May 1, 2024 • 40 mins
Colin gives the 76ers props for their miracle win over the Knicks but shares a harsh truth about their chances for the rest of the series. He gives his first set of NFL standings for the upcoming season after the draft and free agency. Plus, NFL reporter Rachel Nichols joins the show in studio to discuss LeBron James' and Kevin Durant's future following their early playoff exits
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to the Best of the Herd podcast.
Be sure to catch us live every weekday on Fox
Sports Radio in noon to three Eastern nine am to
noon Pacific. Find your local station for the Herd at
Fox Sportsradio dot com, or stream us live every day
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Speaker 2 (00:19):
This is the Best of the Herd with Colin cowher
on Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
Oh, here we go. It's Wednesday, live in Los Angeles.
It's the Hurd wherever you may be and however you
may be listening. Thanks for Megano's part of your day.
One hour from now, Jmac, I do my post free
agent post draft NFL standings. I'm allowed to tweak it twice,
but I'll do that one hour from now. So yesterday
(00:48):
we did the Herd hierarchy post draft. Now i'll give
you the standings. By the way, what you find in
the NFL, figuring out the one in the four is
not very difficult. The four's the bottom teams mostly all
have bad cornerback situations. That's a real easy one. The
ones we can argue between a couple of teams, but
the bottom end of the league and there's not that many,
(01:09):
but there's about five easy calls in this league.
Speaker 3 (01:11):
I would say, I'm clamoring to know your AFC East winner.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
I think it's a slam dunk in the Jets, obviously,
but we'll see so Nicks sixers. It's amazing how even
the game was last night. I went and got the
box score this morning. Points in the paint, turnovers, rebounds,
free throw percentage, field goal percentage, right across the board.
It's even. It just came down to MAXI hit a
couple of great shots earlier in the season. Earlier in
(01:39):
the series, Jalen Brunson was hitting the big shots that
in a nutshell is the NBA Playoffs. It doesn't matter
who plays better, who star delivers late. Lakers lead the
Nuggets for seventy percent of the series. Jamal Murray two
for two in game winners last night Cleveland, Orlando. Evan
Mobley the big block for Cleveland, their star player, one
(01:59):
of their star players. So the Knicks, I thought had
it wrapped up. They led by six twenty eight seconds left.
Game seven is in New York. I don't think they'll
need it. I think the Knicks will win in Game six.
I still like the Knicks. I loved their coaching, I
like how they played. Maxi hit a couple of brilliant shots,
and he's an amazing player who you know, I've been
a fan of for multiple years. The problem for Philadelphia
(02:21):
winning last night, and it is a problem. It's just
a game. Is this going to make them It shouldn't,
but is it gonna make them have false hope? Ay,
this series is a go either way series. If imbiid
was healthy and Bead's been healthy for a lot of
the years, and they can't win a second playoff series,
(02:45):
And if not for heroic great shots last night, this
series would be a gentleman's sweep. And that's the problem
with Philadelphia. Maxi being amazing coming back six down twenty
eight seconds left, it's making Philadelphia think, yeah, this is
a go either way series. No, it's not Nicks to
the better team. They've been better coached, they've been more reliable,
(03:08):
they've been tougher, they've gotten the big rebounds late. Last night,
they didn't get the big shots late. So sometimes in
the playoffs, what happens is the delusion kicks in, thinking, Man,
if we didn't just have blank, blank and blank you
have to be honest with yourself. In this league, a
lot of teams aren't honest with themselves. Philadelphia has got issues.
(03:29):
I love MAXI I'd keep him. I'd strongly consider moving Mbat.
Mbat has been disappointing in the fourth. He's not around
the glass in the fourth, and frankly, he gets hurt
a lot. He just played forty eight minutes last night.
He's got one game rest. They go back to his place.
Philadelphia Knicks are gonna win that game. Nicks had the series.
Knicks had the game. It was the nixt night. They
(03:50):
were the better team. Maxie was great. It happens. It happens.
But don't let that cloud the truth about this series
or the truth about your future. The future for the
Knicks is very bright. I mean, if they landed k D,
what would we say in a month. The future for
the Sixers is murky. What do you do with him?
(04:11):
Beat Max? He's great, Tobias Harris and beat other pieces.
Gonna go through another coach, here's Tom Tibbs Thibodau.
Speaker 4 (04:22):
After tough way to lose a ball game. You know,
so we had a lead, We got to play tougher
with the lead. We filed in a situation that we
didn't want to file in, and then you know, in
the end, MAXI makes a big shot. So you know
(04:44):
we got to do better.
Speaker 1 (04:46):
Yes, So I want to talk about something, and this
is something I've been you know, when I defended Atlanta's
draft pick when they got Kirk Cousins and Michael Pennix
and people really freaked out. You paid Kirk Cousins. What.
So here's what's interesting. So the Broncos this morning, the
(05:10):
Broncos this morning think they have the guy bo Nicks. Analytically,
there's a story this morning from Adam Schefter. They think
bo Nicks is ready to play right now and will
be as good as any quarterback of all this rookie class.
So suddenly this franchise that was a mess and all
this dead cap money with Russell Wilson, they took a
big swing on it. I said, Denver, big swing Russell Wilson.
(05:33):
I'm here for it. Everybody now freaks out. But if
bo Knicks can play, they just got Zach Wilson. He'll
get a reboot talented kid. And they have Jarrett Stidham
who they could use potentially as a very nice trade
piece sixty six quarterbacks played in the NFL last year.
Pretty nice to have three guys and you could move
two of them, and you think you have the future
in bo Nicks. And this is why I've defended Atlanta.
(05:56):
If you're gonna have more talent than you need right now,
well in the NFL, make it at quarterback. Eventually you
can move backups. I mean, good god, Arizona was able
to get a draft pick out of Josh Dobbs last
year in the middle of the season. Minnesota was so desperate.
So if bone Nicks hits, the Russell Wilson drama is irrelevant.
(06:18):
And I'm gonna tell you something now. And nobody wants
to say this, because fear drives so many decisions in
the NFL and in life. People are very fear based.
Going go to the internet about the election, it's all
fear based. Everything's fear based. Nobody's optimistic. Everybody's negative. The
word dead cap when you hear that, everybody thinks, oh,
it's a funeral. It's an NFL funeral. Dead cap money.
(06:42):
I would much rather have teams take swings and end
up with a little dead cap. Give you an example.
The Green Bay Packers last year, do you know how
much dead cap money they had? Forty million dollars. They
not only made the playoffs, they went in the Dallas
and rolled them. Why because Jordan loved Bald. The Buccaneers
(07:05):
made the playoffs last year, thirty five million dollars of
dead cap. They made the playoffs. Why because Baker Mayfield Bald.
They took a swing. They took a big swing on Brady.
They won a Super Bowl. Who the hell cares if
they have dead cap money, go get another quarterback. Well,
it doesn't end there. The Rams last year, listen to this,
(07:29):
eighty million dollars of dead cap made the playoffs in
a rebuild year. Why because they take big swings and
Matt Stafford can ball in Philadelphia? Remember that twenty twenty
one Carson Wentz. What a disaster that contract is. They
took a big swing, huge dead cap money, but they
(07:52):
drafted Jalen Hurts. He ends up being good with the
right coach. As Philadelphia struggled in recent years, been pretty
good fotball team Philadelphia, The Rams, the Packers's funny Buccaneers,
They're all fine. They took swings. Tampa took a swing
(08:13):
on Brady and got a Super Bowl. You think they
regret it today. Four of the five highest dead cap
hits last year made the playoffs. They in the playoffs.
Green Bay took a big swing, they moved off Aaron Rodgers.
Buccaneers made a big swing with Brady, won a Super Bowl,
(08:33):
and then they took a swing on Baker. If bow
Knicks can play, then the Russell Wilson thing, it's gonna
be last year's news. Nobody's gonna care. Where you don't
want to be in the NBA. Where you don't want
to be is in the middle. You're just you're in
(08:54):
quicksand you're not terrible, You're not great. A big swing
can make you great and get your ring, and if
it blows up, you get a better draft pick. It's
like the Phoenix Suns took a huge swing on Katie
and Bradley Beal. Everybody's freaking out, But you know who
could really use Kevin Durant, The New York Knicks, and
(09:15):
they got picks and they got good young players take swings.
The whole Russell Wilson thing, it's the end up. If
bow Knicks can play. The dude completed seventy seven percent
of his passes last year, He's Drew Brees with mobility.
Potentially that Russell Wilson drama won't matter. It didn't for
the Rams, it didn't for the Packers, it didn't for
(09:37):
the Bucks. For of the top five dead cap hits
made the playoffs. Now, I'm not saying I'm rooting for
it or it's ideal, but it's not as punitive as
everybody makes it out to me. The San Francisco forty
nine ers draft Trey Lance give up a boatload of
picks or in the Super Bowl, I think, doesn't he
(09:58):
get into the NFC Championship, take a big swing. It's
either gonna get you gold bars and trophies or close
to it. And if not, it's amazing the opportunities that
arise if you hit in a draft pick. You don't
even have to have. Caleb Williams Rock Purdy is getting
(10:21):
to big games. Bow Knicks can absolutely do the same
with Sean Payton. All right, Nicks are freaking out, by
the way. Here is Albert Breer earlier this week on
the Broncos confidence. What they believe bo Nix.
Speaker 5 (10:36):
Is when Sean Payton got the numbers back from their
analytics people. I'm telling you, like, in so many different categories,
critical categories, bo Nix was number one. So you had
the play style, you had all these critical categories, and
then you had the meeting in Eugene. And I'll give
you one anecdote. Sean Payton pointed down at bow Knicks's
backpack and said, what do you have in there? So
(10:56):
boon Knicks emptied his backpack. He had a pair of
football cleats, he had a roll of athletic tape, and
he had a lacrosse ball in there that he uses
to crack his back. And the Broncos looked at that
and said, this kid is all about football.
Speaker 1 (11:11):
They're gonna be fine in Denver as long as Bonnicks
can play, and I think he can. So I thought
the Knicks last night, I thought it was all sealed up,
just like you thought the Lakers had so many games
in that series sealed up. But in the end, you know, Max,
he's a shot maker, and Brounson's a shot maker, and
Jamal Murray's a shot maker. That's all the Lakers need.
