MVP, NBA awards, Kawhi Leonard, Lakers, and Celtics

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to The Herd podcast. Be sure to
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Sports Radio. Ah, here we go, last radio only day.

(00:27):
This is the Herd. Wherever you may be, however you
may be listening Fox Sports Radio, iHeartRadio. Great to have
you in today on a Tuesday. Daryl Morey Rockets GM
Next Hour, Doug Gottlieb Final Hour. Really enjoyed doing a

(00:52):
show in the last week, week and a half from
the same radio studio that Casey Cason broadcast America's top
forty premier radio networks. It has been an absolute pleasure
back on TV tomorrow as the Women's World Cup does
not knock me off. It has for the last couple

(01:14):
of weeks. Fox has the World Cup Men's and women,
so it knocks me off occasionally. It is great to
have you in. And so I'm watching NBA Awards last
night and I'm just gonna name the cities of the

(01:35):
award winners most Valuable Player played in small market Milwaukee.
The Defensive Player of the Year played in Salt Lake City.
The most Improved Player played up in Canada. The sixth

(01:56):
Man of the Year played for the second most popular
team in Los Angeles, the Clippers. The Teammate of the
Year is a former small market Memphis Grizzly who was
recently traded to small market Utah, and the coach and
executive of the Year in small market Milwaukee. The stigma

(02:17):
about the NBA is stars don't want to play it
for smaller markets doesn't appear to hurt competitive balance, unlike baseball,
where the Yankees, Boston Red Sox, LA Dodgers, Chicago Cubs,
Houston Astros, because of no salary cap, have completely separated
financially from the sport. Let me give you the winning

(02:39):
percentage last three years of these small market teams, Oklahoma
City has won fifty nine percent of its game, Portland
fifty eight in the fifty six, San Antonio sixty three,
Milwaukee sixty percent of its games, and the winning percentage
the last three years Chicago's won thirty six percent, New
York thirty one, Los Angeles thirty nine percent, Atlanta, thirty

(03:03):
nine percent, oh DC, one half in baseball Pittsburgh, Baltimore, Cincinnati,
Kansas City, San Diego, Oakland, or a second team in
Los Angeles that get overwhelmed they can't compete. Briefly relevant
was one angel team, one Royal team, then financially overwhelmed.

(03:24):
But con of the stars don't want to play in
small markets, well, they don't have a choice. For seven years.
They often get drafted, and because of the way the
NBA sets it up financially, they make so much more
money that Lebron stays in Cleveland for seven Anthony Davis
stays in New Orleans for seven and then when Anthony

(03:44):
Davis decides, I wan out listen to the Hall of
players the Pelicans got for Anthony Davis, Lonzo Ball, Brandon Ingram,
Josh Hart, draft picks, Jackson Hayes, who, by the way,
my scouts say, is the sleeper in the draft. Marcos Silver,
a kid named Nicle Alexander Walker, no idea, a twenty

(04:06):
twenty first round pick, a twenty twenty one first round pick,
a twenty twenty one first round pick, another and a
twenty twenty three pick swap. I'm not counting Zion. That's
what they got after seven years of having to move
the star. Baseball gets a pass on things that are
real issues. Maybe it's because it's national pastime, Ryan America's pastime.

(04:27):
The NBA gets labeled with problems that aren't real problems.
I'm watching last night the NBA Awards and it's all
small market guys. Canadian team, the second best team in LA.
They're winning all the awards, the sole big market. Last night,
the Dallas Mavericks have the Rookie of the Year. How

(04:49):
dominant have they been? They've got is a big, major
market one title ever and it was a quirky, weird
title where they took a German star and teamed him
up with nine guys named JJ Barea and won a title. Like, folks,
if you don't like the NBA, don't like it, I
don't care. But baseball we have a massive gap of

(05:13):
financial tsunami that overwhelms a third to a half of
the sport. I watched the NBA Award show last night.
It's you taught. It's Milwaukee, a Canadian team, the number
two Brandon Los Angeles dominating the awards, dominating. Let me

(05:33):
shift to this so Yannis won the MVP, and that's
who I would have voted for. You know, I get it.
I mean, he did get the Bucks to the Eastern
Conference finals. The awards don't count the playoffs. They should,
but I felt Yannis had the greatest impact. And what
I felt about Yannis all year was he was the

(05:53):
most vou uo bull player for his city. Takeaway, Yannis
and the Bucks don't make a show. They don't make
Sports Center, they don't make My show, they don't make
SKIP show, they don't make any show. He made them valuable.
He made the owner money, he made the GM money.
He makes him attractive to free agents. Janis is really
the most valuable player in the league. He was the

(06:15):
best defensive player with Rudy Gobert. He's offensively continues to
be great. But here's the funny thing about Jannis. He's
now been in the NBA what five years, He's just
now relevant. Conversely, Zion Williamson is a star this morning

(06:35):
at nineteen years old. Why because of college basketball? We
have so marginalized college basketball because the basketball culture in
America is find the talent and pay him. Can we
wait for him to mature? Pay him it's outrageous. You
have got to pay the nineteen year old, or it's

(06:56):
ethically compromise that. It's not the culture of baseball, hockey, soccer, football.
There's development, there's maturity, there's physical growth. Zion Williamson's exploding
shoe is nothing more than an internet meme, but he
plays at Duke. So it was the topic, the topic

(07:21):
of conversation in America on every show on every radio
network for three weeks. We bang on college basketball because
they don't pay the players, but college basketball is what
makes the player's money. Yes, sometimes you have Lebron simply

(07:44):
too gifted to waste time collegiately. I get it, But
look around the NBA right now when you tell me
college basketball has no value. Steph Curry three years of college,
Draymond Green four, Kawhi two, Clay three, Paul George two,
Westbrook two, James Hardened two, Al Horford three, Jimmy Butler four,

(08:07):
Damian Lillard three, Donovan Mitchell two, Victor Oladipo three, Kemba
Walker three, Chris Paul two. Most of the guys running
the league. Most of the guys. I noticed it a
couple of years ago with the Lakers the idea that
there's no value in college basketball. Kuzma and josh Hart

(08:34):
went to college for multiple years. So ask yourself, do
you think there's a difference when you were nineteen and
twenty two? Do you go back to your life think
you're a little more mature at twenty two than nineteen.
I once, I'm not joking. At nineteen in college waited

(08:55):
for a Domino's pizza delivery guy to leave his truck,
and then me and a friend stole up Pepperoni pizza.
I would not have done that at twenty two. I
was nineteen and hungry. That's what you do. But Kuzma
and josh Hart, according to Laker sources, told me, both
were excellent leaders. Both were physically strong, weren't overwhelmed by

(09:16):
their initial NBA season. Conversely, Lonzo and Brandon Ingram were
one and done guys. Their bodies fell apart. They simply,
at nineteen were not ready for the rigors of the NBA,
and neither ever showed great leadership skills. How could they,
They were nineteen, not twenty two. The one and done

(09:37):
culture is glamorized Kentucky. What about Kentucky? Show me all
of the Kentucky guys in the NBA Finals. We have
so stigmatized college basketball. I would argue it makes players
more money once they get drafted because they're already names.
I don't know who Zion Williamson is other than an

(10:00):
Internet sensation if not for Duke. The shoe explosion is
simply an Internet story where my son at thirteen would
have more relevance with it, more connection to it than
I would. There is this rush in our American Basketball
Cup culture spot the talent and pay the talent. There

(10:20):
is no concern for maturity. There is no concern for
physical growth. That's why so many of these one and
done guys come to the MBA and fall apart physically.
They're just not ready for it that they need two
more years in the college weight room. Ask yourself this
did college? Did you grow? In college? As a freshman,

(10:44):
I was stealing a pizza from Dominoes. As a junior,
I was majoring in my current career maturity, body development.
Jannis won the MVP. Outside of Milwaukee and Diehard Slam Magazine,
NBA fans, nobody knew who Janis was three years into

(11:06):
the league. Zion is inches from an American superstar at
nineteen because of his college March Madness rivalry games with Carolina,
connection to coach k experience. College basketball in March Madness
is tremendous brand building. The G League never will be.

(11:33):
So it is a pleasure to have you in today,
my final radio only day. I am wearing readers of
Grandma's readers because I forgot my contact lenses this morning,
so I am doing some sort of will lend a
high wire of visual act today. John, you might as
well be a YETI. I just see a big face

(11:54):
of hair. I can't make out eyes, I can't make
out skin tones. I am virtually blind. Just think about
the poor grandma whose glasses you stole. God's just pathetic.
Nice to have you in today. Rick Buker stops by,
Darryl Morey, Doug got leave stopping by. I did hear

(12:16):
or Genie bus of the Lakers finally talked, so we'll
talk about what she talked about coming up. Be sure
to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays in noon
Easter nine am Pacific on Fox Sports Radio FS one
and the iHeart Radio app. Great Havevian back on TV tomorrow.

(12:36):
By the way, aluminum carry on a way luggage. It's incredible.
Awaytravel dot com slash colin twenty bucks off end of
the promo code calling at checkout Away Travel. Their luggage
is great. By the way, it's a Newport, California company,
supposed to be a very impressive company. I have to
make my way down to Newport. That's got leave territory.

(12:57):
So a Genie a Bus, the Lakers owner, has not
really talked during this uh MESSI last Magic Johnson quits.
Rob Polinka elevated Linda Rambis Now in the room. I
would say to be diplomatic, it's been a little messy.
So Genie Buss last night talked a little basically saying, yeah,

(13:20):
we were shocked when Magic resigned, but we don't need
the media to validate us. I'm happy we're on the
right path. There's a lot of work to do, but
but I like where we're at. Here was Genie Buss
last night. I always have confidence whatever your speculation is
out there, we don't need the outside media to validate

(13:43):
that we do. I'm very happy. Yeah, um, I don't
have a problem. I think that's fairly healthy. I don't
think teams do need the media to validate them. So
I agree with that, and I do think the Lakers,
between the weather and the brand, have an ability to
right the ship very quickly. The Yankees were a mess

(14:05):
in the eighties. Michigan football was a mess with Brady Hoke.
Alabama had forgettable years. If you get the right coach,
the right stars, these traditional powers, these legendary, historical, iconic brands,
they bounced back very quickly. Here's what I would be
concerned about if I was a Laker fan. The big

(14:26):
eight on the market, Kyrie, Kevin Durant, Kawhi, Clay Thompson,
Jimmy Butler, Kemba Walker, D'Angelo Russell. I'll throw Al Horford
and there's a nice piece, be player, but a nice
piece that's kind of the Big Eight. If I'm a
Laker fan, I'm concerned that the Lakers are so obsessed
landing the big fish that they get beat on what
they really need, which is veteran shooters. And I'm gonna

(14:50):
give you a theory on this. So years ago, I'm
a passive owner, a part owner of a couple of
wine stores in Connecticut, a maximum beverage still on them,
and he just got into that retail business, and it's
been fine. I'm not an expert on wine, but I
thought it was a good business model. And so I

(15:10):
would work in the stores about once a week. I'd
put in two or three hours, especially the big holidays.
And I always had a theory when I worked the floor.
And I'd never been really in retail before, but what
I would do when I was in these stores, ten
thousand square foot stores, beautiful stores, I'd watch people walk
in and I'd try to size them up a little
bit of a psychological profile, and if the people were

(15:32):
good looking and attractive, I ignored them because my theory
was people have paid attention to them their entire lives.
I would try to find people that would walk into
stores that were overweight, disheveled, lumpy, not put well together,
put together well, and I would go right up to
them and I would give them attention. And my theory

(15:55):
was people don't pay attention to those kind of people
in society, and and you do give those type of
people attention, they really appreciate it. And that I could
find that consumer and elevate him and instead of two bottles,
would buy four because he felt the customer service often
ignored as a consumer. Somebody finally paid attention to him,

(16:17):
And so I would size people up when they came
in the store and say, who gets attention all the time?
Ignore them? Who's a consumer that nobody pays attention to,
the short guy, the heavy set guy, disheveled guy, disheveled woman,
And so I would I know this sounds very manipulative,
and it was. But my takeaway as nobody ever pays
attention to those people in society, Go up, talk to them, Listen,

(16:40):
spend fifteen minutes talking about wine. They'll really appreciate it
more than the hot twenty eight year old this study
stockbroker in Connecticut. People pay attention to him all the time.
And this leads me into my fear about the Lakers.
They have always attracted the star. Everybody pays attention to

(17:02):
the star, but the Lakers are a huge brand. And
I think if the Lakers made JJ Reddick and Darren
Collison and Patrick Beverly and Malcolm Brogden and Danny Green
and Bojan Vogdanovich and Kyle Korver and Seth Curry feel like, no,
you're really important, I think you could get those guys

(17:26):
at a discount. Everybody tells Ads great, Everybody tells Jimmy
Butler's great. Everybody tells Kyrie's great. Everybody tells Durant Kawhi Leonard,
now you're great. The Lakers as a big brand, I
don't think they need another star. Lebron and Anthony Davis
are two of the top five guys in the league.

