The Herd with Colin Cowherd - 06/30/2021 - Best of The Herd

Episode Date: June 30, 2021

After Giannis Antetokounmpo goes down with an injury, Colin explains why all the injured super stars in the NBA hasn’t actually affected the outcomes in the NBA playoffs. He addresses the criticism Paul George has faced for his playoff performances and why he should actually be accepting them as a compliment. He also believes the Dallas Cowboys are already destined to disappoint in the 2021 NFL season. Plus, NBA veteran Quentin Richardson joins the show to preview the Suns vs Clippers series and shares some great stories about poorly run NBA teams.   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. 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, my basketball and college football journey, or my career in sports media. Well, now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfilled conversations with athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. So let's get to it.

Listen to The Clifford show on the IHard 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. On the Look Back at it podcast. For 1979, that was a big moment for me. 84 is big to me. I'm Sam J. And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick a year, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived it.

With our friends, fellow comedians, and favorite authors. Like Mark Lamont Hill on the 80s. 84 was a wild. I mean, it was a wild year. I don't think there's a more important year for black people. Listen to look back at it 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 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 iHeartRadio app by searching Heard.

This is the best of the herd with Colin Cowher on Fox Sports Radio. Oh, here we go on a Wednesday. Rolling, baby, a lot of stuff to talk about live in L.A. It's called The Herd, wherever you may be, and however you may be listening. IHeart Radio, Fox Sports Radio, and FS1. The Herd brought to you by Jersey Mike Subs. Be a sub above. It's Subday here on the show.

Joy Taylor, how are you? I'm doing great. What a wild, wild, MVP. postseason this is Ben. Well, everybody's talking about injuries. I was driving in this morning and everybody, every show, oh, these injuries are ruining everything. So I want to start with that.

Is that where you are at 40, 45 years old, you've earned it. 20s, blame your parents. Teens blame your parents. 30s blame your boss. 33 blame the government. We like to do that. But by 40, 45 years old, you're where you should be.

You've had too many opportunities, too many choices. I was watching something not long ago. Don Lemon was interviewing the great Morgan Freeman. Morgan Freeman grew up in a very, very small town, a very poor town. And Don Lemon said, you're a great story, but not everybody can do what you can do, Morgan. And Morgan Freeman said, bull blank, takes courage. The bus leaves. town every day. Get on it. I like that. Bus leaves town. I got on the bus. Joy got on the bus. We got on

the bus. Leaves town every day. It takes courage to get on that. And then it's your life. Everybody blames injuries. Tell me how the playoffs are different today with injuries. Well, I mean, Janus got hurt. The Bucks had scored 38 points at half when Janus was healthy. Well, Colin, the sons, well, they were the number two seed in the West. They played together, so they have this great chemistry. Well, there's not a surprise there. Well, what about the Clippers, Kauai Leonard's injury? Well, time out.

Kauai Lennards, in and out of the lineup for everybody he plays for. And by the way, even when Kauai played and Paul George played this year, what were they bad at? The end of games. This is who the Clippers are. They fall behind. They're inconsistent. Kauai is hurt. Well, what about the Utah Jazz in the West?

one seed. So what? Number one seed doesn't mean you're the best team. Donovan Mitchell was hurt and still played. He was still their best player. And oh, by the way, Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert last two all-stars picked. Meaning of all the all-stars, their lower-end all-stars in the eyes of all-stars. Plus, they can't defend the wing. Good God, Terrence, man ate them alive. Joy and I have been saying this for years. They can't defend the wing. So they'll never beat the LeBrons or the Paul George or the Kauais. We knew that with Utah. That's They can't defend the wing, and in the West, you can't defend the wing. You're done.

You're not going to win the conference championship. Well, what about the Lakers? Well, what about him? Anthony Davis came into the season out of shape. He tried to play his way into shape, and he got hurt, which, you know, it's Anthony Davis. He's always hurt. Are you going to tell me that's a condensed season? He's the one that was out of shape.

Not everybody came in out of shape. AD did, and LeBron's getting old. He gets hurt more. The West is what the West should be. The Sun's attention. team that played all their best players played almost all the games. That's why their chemistry is so great. That's why they're so great late in games.

