The Herd with Colin Cowherd - 02/17/2021 - Best of The Herd

Episode Date: February 17, 2021

Colin announces a new addition to the “NFL Clown Club” after another team continues to deal with self-inflicted drama this off season. He also shares his list of the most valuable players in the NBA and the list is surprisingly short. Plus, NBA champion Antoine Walker joins the show to tell Colin why Giannis Antetokounmpo still isn’t ready to be a championship player.   Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed Human. Another podcast from some SNL, late-night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer, Streeter Seidel, help an a cappella band with their between songs banter.

Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and friends on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal, but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque.

Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's Superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the IHard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. What's up, fam? It's Isaiah Thomas.

And I'm C.J. Toledano. It's our favorite time of the year on our podcast point game, the playoffs. We're digging into the biggest surprises of the season. And I'm looking back on some of my greatest playoff moments. If we didn't talk ever again, I was harmed. You just understood. That's how personal it got. Wow.

Then after that game seven, Marquis' keep coming to him. He's like, you know I love you, dog. You know, it's all love. This was just playoffs. This was just basketball. So listen to Point Game on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, I'm Deanna Maria Riva, and on my new podcast, How Hard Can It Be? I call on my Gen X squad from Ohio to Hollywood as we navigate Midlife's most fantastic BS.

Unfiltered conversations from night sweats to futas to scheduling sex. Wait, what sex? Is it just me or does every woman my age want to look at Pinterest instead of having sex sometimes? They say we can't podcast. polish a turn, but we're sure going to try. So let's get blunt with laughs, tears, or tears of laughter. Listen to How Hard Can It Be with Deanna Maria Riva on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Thanks for listening to The Best of Heard podcast. Be sure to catch us live every weekday. From 12 to 3 Eastern, 9 to noon Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and FS1, find your local station for the herd at Fox Sports Radio.com or stream us live every day on the iHeart radio app by searching Herd.

This is the best of the herd with Colin Cowher on Fox Sports Radio. We go, it's a Wednesday. Live in Los Angeles, it's the herd, wherever you may be, and however you may be listening, Fox Sports Radio, Iheart Radio, FS1. It is great to be here today. The herd brought to you by Jersey Mike Subs. Be a sub above.

It's Wednesday. They'll be delivering lunch today. Taylor is joining me. Joy on a Wednesday. I tell you, I feel the best today I have felt in some time, aided slightly by a Diet Red Bull. I'm not going to lie. I feel fantastic. How are you, Joy? I'm great. I'm glad you're feeling better. I saved the Diet Red Bulls for, well, I guess we're not clubbing anymore, but if I have, I know I have a long night ahead of me or I'm going to be out late. Diet Red Bull is the way to go. Yeah, I don't club anymore. I go. I go to club anymore. I go to to a racket club maybe. That's about it.

Well, I want to start the show with this. We've all understood how pro sports works. There's always four, five, six, seven really well-run organizations in all leagues. Dodgers right now are really, really well-run. Yankees last 25 years have mostly been well-run. Same with the Red Sox. You know, you know who's well-run. And then you always have six or seven franchises.

it's always kind of the same one. It's always bad ownership, poorly run franchises in all the sports. And in the NFL, you don't have to be in the club forever. I mean, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers were in the club for a long time. Now they're out of it. Sometimes you get one great player that changes everything, often a great coach. Bruce Ariens arrives, builds a good staff. Tom Brady, Buccaneers were in that bottom club. In the NFL, I would call it the clown club. And these are teams. And right now, currently in the NFL clown club, we have very predictable teams. The Jaguars, the Texans, the Bengals, Detroit, Washington football team, the Jets, the Browns.

Now, the Browns would throw a pushback. Whoa, whoa, whoa, oh, stop. You made the playoffs one year. You've been a tire fire for 25 years. The fact that you'd argue it is why you're in the clown club. Most of now, Washington, by the way, just made the playoffs. But again, you've been a mess for 15 years. You've let go of all sorts of good coaches and good players.

