July 13, 2022 • 46 mins
Colin points out the biggest problem facing the NBA right now and it centers around Kevin Durant. He pushes back against the criticism that "mega conferences" is ruining competitive balance in college football. He also explains why it's looking like Kyrie Irving might be forced to return to the Brooklyn Nets. Plus, Fox Sports college football reporter Bruce Feldman joins the show in studio to give insight into concerns the top college football coaches have about conference realignment.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to the Best of Herd podcast. Are
you 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 cowhern
on Fox Sports Radio. Here we go. It is a Wednesday.
(00:28):
We are live in Los Angeles. It's the Herd. Wherever
you may be, and however you may be listening iHeartRadio,
Fox Sports Radio and FS one. You'd think it'd be
a slow week. It is not a slow week. There
is a ton to talk about for the next two days.
Jay Mack Jason McIntyre is a filling in for Joey Taylor.
(00:48):
J Mack is going to grow out of this trend
of playing pickup basketball. He's got a nasty shiner on
his right eye. He's handsome enough to overcome it. You'll
out old at some point. Just go home after workhaps
soup and then go to bed and watch Netflix. I
refuse to retire, Colin. I refuse. I lived through those years.
(01:09):
Great to have you and Buddy for the next couple
of days. Let's start with this. You know, there's this
myth and I tend to be pro player over pro owner.
I'm pro player. But there's this myth that Silicon Valley
is run by twenty year olds. No, it's not. Silicon
Valley is run by forty and fifty year olds. And
tech is a young person's world. My son's like sixteen
(01:32):
years old, lives for tech, his friends live for tech.
Silicon Valley, the tech world's run by forty and fifty
year olds. I used to work at a company. I laughed,
it's done fine. My company is doing well too. But
the company I used to work at, ESPN at one
point decided to let their young talent talk about anything
they wanted to. And Trump was president, he was toxic,
(01:55):
and they started talking about politics a lot, and they
didn't have great management at the time, and their ratings plummeted.
I'm four young people and four young athletes. They shouldn't
run your company, right, you'd grow into that. Adam Silver
is fingering out that twenty seven year olds shouldn't run
the NBA. They've given the players so much power that
(02:16):
Adam Silver has his State of the Union discussion, you know,
once twice a year. Yesterday he came out, think about
this the last two years. Adam Silver last year and
a little bit this year spent his time talking about
having to convince his twenty seven year olds to want
to play basketball. What you don't have to convince NFL
(02:40):
players because if they don't, you cut them. Adam Silver
was quoted yesterday talking about Kevin Durant. He goes, I
don't know whether the player requested a trade or demanded one,
but this needs to be a two way street. Teams
provide security and guarantees, and the expectation is returned Dell
(03:01):
meet their end of the bargain, the player will. I'm realistic.
There's always going to be some conversations to go on
behind closed doors between players and reps of the teams,
but we don't like to see players requesting trades and
we don't like to see it playing out the way
it is. So the last two years, Adam Silver has
spent his State of the Union one of his big
talking moments on having to convince his players to play
(03:25):
and convincing his star players to honor their contracts. Got
yourself a little problem. By the way, It's one thing
when Kad left Oklahoma City or Lebraun went to Miami,
they were free agents. They had earned that right. Now
fans in Cleveland or Oklahoma City may not like it,
(03:47):
but Lebron has always honored his contracts. Lebron signed short
contracts because at that time in his career physically he
didn't get hurt. He ran the league. He's like, I'm
doing one year deals and you signed him because he
was Lebron on and you get to the finals. But
those guys kd out of OKC and Lebron out of Cleveland,
they honored their contracts. I'll defend that forever. I am
(04:10):
mister pro player, pro mobility. But that's not what we
have here. What we have here is Kevin Durant saying
I created a mess. I wanted out, I demanded out,
I'm out and I don't want to play anymore in Brooklyn.
Remember what Houston did to James Harden. They pampered him.
They brought in Chris Paul, they bring in Russell Westbrook,
(04:30):
They built a team around him, specifically defended him, market him,
promote him, and in response, James Harden got fat and
quitting the team. That's what he did. Sorry if it
hurt your feelings, he quit. So think about the optics
of the NBA right now. Ben Simmons quit playing basketball,
(04:52):
Kevin Durant wants to quit the Nats, James Harden quit Houston,
and Kyrie Irving. The world is flat. Sorry, not great optics.
And I'm a NBA fan. I talk more NBA outside
of maybe Stephen A. Smith and Skip. I talk more
NBA than any opinionist in the country doing sports. I
love the league, love it, but the optics aren't great.
And think about this. In America, the pro sport always
(05:17):
beats the college sport. NHL gets much bigger ratings than
college hockey, Major League Baseball gets much bigger ratings than
college baseball. As much as we love college football, NFL
crushes it in ratings. Yep, March Madness often thumps the
NBA playoffs. It's optics. The NBA has always been more
(05:42):
pro player than any other league. Now I hear this
all the time. Nobody goes to see the GM. Yeah,
nobody goes to the game to see Belichick either. Nobody
goes to a baseball game to watch a manager. Nobody
goes to a hockey match to watch a hockey game
to watch, you know, the backup goal or an executive.
We all know that to be true. We know we
(06:04):
go to the games to watch the stars, and the
NBA is star driven. But there's a line that leagues
have crossed. And as much as I like Adam Silver,
he is soft. He is two pro player and in
the last two years he's literally spent time talking about
in his big talking moments. Yeah, I've got to convince
my players to want to play and to honor their contracts.
(06:27):
It's a bad look. And this is from somebody that
loves the sport. I'll defend the kd Levin OKC Lebron
leaving Cleveland. As much as fans hate it, they earned it,
and Lebron honors his contracts. Kadi right now, harden Ben
Simmons Kyrie. It's an awful look for the league, and
the ratings are illustrating. People don't like it. They don't
(06:50):
like it all right, So the best college football coach
of all time is Nick Saban, and I have finally,
I have finally figured out Nick Saban's genius. He's convinced
himself that Alabama doesn't dominate college football once he got
(07:12):
seven titles fifteen years. His genius is he's convinced himself.
While we're an underdog over here, what we don't want
in college football is a powerhouse winning the title every
two years. So Nick Saban was on some podcast and
he doesn't like all this mega conference stuff. And here's
the reason he is worked up over this Big ten
(07:33):
expansion and all these mega conference deals. Here we go.
My biggest concern is competitive balance. You know, the NFL,
every rule that they have is to create competitive balance.
And if they can have every team go eight and
eight I so at the end of the season, every
(07:53):
team was playing their last game to get in the playoffs,
they would be a static. We don't have any guard
on what we're doing right now, all right, so we
have no restrictions on who can do what. Some people
are going to be capable of doing certain things. Other
people are not going to be capable. The bottom line
is is we'll lose competitive balance, which everything we've always
(08:15):
done in college football is to maintain competitive balance. Who
outside of the state of Alabama buys that. Let's look
at Alabama schedule this year, which Saban controls the out
of conference schedule. He tells them who he wants to play.
Are we going to have competitive balance September third when
(08:35):
they host Utah State? Or September seventeenth when Abama hosts
louis Ena Monroe, who's not good at all even at
their level. Are we going to have competitive balance when
they host Austin p Nick schedule those games all at home.
You could have competitive balance. And Nick touched on it.
This is where he's right, and it would take about
(08:57):
two years to get it done. You'd have to wind
some contracts in the NFL. If you win your division,
you face other division winners the next year. In college football,
you could very easily create this, very easily create this
that anybody that want to Power five conference, that's you're
(09:17):
out of conference schedule. So Bama this year would have
to go play at Georgia, they'd have to go play
Ohio State and Baylor. Now I don't think you'd have
to play all the other conferences, but they'd have to
play maybe Utah or pit and maybe one in a
rotating basis. You wouldn't have to face every so you'd
past maybe three or four, not five. But if saban
(09:40):
is onto something and you had to play conference champions,
including one in your own division like Georgia. Then this
year Alabama would go to Columbus and for the record,
they'd lose, and they would go to Georgia and probably
probably lose. They would host Utah and win and maybe
host Baylor and would be you know, Alabama. But that
(10:02):
would be competitive balance. What Nick's really bothered by, and
I'll say it again, is that with a new name,
image and likeness, teams now can buy players. And Alabama,
the state of does not have the economy to compete
with Texas A and M and Texas because of the
big oil money. Texas A and M and Texas have
(10:23):
oil money coming out of their ears. Alabama does it,
and Nick knows it if you follow recruiting, and I do.
Abama is doing a great job. But a lot of
those five star guys, they're choosing Texas schools because getting paid.
And let's let's let's not be too definitive on you know,
why they're getting paid, how they're getting paid. They're getting paid.
(10:47):
I'm not here to judge. I don't I don't know
all the rules on the nil, but I know some
schoolers are paying big money for high schoolers. All right,
you know, I'm not judge jury, whatever, but that's what
he's worried about. Nick Nick Saban's never worried about competitive balance.
But the genius of him has been exposed or illustrated
that he has convinced himself he's an underdog. He's convinced
(11:08):
himself this sport anybody can win every year. Okay, every
other year, it's me. But besides that, he's not worried
about competitive balance at all. And I'm going to make
an argument that competitive balance has never been what college
football is about. It didn't have it in the forties, fifties, sixties, seventies, eighty.
(11:28):
It's never had it, and we keep watching it. It's
about the college campus. It's about big games. It's about rivalries,
the bands. It's about the feeling. It's not the best
football the NFL is. It's about how it makes you feel.
It makes you feel like you're putting back to your school,
it makes you feel young again. You go to the games,
you tailgate the bands, and we all know Alabama at
(11:50):
the end wins every other year. It's never been driven
by competitive balance, and I don't think competitive balance is
gonna get worse because it can't get worse because in
the last fifteen years the SEC has won or been
in fourteen of the games. It can't get worse. Miami, Texas,
they got the right boosters. They're buying five star guys.