And the Clippers, well, they're in the conference finals, with or without Kauai. And he's always missing. Well, let's go to the east now. Oh, oh, oh, oh, I forgot Denver. Jamal Murray's injury. All right, it's an injury. They were swept by Phoenix. You're going to tell me if they had Jamal Murray, they would have won.

They couldn't win a game without Jamal Murray. Since when has Denny's. Denver roared into the finals in any year. So let's go to the east. Well, well, Joel Ambide got hurt. No, the Sixers were exactly what they've been for three years. Simmons can't shoot. They're not good at the end of games because of that.

And Ambide has some partial injury. That's their story for the last four years. All right, what about the Celtics? Jalen Brown's injury. They were a seven seed all year long. All year long. They were inconsistent. There was topics on their show regularly.

Is Brad Stevens going to get fired? That was a topic all year. What about the Knicks? They didn't have any injuries. What about the heat? They weren't that good. That's not an injury thing. That's not that good thing.

The number one team in the playoffs that has the condensed schedule, injuries are really the key, is Brooklyn. Oh, wait. Kyrie and Kevin Durant's legacies are, they're hurt a lot. So you're going to blame that on the condensed schedule. What about James Harden? Okay, I'm going to be nice here, but he came into the season fat. Because he wanted out of Houston.

He didn't work out. And so he came into the season, not ready to perform. And like AD, had to play himself into shape. And that's just a, that's hard. And so for the first time in his career, he usually comes into seasons in great shape. He came in completely out of shape. You went to Twitter. You saw the images.

and he tried to play himself into shape. Good luck playing yourself into shape in the NBA. That would be like not training for a marathon, running it, and then pulling a hamstring in Mile 19 and going, it's the marathon's fault. Got to train for that puppy. So tell me all the injuries that are changing things. The sons, the clippers, and the bucks,

are not those surprise here? Brooklyn, Hardin tried to play himself into shape. Lakers, AD, tried to play himself into shape. everybody looks at Atlanta and goes, well, I mean, let's be honest. Without injuries, Atlanta wouldn't be here. But let's be honest about Atlanta. The minute Nate McMillan took that job, they went 27 and 11 in the regular season. They were good.

And then they got to face the Knicks in the first round. Well, according to the odds makers, they were favored. And then they faced the Sixers in the next round. That wasn't injuries. The Sixers led those games late. What determined the outcome of those games was Ben Simmons couldn't hit a free throw. They couldn't have them on the floor. The Sixers had that series one.

They couldn't hit free throws. That's not about injuries. It's about you couldn't have your point guard on the floor. Ben Simmons would not shoot in the second half. That's not about injuries. Stop using excuses. Stop being a victim. Everybody's where they should be.

By the way, we've had enough injuries to stars. You could make the argument. The playing field, even everybody's got somebody hurt. except Phoenix. The bus leaves town every day. At 45, stop blaming mom and dad, the government,

your boss, you're where you should be, just like all these NBA teams. So I like Paul George. I ran into him once, and he was very complimentary of this show. Of course, it is rather good.

Anyway, he was saying this week, Paul George was, that he is the most criticized star in the NBA, and he does get a lot of criticism. I don't think there's any question about that. And Charles Barkley did not want to hear it.

These dudes, man. What? What do you mean? Every great player gets criticized. Yes. I don't hear that bull. Crap. Every great player, I have gotten criticized because I didn't win a championship.

Michael Jordan, before he won the championship, yeah, he can't win. Shaq, Kobe, everybody's gotten criticized. This is false narrative. I hear these jackasses on television talking about somebody gets scrutinized more than other people. Give me a freaking break. Paul George is a terrific player, but that goes with being a terrific player. And these other guys talk about he gets treated unfairly. Give me a freaking break.

Well, he's not wrong. Criticism is actually a badge of honor. In my business, criticism equals popular. You have to watch somebody. to criticize them. I mean, Jeremy Grant's a good player. He plays for the awful pistons. He could use some criticism. Nobody knows who he is. Does he have a shoe deal? Jeremy Grant needs me to talk about him, skip to talk about him, Joy to talk about him for like four weeks. He'd probably get a shoe deal. The difference today with criticism, of course, it comes from so many

different angles. It used to be you had a roof and there'd be a little leak and you could just plug the leak. It was the local columnist. Sam Smith in Chicago. would criticize Jordan. And Jordan would be like, I'm not going to talk to him anymore, and he'd plug the leak. Now the roof has like 38 leaks. You stop one, there's another one. There's Twitter criticism. There's Instagram criticism.

