let him leave. There's no way
i'd let him leave. I'd say, dude, ay, I don't
(43:32):
like my athletes to give up money. I don't like that,
especially tens of millions. If i'm his agent, I'm like, listen,
it doesn't matter. You know. Lebron was a star in Cleveland.
D Wade was a star down in surf loving Miami.
It doesn't matter where you're at. I wouldn't would I
would be hard. If I was Kawai's agent, I'd have
(43:52):
a hard time saying you'll leave forty million on the table.
I couldn't sleep at night as an agent. I couldn't
unless my player said. I don't like Canada I like California,
then I could be okay with it. But if I ran,
if I'm Adam, I look at it from a different situation.
If I was Adam Silver, I want Kevin Durant to leave.
(44:14):
If I'm Colin Coward and I want better topics on
the radio Joey and I want him to move, then
Nicks would be great. If I'm Kevin Durant's agent, I'm
not letting him go. There's no way I can sign
a paper and go from Joe Lacob to James Dolan
to Dennis Smith's junior, from Steph Curry and Clay had
No way I'm gonna let that happen. I would just
(44:35):
talk him out of it and say you're crazy, Kevin,
You're nuts. But you know, players want to do what
they want to do. And I do think when you've
been in this well run operation Brett Farve with the Packers,
then he goes to the dysfunctional Jets, it's culture shock.
It's like and you go from you know, Lacob and
Steph and Bob Myers and Kerr and god, these guys
(44:58):
just on Clay Thompson. They all get a long They've
even taken some guys like Boogie Cousins, who has sort
of a history of being a little difficult and he works.
It's tough man. We had, we had who we have
On the end of the show yesterday Corey Brewer, and
he said, you know, I stayed in college for one
more year because it was fun. I had a good coach,
(45:18):
I had good teammates. I knew it. I knew I
could get paid in the NBA, But I stay because
it's fun. I haven't I have a saying I've been
saying forever. Don't try to get happier than happy. Like
if you're happy in life, box checked, moved to the
next issue. Like there's five or six boxes you want
to check in life? You know, are my kids healthy?
Do I have a good strong relationship with my wife
(45:40):
or my husband? Am I happy? Do I wake up happy? Check?
Why don't you check that happy box? Don't be like,
all right, I gotta find a happier box. I'd be
happier every day my life. No, a happy life has
a few you know, you're bouncing around with tumbleweeds once
in a while. Happy life isn't perfect. No perfect life.
(46:01):
So you know, as Adam Silver Colin Carr. I'd love
to see Durant go to the Knicks as his agent.
New Yeah, I saw a nurse story here. I want
to throw this out. There is that, and this is
I know I'm going into my theories and beliefs here
and blah blah blah. I saw that. I read this
story about Kawhi Leonard yesterday on The Athletic and you know,
(46:24):
it's really funny. The best baseball player in the world
right now is who Mike Trout. And the best golfer
in the world right now is who brooks Kepka. And
the best basketball player many people are saying in the
last month is Kawhi Leonard because Kevin Durant's been out,
especially Trout, brooks Kepka, Kawhi Leonard. They're simply interested in
(46:46):
the result. Twitter not interested, Social media not interested. Great
interview seeking attentions not interested. And it's funny. There's something
going on in America that's kind of fascinating. So we
have been on about an eight to ten year run
(47:07):
of a great economy in America. A lot of it's
tech manufacturing is up now. I think eventually, since World
War Two, we go into a recession about every six years.
We've got nine ten years here with no recession. We're
on not like, we're close to an eleventh year with
no recession, double the historic American average economically, So we're
gonna at some point, and I think it's coming pretty quick.
(47:29):
We'll have a recession. Not great, right, but we'll have it.
That's the way the company works. So bubbles don't exist
and housing market explodes in the market, and so we
have this great economy right now in America, and yet
there's a troubling statistic depression and suicide or up. Why
is that? Why is that generally families got a little money,
(47:52):
They've got a little breathing room. They don't feel that
chaotic crisis, that panic of not being able to pay
the cable bill. The economy's great, and depressions up. Why
Because choices create anxiety. I watch it with my daughter
all the time. I'm like, honey, to the gut it.
(48:12):
There's all these choices. Did you get a good night's sleep,
did you have a good breakfast? The family love you? Boom,
Day's done. Rest of it's all just opinion. Choices create anxiety.
Brooks Kpka, Mike Trout, Kawhi Leonard, they're not really into
the choices. They're just totally focused on the result. And
(48:35):
so when I look at KD and I look at Kyrie,
Kyrie appears to be retreating from good coaches, retreating from Lebron.
I don't think that makes happiness. I don't think that's
when society offers choices, everybody sees it as a win.
Oh there's a new platform I can Instagram and Facebook
and LinkedIn and Twitter and Snapchat. It just creates stress.
(48:58):
You think choices would make everybody happier, when in fact
they create anxiety. Mike Trout disconnects from all of them,
Kawhi Leonard disconnects from all of them, Brooks Kepka disconnects
from all of them. It's fool's goal. When society and
sports note, athletes have never had more choices, They've never
(49:19):
made more money, they've never been able to afford as
many cars and houses and boats and vacations and stuff.
And they've never had more choices and more platforms and
more Instagram and Snapchat and LinkedIn and Facebook and Twitter.
And yet look at who's at the top of most
of our sports. The focused that not caught up in
(49:45):
all the stuff. Kawhi, Leonard Brooks, Kepka, Mike Trout. There's
a great young hockey player. I'll get to that later
in the show. Christian poolsics the great young soccer star
in America. All soccer, all the time. Is that I
look at Durant leaving and Kyrie seeking, and this guy
(50:08):
moving and this guy buying, and I got this. I
know I'm gonna be probably wrong on this, but just
because you have choices all, in my opinion, it simply
complicates life and the people that are willing to be
(50:28):
uber focused. As society creates more choices, it's fool's gold.
It's fool's gold. Be very careful thinking. All these new
exits off the interstate provide a rainbow of opportunities and
a gold rush of commerce. Nah, they just take your
(50:49):
sights off. What really important. For kawhiat's basketball. For kept
gets golf. For Trout, it's his wife and hitting the baseball.
Stay focused, all right, kind of ran it there, just
kind of went off. I just started. I just started
kind of blah blah blah on right there. I've given
some Uncle column wisdom. Okay, now I'm done. With that,
let's break down the games. That was a yeah, that
(51:11):
was a little too much. You know what, I know,
I'm I'm I'm actually one hundred percent with you. I
think that whatever you put your energy into is what
you get back, right, go all in. So people call
it all kinds of different things. But to me, if
it's if it's mentally, physically, emotionally, what you're dedicated to
is what you're going to succeed at. And with these guys,
(51:31):
I mean, what do all those those three guys have
in common? Mile deep on what they love that and
there's just there's not a whole lot of extroverted personality.
There's no there's not a whole lot of social media.
I mean, you always talk about your bore four. It's
really not that they're boring. They're just focused on one
singular thing which eliminates all of that other stuff. Now
that's not saying that if you are focused on other things,
(51:52):
you can't be successful. Clearly Lebron has done that. But
Koby Colby was interesting all basketball, retired, all business like like,
whereas we knocked Lebron's year for a lot of converging
different shows basketball, and there's a lot of stuff. Well,
I think how your personality is, Bill depends on how
you can balance all those things. Clearly, someone like Hawaii,
(52:13):
that's not his personality. So him trying to balance all
those other things would not work. He wouldn't be successful. Right.
But either way, when it comes down to it, like
you said, you have to have a singular focus. All right,
JaVale McGee will bring He'll bring the show down to
a less ethereal. We'll talk hoops with JaVale McGee, who
actually had a great year he pop with the Nuggets,
great years with the Warriors, fantastic for the Lakers this year.
(52:36):
Is he staying Come and go on. We'll talk to
him next. Be sure to catch live editions of The
Herd week dayson noon Eastern nine Ampacific on Fox Sports
Radio FS one and the iHeart Radio app. Friday on
FS one, the twenty nineteen FIFA Women's World Cup picks
off as a post nation grants spaces off with Korea
Republic and group play. Coverage begins at two Eastern and
(52:58):
all matches will be live on Fox FS one and
streaming on the Fox Sports app. Kay France's co favorites
with the US JaVale McGee is joining US eleven years
in the NBA Champion twenty seventeen, twenty eighteen with the Warriors.
Came to the Lakers and I said this on the
air when you came there, I said, I don't know
how this is gonna work. It's a bunch of kids.
They're immature. JaVale McGee's got a big personality, and you
(53:22):
are actually the shock of the season. I thought you
had a great year. You were very formidable. And it's
the first time the home team where I lived you
were on the home team. It's funny, JaVale. You got
a reputation early kind of fun, kind of crazy, kind
of flaky, And I watch it with the Warriors and
the Lakers. That's not reality. Does it bother you at
times that you're the perception of you early? Isn't reality
(53:45):
this morning? Oh yeah, definitely. I mean, so when I
came into the league, the things that kids are doing now,
I was doing to where like using social media a lot.