(12:13):
I'm totally okay with it. That would be competitive balance,
and Nick's afraid of it. The sport could change within
two years, and he would fight it tooth and nail
if they said, from this point forward, you have to
face the winner of the SEC East, the winner of
the Big Ten, the winner of the Big twelve, the
winner of the ACC out of conference, half of them
(12:35):
on the road, anyone like that. That trip to Columbus
and I have that fun Holston, Louisiana men row at home.
That's a lot of fun every single year, and that
schedule he controls. Be sure to catch live editions of
The Herd weekdays in noon Easter nine am Pacific on
Fox Sports Radio FS one and the iHeartRadio app. Sometimes
(12:58):
stories are so trans parent why they're out. It's kind
of laughable. I say on the show, it's not about
just the story, but why did the story get out?
So here's the latest The New York Post, a fine newspaper.
Two different sources told The New York Post yesterday Kyrie
has not asked for a trade, and if the Nets
(13:19):
don't want him, that's different. Kyrie not said he wants
a trade. He opted in. He wants to play. Kyrie
wants to win a championship. Yeah, this is Kyrie and
his agents saving face. Never wanted out, loves kd loves
the Nets. Why did this story drop in the last
twenty four hours? Because the Lakers have drawn a line
(13:41):
in the sand. We'll give you Westbrook in a future
first round pick, but Kyrie's a flake. We're not giving
you both of our first round picks. We're not doing it.
The Lakers have drawn a line in the sand. Rob Polinka,
I'm told said, I'm not giving you both picks. We'll
give you one in Westbrook, but Kyrie's not to handable.
And for the record, I get it. I don't care
(14:02):
much about draft picks in the NBA, but I get it.
There is the value, the optics of We're not selling
the farm for Kyrie. If he flames out, you look
really bad. But this is all because the Nets don't
really want him. The Lakers want him, but don't want
to give up much other than a bad Westbrook contract,
and the other twenty nine teams in the league are
(14:23):
saying hard pass. That's why this story broke. And years
ago somebody warned me. They said, be very careful about
wanting total power, because if the fit hits the shan,
you'll get blamed for everything. Kyrie Irving overplayed his hand.
(14:44):
Burn Bridges had power and used all of it, and
this is where he is. The Nets don't want him,
the Lakers kind of do, but won't give up more
than Westbrook and a contract raft pick in three years,
which could be at the bottom of the first round,
(15:04):
and the other twenty nine teams are saying not remotely interested.
Kyrie has earned all of this, every single ounce of
it he's earned. Be sure to catch live editions of
The Herd weekdays in noun Easter nine Am Pacific. Andrea
Guadala gonna be a you know, really nice player, great career,
(15:25):
has an NBA Finals MVP said yesterday. If he played now,
Rashid Wallace would be better than Janis. I covered Rashid.
Here's the sound from Andrea Guadala Rashi Wallace awesome player.
Rashi Wallace, yea, probably could have been top five player
(15:46):
in the league four teen year stretch. He just chose,
I just I'll do my thing over here. He was
shooting threes from half court. No, he shooting half court
shots left handed and right handed. Yea, if Rashi Wallace
played in monor day basketball to if he played in
our league today, he'd beat a top five player in
the league. I don't believe he'd be better than Nis
and I love Yannis. This is, of course not true.
(16:09):
I covered Rashid. He never averaged over twenty points a game.
Work ethic, Yannis, disposition, Yannis, maturity, Jannis, reliability, Yannis, self control,
Yannis forget basketball, all the intangibles. In a hundred yard race,
Jannis would start with a seventy yard lead. She'd never
(16:32):
embraced being the man. Jannis covets it. I covered Sheet.
It was like covering a really talented kid. One year.
He had like thirty technicals. He never wanted to be
the man. In fact, he would write a check, and
I love Sheet. He would write a check. I was
told this is what I was told. He would write
a check before the season started to pay for his
(16:53):
fines for not working out, not lifting weights. So there
are certain tangible skills that trans sand eras Shee's got
a lot of those, right. But here's what always guarantees
you will not be a top three or four player
in the league. Average work ethic, semi dedicated from the
time he gets up in the morning to the time
(17:14):
he goes to bed at night. Yannis is completely committed
to basketball, the city of Milwaukee, his Bucks teammates, and
getting better. There are no days off. I know this
is hard for people do embrace because he's not as glamorous.
Jannis is the best player in the league. In almost
(17:34):
every game he plays, he is the most dominating offensive
player and defensive player. Sorry he doesn't have a cool
shoe deal. Sorry he's not glamorous. Sorry he doesn't covet fame.
I like andre Iguadala. But there's a reason that most
NBA players and most pro athletes should never be general managers.
They should not be You'll find the great gms and
(17:57):
the great coaches are often marginal players who had to
use things beyond talent. Magic. Johnson's amazing. Not a good coach,
not a good executive. That's not what he does three
years ago, just three years ago, if you would have
pulled NBA players, more of them would have chosen Westbrook
than Steph Curry as a teammate. Remember that a couple
(18:20):
of years ago, when Curry was winning the MVP, overwhelmingly
players liked Westbrook. Three to four years ago, if you
would have pulled NFL players, they would have taken Cam
over Russell Wilson because Cam's cool. Cam's career is over.
Westbrook now is viewed as a complete utter liability. In
the NBA. Players tend to fall for glamour and flash
(18:44):
and hyper athleticism. I said this about Baker and Johnny
Manzel when they came into the league. I'm like, that's
a fireworks show. Somebody's got to clean up a firework show.
We all go to firework shows. We watched them that
we get in our car and drive away. You ever
seen the mess after a fireworkow? That's not gonna work.
Here's what's gonna work for a long time. Justin Herbert,
(19:06):
he just come boring. Matt Stafford. Never see him in
Los Angeles, Justin Herbert, never see him in Los Angeles.
Baker Mayfield had forty two progressive commercials. I was exhausted
by the end of the first quarter of a Baker
Mayfield game, and so work ethic, disposition, commitment. I think
a lot of people in the NBA they're struggling with
(19:27):
Jannis being the guy. They like him, but he's you know,
he's not as cool or as flashy or as glamorous.
Rashid Wallace was temperamental fifteen years ago, twenty years ago.
Throw in social media, the pressurized world of the NBA,
the global nature of it, the constant twenty four to
seven examining of your life. She'd in today's NBA you
(19:51):
know what it would be. We have it. It's called
Anthony Davis. Not reliable, not totally committed, really good player,
certainly can win a title with him, but we have shed.
It's a d And if any of you this morning
think Ad is better than Yannis, stop talking basketball. Just
(20:11):
stop talking hoops. One more Herd. The Herd streams twenty
four hours a day, seven days a week within the
iHeartRadio app, Search Herd to listen live or on demand
whenever you like. You know, it's a fine line between
they say, confidence and arrogance. It's also a fine line
between brilliant and weird. So Elon Musk has crossed He's
(20:35):
crossed a threshold. For years and years, we looked at
Elon Musk as a genius who occasionally said weird things.
But now we've learned about his private life. He's getting
sued for billions of dollars the Twitter things weird. Now
he's crossed a threshold into kind of kind of toxic.
(20:57):
You can still like him, but he's become kind of toxic.
I think Kevin Durant has crossed a different threshold. So
when Kevin Durant left, there's no market for him right now,
not much of one. There really Isn't Brooklyn thought they
were getting like six picks and two stars. They said
as much. People don't even want to give up Aunt
(21:19):
Edwards for him. So I think he's crossed a different threshold.
When he bailed on Oklahoma City, I defended him. I said,
it's a small market, he may not like it, and
Russell Westbrook is hard to play with. And then he
left Golden State, the best culture in the NBA, and
I said, wow, bad judgment. Everybody deserves a mulligan in life.
(21:39):
And now four years left after an extension. He wants
to bail Brooklyn. Yeah, like he's crossed a threshold. I'm
not willing to trade John Murant for him. I'm not
willing to trade Aunt Edwards for him. People say, what
about the Celtics once they got Malcolm Brogden. I'm not
(22:00):
messing around with that team. They went to Game six
of the finals. I'm not messing with them. Katie changes
the temperature of the franchise with KD. He's crossed a threshold.
The best culture in the NBA by far is Golden State.
By year two, according to Draymond Green and others, he
was belittling cur complaining about shot selection. If Katie's on
(22:24):
your team at lunch, in the huddle at practice, you
say the wrong thing may set him off. I can
like a guy as a player, But the Warriors culture
didn't work. Steph Clay and Dre have been best friends
for ten years. They put their egos aside. Andrew Wiggins
happiest I've ever seen him. Year two. It wasn't working.
(22:46):
There was friction. So the question becomes like an Elon
Musk question, what environment does work for KD? A dominating personality?
Westbrook can't play with that sethless stars, but sometimes you
don't get every shot. No, it doesn't work with Golden State.
He bailed on that. Okay, okay, play with buddies in Brooklyn.
(23:09):
Now he doesn't like that either. So what works? What works?
A lot of teams have dominating stars, A lot of
teams have another star he's occasionally want to go to
take the last shot. I mean, Draymond Green can't be
the reason you leave Golden State. He remains tight with
(23:32):
Kerr Stephen Clay ten years, in every practice, every game.
Year two, you were struggling with him. So there are
thresholds that talented guy can cross. When he goes from
genius who can be a little wacky to toxic. You've
crossed the line when he goes from brilliant but a
little bit of a wanderer too. He just bails. He
(23:55):
created the mess. You didn't want him playing it. So
you can't play with friends. You can't play with a
dominating star. You had the best culture in the league,
and that didn't work. I mean Andrew Wiggins, many of
you thought he was a bust. I was talking to
Marcus Thompson yesterday. As good as any NBA reporter, great writer,
and he covers the Warriors a lot. He's written a
(24:15):
couple of books, one on Katie, one on Steph. And
I said, I said to him, I said, what is
Wiggins now for the Warriors? What is he? And he
said it and it was like a light one off
for me. He said, they now have a core four.