So it's the NFL Clown Club. And there's another team that is showing signs of getting into the clown club. According to Les Bowen, he's a very good reporter, has been for years in the NFL, Philadelphia. He says, spoke with an NFL management. source about the Carson Wince mellow drama. He said if Wence doesn't want the bears, the bears won't trade for him. Eventually, the Eagles will just take whatever the cults are offering, maybe a second, third round pick for Carson Wins.

Also, the Eagles will have to draft a quarterback six overall. God. What a mess. They're all all their own. doing. There are five signs, if you're an NFL fan, that you are moving into the NFL clown club. Number one, you start to have a lot of power struggles in the front office, a lot of ego. Number two, generally over the last seven, eight years, you fired a coach, Andy Reid, who you look back and go, he's a lot better than the current coach we have.

Number three, your quarterback situation, it just feels unsettled and handled poorly too often. Number four is there's an unhealthy level of arrogance despite brief success. You know, Saxonville, everybody wrote a book for the Eagles after Super Bowl. And number five is, increasingly, you're not a great drafting team. So even though you're a bad team with good picks, you're missing a lot of picks. you miss on a lot of picks. The Eagles, by the way, haven't drafted a pro bowler in seven years except Carson Wentz. It looks like Philadelphia is about to enter the NFL Clown Club.

The story this morning is, yeah, they're not going to get anything for Wentz, and they got to draft another quarterback. I mean, they had Wentz, it was all their own doing. They had Wentz, they paid Wentz, and they butchered Wentz. And then last year, in what was one of the strangest things, any of us had seen. Even Chris Collinsworth, nicest guy in the world on the air, went ballistic. They had Jalen Hertz playing in a one possession game, building confidence, division rival, playoffs on the line for Washington, and they pull him so a third string guy can get reps.

Jalen Hertz was on the sidelines, not happy. Of course he wasn't happy. Shouldn't have been happy. So I thought this morning, let's just make it official. Instead of just knocking on the door, let us open it. And the Philadelphia Eagles are officially congratulations in the NFL clown club with Washington, the Jets, the Lions, the Jags, the Bengals, the Browns, and the Houston Texans. You don't have to be in it forever. I mean, hey, Cleveland rattles off in 11 and 5. We may have to just pull them out. Joe Burrow looks very promising.

You don't even have to be a playoff team. If you look like you're fairly well-run, but those five signs in Philadelphia, front office, egos, looks like Andy reads a lot better than the 19-year-old you just hired, quarterback situation feels a little poorly handled. You start lining those things up. You have an unhealthy level of arrogance for very little success, and your drafting sort of goes off the rails and recent years. Philadelphia, congratulations. Good luck working your way out of it. It's taking Cleveland a long time. They've been a 20-year charter member. I want to shift to this. So it's kind of embarrassing. I'm not a big fan of awards. I always said this about radio and television. I know who can play.

I know who's good when the red lights on. I worked in local TV for 14 years. Every place I worked, there were three or four people. They're just great. They weren't always the people that won awards. You know who's good when the light goes on. You know who can't handle chaos. You know who's just naturally gifted. Reporters, editors, you know who they are. You don't have to have a plaque to tell you that. So LeBron James has only won four MVP's. He hasn't won one in seven years. It's embarrassing. It's really embarrassing for the people who vote on it because he's easily the most valuable player in the league. But it's really a difficult word. What does valuable mean? Now, in American, statistically, in America, men make more money than women in a household on average.

I would argue women are more valuable in the household. If the guy leaves, you know, pays a little child support alimony, the family structure can still be held together by the mother. But if the mom goes off the rails, the family implodes. Guys got too much ego. Now, I'm not saying all the time. There are obviously exceptions. But I've always felt in my family it was mom and my sister.

and my wife, they're more valuable than I am. They keep it all together. And there's a big disparity in the NBA between talent and leadership. I think there's almost no super valuable players in the NBA. I think there's about three, but I think there's tons of talent. I'll give you an example. The Lakers last night won without Anthony Davis. They're five and one this year without him.