Next year, Trey Young another shot maker. Nicks could use.
(11:33):
Kevin Durant, great shot maker, Nicks are gonna win this
series though. You're on that right.
Speaker 6 (11:38):
I hope.
Speaker 3 (11:38):
So, Colin, listen, you know I coach my kids in
U sports and I play in men's leagues.
Speaker 6 (11:44):
Up three less than ten seconds left.
Speaker 3 (11:47):
It's basic math.
Speaker 6 (11:49):
You fell.
Speaker 2 (11:49):
You cannot let.
Speaker 1 (11:50):
The guys he to three.
Speaker 6 (11:51):
They let Tyrese Maxey walk into a.
Speaker 3 (11:53):
Logo three up by three. That is insanity. I cannot
believe how badly Tibodeau did that. We've seen in the
NCAA tournament.
Speaker 1 (12:00):
So you're blaming the coach something.
Speaker 3 (12:02):
No, no, no, hold on. I mean, this is a simple strategy, Colin.
We saw this earlier in the Bucks Pacer series. Pacers
are like, let's not foul Middleton Prayer three good over time,
you have.
Speaker 1 (12:12):
To foul up three. Colin, you know this.
Speaker 3 (12:15):
I mean, why would you let Tyree Maxie, who's already
cooking you, He's got like forty points at the time,
walk into a three point Well, you do realize the
best three point shooters in the league shoot thirty eight
and a half percent.
Speaker 1 (12:25):
That means over seventy percent of the time they don't
make that shot. I don't know. Seems like the numbers
are on my side.
Speaker 3 (12:33):
I'm definitely fouling all. I mean, all the smart math
guys foul, So that's what I would do. But listen, Thibodeau,
I don't think he answered that question.
Speaker 6 (12:42):
Mitchell Robinson owned it.
Speaker 3 (12:43):
He was like, listen, I made a stupid foul to
give the four point play to Maxie Colin.
Speaker 1 (12:48):
You've got a foul up three.
Speaker 3 (12:49):
That's I mean, you cannot let tyrese Maxey, who's like
You've been on this for about a year.
Speaker 1 (12:55):
He's an amazing player.
Speaker 3 (12:56):
You gotta just grab him in the back court, foul,
make him make free throws, extend the game, get bunted
on the line.
Speaker 5 (13:00):
He's money.
Speaker 1 (13:01):
You know. It's interesting in this in that game is
how many miss free throws there were. Nicks had big misses,
max he had big misses. It is amazing how gifted
these basketball players are. I mean, they're unbelievable. And even
the guards, even the guys that shoot free throws, well,
how many missed free throws happen. It was funny. I
was watching the Lakers Nugget series a couple of days ago,
and I don't remember, it was like eighty eighty one.
(13:22):
It was really close and there was a five point
swing where like Austin Reeves missed a free throw the
first of two, and then they came down and I
think it was Porter Jamal Murray hit a three, and
I'm like, that's a five point swing in eight seconds.
Those missed free throws. If somebody comes down and hits
a three, those are if you don't hit the first one,
those are five point plays in the NBA. And all
(13:43):
it means is you just come down and hit a three.
And like Denver's got Porter can hit it and Yokic
can hit it. In Murray, that's when you played Denver,
you gotta hit your free throws because man, they are punitive.
They will come right back. I mean, Jokic is like
a quarterback. He's throwing the deep ball constantly, and so
often when they throw the deep ball Denver does, they
don't go for the layup or dunk. He throws it
(14:04):
on the wing and they saddle up in caseyp sits
there for three seconds and dials in a three. So
Denver is so good at burning you off miss free
throws or fast break opportunities. Those guys just go to
the wings and light it up.
Speaker 3 (14:18):
So it does sound like, you're confident Nicks will still
win this series.
Speaker 1 (14:21):
I nixed the better team the better right now, they're
playing better basketball. I watched last night and the whole game,
I felt like, the Knicks, We're gonna win the game then,
and I was sitting there watching it. At halftime, I
went and uber to a friend's place and had a
little cocktail o chicken palm, you know, And I'm sitting
there watching it and I'm like, you know, the place
I'm at erupts when MAXI hit it. You're like, Oh,
(14:44):
what a dagger that is, And then you know that's
that's playoff basketball. You know. I was reading a story yesterday.
NBA is gonna sign these huge Amazon deals. NBC, whoever
it is, TNT is a bidding war for it. It's
massive money. You can complain all you want about the
NBA regular season. It is the load. Management to me,
is a bad business, outrageous. I don't like it. But
(15:05):
this league makes its money, and these playoff games are
fantastic that you can't argue about. If you're making money
in life and you're living a good life, that's good,
and the playoff basketball games are absolutely great. I'm not
watching Pelicans. Okay, see, I'll watch the next round that one.
I haven't gotten too much, but I'm watching all that.
Like tonight, MAVs Clippers.
Speaker 3 (15:23):
Are we gonna hang out and watch that tonight?
Speaker 5 (15:25):
As an ordering hole?
Speaker 1 (15:26):
We could?
Speaker 6 (15:27):
I do have a hall pass for the night?
Speaker 4 (15:28):
Oh?
Speaker 1 (15:29):
You do what happened? Well? I asked for one, I said, coward.
Coward needs a wingman.
Speaker 5 (15:34):
All right, let me know.
Speaker 1 (15:35):
I do like the clips tonight. Maybe we should hang out.
I'm on the maths. What's the number? I think three?
MAVs favored by three? Oh, I like the clips. I
listen they've Actually what's really interesting about the Clippers is
they can play without Kawhi. What they can't play is
without a point guard. It's fascinating how valuable Hardens become
(15:56):
and how replaceable. Because Paul George is pretty good wing player. Obviously,
Kawhi is like James Harden's the one they need. I
predict Westbrook off the bench tonight is very good. Wash
the Clippers bench tonight bold Okay.
Speaker 2 (16:10):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
in newon Easter not Am Pacific on Fox Sports Radio
FS one and the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 1 (16:19):
All the free agent moves are done, all the draft
is done. We all know if you hit all three
of those, or even two or three, you can be
a better team. That doesn't necessarily mean it will dramatically
change where you finish in the standings. We know Harbaugh
is a perfect fit for the Chargers, but they still
plan a division with the Chiefs. We know the Bears
(16:41):
are going to be a much better offensive team, but
the Packers and lines are stacked so a lot of teams.
I think Chicago is going to be the most improved team.
They just happen to plan a division which offensively is
the most loaded division in the league by a long shot,
offensively with three offensive coaches. So I'm going to layout
this morning, and it's pretty easy when you really start
(17:04):
thinking about it in terms of best quarterback, worst quarterback,
and that's kind of how this stuff mostly works. So
here we go. Let's start AFC. I'm just going to
predict the standings in the AFC East. I have Josh
Allen just like mahomes a Brady, I'm gonna win the
division for as long as he's in his prime. Number
two is Miami. I love their roster. I think it's
(17:26):
the best roster. They don't have real holes here, they
don't have a great on line. It's not bad. Number
two with a great offensive coach, Jets Aaron Rodgers, who,
by the way, is not in his prime. He's not
as good as Jordan Love. Today Jets finished third, and
then I think it's pretty obvious New England's got a
rookie quarterback and a rookie coach. I did like the pick,
and I do like what they did in the draft,
finally going heavy offense. But I feel pretty good about
(17:48):
that division. Let's go to the AFC. North Baltimore was
the best regular season team last year, argument the best
run team in football. I think they're going to be
great again in the regular season. Cincinnati gets Joe Burrow back.
When Joe Burrow's healthy, he either wins this division or
gets to the playoffs. And they've been noisy, a lot
of noise. I don't like with T Higgins, but I
like Joe Burrow a lot. Three. Pittsburgh. I think Russell
(18:12):
Wilson will succeed. At what level he succeeds, I don't know.
And I didn't buy Cleveland last year. I don't buy
him this year. I think Kevin Stefanski and Andrew Berry
are excellent, but there's things upstairs they have to deal with.
And I think it's a really good division AFC South,
this is now a good division. We've rolled our eyes
(18:32):
at it for years. Get out of that. Tennessee stinks.
Everybody else is good. I'm gonna go Houston. I love
what they've done with personnel the last two drafts and
free agency. I think they've just hit it out of
the park. I mean they've done like Green Bay level
stuff in the draft last two years. Excellent Jags, and
it will be a fight to the finish. I love
getting Brian Thomas, their weapons with Trevor Lawrence and an
(18:55):
offensive coach or substantial So I'm gonna have the Colts three.
I like the Colts. I worry greatly about Anthony Richardson's
playing style, Trevor Lawrence and C. J. Stroud sitting in
the pocket. I don't worry about that. Anthony Richardson is
so dynamic and I like this Colts team. Is he
gonna miss three or four starts? That can be the
difference easiest picking the League Titans for fourth. I don't
(19:18):
know if will Levis is gonna work or not. I
just roster personnel. I like the new coach they have there.
You go. And finally, AFC West Kansas City's young defense
by the end of last year was a monster. They
went and got Xavier Worthy. I don't know if it's
going to work in the draft, but if anybody can
make it work, it's Andy Reid and Mahomes. I think
the Chargers become a really solid two. I do worry
(19:40):
about losing Keenan Allen, Austin Eckler, Mike Williams, lost a
lot of offensive pieces, but they went out and got
a Hayden Hurst. They went out and drafted a receiver.
Number three is gonna be Denver. And I think if
bo Nick's hits, and I think he will, they'll be
And I also love the end they got in the draft.
I think they're gonna be a really good team. Good
could be nine to ten. I don't think it's twelve
(20:00):
to thirteen. And the Raiders just don't have the quarterback yet.
Like the Raiders. Like the Raiders roster outside of quarterback,
really like the Raiders roster. All right, let's go to
the NFC. I think Philadelphia is offensive pieces with an
offensive coach and Jalen Hurt are substantial. This is a
well run organization that takes big swings. I'm gonna take
(20:21):
Philadelphia to win their division. They replace their coordinators. My
guess is they're an upgrade over last year. I'm gonna
pick a little bit of a surprise. I think Washington,
Jaden Daniels, all those college starts. I think they're gonna
be pretty feisty next year. Dan Quinn more than competent.