There's Snapchat criticism. There's cable TV guys like me talking or joy talking criticism. There's the local columnist and the beat reporter criticism. There's sports talk radio. Michael Jordan wasn't really in an ear of sports talk radio. So fans are ripping you and you hear it drive into the arena. that's the difference. The roof has a lot more leaks now and you just can't plug them up.

So, yeah, it comes from a lot of different angles. Now, of course, there is resolution to this. Put the phone down and read. But there was a man, I didn't know him personally. He was a poet, a playwright in London. His name was Oscar Wild. And he was very good with words. And Oscar Wilde used to have a second.

the only thing worse than being talked about is not being talked about. Paul George has commercials and shoe deals and all that stuff and he's making money on social and all that stuff. And that's because he's relevant. Criticism is relevance. You watch these NBA playoff games. Chris Paul's on every third commercial. Chris Paul's been dogged by everybody. for seven years.

Y'all, you've been hammering Chris Paul nonstop for years. He's on every commercial. It's a badge of honor. If you're getting talked, Jeremy Grant's not getting talked about. He's a good player. Paul's a really good player.

He's talked about all the time. You're going to notice the guys getting talked about of this league have shoe deals or huge social media following. Look up Oscar Wild. He had it right. In London, years ago, the poet, had it right. 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. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what I'm saying. Yep, that's me, Clever 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 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. 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 IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Do you remember when Diana Ross double-tapped Little Kim's boobs at the VMAs? Or when Kanye said that George Bush didn't like black people. I know what you're thinking. What the hell does George Bush got to do a little camp?

Well, you can find out on the Look Back at it podcast. I'm Sam J. And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick a here, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived it. Including a recent episode with Mark Lamont Hill, waxing all about crack in the 80s. To be clear, 84 is big to me, not just because of crack.

I'm down to talk about crack on day, but just so you're all right. But just so y'all know. I mean, at this point, Mark, this is the second episode where we've discussed correct. So I'm starting to see that there's a through line. We also have AIDS on the table right now. Thank you finishing that sentence. Yes. I don't think there's a more important year for black people.

Really? Yeah. For me, it's one of the most important years for black people in American history. Listen to look back at it on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hardway with me, your host. and your favorite therapist, Keer Games. And in recognition of mental health awareness month,

I'm bringing over a decade of my own experience in the mental health field and conversations with so many incredible guests. I'm talking, Tripp Fontaine, Ryan Clark. Sometimes when we're in the pursuit of the thing, we get so wrapped up in the chase that we don't realize that we are in possession of the thing and we're still chasing it

and we don't know when we've done enough. Because people scoreboard watch. Life becomes about wins and losses. Steve Burns, Dustin Ross, because you find it important to be a good person while you hear on earth, or are you a good person because you're afraid? Because that's two different intentions, bro. Absolutely. And that's two different levels of trust.

I want you to just really be a good person. Join me, Kear Gaines, is we have real conversations about healing, growth, fatherhood, pressure, and purpose on my new podcast, learn the hard way. Open your free iHeartRadio app. Search Learn the Hardway and listen now. So I saw this story. You know, Dee Wade now is part owner of the Utah Jazz. Kind of a smart move by the organization.

Let's let Dee Wade come in here because, you know, there's always been this theory that, you know, a lot of stars don't like to play in Utah. And I've always kind of rolled my eyes at it. Utah's like gone zag of basketball. They've been good forever and they've been damn close to winning. If there's nobody, if there's no Michael Jordan, the Utah Jazz have two championships. They were, they gave Jordan fits.

I watched those series. You watch those series. Michael had some of his worst playoff games against Utah. Those games were wars. Those were battles. Without Michael, you got two of them. Don't kid yourself. Here's your thing.

Carl Malone-like playing there. Stockton did. Clarkson does. Donovan appears to. T. Bailey did. Brian Russell did. Jerry Sloan like coach in there. So is Quinn Snyder.