So when I came into the league, Pete gems and
we're looking at it like you're not because like why
are you on why are you using Instagram? Why are
you using Twitter? Like get off of there, stop making videos,
(54:06):
putting them on YouTube and things like that. Now, when
I went to the Warriors, the prs like you need
to post more on Twitter, you need to post the
more and like it's good for feedback. So like it's
just a hol different aspect. And I guess I was
sort of ahead of my time, I guess. So it
gave me a perception like I'm not serious about basketball,
I'm not focused and it really like messed up the
(54:26):
character that I had that people really perceived me as.
But the Golden State Warriors didn't listen. They said, we
like you, they brought you in. What did you help
them with? And what did they help you with as
a player. Um, truthfully, I helped them with I feel
like rent protection if anything, and just having a big
that's that's willing to do the dirty work and run
(54:48):
the floor. You run the floor, wall on the floor
very well, and now we're not worried about minutes, just
being able to do whatever it takes to win. And
they helped me with just realizing, like going to the Warriors,
like probably first day of the Warriors, my procession was
going to be like Okay, well they're champions. They probably
it's probably tighten it. I probably have to be like
I'm in the army, it's probably. It was probably one
(55:09):
of the most relaxed environments I've ever been, and I've
been on multiple teams. It was the most relaxed. And
I've been in practice like like is this okay? Like
Steph's shooting a half of course, every time we stretched
like this is crazy. But it was just so relaxed,
and it just showed me like, just be a champion,
like you don't have to be uptight and and everything.
(55:30):
It's just it's real hard work. Though I don't want
to take that perception away. It was hard work. We
have fun, haven't haven't playing hard. It's interesting because we hear,
you know, in the media, we hear a lot Kevin
Durant's gonna leave, and I've said, listen, man if I
was his agent, hey, I don't want him taken less.
I don't want my players taken less. Secondly, it's a
risk Carlton, like everybody likes everybody, I don't trust the
(55:50):
next in their ownership, and to me, you can't overcome
bad ownership. And my career doing this, I've been incredibly lucky.
I've had one bad owner and you can't overcome it.
I've had four one I didn't like. And in the end,
if you were Katie's agent, what would you tell him?
I mean, first of all, if I was Katie's agent,
I would tell Katie to do what he wants to do,
because it's it's his life, you know what I'm saying.
(56:12):
He has to live with his decision. So wherever he
wants to go, whatever money he wants to take, then
that's to his decision to do. I wouldn't be that
guy who's like, you should go here, you here. I
would definitely weigh out the options, lay him out, tell
him everything that's positive and negative, all the pros and cons.
But other than that, it's his decision. Now, what about
Charles Barkley, New York's gonna eat him up? So I
(56:35):
heard this what he said about that, and that he
wouldn't be able to survive out there. But in my opinion,
if Charles Barkley grew up in the era of social
media and he could respond to the things that people
were saying about him when he was he would do
the same thing. Like if someone said on Twitter year
this year that you're gonna be like, Okay, a thousand
people who said it. I'm responding to him just every
(56:55):
now and then. But I feel like the media portrays
it as like, oh, he's sensitive. No, Like we live
in a world where information is just so fast and
we see everything. When Charles working was playing, like you
would have to wait till the morning newspaper came out
to hear somebody talk stuff about you. So it's totally
different aspect. I don't take that as being sensitive or
(57:15):
not being able to handle it. How does steff I
find it fascinating because Steph is such a unique superstar,
you know, goes home, married kids, quiet, don't hear stuff,
and recruits Kevin Durant team me behind the scenes. What's
the secret sauce with Steph? Steph is one of the
nicest guys I've ever met in my life, and to
(57:38):
just think of the superstardom that he's at, he doesn't
have to be that nice, but he's extremely nice, maybe
too nice, Like he's one of the nicest guys I've
ever met in my life. And to be the superstar
status that he's at, to do things that he does
in the court off the court, also the family man
he is is pretty impressive. They're the best third quarter
team in league history, and we were talking about this yesterday.
(57:59):
They're a little like the New England Patriots. They don't
play well early in Super Bowls, they always play great
after halftime. You've been in for two championships. You have
been on this Warrior team. JaVale JaVale McGee joining us
and trailed at half, struggled, and then the Warriors go
in for fifteen minutes and it's magic. It's David Copperfield,
(58:20):
it's Chris Angel, You're making stuff elevate. You've been in
that halftime session. Is it intense loud? Like what happens?
It's not necessarily intense, uh, I mean coming from Draymond
is loud, but it's it's intentional. The first half, it
seems like you as a championship team, you have the
confidence of Kirk, we're gonna win. Sometimes we take they do.
(58:42):
They would take people for granted. And then in the
second half they're like, okay, they came out, they hit
us in the mouth, a nice time to turn it up,
and that's all they really was like, okay, third quarter action,
we know we do we know we have let's step
it up and that's how it will work out. I
want to shift now to the Lakers. It was a
weird year. It was a weird combination. Lebron historically has
played well with shooters, and Lebron tends to play well
(59:05):
with veterans. He's a smart dude. So you got a
Lebron guy who plays well with veterans, plays well with shooters. Well,
it goes to the Lakers and it's a bunch of kids,
and then it's mostly guys who aren't on as great shooters.
Rono's a good player, not a shooter. Lance good athlete,
not a shooter. It never felt kind of perfect, but
you were on the roster. The trade stuff happens, all
(59:27):
these rumors and there's stories devail that it's freaking the
kids out, which I get. If you told me tomorrow
my name's in the paper, I'm being shipped to you
know whatever. How chaotic was it? Like, how hard was
it on the kids to read in the papers and
on Bleacher Report? Yeah, you're all getting shipped out of town.
First of all, he didn't read in the papers. I
didn't say that right now, Internet maybe Internet all social media,
(59:50):
but I mean, I saw I've been traded before, and
the first time I traded. The first day that I'm
hearing all his information and this is a social media age,
I'm like, thang, Like it's it's terrifying, Like you're like, okay,
I'm leaving my home. I have all my stuff, all
my family, everything I know here, Like it really chake
you up if this is your first time hearing it,
(01:00:10):
especially as a young guy. But I mean, if you've
been traded before, you're like, Okay, it's a part of
the business. You learn it as a part of the business.
These are young guys, these guys in there in LA.
You gotta think, Okay, this is my livelihood, I mean
beautiful La, and I have to I'll be shipped somewhere else,
which is in LA. So I mean, of course I'll
be a little shook. But I mean that's natural for
anybody who's their first time going to be traded or
(01:00:32):
hearing serious reports that they're going to be traded. So
you freak out a little bit. Yeah, the first time
I got traded, I was I was freaked out, But
after that you're just like, it's a business and that's
all it really is. So you have to be a
professional about it. So Lebron gets hurt and I've never
seen an injury. I've said this for years. Javail. One
of the most amazing things about Lebron the second chapter
(01:00:52):
of his book. The first chapter is that dude maybe
the best player ever. The second chapter is his body.
Like all Michael Jordan broke a lap Man the year Stockton,
everybody gets hurt except Lebron. Yeah, So when Lebron faced
his first career injury, what was he like? I mean,
that's that's daunting talk about trade. How was Lebron? I mean, surprisingly,
(01:01:14):
he was lighthearted, extremely light harder. I mean, he really
doesn't have anything to worry about, really, I mean, he's
his contracts, fine, he's there for a lot of years.
There isn't really anything to worry about, um. But just
the way that he came back and the way that
he was working and that that time that he was
injured was truly amazing. And I mean, truthfully, the fact
(01:01:35):
that he got hurt. Linzo got hurt, players got in fights,
so that suspended our starting five really only had like
ten games, and that's exaggerating without actually knowing the actual
being together and being able to get our chemistry. It's
our first year together, like we should at least be able.
We never got a chance to get our chemistry together.
Everybody got hurt at once. I got pneumonia, like everything
(01:01:58):
happened to this team on injury on the injury side
in DNA, tried to play it like it's all this
other stuff. No, we got injured. Like everybody you've played with, Lebron, Durant,
Clay Staff, Draymond. I'm looking at the teams you've played
with here a Dirk dirt Us, Gilbert Arenas. Okay, so
(01:02:21):
of all the stars you've played, they're all different cats, right.
The player that I find fascinating in this league, he
literally becomes double. The player is Draymond Green. So Draymond
in the regular season goes seven seven seven, and then
I'm watching him in the playoffs and javail. There are
games I think he's the best player on the floor
along with Kawai. Take me into Draymond, like I analytics
(01:02:45):
don't even work for him. He literally puts on a
cape in like May and June. Take me behind the
scenes on again the secret sauce on Draymond, because I
think he's gonna have a chance to be a Hall
of Famer. Um. Yeah. Definitely the focus that Draymond puts
into every game, the studying, the things that he knows
about other players or games. You'll you'll play against the
(01:03:06):
player and he'll be like and be like, oh, what
does he do Dremonda come out of nowhere? Oh yeah,
he's probably left hand. He's a left He's gonna shoot
over the left shoulder. And if he doesn't do that,
he's gonna come back with a pump fake. So watch
out for that. Like he knows everything about every player.