Cliff Kingsbury. Offensive line's okay, but I mean even the
Philadelphia Eagles great old line lost to Hall of Fame Center.
(20:43):
So I'm gonna have a little bit of an upset here.
Washington feels like a nine to a ten win team.
Dallas will be right behind them, but they are gonna
be incredibly reliant on Dak Prescott. They're weak in the
running back spot. They have one tight end, ceed Lamb.
Gallup's now gone. I think they're very dependent on Dak,
and the numbers tell you. When Dallas gets dependent on Dak,
(21:04):
they're not as good. Giants just don't have enough pieces.
Rumors today they're looking at Drew Locke at quarterback. He
forget it. Let's go NFC North, which I think now
is probably the most talented division in football. I'm going
to take Detroit. I like everything about Detroit, even Dan Campbell.
The front office is great, Jared Goff, best online in football,
(21:24):
good pieces. I like everything about Detroit. I think at
the NSC Championship who they face will see, but I
love Detroit. I'm a huge buyer on green Bay. Jordan
Love shocked me his improvement last year. Now J Mack
still wants to see him eight ten games. I was
blown away by how good he was. He's just a
little wild and I think he's more far than Aaron Rodgers.
(21:46):
But boy have they drafted well this draft, like all
their drafts excellent. Green Bay is the best drafting team
in the league. We just got to own that a
number three, and I think they'll be you know, they
got a rookie quarterback and there's going to be some
bad Sundays, but Chicago three and again, they're gonna be
a better team. If this division was Wonky, I could
see him making the playoffs. But god, this talented division,
(22:07):
and I think they're gonna be a really, really fun
offense to watch. And then I think Minnesota will be
the best fourth place team in football. I think Minnesota
could win eight or nine games. I love their offensive pieces,
but again, it's just sometimes the fifth best team in
the SEC could win the Big twelve. I just feel
like Minnesota picked the wrong division. Let's go to the
NFC South. I think it's a slam dunk. I think
(22:29):
Atlanta's gonna win this division. Tampa's gonna be feisty, but
we're gonna forget about the Kirk Cousins, Michael Pennocks drama.
This is a really good football team offensively, Raheem Morris
shark cat Tampa's two, and again, I think it'll be
a feisty battle. Tampa also had a great draft. Their
first four picks all really nice players. I'm gonna do
Carolina third. I'm with j Max. I think they finally
(22:51):
got Bryce Young, some weapons. I think they're gonna make
a surge next year. I don't like right now New
Orleans situation. I just don't feel good about it. I'm
gonna have the Saints fourth, maybe their third, but I
just don't like the way it feels right now. I'm
not sure that coach is gonna be there. Next year
by Thanksgiving. Finally another really really good division. I think
(23:11):
the Rams had a great draft. I think they played
at the end of last year. They got that old
line right. I'm gonna take the Rams to edge out
San Francisco in that division, and Matt Stafford is the difference.
Poka Nakua now going in Cooper Cup, is healthy. The
old line is fantastic. The Niners offensive line is very
much in question, and we don't know their receiver situation.
(23:34):
They'll be good. I don't think they'll be quite as
good as last year. Their second Arizona third. I gotta
be honest with you. I think Arizona has a chance
to make the playoffs. I watched them at the end
of last year. That new coach. They play hard, they
play hard, and a Seattle a talented fourth place team.
(23:55):
I'm from the Pacific Northwest. I don't get any joy
out of saying Seattle is fourth, but that's what I see.
J Mac. Beyond the AFC East, where you're not reasonable.
Speaker 3 (24:08):
You basically have the waste the standings ended last year,
don't you, And almost every division except for Dallas and.
Speaker 1 (24:14):
Then the Rams and the nick Atlanta and yeah, but
the foul.
Speaker 3 (24:18):
Everybody's gonna have the thought.
Speaker 1 (24:19):
Yeah, yeah, I picked the best quarterbacks lit Chalky sec
by the way, I went real Chalky in March Madness.
I said, Yukon's gonna win and the Super Bowl, Yeah,
I mean chalk. There's a reason it's chalk. There's a
reason teams are favored. And with that, NBA to night
MAVs clips huge game. Ray Joel Nichols cover the NBA
since nineteen ninety three. It is good to have Rachel
(24:41):
on again on the show today. These NBA playoff games.
You know, it's funny, remember a few It was like
a week ago, Nick Nurse was yelling on the sidelines,
the rest couldn't hear him, and last night tibbsy yelling,
and well you can't hear anybody. Yeah, so everybody's always like,
well the coach was saying this, The officials couldn't hear
Nick Nurse, the Nick players could hear Tibbs. And so
(25:01):
you have to remember basketball in New York and Philadelphia
is a wonderful television product. You're not going to be
able to hear the coach if he's twelve feet away.
And last night you got into that situation. I still
like the Knicks in the series.
Speaker 6 (25:14):
Yeah, yeah, I mean, look, the odds are the odds
for a reason. They've got Game seven at home. That
being said, if the Sixers really come out strong in
Game six and just thump the Knicks, I'd be a
little bit more worried about the Knicks in a Game
seven because they will have had multiple opportunities to close
it out, and we've seen it so many times. Once
that happens and it gets into a team's brain, But
I think the Knicks are favored. I do think though,
(25:36):
that Joel Embiid may have finally found his guy in
Tyrese Maxi, and that no matter what happens to the
Sixers if they lose this series, they have to feel
good going into the off season. Because you remember last
offseason we were at the point where the James Harden
drama was going on and Daryl Morey is a liar
being held up all the way in China, all of
these kinds of things. Joelle's getting a little frustrated. He
(25:57):
actually liked James. They go along really well, so then
it was like, hey, come on, why can't you work
this out with him? That kind of thing he'd gone
through all the Ben Simmons drama and been so patient
with the franchise of that. And there are a lot
of rumors swirling around of if things don't go well
this season, Joel Embiid is going to ask to be
a New York Nick And guess.
Speaker 4 (26:13):
Who is it?
Speaker 6 (26:13):
Joel Embiid's wedding this past summer as well New York
Knicks president Leon Rose, who was, of course Embiad's former agent.
The two are still close, and the rumors had just
got even more swirling after that, and Tyrese Maxey steps
into that void after Harden is traded all season, becomes
a guy that Joel knows he can rely on, and
(26:35):
then in that game last night, not only went full
Reggie Miller with the shot making, but carried Embiid when
Embiid was clearly too hurt to do a lot of
things he normally does.
Speaker 1 (26:45):
Now, I think the KD rumors make a lot of sense,
first of all, because Phoenix needs to reboot. It's not
working all the perimeter stuff, so and the feeling is
they could get more for Booker, but he's kind of
central piece. He's kind of the Phoenix kid and the
Bao contract, there's not much you can do with it.
The Durant piece you could move. Also, Julius Randall, if
(27:10):
the Sons got him, actually provides a little bit of
what Phoenix isn't, which is physical and tough. You're not
gonna go get DeAndre Ayton back because Booker couldn't. He
didn't fit the locker room. So Julius Randall, who's a
really nice player, if he's your three, probably not a two.
He could fit. But I do think there's something to
be said about New York is that for years and
(27:31):
years you know this organization better than I do. For
years and years they reached. Yes, they gave up the
farm for Carmelo. Then he was a big chandelier in
an empty mansion, and then you know Amari Stoddemyer had
bad knees, and it's just like, oh, they reach. They've
actually because they made a nice move at the trade deadline,
they've become a really smart patient franchise. But now I
(27:54):
think embiid or my preference is Katie. I think the
time is now. Katie thirty six started next year. Do
you think that Katie stuff is realistic?
Speaker 3 (28:04):
Yeah?
Speaker 6 (28:04):
I mean, I mean, look first the EMBIID was definitely
who they had their sights on, and I do think
Tyrese Maxey has changed that equation in terms of MBID
being happy in Philadelphia, So then it becomes who else
do you get? Fortunately, og Nanobi looks like he wants
to be in New York, and so when they are
able to resign him, I think that is going to
be a win for them long term, and then they
still have room to get someone else. Katie makes so
(28:26):
much sense to me, because you and I talked about
this last time I was on the show. I think
that's where he should have gone all along, if you're
gonna leave Golden State. And we can debate whether he
should have or not the Knicks or where he should
have gone after that, it was the natural fit for
him and the fact that he sort of missed that
opportunity if he could go back and get it now,
I think that that fan base would embrace him. And
(28:47):
once that fan base embraces you, and they are the
largest fan base in the NBA, then it quiets some
of the other noise around the league of other fan
bases griping about oh KD as for another trade or
Kd's moving again, or this guy can't find a home
or his legacy this or that. I think that it
would be a smart move for Kevin, and I think
it would be a smart move for the next But
you know, look, we'll see if they want to disrupt
(29:09):
the chemistry that they have by bringing in as big
a star as Durant, or if they want to go
a different route and just keep adding these pieces of good,
good players. I mean, Jamar de Rosen is a name
that's come up for New York. He's a guy who
is an excellent, excellent basketball player, can bolster a lot
of areas that.
Speaker 1 (29:26):
They need, doesn't take the ball to Brunson's hands, and also.
Speaker 6 (29:31):
Is not going to change sort of the geometry of
the locker room the way bringing in a Kevin Durant would.
So it just kind of depends on what they want.
But if the Sons are looking to get off of
Kat's contract and Katie is looking for a place he
can go where he won't just get hit with a
mountain of criticism all over again, I think New York
could be that place.
Speaker 1 (29:49):
You know, it is interesting the Bucks, the Sixers, and
the Lakers have each had three coaches in six years each,
so how seasons end, you know you can get swep.
It's landing different than a six game series. So you
have Dallas where Kyrie and Luca have really gotten along.
And if they lost this series in seven or they
(30:10):
win this series, I think they bring the band back
and it's good. But if Dallas gets beat tonight and
without Kawhi for the Clippers again and you got kind
of old heads Harden and Westbrook and Paul playoff p
and Kawhi' is not there and they're knocking you out
right and they win this series. Dallas is fascinating because
(30:30):
it took Dirt Novisky forever to get the pieces. He
never really got a second star. He got a good
chemistry stand Steve.