Coaching matters. Coaches like coach in there. players matter. There's stars like playing there. So when I hear like Donovan Mitchell may not be happy there, that's a rumor I think with time out. Don't tell me people don't like playing in Utah. You know where players don't like playing?

Cleveland. LeBron is from there and is like, get me out of here twice. Washington, D.C. When's the last time the Wizards were relevant? The 70s? I watched those series against the Sonics and Elvin Hayes and West, unselled and Phil Sheenier.

I mean, like, where are all the players going to Washington? How about New York? One playoff series wins since 2000. I keep hearing about all these guys that want to play in New York. Where are they? Julius Randall's a big get. All right. Here's something to remember.

Now, in pro sports, the way pro sports are built, they're trying to create, except baseball with no salary cap. But NBA, NHL, NFL, they have salary caps. They're trying to keep it even. If you're good, you draft last in the first round, right? College sports are different. The better you are, the more you dominate recruiting. So college is built for dynasties, built for big brands.

There's no salary cap there, right? So just think of how hard it is to win. And Utah's been this close twice. No MJ, they got two titles, this close. So think in college sports how good Kansas basketball is. The guy who invented basketball is from Kansas. So they had a little head start on everybody else. He invented it James Naismith.

They had wilt. They have nothing but five, four and five star athletes. They have one of the best coaches, Bill Self in college basketball before him, Roy Williams. Those are two of the top five coaches last 20 years, arguably, right? 30 years, one title. One, Kansas. They invented the sport. One.

Texas football. When you think Texas, I think football. Texas has an unbelievable brand. You ever fly into Dallas and you get to 10,000 feet down to 5,000 feet and you're getting ready to go in to Dallas Fort Worth Airport? You ever do that at night and you see the high school football stadiums? Eight of them, they're all like 30,000 people. It's like no other state. States like that.

The state school in Texas. Texas football. 40 years. One title. And it was like a last play of the game thing with the USC. They came this close to losing it at the Rose Bowl. Kansas. Basketball.

Texas football. Two titles, 70 years combined. One sport invented their sport. The other one feels like they did. And that's college sports. where dynasties happen. Utah's well-run, exceptionally well-run. For years, it was exceptionally well-owned.

Great coaches, great scouting, great players. I want to hear about, nobody really wants to play in Utah. Nobody wants to play in Cleveland. LeBron asked Chris Bosch, would you come here? Bosch is like, I'm not coming. Can you imagine that LeBron in his prime? You pick the phone up, you're Chris Bosch. You're playing in Canada.

Ring, hello, it's Chris Bosch. It's LeBron James, the world's greatest basketball player. Would you like to come play with me? Love to. Where? Cleveland. Click. Nobody wants to play in Cleveland.

I want to hear about Utah. The coaches like it. Their stars like it. By the way, I kept hearing Rudy Gobert, Donovan Mitchell don't get along. I don't know. They were number one seed. Seemed to get along fine to me. Donovan Mitchell's fine.

Utah's fine. They're Gonzaga. You can't be that well run for 100 years or however long. Gonzaga's been well run in Utah. They'll break through. But it's sort of like when Michael ran the league, Houston didn't do anything until Michael played baseball for a couple of years. Then Houston did stuff.

If you're well run, you're smart in life, if you make good decisions, you'll break through. Just be patient. It's all masonry, man. Just lay the bricks one after one. You'll break through. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific. Hey, what's up everybody?

It's me, three-time Pro Bowl of LaVore Arrington, and I couldn't be more excited to announce a new podcast called Up On Game. What is Up on Game, you ask? Along with my fellow Pro Bowler, T.J. Hushmanzada and Super Bowl champion. Yep, that's right. Plexico Burris. You can only name a show with that type of talent on it. Up on Game.

We're going to be sharing our real life experiences loaded with teachable moments. Listen to Up on Game with me, LaVar Arrington, T.J. Hushman Zada and Plexico Burris on the. the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast from. 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 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 Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok.