He studies the game extreme like he and on his own.
I mean own, isn't like you have to do this,
Like that's just his thing. He loves basketball and you
(01:03:27):
can just tell it and you can see it in
this game. Also, by the way, celebrity softball game. This
is June twenty second. Javal's jug Life Foundation brings safe
and clean water to underdeveloped areas around the world. By
the way, you grew up in Flint, Michigan, so this
is a very personal thing for you. Jug Life also
spreads the message of how important water is for healthy
(01:03:47):
and active lifestyles. Team Javaal versus Team Lonzo Ball. You know,
LaVar was on yesterday. I keep bringing LaVar on because
I think he's done a pretty good job with his sons,
and he's a little crazy and there's a lot of nonsense.
But yesterday he answered all the questions. He never ducks
a question. Do you think there's ever a little pressure
(01:04:08):
on Lonzo because dad's public a little bit? Do you
feel h maybe it's a little pressure. But the thing,
the thing that surprises me how everybody's on LaVar for
being a sports dad, Like if like I'm gonna that's
my son. Like the way that he's in his son's lives,
in his kid's lives, especially as a black man, is amazing.
(01:04:28):
Like he's there every game like focus, like he has
his kids back and nothing else. Like it's pretty impressive. Um,
he says a lot of things. I mean, of course
Linzo probably doesn't like everything he says, but in my opinion,
I mean, he's a great dad. If anything, Lonzo struggled
with his health. Do you buy in the Lonzo long
term as a player? Oh yes, Uh, just just seeing
(01:04:49):
the focus, uh, Like Okay, so when people get injured,
they tend to have a go down in spirit, but
he had a great spirit this whole time that he's
been in He's in there everyday working in the weight room,
and it's coming from a person who's behind the scene
sees at all he's training. He's every he hasn't missed
a training session, Like you get fine for things like that,
(01:05:10):
and like people are really paying attention that he hasn't
missed any of that since I've been there. So it's
not like he's not trying to get healthy, like he
just had a bad injury and it's just been lingering,
that's all it is. But when he's healthy, oh my goodness,
an amazing. He started finishing at the rim last year
and because because we like what it is is you
really need those people behind you to be. Like me personally,
(01:05:31):
I'm that type of guy who if someone lays the
ball up, I'm buying him, even if they're on my team,
I'm when they're going down the court, I'm like, boom,
you're supposed to dunk that. Like we're playing basketball. It's
just fun dunked that thing like this, this is how
we do it. You know what I'm saying. It's just
a he did last year. I gotta give Lunjoy credit
for about eight to ten games before he got hurt.
He got because the knock hunting was he's a little
(01:05:53):
passive and he started finishing at the rim. People forget
he's six six guard and athletic. Is I don't know
what like he can? Yes, So like that's what we're
doing behind the scenes, like we're like dunk it like
dunk on. Anybody is in the way, Like why not
like to do it? Like why not a juglifewater dot
com for tickets, Jug jug Life jug lifewater dot com
(01:06:17):
for tickets. Absolute pleasure meeting you man, Thank you, appreciate
you had a great year for the Lakers. Good luck
to you. Thank you. Joy. With the news, no nor
on the news. This is the herd Line News. So
we were just talking about this. Steph Curry is beloved
by millions of fans across the world, especially in the Bay. Yes,
but he's also increasingly becoming a player. People, notably current
(01:06:40):
and former NBA players, like to hate on Yeah, and
yesterday he was asked about that hate. I mean, honestly,
I don't need anybody's validation or praise or them to
hype me up as other people in the league. I
know who I am like I always say, confident and
my abilities and and appreciative of this the stage that
(01:07:05):
I get to play on alongside of my teammates, you know,
especially these last five years. So whatever comes with that
territory doesn't really bother me. Whether I'm liked or disliked.
Think about this. I don't believe there's a player, maybe
Michael Jordan, that could score zero points in one half
and thirty three in the other. That's all about confidence,
because a lot of guys, you're that bad at half,
(01:07:26):
you missed the first shout of the second half, you
are seacrest out that guy that game against Houston is like,
was that Houston or Portland? When he had thirty three
zero in the first half, thirty three and the second half,
that was one of the most think it was Houston.
That's one of the most amazing performances I've ever seen
by an NBA player. That is remarkable. I think Steph
Curry will be appreciated and I think I mean, obviously
(01:07:48):
he has millions of fans, he is very well liked overall,
but I think the effect of Steff Curry will be
appreciated more after he's done playing because he has changed
the game and he's inspired an entire new wave of
young people who see him, and they don't they don't
(01:08:08):
actually realize how like big and strong step Perry is
because we focus on, you know, guys like Tabail who
are Biggs. And he's inspired and entire a new group
of kids that think, like, oh, I can make it
to the NBA. Not being six foot nine and the
physical phenon Michael Vick had this effect that Michael Vick.
(01:08:30):
I never forget when Michael Vick played at Virginia Tech
and Bobby Bowden coach Florida State, and Bobby's team beat
him in the national title. But Bobby Bowden tells a
story when you saw Michael hit the best athlete in
the field playing quarterback, and Bobby Bowden's like, it just
changed his worldview. I can put my best athlete a
quarterback a little small, runs a little too much, and
there are there are times when there are games they
(01:08:52):
don't have to be the best player in the world.
But Michael Vick changed the way a lot of people
looked at quarterback. Steph Curry has changed the way we
played basketball. I do find the polarization with players liking
him to be interesting, though I don't know about that.
So I've talked a lot about how classy the Toronto
organization has been about their postseason run, especially Missigau Jerry Giving,
(01:09:13):
Twain Casey, and Damar de Rosen credit well. Zamar spoke
about that in a Reason to sit down with Taylor
Rooks of Leacher Report. Honestly, I don't even think I
said this. I probably said this to my own inner circle,
but it wasn't for all the years and groundwork that
I did before then, none of them things would have
been possible. Yes, I fought, I sacrifice, I pushed the
limits to where I had to be the sacrificial lamb.
(01:09:35):
You just have to sit back and understand, like you know,
you are the reason so many things was even possible.
I'm rooting for my best right, you know, to do well,
to accomplish something that we tried to do all them years,
and he has the opportunity and do it. A guys
on their team they know you know I'm rooting for Listen,
there's worse places to end up to San Antonio, sure,
(01:09:58):
but I mean when you are, you know, with a
team for nine years, and you've poured your heart and
soul and blood, sweat and tears into trying to win
a championship, and then you get traded and Kawhi Leonard
comes in and now they're in the finals, and it's
not it's not out of the Roman possibility that they
(01:10:18):
could win the finals. There's gonna be some emotional tie there.
And he is right. He literally was the sacrificial lamp
because he is the reason that Kawhi is there. So
I totally understand the emotional tie there. But I mean,
it's of course he was a huge part of that.
And this is why I said before, this is the
way that you build an organization and a culture. You
(01:10:39):
have to have good players that you draft and you
build up and you're consistently good, and you're consistently in
the playoffs, and then you get that one piece or
then you come together in that one moment an opportunity
and get over the hump that you've been trying to
get over. Now, even if they don't win a championship,
which is obviously their goal and that would be the
ultimate success, you can't you can't dismiss what Toronto has
(01:10:59):
been able to do and Obviously Kawhi Leonard was the
piece that they needed, but everybody needs a superstar that
this is a superstar league, but this is the way
you do it. This whole like tanking and building for
years and making the fans suffer and we just got
to weight and it's just it's horrible for the league.
It's horrible for organizations, it's horrible for the consumer. It's awful,
and it doesn't even make sense because you can't build.
(01:11:22):
It's everything that's going on with the Lakers. You can't
have these young guys and these toxic environments. And then
all of a sudden think because you get one extra
superstar with no culture around you, that you can turn
this into a championship organization. It's just not how it works. Finally,
I think you'll like this list. Bleach Your Report released
their list of top quarterback wide receiver duos. This is
(01:11:43):
the parameters of it. Theoretically, you're down in the fourth
quarter by two touchdowns. What duo would you want to
carry your team to a comeback win? Now? I think
Tom Brady and Julian Edelman are a little low considering,
but Patrick Mahomes and Tyree Killer are actually very low
on this list for me. Yeah, this list. I don't
agree with this list at all. Would you rearrange it?
(01:12:05):
I'm sorry. I would move Patrick Holmes and tyreech Hill
up to probably two first, Tom Brady Julian Edelman one.
Julian Edelman was the best player in the Super Bowl.