They're 11 and 4 in two years without him. they win just as much without him. He's not that valuable. The Pelicans were bad with him. They're bad without him. They're 12 and 15 this year. They didn't go overboard with him. They weren't good with him.

They're not good without him. The Lakers win with him. The Lakers win without him. I'll give you another guy. Kevin Durant. The Nets have won three straight games without him. The Warriors won a title without him. The Warriors won 75% of their games when he missed it.

He's talented. But what's value? Kauai Leonard, the year the Raptors won the title. They were 17 and 5 when Kauai Leonard didn't play. He was great. How valuable they were winning before him and they've won after him. Yonis. Oh, Yonis.

Back-to-back MVP. The Milwaukee Bucks are the worst team in the league when trailing after three quarters. They're 0 and 9. They're awful. Why? Because you don't want Yonis to have the ball with four minutes left in the game. He can't shoot. He's not.

He's an incredibly gifted player. Valuable? They're on a four-game losing streak. You know why they're struggling right now? He's playing. You know who's not? Drew Holliday's not playing. And they're losing.

Drew Holliday is the glue to that team. Yonis is the most talented. There's three players in this league to me that should always be top three and most valuable player. LeBron James, embarrassing he has a one in seven years. Chris Paul. Everywhere he goes, they win, everywhere he leaves. Now Oklahoma City's no good again. And Steph Curry.

Steph Curry's always been the glue to the Warriors. He was the glue before Katie got there. He was the glue when Katie was there. And he's been the glue since he left. But you start looking around this league. Anthony Davis is great. Lakers are 11 and 4 when he doesn't play. And you could say, well, they wouldn't win a tie.

without him. Right now, this team constituted as it is, I think they'd get to the title game. I'm not sure if they'd win it. They'd get there. This league, people confuse gifted and long and talented and spectacular

with valuable. Valuable is you leave the team or you leave your family and it becomes an unglued, untethered mess. That's never been the with AD. It's never been the case with KD. It's never been the case with Kauai. It's always the case

with Chris Paul. Have we talked about Blake Griffin? Have we talked about him one time, once, since Chris Paul left Blake Griffin. I mean, it's like milk carton. It's anonymous. He's like a prank phone call. It's anonymous. Where is Blake Griffin? They don't even talk about him with a Pistons. So it's interesting. Lakers, again, win last night without AD. Nobody's disputing his talent. Value? I'd argue it all day. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific on Fox Sports Radio, FS1, and the IHeart Radio app. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal, but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential.

Either way, the podcast, Superhuman, documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the I-Hard radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A win is a win. A win is a win. Yep, that's me, Cliver Taylor the 4th.

You might have seen the skits, the reactions, my journey from basketball. basketball to college football or my career in sports media. Well, somewhere along the way, this platform became bigger than I ever imagined. And now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfiltered conversations with some of your favorite athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. One week, I'll take you behind the scenes of the biggest moments in sports and entertainment, and the next we'll talk about life, mental health, purpose, and even music.

The Clifford Show isn't just a podcast. It's a space for honest conversations, stories that don't always get told, and for people who are chasing something bigger. So, if you've ever supported me or you're just chasing down a dream, this is right where you need to be. Listen to The Clifford Show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok.

Hey, I'm Jared Adano. You might know me as that loud guy who yells out, help on the internet. Help! Somebody! Please! But there's so much more to me than me. I'm an actor. I'm a comedian, and recently I've become quite the helper myself.

And on my new podcast, Hope from a Hypocrite, I'll be changing lives, helping people in need with my sage advice and thoughtful solutions. Sike, I'm a comedian. I'm not qualified to give good advice. Join me and my comedian friends as we riff, rant, recommend some of the most legally dubious advice known to man. If I'm calling you, even if you're on, On your phone, let it ring twice.