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 IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Do you remember when Diana Ross double-tapped Little Kim's boobs at the VMAs? Or when Kanye said that George Bush didn't like black people. I know what you're thinking. What the hell does George Bush got to do with Little Kim? Well, you can find out on the Look Back at it podcast. I'm Sam J. And I'm Alex English.

episode, we pick it here, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived it. Including a recent episode with Mark Lamont Hill, waxing all about crack in the 80s. To be clear, 84 is big to me, not just because of crack. I'm down to talk about crack on day, but just so y'all know. I mean, at this point, Mark, this is the second episode where we've discussed crack, so I'm starting to see that there's a through line. We also have AIDS on the table right now, so. They're finishing that sentence.

Yes. I don't think there's a more important year for black people. Really? Yeah. For me, it's one of the most important years for black people in American history. Listen to look back at it on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hard Way with me, your host, and your favorite therapist, Kear Games. And in recognition of mental health awareness month, I'm bringing over a decade of my own experience in the mental health field and conversations with so many incredible guests.

I'm talking. Trip Fontaine, Ryan Clark. Sometimes when we're in the pursuit of the thing, we get so wrapped up in the chase that we don't realize that we are in possession of the thing. And we're still chasing it. And we don't know when we've done enough. Because people scoreboard watch. Life becomes about wins and losses. Steve Burns, Dustin Ross, because you find it important to be a good person while you

hear on earth. Are you a good person because you're afraid? Because that's two different intentions, bro. Absolutely. And that's two different levels of trust. I want you to just really be a good person. Join me, Kear Gaines, is we have real conversations about healing, growth, fatherhood, pressure, and purpose on my new podcast, Learn the Hard Way. Open your free iHeartRadio app.

Search Learn the Hardway and listen now. Dak Prescott was talking yesterday. He had an interview in Dallas, and he was laying out the reasons he thought they would be a more complimentary football team. And the quote he said was, this is going. going to be a very, very special year for us. We're very excited, put everything we've worked hard together, all stages, all phases, going to be a very, very special year for us and the Cowboy fans. Now, just for the record, Dallas's over under is nine and a half, and the under is favored minus 105 to minus 105. So the sharps, as they call them in Vegas, think Dallas is going to win nine games,

10. That is in the worst division in football. So let's just start there. But now I've never had a problem talking about the Dallas Cowboys, even when they're not great because they're a massive brand and they're usually entertaining from Jerry Jones down. They're entertaining. And we all know in the business we're in big brand sell, right? There's a reason guys like me talk football over hockey, just the reality of it. But we also have to be honest about it that Dallas and it's their fault has fundamentally eliminated themselves from the Super Bowl. Because the one thing you can't do in any salary cap sport, they do a lot. They pay great money to good players.

That is the killer. That is the championship popper. That is the season ender in every salary cap sport. Great money to good players. give an example. Kansas City is a Super Bowl contender. Let's look at their six biggest contracts. Patrick Mahomes, A plus. Frank Clark, B. Joe Tuni, A. One of the best guards in football. Chris Jones, A, Travis Kelsey A plus, Tyreek Hill, A. Okay, five of six, A. Let's look at the Seattle Seahawks. They're in Super Bowl contention. Russell Wilson, biggest contract, A plus. Tyler Lockett, solid B,

B plus. Bobby Wagner A plus. Dwayne Brown. Jamal Adams A. Gabe Jackson's a B. Never made a Pro Bowl. But he was a, he'll be a massive upgrade for them. So he's a good B. Four out of six are eight. Look at the Cowboys. Six biggest contracts. Deck Prescott, kind of a B plus. DeMarcus Lawrence. He's a B. Amari Cooper, good B plus. Tyron Smith was an A plus. Now he's just a question mark. Zique was an A plus. Now he's more a B to a B plus. He's declined every year. Zach Martin wasn't a plus. A minus B plus. A lot of questions. Getting older. You cannot win Super Bowls in salary cap football world we live in paying great money to good players. In fact, even if I made DAC an A minus and I don't classify him as that,

it still leaves you with way too many questions and not enough answers and way too many Bs and not enough A's. And so, I mean, there's a reason for the last like 26 years that at the end of seasons, we always have the same opinion on Dallas. Okay, that's kind of good. That kind of entertaining, kind of fun, but they don't end well. They did it to themselves. This isn't bad luck. For whatever reasons, they tend to pay early. They're the opposite of the Patriots. The Patriots pay big money rarely and they wait to the last second. Dallas tends to pay big money often and they often pay it early. And that's the reality of it.