He was unguardable. Marcus Peters and a Key talib who
are great corners. He was open. It's number one. By
the way, I love t Y Hilton, but he's often
(01:12:25):
a deep threat that's lower percentage. What made Andrew luck
last year was his tight ends in his running game,
so and I love Yeah, I would do by the
way again, Yeah, I don't agree with anything here. I
think I think Deshaun Watson DeAndre Hopkins is often the
most frightening, right because those guys between his legs and
Deandre's speed, those guys are you can't even game plan
(01:12:47):
for about four plays a game from those. Yeah. Andy
Dalton and AJ Green should not be on that list
at all, just because of Andy Dalton not AJ Green.
And then they did qualify that Baker O'Dell and what's
bar Antonio Brown were not included on this list. Yeah,
I say Baker O'Dell is going to have a huge year.
That put them on Jack into Mark Cooper on there either.
Oh they didn't did that. Yeah, so they have that,
I mean golf, the cooks. They had some some very
(01:13:09):
interesting missus on here too. But yeah, I figured you'd
want to rearrange that a little bit. Yeah, join with
the news. Well that's the news, and thanks for stopping
The Herd Live. Okay, we're gonna check in the bay.
Mark Medina, who covers the Warriors, We're gonna get him
come up next. Tell us the latest on Clay Thompson.
Is he going to play tonight? Be sure to catch
live editions of The Herd weekdays in noon Easter nine
(01:13:31):
a Empacific on Fox Sports Radio FS one and the
iHeart Radio app. Let's go to the fall. Mark Medina,
guy we bring on regularly played covered the Lakers, LA
Daily News covers the Warriors now for the San Jose
Mercury News, and he's joining us via the phone, Mark
Medina getting ready for Game three tonight. Mark, let's start
with this Clay Thompson's health. Where are we at with it? Yeah,
(01:13:55):
a touch pace of the Warriors this morning. They're painting
this as a game time decision. They want to have
him test out as hamstring during pregame warmups. And it's
one of these things where I've talked I've talked to
Klay after Game two Sunday and he was saying, hey,
he thinks he'll give it a go, but I don't
think it's entirely his decision. It's the training staff and
looking out for him. And it's one of these things that,
(01:14:17):
unlike other injuries Clay has had in the past, it's
not just a pain threshold issue. This is a hamstring
which can get very sensitive. So if he makes one
weird twist, he could be out for a while. So
will no probably you know, during pregame warmups, whether it
Clay suits up or not. Now it does sound like
Mark the things I'm reading Kerr's gonna let Durant practice.
(01:14:39):
That Durant appears to be available at some point in
this finals is do you buy that? I do buy that.
Now he's not playing tonight. In Game three, but he
started to do more on court work. He's progressed from
you know, doing a lot of shooting drills, but for
my understanding, he hasn't white doing any like running up
(01:15:02):
and down the court. So Steve Kerr has said it's
feasible that all he needs is to have a full
practice contact scrimmaging before returning. And so if you connect
the dots there, if Kevin were to return in Game four,
he would need to get that full practice on Thursday.
He's moving down that direction, but it's not clear at
this point if he's going to get there by Thursday.
(01:15:25):
Booge's twenty eight minutes I think was the surprise of
Game two. I didn't think he'd played that well, and
I didn't think he'd play that long. Has his re
emergence given the staff confidence that maybe they can bail
on both Katie and Clay tonight, Well, I think yes,
(01:15:45):
and Noe's Clay is healthy to play, they'll play him.
But I think the larger question of today have more
trust into Marcus Cousins after the Game two performance. They
certainly do, because before, when he was trying to get
back into the NBA Finals, Steve Kerr was mindful heads
as talented as Boogie is, as much as he has
all star credentials, this could create more problems than solve
(01:16:07):
any of them, because he hadn't been playing in almost
a month, and I think when you saw that starting
Game two, you're wondering, Okay, is it's gonna work out.
He's gaining so much foul trouble, he's missing shots. The
only real positive thing that he was doing was getting
the Toronto front court in foul trouble. But by the
time the fourth quarters start going, it was almost the
boogie of old So I think the Warriors are encouraged
(01:16:30):
that he can build off of that. At the same time,
I think there's a little bit of wait and see,
because you wonder how much he'll respond after a game's
worth of increased workload that he wasn't prepared for, and
they just don't know quite at this point the speed
that he's progressing. But for better and for worse, and
possibly both, they'll find out game three if he's equipped
(01:16:53):
for it. By the way, Steph didn't score in the
fourth in Toronto, Clay didn't play in Katie didn't play
in they one. Yeah, when you got on that plane
to fly back to the Bay Area, did you feel
like that was the series? I don't feel like it's
the series yet, simply because there's more injuries and something
else might even come up. I mean, andre Iguodala is
(01:17:15):
available to play tonight, but more things can come. But
I will say this, I think if the Warriors win
Game three tonight, I think the series is over. And
especially the fact that Klay is out. I mean, if
the Raptors can't beat a Warrior's team without Kevin Durant,
without Klay Thompson, a banged up andre Iguodala, a rusty
(01:17:36):
DeMarcus Cousins, I don't know what they can do. I mean,
obviously there's always a Steph Curry injury that could happen,
or Draymond Green injury that can happen. But I think
the Warriors, through this whole journey with absorbing injuries, shows
that there's so much strength in that armor. Maybe they
get some dents with some injuries, some dance with some adversity,
(01:17:56):
but they just have so much reinforcements with all the talent,
the depth, championship equity, that it takes a lot to
beat these guys. Yeah, who do you like tonight? You know,
I think it's going to be the Warriors. I think
it's almost going to be a game the Game six
against Houston where they felt like the odds are against them.
That brings out the best in the Warriors. And I
(01:18:18):
think what the formula is going to be as Steph
and Draymond is going to rise to the occasion because
they're really the only healthy All Stars still remaining on
the floor. And then as is inconsistent as the bench
has been with all the different young guys, different lineups,
Andrew Wildal and Shawon Livingston, you know, fighting father time.
(01:18:38):
They have shown that when their backs are against the wall,
they rise to that occasion. These Warriors need to be
challenged to be at their best. Otherwise they just kind
of go through the motions because they've been just so
bored and burned out through these championship runs. But you know,
this is the ultimate tests, and the Warriors have shown
a pretty good track record and prevailing in those kind
(01:18:59):
of moments. Mark MDI by the way you played in
that media game last night Hitney Jumpers. You know, I
missed the three, but I gotta put back. I will
say my basketball game is bad, but I go to
the gym consistently. The conditioning was not a problem. The
only problem was I had no idea where a road
take correct wheel on defense, and I only got two shots.
I made one of them. There you go, you're a
(01:19:19):
fifty percent field goal shooter. I'm very that's why you
make the show. We can always rely on you half
the dime. There you go, always dependable with the energy
if nothing else. Yeah, Mark, good talking to you about likewise,
Thank you. Yeah, the Yeah, it really does. There's such
a psychology in sports. We saw this in the Super
Bowl where Sean mcvagh acknowledged I overprepared for New England.
(01:19:41):
They got in my head if you could win the
night without playing Kadie you talk about I mean that
that plays in the room, That completely plays in the room.
I cannot wait for the last hour. I am gonna
unveil a list that it's literally like I feel I'm
pushing all my chips on the table. All my chips
(01:20:03):
don't go anywhere. Great third hour, one more Herd. The
Herd streams twenty four hours a day, seven days a
week within the iHeartRadio app. Search Herd to listen live
or on demand whenever you'd like. Ah, here we go,
we're live. It's hour three. We're in Los Angeles. Two.
This is the Herd. Wherever you may be in however,
(01:20:28):
you'd be maybe listening We're live an iHeartRadio, Fox Sports Radio,
and a half House one. I really like my shirt today,
could like your shirt today? Really get several times trying
to convince everyone that it's a black shirt. It's a
charcoal gray. Let's be honest about this. I could be
a character actor. I could be a sales executive. I
(01:20:49):
could be a power political figure at a barbecue. This
shirt plays in so many different areas. That is is
it a barbecue shirt for a politician on a campaign
jail China? We gotta vote? This leaves it up? Yep,
you got it? Yeah? No wats though, right, no wats three?
College for everyone, Trillion dollar deficits do not matter. Let
(01:21:12):
somebody else pay for it. I vote for me. Somebody's
gonna pay for something at that point. All right, good stuff.
That's Joy Taylor's voice. That is absolutely a pleasure to
have you. I have a great list at the end
of the show, I'm so fired up for so it
sounds like I think psychology is big in sports. I
always have there. There are different times that you can
do things and you make things very clear. You're better
(01:21:37):
than your opponents, and you don't have to say a word.
I thought the Golden State Warriors made a big impression
winning Game two in Toronto. Kd ain't here and Clay's
not here and Steph didn't score in the fourth and
we beat you in Toronto. I think that ding the Warrior,
that ding the Raptors. Can you imagine if the Warriors
(01:22:01):
tonight they can play Clay. Clay is good enough to play,
and they choose not to and they win. We don't
have Clay, we don't have Kevin Durant and we beat you.