One ring is too scary. Cream of chicken suit. Hey, cream a chicken suit. This is Help from a Hypocrite, the worst advice from the dumbest people you know. Listen to Help from Hypocrite as part of the MyCultura Podcast Network available on the IHart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Will Ferrell's Big Money Players and IHeart Podcasts presents soccer moms. So I'm Leanne. Yeah.

This is my best friend, Janet. Hey. And we have. joined at the hips since high school. Absolutely. Now a redacted amount of years later, we're still joined at the hip.

Just a little bit bigger hips, wider. This is a podcast. We're recording it as we tailgate our youth soccer games in the back of my Honda Odyssey with all the snacks and drink. Sidebar.

Why did you get hard seltzer instead of beer? They had a bogo. Well, then you got it. Do you want a white color or something here? Just take it. Oh, what are y'all doing? Microphones? Are you making a rap album?

Oh, I would... Come on. Can you imagine? I would buy it. Cut through the defense like a hot knife through sponge cake. That sounds delicious. Oh, you're lucky I'm not a drug addict. You're lucky I'm not an alcoholic.

You're lucky I'm not a killer. I love this team and I'm really trying to be a figure in their lives that they can rely on. Oh. Listen to soccer moms on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. So there's a story out today. the salary cap because of COVID is going to drop this year. It's not going up, which means it's going to make, for some interesting conversations in NFL front offices, you're going to have to get rid of some expensive good players.

The story today is Cleveland's going to probably have to move O'Dell Beckham. This is something we've been on for two years. We've been saying this for two years. He's brittle. He's expensive. He's a star. He doesn't fit in Cleveland. And Baker Mayfield was clearly, data proves it, no debate, better without him. This goes to a root argument that people struggle with.

The idea that more talent is always better for football teams is not true. There are individual talents with young quarterbacks where they sometimes feel pressured to throw the ball to him. We've been on this for two years. Look at the data. Move O'Dell. He's brittle. He'll get hurt again. Move him.

They didn't. Now they're stuck because he's missed 25 games over the past four years. why would you want it? Who wants a brittle, expensive wide receiver when college football, once again this year, is going to hand the NFL 25 to 28 receivers in the draft. They'll also be several undrafted wide receivers that'll make NFL teams, and receivers out of college are starring earlier in the NFL. They're making first and second year impacts.

But this is the reality with Cleveland, which is always struggled with low sports self-esteem. They care deeply about what you think of them and what the media thinks of them. If I do any Cleveland rant, it always gets huge hits. Why? Because they care. I can rip successful sports teams. Nobody cares.

Inner scoreboard, outer scoreboard. A lot of guys say they're confident, outer scoreboard, they're very insecure. Inner scoreboard people don't have to tell you how great they are. Brown fans are paralyzed by what people think. So they didn't want to move off Odell Beckham. because they wanted to prove to everybody, stars can work in Cleveland. We can bring stars.

They can work because everybody said, he's not going to work there. He's a London guy, a Paris guys, a New York guys, a Hollywood guys, got houses in New York and Hollywood. He don't want to be in Cleveland, and he didn't. But Cleveland was paralyzed by it. We're going to prove that Odell Beckham can work in Cleveland.

Now he's brittle and expensive, and you're not going to get much for him. You get something for him, but you could have gotten so much more. And the signs were obvious. Like last year, it's no longer disputable. Of the nine receivers, the nine top receivers

Baker Mayfield targeted last year, O'Dell Beckham was last in passerating and completion percentage from Baker. That means Baker's completion percentage was lower throwing to O'Dell than any other player, and his passer rating was lower than throwing to any other player.

It's not even disputable now. He forces the ball to O'Dell Beckham. But this is why it's really important in the NFL. to not worry about what other people think of you. This is something we've been banging on for two years. Odell wasn't a great fit. Baker was forcing the ball to him a little bit like Dak and Des.