Speaker 6 (30:36):
Nash just didn't keep him.
Speaker 1 (30:38):
He had a different time and then he moves to Phoenix.
But it's like, what does Dallas do. Cuban sells the team,
what does Dallas do if they don't get out of
this series or that you're going to bring it back.
Speaker 6 (30:50):
They kind of have to. They made decisions at the
trade deadline that lock them into a path for the
next couple of years. I think if Dallas loses the series,
one of the big reasons would be because of Luca
Dncic's knee. It certainly was a big factor in why
they lost the last game. You could just see it.
He wasn't his mobile out on the court. And he's
still able to be Luca, and he still scored points
and he still did things. But that difference between being
(31:12):
a very very good player and being the best player
on the floor, which is what we always say is
the deciding factor in NBA playoff series, is that knee.
So I'm curious to see what happens tonight when he
comes out. Does he look like he looked in Game four,
which was not his mobile, a little stiff. He'd made
so many great strides on defense over this last season
or two, and those are really gone in that game
because he just couldn't move around and defend the way
(31:33):
he wanted to. So if we get that Luka Dancic
and that's the reason that they end up losing this series,
I don't think you have to blow anything up or
do anything because that's just Hey, it's bad luck that
he had this knee injury at that time, and I
think Luca will have patience knowing that that might be
the reason. If things go wrong in a very different way,
then we can have that conversation. But the way things
are looking right now, they're super competitive. They're still favor
(31:55):
to win, even though you know, you look at the
games the Clippers have still on their floor or they've
got two of the next three, but the Maps are
favorite to win, and they certainly have players who can
get the job done.
Speaker 2 (32:07):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
and noon Easter not a Empacific.
Speaker 7 (32:12):
Hey, this is Tom Berducci from Fox Sports, MLB Network
and Sports Illustrated.
Speaker 4 (32:17):
And I'm Joe Madden, and we're going to be around
to talk a little bit about managerial decisions and what
may have occurred to the dug out maybe in the
nineteen eighties.
Speaker 7 (32:24):
It's the Book of Joe Podcasts.
Speaker 1 (32:26):
I can't wait for this, Joe.
Speaker 7 (32:27):
We're going to dive into what goes on in the
dugout and behind the scenes in Major League.
Speaker 1 (32:31):
Baseball, cars, wind whatever else we want to talk about.
Speaker 7 (32:33):
Yeah, well, there are no boundaries, right. Listen to the
Book of Joe podcast on the iHeartRadio app, on Apple
Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker 1 (32:41):
I'm surprised by people that I respect kind of buying
into the Lebron could be out of LA. I just
don't see it at all. This is Genie Buss is
a wonderful person and she does a great job at
her job, but she's not a rich owner and to
get those local cable deals. This is why Kobe at
(33:02):
the end was way past this briant. They paid him
a fortune. Yep, you get whatever spectrum.
Speaker 6 (33:07):
Or every dollar to that franchise.
Speaker 1 (33:09):
Lebron sells tickets, they sell out all their games. I
know what they charged for court side. Yet they're not
doing that in a rebuild. No, So why all the
Lebron leaving LA talk, you.
Speaker 6 (33:19):
Know, because if he did, it would be such a
big story that it's a little too tempting for people
not to talk about Lakers fans people even within the organization.
And the fact is that he is, you know, will
mercure lile, He holds things at arm's length. He certainly
is going to make them sweat it. In my opinion,
if I had to guess the way this is going
to play out, I would say that he opts out
of his contract. I would say that he then makes
(33:41):
them wait a few weeks to decide that he's going
to come back. And it's not about the money. They've
already leaked that they'll offer him as much money as
he wants. They've already leaked that they'll draft Bronnie if
that ends up being what he wants. It is about
the roster, and I think it is going to be
very interesting to watch Lebron through that first week of
free agency, because hey, maybe he just signs with the
Lakers and done with it. But the more likely scenario,
(34:04):
given his history, is that he waits a little while
and he shows up a Tmusa training camp which starts
July sixth, and he's got Steve Kerr talking in his
zer on a piece of video that runs all over TV,
and then people say, oh what about?
Speaker 1 (34:17):
What about?
Speaker 6 (34:18):
What are the Warriors interested in getting him? Oh Joe,
He's sitting next paling around with Joel Embiid. I know
that the Sixers would love to have Lebron, So I
think he's going to let some of that talk fester
to make sure that they make the moves in free
agency and at the draft that he wants them to make,
because that didn't happen at the trade deadline this year,
and we haven't really seen Lebron have the influence he
(34:38):
had over that front office, maybe since the Russell Westbrook trade,
since he sort of promoted that and that didn't work out.
We just haven't seen Clutch have the same voice. We
haven't seen Lebron have the same voice in the Lakers'
roster moves. He is the opportunity this summer if he
takes it to have that voice because he can hold
withhold from them. Am I going to resign or not?
Speaker 1 (34:58):
So we got into this discuss yesterday and it's kind
of a thirty thousand feet discussion. It's not urgent, but
I think it's fascinating is that you know, the NFL,
it's the shield, that's the star of the league. Baseball,
it's its history and it's past. But international soccer and
the NBA, your your league's as good as your star
and your team. And Jordan left and the NBA embraced
(35:21):
Marberry and Steve Francis and Iverson, remarkable players, but the
audience didn't like them. And so fifty percent of the people,
I mean Tiger Woods left golf. They often tournament's folded. Yes,
So the face of the league question, and I said this,
you have to want to be the face of the league.
Jordan did, Magic did, Kareem didn't, So you have to
(35:42):
want it. I think Aunt Edwards would embrace it. But
it's Minnesota. People forget this, Rachel. Outside of Lebron and Cleveland,
the stars in my life Jerry Western, La Doctor, Jan Philly,
Magic Bird, George, They're all big markets. So my guess
is wemby at and not whether they work or not.
(36:06):
I mean, if you had to guest face, Jokic doesn't
want to be the face of them. I'm not sure
Luca wants to be the face of the league. Your
guest next eight years, ten years.
Speaker 6 (36:16):
Look, I mean Luca's already twenty five, so I think
he's he's We've already talked about how big a star
he is. I think he's gonna finish second in MVP voting,
so he is poised to become you know, when Lebron
and Steph and kd all retired, I think Luca will
be the face that we see. But when you look
at the generation behind him and the young guys coming up,
I have to say Victor Webin Yama is being sold
(36:38):
short in these discussions in a way I don't quite get.
I think Anthony Edwards is a superstar. He is so magnetic,
obviously has the game, but also, as you said, has
the drive, has the killer instinct. Commercials are fantastic. But
Victor webin Yama, to me, if he has good health,
could end up as a top five player of all time.
I think we have already seen the indications of that.
(37:01):
And I know it's very early, and I will be
happy to stand up and say I'm wrong if I'm wrong,
but that is what I am seeing right now. And
I think that he is going to become eventually the
face of the NBA because he is just going to
keep waitning. I think, whether it's Defensive Player of the Year,
whether it's eventually MVP, whether it's eventually titles, I think
we will be saying his name over and over and
over again.
Speaker 1 (37:21):
You know, it's interesting take shack out centers usually haven't
been the face of the league. They get, they break down,
they don't sell shoes, and people don't see themselves as
being shack Yeah, but it's interesting because the new wave
of European bigs they handle the ball, they're flashy, they
pass it's a more fun game. It's just not power. Yeah.
(37:43):
Power usually isn't the face of the league. People want
like Moses Malone. They want they want moves, baby, Yeah,
they want moves. Yeah moves. And Wemby and Chet Holmgren.
Speaker 6 (37:51):
Both they yeah moves.
Speaker 1 (37:53):
They got all sorts of juice. So it's great seeing
you so tonight, Dallas Lakers. You're at that game tonight, right?
Or excuse me, Mad Clippers? You like the you like
the MAVs. I'm I'm I think Westbrook's gonna hit tonight.
I have a feeling Westbrook's gonna deliver. Harden's been so
good in this series. I feel like Dallas is the
(38:13):
last two days, has worked on We've got to get
the ball out of his hands. He ate them alive?
You have a lean tonight?
Speaker 6 (38:19):
How you feel I'm gonna this is toss up because honestly,
I really think it depends on the health of Luca's name,
which they won't know till after he participates in warm ups.
If I had to say, say Clippers tonight MAVs for
the series? Is that an f a hetch?
Speaker 1 (38:33):
That's a real hetch that that last game was such
good television.
Speaker 3 (38:38):
So, Rachel, when does James Harden turn into a Pumpkin
Game six or Seven's coming coming at some point?
Speaker 1 (38:43):
But he was so good last week, en so good.
Speaker 6 (38:45):
And you know what I like about the situation he's
in right now is that in Paul George, he has
someone next to him who can be just as explosive,
more explosive in some cases. But James still has a
green light to shoot in the scenario without Kawhi. When
he was playing the role in Philadelphia where he had
some an explosive in Joelle Embiid, he didn't have the
green light to be the James Harden of old. He
(39:07):
had to be more of a compliment with Kawhi out. Yeah,
he can be a little bit more of that James Harden,
but it's not Iso James Harden because he has Paul
George next to him, so hopefully doesn't run out of
gas for Cliffers fans. But I do think that Luca
has the potential to be the best player in the series.
The best player in the series usually wins the playoff series.
It just depends on his physical health.
Speaker 1 (39:28):
I feel I feel like a supporter of Paul George.
No good player in the league gets more crap than
Paul George.
Speaker 6 (39:35):
I think he is the most underrated player in the NBA.
Speaker 1 (39:37):
It's incredible. I watched his you know what's funny years
ago people kind of bagged on his playoffs when he
was losing to Lebron, Bosh and Wade, and he had
Roy Hibbert and basically like a shooting guards. It was
a good roster, it's.
Speaker 6 (39:51):
A good team, right. It was just the right guy
for that moment, but it was not Big Three.
Speaker 1 (39:56):
I think Paul George is an unbelievable player, absolutely, and
I'll the unbelievable players get love and he doesn't get even.
When you look at his regular season playoff numbers, they're
very even. It's not like you get one guy and
the other guy. Now, you could look a little bit
at Harden's playoff numbers and you see a small decrease
in performance. I don't know. I think Paul George is great.