So it's not, Dallas can be entertaining, but the sharps in Vegas have them at nine and a half and they're betting the under. And that's in the worst division in football. So you just can't do that. You look at the Niners, you look at all the Super Bowl teams. They pay great money rarely to their great players.

Kansas City, Frank Clark's more of a B, but they needed him. Seattle paid money to Gabe Jackson, but they desperately needed him. It's not like the Cowboys needed another linebacker, right? So you put yourself in that spot. One more herd? The herd streams 24 hours a day, seven days a week within the IHeart radio app. Search Hurd to listen live or on demand whenever you'd like. Quentin Richardson is a co-host of a podcast very popular with Darius Miles called Knuckleheads.

He played in the NBA for 13 years, was a three-point champ, a former director of player development for the Detroit Pistons for several years. So the guy knows talent keeps his game and his name around basketball, and he is now joining us live. First of all, Quentin, it's great to have you on the show. Thanks for taking time. You're a busy dude. I appreciate it.

Thanks. Thank you for having me. Glad to be here. You bet. So let me talk about Atlanta. Atlanta is the one team in the playoffs. You know, they kind of surprise people. And people are like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.

but they are a young team. Nate McMillan took the job over. Well, they were 27 and 11 in the regular season when Nate took it over. And I know Nate. I grew up in Seattle. I'm old enough to remember him at North Carolina State. He's a very good defensive coach. So I don't look at Atlanta as a crazy story. I look at him as, well, they opened with the Knicks who can't shoot. And then Philadelphia had leads and couldn't hold him.

I don't think Atlanta, when you had context, is shocking. Do you, do you look at their roster as a former guy of player development and think, how the heck are they here? No, I don't look and say how are they here. I mean, I agree with you. Nate McMillan, once he took over this team, he fully put his personality and put his impact on this team, and they became a much better defensive team.

And the biggest impact I think he had was on Trey Young and the way that he taught him how to get his other players involved and how he could get his shots off at any point in the game. And I think we saw a change in his shot at things. attempt in just the type of shots he started to take and he became a better player before it. I want to do a totally separate, I want to talk more Clippers sons here because I do believe that's the finals. That looks like the final. We've seen this in baseball, Quentin, where the Yankees and Red Sox years ago played in the American League championship series and you're like,

those are the two best teams. The World Series doesn't matter. They'll both win the World Series. Years ago, I covered the Blazers, the Kobe Shack Lakers. They went seven games. Scotty Pippen And I felt that was the finals. Indiana, Rick Smith's, I didn't think matched up with either team. So I look at the Sons and Clippers, Quentin, and I think that feels like the finals to me. I thought the sons were really tight. And in your current, and they're young. Quentin, this is the biggest game for everybody on that roster except Jay Crowder.

Have you ever been on a team that was really good, but really young? And they faced old dudes in a big game and they shrink. because that's what it looked like happened to me for Phoenix. To ask you a question, no, when I was on a young team, we were, we were so young and just, I guess you would say, in experience, we didn't even know any better. We were running up and trying to get scrappy with everybody, but we weren't that good. We weren't in this scenario that Phoenix is in in a Western Conference, final scenario with a chance to go to the championship.

And I think, I think it's kind of imposing, but at the same time, I think, I think, even though Chris Paul has never been there, he's as good as it gets when it comes to guys who haven't been to the promised land and been to that championship. With all of his experience and everything that he brings to the tape, I think his impact and he has to really put his imprint on this game and make this a career-type moment game for him to close this out because I really fear for them if we had to go to a game seven.

Yeah. Let's talk about the Clippers. You know them well. You were drafted by the Clippers out of DePaul in Chicago, and you have a nice career with them. It's an interesting franchise. It's a weird franchise. There's some pressure on them, too.