Remember the Cowboys moved off him. Dak felt like he had to get the ball to Des. And Dak's numbers were fine without Des once he got Amari Cooper. So the story today, the Browns will have to move Odell. I don't think they'll get nearly the hall. They would have two years. ago, if you remember back in, it was 2019, actually, I think he played 15 or 16 games, had a thousand yards.

That was the time to move him. But they wanted to prove, stars work in Cleveland. We're going to prove. Don't worry about what people think. Pigs get fed, hogs get slaughtered. History of injuries. That was the day you moved him. Look at the data.

Move him. You could have gotten a first round pick for him. You'd be out of your mind to get a first round pickup for Odell Beckham now. You'd be out of your mind, expensive and hurt all the time. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific. The Houston Texans can get a bunch of draft picks for Deshawn Watson. And I think the time is hot. He's off a great season. You don't want to trade him, but you could get a ton for it.

But the Texans would screw it up anyway because they don't know what they're doing. It's a prime example with the New York Jets, a dysfunctional franchise. And I like Joe Douglas, the new GM, but Robert Sala is an unproven. and head coach. So they're going to bail on Sam Darnold. Will the Colts like Sam Darnold? Kyle Shanahan likes Sam Darnold. Smart people in the league like Sam Darnel. And the Colts will probably land him if not Wents or the Niners will. Somebody that's good is going to get Sam Darnold because good people like him. You're reading all the stories. And the Jets are going to bail on him and they're going to bring in a rookie quarterback from the Mountain West Conference

in a division with Bill Belichick, best defensive coach in football history. Sean McDermott, great defensive coach for Buffalo, and Brian Flores, the makings of an amazing defensive coach. Translation, Kyle Wilson is going to go 0 and 6th in division year one and year two. Or you could get that second pick if you're the Jets and you could get three first rounders for a couple seconds potentially, and you've already got because of the Jamal Adams trade multiple firsts. And you could stick with Sam Darnold, who's been in the league, who now understands the National Football League and supporting with 7, 8, 9 first and second round picks the next two years.

So I look at the Jets and I think they're going to eventually screw it up because they're the Jets. And they're going to, if you go look at what the Jets are doing, you know, I understand them moving off Sam Darnold. He hasn't won and Jams and coaches like their own quarterback. So they're going to move off Sam Darnold. But it's going to be a revolving door of losses because they're going to bring in a a rookie quarterback, and he's going to get his butt handed to him by Belichick, Brian Flores, and Sean McDermott.

Defensive coaches that are elite in this league eat rookies for lunch for two years. They eat them for lunch. And Kyle Wilson is going to have to come in and start Zach Wilson. And you don't even know if Robert Sulla can coach. You have no idea. So he's going into now the best coached division in the NFL in terms of defense. McDermott, Flores, and Belichick with a rookie quarterback. quarterback. Or you can stay with Darnold and get multiple first rounders your own from the Jamal

Adams trade and from that moving your number two pick. And just give them an all-strel. You could solve every issue by the second round this year. You really could. If you trade that pick and get a first and a second, you'd have three first. You'd have multiple seconds. You'd have, I think they have three-thirds. You'd solve all your problems by the third round. You wouldn't even have to hit on all your picks. You could hit on about four of them. get a corner, get a pass rusher, get a wide receiver, and one more offensive lineman. Four of your six picks, you're solved, and you have cap money. Give Sam some players.

But, I mean, you know, you give these teams all these picks. And like Houston, you're going to get a boatload of picks. They'll screw it up. So the Jets move off Darnold and get, oh, a guy, you've got this quarterback. You still got to be able to make it work. and the idea that I'm going to have a rookie quarterback in New York in that division against those coaches, Buffalo's a great football team. Belichick somehow last year won seven games and Miami's really close, really close to being

an excellent team. They're in the rebuilding process. They're one draft away. And you're going to bring in a kid from the Mountain West Conference. Good luck with that. One more herd? The herd streams 24 hours a day, seven days a week, within the iHeart radio app search her to listen live or on demand whenever you'd like imagine an olympics where doping

is not only legal but encouraged it's the enhanced games some call it grotesque others say it's unleashing human potential either way the podcast superhuman documented it all embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year within probably 10 days i'd put on 10 pounds i was having trouble stopping the muscle growth listen to superhuman on the IHard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what I'm saying.