(40:17):
Rachel iszowas wonderful to see you
Thanks for listening to the Best of the Herd podcast.
Be sure to catch us live every weekday on Fox
Sports Radio in noon to three Eastern nine am to
noon Pacific. Find your local station for the Herd at
Fox Sportsradio dot com, or stream us live every day
on the iHeartRadio app by searching Fox Sports Radio or FSR.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
This is the Best of the Herd with Colin cowher
on Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
Oh, here we go. It's Wednesday, live in Los Angeles.
It's the Hurd wherever you may be and however you
may be listening. Thanks for Megano's part of your day.
One hour from now, Jmac, I do my post free
agent post draft NFL standings. I'm allowed to tweak it twice,
but I'll do that one hour from now. So yesterday
(00:48):
we did the Herd hierarchy post draft. Now i'll give
you the standings. By the way, what you find in
the NFL, figuring out the one in the four is
not very difficult. The four's the bottom teams mostly all
have bad cornerback situations. That's a real easy one. The
ones we can argue between a couple of teams, but
the bottom end of the league and there's not that many,
(01:09):
but there's about five easy calls in this league.
Speaker 3 (01:11):
I would say, I'm clamoring to know your AFC East winner.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
I think it's a slam dunk in the Jets, obviously,
but we'll see so Nicks sixers. It's amazing how even
the game was last night. I went and got the
box score this morning. Points in the paint, turnovers, rebounds,
free throw percentage, field goal percentage, right across the board.
It's even. It just came down to MAXI hit a
couple of great shots earlier in the season. Earlier in
(01:39):
the series, Jalen Brunson was hitting the big shots that
in a nutshell is the NBA Playoffs. It doesn't matter
who plays better, who star delivers late. Lakers lead the
Nuggets for seventy percent of the series. Jamal Murray two
for two in game winners last night Cleveland, Orlando. Evan
Mobley the big block for Cleveland, their star player, one
(01:59):
of their star players. So the Knicks, I thought had
it wrapped up. They led by six twenty eight seconds left.
Game seven is in New York. I don't think they'll
need it. I think the Knicks will win in Game six.
I still like the Knicks. I loved their coaching, I
like how they played. Maxi hit a couple of brilliant shots,
and he's an amazing player who you know, I've been
a fan of for multiple years. The problem for Philadelphia
(02:21):
winning last night, and it is a problem. It's just
a game. Is this going to make them It shouldn't,
but is it gonna make them have false hope? Ay,
this series is a go either way series. If imbiid
was healthy and Bead's been healthy for a lot of
the years, and they can't win a second playoff series,
(02:45):
And if not for heroic great shots last night, this
series would be a gentleman's sweep. And that's the problem
with Philadelphia. Maxi being amazing coming back six down twenty
eight seconds left, it's making Philadelphia think, yeah, this is
a go either way series. No, it's not Nicks to
the better team. They've been better coached, they've been more reliable,
(03:08):
they've been tougher, they've gotten the big rebounds late. Last night,
they didn't get the big shots late. So sometimes in
the playoffs, what happens is the delusion kicks in, thinking, Man,
if we didn't just have blank, blank and blank you
have to be honest with yourself. In this league, a
lot of teams aren't honest with themselves. Philadelphia has got issues.
(03:29):
I love MAXI I'd keep him. I'd strongly consider moving Mbat.
Mbat has been disappointing in the fourth. He's not around
the glass in the fourth, and frankly, he gets hurt
a lot. He just played forty eight minutes last night.
He's got one game rest. They go back to his place.
Philadelphia Knicks are gonna win that game. Nicks had the series.
Knicks had the game. It was the nixt night. They
(03:50):
were the better team. Maxie was great. It happens. It happens.
But don't let that cloud the truth about this series
or the truth about your future. The future for the
Knicks is very bright. I mean, if they landed k D,
what would we say in a month. The future for
the Sixers is murky. What do you do with him?
(04:11):
Beat Max? He's great, Tobias Harris and beat other pieces.
Gonna go through another coach, here's Tom Tibbs Thibodau.
Speaker 4 (04:22):
After tough way to lose a ball game. You know,
so we had a lead, We got to play tougher
with the lead. We filed in a situation that we
didn't want to file in, and then you know, in
the end, MAXI makes a big shot. So you know
(04:44):
we got to do better.
Speaker 1 (04:46):
Yes, So I want to talk about something, and this
is something I've been you know, when I defended Atlanta's
draft pick when they got Kirk Cousins and Michael Pennix
and people really freaked out. You paid Kirk Cousins. What.
So here's what's interesting. So the Broncos this morning, the
(05:10):
Broncos this morning think they have the guy bo Nicks. Analytically,
there's a story this morning from Adam Schefter. They think
bo Nicks is ready to play right now and will
be as good as any quarterback of all this rookie class.
So suddenly this franchise that was a mess and all
this dead cap money with Russell Wilson, they took a
big swing on it. I said, Denver, big swing Russell Wilson.
(05:33):
I'm here for it. Everybody now freaks out. But if
bo Knicks can play, they just got Zach Wilson. He'll
get a reboot talented kid. And they have Jarrett Stidham
who they could use potentially as a very nice trade
piece sixty six quarterbacks played in the NFL last year.
Pretty nice to have three guys and you could move
two of them, and you think you have the future
in bo Nicks. And this is why I've defended Atlanta.
(05:56):
If you're gonna have more talent than you need right now,
well in the NFL, make it at quarterback. Eventually you
can move backups. I mean, good god, Arizona was able
to get a draft pick out of Josh Dobbs last
year in the middle of the season. Minnesota was so desperate.
So if bone Nicks hits, the Russell Wilson drama is irrelevant.
(06:18):
And I'm gonna tell you something now. And nobody wants
to say this, because fear drives so many decisions in
the NFL and in life. People are very fear based.
Going go to the internet about the election, it's all
fear based. Everything's fear based. Nobody's optimistic. Everybody's negative. The
word dead cap when you hear that, everybody thinks, oh,
it's a funeral. It's an NFL funeral. Dead cap money.
(06:42):
I would much rather have teams take swings and end
up with a little dead cap. Give you an example.
The Green Bay Packers last year, do you know how
much dead cap money they had? Forty million dollars. They
not only made the playoffs, they went in the Dallas
and rolled them. Why because Jordan loved Bald. The Buccaneers
(07:05):
made the playoffs last year, thirty five million dollars of
dead cap. They made the playoffs. Why because Baker Mayfield Bald.
They took a swing. They took a big swing on Brady.
They won a Super Bowl. Who the hell cares if
they have dead cap money, go get another quarterback. Well,
it doesn't end there. The Rams last year, listen to this,
(07:29):
eighty million dollars of dead cap made the playoffs in
a rebuild year. Why because they take big swings and
Matt Stafford can ball in Philadelphia? Remember that twenty twenty
one Carson Wentz. What a disaster that contract is. They
took a big swing, huge dead cap money, but they
(07:52):
drafted Jalen Hurts. He ends up being good with the
right coach. As Philadelphia struggled in recent years, been pretty
good fotball team Philadelphia, The Rams, the Packers's funny Buccaneers,
They're all fine. They took swings. Tampa took a swing
(08:13):
on Brady and got a Super Bowl. You think they
regret it today. Four of the five highest dead cap
hits last year made the playoffs. They in the playoffs.
Green Bay took a big swing, they moved off Aaron Rodgers.
Buccaneers made a big swing with Brady, won a Super Bowl,
(08:33):
and then they took a swing on Baker. If bow
Knicks can play, then the Russell Wilson thing, it's gonna
be last year's news. Nobody's gonna care. Where you don't
want to be in the NBA. Where you don't want
to be is in the middle. You're just you're in
(08:54):
quicksand you're not terrible, You're not great. A big swing
can make you great and get your ring, and if
it blows up, you get a better draft pick. It's
like the Phoenix Suns took a huge swing on Katie
and Bradley Beal. Everybody's freaking out, But you know who
could really use Kevin Durant, The New York Knicks, and
(09:15):
they got picks and they got good young players take swings.
The whole Russell Wilson thing, it's the end up. If
bow Knicks can play. The dude completed seventy seven percent
of his passes last year, He's Drew Brees with mobility.
Potentially that Russell Wilson drama won't matter. It didn't for
the Rams, it didn't for the Packers, it didn't for
(09:37):
the Bucks. For of the top five dead cap hits
made the playoffs. Now, I'm not saying I'm rooting for
it or it's ideal, but it's not as punitive as
everybody makes it out to me. The San Francisco forty
nine ers draft Trey Lance give up a boatload of
picks or in the Super Bowl, I think, doesn't he
(09:58):
get into the NFC Championship, take a big swing. It's
either gonna get you gold bars and trophies or close
to it. And if not, it's amazing the opportunities that
arise if you hit in a draft pick. You don't
even have to have. Caleb Williams Rock Purdy is getting
(10:21):
to big games. Bow Knicks can absolutely do the same
with Sean Payton. All right, Nicks are freaking out, by
the way. Here is Albert Breer earlier this week on
the Broncos confidence. What they believe bo Nix.
Speaker 5 (10:36):
Is when Sean Payton got the numbers back from their
analytics people. I'm telling you, like, in so many different categories,
critical categories, bo Nix was number one. So you had
the play style, you had all these critical categories, and
then you had the meeting in Eugene. And I'll give
you one anecdote. Sean Payton pointed down at bow Knicks's
backpack and said, what do you have in there? So
(10:56):
boon Knicks emptied his backpack. He had a pair of
football cleats, he had a roll of athletic tape, and
he had a lacrosse ball in there that he uses
to crack his back. And the Broncos looked at that
and said, this kid is all about football.
Speaker 1 (11:11):
They're gonna be fine in Denver as long as Bonnicks
can play, and I think he can. So I thought
the Knicks last night, I thought it was all sealed up,
just like you thought the Lakers had so many games
in that series sealed up. But in the end, you know, Max,
he's a shot maker, and Brounson's a shot maker, and
Jamal Murray's a shot maker. That's all the Lakers need.
Next year, Trey Young another shot maker. Nicks could use.