This is the biggest moment. You know, the next two games are the biggest clipper games in the history of the franchise, and there's no Kauai Leonard. As a former NBA guy, do you trust Paul George in these spots? Is our criticism unfair to Paul? Do you trust him the next two nights or next two games? The criticism, I believe, is a little bit unfair. I mean, I think when you're a superstar and you're in the position he's in,

he's being a max contract guy, he's a superstar, all-star in this league. He's playing in Los Angeles, California, and one of the biggest markets. I think this is part for the course, some of the criticism that he gives. But I do think some of the stuff goes too far. The pandemic P or what I mean, listen, this is one of the most talented players in our game today. whatever you want to call it. You know, that's a different opinions. But I mean, he's a superstar. He was an all-star this year. I mean,

I don't think that he deserves some of the little jabs and stuff. I mean, if he doesn't play well, that's fine. We can report that he didn't play well, and that's the truth. And we can talk about that. But I will fall short of trying to call him names and do all of this other stuff that kind of goes on. I don't think he deserves that.

And I do feel that you know, this obviously are the biggest two games in the clip of history in these next couple nights. And I absolutely trust. him. Look what he's done since Kauai has went down. He's averaged 30 plus and he's been a, you know, an unquestioned leader of this team. So I mean, I absolutely trust PG. Everybody's saying Adam Silver made a mistake and he rushed the season back. Now, Adam Silver is saying, listen, we had a pandemic. If we didn't play 70 games, the owners would have too much power

over the players. And I didn't want to put my players in that situation. Because Adam Silver has to balance the players and the owners. The owners are his boss. And so, like, to me, I was locked on last night on social media, Adam Silver's getting crushed. And my thing is, well, some of these injuries could be condensed, but Anthony Davis, Kyrie, those guys get hurt a lot. Like, can we blame?

I mean, as a former player, would you have been upset with a very short off season or would you have understood? Sometimes it's not perfect if you want to maintain some power against the guys who own all the teams. I think it goes a little both ways. If I'm a player, you know, you have to understand. You have to understand you have to do a little bit of both. You absolutely would be upset at the shortened, you know, shorten time for you to recover or rehab. And, you know, just to have your break from playing ball, you would be upset a little bit about that.

But when they bring in the business decisions that they had to be made, for both sides, for the players, the owners, and everybody involved, for people like you and me to talk about the NBA. That part of it, I think, is the part that people are overlooking that the players had to agree with the owners and Adam Silver on the season and on the structure of the season when it was starting all of that. Otherwise, everyone would have lost out on money there. So I think that's the part that kind of gets thrown to the wayside that,

hey, the players also had to agree with this and to make sure that the money was going to be where it was going to be because if they didn't do it when it was going when it had to be done it was going to be a significant hit to the money and I think all of the players agreed that it was the best thing to do was the move forward even though it was going to be some some injuries and stuff but I mean that come on the Kyriek Irvin injury landed on somebody's foot you can't change that I don't care if it was a compacted series of season or whatever the thing with Janus landed and hyper-extending his knee that could happen in a regular season with 82 games with all the rest in the world.

Some of these injuries are going to happen. It's sports. It's basketball. Now, I don't know as far as the, you know, the hardened, the growing or the AD, but like you said, these guys have suffered injuries throughout their careers. It's not like this was the first time. So it's just a, it's a tough thing to kind of really make a beat, be accurate about because you don't know.

You know, Quentin, it's interesting. You eventually left the Clippers. And one of the places I've always defended players where, when I got out of college, I could kind of select where I wanted to work. You guys get drafted by teams and you had a lousy owner and a dysfunctional, you were a great player for a dysfunctional team. In a way, you're kind of trapped. But you were in a big market and people knew who you were and you eventually made a lot of money.

Damien Lillard has a well-owned team, well-run team. But geographically, they can't get a second star. In a weird way, he's kind of trapped. So in different areas, you just had dysfunction. He didn't have dysfunction, but Dame's one of the great players in the league, and he's sitting there thinking, man, we got to get, I need more dudes. If you were Dame today, if you were his agent, you know he's going to have a big market, Quentin.

