February 7, 2019 • 46 mins
Colin points out that Kevin Durant wants all the fame and recognition of being an NBA super star but none of the questions that come along with it. LaVar Ball comes in studio to discuss what is wrong with the Lakers internally. Plus, NBA Champion Richard Jefferson explains to Colin why the Pelicans might have made a huge mistake trying to hurt the Lakers. Presented by Perky Jerky.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to the Best of 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 the iHeartRadio app by searching Herd. This
is the Best of the Herd with Colin cowher on
Fox Sports Radio. Ah, here we go, Trade Deadline Herd Day.
(00:25):
It's a Thursday in Los Angeles. We are live wherever
you may be and however you may be listening. We
are on iHeartRadio, We're on Fox Sports Radio, and we
are right here on f asked one. Chris Mannix, Richard Jefferson,
a lebron teammate, Chris Brusar, LeVar Ball later next hour,
and Joy Taylor is joining me. We've got this is
(00:47):
kind of a trade deadline show today. This is what
it is. Yes, it's a trade deadline preview show. And
maybe we'll have some news as the day goa design. Yeah,
it will be. The trade deadline ends at about the
end of our show, So the next three hours we're
gonna give you the very latest stuff. I do want
to start though with late, late, late, late, late last night,
(01:08):
Kevin Durant went to a microphone and he's just tired
of hearing his name out there with the Knicks. There
was an article written by a young person named Ethan Strauss,
been covering the Warriors forever, some speculations, some discussion of
Kevin Durant, and he just didn't like it, and it
set him off. Last night. Here you go, We've noticed
(01:31):
that you hadn't talked for a while. What do you
care anything to do with conversation about free agency? That's
the conversation you're gonna have. I don't think about that
type of stuff. That's your job. You gotta do. Ethan Strouss,
who's coming here and just give his whole opinion on
stuff and make it seem like it's coming from me.
(01:52):
And he just walking around here, don't talk to nobody,
just walking here and surveying. Then write something like that,
and now, yeah, piling on me because I don't want
to talk to you about that. 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
play basketball. Y'all, come here, every day, ask me about
free agency, asked my teammates, my coaches, who rile up
(02:15):
the fans about it? Let us play basketball, That's all
I'm saying. And now when I don't want to talk
to y'all, it's a problem with me. Come on, man,
grow up? Grow up? Yeah, you grow up on bro,
we're talking. So who are you? Why do I got
(02:36):
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. I just asked you.
Grow up are the perfect two words for Kevin Durant. So, Kevin,
you want the money to power, the fame and the worship,
but don't ask me a question. Well, excuse me. But
when Lebron James signs a one year contract, when Kevin
(02:58):
Durant signs her a one or a two year contract
and it's up soon, that begs for speculation, that demands
the question. Your boss will tell you as a reporter,
you got to ask KD about this. And then Kevin
Durant had gone silent the last eight days, wouldn't talk
to the media. That's their first opportunity to talk to him.
(03:18):
I am pro player. I've always been pro NBA player.
But if you want the power in the fame and
the money in the leverage, you got to ask answer
a question, especially when you like playing the one year
contract game. You can't get a one year deal. You
(03:40):
make a decision as a star player in this league,
as a difference maker, which Lebron is, Kevin Durant is.
Those are difference makers and they're superstars. When they sign
one year deals. You're toying with your team and you're
playing with your fans, and then the media. We're going
to play a game too. It's called the speculation game.
(04:01):
Steph Curry's on this team, he never deals with this drama.
Why Because Steph Curry's totally committed long term to the Warriors. Therefore,
the media doesn't poke and proud and ask questions. We're
not digging here, just a dig there's a gold bar
underneath the surface. Okay. I as a reporter, I don't
(04:25):
like making athletes uncomfortable, but I would have to go
and answer the question and ask the question, because Kevin
Durant's got a contract that demands and begs that I
asked the question. Here's the funny thing about Kevin Durant,
like he's telling everybody to grow up. Dude, you're the
one that wants to be Lebraun. Okay, Lebraun and Michael
(04:48):
Jordan are on this elevated plane and Kevin Durant wants
to so desperately be in that plane. We know that.
We know it bothers him. That's been reported multiple times.
You can tell in his responses when he said everybody
is a suck up to Lebron and everybody worships Lebron
and everybody's got a man crush on Lebron. Clearly Kevin Durant.
(05:09):
It bothers Kevin Durant, right, That's why it talks about it.
He wants to be on this Michael Jordan Lebron plane.
But the reason he's not he can't handle it. Michael
Jordan brilliantly played the media forever on his terms. He
was playful and fun, poked and proud Lebron by and large,
(05:30):
he just kind of has fun, goes to social media
pokes and prods. He didn't melt down. Michael isn't melting down.
Kevin Durant's melting down like six times a year. You
got to be able to handle it. Part of being
a superstar, and this is a big part of it,
is handling being a superstar. Samuel L. Jackson's a superstar.
He can handle it. Russell Crowe could not. He threw
(05:53):
phones at people behind a desk at a hotel. Russell
Crowe couldn't handle being a superstar. He's just a just
a good actor. By the way, Jay Z can handle
being a superstar. Kanye melts down about three times a year.
Lebron can handle it. Michael Jordan could handle it, Magic
could handle it. Kevin Durant can't. He wants all this.
(06:16):
He loves being talked about. He criticizes us when we
do shows that are very Lebron leaning. He's noted that
it bothers him. He calls us fanboys and suck ups,
so it clearly bothers him. Then handle the questions about
(06:37):
your future because you sign one and two year deals.
That's the game. And by the way, this is why
Kevin Durant can't go to the next Golden State is
perfect for him. He's insulated. He's protected. Steve Kerr used
to be a broadcaster. He's incredibly media savvy, so he
deflects a lot of the KD stuff. Steph Curry the world.
(07:00):
His teammate got a start next to him, deflex a
lot of the stuff. If the Warriors lose, Kevin Durant
doesn't take all the heat. Sometimes they blame Draymond, Sometimes
they blame Clay Golden State's perfect. They insulate Kevin Durant,
who can be incredibly insecure. This is another example lecturing
(07:20):
people to grow up when it's really Kevin. Bathrooms have mirrors,
they still work, use them. This is about you wanting
to be the superstar, wanting to be Lebron, wanting to
bring mj but you can't handle questions at a press
conference and speculation on blogs in the Internet. That's really
keeping you up at night. That's aggravating you. What Michael
(07:42):
Jordan had people chasing them around the country. Lebron James
has helicopters flying over his house and you can't handle
an article from a blog. The Warriors are built for
Kevin Durant. He's protected and insulated. Can you imagine him
going to the New York Knicks or if they lose,
it's on Kevin where if they don't advance to the
(08:04):
second round, it's on Kevin that's not the issue anymore.
When I hear he's going to go to New York,
I just roll my eyes and think, you gotta be
kidding me. They've got the savvyest head coach in the
league with the media, Steve Kurd, They've got Steph Curry
as a teammate. It's a world class organization, and they
win the title every year. They're barely even. They run unopposed.
They're like a politician and the Democrat drops out. I mean,
(08:28):
they run unopposed. So if you want to be a superstar,
part of being a superstar is being able to handle,
oh my god, a question at a press conference. Lebron
has had people helicopters. Michael Jordan couldn't get married helicopters.
(08:50):
I mean he had to literally they have to literally
buy security and buy islands because people are hovering and
chasing and stocking, and Ethan Straus is wearing out. You're
not Lebron example number twenty eight. While you're not Lebron,
all right, let me shift to this trading deadline. It
(09:12):
is interesting that a New York Nick Chris stops Porzingis
got traded to Dallas. I didn't hear a word of
it before it happened, involved a star and involved a
big city. Of course, this thing has been a nine day,
three ring circus. Let me just ask you a question.
I don't think Anthony Davis, who I support wanting to leave,
(09:32):
is going to end up a Laker by noon today.
And what is going to happen if he doesn't. There's
some losers in this, There's some carnage in this, there's
some shrapnel in this. First of all, the biggest loser
is going to be Luke Walton. I mean every teammate
knows now they are just a pawn in the bigger picture.
(09:53):
I think you're going to have a very messy second half.
I think you're going to be a borderline playoff team
that's distracted. LaVar Ball will be on our show next hour.
He's got issues with his son ever having to play
in New Orleans. I think Luke Walton is in big,
big trouble here. This is going to be a very
messy second half and the Lakers are going to be
(10:14):
a borderline playoff team. Secondly, I don't think the Lakers
look good here. I think it's a bad look for
the Lakers. At one point it was reported they were
giving up seven players and six draft picks. Are you
kidding me? What are you? The Buffalo Bills, the Cleveland Browns?
You look desperate. There's a story out. Brian Windhorse said
(10:35):
the Pelicans never intended to move Anthony Davis to the Lakers.
They instead wanted to leak things to sabotage the young
Lakers as revenge for what New Orleans saw as tampering.
Can you imagine that the Lakers being manipulated by the Pelicans.
(10:56):
That's like the United States going into a trade war
and getting worked by Trinidad at Tobago. That's a bad look.
And Third, I don't think it's great for Lebron. He's
got a deal with his current teammates who probably just
aren't mature enough to handle being mentioned as trade pawns.
(11:17):
They should be able to handle it, but I don't
think they will handle it. Also, I think it's hard
for Lebron now because is he getting a reputation as
the Lakers struggle as kind of a coach killer. I
think Luke Walton's dead man coaching. Also, Kawhi doesn't appear interested.
Paul George didn't. I saw a story yesterday that Anthony
Davis he wants to be a nick. I mean, this
(11:40):
is not a good look for Luke. It's not a
good look for the Lakers. I don't think it's a
terribly good look for Lebron James. The Lakers have been
worked by Del Demps. Do you remember what David Stern
said a year ago he was no longer even the commissioner.
He talked about Dell Demps in the New Orleans Pelicans,
and he said he doesn't know what he's doing. He's
(12:02):
a lousy general manager. If the Lakers at twelve or
one Pacific, if they get nothing. They have been worked
by the worst franchise in the NBA, a franchise in
New Orleans where they're having NFL people run their NBA team.
(12:23):
This is just not good. And this is another reason
don't leak, don't talk, don't rush to blogs. Porzingis got traded.
Nobody liked it in New York. But it was a
one day story. This is going to be a nine
ten day story. And it's a cautionary tale for the Lakers.