Series is over. Series is over. Psychologically it's over. I
mean this goes back to Sean mcvag acknowledging at the
Super Bowl. He over prepared. Belichick wins a lot of
(01:22:22):
this stuff before the game starts, you know. Mike Tyson
used always say that I've won my fights before it starts.
People go see me knock guys out and knock their
heads off. I've won the fight before it starts. Guys
will not bear down on me. They're jabbing me, they're
staying away. They don't use their leverage because they're afraid
I'm gonna knock their head off. And I wouldn't play
(01:22:42):
Clay Thompson tonight. And my takeaway is when Boogie Cousins
came back and really crushed it, it changed everything. I'll
give you an example. We're all young, right, right, You're
all young, and we've all struggled right financially, and then
there's that moment in a lot of your life. This
happened to me that I found a hundred dollars in
(01:23:04):
my jeans pocket and I was doing the laundry, and
I was like, wait a minute, I didn't need it.
And I don't remember when it was, but I remember
the washing machine. I remember, I remember where I was.
I don't remember the year or how old I was,
but it was a while back, and I found a
hundred dollars in a pair of jeans, and I thought,
and I didn't miss it. I'm like, I've made it.
(01:23:28):
Like I'm not struggling check to check constantly. Boogie Cousins
was that houndy you find in your jeans that you forgot.
They didn't think they were getting twenty eight minutes from
Boogie Cousins. They didn't have a clue. They didn't have
any idea it was going to give him twenty eight
and arguably be the determining factor late in the game.
You just found a honey in your jeans after you
(01:23:48):
pulled it out of the dryer. So now I got tonight,
I can go Steph, Yeah, he's pretty good, Draymond been
a monster, Iggy Boogie Cousins, Sean Livingston. And then I
go Andrew bog Quinn Cook's off the bench, and I'm
at home where we haven't played since mid May, and
Oracle's gonna be a zoo. It's gonna be the loudest
(01:24:09):
it's ever been since like three years ago, and Warrior
fans weren't sitting on their hands. I'd roll the dice
because I think if you win tonight, if let's say
Clay comes back, reaggravates it, disaster, He's out for the series. Okay,
now I got issues now that favor psychologically Toronto. Oh,
Clay's gone game playing a little different. Why risk reaggravating it?
(01:24:33):
This team one Sunday in Canada with Steph not storing, scoring,
Clay not playing in Katie out and I think, let's
say worst case scenario, Warriors don't play Clay and loose
tonight and you're down to one. You still have Game
four and game six at home, and I get a
healthier Clay, Steph Draymond, Boogie, Iggy and Kevin Durant because
(01:24:57):
according to a story today, he is ramping up his
exercise routine, said Steve Kerr, meaning he is going to
play at least by game five. And we're in game three.
So if I told you right now games five, six,
and seven, I've got the Warriors Boogie. We don't even
(01:25:18):
know who Toronto's second score is. Kawhi Leonard in every
series appears to be getting worn down. I would not
play Clay. Part of it is health, part of its psychology,
part of it's the emergence of boogie cousins. But I
think it makes a ton of sense. I think it
makes a ton of sense. I wouldn't do it. And
by the way, it would crush the Raptors spirit. It
(01:25:39):
would completely crush their spirit if it's not already dinged
because of winning in Canada game two without Clay and
k D. If you win tonight without KD Clay full time,
it's over. Series is over. Psychologically, it's done. Done by
the way, So Joy to the world. First Joy brought
(01:26:04):
something to my attention forty minutes ago so bleacher Report,
it's on the interweb, has come out with a top
ten quarterback wide receiver duos this year. Now, what's the premise, Joy,
you're down two touchdowns in the fourth quarter? Who would
you want to be your quarterback? That's a dumb premise.
How about a new premise? Okay, four minutes left in
(01:26:26):
the game, you get the quarterback in the receiver in
the ball you're trailing. I don't know why this arbitrary
two touchdown. Look at this list. They have Matt Ryan,
Julio Jones one, Breeze, Michael Thomas three, Brady Edelman two,
Brady Edelman three, two and a half minutes left in
a football game. You tell me, Tom Brady Edelman there's
(01:26:49):
even a second place in this league. I love Andrew Luck,
but Ty Hilton's a deep threat. I love Patrick Mahomes,
Town Tyreek Hills a deep threat. I mean yeah, they
would would be Tom Brady, Julian Edelman, Patrick Mahomes, Tyreek
Kale and number two because he's a deep threat if
you're trailing it. This just shows you. This is why
New England works so hard in the off season. Did
(01:27:09):
anybody watch the Super Bowl? They could not cover Julian Edelman,
Marcus Peters keep Talib arguably the best corners couldn't cover
him and their third. I mean it's people are nuts,
ask yourself as a fan. By the way, Big Ben
and Juju Smith Shusher not on this list either. I
(01:27:31):
actually think, I'll be honest with you, I think Baker
and Odell Beckham are going to be a force this year,
but I guess they're They're not counting the young guys.
Brady and Edelman are third. You gotta be kidding me.
You gotta be kidding me. And by the way, and
Aaron Rodgers is great, but you do realize that Aaron
Rodgers come back in the fourth quarter numbers are bizarrely
(01:27:52):
historically low, and that's not a shot at him. Andy
Dalton's got almost twice as many come from behind winds.
So Kirk Cousin, by the way, shouldn't be on the list.
You don't trust Kirk in big spots. Shouldn't be on
the list. You don't trust Andy in big spots. Brady
and Edelman are third. And is my television emitting a
different signal than everybody else? You know? The thing about
(01:28:13):
it is is we really should if you're a Patriots hater,
you should campaign against these lists very very strongly, because
every time they put a list like this out here
or say anything negative about the Patriots, I'm pretty sure
they printed in the biggest font possible and plastered all
over the organization's walls. Okay, the only duo on that
list that have a Super Bowl win, and they have
(01:28:34):
several Brady and edelmen. You could make an argument after
Montana and Rice if they go to another Super Bowl,
Edelman and Brady is one of the greatest quarterback wide
receiver duos in Super Bowl history. They are unstoppable together
when they're when Edelman's healthy, they're unstoppable together. This is
(01:28:55):
why they're always able to convince themselves that they're the
underdog and that no one believes in them. Every year. Seriously,
I tend to think I'm at home watching the Super
Bowl and my television is emitting a different signal. Maybe
they're projecting forward. I don't know. I just would move
them up. And who did that list? Leach report. I
(01:29:16):
would definitely lose Kirkcusins and Andy Dollon. Just I would
put Baker in O'Dell without us even seeing Okay, let
me ask you, some of those duos have never won
a playoff game. None of those duos except Edelman Brady
have won a Super Bowl. How many have been to
a conference championship? A couple, Matt Ryan, Julio Jones, Yeah,
and Maholmes, Tyreek Lock, Hilton Crazy, Yeah, Breeze, Thomas fun Crazy,
(01:29:45):
Bruce Arge. Next, we got a lot of stuff to
chop up, plus my favorite top ten list ever at
the end of the show. I'm very excited for this.
We had a big meeting this morning and I think
I gotta be honest with you. I think I blew
the staff away. I was just thrown stuff out there
and the staff was like, Wow, Collin is brilliant. I
cannot wait for the end of the show. On my list,
(01:30:08):
it's exciting. I love young talented people, especially if you
don't really know a ton about him. And I'm gonna
put all my chips on the table for ten amazing
athletes who are going to own sports over the next
ten to twelve years, maybe ten to fifteen. That's coming up.
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
and noon eastern nine am Pacific on Fox Sports Radio
(01:30:31):
FS one and the iHeartRadio App. Tuesday on Fox, Eyes
will be on Alex Morgan, Carle Lloyd, and Megan Rappino
as they lead the US women's national team against Thailand
in group play. Coverage begins at two Eastern and all
matches will be on The twenty nineteen FIFA Women's World
Cup will be live on Fox and FS one and
(01:30:51):
streaming on the Fox Sports App. Cannot wait for that,
Bruce Hard, you were an athlete, Buker played soccer in college?
You didn't play soccer? Did you know? I played? You know,
during recess? That was all that was my soccer career.
We weren't My hometown wasn't sophisticated enough to have a
soccer league. Soccer was for the Bondavance, the New York's,
(01:31:12):
the Dartmouths, the cool, the hip. I'm grew up in
a small town. We don't even have soccer. We had
so I was in the football, basketball, and base That's
what I was too playing soccer. Yes, you were a
soccer player, Joy Taylor was. But again, never gone back time?
Were you a college athlete? Give me a break. Oh yeah,
that's a long time ago. So listen, that not as
(01:31:34):
long as me, Barkley says, at Katie new York thing
arguing with teenagers online, and I gonna work in New York.
I don't think he's necessarily wrong. Here's the deal. We
can look at Kevin Durant as sensitive or we can
look at him as engaged. Okay, he's thirty years old.