It's not Steph Clay Draymond. It's Steph Clay Draymond Wiggins.
That's the culture. Think about this. Marcus Thompson also said this,
(24:39):
How often does a guy come to a team and
you look at his contract Wiggins contract as a liability
three or four years later, you think you're almost stealing him.
I mean, I love Dame. Dame's a smaller athlete, no defense,
had some injuries. He's making fifty large Wiggins making half that.
He's the Warrior's best athlete today. He's their most versatile
(25:03):
wing athlete. Is Megan like? What twenty three, twenty five?
That was a bad contract Because of that culture, it's
now kind of a value proposition. So KDS crossed the threshold.
I get why the market is shrinking. Hey, it's me
Rob Parker. Check out my weekly MLB podcast Inside the
(25:26):
Parker for twenty two minutes of piping hot baseball talk,
featuring the biggest name to newsmakers in the sport. Whether
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the bases covered. New episodes drop every Thursday, So do
yourself a favor and listen to Inside the Parker with
Rob Parker on the iHeart Radio app or wherever you
(25:49):
get your podcast. Fourteen to fifteen years, I think we've
had an SEC team in I'm saying this earlier. Saban's
talking about competitive balance. What I think he wants to
say is that Texas Oil money between Sark and Jimbo
is hard to overcome for Alabama's economy he's had. Now
he's doing a lot of these podcasts and he's going
out saying the same thing as competitive balanced, his competitive balance.
(26:10):
And my takeaway is, Nick, we've been trying to get
you to play a road out of conference game for
like ten years, and you won't. I don't think Nick Saban.
I think Nick Saban senses nil. There are some big
check writers out there, and he may not. Now Bruce
Feldman joining us, he may not have the biggest check writers. Yeah,
I think that changes a little bit of the dynamic
with recruiting, But like you said, I mean, I think
(26:32):
they've won seventy five percent of the national titles in
the last sixteen years. There is no competitive balance. The
SEC has dominated it. I do think you'll see. Look,
we've seen Louisville this cycle in recruiting have a lot
of success because they have been very aggressive on the
nil front. They have one or two big boosters. Oregon's
got one big booster, Miami's got one big booster A
(26:54):
and M's got two. We've been told, yeah, and I
think it's I think it's not just that. I think
it also comes into how aggressive are they going to be?
And I think when you see some of that, you
know some of the stuff is going to shake out
over that. It's we're just one year into this, but
I think the landscape right now some people have been
more organized slash aggressive. We've seen it with Tennessee. We've
certainly seen it now with Miami. That has made a
(27:17):
difference and we'll see where it goes. Like I think,
I think the biggest thing Nick Saban is reacting to
is significant change. Coaches are the biggest control feaks in football.
You know that there are and I think the idea
of something changing the power dynamic and getting a little different,
that's the thing that's unsettling. Yeah, yeah, yeah, players have
more power in the NFL. You kind of know that
(27:38):
going to the sport like you bake it in the
billionaire will make the ultimate decision. Your GM will bark
about personnel, and your player may bail on you. So
I think you kind of know when you enter the
room of the NFL, and Nick would tell you this,
it's a different power dynamic college. The reason you coach
college isn't because these guys love recruiting. You control personnel. Yeah. Now, also,
(27:58):
but I talked to a bunch of NFL coaches who
want nothing to do with the college way. You have
an offseason, you have some sense of a normal life
in the summer. If you're an NFL coach, you don't
have that. I mean, I constantly hear from the college
coaches I talked to how much almost disgusted they are
by the recruiting calendar the way it is. So I
(28:20):
think that's the dynamic that they don't want any part of.
And you've now kind of created even more of a
because now their official visits are happening in the summer.
Before they didn't. Now you just have an unofficial visit,
which was probably an annoyance some kids in a baseball
tournament in your area, and all of a sudden, he
wants to show up on your campus. Now you've got
to go in. It's much different with official visits. It's
(28:42):
much different with how the recruiting calendar because now these coaches,
they are offering earlier and earlier, So I think that
has changed how they operate. Yeah, Bruce Feldman joining us,
So here's my USC. UCLA aren't joining for a couple
of years. So I'm you know, as you sit there
and you look around at your program and how to
(29:03):
make it easier. I don't buy the winter argument. Here's why,
because a majority of college football, even in the Big Ten,
is wrapped up by November sixteenth. USC is going to
play UCLA in their final game. They're talking winter as
in bad weather, right right, right. I've heard this bad argument.
Like the West coast guys don't go to Washington, Oregon,
Oregon State, Washington State in November. Trust me, I went
(29:25):
to college near Washington State. It's cold by November tenth.
So the idea of the cold weather, well, USC UCLA
are going to continue playing, So the last game of
the year's in La, their last their last potential road
game in the Big Ten is November sixteenth, seventeenth, eighteenth.
I've been to the Midwest, I've been to Madison. Then
it's cold. It's not Buffalo in December. I think the
(29:47):
cold weather and I think the travel is a little overplayed.
What say I would disagree on the latter point the
travel from the coaches I've talked to, who no guys
who have coached at the University of Hawaii, which you're
talking about real long trips. And it's not to say
that you know, you know, Hawaii going to play Rutgers.
It's not. We're not saying that. But in terms of
multiple time zone trips multiple times a year, it's one
(30:09):
thing for USC to play Notre Dame and go fly
into Chicago. It's another thing to do four trips like
that where you're flying east. Everything I've heard from people
in football, it takes a lot out of out of
college teams and we'll see how that ultimately plays out.
I don't think it's as much the weather. I just
think it's managing multiple time zone travel. You know it's
(30:32):
and you look at the Big Ten map. I know
where obviously Rutgers, Penn State, Maryland, those are far east.
But a lot of those places Ohio State is still
a long trip. I mean, those are you have to
get through a bunch of states before you get to
where the Big Ten is, and I think that will
be a challenge for them. I'm not saying they can't
win all their road games, but I think I would
(30:53):
not gloss over that for people who are saying, oh, yeah,
well they've they've they you know, they go to Notre
Dame every other year that they do, but they don't
go to Notre Dame and then they don't go to
Penn State, or they don't go to Purdue or you
know one of these places which is pretty far away,
Michigan State, you know, Michigan. I mean, look where we
are compared to where that is. That's not like a
(31:13):
direct shot. Well, I'm flying to Chicago tomorrow and I
can't wait. Bruce, all right, let's go to this one.
But you're not playing a football game when you get there, yeah, right,
you're probably schmoozing with people in your drinking, Yeah, a
little different. You nail both of them. Bruce could call
a lot of that schmoozing drinking, all right. So, being
from the Pacific Northwest, Oregon's freaking out now. I think
Oregon's too good not to be in a good conference.
(31:35):
I think Utah is too good not to be in
a good conference. I tend to think when and you
said this earlier, when it's sort of fluid right now,
and people tend to overreact a change period, especially control freaks.
And so I said this the other day to a friend.
I said, in college basketball, men's and women's, we have
(31:55):
a template. We let a lot of people into the tournament,
and we don't really care what they're from. I mean,
Gonzaga is better than any pack twelve team. It's not
a major market. Three teams come out of that conference
and often play very well against the ACC in the
Big Ten. Big Ten had nine teams in March Madness.
Other conferences have one. You have a big playoff. What
(32:17):
I think this is going to create. It's gonna initiate
faster than probably would have happened, a bigger playoff, and
once we get sixteen teams in Bruce nobody cares where
they're from. You'll get four Big Ten, you'll get six SEC,
you'll get two ACC And you can't tell me if
(32:38):
the Big twelve PAC twelve merge Baylor, Oklahoma State BYU Houston, Utah, Oregon, Washington,
you're gonna get three teams into a sixteen team playoff.
I think I think this is going to initiate a
bigger plaoff because they're gonna be so much yelling and
screaming about. I mean, I mean, come on, you can't.
I mean, it's two conferences, and I think a lot
(33:00):
of presidents will fight for their schools and say, Okay,
I didn't want a big playoff, but I'm not going
to be precious. My coaches are yelling at me, and
we're gonna get to a sixteen team playoff faster than
we thought. I could see twelve teams. I do think
there will be expansion because I think there's gonna be
more money in it. Now. The issue I would challenge
a little bit is to me, comparing college basketball to
(33:23):
college football isn't apples and oranges anymore like there's it's
just for the most part, you know, people don't care
about college basketball the way they do college football. They
care about the tournament, they care about March Madness, but
a window of about a month where if you talk
about Big ten sec especially, it's a year round deal
(33:44):
where people care about it. So I think the pushback
and some of that, you know, it's probably a little
harder to gauge, but I do think that they will
eventually go to at least twelve teams because there's gonna
be way more money in it, right, Like all this
stuff that is going on is all because of the money. Right,
So if you put a huge TV contract down or
a bit of what it's gonna be, you're gonna get
(34:05):
way more money for that than you are for four teams, right,
because there's more inventory, There's going to be more eyeballs
on it. I just think that there is something that
they can sell to me that's the driver more than
anything else. Now, could there be three teams from a
merger if there's the Big twel for the Big twelve
Pac twelve, Yeah, it's possible. I'm not sure. I think
(34:26):
it's probably more realistic that maybe there are two. You know,
you you you know, as much as those teams you
said are really good, there. They are good from time
to time. Summer Utah has been consistently good. I think
when you look at them in terms of who they're
gonna play, I think they're gonna be looked at a
little bit along the lines of how Cincinnati was. If
(34:48):
I see, I don't see. To me, I don't. I
think I look at Baylor football as an equal to Texas.