(12:43):
Be careful when you get into business with the worst
franchise in the NBA. I mean, the Pelicans aren't real
smart here. Once the summer hits. My argument is, I
don't think the Pelicans are getting more. I think they're
gonna get less. The summer changes things. Anthony Davis is
going to have less time to sit out. I think
(13:07):
Anthony Davis has every day this goes on, Anthony Davis
can look in the mirror and go, I'm just going
to sit out the season now it's like a year
and a half. I mean, this is just it's just
bad news. I don't think it looks good for Lebron.
I do not think it looks good for the Lakers.
I think it's a really bad situation for Luke Walton.
(13:30):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd week
Days A noun Eastern, a Empacific. So Kevin Durant blew
up last night. He's upset with all the speculation about
him being traded. And it was an article written by
a Ethan Strauss, who's I don't know, but he covers
the Warriors. There's a quote in here where it says
Durant believed beating Lebron in the twenty seventeen finals would
(13:54):
get him hailed as the game's top player. K D
who was tired of being second way back in twenty thirteen,
was still stuck there reputationally. But in the end, even
though Durant was a superior defensive player and hit the
game winning shot in the series in Lebron's face, there
was no grand reordering of the rankings, nor should there be.
(14:17):
Kevin Durant will never catch Lebron. It doesn't matter if
he wins four more finals. He will not. He will not.
Kevin Durant at some point and he's not there yet.
Maybe better than Lebron on the floor, better, he will
never be greater than Lebron. Folks, if it was all
(14:41):
about titles, then Bill Russell's the best player ever. He
was excellent and he's got eleven. Michael Jordan was excellent
and has six titles. Are not everything. He's got almost
double Michael Jordan's. We never consider Bill Russell and Michael
(15:01):
Jordan's class. Ben her The Titanic and Lord of the
Rings have the most oscars. Nobody considers them the three
best movies of all time. Kevin Durant has acknowledged, has
admitted he just wants to play basketball. Lebron has never
(15:22):
just been about playing basketball. Lebron is a global icon.
People you know him. They've got one name, Oprah, Hanks, Obama, Lebron.
Kevin Durant's not even the biggest one name guy in
(15:42):
his own team. That's steph Okay. Durant is a great
basketball player. Lebron's an icon. Andrew Luck could win the
next four Super Bowls. He'll never be bigger than Peyton Manning.
Peyton Manning changed the game. Peyton Manning's iconic. Andrew Luck's
(16:03):
just a great quarterback. The totality matters, The mythology matters.
There's a reason that Wilt's better than Russell. Wilt has
two titles. Russell Russell has eleven, but Wilt had a
hundred point game. Wilt was an urban legend. Wilt change
teams multiple times, and change the league and change the rules.
(16:26):
He was so dominant. He was also a statistical monster.
And Wilt had enough titles. It wasn't like Russell had
twelve and Wilt had none. Magic will always be bigger
than Bird. You know, Magic's got more titles, but Magic
was always a bigger story. Magic mattered more. Magic changed
(16:47):
the game. Magic changed the way kids on the street played.
That matters. In the NBA. That matters in life, it
matters in sports. It matters. We've had presidents who drew
the recession during wars. Whether they or not they're the
best president they're viewed, is simply more impactful and more important.
(17:09):
Kevin Durant's living in this tunnel of more titles. I'm better.
Lebron is way past that. And every time Kevin Durant
says I just want to be about basketball, he shrinks
his profile. He shrinks it. At some point, Kevin may
be better than Lebron on the floor, but it'll never
(17:31):
be greater than Lebron. I'll put their numbers up on
a screen for our television audience. It doesn't even really
matter that Lebron has ten thousand more points, or six
thousand more assists, or four times the MVPs, or even
one more title and six more finals appearances. It doesn't
matter that Lebron is statistically significantly greater. Go ahead, add
(17:56):
four more titles. Lebron has enough titles. Peyton Manning has
enough titles that even if luck wins more, Manning will
always be bigger. Because Peyton changed the way football was
played at the line of scrimmage, Peyton Manning was his
own coach. The coaching staff largely gave the team offensively
(18:17):
to Peyton Manning. He would go to a line with two, three,
four audibles. Nobody else did that. That's not a knock
on Kevin Durant. He is a great, great basketball player.
But the three most important basketball players of my life.
Magic Johnson made the league popular, Michael made it global,
(18:44):
and Lebron made it mobile. And in fact, if you
asked me who the fourth most important NBA player ever is,
it would be a Kevin Durant teammate, Steph Curry. Steph
Curry is, in my opinion, the fourth most important player
in NBA history. He eliminated centers. Nobody goes back to back.
(19:08):
He eliminated the mid range jumper. He basically changed the
way kids play basketball. I hear parents all the time
now they say, my kid goes into a gym, all
they do is hoist up threes. College basketball coaches now
recruit bigs and their parents say they will not go
back to the basket. They've got to be facing the basket.
(19:28):
So Durant has to just come to terms with this.
He is a great, great basketball player, second best over
the last ten years better than Lebron, some nights better
than Lebron. Maybe in the next five years. He'll never
be greater than Lebron and it does matter to him.
(19:48):
As Ethan Strauss and others have said, he doesn't want
to be number two, well he is and he is
always going to be when compared to Lebron James, and
that is not a massive criticism. Let me also say
this before I get to leave our ball. Let me
say this is that I think it would be a
(20:10):
massive mistake for Kevin Durant to go to the New
York Knicks. I think it would be massive. That would
be like John Elway in his prime saying I want
to go and play for the Detroit Lions. That would
be like Derek Jeter in his prime saying, you know what,
I want to give the Seattle Mariners a try. Isn't
what all NBA stars aren't They all looking for the
(20:33):
same thing, to win titles and play with great players.
Joy I'm checking in on the Warriors. Do they do
that part really well? Yeah? They They're pretty solid when
it comes to that. I think it would be idiotic.
I mean, could you imagine Tom Brady leaving Bill Belichick
in his prime for the Cincinnati Bengals, I would say,
(20:56):
what are you doing? Even Tom Brady would get criticized, Well,
what are you doing? This is this is Bill Belichick.
Nobody willingly willingly left the New York Yankees in nineteen
ninety eight. Nobody willingly left. David Wells was shipped off
and he was pissed. You didn't. You don't leave dynasties,
and especially when you have Steve Kerr, the player, friendly coach,
(21:20):
Steph Curry, the world's greatest superstar teammate, organizationally, the best
franchise in the NBA, the city's cool. The title potential
is basically uncontested. This would be a massive mistake. If
you're a superhero. The goal for superheroes is to be
(21:41):
an Avenger. You team up with other superheroes to save
our planet and protect our planet. You don't work all
those years as a superhero to get to the Avengers
and then go, you know, I'm going to take off
and go to a small planet in the middle of
nowhere and protect the plants from you know, the harsh
(22:02):
air of the galaxy. No, dude, Once you're an Avenger,
that's the top when you're When you get to that league,
you don't leave it. You don't go to another league,
smaller planet, do worry about less crucial things. Kevin Durant
will be making a massive, massive mistake leaving, and the
(22:24):
fact that he's suggesting it that gets prickly about it.
I think it would be a disaster. La doesn't leave
the Broncos for the Lions. Cheater doesn't leave the Yankees
for the Mariners. Robert Downey worked his whole career to
get to be Iron Man. If he wakes up tomorrow
(22:47):
and goes, you know what I want to do low
budget indie films, than shame on, Robert Downey. You work
your whole life to get on the Warriors, the ninety
eight Yankees. You work your whole life to do that.
You don't bail on it or you're goofy. One more Herd.
The Herd streams twenty four hours a day, seven days
a week within the iHeartRadio app. Search Herd to listen
(23:09):
live or on demand. Whenever you liked, third, fourth, fifth
time on the show, I lose count founder, CEO big
Ball or brand father of course of Lonzo. Another son
right now is planning at a high school, a prep
school in Cleveland. That's LaMelo. Yes, LaVar Ball is joining
us along with Joy Taylor. All right, let's start here.
I don't want this to feel like an interrogation, but
I'm gonna ask. I'm a journalist. I'm gonna ask probing questions. Now,
(23:32):
that's okay. There are some people today and many people
that feel like, you know, you kind of got a
little come upance, Lonzo may be traded Lithuania. Thing wasn't ideal.
There are people you were a phenomenon in the country.
You were discussed weekly. There are some people applauding that
it hasn't gone perfectly. Do you sense that? Does it
(23:54):
bother you? No, it doesn't bother me. Everything goes perfectly
for me. It's just the media portrays it. It's just
like people saying, oh, we haven't heard from LaVar. Yeah,
you ain't heard from me because I'm in another country.
You know, if I'm traveling, I'm not gonna be stuck
on one thing. Just like I had three boys, my
ultimate goals to get all of them in the NBA.
The second goals to make sure all of them play
(24:15):
on the same team. And it's going to happen, and
like I said, it can be done. And that's one
of the reasons I kind of like said, Okay, Phoenix
is good. They got some players, but I'm not trying
to be a one hit acquitter. What I mean by that,
like the Lakers are trying to do get all these players,
try to get you one ring. I want to build
a dynasty, a ball dynasty, from the bottom one up.
(24:38):
So go to the weakest team nobody ever wants to
go to and go there can make it grow. Did
the Lakers tell you when Lebron got here to pipe down? No,
the Lakers can't tell me. Anybody nobody told me anything.
On the fact that they can't. You can't come to
my house and knock on the door and be like hey, LaVar,
I don't say nothing, and I'm not gonna go up there.
But you did talk less. We're less vocal. I was
less vocal because I'm in Europe, I'm in Belgium, I'm
(25:01):
in London. Do you feel that the Lakers have been
honest with you? I read all the trade speculation this week.
I don't believe the Lakers been honest with me. On
effect that we had some discussions on things that should
have been done. It wasn't done. It's just like saying
before the season they start, I asked what you need
from Zoe. You know it's got to be stronger. Okay,
(25:22):
we got that. Yeah, how about give him my other
son a chance that you said around the time, and
they they they should have did in the summer league.