Thinking about Kevin Durant is five years younger than Lebron James.
(01:31:57):
So he grew up like social media is just a
part of his life. And I really wonder and again
some of our private back and forth we've talked about
this or DMed about it. You know, he just will
go back at people, and he doesn't see it as
why shouldn't I go back at this person? You know,
I'm just engaging in it. You know, it doesn't bother me,
(01:32:19):
doesn't you know, It's just part of my life. And
the one thing I'll give KD is this, we've never
seen it negatively affect him on the court. So that's
my thing, Like, look I do, and my I look
at it as sensitive and I look at it, why
are you doing this? And I look at it like, man,
he's not gonna be able to handle the people in
New York. But if he's in New York getting into
(01:32:40):
it with the media every now and then, not talking
every now and then, still on social media and going
back at reporters, going back at random fans here and there.
But he's given you twenty eight a game. Who cares?
I mean that, Maybe I look at it and wonder
is he appy personally going back at all these random people,
(01:33:04):
reading all these people clapping back at you and saying
all this negative stuff about you. I wonder how you
handle that as a person. He's not married, doesn't have kids,
so it is possible he's just got more time. He
just likes doing it. And my only thing I can
go and is it doesn't hurt his game. The problem
with a lot of athletes in New York has been
they get there, the media crush is intense, the back
(01:33:27):
pages are making fun of them, ripping them when they
don't win, and all that, and then their performance suffers
because of it. I don't I've never seen Kevin Durant's
performance suffer because of social media, his engagement with people,
his going back and forth with media members. You know,
I'm not the first and I'm not the only one.
(01:33:48):
He's gone back and forth. I told you, I'm jealous.
I'm the only guy he doesn't DM with, and I'm
the one guy that loves him. I love the guy.
I said, may even say something or something to rip
him and he'll get back at you. But no, I mean,
I gotta admit this. His play doesn't suff No, that's
a good point. It doesn't. And and by the way,
I do think there are people that deteriorate. I do.
(01:34:10):
I do think Odell Beckham sometimes gets caught up at
his feelings and it changes, like when caught up in
the celebrity when Odell came out in that playoff game
after the boat and like Odell's got great hands and
was dropping passes. You're like, dude, that that stuff's in
your head, right, you haven't seen that with KDC. Maybe
he could handle it. By the way, I am so
(01:34:30):
fired up for tonight my theory. I just said it.
Do you ever find when you were young and you
didn't have any scratch, you were just a young hustler
and you're living check to check. Yes, we've all lived that, right.
You ever remember a moment when you're doing laundry and
you find like a twenty or a Hundy in your
pockets and you didn't remember you had it, and you
think to yourself, damn, I made it. Not a Hondy.
(01:34:53):
But yeah, okay, okay, Boogie Cousins is the fifty dollar bill.
They didn't think they were getting. Almost thirty minutes they
didn't have any idea they found Booge Cousins. So now
tonight they're like, Okay, we got Steph, we're at home,
we got Clay, we got we got all these guys.
Why risk Clay get him to Game four? Worst case scenario,
(01:35:17):
you'd lose. But if I get a Clay because Katie's
coming back, right, I think tonight games that way. It's
psychologically Could I not say, Chris roll with it? When
Boogie gave you that Steph, Draymond Boogie Livingston. I think
I'd roll without Clay tonight. That's a great point. Look,
(01:35:38):
if Clay doesn't play, there's no really, no logical reason
to pick Golden State. But I have picked them. I'm
just going on a hunch, all right, And I'm saying
with or without Clay, I think Steph's gonna have a
big game. I think Draymond will be an attack mode
a lot more than he was in Game two, especially
(01:35:59):
when they go to that boxing one, which I think
they'll throw here and there just to see if it
still works, and Draymond will attack it more than he
did in Game two. Boogie Cousins, to your point, I
think Boogie's gonna get around twenty points, if not more.
You know, I think he's gonna be more of a
focal point of the offense because they're gonna need him.
And he's played well against Nicola Yokich. He can play
(01:36:20):
well against Mark Gassaw. And then I think Igwadolla is
a ball. He's a gamer. He's like Draymond. Like Draymond
is not this great offensive scorer, but at moments when
they've needed it. Game seven, twenty sixteen, they lost that
game to Cleveland, But what Draymond do six for eight
from three thirty two points. That's not Draymond Green. But
(01:36:41):
he's a gamer. So I think he and Igwadolla have
big games. And then Quinn Cook can shoot. He's a
forty two percent career three point shooter. I'm just saying
I maybe I'm trying to convince myself because I picked
Warriors in six, but I think we might be in
the store for a big upset Tonight Warrior. Over halfway
through our show yesterday, the story broke, and I'm actually
(01:37:04):
happy for Rich Paul and happy for Anthony Davis, where
they clearly told the Pelicans, listen, we're just not going
to rebuild again. Anthony said, listen, I gave you seven
years rebuild. Its like Lebron did. You haven't given me enough.
Outside of Drew Holiday, I'm moving on. So they're gonna
make a trade. I believe they'll make it sooner than later.
I think they want a clean break. And I also
think David Griffin may like this draft enough where he
(01:37:27):
not only wants Zion, he wants the four pick. I
think the Lakers and I said this earlier, Chris, and
you've been covering this league a long time as an executive.
You've got to be able to go to your owner
after a trade or a top draft pick and convince
him you won. If David Griffin goes to Gail Benson
(01:37:47):
and says, I got Lonzo Brandon, Ingram and the fourth
overall pick with Drew and Zion, there's your lineup. You
can sell that to Gail Benson. You can say the
two guys we like. For the Lakers, we got Rob
Polinka can go to Genie Buss and say, I got
your second star and I kept the one young guy
unlike Brandon Ingram who doesn't get hurt and we're not
(01:38:11):
concerned medically. I think both gms can go to their
owner and say we won the deal. I think that's
a big deal in trades. Yeah, that's a good deal.
You're right, it is a big deal. But I actually
think New Orleans will get more than that from the Lakers.
I think they'll get Josh Hard too. I think they'll
get because the Lakers got to make the deal, do
(01:38:31):
they Yeah, they do. I mean I think the Lakers
would be pretty good. Like I heard JaVale McGill here
earlier say they could have got to the conference finals.
I believe you said that if nobody got hurt, So
I believe that they could be good if they don't
get a D. But they feel like and Lebron certainly
wants Anthony Davis. So I do believe that if they
(01:38:54):
have to give up the guys you mentioned plus a
Josh Hart, they'll do it, and they should for Anthony Davis.
And I think you still can say the Genie, We've
got two of the best seven players in the world.
We won the trade. So I just think New Orleans,
knowing David Griffin, because look, they can send him to
New York. They could Brooklyn better, though Brooklyn is gonna go.
(01:39:20):
And I think did Lakers have a better offer than
Brooklyn too, But Brooklyn if they can get Kyrie Irving
and the talk now, the latest on the NBA streets,
if you will, is that Kyrie is looking at Brooklyn now,
leaning heavily toward there and actually trying to convince Kevin
Durant to join him in Brooklyn. I don't think he
wanted them joining it together in New York. I do
(01:39:41):
not believe Kevin Durant would go to Brooklyn. I know
everybody's telling me that. I think. I'm not saying he is.
I'm just saying Kyrie's trying to that's Kyrie's trying to
talk him into that I'm going to the Warriors, to
the second biggest team in New York. No, I'm with you.
I think it could come down to who can convince
who right, can Kade convinced Kyrie to join him in
(01:40:01):
New York? Kade it doesn't need Kyrie. Kyrie needs Katie
way more than Katie. I agree with that because Brooklyn
to me, with Kyrie and that team, no D'Angelo Russell,
he's buried in D'Angelo Russell. But they're not gonna be
much better. I mean, if Kyrie's not your first superstard,
what does Brooklyn have right now? Backcourt scoring? This will
(01:40:24):
be more backcourt scoring, right like owning a sports car
and telling my wife, I'm gonna get another car. Oh
for the kids, now, I'm gonna get another sports car.
I totally agree. They might do it for the gusto,
the name old Kyrie Irving. But here's the one thing
where it would be a big deal. If they get Kyrie,
would they trade for Anthony Because they're going all in
(01:40:44):
on trying to get Anthony Davis. If they can get Kyrie,
where's rich Paul want Anthony Dave? He don't want him
in Brooklyn. But if I'm Brooklyn, and I've said it,
look if Boston, if they lose Kyrie, should not give
up the farm for Anthony Davis. But if I'm Brooklyn
and I get Kyrie, I'm willing to I'm probably willing
(01:41:04):
to take that risk and give up my young kids,
my pieces, some draft picks for Anthony Davis or what
could be a one year ritual thinking we're gonna be
really good. We're gonna have a chance to contend in
the East, and it's New York. Anthony Davis will probably
like it here. We're gonna just like to Ronald's done
(01:41:25):
with Kawhi. We're gonna lavish him with everything he wants
and maybe you get to keep him, so watch out
for that. But I don't even remember the main point.