In fact, they've been better than Texas for they have,
but you're looking at it with Texas and OU in
their conference when you take them out, when you take USC,
if USC is good out, I just think that you're
not going to get people who are all of a
sudden going to give them the benefit of doubt and
(35:09):
say there's going to be these teams because they're gonna
go who did you beat? And I think that's the
thing that's going to be hard. You beat a seven
and five TCU team, you beat, as you know, a
seven and five Washington State. I just think they're going
to look at the rest of the league. And that's
where I'm not as convinced. There's not gonna be a
(35:30):
lot of pushback on what becomes of these other of
these two leagues if they end up all right, What's
what's gonna happen with Notre Dame or are they going
to join a conference eventually? I do think they will. Yeah,
I don't think there's a huge drive for them to
do it asap and it's imminent. But in terms of
they can wiggle out of the granted rights because they're
with the ACC which is which is unwieldy. But for them,
(35:52):
they're not tied to it football eve, so the money
is not prohibitive. And I just think if you look
at what the Big ten offers for them geographically, it
makes a lot of sense. They're big, our travel is
now going to it at USC. I think culturally, academic wise,
I think they see a lot of parallels with who
they are, and I think it will make more sense
(36:12):
more financially that will outweigh Notre Dame just loving the
uniqueness and the branding of being the only real independent.
I think that ultimately it will be too tempting for
them to finally you know it, maybe a few years
from now, but I think eventually they will end up interview.
Maybe I'm just too optimistic. I am very optimistic about
(36:34):
college football. I think the Big twelve Pac twelve are
going to merge, and I think it's gonna be a
pretty darn good conference. And I think you're gonna have
a bunch of Oregon, Utah, Baylor, Oklahoma State, and maybe
they're not. I'll give an example. How about this Feldman,
Bruce Feldman joining us. Take out Ohio State one team,
one team tomorrow, Michigan Baylor play. I'm taking Baylor. Yeah,
(36:57):
but that's like a all right, I'm just I'm playing again.
Who I mean, that's what they saying. Take out Alabama tomorrow,
Vanderbilt plays. No no, no, no, no no like no,
no, no no, no. I didn't use Vanderbilt. If you used Michigan.
I said, the Big Ten is not as good as
everybody thinks today, and the Big Twelve with the Pac
twelve would be better. You take out one Big Ten
program tomorrow, Michigan Baylor play. I take Baylor Tomorrow, Oregon
(37:20):
in the Big twelve plays Michigan. I take Oregon. So
you don't like Jim Harbaugh, That's what long My take is,
SEC's a different animal. You can go to the fourth
team lsue they got more players than anybody the Big Ten.
Once you take out Ohio State last twelve years. Look
at the first round picks from the Big Ten. It evaporates. Yeah,
(37:41):
but look at the look at what you have in
the Big twelve, what you're talking about, It's not like
their draft numbers are lower than any of the leagues.
I'm not saying the Big twelve is terrible, but I
am saying you're talking about, well taking out the biggest heavyweight,
and I agree, But I don't think the rest of
the Big twelve, Big ten is awful. No, I don't,
no, no no, no, that's not my argument. It isn't awful,
(38:02):
it's not dominating. And I still didn't get is better
than than the Big twelve because I mean, because you're
talking about Baylor, by the way, the team and good
look a lot of respect to Dave Randa and to
Matt Rule for building rebuilding that program. That was a
team that won two games the year before, right, So,
and you look at this the team that was one
of the best teams in it. You know, going into
(38:24):
last year, Iowa State just had its best season ever.
They won seven games last year. I don't think you know,
Texas we're getting you know, excited about them. They won
five games last year. This league Oklahoma State has been
consistently very good. Yes, um TCU fell down in the
last few Origan's good, Utah's good, Baylor's good, Oklahoma's good.
(38:44):
By US talks good. Last year, Baylor was horrible, the
year before horrible. Well, it's a battle year. Michigan was horrible,
not too long not to the great Baylor was. I'm
just saying, so, mister optimism over here, Okay, I just
we've we marginalized. If you if you put in the
PAC twelve and the Big twelve together, I think the
(39:06):
top six teams are all top twenty five programs, and
if you take out Ohio State, that's about what you
have in the Big ten. Who you so tell me
without USC and UCLA, you said, Oregon, in Utah, who
else do you get excited about in the PAC twelve? Well,
I mean outside of Ohio State, No, No, in the
PAC twelve. In the PAC twelve, um, not many. But
I'm saying if you take nobody the best apart in
(39:29):
the last few years, you know, Washington really fell apart.
I mean you're looking at that that league, I mean
it is really dwindled. Now. Yeah, I think by the way,
Utah good Oregon has recruited well after that, and by
the way, Oregon has a new coach. We'll see how
that's gonna go. But it's like there are questions about
(39:49):
these programs. I just don't. I don't think Arizona State
horrible dealing with a standal, I don't. I think when
you expand the playoff, we don't. We won't give a rip.
Like in college basketball right now, I don't give a rip.
I couldn't care about the conferences. I care about March Madness.
The minute you expand the playoffs, we're not going to
care as much about the conferences because you know the
top four are going to go from the Big ten
(40:10):
and the top four to five. So if you're good,
you'll get in. And I think Oregon and Baylor and
Utah will still have an absolute great shot to get
in because they won't have to play as top a schedule.
The college football history is we always want a Cincinnati in.
We always want a little guy in, even if they
don't have my point a minute ago, whereas Cincinnati of
things broke right, Look, Cincinnati is going to the Big twelve.
(40:32):
I think some of the teams they've scraped up pretty good,
are good good, and that will help. But my point
is if you look at what's left in the Pac twelve,
I just have a harder sell saying yeah, it's it's
similar to what we're looking at the Big ten. We're
similar as nothing close to the y. But the Big
twelve doesn't want all the pack. They just want Oregon, Washington, Utah.
That's what they And by the way they pay take now,
they wouldn't take Stanford. Big ten would take Stanford because
(40:54):
of the academics. Well, that's a different topic than they
I mean, do they want to split the pie with
another I don't know about all right, way they want
Notre Dame, Yeah, that will that makes sense. Everybody wants
Notre Dame. Yeah, nobody wants to hear them, but people
do want Notre Dame. All right, that's a lot of stuff.
We knocked it out of the park there, film and
that was good, good work by you. Be sure to
catch live editions of The Herd weekdays in noon Easter
(41:17):
nine am Pacific on Fox Sports Radio FS one and
the iHeart Radio app. The Chicago Bears have acquired New
England Patriots wide receiver first round pick Nikil Harry for
a seventh round pick. For the record, I thought Nikil
Harry would be a good NFL player, maybe not great,
but good ed didn't work out. He had fifty seven
(41:38):
catches in thirty six regular season games. He's a bust.
Was a bust. It's interesting we are now just two
years removed all that culture built up in New England,
all those Super Bowls, all that win, all those WS
playoff victories, momentum sellouts. We are just two years removed.
(42:00):
The Patriots, in an offensive leaning league, have no number
one receiver, arguably no number two. Have a Matt quarterback
who can't make plays with his feet, and Matt Patricia
is their new offensive coordinator. Was Tom Brady the crutch
that took Belichick's wobbly offensive skill drafting and scouting to
(42:22):
another level. Not saying it's true feels like it. We're
in a new age of football. We have pivoted very
quickly away from the ball and to the sidelines. It
used to always be in the NFL you built your
team from the ball out, but increasingly, because of rule changes, corners, receivers,
(42:42):
egg rushers are becoming more valuable in this league. There's
something to be said about do you have a feel
for it? You hear this all the time in golf.
Certain golfers just have a feel around the greens, They
have a feel with their irons. Some people just have
better timings. Some comedians just can kind of feel when
it's time to pause, feel when it's time to lean in.
(43:05):
I feel like New England Brady was their feel and
Josh McDaniels and they're both gone. And I also think
it's weird in twenty twenty two just saying, you know,
I'm just gonna make Matt Patricia the offensive coordinator. Man,
that feels like you're mailing it in, does it not?
(43:28):
I mean, if Sean mcvay' is like, you know, I'm
just gonna I got a buddy who's on offense, I
make him the defensive coordinator. I mean, wouldn't Less snead
and stand cronky go? Can we have a meeting over this?
That's not that's not really the structure we're looking for.
But this is often what happens when you give a
coach too much power. Pete Carroll had too much power.
(43:51):
Look at the Seahawks drafts the last seven years. This
was their best Why Pete had less power. He'd been
criticized for his draft leverage. Belichick weird drafts? Why too
much power? The Matt Patricia move is beyond arrogant thinking,
let just take a defensive guy make him offensive coordinator
(44:13):
is weird. By the way, Robert Kraft is getting annoyed.
Remember what Robert Kraft what he said last year about
Belichick and the Patriots current momentum. I'm a Patriot fan,
big time first, and more than anything, it bothers me
(44:33):
that we haven't been able to win a playoff game
in the last three years. After my family, there's nothing
more important to me than the New England Patriots and
winning football games. That's my passion. So whatever I can do,
hopefully in a small way, to make that happen, I'm there.
(44:58):
I'm not happy that we have won a playoff game
in three years, so I think about that a lot. Yeah,
Josh Allen and the Bills are head and shoulders above
that division, and if Miami is as dynamic offensively as
I think they will be, I think it's gonna work.
(45:20):
I do think it's gonna work. They're just two talented
offensively with a really smart guy from San Francisco now
running the show. Whether he's a great head coach or not,
you never know with coordinators, but they're going to be
better offensively. If you did an All Star team in
this conference, you just took the AFC East and you said,
let's create an All Star team, would a Patriot make
(45:43):
it on offense? One? One. We are two years removed
from this being the greatest dynasty in the history of
professional football in America. This is at best a third
place roster in the AFC East. In the AFC West,
(46:06):
if they had a fifth team, it would be a
fifth place roster. I just don't think they have a
feel for offense. McDaniel Brady gone, You're gonna notice it.