Come on, summer Lyau. You're throwing Jello in the summer
league just to see what he can do. That's not
a big deal. They ain't even given that opportunity to
play with his brother at least one time. Let's see
what they can do together. But no, But if you
tell me you're gonna do something and say you're gonna
(25:44):
try to build something around a family, and we don't
take no steps, it's just like all these guys you get,
you got four or five guys rippling the ball at
the court. What you need laws before if you say
he's the face of the franchise, but you don't relate
that to the coach, and now it makes Magic seem
like he's just the face. Maybe they didn't want to
set a precedent that maybe if Kyle Kuzma, Josh Hart's
(26:04):
father come in and they say, hey, LaVar's son, he
got Lamello. Maybe the Lakers their father can say that,
Why why would that any father's not like me? Well,
they don't want to set a precedent. The Yankees don't
want to give Well why they don't want to. It's
not even about setting a president. You know what. Fathers
can say what they want about their kid. Look at
look at Darren Fox. Then he said something, but it's
(26:25):
not relevant because you know why, you don't have a brand.
Don't put me in the same boat as these guys.
I have a brand, and I'm not just one son.
I got three sons. Lonzo Ball does not appear if
you read what you read to be part of the
Laker's long term plans. How does your son think about that?
What is he? My son is like this Lonzo. He
goes with the flow because he cool like that. What
(26:47):
I'm saying is he's not gonna have an attitude. He
don't have his own feeling, but he's not gonna speak
out like me. He gonna do whatever y'all want to
do with him. It's just like this when you when
when Luke takes him out, he goes sit at the
end of the bench. I'm like, okay, he took me out,
but in his mind, I need to be playing the
whole game. Let me finish this. But he's not gonna
show no attitude. He's not gonna do like that. I'm
a guy. He pulled me to the bench. I might
stop at the coach and look at him, be like,
(27:08):
for real, that's just how I am, man. But Lonzo
is different. Being raised in Chino Hills. The attitude is
not there. He's been cool and sheltered by me for
a long time, so it's like they're never gonna come
at that. So Lonzos like this, If you got me here,
you want me to play, I'll do it. If you
ship me off, okay, that's fine. I'll go to my
next step. Do you believe it's inevitable he will be traded.
(27:32):
He's gonna be traded, or if he's not traded, Luca's
not gonna be there because him and Luke don't mix.
So it don't matter. If Luke came and said, Lonso,
you're gonna start every game, I'm gonna play forty five minutes.
Lonzo like, okay, but the loyalty is gone. Okay, good
give me clarity on don't mix. What does that mean?
They don't mix because he don't. He didn't use Lonso
the right way, So don't don't people telling about Lonso
(27:55):
was getting better on the fact that everybody on the
Lakers was hurt. So now you gotta play Lonso more
minutes and all we said playing thirty five plus and
start him the fourth quarter and let him go get
these victories. But if you don't start him the fourth quarter,
that means you don't have no confidence in him. If
you if you let him wait till the last five
or six minutes to say, hey, going there and see
what you can do. You miss a shot or something
like that, come on out of there. I mean he
(28:17):
would play Lonzo the first six minutes in regardless a
good or bad first quarter. You're coming out for what.
So now you're telling me we're not trying to get
this victory. Three fouls, all outs and hours, three fouls
too many? You get six. Well, Luke has won a
lot of games in the NBA, won a lot of game,
been lost a lot of games. He's been losing for
three years. And that's the mentality when I told people
(28:38):
they changed my son into a loser, talking about you'll
get it. You're a rookie, you got time, and now
I don't want to hear all that. Go out and
do the job. But Lonzo has been and I think
this is fair to say he's become a little injury prone. Well,
Lonzo has been hurt. Multi has been hurt multiple times.
On the fact that lonzos used to playing a whole game.
But don't have him go out and be a hunting
(29:00):
miles an hour, sitting him down for twelve minutes. Every
time he coming back in the game, I see him
doing all this extra stuff, stretching and trying to get
back in the game. It's like going into fighting and
say you're fighting and stuff and they say, hey, come
on out and sit down for him and take a breath.
For a long time. You're not even got a sweat
no more. So now you're going to get hurt if
you go. If you'll drive your car one hundred and
fifty miles an hour, and as soon as you get
(29:20):
off the freeway to turn it off, some some hoses
and stuff is gonna bust because you've been going so fast.
But if you let it cool down like this, no problem.
Could I make the argument, and I think this is
something we discussed. Lebron and Lonzo are not a perfect
fit because Lebron Alonzo needs the ball in his hand
to control the court. Well, that's Lebron's game. Lebron works
(29:40):
well with shooters, Chris Bosh, big guys with Lebron not
necessarily great, but he's great with shooters. That once Lebron
came here, it was over for Lonzo. This was never
gonna work. It was never perfect. Lebron needs the ball.
You know what, it would work if they would play
the right way, which is together their IQ, which makes
(30:02):
them both great. You've seen Lonzo throw the ball ahead
a lot. If Lebron just leaks out and runs out,
if you don't get a rebound sprint, we're gonna give
you the ball. Same thing with Lonzo. When Lonzo leaks
out there. Lebron is the only one who ever threw
him a lot. He's the only one who throws the
ball early to Lonzo. So they're gonna miss in that.
If you have the right system, everybody's worried about the players.
There's nothing to do with the players. It's the system
(30:23):
and the coach. You can get all the players in
the world, but if you don't have a coach that
can coach them, it's not going to work. If you
don't have a system, it's not going to work. The
last nine days, we have seen Kyle Kuzma brandon ingram
your son Lonzo ball picks with Josh Hart. We've seen
all these players on the internet on newspapers being told
(30:45):
they are basically pawns, right or just in the furniture business,
they're end tables, right right. How do you believe that
affects the chemistry the rest of the year on that roster, Well,
it's going to affect the chemistry if none of these
guys gets ready, because now you got them stuck in
there in LA but you got him understanding saying patent
folks on the back and saying you good, and you
(31:07):
this and that, and then all of a sudden, you
you out of here. So do you sense chemistry is
an issue? Now? The chemistry is definitely gonna be an
issue on the fact that whatever happens if they go, fine,
but you don't give up all these young players for
one guy, because what's gonna happen after this year goes by?
And like I said, as far as Ads a good player,
(31:27):
Lebron's good. Lebron ain't the Lebron he used to be.
He got injured just falling down on his growing or whatever.
You're getting older and your mind might have you thinking that, oh,
I'm taking care of my body, I'm doing this, but
you're still getting older. And the same thing with AD's
a good player, but he's never been a guy where
(31:47):
you say, you know what, you're the man, you're gonna
take us to the problems lay. He doesn't have the
alpha there you go. But he's a great player. He's
a great player, No, no, no, no doubt he's Yes,
he's not a vocal he's not a floor leader, not
a floor lea. But he can't even uh okay, if
you don't have a ball in his hand, somebody got
to give him the ball. And the thing is it
(32:08):
better be on the run or for a clearout. He's
not heavy enough to just go sit on that box
and do what he do. But his cousins go sit
on that box, Joel and beat. They could sit on
that box. He goes there and answering that bucks they
can push him out because hes still got a thin frame.
But long's you're running like this and giving him some
shots at the you know, facing the basket, he's gonna
be wondering. He's gonna do his thing. Do you worry
(32:28):
that your criticism of Luke affects your son going forward? No? No, no,
because I believe this. Who's ever gonna believe in my son?
That's who's gonna prosper the most. Well if it goes
to New Orleans, if it and they believe in him,
and they believe in him, and you get mother, two
sons would be there, don't you If here's the thing
that I was talking about, New Orleans, cold place. My
(32:49):
son don't want to play, You don't want to get
up to see the snow, and don't want to go
to work. Now, these are unrealistic expectations. I've had to move.
I'm I'm old, right, I've had to move a bunch.
I had to live in state where it's snowed in
one time. And that's that's as you're coming up. Well
you were you at now you don't have to do anything? Well, no,
I still do what you want. Basically, Well, you still
(33:09):
gottah every day. Yeah, you can't just just go out
here talk crazy like me. But anyways, you're kind of
you're saying your son and you won't playing snow you
don't want. But but here's the thing. Go somewhere where
you want to be in New Orleans. I mean, they
got some guys that's already there, that's already playing point guard.
Right Phoenix, you don't have you We're in a warm area.
(33:32):
Go somewhere where nobody who's talking about who who? But
who's saying, hey, I want to go to Phoenix. Nobody.
So if you have somebody who's good and wants to
go to Phoenix, that would work. But do you believe
the Lakers, now with your public criticism, would do any
favors for LaVar Ball. I mean, I think they haven't
done me any favors anyway. So what's the deal. They
(33:52):
haven't done me any favors anyway. So it's not it's
not like, oh okay, I'll be quiet and the Lakers
to do what I want, dam and done what I want.
Do you think Lebron is in your son's corner? I
think Lebron is in my son's corner. Lebron I've never
had and I hold this true to what I say
I've never seen or heard of a person that doesn't
(34:12):
want to play with my son. On the fact, he's
just a heck of a player to play with because
he makes everybody around him better regardless, and so, uh,
Lebron can only do so much, you know, as far
as say so here or there. And you don't think
Lebron's controlling all this, Oh, Lebron is not controlling all this.
(34:34):
Magic Magic's not controlling all this. But it's just a face.
I don't know, some other some other things going on.
As far as you can tell, Magic is not controlling.
On the fact that Jeannie Buzz just said something in
the paper where it said, uh, Magic wanted Fox, but
she told him to get Lonzo. I don't know where
that came out from, but it had to come from somewhere.
(34:56):
So a lot of times Magic is just to face
to get things, but he's not actually the one making
things happen, else Wise the orders would have been down. Okay,
Lonzo's our guy. He said he was the face of
the franchise. How you go from the face of the
franchise is getting ready to be traded. That means you
don't have hill say so, you're just the face. Do
(35:18):
you get along with magic today? Do I get along
with magic? I used to get along with magic. You
don't anymore. I don't get I don't get along with
magic no more. On the fact that I haven't talked
to him and he said some things he was going
to do and didn't do. So now I'm like, okay,
I know where you're at, so it's all right. So
it's okay for people to change their mind and do things.
But then I go about my business and do what
I'm gonna do with Lonzo, your son. If given the
(35:40):
option today and I said, Lonzo, you can go to
somewhere like Phoenix and start over and be the man,
or be part of the Lakers, the third or fourth
guy and the Lakers Lebron Anthony Davis. If they brought
a Jimmy Butler in, Here's what would be better for him,
Starring for the Sons or being a component a part
of the Lakers. Here's the thing. If a Lonzo is
(36:03):
starting for the Lakers under a different coach that lets
him do his job, be third, fourth, fifth, whatever you
want to call him, but you call him a winner.