You know we're talking about We're talking about Joyce, soccer injury,
and it's all blur, all right. Finally, Jerry, the Athletic
article on Kawhi Leonard something some of it he is.
I was saying this, you know, we look at him
as strange. But Mike Trout doesn't talk, Brooks kept cut
(01:41:46):
of the golfer doesn't talk. We do have a lot
of these great athletes right now that are like uber
focus guy and don't have a lot of social media profiles.
When I read the article on Kauai, I kind of
liked him more. I'm like, listen, man, he's a unique personality.
You know, It's like he just loves basketball and it's
(01:42:07):
what moves him in life and it's what gets him
out of bed. And it's like, I just read the
article and I was like, you know, we're all kind
of going, this guy's Oh, this guy's weird. But I
love my players to love their sport, right, Yeah, he
doesn't have Kobe's personality, but it's Kawhi's story. Sounds a
lot like Magic and Michael and Wayne Gretzky, and you know,
(01:42:28):
it sounds like a lot of great players. He obviously
doesn't have their personalities, but he does love the game.
And in a league with so many personalities, some of
them that get on your nerves, let's be quite frankly,
it is refreshing and you can afford it. Look baseball,
Mike Trout, they don't have as many personalities, so it
(01:42:48):
hurts that Mike Trout. He's like that, right, right, right.
But in basketball, when you got Lebron and KD and
Steph and so on and so forth, it's fine to
have a guy like this. It's actually makes it more
interesting because it puts, you know, one one top player
against another and they both have opposite personalities, so you
(01:43:08):
draw in different fan bases. With you. I like that. Yeah,
that's actually a really good point, is that some people
are gonna love Kawhia just because he's Mike Trout, the
commissioner of the sport, said, I wish Mike Trout did
more commercials, but the NBA has got nothing but right talkers,
you know, funny guys. Yeah, it's good, it's good. It
(01:43:28):
reminded me reading some of it of a college teammate
I had who was very much very soon as shout
out to Ricky Washington. He was very similar to Kawai's
personalities up in the morning. I love basketball. All he
did was work on this game. Good guy. We hung out,
but he was real quiet, real you are the partier. Yeah,
he would come by my room Friday night, just unannounced,
(01:43:50):
not yo, like let's go hang out, let's go kick it,
and we would. But he was real basic. We called
him basic. That was his nickname. Basic. He was just base.
I like bass that had the same breakfast for third
rage elbow jumper. Ricky Washington, Ricky, Ricky, you're welcome on
this show to call out Bruce Hard I got Ricky
(01:44:11):
Washington's back. He was better than me. He was better
players it's more focused than you. Yeah he was. I
wasn't in the gym like he was. Odd couple, Rob Parker,
Chris Bruce Hard, Fox Sports Radio, Joy with the news. No, No,
this is the herd Line News. The same breakfast every day.
I have the same breakfast every day and eat the
(01:44:31):
same in secting every day for breakfast. I know what
it is. You have one sauce, scrambled eggs and spinach.
You're just missing the smoothie. Well that's sets drinking stuff. Yeah,
I have a gym to my own meal. No that
you have the same I have the same breakfast every day.
I like to do the same things, the routine. And
you're a creature of habit. Well, I think it also limits,
you know, the creativity and brain usage you have to
(01:44:54):
do on things that are unnecessary. Save all my energy
and factivity for the show. That's very Steve Jobs. By
the way, he wore this same thing every day. He
didn't want to waste any time or energy on his clothes. Wow,
look at that, got a little bit Steve Jobs over here,
billionaire over here. Kidding all right. So after Game two,
Step used the word jenkie to describe the raptors boxing
one defense, and Boogie was asked about it and agreed
(01:45:17):
with his teammate boxing the one they played the other night. Tomorrow,
Step talked about a postgame called the jenkie. How would
you describe it? For sure? Have you ever seen anything
like that before? Yeah, your middle school, a high school day.
It's been a while to stop seeing it in the
(01:45:37):
you know, in this ending, But for sure, jenkie. Jenkie
means all right. So it's funny you ask that. There's
a little confusion to exactly what jenkie means. Okay, but
naturally Steve Kerr and Step were asked about it yesterday too.
Jankie defenses have been going on for a long time.
What does jenkie mean? Anyway? I'm not exactly sure. I
(01:46:00):
don't know us uh, I don't even know a little
southern North Carolina slane. I probably just put out my
back pocket. It sounds right. I don't really know what
the true definition is. So jenkie means basically, I mean,
to me, is like cheap, not refined, not reliable, Like
you wouldn't want if someone describe that I got this car,
(01:46:21):
it's a little jankie, you'd be like, yeah, good, it's
not this airplane. It'll get you there. But it's a
little jankie. So how long have you known that word?
I don't know, forever. You've known the word jenkie forever. Yeah,
so you and I've been on the same planet. I've
never heard the word and you've known it forever. Like,
where are you going to hear jenkie? I mean you've
never used that term, but jenkie. So the Oxford Dictionary
(01:46:44):
defines jenkie of extremely poor or unreliable quality. It's in
the dictionary. Yes, it's a word. Ain't good with words.
I've never heard jenkie. I just figured out turned yesterday. Well, god,
I'm just I got I got dope a month ago,
lit two months ago, I got turned yesterday. I got
at nolt and turn. But you can't use jenkye if
(01:47:06):
you would. So it's a real word. Yes, God, So
these claims the defense was jankie. They might be a
little more concerned about their defense tonight considering all the
injuries that they have. But I will say, though, this
is kind of a trap game tonight for the Raptors,
because I mean, the Warriors are playing with house money
if they if they have all these injuries and Clay
(01:47:27):
doesn't play, they have no excuses. They're just gonna shoot
as much as they want. It's just basically a free game.
There's no pressure. Listen the pressure if Clay doesn't play tonight,
the pressure pressures on the Raptors a hundred. They've got
to win tonight. You if you can't beat this undermanned team, psychologically,
series is over tonight. I think even if if Clay
doesn't play, they really need to see I used it
(01:47:51):
like a minute later. Yes, this is okay, all right.
So a lot about the media market sizes has been
talked about recently, especially with all the free agents possibly moving,
and Van Mitchell says playing in a big market isn't
a requirement to win a rank. He told The Athletic,
I don't think you have to play in a big
market to win a championship. You look at Milwaukee, Oklahoma
City competed for many years and it's still competing. Portland
is the same way. To be honest, I think it's
(01:48:12):
kind of overrated at times. I think it's the things
that are precious to a small market teams, and I
think that's what's special and creates that culture, especially that
we have in the locker room. Now, they may have
a point because if you look at the top ten
media markets, there's quite a few dysfunctional franchises in there are,
and some franchises who have just barely started to get
(01:48:33):
it together. I mean the Knicks, the Nets, the Lakers,
the Clippers, Bowls, Raptors, seventy six Ers, MAVs, Wizards, and Rockets.
There's really only a few of them that you would
consider to be consistently competitive or while running. I don't
like it, but let's name the markets that have won
titles last forty years. Philadelphia, a lot of la a
(01:48:55):
lot of Boston, a couple Houston, a bunch of Chicago,
now Francisco. Big markets do seem to win in general. Yes,
I think more of what he's trying to say is
that it is possible, but you still need a superstar,
and if you're not going to get a free agent superstar,
you better draft superstars. I find a way to keep that.
I always felt small markets have to draft their stars.
(01:49:17):
Big markets get the luxury of sometimes drafting poorly but
getting a star. But there's disadvantages to both, you know,
and if you're in a big market, you often have
the issue of running into dysfunction because there is so
much more going on. So finally, we talked about this before.
While attending a Bucks playoff game, Aaron Rodgers was challenged
by David Baktiari and chugging a beer. He gave it
(01:49:40):
a try. He did not finish it. Yeah, that's not
didn't finish it. So since then this has become a
thing around the NFL for quarterbacks chucking beer. So Matthew Stafford,
we got the video here. Oh lord man, oh god,
look at the stack. Pretty good. This is Patrick Mahomes
down it go damn yep done. Mitch Dubisky and Josh
(01:50:04):
Allen also got involved in the beer chugging. There's a
synchronized beard chugging mare. So what does Aaron say about that? Well,
Aaron was asked about it because obviously his chug was
was pretty weak. And here he is at all considering
all the other guys now steps up, and you know,
if you want to go Scotch, I feel pretty good
(01:50:25):
about it. As far as Tho's other guys, you know,
you know, for some of them, there's there's finally a
talent where they can, you know, they can say they're
better than me yet, that's funny. I love it. Chugging
Scotch seems like something out of a nightmare. I'm not
a huge Scotch person. I'm not either. It's basically the
necker of hades. Yeah, but yeah, I don't think it's
(01:50:46):
suggested usually to chucking scotch. I think he's just saying
he's a Scotch person. And Rodgers is back from the
nice Aaron Rodgers. Yeah, but I think that's appropriate. He
can kind of make that job there, especially since bear
chucking is probably not great for your off season racking. Yeah,
good stuff. Joey with the news. That's funny. Well that's
the news, and thanks for stopping back the herd line. Yeah, no,
(01:51:10):
how did Aaron? His body language wasn't great. He's leaning
into the chug. You can't chug beer leaning forward. Listen.