(17:47):
They've got their stars. Kyle Kuzma is their talented, young
emerging star. What they need now are smart veterans that
can shoot and for a legendary franchise psychologically to go
to a Seth Curry, Darren Collison, I'm Malcolm Brogden and
make them feel like, hey, you really matter to us,

(18:12):
because as a Laker fan, I would wake up this
morning and think, you know, we've been dysfunctional for a
long time. We may not have quite enough money because
of the situation with the date and the free agency.
You got your stars, you have your emerging young talented player.
Go get smart veterans who often get ignored in this league,

(18:33):
who are really valuable. Sergia Vodka, you know we just
watched Danny Green. You know we Andre Iguodala. You guys
have watched all these NBA finals the last ten years,
there's a lot of Shane Battier's, Mike Miller's, you know,
guys that kind of forgotten guy that play pivotal roles

(18:56):
in the conference and NBA finals. And you know, I
just look around this league right now. If you got
two stars Anthony Davis Lebron and emerging, super talented young
guy Kuzma, I don't need another star that may stunt
Kuzma's growth. You know you're gonna ask Kemba Walker who's
been ignored in Charlotte, to be a third. No, you're

(19:19):
gonna ask D'Angelo Russell, who still I thinks the little immature,
to be a third off an All Star year. Why
don't you make Darren Collison, a good player that played
in LA. Why don't you make him feel like he
matters and say, no, you're our third. You're gonna get
his best career year. Pay attention to people that society ignores.

(19:42):
They will pay you back tenfold. They'll appreciate it. You
don't need to slobb her over another All Star. Everybody's
telling Jimmy Butler he's great. You think Jimmy Butler's going
to come to LA and be satisfied being a third option.
You gotta be kidding me, He struggled, being a two
everywhere else. Veteran news man John Goulain, No, no turn

(20:05):
on the news. This is the herd Line News. I'm
a little offended. I came into your wine for once,
and you came right up to me. So I guess
I knew you well. Maybe, or maybe I'm just an overweight,
dishovel customer. So Warriors forward andre Iguidala was on CNBC
yesterday and predicted not only the future of Kevin Durant

(20:27):
and Clay Thompson, but also the New York Knicks offseason.
I think they'll both be back with the Golden State Warriors.
We all keep were like brother, We'll keep in contact.
But regardless of any of that, if both did decide
to leave Vegas, still be my brother. I still keep
in contact with him as much as possible, and I
just wish the best for both of those guys. They
come back full strength crushing the Knicks fans. No, Nobody's Knicks, Sorry, nobody, nobody.

(20:51):
Do you agree that with andre Iguodala that the Knicks
might end up with nobody? When this is all said, yeah,
I think it's It makes a lot of If you're
an NBA, NFL baseball player and you don't consider ownership,
then you're just not paying attention. Ownership is what makes
the Spurs good every year, and the Patriots and the

(21:14):
Philadelphia Eagles, and look around sports right now. Who's good
well run teams? Who's a mess? The Mets, the will Ponds,
poorly owned teams like I don't know how you any
agent could send their player to James Dolan. I don't
get it. Speaking of which, there are some new odds
out regarding where Kevin Durant will sign them. According to Caesars,

(21:38):
the Nets are now the betting favorite to land KD,
followed by the Warriors who are pretty close behind them,
and there's a big gap to the Knicks at third,
so the Nets are minus one twenty five Warriors plus
two hundred Knicks plus five hundred, so that means they're
not really close. There've been some reports out that Durant
Kyrie have continued to discuss their future together, so this

(22:01):
may be a They think it's the Nets because Durant
and Kyrie want to play together, and that seems to
be where Kyrie wants to go Yes. Yeah. I was
told by an NBA player and a former NBA player,
in fact, a former NBA All Star, that Kyrie had
already made his mind up he playing in Brooklyn. I
said that about a month ago. That's the only thing.
I don't know any of these moves. I'm not going
to NBA locker rooms. But the Kyrie to the Nets,

(22:23):
I was told, and I said it on the year
a month ago. I was told at seventy five certain
and I don't think. I think if Durant's gonna go East,
he would go and join an All Star right because
he just played with severally notes of value. It could
be that it's either Kevin Durant, you know, maybe he
wants to go to the Knicks. But let's go to
the Knicks alone or go to the Nets with Kyrie.
I would rather rather at least have somebody with me,
even if it is Kyrie. I would take the Russian

(22:45):
oligarch over James Dolan, so I would go to the Nets.
And finally, Lebron James is shooting space Jim two and
can't even believe it's really happening. He tweeted this yesterday. Man,
this really just hit me. I'm really shooting space gym two.
This is so surreal and doesn't even make sense to me.
Where I come from man and what I saw growing up,
this doesn't add up to me. I'm truly grateful and

(23:07):
beyond blessed. This is craziness. And then a series of emojis.
I know you're a big emoji guys, and he went
basketball emoji, rabbit emoji, camera emoji, crown emoji, prayer emoji.
Fives a little much, but okay, Lebron has been pretty
quiet this offseason, considering you had the kind of downspring
of the Lakers where they're a total mess, and then

(23:29):
the last couple of weeks where they get Anthony Davis.
So Lebron have maybe been a little more vocal as
a team leader or do you like the way he's
backed off and just he's doing his personal business and
he's not really saying much. Well, I was told very
early when Lebron got to the Lakers that they pass
basketballs around in the locker room and everybody signs the
Lebron initially wouldn't sign them because Lebron was hesitant to

(23:53):
go all in. He wanted to kind of like join
the Lakers, get his business stuff right, kind of watch
the players develop up. He wasn't sure about all the acquisitions,
the Land Stephenson's, the Michael Beasley's. So I think he's
been a reluctant Laker, and despite what he'll tell you
for the last year, I think he's a much less
reluctant Laker this morning, with a d Kuzma and a

(24:15):
possible free agent coming a veteran newsman John Goulet, Well,
that's the news, and thanks for stopping by the Herdline News.
Rick Buker, NBA analyst for FS one, Bleacher Reports, senior
NBA rider Buker and Friends podcast, Well, the odds in
Vegas have changed. Kyrie Kevin Durant. Rickett looks like Brooklyn's

(24:36):
the favorite. You had told me on the air and
off that Kyrie and Kevin Durant have like three weeks ago.
I think you told me they met, so you would
not be surprised by this. No, not at all. They've
met a couple of times since the cast trained by
k D and most recently after the surgery in New York.

(25:00):
So and this is not like the first two times
that they've met. My understanding is they've been talking about
this for a couple of years off and on. Ever
since they got together on the national team, they've talked
about potentially playing together. So everything that I'm hearing right now,
it's a matter of who's going to win the battle.
Kade prefers the Knicks, Kyrie prefers the Nets. If they

(25:24):
are going to play together, which place is it going
to be or is that friendship going to hold up?
And are they ultimately going to play together? Maybe in
New York, but maybe not on the same team. If
you had a guest today, I guess Brooklyn or would
you guess I'm gonna go New York? Just because it's
really hard for me to believe that k d ultimately

(25:48):
is going to pull the trigger and play for Brooklyn.
Just he he has so many ties to the Knicks organization.
He's the godfather of Royal Ivy's daughter. Ivy is also
a Texas Alam was a teammate at OKC. Those guys
are really good friends. He's still an assistant coach with

(26:10):
the Knicks. There is a battle over who thought there
would be a battle over DeAndre Jordan and he could
potentially determine where k D and Kyrie play because there
was a report which fits with what I've heard that
DeAndre Jordan played for the Knicks last year. He's close
with both guys, closer with KD, and the Kyrie's trying

(26:32):
to recruit him to the Nets to add fodder to
Kade coming over to Brooklyn. The Kauhi story has you know,
I had noted this yesterday. The Clippers did everything right
in the last year and a half and could get stoned,
stonewalled on Kawhi. The Lakers have been somewhat dysfunctional and
were able to land a d And it shows you

(26:53):
the value, the value of brand, the value of you know,
winning titles. This smore, you know, the more I read
he could do a two plus one. It does seem
like there's momentum that Kawhi is at least a coin
flip to stay in Toronto, does it not? No doubt
about it. There is concern. I don't know, a panic

(27:16):
might be a little strong, But the Clippers have been
quietly pretty confident all along We're going to be able
to get this done. And what I'm hearing is that
they are now showing signs of concern that it's not
going to go their way. Kawhi signing the sponsorship deal
with the Canadian private chet company that that that raised

(27:39):
some alarms in Clipperville because that's the same company that
basically gave Drake a private jet for free. And it
doesn't make a whole lot of sense that you would
be a sponsor, you know, would that work with Kauai's
name Carrie in Canada. Still, if he moved it was

(28:00):
to LA, I mean, maybe there'd be some uh there
there would be some continued good goodwill and appreciation for
him being part of their championship run. But I don't
know if it has the same boy that I didn't
hear an elsewhere. I didn't hear that story. If if
that is true he has signed on with a private
jet company, that means he's a raptor. He's doing that

(28:21):
so he can get free flights to LA. Yeah. Well,
and if you're the private jet company, are you really
wanting to, you know, sign him up and do a
sponsorship deal with him if he's not going to be
playing for the home team. So that what I'm hearing
when it comes to LA is that and the Lakers

(28:43):
in particular, is that Jimmy Butler would go there, and
he might even go there. They can't give the full max.
That to me right now is the likeliest third star
that they could pull in there from what from what
I am hearing? So if the Laker I don't love
that move. I don't love trying to convince Jimmy Butler
to be a three. What would the Clippers do? Al Horford?

(29:08):
It's a great question. I don't know what their Plan
B is at this stage, which may be why they're
so nervous, because this is the danger when you go
all in on one guy and you don't get that guy.
When you're now clearly going to plan B, every stud
out there is going, well, wait a minute, I'm your

(29:28):
Plan B. I'm your Plan C. You know what, You're
my plan B, You're my Plan C. I'll get back.
I'll get back to you. That when there's a whiff
of desperation, there's a lot of guys who can who
can feel it, and and if they're not the first choice.
I mean, we saw a little bit of this with
Paul George. With the Lakers, you presume that, hey, if
we don't get this guy, we can get these guys

(29:50):
because of who we are. Sometimes I can get you
in trouble. You know, I have um Darryl Morey on
Next Hour, and you know i' I texted him occasionally.
The Chris Paul James Harden rant. I think where there's smoke,
there's generally some fire. I think I think I think
this story is somewhat overstated, but I could make the

(30:13):
argument after the Clay Thompson Kevin Durant injuries, that Houston's
a front runner in the West, are we wildly? I mean,
isn't Houston in the running for Butler? Aren't they in
the running for Al Horford? Aren't these players? Why would
they not consider Houston? Darryl Mooreys in the running for everybody?
Always he's always looking to find a way to add pieces,

(30:35):
and he finds a way to have the rockets in
the conversation. All that said, the only way that I
see that they can create space is to either move
Capella or to move Chris Paul. And by all indications,
they're not going to be able to move Chris Paul.
That's one hundred millions some three years remaining at age

(30:58):
thirty four. People kind of having a sense that it's
going to get worse, not better, as far as what
Chris is able to contribute. I mean that they are
who they are. And but that said, being who they are,
if they can hold together the band that they have,
they have as much of running. I mean, it's wide

(31:20):
open in the West yea. So there's no reason. And honestly,
James Harden needs this badly because right now he's being
looked at as a guy who is a great player
but not a winner. And the only way he's going
to cure that is if they end up going to

(31:41):
the finals and possibly winning. Now you know what James
Harden's becoming Karl Malone. I'll give you an example, Carl Malone,
bunch of stats, no titles, and not a fun style
to watch. Um, that's James Harden is that, whereas Kobe
not only has the titles, much more enjoyable to watch,