I think the Luke stuff is odd to me. Luke
is likable. That's who's on the market. You fire Luke.
Who's on the market now, Brad Stevens. Brad Stevens, No,
you don't want him and somebody out there, Brian shaw
(36:25):
is the guy anytime you fire head coach, that assistant coach.
He got a good rapport with that team. He knows
what's going on. He just has to wait his opportunity.
I give you an example with Black at Cleveland, Tyronn
Luke he knew what to do, but he's not going
to give this guy the insight that the head coach
and let him look like he's doing the right thing.
(36:45):
So you're just going to sit back and be quiet.
Brian shaw Man. I watched him coach a game after
Luke got thrown out. It was night and day. It
seems to me that Luke, you know, they were winning
forty eight games this year before Lebron got hurt. They
were on more than If you play lines with the
right way, you can't have Is it fair to say
sometimes you're a little unrealistic. No, I'm very realistic. That's
(37:09):
what makes it and seem like I'm unrealistic. People was
telling me about, oh, you know, all, your son's playing
on the same team. It's a it's a billion in
one shoot his faux billion in one of me coming
in the league with my own brand. That ain't gonna
stop me from doing things. But things seem irreally not
realistic to people that don't understand me or don't like me.
(37:31):
Now it's not realistic before you talking crazy, but people
don't understand me. But like, man, you know what that's true.
Like I said, I'm into building a dynasty, and you
have to start from the bottom and build something solid.
You can't Lakers had too many number two picks not
to keep them all and let them jail and get
something out of this as opposed to before somebody's about
to take off and do some things. You're that's what's
(37:56):
going on. I think they make a deal today. I
think they make a deal today. You do, I think so.
You think it'll happen. I think it had happened at
the last minute or something like that. I think it will.
But if it doesn't, two things happen. You trade my son,
we get started somewhere else, or you get rid of
the coach and you get a new coach. And then,
like I said, the perfect coach would be Brian Shawl. Right, Leavar,
(38:16):
appreciate you coming on the show, man, I appreciate you
seeing you guys again. And like I said, man, uh,
it started out a little reckless with me and you
as we kept going up. The time is going by
and we're both evolved and this is good to see
you guys again. It's definitely good to see joy in
a different spot and it's just just good man. Appreciate
so bless all you guys and stay safe. Well right
when your son starts for the Suns, you're welcome back.
(38:38):
We can talk about Yeah, we'll talk about that. Yeah.
I like Phoenix, Yeah, I like it on the fact
that if they can get all my sons, That's what
I'm trying to slow down on that. I'm not gonna
sold on that because that's part of my thing going
to Phoenix. I need help. I'm just trying to get,
you know, help us. Yeah, feeling you just gave us
the school. Yeah, I mean, gonna be ready and something
they got his least let him try. Lakers never gave
(38:58):
me a chance to play with Lonzo all right. Be
sure to catch live editions of The Herd Week dayson
noon Eastern Ampacific on Fox Sports Radio FS one and
the iHeart Radio A. Let's bring in Richard Jefferson. Doesn't
appear they have any interest in doing anything. So what
do you it does look like? Richard? The reports that
(39:20):
the Pelicans were just ticked off at the way Anthony
Davis Clutch Sports happened, that they just wanted to make
the Lakers look bad and put a bunch of crap
out there. What do you make of that? What do
I make of that? If that is true? Let's let's
start with that. Okay, that is true. I think that
is one of the most reckless, immature things that you
can do. Right. Part of the situation, part of the
(39:42):
reason why they're in this situation is because they haven't
really been able to sign free agents in New Orleans, right,
And you want to go and frustrate a bunch of
young players and send a message to all of these
the young players the Lakers did nothing to you, right,
And eventually Lonzo Ball could be a free agent, Kuzma
could be a free agent, right, Eventually, Brandon Ingram could
(40:02):
be a free agent, and you will bring none of
those guys will even look at New Orleans. Right, So,
even though you want to get back at the Lakers
and you want to cause part, you're winning the battle,
You're losing the war. You're losing the war, right Like, Yeah,
that's fine, that's cool that you did it, and you
did right. You caused some problems inside that organization. But ultimately,
is that going to help your franchise? Is that going
(40:23):
to help you long term? Is that something? Is that
a big picture move or is that a little picture move?
And I just feel like if that is true to me,
I think that was disappointing. Out Look, a lot of
things have been disappointing. But if we're going to focus
on New Orleans and kind of that narrative in that story,
how are you going to sign free agents? You're gonna
have to overpay for him and you can end up
with like a Solomon Hill situation, who went to Arizona.
(40:44):
That's my guy, but you had to overpay to get
a young player in there. That didn't work out. So
wild nerds, would you go and just make a bunch
of young talented players a bunch of pawns in this scenario?
Why would you do that? Yeah? I think it's I
think it's seen as a functional organization, and this is
petty and juvenile. If you don't want to make the
(41:05):
move to say it, just say we're not going to
make a move, don't leak stuff. And that's what I'm
hearing is they're doing a ton of leaking into your point.
It mean, I look at them, I've always seen an
organization that's using football people to run their NBA franchise.
So I don't love it there, but they just come
off as kind of bush league. How do you think
it's landing with your friend Lebron, Well, I think I
(41:28):
think overall the construct of this team from beginning has
really struggled, right. I think Bron's kind of an on
an island. I think he's a little bit on his island.
If you look at every great player in NBA history
has had a formula to what made them success. Greed, Shack,
Shack always needed a high level score and a wing player.
So Shack will get you three and a half quarters.
(41:49):
He needs a closer kind of next. So I'm not
saying that Shack can't close, but he needs that Kobe,
that penny Hardaway that he didn't want Shack at the
free throw line, So you did, but you needed a
killer and he had that when he got d Wade,
he had that, when he had Penny Hard, he had that.
For Lebron, it's always been he needs another score, and
he needs tons of shooting around him, and he also
needs to have people around him that he feels comfortable with, right,
(42:10):
whether it's a James Jones, it's people people like that
that can kind of be in his ear in a
positive space. And I don't think that this team had
any of it. This team had no shooting, right. This
team didn't give him any other veteran that he was
familiar with. It was basically Lebron and a bunch of
young players or mercenaries that they brought in on one
(42:31):
year deals with the best player in the world. So
I think it kind of put him on a little
bit of an island. So I'm not surprised that he
was trying to facilitate or people around him were trying
to facilitate getting him a second superstar. So he needs
a second superstars. He needs shooting, like high level shooting,
and he needs people around him on the team that
(42:52):
he trust. I don't Richard, I don't think Anthony Davis.
I think he's terrific. But I've seen what Lebron does
to Bosh and love he can kind of just because
of the way his game is played. He's a ball
control guy. He's a quarterback. He needs the ball. He's
got a Russell Wilson. He can throw it, yeah, he
can pass it that he can run and score it.
And there's certain receivers that work with Russell Wilson and
a certain style and offensive line, and I see that
(43:15):
with Lebron. Is Anthony Davis actually a great fit with him?
I think it is. I think because there's there's different
ways to kind of kill a bear, right, And for me,
I view Anthony Davis is like a Swiss army knife.
Swiss army knife. He's got a lot of different tools.
He's gonna do a lot of different things. But you
don't necessarily want to go kill a bear with a
Swiss army knife. You want to hatch it. And Broun
(43:36):
is a hatchet, right, Guys like that. Kobe Bryan's a hatchet,
But you need guys that can do a lot of
things also around him. And I think Anthony Davis can
block shots, he can rebound and so Broun looks at
it from a standpoint of like, hey, if I got
to throw the ball to him twenty five times and
let him do jumpers, are post ups, or whatever it is,
so to make sure he's averaging twenty five points a game,
and then I'll go do what it is, whatever it
(43:57):
is that I'll go do, I think it and fit
because Braun will make the best of whatever the situation is.
But I don't know if you want a d to
be your number one guy right to carry you all
throughout the postseason. I don't know if he's there yet.
I think he will be, but I think it would
be a good fit if it got to that spot,
mainly because I think Braun is he's that guy that's
(44:18):
just but he needs someone around him that can do
a little bit of everything. Chris, Chris Bosh, Kevin Love.
They can post up, they can shoot, they can do that.
But there was also a third superstar, which people forget. Now.
If Kevin Love was the was the second superstar, If
Chris Bosh was the second superstar, the same thing. It's
not the same thing. It's when they became the third
superstar that they had to make those sacrifices. But I
(44:39):
think Anthony Davis, and this is no disrespect to Kevin
Love or Chris Bosh is a far different player than
both of them. Um, Luke Walton is a college teammate
of yours and a friend. LaVar Ball, believe him or not,
says he just doesn't think he's done a very good job.
That he doesn't he hasn't been honest with Lonzo Ball.
What do you make of the criticism, not just from LaVar,
(45:01):
but many have criticized Luke for it not meshing. I
think that is if you have half a basketball brain.
I think that is one of the most ridiculous things
that you can say. First, let me say this, What
are LaVar's Ball's credentials to give us this information right now?
Is he thinks he's not the best coach for a
(45:22):
Lonzo That's fine, Right, you're a dad. You should act
like a dad. But we don't sit here and interview
dads across this league. Right. You had Anthony Davis's dad
say I don't think my son should go to Boston, right.
He openly said that, And so it's like, Yo, we
don't focus on dads. And I think for Luke I
think it's been a very very difficult situation in the
(45:42):
sense that, you know, he started off with a young
team and he's been growing that young team, brandon ingram
in three years he's been in this league, he doesn't
have one player on his team that started with him
three years ago, right, So that means that there's been
an overhaul to this lineup every single year, and every
year they've gotten better every year from Luke Walton's beginning,
(46:04):
their their win count had improved, Like they didn't get
eliminated from the playoffs last year until about six games
to go, right, And even this with with injuries and
all this other stuff meshing, Is there a person on
this planet that looked at this roster and said, oh,
this roster was going to mesh. And people keep talking
about the Lebron James injury that happened on Christmas Day,
but people forget that Rondo got hurt that same day,
(46:25):
that exact same day, Bron and Rondo both went out.
So you lose those two veterans, right, and you lose
those two guys that control your team, and then it
falls on to Lonzo, then it falls onto these young players.
And even in that stretch. There was a few guys.