Thanks for listening to the Best of Herd podcast. Are
you 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 cowhern
on Fox Sports Radio. Here we go. It is a Wednesday.
(00:28):
We are live in Los Angeles. It's the Herd. Wherever
you may be, and however you may be listening iHeartRadio,
Fox Sports Radio and FS one. You'd think it'd be
a slow week. It is not a slow week. There
is a ton to talk about for the next two days.
Jay Mack Jason McIntyre is a filling in for Joey Taylor.
(00:48):
J Mack is going to grow out of this trend
of playing pickup basketball. He's got a nasty shiner on
his right eye. He's handsome enough to overcome it. You'll
out old at some point. Just go home after workhaps
soup and then go to bed and watch Netflix. I
refuse to retire, Colin. I refuse. I lived through those years.
(01:09):
Great to have you and Buddy for the next couple
of days. Let's start with this. You know, there's this
myth and I tend to be pro player over pro owner.
I'm pro player. But there's this myth that Silicon Valley
is run by twenty year olds. No, it's not. Silicon
Valley is run by forty and fifty year olds. And
tech is a young person's world. My son's like sixteen
(01:32):
years old, lives for tech, his friends live for tech.
Silicon Valley, the tech world's run by forty and fifty
year olds. I used to work at a company. I laughed,
it's done fine. My company is doing well too. But
the company I used to work at, ESPN at one
point decided to let their young talent talk about anything
they wanted to. And Trump was president, he was toxic,
(01:55):
and they started talking about politics a lot, and they
didn't have great management at the time, and their ratings plummeted.
I'm four young people and four young athletes. They shouldn't
run your company, right, you'd grow into that. Adam Silver
is fingering out that twenty seven year olds shouldn't run
the NBA. They've given the players so much power that
(02:16):
Adam Silver has his State of the Union discussion, you know,
once twice a year. Yesterday he came out, think about
this the last two years. Adam Silver last year and
a little bit this year spent his time talking about
having to convince his twenty seven year olds to want
to play basketball. What you don't have to convince NFL
(02:40):
players because if they don't, you cut them. Adam Silver
was quoted yesterday talking about Kevin Durant. He goes, I
don't know whether the player requested a trade or demanded one,
but this needs to be a two way street. Teams
provide security and guarantees, and the expectation is returned Dell
(03:01):
meet their end of the bargain, the player will. I'm realistic.
There's always going to be some conversations to go on
behind closed doors between players and reps of the teams,
but we don't like to see players requesting trades and
we don't like to see it playing out the way
it is. So the last two years, Adam Silver has
spent his State of the Union one of his big
talking moments on having to convince his players to play
(03:25):
and convincing his star players to honor their contracts. Got
yourself a little problem. By the way, It's one thing
when Kad left Oklahoma City or Lebraun went to Miami,
they were free agents. They had earned that right. Now
fans in Cleveland or Oklahoma City may not like it,
(03:47):
but Lebron has always honored his contracts. Lebron signed short
contracts because at that time in his career physically he
didn't get hurt. He ran the league. He's like, I'm
doing one year deals and you signed him because he
was Lebron on and you get to the finals. But
those guys kd out of OKC and Lebron out of Cleveland,
they honored their contracts. I'll defend that forever. I am
(04:10):
mister pro player, pro mobility. But that's not what we
have here. What we have here is Kevin Durant saying
I created a mess. I wanted out, I demanded out,
I'm out and I don't want to play anymore in Brooklyn.
Remember what Houston did to James Harden. They pampered him.
They brought in Chris Paul, they bring in Russell Westbrook,
(04:30):
They built a team around him, specifically defended him, market him,
promote him, and in response, James Harden got fat and
quitting the team. That's what he did. Sorry if it
hurt your feelings, he quit. So think about the optics
of the NBA right now. Ben Simmons quit playing basketball,
(04:52):
Kevin Durant wants to quit the Nats, James Harden quit Houston,
and Kyrie Irving. The world is flat. Sorry, not great optics.
And I'm a NBA fan. I talk more NBA outside
of maybe Stephen A. Smith and Skip. I talk more
NBA than any opinionist in the country doing sports. I
love the league, love it, but the optics aren't great.
And think about this. In America, the pro sport always
(05:17):
beats the college sport. NHL gets much bigger ratings than
college hockey, Major League Baseball gets much bigger ratings than
college baseball. As much as we love college football, NFL
crushes it in ratings. Yep, March Madness often thumps the
NBA playoffs. It's optics. The NBA has always been more
(05:42):
pro player than any other league. Now I hear this
all the time. Nobody goes to see the GM. Yeah,
nobody goes to the game to see Belichick either. Nobody
goes to a baseball game to watch a manager. Nobody
goes to a hockey match to watch a hockey game
to watch, you know, the backup goal or an executive.
We all know that to be true. We know we
(06:04):
go to the games to watch the stars, and the
NBA is star driven. But there's a line that leagues
have crossed. And as much as I like Adam Silver,
he is soft. He is two pro player and in
the last two years he's literally spent time talking about
in his big talking moments. Yeah, I've got to convince
my players to want to play and to honor their contracts.
(06:27):
It's a bad look. And this is from somebody that
loves the sport. I'll defend the kd Levin OKC Lebron
leaving Cleveland. As much as fans hate it, they earned it,
and Lebron honors his contracts. Kadi right now, harden Ben
Simmons Kyrie. It's an awful look for the league, and
the ratings are illustrating. People don't like it. They don't
(06:50):
like it all right, So the best college football coach
of all time is Nick Saban, and I have finally,
I have finally figured out Nick Saban's genius. He's convinced
himself that Alabama doesn't dominate college football once he got
(07:12):
seven titles fifteen years. His genius is he's convinced himself.
While we're an underdog over here, what we don't want
in college football is a powerhouse winning the title every
two years. So Nick Saban was on some podcast and
he doesn't like all this mega conference stuff. And here's
the reason he is worked up over this Big ten
(07:33):
expansion and all these mega conference deals. Here we go.
My biggest concern is competitive balance. You know, the NFL,
every rule that they have is to create competitive balance.
And if they can have every team go eight and
eight I so at the end of the season, every
(07:53):
team was playing their last game to get in the playoffs,
they would be a static. We don't have any guard
on what we're doing right now, all right, so we
have no restrictions on who can do what. Some people
are going to be capable of doing certain things. Other
people are not going to be capable. The bottom line
is is we'll lose competitive balance, which everything we've always
(08:15):
done in college football is to maintain competitive balance. Who
outside of the state of Alabama buys that. Let's look
at Alabama schedule this year, which Saban controls the out
of conference schedule. He tells them who he wants to play.
Are we going to have competitive balance September third when
(08:35):
they host Utah State? Or September seventeenth when Abama hosts
louis Ena Monroe, who's not good at all even at
their level. Are we going to have competitive balance when
they host Austin p Nick schedule those games all at home.
You could have competitive balance. And Nick touched on it.
This is where he's right, and it would take about
(08:57):
two years to get it done. You'd have to wind
some contracts in the NFL. If you win your division,
you face other division winners the next year. In college football,
you could very easily create this, very easily create this
that anybody that want to Power five conference, that's you're
(09:17):
out of conference schedule. So Bama this year would have
to go play at Georgia, they'd have to go play
Ohio State and Baylor. Now I don't think you'd have
to play all the other conferences, but they'd have to
play maybe Utah or pit and maybe one in a
rotating basis. You wouldn't have to face every so you'd
past maybe three or four, not five. But if saban
(09:40):
is onto something and you had to play conference champions,
including one in your own division like Georgia. Then this
year Alabama would go to Columbus and for the record,
they'd lose, and they would go to Georgia and probably
probably lose. They would host Utah and win and maybe
host Baylor and would be you know, Alabama. But that
(10:02):
would be competitive balance. What Nick's really bothered by, and
I'll say it again, is that with a new name,
image and likeness, teams now can buy players. And Alabama,
the state of does not have the economy to compete
with Texas A and M and Texas because of the
big oil money. Texas A and M and Texas have
(10:23):
oil money coming out of their ears. Alabama does it,
and Nick knows it if you follow recruiting, and I do.
Abama is doing a great job. But a lot of
those five star guys, they're choosing Texas schools because getting paid.
And let's let's let's not be too definitive on you know,
why they're getting paid, how they're getting paid. They're getting paid.
(10:47):
I'm not here to judge. I don't I don't know
all the rules on the nil, but I know some
schoolers are paying big money for high schoolers. All right,
you know, I'm not judge jury, whatever, but that's what
he's worried about. Nick Nick Saban's never worried about competitive balance.
But the genius of him has been exposed or illustrated
that he has convinced himself he's an underdog. He's convinced
(11:08):
himself this sport anybody can win every year. Okay, every
other year, it's me. But besides that, he's not worried
about competitive balance at all. And I'm going to make
an argument that competitive balance has never been what college
football is about. It didn't have it in the forties, fifties, sixties, seventies, eighty.
(11:28):
It's never had it, and we keep watching it. It's
about the college campus. It's about big games. It's about rivalries,
the bands. It's about the feeling. It's not the best
football the NFL is. It's about how it makes you feel.
It makes you feel like you're putting back to your school,
it makes you feel young again. You go to the games,
you tailgate the bands, and we all know Alabama at
(11:50):
the end wins every other year. It's never been driven
by competitive balance, and I don't think competitive balance is
gonna get worse because it can't get worse because in
the last fifteen years the SEC has won or been
in fourteen of the games. It can't get worse. Miami, Texas,
they got the right boosters. They're buying five star guys.