(32:03):
much more vertical, much more dynamic. We compare Kobe and
Harden because of their offensive, ball centric, dominating ways, and
you can make an argument that Hardens better than Kobe statistically.
The difference is thirty years from now, we'll talk about
Kobe because he was fun to watch. We're not going
to talk about VJ. Singh. We'll talk about Dustin Johnson
and we'll talk about Phil Mickelson. Their styles are more

(32:23):
fun to watch. We talk McEnroe, we don't talk Pete Sampras.
Is that if Harden. If Harden doesn't because I think
Chris Paul's knees are an obstacle to a title. If
he is a one and done again next year in
the playoffs, he becomes Karl Malone. We never talk about
Karl Malone. He's the second or third leading scorer in
NBA history. Harden's game's not fun to watch. He's a

(32:45):
stat compiler at this point who looks fatigued in the playoffs.
I'm with you, I think that James Harden narrative is shifting,
declining rapidly. Yeah. No, it's a great comparison because people
resented the way Karl Malone. Yes, they thought he was
a bully, they thought he was too physical, And it's

(33:05):
the comparison is app because because there was a certain
resentment about the way Carl played, they thought it was
that they didn't think it was really great basketball, and
they thought it was kind of cheap and self serving.
And there's that sense around James too. Great numbers, great

(33:26):
offensive threat, all of that, but you have to have ultimately,
you have to have a ring behind it to validate
the way you play. Then all is forgiven. I mean
it wasn't that long ago. Kevin Durant was kind of
in this same position. Great score gets it done, can't
get it when it can't, can't do it when it

(33:47):
matters most. And this is where it's a little bit unfair,
because like Kad Katie got the opportunity to show that
he could do it and did on the biggest stage.
I don't know that Jane and the team that he's
playing on. It's easy to look at it and say, well,
it's his style, it's his fault. I don't know that
he's been given the ideal vehicle to get to that platform. No,

(34:10):
I'm yeah, No, I'm not denying that. But I do
think style matters, and I do think Jack Nicholas being
long off the tea made him fascinating, and Tom Kite
and Tom Watson were not as fascinating. I don't think
Karl Malone or hardened styles they're not They're not enjoyable
to watch. I think Kobe was one of the great shotmakers.

(34:31):
Phil Michelson's one of the great shotmakers in golf. I
think style matters. Hardened his game feels like manipulation to
get to the free throw line, and so I think,
like Karl Malone, there is resentment around the league. I mean,
we've heard it for two years. People don't like watching
him play so well. And and you had Kobe Kobe
doing it at both ends. There was an appreciation that

(34:52):
it wasn't just his numbers that he was getting. He
was playing a complete game and hardened the matter for
he He's gotten better at times defensively, but he's always
going to have that hanging over him. Rick Buker, good
talking to you, buddy. You got it, Bukes. Today I
am wearing glasses. You know, I've thought about wearing glasses

(35:14):
on television. It would take away from my enormously large
nose and forehead. So maybe we'll move on that last
radio only day, don't skip meals, drink Soilent, complete me
a little bottle. Go to Soilent dot com. Heard two
oh twenty twenty percent off your first case coming up next,

(35:36):
Bill Moore made me think of the NBA that next.
Be sure to catch live editions of the herd Weekdays
in noun Easter nine Am, Pacific Braves, Battle of Cubs,
Discovery Card Key matchup. Go further than ever with a
Discover at miles card match the mile as you earn
at the end of the first year, thirty five thousand
could become seventy. Discover at limitations apply go to discover

(35:57):
dot com slash trivel. What's that? What's that sound there? John?
What was that? I like that? That was very with it.
That was very street. It was very lit. Okay, Eric
and Rockham, Oh thank you, That's what I thought. Um.
Darryl Morey's on Next Hour. He's the ulquacious Rockets GM.

(36:20):
His daughter, by the way, is going to New York University.
Just made some cool documentary. I want to watch that
on the James Harden Noksey trade may watch that during
the break. Um, there's been this story he was on
the NBA Awards last night that Chris Paul and James
Harden refuting UM. He said, it's definitely not true. I
don't think it's as bad as everybody says. UM, but
I will tell you that Chris Paul James hardened relationship

(36:43):
is actually what makes the NBA it is a soap operam.
Is that you got to have a slot. The hotels
that work in this country are Ritz Carlton that's at
the hop end, Marriott slotted in the middle, and Motel
six and days In at the bottom. They all succeed
because they have a slot. It's why Fox News works,
MSNBC works. Fox News is right, MSNBC is left, and

(37:06):
CNN is struggling because they don't have a slot. What
are they You need an identity, you need a slot.
The NFL is the sport we watch and bet on in.
The NBA is the sport we talk about. We don't
watch it that much, we talk about it. It is
a living, breathing soap opera. And Bill Maher was talking

(37:28):
about that the way to beat Trump was actually by
finding somebody that could rival Trump in what we've become
as a country. Never underestimate the power of being in
people's living rooms for decades. That's what got Trump elected.

(37:50):
This is now a as seen on TV kind of country, Oprah.
Trump are celebrities and the reason I play that clip
is America has become a more celebrity driven culture. We
are that's indisputable. The NBA is perfectly positioned to benefit.
It's a living, breathing soap opera. What you need in

(38:12):
professional sports is the same thing you need in the
airline industry, the tech industry, the newspaper industry. In New York,
the New York Times is the global voice. The New
York Post is the tabloid voice, and the New York
Daily News is neither. And the Post makes money and

(38:33):
the Times makes a fortune. What's your slot? What's your identity?
The NBA has an identity. It's never been about. The
deep dark secret of the NBA is we don't really
watch the league much outside of the finals. We don't.
The league knows that, but we talk about it. We
talk about it because it's egos and vanity and stars

(38:55):
and soap operas and feuding and combining. Converging star doesn't
happen in football, didn't happen in soccer. You didn't have
three stars going together. In the NHL, the NFL, Major
League Baseball, every man for himself. So that the two
strongest sports in terms of media coverage in America have

(39:16):
the two best slots. They have the two strongest identities.
The NFL, we watch it and we bet it. In
the NBA. We talk about it stars. NFL gives us urgency.
Games matter, and the NBA gives us stars. They always matter.
And when I was watching Bill Maher talk about that,
I thought, we do live in a time now where

(39:39):
when Donald Trump got elected and all the conservatives were laughing,
I told my conservative friends, don't laugh for long, because
in four years, you open the door to Kanye West,
to Leo DiCaprio, you open the door to celebrities. If
Trump's in, what if you get a better looking, younger

(40:00):
version that connects with Democrats. I said, you can laugh
about Trump, but he has opened the door to music stars,
former sports stars, the rock and you have no idea
which way politically, Dayling, You've opened the door up to this.
So our Trump wasn't qualified. He was a businessman like
him or not. So be careful what you be careful

(40:22):
what you laugh about in politics, that may come back
to beat you. And I think Oprah is an incredibly
viable candidate. But she's a celebrity and we're a celebrity culture.
And so for the people that say, Colin you talk
a lot of NBA, Yes and NFL the two strongest
identities in American Sports Today, Daryl Morey around the corner,

(40:45):
just starting out hour one hour too radio only, no coasters,
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 when ever you'd like. Ah,
this is the Herd wherever you may be, however you

(41:11):
may be listening iHeartRadio, Fox Sports Radio. Tomorrow, like it
or not, we return to television FS one. A lot
of people say, Colin, does it drive you crazy that
you get knocked off for a couple of weeks? Doesn't? Actually,
when I came over from the Edward Place to Fox Sports,

(41:34):
my podcast, my digital my radio numbers, my Facebook stuff
all hit within three months. Television takes people a long
time to find TV stations. My mom never switched off
the NBA as the NBC affiliate in Seattle for thirty years,
so I knew it would take a long time for
people to find FS one. And the way to empower

(41:55):
FS one was these marquee events that move people over
to us, like the World Cup, Big Ten Football, and
then if you can keep them for a couple of
weeks watching, if you can retain five to six percent
of those people every year. Every other year you have
these big events. That's the way to grow. So it's
I am more than willing to go off the air
for two weeks for the continued growth of Fox Sports

(42:19):
FS one. So it's just part of the deal. I
knew it coming in. I watched parents and step parents
stay in the same TV channels forever and watch the
same news forever and the same highlights forever. So it
takes a long time. Podcast, radio, digital, XM. Serious. My
audience found me eight days in weekend boom all the numbers,
but TV takes a long time to get people to

(42:41):
come over. So I'm okay with it. We're back on
TV tomorrow, very excited by the way. This next ten
to twelve days is crazy. It's just crazy. It's so
much fun. Last night they had the NBA Awards. I
would like to say I do not deem myself as controversy.
Never have never, never been a label I wanted. I

(43:04):
think controversial people flame out. I don't. I'm not a
stick guy. I try to do a radio show and
make it interesting and captivating and that it sits where
it sits. I don't want to be a pro wrestler. Okay,
it sits where it sits. And so when I come
out three years ago and say, giving Russell Westbrook the
MVP is the silliest thing I've ever heard. You're giving

(43:25):
it to him because you feel sorry that Katie left him,
and because it's a stat it's not most statistically superior player.
It's most valuable player. And he doesn't do two things
that valuable players do, shoot threes and play well with others.
He's not valuable. He's just talented. There's a lot of
things in my life that are really valuable. My phone

(43:49):
is valuable. My healthcare, my transportation, those are really really
valuable things. My jacuzzi in Utah is not valuable. It's
a luck Strey item. It's nice when it's cold to
jump in the jacuzzi. I could take a hot shower.
I'd be fine. Last night MVP voting and Russell Westbrook

(44:12):
was tenth despite averaging a triple double, proving our point
three years ago. The triple double is meaningless, and now
everybody in the NBA is acknowledging it doesn't mean anything.
It's never meant anything. First round out, first round out,
first round out doesn't mean anything. And by the way,

(44:36):
the Oklahoma City owner and the GM have put Steve
Adams on the trading block. What does that tell you?
That tells you the owner and the GM are over Westbrook.
They're not going to pay a luxury tax. They realize
he's an uber talent, but he doesn't play winning basketball.

(44:58):
When you put a top twenty eight player, thirty player
in the league on the trading block because you may
have to pay some luxury text, anybody that thinks they
can win a championship does not put that guy in
the trading block. You do it when you realize Westbrook
is fun and he's flashy, and he's talked about and
that's it. He's not a winning player. And again he's

(45:23):
HBO in your hotel room. You know it's a luxury,
it's not a necessity. The bed and the shower are
the necessities. And we have a new Russell Westbrook entering
the league, John Morant, who is a much better shooting,
much better passing version, and now much cheaper. So you'll
continue to see Westbrook's stock erode and his value decrease.

(45:48):
He has gone from mister MVP to tough to coach,
hyperathletic rigid, unravels during the playoffs and doesn't play winning
playoff basketball. The shiny new toy the kids were fastnated
with the fidget Spinner. People are quickly over it and
Westbrook now, despite a triple double tenth and MVP voting

(46:08):
ten valuable in today's NBA is a playing well with
others and b hitting threes. He doesn't do either. He's
bad and below average at both. By the way, everybody
that's played with Westbrook, this is not for clicks. This
is not to be controversial. I was right three years ago.

(46:30):
I've been proven right last night. Everybody that plays with
him and leaves gets better. Durant's more efficient, hardens better.
Victor Oladipo went from that's a bad contract to All
Star Sir Jebbaca just won a title. Demontis Sabonis got better,

(46:50):
and as Canters numbers went up. Finally, I don't do
stuff for clicks. I don't like my quarterback grabbing their
junk and being in police videos. I don't rip Baker
for clicks. I don't get paid for clicks. Okay, I
get I have a guaranteed contract. I don't make money
on clicks, and Westbrook was never heyed. It was never

(47:14):
to get attention. If I was trying to get attention,
why wouldn't I go after athlete to New York and Philadelphia, Dallas, Atlanta, Chicago, LA.
Why would I go after an athlete in Oklahoma that's
not a major market. I'm not going to get major
clicks right, like it pays me finally being proven right.
It is tiresome to carry America on your shoulders. Here's

(47:39):
another story that's interesting to me, Daryl Morey, this hour
urashmarks the LA Times too, So I was on VAK
when this story came out. Kyrie Irving simply quote didn't
like living in Boston. And let's let's look at this big.