Lvar miss are, Alonso missed some games, Ingram missed some games,
and Kosma missed some games, so there was three of
those guys missing. Richard, I could talk to you all day.
(46:46):
It's the herd.
Thanks for listening to the Best of 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 the iHeartRadio app by searching Herd. This
is the Best of the Herd with Colin cowher on
Fox Sports Radio. Ah, here we go, Trade Deadline Herd Day.
(00:25):
It's a Thursday in Los Angeles. We are live wherever
you may be and however you may be listening. We
are on iHeartRadio, We're on Fox Sports Radio, and we
are right here on f asked one. Chris Mannix, Richard Jefferson,
a lebron teammate, Chris Brusar, LeVar Ball later next hour,
and Joy Taylor is joining me. We've got this is
(00:47):
kind of a trade deadline show today. This is what
it is. Yes, it's a trade deadline preview show. And
maybe we'll have some news as the day goa design. Yeah,
it will be. The trade deadline ends at about the
end of our show, So the next three hours we're
gonna give you the very latest stuff. I do want
to start though with late, late, late, late, late last night,
(01:08):
Kevin Durant went to a microphone and he's just tired
of hearing his name out there with the Knicks. There
was an article written by a young person named Ethan Strauss,
been covering the Warriors forever, some speculations, some discussion of
Kevin Durant, and he just didn't like it, and it
set him off. Last night. Here you go, We've noticed
(01:31):
that you hadn't talked for a while. What do you
care anything to do with conversation about free agency? That's
the conversation you're gonna have. I don't think about that
type of stuff. That's your job. You gotta do. Ethan Strouss,
who's coming here and just give his whole opinion on
stuff and make it seem like it's coming from me.
(01:52):
And he just walking around here, don't talk to nobody,
just walking here and surveying. Then write something like that,
and now, yeah, piling on me because I don't want
to talk to you about that. 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
play basketball. Y'all, come here, every day, ask me about
free agency, asked my teammates, my coaches, who rile up
(02:15):
the fans about it? Let us play basketball, That's all
I'm saying. And now when I don't want to talk
to y'all, it's a problem with me. Come on, man,
grow up? Grow up? Yeah, you grow up on bro,
we're talking. So who are you? Why do I got
(02:36):
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. I just asked you.
Grow up are the perfect two words for Kevin Durant. So, Kevin,
you want the money to power, the fame and the worship,
but don't ask me a question. Well, excuse me. But
when Lebron James signs a one year contract, when Kevin
(02:58):
Durant signs her a one or a two year contract
and it's up soon, that begs for speculation, that demands
the question. Your boss will tell you as a reporter,
you got to ask KD about this. And then Kevin
Durant had gone silent the last eight days, wouldn't talk
to the media. That's their first opportunity to talk to him.
(03:18):
I am pro player. I've always been pro NBA player.
But if you want the power in the fame and
the money in the leverage, you got to ask answer
a question, especially when you like playing the one year
contract game. You can't get a one year deal. You
(03:40):
make a decision as a star player in this league,
as a difference maker, which Lebron is, Kevin Durant is.
Those are difference makers and they're superstars. When they sign
one year deals. You're toying with your team and you're
playing with your fans, and then the media. We're going
to play a game too. It's called the speculation game.
(04:01):
Steph Curry's on this team, he never deals with this drama.
Why Because Steph Curry's totally committed long term to the Warriors. Therefore,
the media doesn't poke and proud and ask questions. We're
not digging here, just a dig there's a gold bar
underneath the surface. Okay. I as a reporter, I don't
(04:25):
like making athletes uncomfortable, but I would have to go
and answer the question and ask the question, because Kevin
Durant's got a contract that demands and begs that I
asked the question. Here's the funny thing about Kevin Durant,
like he's telling everybody to grow up. Dude, you're the
one that wants to be Lebraun. Okay, Lebraun and Michael
(04:48):
Jordan are on this elevated plane and Kevin Durant wants
to so desperately be in that plane. We know that.
We know it bothers him. That's been reported multiple times.
You can tell in his responses when he said everybody
is a suck up to Lebron and everybody worships Lebron
and everybody's got a man crush on Lebron. Clearly Kevin Durant.
(05:09):
It bothers Kevin Durant, right, That's why it talks about it.
He wants to be on this Michael Jordan Lebron plane.
But the reason he's not he can't handle it. Michael
Jordan brilliantly played the media forever on his terms. He
was playful and fun, poked and proud Lebron by and large,
(05:30):
he just kind of has fun, goes to social media
pokes and prods. He didn't melt down. Michael isn't melting down.
Kevin Durant's melting down like six times a year. You
got to be able to handle it. Part of being
a superstar, and this is a big part of it,
is handling being a superstar. Samuel L. Jackson's a superstar.
He can handle it. Russell Crowe could not. He threw
(05:53):
phones at people behind a desk at a hotel. Russell
Crowe couldn't handle being a superstar. He's just a just
a good actor. By the way, Jay Z can handle
being a superstar. Kanye melts down about three times a year.
Lebron can handle it. Michael Jordan could handle it, Magic
could handle it. Kevin Durant can't. He wants all this.
(06:16):
He loves being talked about. He criticizes us when we
do shows that are very Lebron leaning. He's noted that
it bothers him. He calls us fanboys and suck ups,
so it clearly bothers him. Then handle the questions about
(06:37):
your future because you sign one and two year deals.
That's the game. And by the way, this is why
Kevin Durant can't go to the next Golden State is
perfect for him. He's insulated. He's protected. Steve Kerr used
to be a broadcaster. He's incredibly media savvy, so he
deflects a lot of the KD stuff. Steph Curry the world.
(07:00):
His teammate got a start next to him, deflex a
lot of the stuff. If the Warriors lose, Kevin Durant
doesn't take all the heat. Sometimes they blame Draymond, Sometimes
they blame Clay Golden State's perfect. They insulate Kevin Durant,
who can be incredibly insecure. This is another example lecturing
(07:20):
people to grow up when it's really Kevin. Bathrooms have mirrors,
they still work, use them. This is about you wanting
to be the superstar, wanting to be Lebron, wanting to
bring mj but you can't handle questions at a press
conference and speculation on blogs in the Internet. That's really
keeping you up at night. That's aggravating you. What Michael
(07:42):
Jordan had people chasing them around the country. Lebron James
has helicopters flying over his house and you can't handle
an article from a blog. The Warriors are built for
Kevin Durant. He's protected and insulated. Can you imagine him
going to the New York Knicks or if they lose,
it's on Kevin where if they don't advance to the
(08:04):
second round, it's on Kevin that's not the issue anymore.
When I hear he's going to go to New York,
I just roll my eyes and think, you gotta be
kidding me. They've got the savvyest head coach in the
league with the media, Steve Kurd, They've got Steph Curry
as a teammate. It's a world class organization, and they
win the title every year. They're barely even. They run unopposed.
They're like a politician and the Democrat drops out. I mean,
(08:28):
they run unopposed. So if you want to be a superstar,
part of being a superstar is being able to handle,
oh my god, a question at a press conference. Lebron
has had people helicopters. Michael Jordan couldn't get married helicopters.
(08:50):
I mean he had to literally they have to literally
buy security and buy islands because people are hovering and
chasing and stocking, and Ethan Straus is wearing out. You're
not Lebron example number twenty eight. While you're not Lebron,
all right, let me shift to this trading deadline. It
(09:12):
is interesting that a New York Nick Chris stops Porzingis
got traded to Dallas. I didn't hear a word of
it before it happened, involved a star and involved a
big city. Of course, this thing has been a nine day,
three ring circus. Let me just ask you a question.
I don't think Anthony Davis, who I support wanting to leave,
(09:32):
is going to end up a Laker by noon today.
And what is going to happen if he doesn't. There's
some losers in this, There's some carnage in this, there's
some shrapnel in this. First of all, the biggest loser
is going to be Luke Walton. I mean every teammate
knows now they are just a pawn in the bigger picture.
(09:53):
I think you're going to have a very messy second half.
I think you're going to be a borderline playoff team
that's distracted. LaVar Ball will be on our show next hour.
He's got issues with his son ever having to play
in New Orleans. I think Luke Walton is in big,
big trouble here. This is going to be a very
messy second half and the Lakers are going to be
(10:14):
a borderline playoff team. Secondly, I don't think the Lakers
look good here. I think it's a bad look for
the Lakers. At one point it was reported they were
giving up seven players and six draft picks. Are you
kidding me? What are you? The Buffalo Bills, the Cleveland Browns?
You look desperate. There's a story out. Brian Windhorse said
(10:35):
the Pelicans never intended to move Anthony Davis to the Lakers.
They instead wanted to leak things to sabotage the young
Lakers as revenge for what New Orleans saw as tampering.
Can you imagine that the Lakers being manipulated by the Pelicans.
(10:56):
That's like the United States going into a trade war
and getting worked by Trinidad at Tobago. That's a bad look.
And Third, I don't think it's great for Lebron. He's
got a deal with his current teammates who probably just
aren't mature enough to handle being mentioned as trade pawns.
(11:17):
They should be able to handle it, but I don't
think they will handle it. Also, I think it's hard
for Lebron now because is he getting a reputation as
the Lakers struggle as kind of a coach killer. I
think Luke Walton's dead man coaching. Also, Kawhi doesn't appear interested.
Paul George didn't. I saw a story yesterday that Anthony
Davis he wants to be a nick. I mean, this
(11:40):
is not a good look for Luke. It's not a
good look for the Lakers. I don't think it's a
terribly good look for Lebron James. The Lakers have been
worked by Del Demps. Do you remember what David Stern
said a year ago he was no longer even the commissioner.
He talked about Dell Demps in the New Orleans Pelicans,
and he said he doesn't know what he's doing. He's
(12:02):
a lousy general manager. If the Lakers at twelve or
one Pacific, if they get nothing. They have been worked
by the worst franchise in the NBA, a franchise in
New Orleans where they're having NFL people run their NBA team.
(12:23):
This is just not good. And this is another reason
don't leak, don't talk, don't rush to blogs. Porzingis got traded.
Nobody liked it in New York. But it was a
one day story. This is going to be a nine
ten day story. And it's a cautionary tale for the Lakers.