(12:13):
I'm totally okay with it. That would be competitive balance,
and Nick's afraid of it. The sport could change within
two years, and he would fight it tooth and nail
if they said, from this point forward, you have to
face the winner of the SEC East, the winner of
the Big Ten, the winner of the Big twelve, the
winner of the ACC out of conference, half of them
(12:35):
on the road, anyone like that. That trip to Columbus
and I have that fun Holston, Louisiana men row at home.
That's a lot of fun every single year, and that
schedule he controls. Be sure to catch live editions of
The Herd weekdays in noon Easter nine am Pacific on
Fox Sports Radio FS one and the iHeartRadio app. Sometimes
(12:58):
stories are so trans parent why they're out. It's kind
of laughable. I say on the show, it's not about
just the story, but why did the story get out?
So here's the latest The New York Post, a fine newspaper.
Two different sources told The New York Post yesterday Kyrie
has not asked for a trade, and if the Nets
(13:19):
don't want him, that's different. Kyrie not said he wants
a trade. He opted in. He wants to play. Kyrie
wants to win a championship. Yeah, this is Kyrie and
his agents saving face. Never wanted out, loves kd loves
the Nets. Why did this story drop in the last
twenty four hours? Because the Lakers have drawn a line
(13:41):
in the sand. We'll give you Westbrook in a future
first round pick, but Kyrie's a flake. We're not giving
you both of our first round picks. We're not doing it.
The Lakers have drawn a line in the sand. Rob Polinka,
I'm told said, I'm not giving you both picks. We'll
give you one in Westbrook, but Kyrie's not to handable.
And for the record, I get it. I don't care
(14:02):
much about draft picks in the NBA, but I get it.
There is the value, the optics of We're not selling
the farm for Kyrie. If he flames out, you look
really bad. But this is all because the Nets don't
really want him. The Lakers want him, but don't want
to give up much other than a bad Westbrook contract,
and the other twenty nine teams in the league are
(14:23):
saying hard pass. That's why this story broke. And years
ago somebody warned me. They said, be very careful about
wanting total power, because if the fit hits the shan,
you'll get blamed for everything. Kyrie Irving overplayed his hand.
(14:44):
Burn Bridges had power and used all of it, and
this is where he is. The Nets don't want him,
the Lakers kind of do, but won't give up more
than Westbrook and a contract raft pick in three years,
which could be at the bottom of the first round,
(15:04):
and the other twenty nine teams are saying not remotely interested.
Kyrie has earned all of this, every single ounce of
it he's earned. Be sure to catch live editions of
The Herd weekdays in noun Easter nine Am Pacific. Andrea
Guadala gonna be a you know, really nice player, great career,
(15:25):
has an NBA Finals MVP said yesterday. If he played now,
Rashid Wallace would be better than Janis. I covered Rashid.
Here's the sound from Andrea Guadala Rashi Wallace awesome player.
Rashi Wallace, yea, probably could have been top five player
(15:46):
in the league four teen year stretch. He just chose,
I just I'll do my thing over here. He was
shooting threes from half court. No, he shooting half court
shots left handed and right handed. Yea, if Rashi Wallace
played in monor day basketball to if he played in
our league today, he'd beat a top five player in
the league. I don't believe he'd be better than Nis
and I love Yannis. This is, of course not true.
(16:09):
I covered Rashid. He never averaged over twenty points a game.
Work ethic, Yannis, disposition, Yannis, maturity, Jannis, reliability, Yannis, self control,
Yannis forget basketball, all the intangibles. In a hundred yard race,
Jannis would start with a seventy yard lead. She'd never
(16:32):
embraced being the man. Jannis covets it. I covered Sheet.
It was like covering a really talented kid. One year.
He had like thirty technicals. He never wanted to be
the man. In fact, he would write a check, and
I love Sheet. He would write a check. I was
told this is what I was told. He would write
a check before the season started to pay for his
(16:53):
fines for not working out, not lifting weights. So there
are certain tangible skills that trans sand eras Shee's got
a lot of those, right. But here's what always guarantees
you will not be a top three or four player
in the league. Average work ethic, semi dedicated from the
time he gets up in the morning to the time
(17:14):
he goes to bed at night. Yannis is completely committed
to basketball, the city of Milwaukee, his Bucks teammates, and
getting better. There are no days off. I know this
is hard for people do embrace because he's not as glamorous.
Jannis is the best player in the league. In almost
(17:34):
every game he plays, he is the most dominating offensive
player and defensive player. Sorry he doesn't have a cool
shoe deal. Sorry he's not glamorous. Sorry he doesn't covet fame.
I like andre Iguadala. But there's a reason that most
NBA players and most pro athletes should never be general managers.
They should not be You'll find the great gms and
(17:57):
the great coaches are often marginal players who had to
use things beyond talent. Magic. Johnson's amazing. Not a good coach,
not a good executive. That's not what he does three
years ago, just three years ago, if you would have
pulled NBA players, more of them would have chosen Westbrook
than Steph Curry as a teammate. Remember that a couple
(18:20):
of years ago, when Curry was winning the MVP, overwhelmingly
players liked Westbrook. Three to four years ago, if you
would have pulled NFL players, they would have taken Cam
over Russell Wilson because Cam's cool. Cam's career is over.
Westbrook now is viewed as a complete utter liability. In
the NBA. Players tend to fall for glamour and flash
(18:44):
and hyper athleticism. I said this about Baker and Johnny
Manzel when they came into the league. I'm like, that's
a fireworks show. Somebody's got to clean up a firework show.
We all go to firework shows. We watched them that
we get in our car and drive away. You ever
seen the mess after a fireworkow? That's not gonna work.
Here's what's gonna work for a long time. Justin Herbert,
(19:06):
he just come boring. Matt Stafford. Never see him in
Los Angeles, Justin Herbert, never see him in Los Angeles.
Baker Mayfield had forty two progressive commercials. I was exhausted
by the end of the first quarter of a Baker
Mayfield game, and so work ethic, disposition, commitment. I think
a lot of people in the NBA they're struggling with
(19:27):
Jannis being the guy. They like him, but he's you know,
he's not as cool or as flashy or as glamorous.
Rashid Wallace was temperamental fifteen years ago, twenty years ago.
Throw in social media, the pressurized world of the NBA,
the global nature of it, the constant twenty four to
seven examining of your life. She'd in today's NBA you
(19:51):
know what it would be. We have it. It's called
Anthony Davis. Not reliable, not totally committed, really good player,
certainly can win a title with him, but we have shed.
It's a d And if any of you this morning
think Ad is better than Yannis, stop talking basketball. Just
(20:11):
stop talking hoops. One more Herd. The Herd streams twenty
four hours a day, seven days a week within the
iHeartRadio app, Search Herd to listen live or on demand
whenever you like. You know, it's a fine line between
they say, confidence and arrogance. It's also a fine line
between brilliant and weird. So Elon Musk has crossed He's
(20:35):
crossed a threshold. For years and years, we looked at
Elon Musk as a genius who occasionally said weird things.
But now we've learned about his private life. He's getting
sued for billions of dollars the Twitter things weird. Now
he's crossed a threshold into kind of kind of toxic.
(20:57):
You can still like him, but he's become kind of toxic.
I think Kevin Durant has crossed a different threshold. So
when Kevin Durant left, there's no market for him right now,
not much of one. There really Isn't Brooklyn thought they
were getting like six picks and two stars. They said
as much. People don't even want to give up Aunt
(21:19):
Edwards for him. So I think he's crossed a different threshold.
When he bailed on Oklahoma City, I defended him. I said,
it's a small market, he may not like it, and
Russell Westbrook is hard to play with. And then he
left Golden State, the best culture in the NBA, and
I said, wow, bad judgment. Everybody deserves a mulligan in life.
(21:39):
And now four years left after an extension. He wants
to bail Brooklyn. Yeah, like he's crossed a threshold. I'm
not willing to trade John Murant for him. I'm not
willing to trade Aunt Edwards for him. People say, what
about the Celtics once they got Malcolm Brogden. I'm not
(22:00):
messing around with that team. They went to Game six
of the finals. I'm not messing with them. Katie changes
the temperature of the franchise with KD. He's crossed a threshold.
The best culture in the NBA by far is Golden State.
By year two, according to Draymond Green and others, he
was belittling cur complaining about shot selection. If Katie's on
(22:24):
your team at lunch, in the huddle at practice, you
say the wrong thing may set him off. I can
like a guy as a player, But the Warriors culture
didn't work. Steph Clay and Dre have been best friends
for ten years. They put their egos aside. Andrew Wiggins
happiest I've ever seen him. Year two. It wasn't working.
(22:46):
There was friction. So the question becomes like an Elon
Musk question, what environment does work for KD? A dominating personality?
Westbrook can't play with that sethless stars, but sometimes you
don't get every shot. No, it doesn't work with Golden State.
He bailed on that. Okay, okay, play with buddies in Brooklyn.
(23:09):
Now he doesn't like that either. So what works? What works?
A lot of teams have dominating stars, A lot of
teams have another star he's occasionally want to go to
take the last shot. I mean, Draymond Green can't be
the reason you leave Golden State. He remains tight with
(23:32):
Kerr Stephen Clay ten years, in every practice, every game.
Year two, you were struggling with him. So there are
thresholds that talented guy can cross. When he goes from
genius who can be a little wacky to toxic. You've
crossed the line when he goes from brilliant but a
little bit of a wanderer too. He just bails. He
(23:55):
created the mess. You didn't want him playing it. So
you can't play with friends. You can't play with a
dominating star. You had the best culture in the league,
and that didn't work. I mean Andrew Wiggins, many of
you thought he was a bust. I was talking to
Marcus Thompson yesterday. As good as any NBA reporter, great writer,
and he covers the Warriors a lot. He's written a
(24:15):
couple of books, one on Katie, one on Steph. And
I said, I said to him, I said, what is
Wiggins now for the Warriors? What is he? And he
said it and it was like a light one off
for me. He said, they now have a core four.