(48:01):
Anthony Davis told his agent Rich Paul, I will not
sign lying long term in Boston. Al Horford just bailed
on Boston. Kevin Garnett initially didn't want to go to Boston.
Kyrie Irving, no thanks, Boston. I'm not sure if you're

(48:22):
noticing we have a trend here now. Boston is the
number two NBA brand behind the Lakers. They have an
excellent owner, an excellent GM, a very smart coach and
a remarkable history. Current players don't want to play there.
I want to play there. Horford cia Ad won't resign.

(48:46):
Kyrie didn't want to go there, couldn't stand being there.
Lebron's never considered it. Kawhi's not considering it. Kevin Durant
now could go anywhere. He's not considering it. Clay Thompson's
not considering it. Jimmy Butler has no interest. You see,
you're seeing a trend here. And what is really interesting

(49:10):
is this should be the decade when they should mop
up because if you look at their rivals, their Northeast
rivals Brooklyn Ns next excuse me, Nets, Knicks, Wizards, and
until recently the Sixers were all tire fires for the
last decade. I mean part of Nick Saban's success in

(49:31):
the SEC was until the last year, the big rivals
all had lousy coaches. Florida finally got their act together,
Texas A and M finally got their act together. Looks
like Tennessee may have their act together. So Saban took advantage.
Pete Carroll did this, you Celan Washington Stanford were a

(49:52):
mess when Pete Carroll was in the PAC twelve. He
took advantage of it. Boston should be just owning free
agents because the rest of the East is a mess.
Sixers now have turned it around, so they should be
just soaking it upright now. Their rivals, their geographical footprint

(50:12):
a mess. And I don't know what it is. Danny
Ainge made a trump comment that could be it. Brad
Stevens didn't work well with Kyrie a start, Maybe that's it.
Isaiah Thomas players think he was treated poorly because they
didn't give him a max deal. Although frankly, if you
think Isaiah Thomas is a max player, never go into

(50:35):
a front office. Maybe it's the cold weather, but whatever
it is, we got a trend NBA guy. When you
have everything going Their owner's good, their history is amazing,
they're GM smart, their coach is excellent. Nobody wants to
play there. I mean, what is it that just doesn't

(50:57):
work that way in sports? Like and again, it's not
a it's you know, it's funny here. You know, I
was thinking about this this morning. So I lived equidistant
between New York and Boston for eleven years, went to
New York constantly, went to Boston twice. My wife is Irish.
She didn't like Boston, and we always kind of had

(51:18):
this theory that Boston is parochial and very political and
cranky and very tribal, and you always feel like, unless
you were born there, you feel like a visitor. New
York Ellis Island Statue of Liberty is very welcoming. Is

(51:41):
I went to New York first time, it was like,
I'll give you an example. So I had a friend,
casual friend who owned a gim, So he opened a gym.
The state of Connecticut is split right down the middle,
upper half, the northern part connected to New England, Boston, Vermont,
and the southern half New Canaan, Darien, Westport, Greenwich. It's

(52:03):
kind of a suburb of New York. So it's Red
Sox fans North Yankee fans south. So my friend opens
up a gym in the southern part of Connecticut, closer
to New York. He said it was a very competitive
market and we were concerned the gym wouldn't work. He goes,
But the New York attitude is if anything's good restaurant,

(52:28):
Jim Pizza place, business, New Yorkers are very welcoming. They
just want the best stuff. They don't care they're not.
They just are you good at this? We'll try this.
So their gym had immediate success, even in a crowded market.
So they decided to open up a second gym in
the northern part of Connecticut. And I lived there, and

(52:49):
there were no good gyms. It was just a you know,
I'd come from Vegas and Tampa and Portland. People were recreational,
they were athletic, they were good gyms. There were no
good gyms. They opened it up there, and he said,
we almost went under. We knew we had clearly the
highest quality gym in the area. They did. My ex

(53:10):
wife worked there. It was really good spin classes, yoga classes,
space equipment. It was great. He goes, but the northern
part of Connecticut is very standoffish. It's very parochial. Fences
make good neighbors. People are not willing to accept new
And I remember him telling me that story, and I

(53:30):
think about this Boston thing. Does Boston feel welcoming, open,
armed to new, to new people? And I can make
the argument New York does. And I can only tell
you my personal experience as a West Coast guy. I
always felt welcome in New York. Now, people in New
York because the city is so frenetic. They're in a hurry.

(53:54):
But you can ask anybody in New York for directions, anybody,
and they'll give them to you. Now, they'll talk a
mile a minute and they don't have time to tell
you a second time. But I never felt New Yorkers
were rude. I just felt they were in a hurry
because of the pace of the city Boston. Walked down
the streets of Boston, eyes down. You don't connect with people.

(54:18):
I never felt when I went there. I never felt
connected to the city. So I don't know what it is.
But when you're the second biggest brand in the NBA,
your owner's great, your coach is great, your GM's great,
your history is great, your facilities are great. You know,
it's considered a great American city and players don't want
to play there. What is it? But it's something like

(54:38):
it's something I said this for years and years about
the Dallas Mavericks. How come they don't get more good
players middle of the country, no state tax mark, Cuban
pampers as players, with the facilities. It's a nice city,
beautiful women everywhere for young twenty year old guys, and
they don't land players. And I had a player once,
or it was an executive once, tell me. He said.

(54:59):
The problem is Cuban is so big and famous that
he casts a shadow over the organization that it's too
Cuban needs to step back and let the basketball. The
identity of the Mavericks isn't players, it's Cuban, and Dirk
Navitski was okay with that, but a lot of people

(55:19):
feel the Mavericks are Cuban. They can't star as much
because the owner is too well known. He's so public
Shark Tank and you know his businesses. Anyway, I find
it incredibly odd that none of these free agents appear
interested in Boston. Now you could say, well, Boston's not
interested in them, Yes they are. You don't think they

(55:40):
like Kawhi Leonard really? Okay? All right? Yeah, Al Horfor
walked out on them. They'd take Kawhi Leonard, Urashmar Kazi,
La Times Genie Bust Talk last night. He talked to her.
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd Weekdays
and nun Easter nine am Pacific on Fox Sport It's
Radio FS one and the iHeart Radio app. What is

(56:03):
that new track? John it's not really new. It's a
fresh track. What is that? It's not so fresh? What's
obi Trice? That's just brand new to the market. Ryan,
I love playing with the kids. They think Uncle Colin
is not with it. I am now turned and lit simultaneously,

(56:25):
although I'm wearing a fifty eight year old woman's classes
not great forgot my contacts this morning. A rash Mark Kazi,
La Times column Nest a regular on our show. So
you interviewed Genie Bus last night on the bougie red
carpet at the NBA Award Show. What kind of mood
was she in? Rash, She was in a good mood.

(56:46):
I was actually surprised that she talked I you know,
we we knew that she would be there. But again,
she has not talks us last season. She has not
talks to the surprise resignation of Magic Johnson. She hasn't
talks to the Magic was first taken, all that stuff,
So we really haven't gotten to talk to her. And
so she was, yes, I'm happy to stop by and chat.

(57:10):
So it was good to finally hear from her. You know,
this is part of me, that is the Clippers did
everything right this year and all indications are they're in
a dogfight to just get Kauhai, forget anybody else. The
Lakers had enigmatic to say the least, and now reportedly

(57:31):
they have a D and are very viable in the
D'Angelo Russell sweepstakes. Is it possible the well run Clippers
get Zippo and the marginally run Lakers nailed two free agents?
Do you sense that today? It is possible? But I
will tell you it was interesting last night at the

(57:51):
awards show. The Lakers table and the Clippers table were
right next to each other. They were very cordial. I
would say the Clippers are cautiously optimistic that they will
have a good summer. Now does that mean that they
get the sense that they're going to keep or that
they're going to get Kauai? You know, I think I

(58:11):
think in their senses, if he doesn't stay in Toronto,
he's going to the Clippers. So you know you're gonna
hear a lot of talk about the Lakers that Nick
solve these other teams. They view it as a two
team race. So there's no doubt that it would be
a very disappointing summer if they don't get him. They're
still kind of cautiously optimistic that they will get their guy. Yeah.

(58:34):
I mean it goes back to something in sports. That's
true though. Nick Saban once coach Michigan State, but it's
not a landing spot. Hardball would stay at Michigan forever, right,
Like there's certain jobs in college football where you just
don't leave it is. It's it's the late night show
of TV. My takeaway is I look at the Clippers

(58:56):
and I think, to myself, they don't They've done everything right,
but there is a reality with their brand in Los Angeles.
When I go to a Laker game, it's a ritzy crowd.
It is a lot of prominent people, business people, and
there it's it's a lot of forty five, fifty five
and up, a lot of LA wealth. When I go
to a Clipper game, it's fun, but it's a much
younger crowd, cheaper tickets. That to this point is Jalen

(59:18):
Rose yesterday apparently was saying be careful about going to
the Clippers. I do sense a little bit. Now. You
heard the story about Kawhi Leonards signing a deal with
a private jet company in Toronto. Why in God's name
but he signed that It sounds like to me that's
given him free flights to Los Angeles. I mean, I
don't know. I look at the Lakers, D'Angelo Russell. Do
you buy into those rumors? I do in the sense

(59:42):
that you know, the man who wanted to trade him
or didn't want to have anything to do with him
is no longer with the team and the old coaching
staff has gone. And right, I do think he's a
new player. He has matured. He had a fantastic season
if the price is right. I mean, Colin like, I
don't think he's a MAX guy, right, but I I
think he's a fantastic point guard who's really developed obviously

(01:00:04):
played with Kyle Kuzma. I think he would be a
fantastic point guard with the right price, whether that's you know,
twenty million or whatnot. But I think he'd be the
perfect point guard for this team. And to your point
about the Clippers, I will say this, I think for
a majority of people that would be a detriment. They
would not want to go to the Clippers because of them.

(01:00:25):
But I always get the sentence if you tell Kawhi Kawai,
if you go to the Clippers, you're gonna be lost.
No one's gonna talk to you know, no one's gonna
bother you. He'd be like, oh my god, that's mean
music to my ears. I mean you mean that I
could go to the Clippers play in Los Angeles and
no one's gonna talk to me, no one's gonna bother
That might be the one player that I think would

(01:00:45):
be intrigued by that. By the way, you talk to
Mark Cuban last night, what do you saying? He said,
he hopes that this new dream team and again he
was referencing Karl Malone. I mean, yeah, Karl Malone and
get Gary Payton. Dwight Howard Steves actually was like, I
hope his he repeats himself with this dream team that
they have put together. But he was like shaking his head,

(01:01:05):
like once again the Lakers get their dream team. Yeah, no,
I mean it's By the way, Polinka gets just savaged
by the media. When Polinka is in public at events
like this, is he friendly? Is he talkative? Was he there?
He was not there. But I will tell you Tom,
when I've seen him out in public, he's a very uh.