(12:43):
Be careful when you get into business with the worst
franchise in the NBA. I mean, the Pelicans aren't real
smart here. Once the summer hits. My argument is, I
don't think the Pelicans are getting more. I think they're
gonna get less. The summer changes things. Anthony Davis is
going to have less time to sit out. I think
(13:07):
Anthony Davis has every day this goes on, Anthony Davis
can look in the mirror and go, I'm just going
to sit out the season now it's like a year
and a half. I mean, this is just it's just
bad news. I don't think it looks good for Lebron.
I do not think it looks good for the Lakers.
I think it's a really bad situation for Luke Walton.
(13:30):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd week
Days A noun Eastern, a Empacific. So Kevin Durant blew
up last night. He's upset with all the speculation about
him being traded. And it was an article written by
a Ethan Strauss, who's I don't know, but he covers
the Warriors. There's a quote in here where it says
Durant believed beating Lebron in the twenty seventeen finals would
(13:54):
get him hailed as the game's top player. K D
who was tired of being second way back in twenty thirteen,
was still stuck there reputationally. But in the end, even
though Durant was a superior defensive player and hit the
game winning shot in the series in Lebron's face, there
was no grand reordering of the rankings, nor should there be.
(14:17):
Kevin Durant will never catch Lebron. It doesn't matter if
he wins four more finals. He will not. He will not.
Kevin Durant at some point and he's not there yet.
Maybe better than Lebron on the floor, better, he will
never be greater than Lebron. Folks, if it was all
(14:41):
about titles, then Bill Russell's the best player ever. He
was excellent and he's got eleven. Michael Jordan was excellent
and has six titles. Are not everything. He's got almost
double Michael Jordan's. We never consider Bill Russell and Michael
(15:01):
Jordan's class. Ben her The Titanic and Lord of the
Rings have the most oscars. Nobody considers them the three
best movies of all time. Kevin Durant has acknowledged, has
admitted he just wants to play basketball. Lebron has never
(15:22):
just been about playing basketball. Lebron is a global icon.
People you know him. They've got one name, Oprah, Hanks, Obama, Lebron.
Kevin Durant's not even the biggest one name guy in
(15:42):
his own team. That's steph Okay. Durant is a great
basketball player. Lebron's an icon. Andrew Luck could win the
next four Super Bowls. He'll never be bigger than Peyton Manning.
Peyton Manning changed the game. Peyton Manning's iconic. Andrew Luck's
(16:03):
just a great quarterback. The totality matters, The mythology matters.
There's a reason that Wilt's better than Russell. Wilt has
two titles. Russell Russell has eleven, but Wilt had a
hundred point game. Wilt was an urban legend. Wilt change
teams multiple times, and change the league and change the rules.
(16:26):
He was so dominant. He was also a statistical monster.
And Wilt had enough titles. It wasn't like Russell had
twelve and Wilt had none. Magic will always be bigger
than Bird. You know, Magic's got more titles, but Magic
was always a bigger story. Magic mattered more. Magic changed
(16:47):
the game. Magic changed the way kids on the street played.
That matters. In the NBA. That matters in life, it
matters in sports. It matters. We've had presidents who drew
the recession during wars. Whether they or not they're the
best president they're viewed, is simply more impactful and more important.
(17:09):
Kevin Durant's living in this tunnel of more titles. I'm better.
Lebron is way past that. And every time Kevin Durant
says I just want to be about basketball, he shrinks
his profile. He shrinks it. At some point, Kevin may
be better than Lebron on the floor, but it'll never
(17:31):
be greater than Lebron. I'll put their numbers up on
a screen for our television audience. It doesn't even really
matter that Lebron has ten thousand more points, or six
thousand more assists, or four times the MVPs, or even
one more title and six more finals appearances. It doesn't
matter that Lebron is statistically significantly greater. Go ahead, add
(17:56):
four more titles. Lebron has enough titles. Peyton Manning has
enough titles that even if luck wins more, Manning will
always be bigger. Because Peyton changed the way football was
played at the line of scrimmage, Peyton Manning was his
own coach. The coaching staff largely gave the team offensively
(18:17):
to Peyton Manning. He would go to a line with two, three,
four audibles. Nobody else did that. That's not a knock
on Kevin Durant. He is a great, great basketball player.
But the three most important basketball players of my life.
Magic Johnson made the league popular, Michael made it global,
(18:44):
and Lebron made it mobile. And in fact, if you
asked me who the fourth most important NBA player ever is,
it would be a Kevin Durant teammate, Steph Curry. Steph
Curry is, in my opinion, the fourth most important player
in NBA history. He eliminated centers. Nobody goes back to back.
(19:08):
He eliminated the mid range jumper. He basically changed the
way kids play basketball. I hear parents all the time
now they say, my kid goes into a gym, all
they do is hoist up threes. College basketball coaches now
recruit bigs and their parents say they will not go
back to the basket. They've got to be facing the basket.
(19:28):
So Durant has to just come to terms with this.
He is a great, great basketball player, second best over
the last ten years better than Lebron, some nights better
than Lebron. Maybe in the next five years. He'll never
be greater than Lebron and it does matter to him.
(19:48):
As Ethan Strauss and others have said, he doesn't want
to be number two, well he is and he is
always going to be when compared to Lebron James, and
that is not a massive criticism. Let me also say
this before I get to leave our ball. Let me
say this is that I think it would be a
(20:10):
massive mistake for Kevin Durant to go to the New
York Knicks. I think it would be massive. That would
be like John Elway in his prime saying I want
to go and play for the Detroit Lions. That would
be like Derek Jeter in his prime saying, you know what,
I want to give the Seattle Mariners a try. Isn't
what all NBA stars aren't They all looking for the
(20:33):
same thing, to win titles and play with great players.
Joy I'm checking in on the Warriors. Do they do
that part really well? Yeah? They They're pretty solid when
it comes to that. I think it would be idiotic.
I mean, could you imagine Tom Brady leaving Bill Belichick
in his prime for the Cincinnati Bengals, I would say,
(20:56):
what are you doing? Even Tom Brady would get criticized, Well,
what are you doing? This is this is Bill Belichick.
Nobody willingly willingly left the New York Yankees in nineteen
ninety eight. Nobody willingly left. David Wells was shipped off
and he was pissed. You didn't. You don't leave dynasties,
and especially when you have Steve Kerr, the player, friendly coach,
(21:20):
Steph Curry, the world's greatest superstar teammate, organizationally, the best
franchise in the NBA, the city's cool. The title potential
is basically uncontested. This would be a massive mistake. If
you're a superhero. The goal for superheroes is to be
(21:41):
an Avenger. You team up with other superheroes to save
our planet and protect our planet. You don't work all
those years as a superhero to get to the Avengers
and then go, you know, I'm going to take off
and go to a small planet in the middle of
nowhere and protect the plants from you know, the harsh
(22:02):
air of the galaxy. No, dude, Once you're an Avenger,
that's the top when you're When you get to that league,
you don't leave it. You don't go to another league,
smaller planet, do worry about less crucial things. Kevin Durant
will be making a massive, massive mistake leaving, and the
(22:24):
fact that he's suggesting it that gets prickly about it.
I think it would be a disaster. La doesn't leave
the Broncos for the Lions. Cheater doesn't leave the Yankees
for the Mariners. Robert Downey worked his whole career to
get to be Iron Man. If he wakes up tomorrow
(22:47):
and goes, you know what I want to do low
budget indie films, than shame on, Robert Downey. You work
your whole life to get on the Warriors, the ninety
eight Yankees. You work your whole life to do that.
You don't bail on it or you're goofy. One more Herd.
The Herd streams twenty four hours a day, seven days
a week within the iHeartRadio app. Search Herd to listen
(23:09):
live or on demand. Whenever you liked, third, fourth, fifth
time on the show, I lose count founder, CEO big
Ball or brand father of course of Lonzo. Another son
right now is planning at a high school, a prep
school in Cleveland. That's LaMelo. Yes, LaVar Ball is joining
us along with Joy Taylor. All right, let's start here.
I don't want this to feel like an interrogation, but
I'm gonna ask. I'm a journalist. I'm gonna ask probing questions. Now,
(23:32):
that's okay. There are some people today and many people
that feel like, you know, you kind of got a
little come upance, Lonzo may be traded Lithuania. Thing wasn't ideal.
There are people you were a phenomenon in the country.
You were discussed weekly. There are some people applauding that
it hasn't gone perfectly. Do you sense that? Does it
(23:54):
bother you? No, it doesn't bother me. Everything goes perfectly
for me. It's just the media portrays it. It's just
like people saying, oh, we haven't heard from LaVar. Yeah,
you ain't heard from me because I'm in another country.
You know, if I'm traveling, I'm not gonna be stuck
on one thing. Just like I had three boys, my
ultimate goals to get all of them in the NBA.
The second goals to make sure all of them play
(24:15):
on the same team. And it's going to happen, and
like I said, it can be done. And that's one
of the reasons I kind of like said, Okay, Phoenix
is good. They got some players, but I'm not trying
to be a one hit acquitter. What I mean by that,
like the Lakers are trying to do get all these players,
try to get you one ring. I want to build
a dynasty, a ball dynasty, from the bottom one up.
(24:38):
So go to the weakest team nobody ever wants to
go to and go there can make it grow. Did
the Lakers tell you when Lebron got here to pipe down? No,
the Lakers can't tell me. Anybody nobody told me anything.
On the fact that they can't. You can't come to
my house and knock on the door and be like hey, LaVar,
I don't say nothing, and I'm not gonna go up there.
But you did talk less. We're less vocal. I was
less vocal because I'm in Europe, I'm in Belgium, I'm
(25:01):
in London. Do you feel that the Lakers have been
honest with you? I read all the trade speculation this week.
I don't believe the Lakers been honest with me. On
effect that we had some discussions on things that should
have been done. It wasn't done. It's just like saying
before the season they start, I asked what you need
from Zoe. You know it's got to be stronger. Okay,
(25:22):
we got that. Yeah, how about give him my other
son a chance that you said around the time, and
they they they should have did in the summer league.