You can either chug a beer or you can't chug
a beer. It's just it's pretty simple. I think if
you drink over time, you can. If you want to
chug a beer, maybe you can learn how to do it.
I cannot chug a beer. I'm sure you can't chug
chug a beer because you drink one beer as do
I I have never finished the beer, but I think
(01:51:32):
beer's great. I don't know if I would go as
far as great. I like like one beer if I'm
in the mood my wife and I. You know, I'm not.
You know, if I if I go to a backyard barbecue,
I always prefer, you know, give me a vodka. You
know what, do you drink half of it and then
dump it up? No, I'm not at no, no, no, no,
I me up. Yeah. No, I'm the same way I'm not.
I'm not a soda drinker. I'm not. I'm kind of
(01:51:53):
water and that's what I drink. I know it's not
better or worse. It's just I'm not a volume drinker.
Coming up, in honor of Sam Darnold's twenty second birthday today,
I'm going to name the top ten rising superstars in
sports in America. These people twenty two or younger. These
(01:52:16):
aren't like like like Patrick Mahomes is too old for
my list, Carson Wentz is too old for my list.
The next ten great dominant athletes in America twenty two
or younger. That's coming up. Be sure to catch live
editions of The Herd week dayson noon Easter nine a Empacific.
I've been waiting for this all day. I love to
help young people. I love to spot a new talent.
(01:52:38):
I love recruiting services. I love the NFL draft. Part
of it is I think it's really cool to kind
of you know, you find the garage band before everybody
knows they're going to be the Eagles, YouTube whatever they are,
right like, you find you kind of find something, go hey,
watch this. I can remember where I was when I
listen to YouTube for the first time. I can remember
where I was where and I saw Sam Darnold for
(01:53:02):
the first time, and he was like seventeen, eighteen years old.
And I remember telling somebody that's the closest I've seen
to Andrew Luck. So today is Sam Darnold's twenty second birthday.
So first of all, let's all celebrate this. It should
be a national holiday. Well again, a little awt of
ourself there, Okay. I thought, in honor of this, my
(01:53:23):
list of the ten rising superstars in North America, the
athletes to watch who are twenty two or younger. So
Patrick Mahomes has been around too long. These are people
some you will have never heard of. These are the
superstars going forward, some are probably a year or two
from popping that are going to be for the next
(01:53:46):
fifteen years. The stars and the names of note in
their respective sports. So let's start. Let's start, no particular
order of greatness, just to ten. Let's start with Sam Darnold.
I've told you before youngest quarterback to post a passer
rating higher than one ten, and he did it last
time last year, three different times, which is remarkable because,
(01:54:08):
unlike Baker Mayfield, he had a terrible old line, the
second lowest retted running back group and the third lowest
retted quarterback group in the NFL. He had nothing to
work with and a defensive head coach. No quarterback his
young has ever posted a quarterback rating a passer rating
higher than one ten. He did it last year three times.
(01:54:30):
Let me throw on a kid name Trevor Lawrence, nineteen
years old, never lost a game in college eleven and ozh.
I think he is the greatest quarterback coming out of
college since Andrew Luck. And I actually think he's a
better arm talent than Andrew Luck. I was told he
would have been the number one pick in the NFL
Draft this year as a freshman had he been available.
(01:54:53):
He dissected Alabama in the National Championship Game. I saw
him two years ago in high school at a camp
in San Diego, and I text several friends saying, I
just found the next superstar quarterback in America, Trevor Lawrence.
How about Connor McDavid. He's already led the NHL in
scoring twice. He's twenty two. Yeah, he was the youngest
(01:55:18):
captain in NHL history. His teammates named him captain at
nineteen years old. He was the twenty seventeen MVP, the
number one pick in the twenty fifteen draft. He is
the next great hockey superstar and he's already on his way.
How about we go to Christian Poulistic. This is the
(01:55:38):
kid I love who I said. He feels like the
Magic Johnson of American soccer. He's the most expensive American
player all time, seventy three million. He transferred to Chelsea
earlier this year. He's the youngest US captain ever. He's
the youngest non German to ever score in Bundesliga, which
is that top German league. He just ended up being
(01:55:59):
transferred in purchased by the English Premier League. I believe
he's our greatest American soccer talent ever, Christian Polisic. How
about Mallory Pugh Pulisics equivalent in women's soccer. She made
the United States women's team at seventeen years old. Okay,
now she's twenty one, youngest US player to ever score
(01:56:22):
an Olympic goal. She will be one of the featured
players starting this weekend for the United States women's national team.
Now this next one is sama a look crazy. He's Canadian,
He's eighteen years old. The youngest ranked tennis player within
the AP top one hundred. Felix Usa Elysium. Now a
(01:56:46):
lot of you haven't heard of him, but I am
now playing a lot of tennis, and he won the
twenty sixteen Junior US Open. Roger Federer recently compared Felix
to a young Raphael Nadal, who, by the way, is
gonna win the French Open. He is the next great
global tennis talent. How about Luka Donzi Dallas Mavericks. You know,
(01:57:10):
we should have saw this coming. He was the MVP
of the EuroLeague last year. Okay, he was a kid
and he was the youngest MVP of the EuroLeague. He
is an absolutely natural scorer. For the Dallas Mavericks youngest
player in the NBA history with thirty point triple double
that broke Lebron's record. He'll win this year's Rookie of
(01:57:31):
the Year. He's a scoring machine. With Mark Cuban, He's
gonna get all sorts of promotion. Third pick. By the way,
Michael Jordan was a third pick. It's amazing. In the NBA.
The best player in the league's not away is the
number one pick. He's twenty years old. Luca Donjich and
he's just going to be one of these guys in
ten years, is gonna be a top ten NBA scorer.
He's gonna give you twenty seven points Dallas. Between Dirt
(01:57:52):
Nabitsky and Luca, you're gonna have two of the top
ten scores of all time. How about dearon Fox. I
love this kid, twenty one year old, most improved player
in the NBA. Sacramento had their best record and Sacramentos
had talent before their best record in ten years. Super
High IQ remember this is the kid that faced off
against Lonzo Ball in college basketball and just ate him alive.
(01:58:15):
Wild quickness. Super Bright can use either hand. If you'll
watch Sacramento at all this year. And I don't watch
a lot of Kings basketball regularly, but I sat on
more than one occasion. This was the best watch in
the NBA that wasn't going to win a playoff series.
Sacramento is a ball to watch thanks to the Aaron Fox.
(01:58:36):
How about Zion Williamson. I think everybody knows I like Zion.
I think he has Magic Johnson magnetism. I do worry
that he plays so strong, with so much speed and torque.
I hope his body can withstand it. His first Nike
shoes could not. I don't remember a college player that
drove me to a television set. His personality, his strength,
(01:58:56):
his game, it's dynamic, his magnetism. I find him to
be coachable, likable, relatable. He was a sensation on YouTube
about two years ago and I must have watched twenty
Duke games this year. Don't buy it. He can score.
The NBA's built for him. The lane is free. I
think by the end of next year he's going to
be scoring twenty a night. And finally, Brownie James also
(01:59:21):
known as Lebron James Jr. Fourteen years old, youngest guy
in the list. His dad he's getting some good basketball
DNA probably team up lebron Is City. He'd like to
play with his son before he retires. He is gonna
now Sierra Canyon, I think is where he's transferring to
to play with Dwayne Wade's son, Zaire. That is my
(01:59:42):
top ten list the list. I would add Naomi Osaka
to the lists. She is number one in the world,
She's twenty one. She's the one that beat Serena at
the Miami Open. And I would add LaMelo ball to
this list. What to her for? I'm telling you, LaMelo ball,
(02:00:03):
LaMelo ball. So today I learned the word jankie and uh,
LaMelo ball. Yes, I love I love you though. Yeah, great, Well,
we're gonna see her in the World Cup. Yeah, she
is our young star. We have a veteran team. She's
our young star. Serena. By the way, that's interesting a
name you put out there, because Serena you can sense
(02:00:24):
she has I mean, well, I mean she's the goat
like she's yeah, but there is a sense now and
I've sense it sometimes when Feder plays Nadal on Clay
or Djokovic in a hard court. Like Feder, we've seen
the best of feder That's okay. We've seen the best
of him. He's probably the best of all time. I'm
talking tennis here. What's happening to me? By the way,
Steve Fisher, Kawhi, Leonard's former college coach, will join us tomorrow.
(02:00:44):
Rick Buker, Kendrick Perkins, thanks so much for walking watching today.
Packed speak for yourself around the corner. One more Herd.
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