(01:01:26):
He does his own thing like he's not with a
big group. He's not with his friends. I mean I
saw him in Charlotte at the All Star weekend at
two events, and he was kind of the guy who
makes laps around the room by himself. That's not a
bad thing. I've been in that position so many times.
But you know a guy who doesn't necessarily roll with
a big crew. Okay, Rashmark Kasi, la Times columnist. If

(01:01:48):
you get stuff, callus will put you on. Rash, I
appreciate it. Thanks you soon, all right. Veteran newsman John Goulet,
He's really veteran, and turn on the news. This is
the herd Line news too faster, mcconic, Sorry, sorry about that.
Jannis A. Temptacopo won the NBA MVP last night over

(01:02:11):
James Harden. The voting results were revealed afterward. Really wasn't
all that close. Seventy eight of one hundred and one
first place votes went to the Greek Freak. Every single voter,
all one hundred and one of them had hardened in.
Jannis won two, so there wasn't a third guy getting
random votes. Here's some of Yannis after he won the
award last night. I want to think that the front

(01:02:33):
off he's known the ship for believing in me, and
I was eighteen years old back. It is m no
they allow me to leave the same trust me. The
NBA does a really good job. NBA has more guys
crying than any league awards or draft. Like it's a
real thing. Like if you watched the first ten minutes

(01:02:56):
so that NBA draft, fifteen minutes, I mean, it was
incredibly emotional. The baseball players do that. I mean the
hockey guys. I the NBA, well, the MLB doesn't have
an award show, so you just kind I mean even
the draft. Anytime the NBA is doing something public with
a personal transaction. Remember Kevin Durant won the MVP and
his mother. I mean, it's just incredibly visceral, Like I

(01:03:19):
find myself the draft. The first fifteen minutes of that draft,
I was just like, that was the most emotional sports
draft of my life. It's just incredible. Amari Cooper or
among the high profile players that the Cowboys need to
get paid soon, is Amari Cooper, their wide receiver who

(01:03:39):
basically saved their entire offense last year. He certainly did,
but Cooper isn't all that concern with becoming the top
paid wide out in the NFL. Take a listen, not now.
I'm definitely looking forward to earning that respect and looking
forward to coming into this year and just putting up
those numbers for my team and really on what I

(01:04:00):
can do in a full season as the Dallas Cowboy.
I know that I have the skill set to beat
one of the highest paid receivers. I'm just all about
going out Darren Botman. To me, this is a refreshing
take wide receiver and most of them are a little
bit self centered, and some of them can be deecause
he's not. He he very well could sit there and
say I need to be the highest paid wide receiver

(01:04:21):
because he's the next one to come up. And while
I'm sure he will maybe become that, he's not necessarily
worried about it. Isn't Is it possible that he's more
of a priority more than some of the other guys.
They have two great linebackers, so you can theoretically just Vandreshes.
You have on a rookie deal. You have a first year,
so you have three years or at least two before

(01:04:42):
you really have to worry about him. Jalen Smith is
older and was a second round pick, so he's the
first guy to come up, and then there's Zeke, and
then obviously there's Dad. I think, and this is a
rare instance, I'd pay the running back. I like Himari,
but I'd pay the running back. I think. I think
there's a vious limitations to Dak and I think a

(01:05:03):
strong running game is the answer to giving him a
legitimate contract. Now, would you are you comfortable with that
after watching what happened to Todd Gurley? Yes, because I
have I don't see. Remember, Zeke is so so. Zeke
is one year behind Gurley in the draft, right right?
So Gurley started breaking down the end of last season. Yes,

(01:05:25):
I think the fear would be what if Zeke starts
breaking down at the end of this season. The Rams
really made a mistake on Gurley. They paid him a
year early. And by the way, that's not just my opinion.
When they signed Todd Gurley, I talked to two people
in the NFL who I trust, and they're like, what
are they doing? They could have done it. Often there's
certain positions, quarterback being one, Carson Wentz, you pay early,

(01:05:47):
you don't you generally wait and to watch the running
back take another beating. The Rams paid him a year
before they hand to and I'm again left tackles, get
them locked up, quarterbacks, locked up running backs. Wait, and finally,
this is kind of a weird story that could become

(01:06:07):
a really big story, So follow me on this one.
The California State Assembly is attempting to pass a bill
that would allow college athletes within the state to get
compensated for the usage of their likeness, name or image. Yep.
The ncuable A President Mark Emmert implied in an interview
that this could mean California schools could be prohibited from
winning nc Double A championships in the spirit of fairness. Yeah, Now,

(01:06:31):
the bill still has a few more steps to go
through before it could be passed. It will be passed, Okay,
So do you think the NCAA would really ban schools
in California from being able to win titles? Well, this
is something I've been talking to friends about for like
a year. It's gonna pass and the NCAA is going

(01:06:51):
to have to sit down at some point because forget
just football, California schools, Stanford, UCLA US seat when a
lot of national championship some stuff like water polo, volleyball, softball,
that kind of stuff. A lot of the second tier sports,
they're not they're not the big revenue sports, women's sports.
The PAC twelve does, you know, unbelievable numbers. So you

(01:07:14):
did you think about it and say, well, what doesn't
matter because the USC UCLA or not playing great football.
But it's a huge issue baseball, water polo, volleyball, track.
I don't know the answer to it. I mean, it's
the Pac twelve's got enough issues like this is a
this is a real thing. What what top coach? Forget

(01:07:34):
the players because I still think California universities offer great educations,
warm weather visibility. What world class coach would take the
USC football job knowing I can't compete for a national title,
You're not getting a good coach. We'll not getting an
elite staff. Where's the line? Though, Okay, you can't win
a title? What about inner? You know, can you play
teams out of state? Are either the NCAA not going

(01:07:56):
to recognize games if it's if it's a California team
against the team from somewhere else. I mean it seems
really muddy. Oh yeah, and it could get I mean
it could keep getting worse and worse. What do you
do if you're the PAC twelve, because you have schools
that aren't in California, how do you use your PAC
twelve title? Is it still Oregon USC or is that
not going to be allowed? This is the boring legislative

(01:08:19):
story that nobody wants to talk about. It is a
massive problem of the many the PAC twelve faces. The
PAC twelve faces some issues just geographically. They face some
issues because on the West Coast college sports are not
as big as they are saying the Midwest or the South.
There's just more options mountain beaches, pro teams. This is

(01:08:41):
a whammy. This is a big issue going forward. I mean,
USC football, nobody's really happy right now with a coach
right like, nobody's truly happy. Well, this thing passes urbans
taken that what legit top end coach? Yeah, Holiday Vowl,
you're not getting a guy. You're not getting a top coach.

(01:09:03):
Veteran newsman John Goulet, Well, that's the news, and thanks
for stopping by the thirdline news. I have never done
a shown by vocals, so we are setting new ground.
By the way, I chose today to work fourth of July.
I don't know about you, Steffs. You lazy summer loving

(01:09:26):
co workers. Are you working on the fourth? John? I'm
working on the fourth, but I'm anticipating the fourth MiCT
a little rough, so I'm not working on the fifth.
Same here. Yeah, there you go. So I'm taking off
next Friday. But are you working TOOI I am not
working on the phone. I have kids though, remember, Yeah,
oh yeah, sure you bet, like I don't like, I

(01:09:47):
don't have kids. I got I got moving parts. Sam.
Are you working on the fourth? Sam? Is fifties out?
Fourthies working? How do you take the fourth off? Everybody's
home and it's a free agent frenzy. It's gonna be
terrified because two years ago Kevin dur three years ago,
Kevin Durant signed on July fourth, So we're all freaked

(01:10:07):
out about it. Darryl Morey rockets GM around the corner.
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
and noon Easter nine am Pacific. Good to have you in.
Daryl Morey Rockets GM. Got his Masters from mt It's
very impressive. Feel a little intellectually overwhelmed here. I'll try

(01:10:28):
to just bail water and keep up. Darryl, how are you?
I just watched your daughter, who is a young documentarian, Karen.
I just watched From six Man to MVP about James Harden.
Very impressive. You must be proud. I am. Yeah, obviously
a little biased, but yeah, she did a great job.

(01:10:49):
She worked on a school at NYU and came out
pretty good. Yeah. It premieres on YouTube, so it's called
from six Man to MVP. Good for you. I've got
a college daughter who's nineteen, so I that that warm
warm my heart? Um yeah, yeah, all right. Did you
feel this year? You went for everybody loved Daryl Morey

(01:11:09):
and then at the end of the year it's kind
of you became a villain and everybody's saying that, yeah,
you became Roman Reigns or something. Lebron said he was
never comfortable being a villain. Are you comfortable being a
little bit of a villain. I'm comfortable as this winning.
So I mean, I think whatever it takes to win, well,

(01:11:30):
we'll do. That's my job. And if it means we're
gonna be not popular at times, that's fine, no problem.
You do get talked about a lot. The latest is
the Chris Paul James Harden story, which I've said multiple
times in the last two days. I think it's overplayed.
I think all families argue, especially two guards. Uh, you

(01:11:52):
know they both want the ball. Could I at least
make this because I don't have any insight here beyond
what I read, But could I say this Chris is demanding,
hardens uber talented, and that it wasn't always ideal. There
are occasional arguments. Yeah, they're both hyper competitive and shocker

(01:12:13):
in Game six, one of the most important games of
their lives, you know they're it's gonna be intense on
the bench. I don't. I don't see it as much
different from from a lot of times during the season.
I mean, if you got two very smart, very competitive people,
there's gonna be disagreements and U for us, it was

(01:12:34):
just weird that it became a story, honestly, and I'm
glad that it seems to people have sort of figured
out that it was nonsense. So there is no fissure.
You did not have to step in at any point.
Well you didn't see me on the bench jump in
between them and have to hold them apart. No, I
did not. I did not have to step in between them. Now,

(01:12:55):
the NBA can be very cruel windows closed quickly. The
sacrament Kings fifteen years ago look like a championship team
and you wake up the next morning and the window closes.
The Seattle Seahawks, we thought we're gonna be a dynasty
one and the window closes. Are you at all? How
fearful are you that with Chris Paul's body, the aging,

(01:13:18):
your window is closing very quickly. Yeah, I have to.
I have to focus on that. That's the real thing
that you know. We've got to make sure that we
can stay competitive. That's why we're chasing some of the
top free agents again. Hopefully hopefully we I think we
got a real shot at one of them potentially, and

(01:13:38):
we feel very good about our window. Obviously, Bolton State
is probably not going to be as good next year,
so that's going to help us. I do think the
West is wide open. But if you most teams are
trying to keep their starting from last year together. Right now,
we've got our starting five, We're gonna add a mid level.
If we can get a top level guy will get them.
And I think we're the favorites in the Western season.

(01:14:00):
And I think Vegas will show that when when we
go when they start doing the over unders and all that. Yeah, no,
I don't disagree. We said that earlier today. Listen, it
was I like Mike D'Antoni. I think he's a really
good guy and a good coach. Well, I have I
always worry about coaches that have systems. I am a

(01:14:21):
believer in the Andy Reid Belichick uh style, which is
your players become the system, you just work around them.
I'm always reticent to embrace systems, right Mike. Mike has
had Mike has had some playoff bumps. Are you concerned
about that? I'm definitely not concerned about that. So I'm
concerned about our window, but not not this. And I

(01:14:44):
would respectfully disagree that that he's he's about a system.
I think Mike's actually one of the all time great
get the most out of your players. I mean, if
you do, you look at how his Phoenix team has
played versus how we play. It's sort of night and day,
and he's taking the strength of Chris Paul, the strength
of James Harden and really optimize that. I mean, we

(01:15:05):
do play a lot of isolation, and the reason we
do that is because that's that's the skill level. One
of the one of the all time great skills of
James Harden. So he's using that. That's not something he
really did back in Phoenix. So I think he's one
of the the all time great guys actually using his
players to their maximum. How come Harden wasn't at that
MVP sin dig last night? Ah, he had a sum

(01:15:28):
in China with Adidas, So yeah, wouldn't. What do you
have been there if he was gonna win it? Maybe
that's quite a commitment. Yes, that's not quite the US,
not quite the Oscar. Fair enough, I thought we had
a shout. They got that Brian Cohen and PwC guy

(01:15:48):
in the back. I thought that might have given us
the shot last night. But that was about it. Let
me this My next question doesn't bother me. But I
hear this narrative and I do think it's It doesn't
bother me, so I may overlook it. But I do
think a league is as strong as it relates. I
think it's one of the NFL's great strengths. We watch it,

(01:16:09):
we bet it, and it's very big in the Midwest.
Players play hurt, players can get cut. There's a relatability
to it. Do you worry at all with twenty something
year old employees NBA stars having too much power. And
it's always been a player league, so it's never bothered me.
It wasn't the seventies, but it does feel like players

(01:16:30):
have more political power, they have more mobility. Do you
ever think that's a problem for the league, the optics
that small teams, small markets can't compete. Yeah, I don't
think it's a problem. I think, look, the players are
the top players, especially by far, the most important thing
in the league, So I think they should have power.