Yep, that's me, Clifford Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, the reactions, my journey from basketball to college football, or my career in sports media. Well, somewhere along the way, this platform became bigger than I ever imagined. And now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfiltered conversations with some of your feelings. favorite athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. One week, I'll take you behind the scenes of the biggest moments in sports and entertainment,

and the next we'll talk about life, mental health, purpose, and even music. The Clivert Show isn't just a podcast, it's a space for honest conversations, stories that don't always get told, and for people who are chasing something bigger. So, if you've ever supported me, or you're just chasing down a dream, this is right where you need to be. Listen to the Clifford show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. Hey, I'm Jared Adano. You might know me as that loud guy who yells out, help on the internet.

Help! Somebody! Please! But there's so much more to me than that. I'm an actor. I'm a comedian. And recently, I've become quite the helper myself. And on my new podcast, Hope from a Hypocrite, I'll be changing lives. helping people in need with my sage advice and thoughtful solutions. Sike, I'm a comedian. I'm not qualified to give good advice.

Join me and my comedian friends as we riff, rant, recommend some of the most legally dubious advice known to man. If I'm calling you, even if you're on your phone, let it ring twice. One ring is too scary. Oh, cream of chicken suit. Hey, cream, cream a chicken suit. This is help from a hypocrite.

The worst advice. from the dumbest people you know. Listen to Help from Hypocrite as part of the Mike Coulthura Podcast Network available on the IHart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. What's up, fam? It's Isaiah Thomas. And I'm C.J. Toledano, and our podcast Point Game is about defining the odds. Like LeBron heading into the playoffs without Luca and Austin Reed.

And finding ways to win no matter what. He's the smartest player to ever play the game. His IQ is at a level that we've never seen before. And he knows without Luca and Austin Reed. I got to manipulate the game. We get a player's perspective on the challenges of the playoffs. I think Joker's going to be exhausted this series because when they don't have Rudy in the lineup,

he has to really guard guys like Nasree. He has to guard Julius Randall. And then he has to give us everything he gives us on the night-to-night bases on offense. And when IT's friends stop by, like Quentin Richardson, we dive into some playoff history too. Steve Nash would get that thing. That man, hell get the flying.

He run up the court, licking his fingers, why he got the ball like, after you go through a training camp with that, IZAD, you figure it out real quick. Get your ass up and down the court, and you're going to get the ball. So listen to Point Game on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Well, Antoine Walker won a title with the Heat, played eight years in Boston, 12 years overall. He was a great score, an NBA champ, and a first-round pick and a three-time All-Star, and he lives in one of my favorite cities in America, Chicago. He is now joining us live. All right, we've got a couple of things to bat around here. Let's start with this.

I set this earlier today in my opening rant. There are talented players, and then there are guys that are talented and valuable. Like Chris Paul is valuable. He leaves, teams get worse. He arrives, everybody gets better. I know nobody likes him, and he's difficult, but he's really valuable. Then there's guys like Janus. I know he's talented.

But Antoine, I'm over it. He's a bad late game player. They can't come from behind. Where do you land right now on Janus in Milwaukee? Janice is a guy, and I agree with you to a certain degree, is that it's tough to coach him because he's a two-time MVP, and I don't want to take anything away from that. He's earned that award, and he's done a great job

of the last four or five years of developing his game. But if he wants to be a champion, he has to get a post-up game. he has to get a mid-range game. I'm not necessarily concerned with the three-point shooting, maybe lessen your value and maybe take only a couple of game, and then the Frito shooting. I mean, he's shooting 64% right now.