Come on, summer Lyau. You're throwing Jello in the summer
league just to see what he can do. That's not
a big deal. They ain't even given that opportunity to
play with his brother at least one time. Let's see
what they can do together. But no, But if you
tell me you're gonna do something and say you're gonna
(25:44):
try to build something around a family, and we don't
take no steps, it's just like all these guys you get,
you got four or five guys rippling the ball at
the court. What you need laws before if you say
he's the face of the franchise, but you don't relate
that to the coach, and now it makes Magic seem
like he's just the face. Maybe they didn't want to
set a precedent that maybe if Kyle Kuzma, Josh Hart's
(26:04):
father come in and they say, hey, LaVar's son, he
got Lamello. Maybe the Lakers their father can say that,
Why why would that any father's not like me? Well,
they don't want to set a precedent. The Yankees don't
want to give Well why they don't want to. It's
not even about setting a president. You know what. Fathers
can say what they want about their kid. Look at
look at Darren Fox. Then he said something, but it's
(26:25):
not relevant because you know why, you don't have a brand.
Don't put me in the same boat as these guys.
I have a brand, and I'm not just one son.
I got three sons. Lonzo Ball does not appear if
you read what you read to be part of the
Laker's long term plans. How does your son think about that?
What is he? My son is like this Lonzo. He
goes with the flow because he cool like that. What
(26:47):
I'm saying is he's not gonna have an attitude. He
don't have his own feeling, but he's not gonna speak
out like me. He gonna do whatever y'all want to
do with him. It's just like this when you when
when Luke takes him out, he goes sit at the
end of the bench. I'm like, okay, he took me out,
but in his mind, I need to be playing the
whole game. Let me finish this. But he's not gonna
show no attitude. He's not gonna do like that. I'm
a guy. He pulled me to the bench. I might
stop at the coach and look at him, be like,
(27:08):
for real, that's just how I am, man. But Lonzo
is different. Being raised in Chino Hills. The attitude is
not there. He's been cool and sheltered by me for
a long time, so it's like they're never gonna come
at that. So Lonzos like this, If you got me here,
you want me to play, I'll do it. If you
ship me off, okay, that's fine. I'll go to my
next step. Do you believe it's inevitable he will be traded.
(27:32):
He's gonna be traded, or if he's not traded, Luca's
not gonna be there because him and Luke don't mix.
So it don't matter. If Luke came and said, Lonso,
you're gonna start every game, I'm gonna play forty five minutes.
Lonzo like, okay, but the loyalty is gone. Okay, good
give me clarity on don't mix. What does that mean?
They don't mix because he don't. He didn't use Lonso
the right way, So don't don't people telling about Lonso
(27:55):
was getting better on the fact that everybody on the
Lakers was hurt. So now you gotta play Lonso more
minutes and all we said playing thirty five plus and
start him the fourth quarter and let him go get
these victories. But if you don't start him the fourth quarter,
that means you don't have no confidence in him. If
you if you let him wait till the last five
or six minutes to say, hey, going there and see
what you can do. You miss a shot or something
like that, come on out of there. I mean he
(28:17):
would play Lonzo the first six minutes in regardless a
good or bad first quarter. You're coming out for what.
So now you're telling me we're not trying to get
this victory. Three fouls, all outs and hours, three fouls
too many? You get six. Well, Luke has won a
lot of games in the NBA, won a lot of game,
been lost a lot of games. He's been losing for
three years. And that's the mentality when I told people
(28:38):
they changed my son into a loser, talking about you'll
get it. You're a rookie, you got time, and now
I don't want to hear all that. Go out and
do the job. But Lonzo has been and I think
this is fair to say he's become a little injury prone. Well,
Lonzo has been hurt. Multi has been hurt multiple times.
On the fact that lonzos used to playing a whole game.
But don't have him go out and be a hunting
(29:00):
miles an hour, sitting him down for twelve minutes. Every
time he coming back in the game, I see him
doing all this extra stuff, stretching and trying to get
back in the game. It's like going into fighting and
say you're fighting and stuff and they say, hey, come
on out and sit down for him and take a breath.
For a long time. You're not even got a sweat
no more. So now you're going to get hurt if
you go. If you'll drive your car one hundred and
fifty miles an hour, and as soon as you get
(29:20):
off the freeway to turn it off, some some hoses
and stuff is gonna bust because you've been going so fast.
But if you let it cool down like this, no problem.
Could I make the argument, and I think this is
something we discussed. Lebron and Lonzo are not a perfect
fit because Lebron Alonzo needs the ball in his hand
to control the court. Well, that's Lebron's game. Lebron works
(29:40):
well with shooters, Chris Bosh, big guys with Lebron not
necessarily great, but he's great with shooters. That once Lebron
came here, it was over for Lonzo. This was never
gonna work. It was never perfect. Lebron needs the ball.
You know what, it would work if they would play
the right way, which is together their IQ, which makes
(30:02):
them both great. You've seen Lonzo throw the ball ahead
a lot. If Lebron just leaks out and runs out,
if you don't get a rebound sprint, we're gonna give
you the ball. Same thing with Lonzo. When Lonzo leaks
out there. Lebron is the only one who ever threw
him a lot. He's the only one who throws the
ball early to Lonzo. So they're gonna miss in that.
If you have the right system, everybody's worried about the players.
There's nothing to do with the players. It's the system
(30:23):
and the coach. You can get all the players in
the world, but if you don't have a coach that
can coach them, it's not going to work. If you
don't have a system, it's not going to work. The
last nine days, we have seen Kyle Kuzma brandon ingram
your son Lonzo ball picks with Josh Hart. We've seen
all these players on the internet on newspapers being told
(30:45):
they are basically pawns, right or just in the furniture business,
they're end tables, right right. How do you believe that
affects the chemistry the rest of the year on that roster, Well,
it's going to affect the chemistry if none of these
guys gets ready, because now you got them stuck in
there in LA but you got him understanding saying patent
folks on the back and saying you good, and you
(31:07):
this and that, and then all of a sudden, you
you out of here. So do you sense chemistry is
an issue? Now? The chemistry is definitely gonna be an
issue on the fact that whatever happens if they go, fine,
but you don't give up all these young players for
one guy, because what's gonna happen after this year goes by?
And like I said, as far as Ads a good player,
(31:27):
Lebron's good. Lebron ain't the Lebron he used to be.
He got injured just falling down on his growing or whatever.
You're getting older and your mind might have you thinking that, oh,
I'm taking care of my body, I'm doing this, but
you're still getting older. And the same thing with AD's
a good player, but he's never been a guy where
(31:47):
you say, you know what, you're the man, you're gonna
take us to the problems lay. He doesn't have the
alpha there you go. But he's a great player. He's
a great player, No, no, no, no doubt he's Yes,
he's not a vocal he's not a floor leader, not
a floor lea. But he can't even uh okay, if
you don't have a ball in his hand, somebody got
to give him the ball. And the thing is it
(32:08):
better be on the run or for a clearout. He's
not heavy enough to just go sit on that box
and do what he do. But his cousins go sit
on that box, Joel and beat. They could sit on
that box. He goes there and answering that bucks they
can push him out because hes still got a thin frame.
But long's you're running like this and giving him some
shots at the you know, facing the basket, he's gonna
be wondering. He's gonna do his thing. Do you worry
(32:28):
that your criticism of Luke affects your son going forward? No? No, no,
because I believe this. Who's ever gonna believe in my son?
That's who's gonna prosper the most. Well if it goes
to New Orleans, if it and they believe in him,
and they believe in him, and you get mother, two
sons would be there, don't you If here's the thing
that I was talking about, New Orleans, cold place. My
(32:49):
son don't want to play, You don't want to get
up to see the snow, and don't want to go
to work. Now, these are unrealistic expectations. I've had to move.
I'm I'm old, right, I've had to move a bunch.
I had to live in state where it's snowed in
one time. And that's that's as you're coming up. Well
you were you at now you don't have to do anything? Well, no,
I still do what you want. Basically, Well, you still
(33:09):
gottah every day. Yeah, you can't just just go out
here talk crazy like me. But anyways, you're kind of
you're saying your son and you won't playing snow you
don't want. But but here's the thing. Go somewhere where
you want to be in New Orleans. I mean, they
got some guys that's already there, that's already playing point guard.
Right Phoenix, you don't have you We're in a warm area.
(33:32):
Go somewhere where nobody who's talking about who who? But
who's saying, hey, I want to go to Phoenix. Nobody.
So if you have somebody who's good and wants to
go to Phoenix, that would work. But do you believe
the Lakers, now with your public criticism, would do any
favors for LaVar Ball. I mean, I think they haven't
done me any favors anyway. So what's the deal. They
(33:52):
haven't done me any favors anyway. So it's not it's
not like, oh okay, I'll be quiet and the Lakers
to do what I want, dam and done what I want.
Do you think Lebron is in your son's corner? I
think Lebron is in my son's corner. Lebron I've never
had and I hold this true to what I say
I've never seen or heard of a person that doesn't
(34:12):
want to play with my son. On the fact, he's
just a heck of a player to play with because
he makes everybody around him better regardless, and so, uh,
Lebron can only do so much, you know, as far
as say so here or there. And you don't think
Lebron's controlling all this, Oh, Lebron is not controlling all this.
(34:34):
Magic Magic's not controlling all this. But it's just a face.
I don't know, some other some other things going on.
As far as you can tell, Magic is not controlling.
On the fact that Jeannie Buzz just said something in
the paper where it said, uh, Magic wanted Fox, but
she told him to get Lonzo. I don't know where
that came out from, but it had to come from somewhere.
(34:56):
So a lot of times Magic is just to face
to get things, but he's not actually the one making
things happen, else Wise the orders would have been down. Okay,
Lonzo's our guy. He said he was the face of
the franchise. How you go from the face of the
franchise is getting ready to be traded. That means you
don't have hill say so, you're just the face. Do
(35:18):
you get along with magic today? Do I get along
with magic? I used to get along with magic. You
don't anymore. I don't get I don't get along with
magic no more. On the fact that I haven't talked
to him and he said some things he was going
to do and didn't do. So now I'm like, okay,
I know where you're at, so it's all right. So
it's okay for people to change their mind and do things.
But then I go about my business and do what
I'm gonna do with Lonzo, your son. If given the
(35:40):
option today and I said, Lonzo, you can go to
somewhere like Phoenix and start over and be the man,
or be part of the Lakers, the third or fourth
guy and the Lakers Lebron Anthony Davis. If they brought
a Jimmy Butler in, Here's what would be better for him,
Starring for the Sons or being a component a part
of the Lakers. Here's the thing. If a Lonzo is
(36:03):
starting for the Lakers under a different coach that lets
him do his job, be third, fourth, fifth, whatever you
want to call him, but you call him a winner.
I think the Luke stuff is odd to me. Luke
is likable. That's who's on the market. You fire Luke.