(01:16:51):
I think people are uncomfortable having power in places they're
not used to it. But why should you know I
should fifty year old, you know, six year old aging
executives of all the power. I mean, what's the difference
between that and a twenty year old? So I actually
like it's it's been a big edge for us. You know,
we're all about the players, and it's worked for us,

(01:17:13):
you know. And I've talked about this a little bit
offline in the past. I think if if I had
a player with a lot of power it wasn't smart,
it could be a problem. But you know, James Hardon
and Chris Paul are two of the smarter guys in
the League obviously, Chris running the players union, and James
people don't know as well because he's pretty quiet, but

(01:17:34):
he's just super super smart, especially on the basketball part. Yeah,
what is your relationship with Harden? How often do you
have to talk, need to talk or do talk? We
keep it pretty professional. I mean, at the end of
the day, we're about winning, and so we talk a lot,
but it's mostly about free agency. Who we're gonna go after,
guys were going to add to the team, and you know,

(01:17:55):
I see. My job is to be in partnership with
Chris and James and and put together a great team
around them, and the best way to do that is
to do that in collaboration with them. UM KD direct question.
I know you can't mention names. Are you going to
get a meeting this weekend with Wink wink a potential

(01:18:18):
free agent? Well, definitely some free agent, but I think
you mean a top one. I would say yeah, I'd
say yes, yes, So you are confirming to me I'm breaking.
This is a big breaking think. So I can't say
for sure because we can't schedule them yet, but I
feel good that, oh, well, we'll be with um, we'll
be with a top free agent in the early days.

(01:18:38):
By the way, you are at some level just a
highly compensated working stuff like me. You have a new
owner of the Fartida family. I grew up to some degree.
Some of my great years were in Las Vegas. Fritidas
are very known, very smart and by the way, they
can be demanding. That's not a negative term to me.
When you lose in the playoffs, Is it uncomfortable with
a new owner? Is it tough for you for the

(01:18:58):
next two weeks? Yeah, I think it should be. I mean,
my job is to win. And to your point, you
know I do get I do get paid well. So
to you, I mean your job obviously to get ratings.
So if you didn't, I think you'd find it appropriate
if they were on top of you. I think my
job is to win, and you know, the Fritida families
demanding what they should be. I mean, that's that's what

(01:19:19):
the Houston, the Houston fans would want. Someone is pushing hard,
someone will pay anything like like someone for Tita, and
I'm excited for his ownership. Daryl Morey, good talking to you. Hey,
thanks thanks for having out and appreciate it. One more
Herd the Herd streams twenty four hours a day, seven
days a week. Within the iHeart Radio app, search Herd

(01:19:41):
to listen live or on demand whenever you'd like. This
is the Herd hour three. Well, I've in LA iHeart Radio,
Fox Sports Radio, wherever you may be and however you
may be listening one hour ago back on TV tomorrow.

(01:20:03):
I'm wearing bifocals, not even mine. By the way I
saw this, It's not really a big deal, but to
it just always geeks people out. Emory University School of

(01:20:25):
Business professor Mike Lewis used a statistical analysis to determine
the NFL's best fans, and they considered three criteria, fan equity,
social equity, and road equity. Fan equity is how well
fans back up their words with dollars. Social equity is

(01:20:47):
a team's social media reach, and road equity measures how
well a team draws on the road, adjusting for team performance.
So base based on those three criteria. How big are
you at home? How big is your reach on social media?

(01:21:09):
And when you go on the road do you bring people?
I think those are three very reasonable criteria to local
fans fill the stadium and spend a lot of money,
do you have national global reach? And on the road,
are you popular enough that you draw a crowd as well?

(01:21:30):
And the results Cowboys one, Patriots, Eagles, Giant, Steelers, Packers, Broncos, Bears, Niners, Saints.
Top ten should be noted a lot of cold weather cities,
the last ten, a lot of warm weather cities, Bucks, Vikings, Cards, Chargills, Browns, Bengals, Jags, Titans, Chiefs, Rams.

(01:21:52):
The Bills at nineteen feel a tad low, The Falcons
at thirteen, feel a tad high, The Chiefs Kansas City
at thirty one, feel a tad low. And the Rams
are at thirty two. And I have no problem with that.
By the way, people freaked out about the Chiefs, But

(01:22:13):
the Chiefs until Patrick Mahomes got there, probably didn't didn't
didn't draw particularly well on the road. And they're not
a team until Patrick Mahomes got there that anybody talked
about on digital social media. So whenever they did this,
they probably did this over the last couple of years.
You know, it's funny. The Rams are at thirty second.

(01:22:34):
Is LA is just so distracted. Two major league teams,
two NFL teams, two major colleges, two NBA two hockey
to MLS. LA is an incredibly crowded, distracted market. I
actually think the Vegas Raiders will hit faster than the
Rams that in Los Angeles because Vegas has one NHL

(01:22:56):
team and you know, marginally interesting college university nearby. The
Rams have actually been fortunate. The Lakers have been dysfunctional
for years, in USC has underachieved for most of the
last decade. So if USC was humming and the Lakers
were humming, I think the Rams would have either an
even harder entrance into the LA market. But right now, Cowboys, Patriots,

(01:23:21):
Eagles are the best and Jags, Titans, Chiefs, Rams near
the bottom. By the way, the Browns are twenty seventh
and the Steelers are fifth. So for anybody who thinks
I'm negative toward the Browns when I say they do
not have a national audience, they don't. That's why O.

(01:23:46):
B J Is a big pickup for them in terms
of overall discussion, social media and reach. He's a global star.
It will make the Browns if you did this study
in one or two years, they would be in the
teens or higher. But they have not been really a
national team for the last twenty years before OBJ and

(01:24:06):
Baker just just have not We're all kind of waiting.
This is a time of the year I take my
vacations overwhelmingly based on one thing. When does the market
slow down? So, you know, Labor Day until February, second, third, fourth,

(01:24:28):
you know, outside of Christmas Week, you know, you just
work and you got like two months and then you
come back in April and you go NBA Playoffs, NFL Draft,
and then you work to the end of the finals.
Then you take a week off in that space, and
then you come back which is right now, and you
kind of wait for the shoot to drop on all

(01:24:49):
the NBA free agents. You know, I'm not going to
spend a lot of time breaking down regular season baseball
had John Smoltzon yesterday, but we are in sort of
a holding pattern with all the NBA stars, And you know,
Kawhi Leonard obviously established himself this year as the rare

(01:25:09):
individual star that could carry a team without a second
star to a championship. And Rick Buker was on earlier
today on the Clippers now being a little worried about
signing Kawai and an interesting nugget about why Kawai could
be staying in Toronto. The Clippers have been quietly pretty

(01:25:32):
confident all along, Yeah, we're going to be able to
get this done. And what I'm hearing is that they
are now showing signs of concern that it's not going
to go their way. Kawhi signing the sponsorship deal with
the Canadian private chet company that raised some alarms in
Clipperville because that's the same company that basically gave Drake

(01:25:57):
a private jet for free. Wow. And it doesn't make
a whole lot of sense that you would be a sponsor,
you know, would that work with Kawai's name Carrie in Canada?
Still if he moves to la and if you're the
private jet company, are you really wanting to, you know,

(01:26:17):
sign him up and do a sponsorship deal with him
if he's not going to be playing for the home team.
I may be crazy on this, but that makes me
believe the deal's done. There are there are rumors, and
then there are signs. If Kawhi Leonard is signing a

(01:26:40):
deal or has signed a deal with a Canadian private
jet company, then he's a raptor. I mean, aren't we
all looking for these little signs? Weren't people talking about
Kevin Durant buying a house in New York. Okay, buying
a house in New York for a rich person is

(01:27:02):
much less of a sign then a basketball player from
California signing a private jet deal in Canada who currently
plays in Canada. Maybe I'm nuts he's staying in Toronto.
That's not even a little sign. That's not even a

(01:27:25):
little sign. I mean, that would be like, if let's say,
I mean there was rumors I was leaving and suddenly
I just joined a super expensive golf club in Los Angeles.
Wouldn't that be telling you I wouldn't be doing that
if I was leaving California, that would tell you I

(01:27:49):
would be staying here. If you're signing a massive deal
with a private jet company in Canada, that sounds like
Kawhi Leonard saying you can FLI me back and forth
to my house in California. That's what it sounds like
to me. Or his endorsement is if you want to
leave Toronto for La used this plane. And remember years ago,

(01:28:13):
Randy Moss played for the Patriots, and if I recall,
there was a Monday night game and he had a
very successful career, but I remember going on the air
after the Monday night game, and it wasn't that Randy
Moss didn't have a catch. It was that Randy Moss
was only targeted one time in the game. And I

(01:28:36):
came on the air the next morning, I was on
the other place, the radio network, and I said, he's gone,
he's out. It's over. Well, I mean the double coverage.
I said, no, no, no, it's not that he had
one or no catch. He wasn't targeted. He's the best
receiver in football. They eliminated him from the playbook. They

(01:28:59):
had never done that in any previous game. That was
a sign Moss and the Patriots were ending. And I
went on the air that Tuesday morning and said it
got major blowback, and within the week, Randy Moss was gone.
Like that private jet story sounds like to me, Kawhi

(01:29:19):
has made a decision. He's staying for at least one year,
at least one I don't know why you'd sign that deal.
I don't know why you'd sign it. You would sign
that deal because they'll fly it back and forth for
free private jet travel Toronto to you know, Los Angeles.

(01:29:40):
You know, I don't know what it is. But back
and forth. It's probably forty five thousand bucks, which doesn't
seem like a lot for a rich guy. But Canada
taxes are brutal to begin with. And you get free travel,
the free penthouse that was offered, the free food in
every restaurant. You know, Canadians are doing a really good
job here on affording him all the obstacles that would

(01:30:01):
push them out of Canada. No house payment, no transportation payment,
no food payment. I mean, it's that's the way to
do it. That's I mean, that's what some college football
programs do. They're just not allowed to can I just

(01:30:22):
say it, Kauai is going to be a raptor. There's
your sign. That doesn't seem like a little thing to me,
Am I am I overreacting on that don seem significant?
I mean if I gave If you're dating a girl
and you give her a rock, it's a sign you're
committed to her and it will probably end in marriage.

(01:30:46):
That would not be an egregious jump, That would not
be a conclusion that would be hard to fathom, right,
And the bigger the rock, probably the more urgent the
relationship is. If you cheat out, you just maybe stringing
her along. But if you drop like you know, turn't money,

(01:31:10):
like if you dropped ten grand fifteen on a ring.
Candice is saying, more thy good? Who does that? Really?
You're crowd, not mine. I mean the bigger the rock,
the sooner the marriage right unless they feel that he
is so beloved in Canada that they could endorse him

(01:31:31):
even if he left. But that seems like a stretch. Yeah,
I mean they're nice people, but they they're not doing backflips.
If he leaves, I don't know, be sure to catch
live editions of the Herd weekdays and noon eastern a Empacific.
I am wearing thank you to Lilian, the head of
hr AT. iHeart. She let me borrow her glasses today

(01:31:54):
I would not be able to beat out. Lilian is very,
very thoughtful, unlike Gottli, who just joined me, is mocking
my glasses. Well, at some point, where are we old?
Are you forty sure you're gonna need these things too?
You know what I have? I have? I actually have
glasses about even for reading any of them for distance,
for driving, okay, I can. At forty four years old,
I was in a steakhouse Flemings. Yeah, and I looked

(01:32:16):
down and there were ants all over the menu, and
I was like, what happened? And from that point forward
I couldn't read prescriptions or menus, so out I can
see for Miles, Well, it's amazing about you. You've had
that picture. Oh you were in Vegas. Yeah, and you're
like twenty two years old, and you look forty when
you're twenty two years old. Now in your seventies, you

(01:32:37):
look like you're in your forties. Like you haven't You've
done kind of the Benjamin Button thing. I don't know
how with the exception obviously of when you had that
amazing hair and you came to Fox and it was
it's a beautiful auburney color. That was. I've told the
story about that. I know you know who. I'm doing
a podcast with tonight who Simmons and Roussillo. You are

(01:32:57):
you at seven o'clock. It's called Sharkey's. He called me
like he called me two months ago and he said,
if you get divorced, that's the spot you'll be hanging
at it. Well, I hope that's not an issue. So
I'm gonna hang out with them tonight. That'll be fun
a podcast. I don't know what they're doing. They just
said show up and of course I'm a huge star,
so I'll sell it out. Okay, Okay, sober there all uber. Yeah,

(01:33:21):
I don't drive anywhere, so let me throw this at
yeah Boston. Yes, A D won't play. Kyrie not interested.
KG initially didn't want to go there, Horford Bales. Lebron's
never shown interest. They have a great coach, great GM,
great history, solid owner, They want a bunch of games.
They have a nice roster. What is it? Well, what

(01:33:43):
shouldn't I mean if I told you there's this baseball team,
second most titles, GM coach, But tell me tell me
the team that is the free agent attractor, Like the
LA Lakers are the Lakers. They had Lebron. They couldn't
get a meeting with Paul George last year. Not a meeting.
Paul George didn't turn them down. You have to have
a conversation in order to be turned down. You know. Um,

(01:34:06):
it's it's it's like you know you, It's like you
text somebody, you know, do you want to hang out?
And if that the girl doesn't text you back. That's
basically what Paul George. He put him on ice and
didn't text back. You know, it's it's different once you
text back and now you engage a little bit, you're
saying there is no real there's there there is a Look,

(01:34:26):
we have loud voices in the media that create narratives
which are frankly untrue. Right, Boston's not a free agent destination.
Al Horford went there. He was in Atlanta his college
head coach. We won two national championships with hat was
in the Western Conference finals with the Oklahoma City Thunder
film remember Billy. And this was before Kevin Durant bailed. Yeah, right,

(01:34:48):
and they wanted him and he went to Boston. And
then the next year they got Gordon Hayward, Like they
got two of the Gordon Hayward was the prize free
agent of that class. Now, granted they had an inn
with Gordon Hayward because he had played for Brad Stevens.
But the idea of it is that it's not a
free Okay, So the Knicks having gotten a free agent,

(01:35:10):
and how long is it because of New York or
because the owner the Lakers, the Clippers, like, tell me
who where every free agent goes? That's fair. It takes
a specific guy in order to go there. No, I
think that's fair. Like KG didn't want to go there
because it was a racist town. Then he goes there
and they win title, and then he loves Boston and
they love him. It's like, it's not a racist town.