It's not Steph Clay Draymond. It's Steph Clay Draymond Wiggins.
That's the culture. Think about this. Marcus Thompson also said this,
(24:39):
How often does a guy come to a team and
you look at his contract Wiggins contract as a liability
three or four years later, you think you're almost stealing him.
I mean, I love Dame. Dame's a smaller athlete, no defense,
had some injuries. He's making fifty large Wiggins making half that.
He's the Warrior's best athlete today. He's their most versatile
(25:03):
wing athlete. Is Megan like? What twenty three, twenty five?
That was a bad contract Because of that culture, it's
now kind of a value proposition. So KDS crossed the threshold.
I get why the market is shrinking. Hey, it's me
Rob Parker. Check out my weekly MLB podcast Inside the
(25:26):
Parker for twenty two minutes of piping hot baseball talk,
featuring the biggest name to newsmakers in the sport. Whether
you believe in analytics or the Eyecast, we've got all
the bases covered. New episodes drop every Thursday, So do
yourself a favor and listen to Inside the Parker with
Rob Parker on the iHeart Radio app or wherever you
(25:49):
get your podcast. Fourteen to fifteen years, I think we've
had an SEC team in I'm saying this earlier. Saban's
talking about competitive balance. What I think he wants to
say is that Texas Oil money between Sark and Jimbo
is hard to overcome for Alabama's economy he's had. Now
he's doing a lot of these podcasts and he's going
out saying the same thing as competitive balanced, his competitive balance.
(26:10):
And my takeaway is, Nick, we've been trying to get
you to play a road out of conference game for
like ten years, and you won't. I don't think Nick Saban.
I think Nick Saban senses nil. There are some big
check writers out there, and he may not. Now Bruce
Feldman joining us, he may not have the biggest check writers. Yeah,
I think that changes a little bit of the dynamic
with recruiting, But like you said, I mean, I think
(26:32):
they've won seventy five percent of the national titles in
the last sixteen years. There is no competitive balance. The
SEC has dominated it. I do think you'll see. Look,
we've seen Louisville this cycle in recruiting have a lot
of success because they have been very aggressive on the
nil front. They have one or two big boosters. Oregon's
got one big booster, Miami's got one big booster A
(26:54):
and M's got two. We've been told, yeah, and I
think it's I think it's not just that. I think
it also comes into how aggressive are they going to be?
And I think when you see some of that, you
know some of the stuff is going to shake out
over that. It's we're just one year into this, but
I think the landscape right now some people have been
more organized slash aggressive. We've seen it with Tennessee. We've
certainly seen it now with Miami. That has made a
(27:17):
difference and we'll see where it goes. Like I think,
I think the biggest thing Nick Saban is reacting to
is significant change. Coaches are the biggest control feaks in football.
You know that there are and I think the idea
of something changing the power dynamic and getting a little different,
that's the thing that's unsettling. Yeah, yeah, yeah, players have
more power in the NFL. You kind of know that
(27:38):
going to the sport like you bake it in the
billionaire will make the ultimate decision. Your GM will bark
about personnel, and your player may bail on you. So
I think you kind of know when you enter the
room of the NFL, and Nick would tell you this,
it's a different power dynamic college. The reason you coach
college isn't because these guys love recruiting. You control personnel. Yeah. Now, also,
(27:58):
but I talked to a bunch of NFL coaches who
want nothing to do with the college way. You have
an offseason, you have some sense of a normal life
in the summer. If you're an NFL coach, you don't
have that. I mean, I constantly hear from the college
coaches I talked to how much almost disgusted they are
by the recruiting calendar the way it is. So I
(28:20):
think that's the dynamic that they don't want any part of.
And you've now kind of created even more of a
because now their official visits are happening in the summer.
Before they didn't. Now you just have an unofficial visit,
which was probably an annoyance some kids in a baseball
tournament in your area, and all of a sudden, he
wants to show up on your campus. Now you've got
to go in. It's much different with official visits. It's
(28:42):
much different with how the recruiting calendar because now these coaches,
they are offering earlier and earlier, So I think that
has changed how they operate. Yeah, Bruce Feldman joining us,
So here's my USC. UCLA aren't joining for a couple
of years. So I'm you know, as you sit there
and you look around at your program and how to
(29:03):
make it easier. I don't buy the winter argument. Here's why,
because a majority of college football, even in the Big Ten,
is wrapped up by November sixteenth. USC is going to
play UCLA in their final game. They're talking winter as
in bad weather, right right, right. I've heard this bad argument.
Like the West coast guys don't go to Washington, Oregon,
Oregon State, Washington State in November. Trust me, I went
(29:25):
to college near Washington State. It's cold by November tenth.
So the idea of the cold weather, well, USC UCLA
are going to continue playing, So the last game of
the year's in La, their last their last potential road
game in the Big Ten is November sixteenth, seventeenth, eighteenth.
I've been to the Midwest, I've been to Madison. Then
it's cold. It's not Buffalo in December. I think the
(29:47):
cold weather and I think the travel is a little overplayed.
What say I would disagree on the latter point the
travel from the coaches I've talked to, who no guys
who have coached at the University of Hawaii, which you're
talking about real long trips. And it's not to say
that you know, you know, Hawaii going to play Rutgers.
It's not. We're not saying that. But in terms of
multiple time zone trips multiple times a year, it's one
(30:09):
thing for USC to play Notre Dame and go fly
into Chicago. It's another thing to do four trips like
that where you're flying east. Everything I've heard from people
in football, it takes a lot out of out of
college teams and we'll see how that ultimately plays out.
I don't think it's as much the weather. I just
think it's managing multiple time zone travel. You know it's
(30:32):
and you look at the Big Ten map. I know
where obviously Rutgers, Penn State, Maryland, those are far east.
But a lot of those places Ohio State is still
a long trip. I mean, those are you have to
get through a bunch of states before you get to
where the Big Ten is, and I think that will
be a challenge for them. I'm not saying they can't
win all their road games, but I think I would
(30:53):
not gloss over that for people who are saying, oh, yeah,
well they've they've they you know, they go to Notre
Dame every other year that they do, but they don't
go to Notre Dame and then they don't go to
Penn State, or they don't go to Purdue or you
know one of these places which is pretty far away,
Michigan State, you know, Michigan. I mean, look where we
are compared to where that is. That's not like a
(31:13):
direct shot. Well, I'm flying to Chicago tomorrow and I
can't wait. Bruce, all right, let's go to this one.
But you're not playing a football game when you get there, yeah, right,
you're probably schmoozing with people in your drinking, Yeah, a
little different. You nail both of them. Bruce could call
a lot of that schmoozing drinking, all right. So, being
from the Pacific Northwest, Oregon's freaking out now. I think
Oregon's too good not to be in a good conference.
(31:35):
I think Utah is too good not to be in
a good conference. I tend to think when and you
said this earlier, when it's sort of fluid right now,
and people tend to overreact a change period, especially control freaks.
And so I said this the other day to a friend.
I said, in college basketball, men's and women's, we have
(31:55):
a template. We let a lot of people into the tournament,
and we don't really care what they're from. I mean,
Gonzaga is better than any pack twelve team. It's not
a major market. Three teams come out of that conference
and often play very well against the ACC in the
Big Ten. Big Ten had nine teams in March Madness.
Other conferences have one. You have a big playoff. What
(32:17):
I think this is going to create. It's gonna initiate
faster than probably would have happened, a bigger playoff, and
once we get sixteen teams in Bruce nobody cares where
they're from. You'll get four Big Ten, you'll get six SEC,
you'll get two ACC And you can't tell me if
(32:38):
the Big twelve PAC twelve merge Baylor, Oklahoma State BYU Houston, Utah, Oregon, Washington,
you're gonna get three teams into a sixteen team playoff.
I think I think this is going to initiate a
bigger plaoff because they're gonna be so much yelling and
screaming about. I mean, I mean, come on, you can't.
I mean, it's two conferences, and I think a lot
(33:00):
of presidents will fight for their schools and say, Okay,
I didn't want a big playoff, but I'm not going
to be precious. My coaches are yelling at me, and
we're gonna get to a sixteen team playoff faster than
we thought. I could see twelve teams. I do think
there will be expansion because I think there's gonna be
more money in it. Now. The issue I would challenge
a little bit is to me, comparing college basketball to
(33:23):
college football isn't apples and oranges anymore like there's it's
just for the most part, you know, people don't care
about college basketball the way they do college football. They
care about the tournament, they care about March Madness, but
a window of about a month where if you talk
about Big ten sec especially, it's a year round deal
(33:44):
where people care about it. So I think the pushback
and some of that, you know, it's probably a little
harder to gauge, but I do think that they will
eventually go to at least twelve teams because there's gonna
be way more money in it, right, Like all this
stuff that is going on is all because of the money. Right,
So if you put a huge TV contract down or
a bit of what it's gonna be, you're gonna get
(34:05):
way more money for that than you are for four teams, right,
because there's more inventory, There's going to be more eyeballs
on it. I just think that there is something that
they can sell to me that's the driver more than
anything else. Now, could there be three teams from a
merger if there's the Big twel for the Big twelve
Pac twelve, Yeah, it's possible. I'm not sure. I think
(34:26):
it's probably more realistic that maybe there are two. You know,
you you you know, as much as those teams you
said are really good, there. They are good from time
to time. Summer Utah has been consistently good. I think
when you look at them in terms of who they're
gonna play, I think they're gonna be looked at a
little bit along the lines of how Cincinnati was. If
(34:48):
I see, I don't see. To me, I don't. I
think I look at Baylor football as an equal to Texas.