So that means that he cannot be trusted late in games. I think the Miami Heat put the blueprint out on him, how you're going to be able to guard him, and now teams are taking that in full advantage. If he's not in the open floor, it's very hard for Yonis to score, and he has to figure that out. So everybody was like, oh, the bugs, he needs to leave the bugs.

He needs to go other places. He needs to do this and do that. They need to add this piece. Unfortunately, their problem was with their own personal superstar. He has to get better. His offensive skill level has to get up if he wants to compete with the Kevin Durant, with the LeBron James of the world, if he wants to be in the championship contention. If not, they will continue to get bounced in the playoffs because of his lack of offensive performance.

He has to get better. And I know it's tough because he's a two-time MVP, and what coach is going to step in and tell him that he has to get better. Yeah, no. Your point, though, LeBron is always tinkering with his game to get better. It looks like Janice is working on the stuff he wants to work on, but not elevating his game. Now, speaking of Brooklyn, listen, we all know it's a tremendous offensive team.

I still don't think you can play. I think Katie and James Hardin could win a title if they were better defensively on the other spaces. What do you do with three great offensive players? I mean, I watch them when they play. They're terrible defensively, Antoine. Yeah, it's unfortunate because they're so talented offensively. This is the first time in NBA history that we're seeing three guys that do not really need each other.

All three these guys can score the basketball, can do amazing things in the offensive end. But when you want to win a championship, Colleen, you got to make sacrifices. When I played for the Miami Heat, I was in the problem in my career. when I came in. Pat Rowley told me I need to make a sacrifice. I couldn't be a 20 and 10 guy no more. I have to do other things on the floor. The team was built around Shack and D. Wade. These guys, somebody is going to have to make a commitment on the defensive end. I think Kevin Durant is very capable of doing that. We've seen him be a very good two-way player. James Harden has the body and the strength to be a good player. We've seen him make some defensive

plays from time to time. But that's the question mark is Kyrie Irvin. Carrier has never made a commitment to the defensive end, and he hurts you because the point guard is the toughest position in the NBA. Every night you're going against tough point guard. So I don't know if they have that, and they don't have the necessary role players besides DeAndre Jordan, who's kind of had a defensive mentality on that team. So they're going to struggle at times, but I don't know if teams can get to 1.30. I don't know how many NBA teams in the seven-game series can get to 1-30. And then you got moments like last night where any one of those guys can get you 40,

and that's very difficult to beat. Yeah. You know, it's interesting. This past week I was home, and I was watching Boston lose to Washington, and the internet exploded, and people were banging on Brad Stevens. And my takeaway was watching that game. Have we overvalued the Celtics talent? Now, I like Jason Tatum.

I think he's really a spectacular talent. But I look at the rest of that team, and I think it's a lot of guys. And I think to myself, nothing against Danny Aange, but I don't see a lot of difference maker players. Are the Celtics just a good team because they just have mostly good players? They are a good team. I don't believe they're a championship team, especially now in the Eastern conference where you've got James Harden that's added to the Brooklyn Nets, and that's going to be very difficult for the next couple years to get past them. But you've got to start from the top. I think Kimball Walker is not the same guy because of injury.

I think he's there down playing his knee. He hasn't really recovered. You saw that in the bubble when he tried to come back. And even this season, he's not the same guy. I think it's something really wrong with his knee. I do like Jalen Brown and Jason Taylor long term to be your two wings. They seem like they worked very well together. What they dropped the ball a little bit is that they didn't get nothing for Gordon Haywood.

I think if Gordon was going to go somewhere, you should have been able to get some type of big. I think you got a Dwight Howard that was out there. So you got to get a serviceable big that's going to be defensive minded for them. Now, granted, Mark is smart is not playing right now. Probably the heart and soul of this team. The one guy who can, you know, guard four positions and, you know, he's the leader vocally on this team.