(01:35:31):
Don't get me wrong. They're a racist I'm sure in Boston,
but I'm guessing they're probably small pockets of racists in
a lot of different places, and most people are not
racist that go to basketball games, because it would be
really weird to cheer for your team that's made up
of predominantly black players from the States or from outside
of the States, and you know, and and secretly not
like them. I don't know. I don't even I have

(01:35:53):
a tough time with the racism thing because it's not
something that creeps into my life, so I don't really
relate to it. Yeah. No, I think your point, though,
is fair that there isn't one destination. M Lebron clearly
wanted to go to Los Angeles, but Dwight Howard didn't,
and Dwight Howard did, and then Howard went didn't want
to come back, and then the Mark ut all Ridge
didn't give him a meeting, and Paul George didn't give

(01:36:13):
a meeting, right, that's fair. Yes, I do think you
said chase management. Some of these guys chase management. Some
of these guys have a coach or a workout guy,
or a connection with a couple of guys in the team. Like,
there are all different sorts of different reasons. The biggest
thing is this, it's really hard to leave. Just is
hard to get a guy to leave because they can
pay you more years and more money. And at the

(01:36:34):
end of the day, there's and you and I have
moved a lot. I've moved more than you m movies.
Hard sucks, right, Everybody likes change, Nobody likes transition. You know,
you got a new cable company, new doctor, new new
dentists stinks for you, periodontist for your your uppers and
year lowers right right, you know, new hair salon. Obviously

(01:36:55):
clearly that first one didn't work. So I think that's
it's part of what people don't talk about. It's like, look,
Kemba Walker. Kem Walker's from Brooklyn, and if the Lakers
get him, that's a huge win for the Lakers. But
you're fighting against the fact that Charlotte, whatever they offer
him can be more money and more years than anybody

(01:37:16):
and he seems to like it there. Yeah, he's the guy, right,
and so it's like, can you fall to him for Hey,
not only can you make more money for more years
and be the guy, but you also have two months
off when everybody else is fighting out in the playoffs
and they don't take back money if you don't make
the playoffs when you got a guarantee contract. Yeah, I
think what is your gut feeling on Kauai? I mean,

(01:37:37):
you got this thing where he signed a deal with
a jet company, right, that's what Buker said this morning.
That feels real. I mean it feels like it's also
kind of a money grab, right, But now that it's
a jet company, does he have to stay in Canada
in order to have the sponsorship? But I would think
if somebody owns a jet company, they're smart and you
would have a qualifier, which is if you don't sign here,
you don't get it. If you do, we'll fly to

(01:37:57):
la seven times a year for free, you and your
family back. That's what it sounds like they did the
d that's the Kevin Brown deal. Remember when Remember when Yes,
Kevin Brown signed with the Dodgers. And Fox owned the
Fox own part of the Dodgers. Then right, yeah, and
he got a deal where he got to fly in
the Fox. Yet, how did you not get that deal?
I don't have that deal. That's bad negotiations. Get Nick

(01:38:18):
Con on the phone. Let's get this thing going. I
fly back of the bus southwest. That that very much,
very much not true. Um okay, so what my gut feeling, Kauai.
I have no idea either, do I No one has
any idea. I think he just doesn't talk. I don't know.
I don't think some people telegraph stuff, some people don't.
By the way, you and I have moved a bunch

(01:38:39):
of times, I've always come down in every single opportunity
with a yellow pad pros and cons. I've done that.
I've just simplified it. And you look down at the
list and you're like, Okay, I'll go to Portland, Okay,
I'll go to Fox. I mean it's always come down
to the same thing, pros cons. I think Canada's got
you know, Damon Stademer came out of my show and said,
I look back now, I could have owned Canada and

(01:39:01):
been popular in the USA. I probably should have stayed
in Canada. Yeah, well, look, I mean he also didn't
have the success elsewhere that he had, you know, so, um,
look there's something that this is the Do you remember
Tom Brennan, who I worked with the ESPN, is the
former Vermont head coach. Yes, yes, So I would always
ask like TB why do you live in Vermont? Like
it's Burlington's amazing, amazing town, beautiful, but like it's cold winter,

(01:39:25):
Like why you live Vermoney said, my boy, it's fifty
states in the Union. I own one of them. Never
forget that I own one of them. And he's right,
like he's the mayor there, he's the mayor, the governor,
the whatever, the he's the all time. He's got the
signature on the court. Don't ever, you know, leave if
you're the king of your domain. And I would guess
if your Kauhi, you could probably talk yourself into like,

(01:39:46):
you know, look, I live in LA in the off season.
In the regular season, I'm either in the gym or
wherever I live. You know, I'm on a plane. So
you could talk you talk yourself into signing a one
plus one and then getting the supermax in two years
when you have ten years of service in the league
and making more money than you can ever make and
and maybe you know, like his uncle has chased La

(01:40:07):
because of the idea that he's more marketable news flesh.
It's hard to market a guy that doesn't really have
much of a personality, right, But you know what you
can market. You can market success, and you can market
being the guy who stayed. This is the Russell Westbrook
why he stayed in Oklahoma City, etc. I know there's
other reasons, but you can be super marketable if you're
the guy and own a franchise and oh yeah, by

(01:40:30):
the way, that franchise wins. So his uncle may have
may have, you know, turned up something without even trying
to de Angelo Russell Laker rumors he's not a max player.
He may get max money. I don't think he gets
max money. Here's my question that one's gonna be really hard.
What's your question? Do you sprinkle the infield? Which I would?
I think it's hard to tell young players you're going

(01:40:51):
to be the third scoring option. I think it's much
easier to tell Kyle Kuzma that. I don't think it's
a great fit. I know he's a good player, wouldn't
he two years ago. Now he's mature. Yes, sudden maturity,
Like wow, that was he went through. You know, he
went through a social puberty all of a sudden, and
he's the best. I was told by a former member
of their staff that they felt like he was the

(01:41:14):
worst Laker they had had in twenty years in terms
of in terms of the whole package. The expectation for
very high because the number two pick, he was kind
of given the keys to the kingdom. And now he was.
He not a hard worker, a high volume shooter, He
didn't play defense. He blamed other people when things would
go wrong. But then he was a hangout guy. And
it's one thing to go and hang out and and

(01:41:36):
you know, and be at NOBU late at night. You're
allowed to do that, but bringing other younger players with
you is bringing the entire team down. And then you
show up with bad energy at practice and not being
kind of locked in. They really didn't like him. Now
most of that regime is gone. There's like one person
in the building that was there when he was drafted,
with exception of Genie Buss and some of that upper management.

(01:41:58):
But that that's a really hard one for me to
think Legitimately happens. They felt like he was a losing player.
I mean there's even look the Nets have him and
they're looking at Kyrie and Kemba. Yes, so there's a
limitation to what everybody thinks he is. So I like
Spencer Dinwoodie a lot more as a teammate, and he's
a little bit more efficient and far less expensive, and

(01:42:19):
I think the Nets do as well. So that one's
a hard pill for me to swallow that all of
a sudden, he goes in New Jersey, they sprinkle some
some pixie dust on him, and he's a different human being. Now,
I you know, I have said this for years and years.
You kind of who you are at twelve generally is
who you are at twenty two, thirty two, forty two.

(01:42:39):
A slight variation of it. Selfish kid is selfish adult,
immature kids, immature adult. Now, obviously people grow, but habits
are created very early from your family. Yes, I mean you,
but look, you can't figure it out. I mean, like, look,
everybody figure stuff out. I mean I did stupid stuff
early on, and my broadcasting career wish I had not done. Yeah.

(01:43:01):
So I once stole a pizza in college. Um Dominos
with a body. You used to go in to the
cafeteria and you give the lady, what twenty bucks at
the start of the week or at the end of
the week. Yeah, and just go and grab food and
then run back. Because it was during a break, I
didn't have time to go through the commerce right right,
So I don't know if you know this. I did
the same thing and they're like, hey, gotlib you gotta

(01:43:23):
pay there. I was like, I did pad. They gave
it lady twenty five. I actually gave the lady twenty
five dollars. What did they say? I was like, they
were like, oh, well, who'd you give it to? It's
like her. I was like, I did the cowherd deal.
Like what's the cowherd deal. They're like, well, he's calling cowherd,
he can do that. There was really good, that's what
they said. Yes, it's true story. It's cowherd deal. I
feel like, oh, a lady in a lunchline some money.

(01:43:45):
That's a terrible I did it because I was on
the air. I did it because I was on the
air too, or I was on your show or on
Sports Center or on my show. I actually did a
six hour show when I started there six hours. So
what do I think? Um? I think Kyrie ends up
probably in Brooklyn. I agree. I don't know about KD.
That one's a he's But again, they're two weird guys.

(01:44:07):
So maybe weird guys end up together Kemba Boston. Maybe
that would be amazing. I mean, like, look, they're clearing
out cap space. They've whoever has been kind of the
go to guy at the point guard spot has gotten
the keys to the kingdom there, Like go back and
look and look at Isaiah Thomas's success before Kyrie's success.
Brad works. It's like Lincoln Riley makes all quarterbacks work. Yes,

(01:44:30):
if I was a quarterback, I'd play for Lincoln Riley.
Yes he can make If Lincoln Riley makes Jallen Hurts
a Hisman Trophy winner, he is officially quarterbacked. Jesus, he's quarterbacked, Jesus. Well,
I know, and I said it's about Kyrie. It's like, listen,
you bailed on Lebron after you hit the shot. You've
bailed on Lebroun and bailed on Brad Stevens. Something happened
after you hit that shot. You're because you well you know,

(01:44:51):
look I heard you. I was driving and I heard
you say how there's a story that he wasn't happy
living in Boston, And there's a very good possibility in
Boston's cold if you're not from the Northeast and you
don't you know, you don't get it. That's fine, But
I would also point out, like you go back in,
he wasn't happy in Cleveland, and he wasn't happy when
Lebron showed up. And yeah, he's he's the he's the

(01:45:12):
sticky wheel. Sticky wheel does get the grease. But he's
one of those not happy unless he's unhappy. He's super,
super talented, yes, but he got to figure out how
to get along with other people because and and to
to bring more positive energy on a daily basis to
work because he's kind of a downer. I told the
story last week while you're off. That made some headway,

(01:45:32):
that that he walked in one day to film and
he was one first guy in there. I'm like, he
was professional, like do his workouts. There was nothing not professional.
But he didn't come in with liquor on his breath
or any of that stuff. But he came in, he said,
he shook hands with Brad, and Brad said morning, how
are you? And he's like, what's the word government mean
to you? Brad looked at him and when it's some

(01:45:54):
like long non answer answer, it's like, what's means you
like control? But this wasn't like good morning, how are you?
Was new? What do you want to work on a day?
What are you thinking? Hey? Feeling has your body? Is
your knee? You know? Hey, Brad has your kids? Oh?
What a great day? What a terrible day? House traffic?
It was what does government mean? He's just kind of heavy.