(11:33):
Kevin Durant, great shot maker, Nicks are gonna win this
series though. You're on that right.
Speaker 6 (11:38):
I hope.
Speaker 3 (11:38):
So, Colin, listen, you know I coach my kids in
U sports and I play in men's leagues.
Speaker 6 (11:44):
Up three less than ten seconds left.
Speaker 3 (11:47):
It's basic math.
Speaker 6 (11:49):
You fell.
Speaker 2 (11:49):
You cannot let.
Speaker 1 (11:50):
The guys he to three.
Speaker 6 (11:51):
They let Tyrese Maxey walk into a.
Speaker 3 (11:53):
Logo three up by three. That is insanity. I cannot
believe how badly Tibodeau did that. We've seen in the
NCAA tournament.
Speaker 1 (12:00):
So you're blaming the coach something.
Speaker 3 (12:02):
No, no, no, hold on. I mean, this is a simple strategy, Colin.
We saw this earlier in the Bucks Pacer series. Pacers
are like, let's not foul Middleton Prayer three good over time,
you have.
Speaker 1 (12:12):
To foul up three. Colin, you know this.
Speaker 3 (12:15):
I mean, why would you let Tyree Maxie, who's already
cooking you, He's got like forty points at the time,
walk into a three point Well, you do realize the
best three point shooters in the league shoot thirty eight
and a half percent.
Speaker 1 (12:25):
That means over seventy percent of the time they don't
make that shot. I don't know. Seems like the numbers
are on my side.
Speaker 3 (12:33):
I'm definitely fouling all. I mean, all the smart math
guys foul, So that's what I would do. But listen, Thibodeau,
I don't think he answered that question.
Speaker 6 (12:42):
Mitchell Robinson owned it.
Speaker 3 (12:43):
He was like, listen, I made a stupid foul to
give the four point play to Maxie Colin.
Speaker 1 (12:48):
You've got a foul up three.
Speaker 3 (12:49):
That's I mean, you cannot let tyrese Maxey, who's like
You've been on this for about a year.
Speaker 1 (12:55):
He's an amazing player.
Speaker 3 (12:56):
You gotta just grab him in the back court, foul,
make him make free throws, extend the game, get bunted
on the line.
Speaker 5 (13:00):
He's money.
Speaker 1 (13:01):
You know. It's interesting in this in that game is
how many miss free throws there were. Nicks had big misses,
max he had big misses. It is amazing how gifted
these basketball players are. I mean, they're unbelievable. And even
the guards, even the guys that shoot free throws, well,
how many missed free throws happen. It was funny. I
was watching the Lakers Nugget series a couple of days ago,
and I don't remember, it was like eighty eighty one.
(13:22):
It was really close and there was a five point
swing where like Austin Reeves missed a free throw the
first of two, and then they came down and I
think it was Porter Jamal Murray hit a three, and
I'm like, that's a five point swing in eight seconds.
Those missed free throws. If somebody comes down and hits
a three, those are if you don't hit the first one,
those are five point plays in the NBA. And all
(13:43):
it means is you just come down and hit a three.
And like Denver's got Porter can hit it and Yokic
can hit it. In Murray, that's when you played Denver,
you gotta hit your free throws because man, they are punitive.
They will come right back. I mean, Jokic is like
a quarterback. He's throwing the deep ball constantly, and so
often when they throw the deep ball Denver does, they
don't go for the layup or dunk. He throws it
(14:04):
on the wing and they saddle up in caseyp sits
there for three seconds and dials in a three. So
Denver is so good at burning you off miss free
throws or fast break opportunities. Those guys just go to
the wings and light it up.
Speaker 3 (14:18):
So it does sound like, you're confident Nicks will still
win this series.
Speaker 1 (14:21):
I nixed the better team the better right now, they're
playing better basketball. I watched last night and the whole game,
I felt like, the Knicks, We're gonna win the game then,
and I was sitting there watching it. At halftime, I
went and uber to a friend's place and had a
little cocktail o chicken palm, you know, And I'm sitting
there watching it and I'm like, you know, the place
I'm at erupts when MAXI hit it. You're like, Oh,
(14:44):
what a dagger that is, And then you know that's
that's playoff basketball. You know. I was reading a story yesterday.
NBA is gonna sign these huge Amazon deals. NBC, whoever
it is, TNT is a bidding war for it. It's
massive money. You can complain all you want about the
NBA regular season. It is the load. Management to me,
is a bad business, outrageous. I don't like it. But
(15:05):
this league makes its money, and these playoff games are
fantastic that you can't argue about. If you're making money
in life and you're living a good life, that's good,
and the playoff basketball games are absolutely great. I'm not
watching Pelicans. Okay, see, I'll watch the next round that one.
I haven't gotten too much, but I'm watching all that.
Like tonight, MAVs Clippers.
Speaker 3 (15:23):
Are we gonna hang out and watch that tonight?
Speaker 5 (15:25):
As an ordering hole?
Speaker 1 (15:26):
We could?
Speaker 6 (15:27):
I do have a hall pass for the night?
Speaker 4 (15:28):
Oh?
Speaker 1 (15:29):
You do what happened? Well? I asked for one, I said, coward.
Coward needs a wingman.
Speaker 5 (15:34):
All right, let me know.
Speaker 1 (15:35):
I do like the clips tonight. Maybe we should hang out.
I'm on the maths. What's the number? I think three?
MAVs favored by three? Oh, I like the clips. I
listen they've Actually what's really interesting about the Clippers is
they can play without Kawhi. What they can't play is
without a point guard. It's fascinating how valuable Hardens become
(15:56):
and how replaceable. Because Paul George is pretty good wing player. Obviously,
Kawhi is like James Harden's the one they need. I
predict Westbrook off the bench tonight is very good. Wash
the Clippers bench tonight bold Okay.
Speaker 2 (16:10):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
in newon Easter not Am Pacific on Fox Sports Radio
FS one and the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 1 (16:19):
All the free agent moves are done, all the draft
is done. We all know if you hit all three
of those, or even two or three, you can be
a better team. That doesn't necessarily mean it will dramatically
change where you finish in the standings. We know Harbaugh
is a perfect fit for the Chargers, but they still
plan a division with the Chiefs. We know the Bears
(16:41):
are going to be a much better offensive team, but
the Packers and lines are stacked so a lot of teams.
I think Chicago is going to be the most improved team.
They just happen to plan a division which offensively is
the most loaded division in the league by a long shot,
offensively with three offensive coaches. So I'm going to layout
this morning, and it's pretty easy when you really start
(17:04):
thinking about it in terms of best quarterback, worst quarterback,
and that's kind of how this stuff mostly works. So
here we go. Let's start AFC. I'm just going to
predict the standings in the AFC East. I have Josh
Allen just like mahomes a Brady, I'm gonna win the
division for as long as he's in his prime. Number
two is Miami. I love their roster. I think it's
(17:26):
the best roster. They don't have real holes here, they
don't have a great on line. It's not bad. Number
two with a great offensive coach, Jets Aaron Rodgers, who,
by the way, is not in his prime. He's not
as good as Jordan Love. Today Jets finished third, and
then I think it's pretty obvious New England's got a
rookie quarterback and a rookie coach. I did like the pick,
and I do like what they did in the draft,
finally going heavy offense. But I feel pretty good about
(17:48):
that division. Let's go to the AFC. North Baltimore was
the best regular season team last year, argument the best
run team in football. I think they're going to be
great again in the regular season. Cincinnati gets Joe Burrow back.
When Joe Burrow's healthy, he either wins this division or
gets to the playoffs. And they've been noisy, a lot
of noise. I don't like with T Higgins, but I
like Joe Burrow a lot. Three. Pittsburgh. I think Russell
(18:12):
Wilson will succeed. At what level he succeeds, I don't know.
And I didn't buy Cleveland last year. I don't buy
him this year. I think Kevin Stefanski and Andrew Berry
are excellent, but there's things upstairs they have to deal with.
And I think it's a really good division AFC South,
this is now a good division. We've rolled our eyes
(18:32):
at it for years. Get out of that. Tennessee stinks.
Everybody else is good. I'm gonna go Houston. I love
what they've done with personnel the last two drafts and
free agency. I think they've just hit it out of
the park. I mean they've done like Green Bay level
stuff in the draft last two years. Excellent Jags, and
it will be a fight to the finish. I love
getting Brian Thomas, their weapons with Trevor Lawrence and an
(18:55):
offensive coach or substantial So I'm gonna have the Colts three.
I like the Colts. I worry greatly about Anthony Richardson's
playing style, Trevor Lawrence and C. J. Stroud sitting in
the pocket. I don't worry about that. Anthony Richardson is
so dynamic and I like this Colts team. Is he
gonna miss three or four starts? That can be the
difference easiest picking the League Titans for fourth. I don't
(19:18):
know if will Levis is gonna work or not. I
just roster personnel. I like the new coach they have there.
You go. And finally, AFC West Kansas City's young defense
by the end of last year was a monster. They
went and got Xavier Worthy. I don't know if it's
going to work in the draft, but if anybody can
make it work, it's Andy Reid and Mahomes. I think
the Chargers become a really solid two. I do worry
(19:40):
about losing Keenan Allen, Austin Eckler, Mike Williams, lost a
lot of offensive pieces, but they went out and got
a Hayden Hurst. They went out and drafted a receiver.
Number three is gonna be Denver. And I think if
bo Nick's hits, and I think he will, they'll be
And I also love the end they got in the draft.
I think they're gonna be a really good team. Good
could be nine to ten. I don't think it's twelve
(20:00):
to thirteen. And the Raiders just don't have the quarterback yet.
Like the Raiders. Like the Raiders roster outside of quarterback,
really like the Raiders roster. All right, let's go to
the NFC. I think Philadelphia is offensive pieces with an
offensive coach and Jalen Hurt are substantial. This is a
well run organization that takes big swings. I'm gonna take
(20:21):
Philadelphia to win their division. They replace their coordinators. My
guess is they're an upgrade over last year. I'm gonna
pick a little bit of a surprise. I think Washington,
Jaden Daniels, all those college starts. I think they're gonna
be pretty feisty next year. Dan Quinn more than competent.