So when he comes back, they'll be a little bit better. But when you talk about, I don't think they're better than Philly. I don't believe they're actually. I don't think they're better than the Milwaukee Bucks, even with the way Janice is playing, and I know they're not battling Brooklyn. So those, they're still a ways away from getting over that. And be honest with you call,

I don't know Brad Stevens is the coach. I mean, he's, honestly, he's done a terrific job. He's won a ton of games. But he has to get over there up either. You know, so you got to put that out there too. Sometimes, you know, we blame the player sometimes. You got to look at the total situation there. So they're going to continue to win games

because they got two all-star wings. What are you talking about getting to the championship level? I don't think they're there yet. I only got two minutes left, Anton, but I want to ask you this. Anthony Davis, forget the injury, was not having a very good year for him offensively. And we were expecting more. Is it fair to say that he's a talented guy, but he's never a one? He's just the best two in NBA history.

He doesn't have a one mentality. This was going to be the year. and he's played poorly offensively. Maybe that's just who he is. No, I think the 71 days, the short season, he didn't understand it, probably partied a little bit too long, didn't come in and probably the best shape possible. When we first saw him go to Lakers,

he was spending a lot of time with LeBron. You saw a lot of videos, a lot of Instagrams, of them being in the wait room together, and I'm not saying, I don't have the inside to say that they're not doing that. But I felt like that just watching him, that he was not the same guy that we saw finish off in the bubble last year and play great in the playoffs. And to be great and to be one of the elite players in this league,

every year you've got to add a little sum. You got to continue to get better. That's why the Kevin Durantz, the Steph Currys, the LeBron James, the James Harden, those guys do it for five, six, seven, eight years at a time because they continue to add things to the game. And right now we're not seeing that. But also you got to remember this too about Anthony Davis. He's always been injury prone, always.

And I think that's the reason why he signed a, five-year deal because he knows he gets hurt a lot. Yeah. And he doesn't want to put that, he doesn't want to put a two-year deal or a three-year deal on his body. So his pain tolerance is probably not very high. So LeBron James done a good job last year of keeping him and keeping them focus on playing and not missing a lot of games, but they're going to miss him.

And now, and then you're going to have to wait until he gets back into basketball shape to make a real run. So him being out really hurts the Lakers as far as long term because you've got to get him right if LeBron wants to win another title. Yeah, great stuff today, Antoine. Twelve years in the NBA, a three-time All-Star. I'm not sure if I've had you on before, but you make a lot of really interesting points. And a Chicago guy living in the city.

Yes, sir. Hopefully they'll, I think they've opened up restaurants a little bit in Chicago. Once this cold spell is gone, you can go out and go to Chicago cut and stake 48 and live it up a little. I know. You come to Chicago. Look me up now. Look me up. I'm right here.

I will. I promise I will. Great, great talking to you, man. Appreciate it. Another podcast from some SNL, late-night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and Friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer, Streeter Seidel, help an a cappella band with their between songs banter.

Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and Friends on the I-Heart Radio app. or wherever you get your podcasts. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque.

Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's Superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the I-Hard radio app. Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

What's up, fam? It's Isaiah Thomas. And I'm C.J. Toledano. It's our favorite time of the year on our podcast, Point Game, the playoffs. We're digging into the biggest surprises of the season. And I'm looking back on some of my greatest playoff moments. If we didn't talk ever again, I was harmed. You just understood. That's how personal it got.

Wow. Then after that Game 7, Marquis keep coming to him. He's like, you know I love you, dog. You know, it's all love. This was just playoffs. This was just basketball. So listen to Point Game on the I Heart Radio app. Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

Hey, I'm Deanna Maria Riva, and on my new podcast, How Hard Can It Be? I call on my Gen X squad from Ohio to Hollywood as we navigate Midlife's most fantastic BS. Unfiltered conversations from night sweats to fupas to scheduling sex. Wait, what sex? Is it just me or does every woman my age want to look at Pinterest instead of having sex sometimes? They say we can't polish a turn, but we're sure going to try. So let's get blunt with laughs, tears, or tears of laugh. after. Listen to How Hard Can It Be with Diana Maria Riva on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.

This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed human.