(01:46:16):
And he was one of these guys that would sit
in the back of film and you know, he would
just crush some of these young guys. Meanwhile they're playing
the Milwaukee go back and watch on tape. They're play
the Milwaukee Bucks in the playoffs. Yeah, and he would
just on his own switch and he's guarding Jannis. That's
what Terry Rosier was talking about. Terry's like, that was
not the game plan is to hide Kyrie Irving on defense, right,

(01:46:40):
not for him to guard the best player on the
other team, the MVP of the league. And of course
you know your honestly just go buy him and make
a play. And it wasn't just that it was, this
is the game plan, this is what we're doing. We're
all bought into it. And then Kyrie does Kyrie thing
because Kyrie's ego is, hey, I'm the best player. I'm
going to shut him down. That's what all the great
players do. It's like you're kind of a nondefender. Just

(01:47:01):
go hide over there and try and get steals. And
when we get the ball, go through your legs fifteen
times to make a play. But he's he's a tough
one and I think he's as talented as any person
that plays in the NBA. Best two hand closer for
his size in my lifetime. Finishing you mean finisher, Yeah,
at the ram left right, Yeah. Rod Strickland is his godfather,
and those those are the two like they just it's

(01:47:23):
called you know, it's called your finishing package now in
the NBA, best finishing package in the NBA. Like he floaters.
He when he goes through his workouts, his individual workouts,
he never shoots a shot on balance ever, and then
all of his I asked Brad once about it, and
Brad's like, have you ever seen his work? He's like no,
He's like it's crazy. He does he does all these
crazy He knows every inch of the backboard and he

(01:47:44):
practices shots off it, and Brad asked him, like, why
do you do it that way? He's like, I know
I can make it just catching and shooting. I know
I can make every layup, but those are shots I
get in the game, so I want to take in
every different shot and I just kind of let my
body decide what I'm gonna do. He's an unbeliefable talent. Yeah.
The Gottlieb Show follows mine. Good see anybody good to see? Yuh?
Those are some beautiful specils. Like thank Hillary again in

(01:48:07):
hr AT, iHeartMedia. Ah, Lillian, what did I say? I said,
Hillary is Lilian. I'm sorry. That's terrible, a Lilian, That's
what I said after Hillary. Veteran newsman, French newsman John Goule, No, no,

(01:48:28):
this is the herd Line news. So for the first
time since Magic Johnson abruptly resigned from the Lakers, owner
Genie Buss spoke to the media at the NBA Award,
how come your voice is low and their music so hot?
There got better? That's better to hear the I gotta
run the dawn board too. He's just like, oh, I'm
not doing enough over here for you go here's Genie Buss.

(01:48:51):
I'm excited about our new coach, Frank Vogel. I think
that he is somebody that has not only led his
teams to play great defense, they consistently played defense, and
I think that's very important. We have a lot of
other changes that are going to happen, but I can't
talk about him because of NBA rules. She also talked

(01:49:12):
about having confidence in Rob Polinka and they she does
not need the media to validate the things that they do.
Does Jeanie have any reason to be faithful in Polinka
or well, this is what she's got. I don't think
it's kind of forced. I mean, there's no other option.
I don't think a top GM in this league is
interested in that gig. I think Sam Presty gets paid

(01:49:32):
too much in Oklahoma City, just because you know, there's
a lot of these big brands like the Dallas Cowboys.
If you're a top GM, you're not gonna work for
the Cowboys, even though it's a great brand. Because of
Jerry Jones tends to be a meddler. So I don't
think the Lakers right now is a great executive job.
So according to Chris Sheridan, the Mavericks are expecting to

(01:49:53):
get a meeting with Kawhi Leonard. Now they have kind
of an interesting pitch. They have the rookie of the
year with Luca don Chiz. Yeah, they potentially are going
to have a healthy Christaps porzingis no state tax, they
have a head coach that's very well respected. It is
won a title. Yes, However, as you pointed out earlier today,
the Mavericks never sign anybody. It's always been bizarre to me.

(01:50:15):
They have the best, Like every year you go, they
kind of have everything a free agent would want, and
they rarely even get sis. And the one guy they
did almost sign changed his mind and went back to
the Clippers. I've never understood this. I was told once
by somebody I trust that Cuban cast a shadow over
the organization because he's so dynamic. If I was an

(01:50:37):
NBA free agent, Dallas would be top three, no state tax,
middle of the country, mean, shorter flights, all winner, decent
winter weather, nice arena. Cuban treats people great. There's a
four seasons or a rich Carl next to the arena.
You could buy a residence and walk in. It's a
great NBA and they've got excellent fan support, and I

(01:50:58):
would argue Cubans quieted down a little. I feel like
he doesn't make the news as much as I think.
I think he's figured out that he sometimes is an obstacle.
I think he's stepped back smartly. I mean, and not
just with Kawhi. Obviously, I don't know that he's going there,
but it seems like they just can never really get
in on anybody. And finally, there are some new odds
out regarding Kevin Durant where he's going to sign potentially

(01:51:22):
next week. According to Caesar's, the Nets are the new
betting favorite to land Kevin Durant, just ahead of the Warriors,
and there's a big gap to the third most likely team,
which is the Nix at plus five hundred. I hope
the NBA media gets one of these right. It's going
to be really embarrassing if Kawhi stays, Kyrie and Katie

(01:51:42):
go to the Nets, Clay leaves, Jimmy Butler leaves Philly.
I'm just hoping the media gets goes to your eye
root for chaos there, Yeah, no, I do. I'm looking
for tire fires. I think the more crazy stuff that happens,
the better. I'd like to see Dallas actually do something.
I think Lucas spectacular. He's a twenty five pointing game
guy for the next decade. Porzingis if he can stay

(01:52:04):
healthy's remarkable. I'd love to see Dallas two some God
the West is going to be loaded. Dallas is good
this year. Pelicans are fascinating. Utah got better if Houston?
What if Houston signs Jimmy Butler? God the West is
they need Kawai to stay in Canada. Ess just it
doesn't feel they Horford bailing if he goes West, Butler

(01:52:28):
goes West, Kawhi goes West, Zion and John Morant already
drafted West. Yikes, it's not even veteran newsman John Goulai, Well,
that's the news and thanks for stopping the Herd line.
My staff is gonna put me on the spot with
some game they came up with. They love it. It's
best for last around the corner. Be sure to catch

(01:52:48):
live editions of The Herd weekdays in noon Easter nine
am Pacific on Fox Sports Radio FS one and the
iHeart Radio app. Welcome Back. I was playing with my
family last night a game called five second Rule. And
in the game, you get a category and you have
five seconds to come up with three things that fit
the category. Like they'd say, name three Super Bowl winning

(01:53:12):
teams Patriots, Giant Steelers, and you have five seconds to
name the three teams. And it was pretty fun. I
was playing with my wife and the kids that sometimes,
just because of the time restraints, you always think about
one or two things quickly and then you end up
lunging and coming up with an absurd third answer. So,
based on me playing a board game last night at

(01:53:34):
home called the five second Rule, the staff said, we're
going to put a special herd spin on the game.
So the staff will put me on the spot. We
haven't rehearsed this. They'll give me categories and then say,
see the three things that would pop into my head.
So this is the game, by the way, you can
look it up called the five second Rule game. It's
a lot of fun to play with your family. So

(01:53:54):
here we go night our con. Three best NBA players
of all time go, Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Lebron James.
That's pretty good, alright. Three most overrated NBA players currently

(01:54:17):
in the league. Westbrook, Gordon Hayward, John Wall. That's pretty
quick thinking about you impressed? All right? Three greatest players
ever to wear a Lakers uniform, go, Wilt Kareem Magic.

(01:54:39):
Shouldn't Lebron be on there? If he's the top three
all time he has worn a Lakers uniform? Yeah? See again,
if I had nine seconds, that would have answered that correctly.
And I left Kobe out as much of a fun game.
All right. Ready, Three best quarterbacks currently playing in the
NFL Patrick Mahomes, Andrew Luck, Tom Brady, Wow, Big Ben

(01:55:04):
Russell Wilson. No, No, Russell's close big band is Aaron Rodgers.
Don't trust him in big spots. That's right. I left
off Aaron Rodgers. I probably should have mentioned him. Okay.
Three great quarterbacks who have played for the Cleveland Browns go,
Brian Sipe, Otto Graham, Bernie Kozar. How about that. That's

(01:55:24):
not easy to do. That's pretty good. I think that
was meant to stump you. That was I went. I
went Otto Graham. He played in his socks. I mean
they didn't even tackle back then. Three oh, sorry, Three
famous people dead or alive you'd like to have dinner
with go Elvis Presley, Tom Petty, dead or alive? Couldn't

(01:55:50):
you just get me dead then alive? So it was
why don't you just say three people all time you'd
like to have dinner with? That threw me off because
I started thinking that dead people literally throw you off.
It's literally everyone in history. It's to ask the question,
like all time, I asked you a writer, I didn't
write these goad that the whole dead thing. All I

(01:56:12):
could think about was corpses. So it threw me off totally.
By the way, if you just tuned in, I played
a game last night called the five second Rule with
my family, which gives you five seconds to name three
things that fit a certain category. Like last night, one
of them was three herbs, basil, dill, time, that kind

(01:56:35):
of thing. It's tough. That's a weird first three that
come to mind for you. Okay, I got a few more.
Three best movies ever made, Silent to the Lambs, Good Fellas,
Cabin Boy. Okay, see that, I got to a third,
and I just I had to get funny because I
couldn't come up with a third. Platoon is also very good,

(01:56:58):
That's true. Three funny comics ever go oh hell, Gary Shandley,
Albert Brooks, Norm McDonald, you are a big norm guy.
That's true. Seinfeld again, you're you're giving me five seconds here,
there's no feel like you need one second. I'm still
stuck on the dead guy thing. I don't. You didn't

(01:57:20):
give me enough time on that. Shandling's my favorite. Five
second rule, twelve seconds that wouldn't fit the rules. I don't,
I don't. And Albert Brooks was funny? Is stand ups
not what one? I just thought he was eclectic and funny.
Shandling's my favorite. Just said comics didn't have to be
stand up necessary? All right? All right? Two more. Three
cities that nobody could pay you enough money to live in.

(01:57:42):
Go Lubbock, el Passa, Oh, Calliflorida. I don't. It's just
I've been to those cities and I wouldn't want to
live there. Oh Califlorida. I had to spend an afternoon. God,
if you live in Florida in the summer, you got
to be close to water. It's like horse country. It's

(01:58:04):
so hot. And that's my is that my last I got?
I got one last one all ready? Uh. Three foods
that make you want to throw up at the thought
of eating them. Go almond butter it one. I had
almond butter last night. It was disgusting. I don't get

(01:58:25):
almond milk. No, I like coconut water. I'm for new things.
Coconut water can't do. Almond butter don't like, and I'm
for new stuff. I have a kale shake every morning.
I don't get coconut water, and I don't get almond butter.
I drink I Jiffy. I can't. I don't understand almond butter. Like,
who what was wrong with peanut butter unless you've got

(01:58:46):
an allergy? What was wrong with it? Well? Yeah, so
you created there's that many people with a peanut allergy.
It doesn't taste as good when we're peanuts unhealthy, Like
I get people worrying about dairy and having lack toast intolerance.
Why did we create all the other peanut butters. There's
not that many people allergic to peanuts. Would you say

(01:59:08):
sixty what? Oh, sixty seconds till the show's over? I
thought that was another question. All right, I can eat
almost anything. I really can't. My wife's vegan. I'm not
never will be, but I can. Let me tell you
something the last two years since since she's gone vegan.
I've tried everything. I don't drink coconut water, but I've
never I've never heard of anyone like the thinks it's disgusting.

(01:59:30):
I just don't get it. I've tried, you know again,
I'm I'm always looking for stuff that's new. I don't
get it, and I don't get almond butter. Why screw
it up? Peanut butter was great. I'd never had a
peanut butter and said, you know, I'd like it to
taste like almonds. I never once said that in my
entire life. All Right, we'll be on TV tomorrow and
radio and I heeart and I hope XM serious, hopefully

(01:59:53):
not knocked off by the Women's World Cup if so,
say welly, all right, great job everybody, and Doug Gottleip,
thank you, Daryl Morey, thank you, Rick Bucher, thank you,
rash Mr Kazi La Times. This has been the herd

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