Cliff Kingsbury. Offensive line's okay, but I mean even the
Philadelphia Eagles great old line lost to Hall of Fame Center.
(20:43):
So I'm gonna have a little bit of an upset here.
Washington feels like a nine to a ten win team.
Dallas will be right behind them, but they are gonna
be incredibly reliant on Dak Prescott. They're weak in the
running back spot. They have one tight end, ceed Lamb.
Gallup's now gone. I think they're very dependent on Dak,
and the numbers tell you. When Dallas gets dependent on Dak,
(21:04):
they're not as good. Giants just don't have enough pieces.
Rumors today they're looking at Drew Locke at quarterback. He
forget it. Let's go NFC North, which I think now
is probably the most talented division in football. I'm going
to take Detroit. I like everything about Detroit, even Dan Campbell.
The front office is great, Jared Goff, best online in football,
(21:24):
good pieces. I like everything about Detroit. I think at
the NSC Championship who they face will see, but I
love Detroit. I'm a huge buyer on green Bay. Jordan
Love shocked me his improvement last year. Now J Mack
still wants to see him eight ten games. I was
blown away by how good he was. He's just a
little wild and I think he's more far than Aaron Rodgers.
(21:46):
But boy have they drafted well this draft, like all
their drafts excellent. Green Bay is the best drafting team
in the league. We just got to own that a
number three, and I think they'll be you know, they
got a rookie quarterback and there's going to be some
bad Sundays, but Chicago three and again, they're gonna be
a better team. If this division was Wonky, I could
see him making the playoffs. But god, this talented division,
(22:07):
and I think they're gonna be a really, really fun
offense to watch. And then I think Minnesota will be
the best fourth place team in football. I think Minnesota
could win eight or nine games. I love their offensive pieces,
but again, it's just sometimes the fifth best team in
the SEC could win the Big twelve. I just feel
like Minnesota picked the wrong division. Let's go to the
NFC South. I think it's a slam dunk. I think
(22:29):
Atlanta's gonna win this division. Tampa's gonna be feisty, but
we're gonna forget about the Kirk Cousins, Michael Pennocks drama.
This is a really good football team offensively, Raheem Morris
shark cat Tampa's two, and again, I think it'll be
a feisty battle. Tampa also had a great draft. Their
first four picks all really nice players. I'm gonna do
Carolina third. I'm with j Max. I think they finally
(22:51):
got Bryce Young, some weapons. I think they're gonna make
a surge next year. I don't like right now New
Orleans situation. I just don't feel good about it. I'm
gonna have the Saints fourth, maybe their third, but I
just don't like the way it feels right now. I'm
not sure that coach is gonna be there. Next year
by Thanksgiving. Finally another really really good division. I think
(23:11):
the Rams had a great draft. I think they played
at the end of last year. They got that old
line right. I'm gonna take the Rams to edge out
San Francisco in that division, and Matt Stafford is the difference.
Poka Nakua now going in Cooper Cup, is healthy. The
old line is fantastic. The Niners offensive line is very
much in question, and we don't know their receiver situation.
(23:34):
They'll be good. I don't think they'll be quite as
good as last year. Their second Arizona third. I gotta
be honest with you. I think Arizona has a chance
to make the playoffs. I watched them at the end
of last year. That new coach. They play hard, they
play hard, and a Seattle a talented fourth place team.
(23:55):
I'm from the Pacific Northwest. I don't get any joy
out of saying Seattle is fourth, but that's what I see.
J Mac. Beyond the AFC East, where you're not reasonable.
Speaker 3 (24:08):
You basically have the waste the standings ended last year,
don't you, And almost every division except for Dallas and.
Speaker 1 (24:14):
Then the Rams and the nick Atlanta and yeah, but
the foul.
Speaker 3 (24:18):
Everybody's gonna have the thought.
Speaker 1 (24:19):
Yeah, yeah, I picked the best quarterbacks lit Chalky sec
by the way, I went real Chalky in March Madness.
I said, Yukon's gonna win and the Super Bowl, Yeah,
I mean chalk. There's a reason it's chalk. There's a
reason teams are favored. And with that, NBA to night
MAVs clips huge game. Ray Joel Nichols cover the NBA
since nineteen ninety three. It is good to have Rachel
(24:41):
on again on the show today. These NBA playoff games.
You know, it's funny, remember a few It was like
a week ago, Nick Nurse was yelling on the sidelines,
the rest couldn't hear him, and last night tibbsy yelling,
and well you can't hear anybody. Yeah, so everybody's always like,
well the coach was saying this, The officials couldn't hear
Nick Nurse, the Nick players could hear Tibbs. And so
(25:01):
you have to remember basketball in New York and Philadelphia
is a wonderful television product. You're not going to be
able to hear the coach if he's twelve feet away.
And last night you got into that situation. I still
like the Knicks in the series.
Speaker 6 (25:14):
Yeah, yeah, I mean, look, the odds are the odds
for a reason. They've got Game seven at home. That
being said, if the Sixers really come out strong in
Game six and just thump the Knicks, I'd be a
little bit more worried about the Knicks in a Game
seven because they will have had multiple opportunities to close
it out, and we've seen it so many times. Once
that happens and it gets into a team's brain, But
I think the Knicks are favored. I do think though,
(25:36):
that Joel Embiid may have finally found his guy in
Tyrese Maxi, and that no matter what happens to the
Sixers if they lose this series, they have to feel
good going into the off season. Because you remember last
offseason we were at the point where the James Harden
drama was going on and Daryl Morey is a liar
being held up all the way in China, all of
these kinds of things. Joelle's getting a little frustrated. He
(25:57):
actually liked James. They go along really well, so then
it was like, hey, come on, why can't you work
this out with him? That kind of thing he'd gone
through all the Ben Simmons drama and been so patient
with the franchise of that. And there are a lot
of rumors swirling around of if things don't go well
this season, Joel Embiid is going to ask to be
a New York Nick And guess.
Speaker 4 (26:13):
Who is it?
Speaker 6 (26:13):
Joel Embiid's wedding this past summer as well New York
Knicks president Leon Rose, who was, of course Embiad's former agent.
The two are still close, and the rumors had just
got even more swirling after that, and Tyrese Maxey steps
into that void after Harden is traded all season, becomes
a guy that Joel knows he can rely on, and
(26:35):
then in that game last night, not only went full
Reggie Miller with the shot making, but carried Embiid when
Embiid was clearly too hurt to do a lot of
things he normally does.
Speaker 1 (26:45):
Now, I think the KD rumors make a lot of sense,
first of all, because Phoenix needs to reboot. It's not
working all the perimeter stuff, so and the feeling is
they could get more for Booker, but he's kind of
central piece. He's kind of the Phoenix kid and the
Bao contract, there's not much you can do with it.
The Durant piece you could move. Also, Julius Randall, if
(27:10):
the Sons got him, actually provides a little bit of
what Phoenix isn't, which is physical and tough. You're not
gonna go get DeAndre Ayton back because Booker couldn't. He
didn't fit the locker room. So Julius Randall, who's a
really nice player, if he's your three, probably not a two.
He could fit. But I do think there's something to
be said about New York is that for years and
(27:31):
years you know this organization better than I do. For
years and years they reached. Yes, they gave up the
farm for Carmelo. Then he was a big chandelier in
an empty mansion, and then you know Amari Stoddemyer had
bad knees, and it's just like, oh, they reach. They've
actually because they made a nice move at the trade deadline,
they've become a really smart patient franchise. But now I
(27:54):
think embiid or my preference is Katie. I think the
time is now. Katie thirty six started next year. Do
you think that Katie stuff is realistic?
Speaker 3 (28:04):
Yeah?
Speaker 6 (28:04):
I mean, I mean, look first the EMBIID was definitely
who they had their sights on, and I do think
Tyrese Maxey has changed that equation in terms of MBID
being happy in Philadelphia, So then it becomes who else
do you get? Fortunately, og Nanobi looks like he wants
to be in New York, and so when they are
able to resign him, I think that is going to
be a win for them long term, and then they
still have room to get someone else. Katie makes so
(28:26):
much sense to me, because you and I talked about
this last time I was on the show. I think
that's where he should have gone all along, if you're
gonna leave Golden State. And we can debate whether he
should have or not the Knicks or where he should
have gone after that, it was the natural fit for
him and the fact that he sort of missed that
opportunity if he could go back and get it now,
I think that that fan base would embrace him. And
(28:47):
once that fan base embraces you, and they are the
largest fan base in the NBA, then it quiets some
of the other noise around the league of other fan
bases griping about oh KD as for another trade or
Kd's moving again, or this guy can't find a home
or his legacy this or that. I think that it
would be a smart move for Kevin, and I think
it would be a smart move for the next But
you know, look, we'll see if they want to disrupt
(29:09):
the chemistry that they have by bringing in as big
a star as Durant, or if they want to go
a different route and just keep adding these pieces of good,
good players. I mean, Jamar de Rosen is a name
that's come up for New York. He's a guy who
is an excellent, excellent basketball player, can bolster a lot
of areas that.
Speaker 1 (29:26):
They need, doesn't take the ball to Brunson's hands, and also.
Speaker 6 (29:31):
Is not going to change sort of the geometry of
the locker room the way bringing in a Kevin Durant would.
So it just kind of depends on what they want.
But if the Sons are looking to get off of
Kat's contract and Katie is looking for a place he
can go where he won't just get hit with a
mountain of criticism all over again, I think New York
could be that place.
Speaker 1 (29:49):
You know, it is interesting the Bucks, the Sixers, and
the Lakers have each had three coaches in six years each,
so how seasons end, you know you can get swep.
It's landing different than a six game series. So you
have Dallas where Kyrie and Luca have really gotten along.
And if they lost this series in seven or they
(30:10):
win this series, I think they bring the band back
and it's good. But if Dallas gets beat tonight and
without Kawhi for the Clippers again and you got kind
of old heads Harden and Westbrook and Paul playoff p
and Kawhi' is not there and they're knocking you out
right and they win this series. Dallas is fascinating because
(30:30):
it took Dirt Novisky forever to get the pieces. He
never really got a second star. He got a good
chemistry stand Steve.
Speaker 6 (30:36):
Nash just didn't keep him.