In fact, they've been better than Texas for they have,
but you're looking at it with Texas and OU in
their conference when you take them out, when you take USC,
if USC is good out, I just think that you're
not going to get people who are all of a
sudden going to give them the benefit of doubt and
(35:09):
say there's going to be these teams because they're gonna
go who did you beat? And I think that's the
thing that's going to be hard. You beat a seven
and five TCU team, you beat, as you know, a
seven and five Washington State. I just think they're going
to look at the rest of the league. And that's
where I'm not as convinced. There's not gonna be a
(35:30):
lot of pushback on what becomes of these other of
these two leagues if they end up all right, What's
what's gonna happen with Notre Dame or are they going
to join a conference eventually? I do think they will. Yeah,
I don't think there's a huge drive for them to
do it asap and it's imminent. But in terms of
they can wiggle out of the granted rights because they're
with the ACC which is which is unwieldy. But for them,
(35:52):
they're not tied to it football eve, so the money
is not prohibitive. And I just think if you look
at what the Big ten offers for them geographically, it
makes a lot of sense. They're big, our travel is
now going to it at USC. I think culturally, academic wise,
I think they see a lot of parallels with who
they are, and I think it will make more sense
(36:12):
more financially that will outweigh Notre Dame just loving the
uniqueness and the branding of being the only real independent.
I think that ultimately it will be too tempting for
them to finally you know it, maybe a few years
from now, but I think eventually they will end up interview.
Maybe I'm just too optimistic. I am very optimistic about
(36:34):
college football. I think the Big twelve Pac twelve are
going to merge, and I think it's gonna be a
pretty darn good conference. And I think you're gonna have
a bunch of Oregon, Utah, Baylor, Oklahoma State, and maybe
they're not. I'll give an example. How about this Feldman,
Bruce Feldman joining us. Take out Ohio State one team,
one team tomorrow, Michigan Baylor play. I'm taking Baylor. Yeah,
(36:57):
but that's like a all right, I'm just I'm playing again.
Who I mean, that's what they saying. Take out Alabama tomorrow,
Vanderbilt plays. No no, no, no, no no like no,
no, no no, no. I didn't use Vanderbilt. If you used Michigan.
I said, the Big Ten is not as good as
everybody thinks today, and the Big Twelve with the Pac
twelve would be better. You take out one Big Ten
program tomorrow, Michigan Baylor play. I take Baylor Tomorrow, Oregon
(37:20):
in the Big twelve plays Michigan. I take Oregon. So
you don't like Jim Harbaugh, That's what long My take is,
SEC's a different animal. You can go to the fourth
team lsue they got more players than anybody the Big Ten.
Once you take out Ohio State last twelve years. Look
at the first round picks from the Big Ten. It evaporates. Yeah,
(37:41):
but look at the look at what you have in
the Big twelve, what you're talking about, It's not like
their draft numbers are lower than any of the leagues.
I'm not saying the Big twelve is terrible, but I
am saying you're talking about, well taking out the biggest heavyweight,
and I agree, But I don't think the rest of
the Big twelve, Big ten is awful. No, I don't,
no, no no, no, that's not my argument. It isn't awful,
(38:02):
it's not dominating. And I still didn't get is better
than than the Big twelve because I mean, because you're
talking about Baylor, by the way, the team and good
look a lot of respect to Dave Randa and to
Matt Rule for building rebuilding that program. That was a
team that won two games the year before, right, So,
and you look at this the team that was one
of the best teams in it. You know, going into
(38:24):
last year, Iowa State just had its best season ever.
They won seven games last year. I don't think you know,
Texas we're getting you know, excited about them. They won
five games last year. This league Oklahoma State has been
consistently very good. Yes, um TCU fell down in the
last few Origan's good, Utah's good, Baylor's good, Oklahoma's good.
(38:44):
By US talks good. Last year, Baylor was horrible, the
year before horrible. Well, it's a battle year. Michigan was horrible,
not too long not to the great Baylor was. I'm
just saying, so, mister optimism over here, Okay, I just
we've we marginalized. If you if you put in the
PAC twelve and the Big twelve together, I think the
(39:06):
top six teams are all top twenty five programs, and
if you take out Ohio State, that's about what you
have in the Big ten. Who you so tell me
without USC and UCLA, you said, Oregon, in Utah, who
else do you get excited about in the PAC twelve? Well,
I mean outside of Ohio State, No, No, in the
PAC twelve. In the PAC twelve, um, not many. But
I'm saying if you take nobody the best apart in
(39:29):
the last few years, you know, Washington really fell apart.
I mean you're looking at that that league, I mean
it is really dwindled. Now. Yeah, I think by the way,
Utah good Oregon has recruited well after that, and by
the way, Oregon has a new coach. We'll see how
that's gonna go. But it's like there are questions about
(39:49):
these programs. I just don't. I don't think Arizona State
horrible dealing with a standal, I don't. I think when
you expand the playoff, we don't. We won't give a rip.
Like in college basketball right now, I don't give a rip.
I couldn't care about the conferences. I care about March Madness.
The minute you expand the playoffs, we're not going to
care as much about the conferences because you know the
top four are going to go from the Big ten
(40:10):
and the top four to five. So if you're good,
you'll get in. And I think Oregon and Baylor and
Utah will still have an absolute great shot to get
in because they won't have to play as top a schedule.
The college football history is we always want a Cincinnati in.
We always want a little guy in, even if they
don't have my point a minute ago, whereas Cincinnati of
things broke right, Look, Cincinnati is going to the Big twelve.
(40:32):
I think some of the teams they've scraped up pretty good,
are good good, and that will help. But my point
is if you look at what's left in the Pac twelve,
I just have a harder sell saying yeah, it's it's
similar to what we're looking at the Big ten. We're
similar as nothing close to the y. But the Big
twelve doesn't want all the pack. They just want Oregon, Washington, Utah.
That's what they And by the way they pay take now,
they wouldn't take Stanford. Big ten would take Stanford because
(40:54):
of the academics. Well, that's a different topic than they
I mean, do they want to split the pie with
another I don't know about all right, way they want
Notre Dame, Yeah, that will that makes sense. Everybody wants
Notre Dame. Yeah, nobody wants to hear them, but people
do want Notre Dame. All right, that's a lot of stuff.
We knocked it out of the park there, film and
that was good, good work by you. Be sure to
catch live editions of The Herd weekdays in noon Easter
(41:17):
nine am Pacific on Fox Sports Radio FS one and
the iHeart Radio app. The Chicago Bears have acquired New
England Patriots wide receiver first round pick Nikil Harry for
a seventh round pick. For the record, I thought Nikil
Harry would be a good NFL player, maybe not great,
but good ed didn't work out. He had fifty seven
(41:38):
catches in thirty six regular season games. He's a bust.
Was a bust. It's interesting we are now just two
years removed all that culture built up in New England,
all those Super Bowls, all that win, all those WS
playoff victories, momentum sellouts. We are just two years removed.
(42:00):
The Patriots, in an offensive leaning league, have no number
one receiver, arguably no number two. Have a Matt quarterback
who can't make plays with his feet, and Matt Patricia
is their new offensive coordinator. Was Tom Brady the crutch
that took Belichick's wobbly offensive skill drafting and scouting to
(42:22):
another level. Not saying it's true feels like it. We're
in a new age of football. We have pivoted very
quickly away from the ball and to the sidelines. It
used to always be in the NFL you built your
team from the ball out, but increasingly, because of rule changes, corners, receivers,
(42:42):
egg rushers are becoming more valuable in this league. There's
something to be said about do you have a feel
for it? You hear this all the time in golf.
Certain golfers just have a feel around the greens, They
have a feel with their irons. Some people just have
better timings. Some comedians just can kind of feel when
it's time to pause, feel when it's time to lean in.
(43:05):
I feel like New England Brady was their feel and
Josh McDaniels and they're both gone. And I also think
it's weird in twenty twenty two just saying, you know,
I'm just gonna make Matt Patricia the offensive coordinator. Man,
that feels like you're mailing it in, does it not?
(43:28):
I mean, if Sean mcvay' is like, you know, I'm
just gonna I got a buddy who's on offense, I
make him the defensive coordinator. I mean, wouldn't Less snead
and stand cronky go? Can we have a meeting over this?
That's not that's not really the structure we're looking for.
But this is often what happens when you give a
coach too much power. Pete Carroll had too much power.
(43:51):
Look at the Seahawks drafts the last seven years. This
was their best Why Pete had less power. He'd been
criticized for his draft leverage. Belichick weird drafts? Why too
much power? The Matt Patricia move is beyond arrogant thinking,
let just take a defensive guy make him offensive coordinator
(44:13):
is weird. By the way, Robert Kraft is getting annoyed.
Remember what Robert Kraft what he said last year about
Belichick and the Patriots current momentum. I'm a Patriot fan,
big time first, and more than anything, it bothers me
(44:33):
that we haven't been able to win a playoff game
in the last three years. After my family, there's nothing
more important to me than the New England Patriots and
winning football games. That's my passion. So whatever I can do,
hopefully in a small way, to make that happen, I'm there.
(44:58):
I'm not happy that we have won a playoff game
in three years, so I think about that a lot. Yeah,
Josh Allen and the Bills are head and shoulders above
that division, and if Miami is as dynamic offensively as
I think they will be, I think it's gonna work.
(45:20):
I do think it's gonna work. They're just two talented
offensively with a really smart guy from San Francisco now
running the show. Whether he's a great head coach or not,
you never know with coordinators, but they're going to be
better offensively. If you did an All Star team in
this conference, you just took the AFC East and you said,
let's create an All Star team, would a Patriot make
(45:43):
it on offense? One? One. We are two years removed
from this being the greatest dynasty in the history of
professional football in America. This is at best a third
place roster in the AFC East. In the AFC West,
(46:06):
if they had a fifth team, it would be a
fifth place roster. I just don't think they have a
feel for offense. McDaniel Brady gone, You're gonna notice it.
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Colin Cowherd
Jason McIntyre
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