Who's on the market now, Brad Stevens. Brad Stevens, No,
you don't want him and somebody out there, Brian shaw
(36:25):
is the guy anytime you fire head coach, that assistant coach.
He got a good rapport with that team. He knows
what's going on. He just has to wait his opportunity.
I give you an example with Black at Cleveland, Tyronn
Luke he knew what to do, but he's not going
to give this guy the insight that the head coach
and let him look like he's doing the right thing.
(36:45):
So you're just going to sit back and be quiet.
Brian shaw Man. I watched him coach a game after
Luke got thrown out. It was night and day. It
seems to me that Luke, you know, they were winning
forty eight games this year before Lebron got hurt. They
were on more than If you play lines with the
right way, you can't have Is it fair to say
sometimes you're a little unrealistic. No, I'm very realistic. That's
(37:09):
what makes it and seem like I'm unrealistic. People was
telling me about, oh, you know, all, your son's playing
on the same team. It's a it's a billion in
one shoot his faux billion in one of me coming
in the league with my own brand. That ain't gonna
stop me from doing things. But things seem irreally not
realistic to people that don't understand me or don't like me.
(37:31):
Now it's not realistic before you talking crazy, but people
don't understand me. But like, man, you know what that's true.
Like I said, I'm into building a dynasty, and you
have to start from the bottom and build something solid.
You can't Lakers had too many number two picks not
to keep them all and let them jail and get
something out of this as opposed to before somebody's about
to take off and do some things. You're that's what's
(37:56):
going on. I think they make a deal today. I
think they make a deal today. You do, I think so.
You think it'll happen. I think it had happened at
the last minute or something like that. I think it will.
But if it doesn't, two things happen. You trade my son,
we get started somewhere else, or you get rid of
the coach and you get a new coach. And then,
like I said, the perfect coach would be Brian Shawl. Right, Leavar,
(38:16):
appreciate you coming on the show, man, I appreciate you
seeing you guys again. And like I said, man, uh,
it started out a little reckless with me and you
as we kept going up. The time is going by
and we're both evolved and this is good to see
you guys again. It's definitely good to see joy in
a different spot and it's just just good man. Appreciate
so bless all you guys and stay safe. Well right
when your son starts for the Suns, you're welcome back.
(38:38):
We can talk about Yeah, we'll talk about that. Yeah.
I like Phoenix, Yeah, I like it on the fact
that if they can get all my sons, That's what
I'm trying to slow down on that. I'm not gonna
sold on that because that's part of my thing going
to Phoenix. I need help. I'm just trying to get,
you know, help us. Yeah, feeling you just gave us
the school. Yeah, I mean, gonna be ready and something
they got his least let him try. Lakers never gave
(38:58):
me a chance to play with Lonzo all right. Be
sure to catch live editions of The Herd Week dayson
noon Eastern Ampacific on Fox Sports Radio FS one and
the iHeart Radio A. Let's bring in Richard Jefferson. Doesn't
appear they have any interest in doing anything. So what
do you it does look like? Richard? The reports that
(39:20):
the Pelicans were just ticked off at the way Anthony
Davis Clutch Sports happened, that they just wanted to make
the Lakers look bad and put a bunch of crap
out there. What do you make of that? What do
I make of that? If that is true? Let's let's
start with that. Okay, that is true. I think that
is one of the most reckless, immature things that you
can do. Right. Part of the situation, part of the
(39:42):
reason why they're in this situation is because they haven't
really been able to sign free agents in New Orleans, right,
And you want to go and frustrate a bunch of
young players and send a message to all of these
the young players the Lakers did nothing to you, right,
And eventually Lonzo Ball could be a free agent, Kuzma
could be a free agent, right, Eventually, Brandon Ingram could
(40:02):
be a free agent, and you will bring none of
those guys will even look at New Orleans. Right, So,
even though you want to get back at the Lakers
and you want to cause part, you're winning the battle,
You're losing the war. You're losing the war, right Like, Yeah,
that's fine, that's cool that you did it, and you
did right. You caused some problems inside that organization. But ultimately,
is that going to help your franchise? Is that going
(40:23):
to help you long term? Is that something? Is that
a big picture move or is that a little picture move?
And I just feel like if that is true to me,
I think that was disappointing. Out Look, a lot of
things have been disappointing. But if we're going to focus
on New Orleans and kind of that narrative in that story,
how are you going to sign free agents? You're gonna
have to overpay for him and you can end up
with like a Solomon Hill situation, who went to Arizona.
(40:44):
That's my guy, but you had to overpay to get
a young player in there. That didn't work out. So
wild nerds, would you go and just make a bunch
of young talented players a bunch of pawns in this scenario?
Why would you do that? Yeah? I think it's I
think it's seen as a functional organization, and this is
petty and juvenile. If you don't want to make the
(41:05):
move to say it, just say we're not going to
make a move, don't leak stuff. And that's what I'm
hearing is they're doing a ton of leaking into your point.
It mean, I look at them, I've always seen an
organization that's using football people to run their NBA franchise.
So I don't love it there, but they just come
off as kind of bush league. How do you think
it's landing with your friend Lebron, Well, I think I
(41:28):
think overall the construct of this team from beginning has
really struggled, right. I think Bron's kind of an on
an island. I think he's a little bit on his island.
If you look at every great player in NBA history
has had a formula to what made them success. Greed, Shack,
Shack always needed a high level score and a wing player.
So Shack will get you three and a half quarters.
(41:49):
He needs a closer kind of next. So I'm not
saying that Shack can't close, but he needs that Kobe,
that penny Hardaway that he didn't want Shack at the
free throw line, So you did, but you needed a
killer and he had that when he got d Wade,
he had that, when he had Penny Hard, he had that.
For Lebron, it's always been he needs another score, and
he needs tons of shooting around him, and he also
needs to have people around him that he feels comfortable with, right,
(42:10):
whether it's a James Jones, it's people people like that
that can kind of be in his ear in a
positive space. And I don't think that this team had
any of it. This team had no shooting, right. This
team didn't give him any other veteran that he was
familiar with. It was basically Lebron and a bunch of
young players or mercenaries that they brought in on one
(42:31):
year deals with the best player in the world. So
I think it kind of put him on a little
bit of an island. So I'm not surprised that he
was trying to facilitate or people around him were trying
to facilitate getting him a second superstar. So he needs
a second superstars. He needs shooting, like high level shooting,
and he needs people around him on the team that
(42:52):
he trust. I don't Richard, I don't think Anthony Davis.
I think he's terrific. But I've seen what Lebron does
to Bosh and love he can kind of just because
of the way his game is played. He's a ball
control guy. He's a quarterback. He needs the ball. He's
got a Russell Wilson. He can throw it, yeah, he
can pass it that he can run and score it.
And there's certain receivers that work with Russell Wilson and
a certain style and offensive line, and I see that
(43:15):
with Lebron. Is Anthony Davis actually a great fit with him?
I think it is. I think because there's there's different
ways to kind of kill a bear, right, And for me,
I view Anthony Davis is like a Swiss army knife.
Swiss army knife. He's got a lot of different tools.
He's gonna do a lot of different things. But you
don't necessarily want to go kill a bear with a
Swiss army knife. You want to hatch it. And Broun
(43:36):
is a hatchet, right, Guys like that. Kobe Bryan's a hatchet,
But you need guys that can do a lot of
things also around him. And I think Anthony Davis can
block shots, he can rebound and so Broun looks at
it from a standpoint of like, hey, if I got
to throw the ball to him twenty five times and
let him do jumpers, are post ups, or whatever it is,
so to make sure he's averaging twenty five points a game,
and then I'll go do what it is, whatever it
(43:57):
is that I'll go do, I think it and fit
because Braun will make the best of whatever the situation is.
But I don't know if you want a d to
be your number one guy right to carry you all
throughout the postseason. I don't know if he's there yet.
I think he will be, but I think it would
be a good fit if it got to that spot,
mainly because I think Braun is he's that guy that's
(44:18):
just but he needs someone around him that can do
a little bit of everything. Chris, Chris Bosh, Kevin Love.
They can post up, they can shoot, they can do that.
But there was also a third superstar, which people forget. Now.
If Kevin Love was the was the second superstar, If
Chris Bosh was the second superstar, the same thing. It's
not the same thing. It's when they became the third
superstar that they had to make those sacrifices. But I
(44:39):
think Anthony Davis, and this is no disrespect to Kevin
Love or Chris Bosh is a far different player than
both of them. Um, Luke Walton is a college teammate
of yours and a friend. LaVar Ball, believe him or not,
says he just doesn't think he's done a very good job.
That he doesn't he hasn't been honest with Lonzo Ball.
What do you make of the criticism, not just from LaVar,
(45:01):
but many have criticized Luke for it not meshing. I
think that is if you have half a basketball brain.
I think that is one of the most ridiculous things
that you can say. First, let me say this, What
are LaVar's Ball's credentials to give us this information right now?
Is he thinks he's not the best coach for a
(45:22):
Lonzo That's fine, Right, you're a dad. You should act
like a dad. But we don't sit here and interview
dads across this league. Right. You had Anthony Davis's dad
say I don't think my son should go to Boston, right.
He openly said that, And so it's like, Yo, we
don't focus on dads. And I think for Luke I
think it's been a very very difficult situation in the
(45:42):
sense that, you know, he started off with a young
team and he's been growing that young team, brandon ingram
in three years he's been in this league, he doesn't
have one player on his team that started with him
three years ago, right, So that means that there's been
an overhaul to this lineup every single year, and every
year they've gotten better every year from Luke Walton's beginning,
(46:04):
their their win count had improved, Like they didn't get
eliminated from the playoffs last year until about six games
to go, right, And even this with with injuries and
all this other stuff meshing, Is there a person on
this planet that looked at this roster and said, oh,
this roster was going to mesh. And people keep talking
about the Lebron James injury that happened on Christmas Day,
but people forget that Rondo got hurt that same day,
(46:25):
that exact same day, Bron and Rondo both went out.
So you lose those two veterans, right, and you lose
those two guys that control your team, and then it
falls on to Lonzo, then it falls onto these young players.
And even in that stretch. There was a few guys.
Lvar miss are, Alonso missed some games, Ingram missed some games,
and Kosma missed some games, so there was three of
those guys missing. Richard, I could talk to you all day.
(46:46):
It's the herd.
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Colin Cowherd
Jason McIntyre
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