Speaker 1 (30:38):
He had a different time and then he moves to Phoenix.
But it's like, what does Dallas do. Cuban sells the team,
what does Dallas do if they don't get out of
this series or that you're going to bring it back.
Speaker 6 (30:50):
They kind of have to. They made decisions at the
trade deadline that lock them into a path for the
next couple of years. I think if Dallas loses the series,
one of the big reasons would be because of Luca
Dncic's knee. It certainly was a big factor in why
they lost the last game. You could just see it.
He wasn't his mobile out on the court. And he's
still able to be Luca, and he still scored points
and he still did things. But that difference between being
(31:12):
a very very good player and being the best player
on the floor, which is what we always say is
the deciding factor in NBA playoff series, is that knee.
So I'm curious to see what happens tonight when he
comes out. Does he look like he looked in Game four,
which was not his mobile, a little stiff. He'd made
so many great strides on defense over this last season
or two, and those are really gone in that game
because he just couldn't move around and defend the way
(31:33):
he wanted to. So if we get that Luka Dancic
and that's the reason that they end up losing this series,
I don't think you have to blow anything up or
do anything because that's just Hey, it's bad luck that
he had this knee injury at that time, and I
think Luca will have patience knowing that that might be
the reason. If things go wrong in a very different way,
then we can have that conversation. But the way things
are looking right now, they're super competitive. They're still favor
(31:55):
to win, even though you know, you look at the
games the Clippers have still on their floor or they've
got two of the next three, but the Maps are
favorite to win, and they certainly have players who can
get the job done.
Speaker 2 (32:07):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays
and noon Easter not a Empacific.
Speaker 7 (32:12):
Hey, this is Tom Berducci from Fox Sports, MLB Network
and Sports Illustrated.
Speaker 4 (32:17):
And I'm Joe Madden, and we're going to be around
to talk a little bit about managerial decisions and what
may have occurred to the dug out maybe in the
nineteen eighties.
Speaker 7 (32:24):
It's the Book of Joe Podcasts.
Speaker 1 (32:26):
I can't wait for this, Joe.
Speaker 7 (32:27):
We're going to dive into what goes on in the
dugout and behind the scenes in Major League.
Speaker 1 (32:31):
Baseball, cars, wind whatever else we want to talk about.
Speaker 7 (32:33):
Yeah, well, there are no boundaries, right. Listen to the
Book of Joe podcast on the iHeartRadio app, on Apple
Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker 1 (32:41):
I'm surprised by people that I respect kind of buying
into the Lebron could be out of LA. I just
don't see it at all. This is Genie Buss is
a wonderful person and she does a great job at
her job, but she's not a rich owner and to
get those local cable deals. This is why Kobe at
(33:02):
the end was way past this briant. They paid him
a fortune. Yep, you get whatever spectrum.
Speaker 6 (33:07):
Or every dollar to that franchise.
Speaker 1 (33:09):
Lebron sells tickets, they sell out all their games. I
know what they charged for court side. Yet they're not
doing that in a rebuild. No, So why all the
Lebron leaving LA talk, you.
Speaker 6 (33:19):
Know, because if he did, it would be such a
big story that it's a little too tempting for people
not to talk about Lakers fans people even within the organization.
And the fact is that he is, you know, will
mercure lile, He holds things at arm's length. He certainly
is going to make them sweat it. In my opinion,
if I had to guess the way this is going
to play out, I would say that he opts out
of his contract. I would say that he then makes
(33:41):
them wait a few weeks to decide that he's going
to come back. And it's not about the money. They've
already leaked that they'll offer him as much money as
he wants. They've already leaked that they'll draft Bronnie if
that ends up being what he wants. It is about
the roster, and I think it is going to be
very interesting to watch Lebron through that first week of
free agency, because hey, maybe he just signs with the
Lakers and done with it. But the more likely scenario,
(34:04):
given his history, is that he waits a little while
and he shows up a Tmusa training camp which starts
July sixth, and he's got Steve Kerr talking in his
zer on a piece of video that runs all over TV,
and then people say, oh what about?
Speaker 1 (34:17):
What about?
Speaker 6 (34:18):
What are the Warriors interested in getting him? Oh Joe,
He's sitting next paling around with Joel Embiid. I know
that the Sixers would love to have Lebron, So I
think he's going to let some of that talk fester
to make sure that they make the moves in free
agency and at the draft that he wants them to make,
because that didn't happen at the trade deadline this year,
and we haven't really seen Lebron have the influence he
(34:38):
had over that front office, maybe since the Russell Westbrook trade,
since he sort of promoted that and that didn't work out.
We just haven't seen Clutch have the same voice. We
haven't seen Lebron have the same voice in the Lakers'
roster moves. He is the opportunity this summer if he
takes it to have that voice because he can hold
withhold from them. Am I going to resign or not?
Speaker 1 (34:58):
So we got into this discuss yesterday and it's kind
of a thirty thousand feet discussion. It's not urgent, but
I think it's fascinating is that you know, the NFL,
it's the shield, that's the star of the league. Baseball,
it's its history and it's past. But international soccer and
the NBA, your your league's as good as your star
and your team. And Jordan left and the NBA embraced
(35:21):
Marberry and Steve Francis and Iverson, remarkable players, but the
audience didn't like them. And so fifty percent of the people,
I mean Tiger Woods left golf. They often tournament's folded. Yes,
So the face of the league question, and I said this,
you have to want to be the face of the league.
Jordan did, Magic did, Kareem didn't, So you have to
(35:42):
want it. I think Aunt Edwards would embrace it. But
it's Minnesota. People forget this, Rachel. Outside of Lebron and Cleveland,
the stars in my life Jerry Western, La Doctor, Jan Philly,
Magic Bird, George, They're all big markets. So my guess
is wemby at and not whether they work or not.
(36:06):
I mean, if you had to guest face, Jokic doesn't
want to be the face of them. I'm not sure
Luca wants to be the face of the league. Your
guest next eight years, ten years.
Speaker 6 (36:16):
Look, I mean Luca's already twenty five, so I think
he's he's We've already talked about how big a star
he is. I think he's gonna finish second in MVP voting,
so he is poised to become you know, when Lebron
and Steph and kd all retired, I think Luca will
be the face that we see. But when you look
at the generation behind him and the young guys coming up,
I have to say Victor Webin Yama is being sold
(36:38):
short in these discussions in a way I don't quite get.
I think Anthony Edwards is a superstar. He is so magnetic,
obviously has the game, but also, as you said, has
the drive, has the killer instinct. Commercials are fantastic. But
Victor webin Yama, to me, if he has good health,
could end up as a top five player of all time.
I think we have already seen the indications of that.
(37:01):
And I know it's very early, and I will be
happy to stand up and say I'm wrong if I'm wrong,
but that is what I am seeing right now. And
I think that he is going to become eventually the
face of the NBA because he is just going to
keep waitning. I think, whether it's Defensive Player of the Year,
whether it's eventually MVP, whether it's eventually titles, I think
we will be saying his name over and over and
over again.
Speaker 1 (37:21):
You know, it's interesting take shack out centers usually haven't
been the face of the league. They get, they break down,
they don't sell shoes, and people don't see themselves as
being shack Yeah, but it's interesting because the new wave
of European bigs they handle the ball, they're flashy, they
pass it's a more fun game. It's just not power. Yeah.
(37:43):
Power usually isn't the face of the league. People want
like Moses Malone. They want they want moves, baby, Yeah,
they want moves. Yeah moves. And Wemby and Chet Holmgren.
Speaker 6 (37:51):
Both they yeah moves.
Speaker 1 (37:53):
They got all sorts of juice. So it's great seeing
you so tonight, Dallas Lakers. You're at that game tonight, right?
Or excuse me, Mad Clippers? You like the you like
the MAVs. I'm I'm I think Westbrook's gonna hit tonight.
I have a feeling Westbrook's gonna deliver. Harden's been so
good in this series. I feel like Dallas is the
(38:13):
last two days, has worked on We've got to get
the ball out of his hands. He ate them alive?
You have a lean tonight?
Speaker 6 (38:19):
How you feel I'm gonna this is toss up because honestly,
I really think it depends on the health of Luca's name,
which they won't know till after he participates in warm ups.
If I had to say, say Clippers tonight MAVs for
the series? Is that an f a hetch?
Speaker 1 (38:33):
That's a real hetch that that last game was such
good television.
Speaker 3 (38:38):
So, Rachel, when does James Harden turn into a Pumpkin
Game six or Seven's coming coming at some point?
Speaker 1 (38:43):
But he was so good last week, en so good.
Speaker 6 (38:45):
And you know what I like about the situation he's
in right now is that in Paul George, he has
someone next to him who can be just as explosive,
more explosive in some cases. But James still has a
green light to shoot in the scenario without Kawhi. When
he was playing the role in Philadelphia where he had
some an explosive in Joelle Embiid, he didn't have the
green light to be the James Harden of old. He
(39:07):
had to be more of a compliment with Kawhi out. Yeah,
he can be a little bit more of that James Harden,
but it's not Iso James Harden because he has Paul
George next to him, so hopefully doesn't run out of
gas for Cliffers fans. But I do think that Luca
has the potential to be the best player in the series.
The best player in the series usually wins the playoff series.
It just depends on his physical health.
Speaker 1 (39:28):
I feel I feel like a supporter of Paul George.
No good player in the league gets more crap than
Paul George.
Speaker 6 (39:35):
I think he is the most underrated player in the NBA.
Speaker 1 (39:37):
It's incredible. I watched his you know what's funny years
ago people kind of bagged on his playoffs when he
was losing to Lebron, Bosh and Wade, and he had
Roy Hibbert and basically like a shooting guards. It was
a good roster, it's.
Speaker 6 (39:51):
A good team, right. It was just the right guy
for that moment, but it was not Big Three.
Speaker 1 (39:56):
I think Paul George is an unbelievable player, absolutely, and
I'll the unbelievable players get love and he doesn't get even.
When you look at his regular season playoff numbers, they're
very even. It's not like you get one guy and
the other guy. Now, you could look a little bit
at Harden's playoff numbers and you see a small decrease
in performance. I don't know. I think Paul George is great.
(40:17):
Rachel iszowas wonderful to see you
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