He's like, everybody wants to him, except maybe the Warriors. What would you tell him as his agent? Be loyal, stay there, trust the process there, or move on and go with a start. You're his agent right now. What do you tell him? me knowing what I know and being a former player man as his agent or whoever his friend and his confidant I would say do what you think is going to make you happy at the end of the day that's all that matters it doesn't I mean it doesn't matter what what his fans want him to do it doesn't matter what

what anybody wants to do because at the end of the day I know as being a former player once whatever decision he makes if he if he chooses to leave if he chooses to go if he He chooses to stay in Portland, whatever decision he makes, Damien Liller is the one who has to walk that walk. And for me being a player, I never wanted to make decisions based on what somebody else told me to do because I knew that I had to live with it. I had to go to sleep at night when nobody else is there. I got to lay my head down on the pillow and live with that decision I made.

So for me, I just tell Dane, whatever is in his heart, whatever he wants to do and whatever he knows and believes is going to make him happy, that's what he should do, regardless of what anybody else thinks. You know, Quentin, I have a saying I tell my family all the time, don't try to get happier than happy. There's no perfect life for anybody, right? I like that. I like that.

Yeah, if you're happy, you won, right? And I'm looking at your career, Clippers, Nick, Suns, Heat Magic. Any of those spots where you were completely happy? Or in all of them, was there something that drove you nuts? I would say I was happy in every scenario, but I would say absolutely if somebody forced me to, I could pick something that I didn't like. That's why I love that statement. You just said, I think that's absolutely true. Nothing is going to ever be perfect.

But, you know, you would be surprised sometimes when you go looking on the other side of the fence and the grass is greener and it's really not. So, I mean, Dane, like you said, Dame has a great, great scenario. The only thing he hasn't been able to do is actually win, win big as far as a team. situation and win a championship. And that's not totally out of reach. I think they can do things to kind of retool there. But at the end of the day, like you say, I can't think the dame is unhappy in life. He has a lot of great things to be happy about.

I mean, he hasn't won the championship and he hasn't gone as deep as he want to go. But I mean, in life, he's extremely a huge winner from my perspective. By the way, Quentin, I want to go old school. The Clippers are well run now. But when you played there, it was bad. I mean, it was bad. I mean, just let's be honest. Let's be real here.

It was bad, right? It was dysfunctional. You got to give me at least one story because you were, you had the Lakers who, you know, like they take their team to Hawaii for training camp and they got the, and you were a clip. Did you ever think to yourself, damn, man, this, there's got to be a, there's a moment that you knew. Can't we do anything right? I'll tell you maybe the first time because you got to put things in perspective. When we first get to the Clippers, Darius is 18, I'm 19, Kion's 19, Corey's 20, L.O.'s 20.

It's like, we're the young kids, so we fresh out of college and everything. So, you know, I think, you know, Duke and Missouri had great facilities in college. But DePaul, you know, now they do. But when I was there, it wasn't that great. So when I looked at it, it was like we were at Southwest Junior College. This is in South Central L.A. like this is proverbially like the hood. Now we're from the hood.

We don't, you know, we're cool with it. But it was like, I think the first time we really, it really hit us was when we went on the road and we practiced in the Dallas Mavericks practice facility. And we was looking around like, yo, like they got, they got locked. They got things like literally, like I tell no lies when I say, we couldn't take a shower at our practice facility

in Southwest Junior College. It was like the old, like the super old 80, type movies where they got the big, big joint in the middle of the shower and it's got the little spouse to go all the way around the circuit. And none of the spouse worked. Some of them busted off and it would just be like, literally, we would get out of practice from whatever, whether it's training camp practice going hard. We would put towels over our seats.

You know, you've got some decent cars now. We've got some, we're putting towels over our seats driving home and then taking showers when we get home. So we didn't realize that. So we went on the road and really got this practice and somebody else's facility. We was like, this is crazy. Like this is crazy Like we really had

And it was love though I mean you know That's what you couldn't tell us that we weren't You know we didn't know any better So we would get out of practice And had to drive through the little juco campus And all the kids be like yo Hitting on the hood looking at you like

What's up? What's up? And it's like this is what we was doing Every day at practice literally That's a great story That is unbelievable My high school Actually all the all the little

Water Shooters worked at my high school They didn't work for Quentin No, they did not. Absolutely not. All right. He does a podcast, Knuckleheads, Players Tribune with Darius Miles, season six. You got some All-Stars coming on that. Who's coming on that podcast? Man, absolutely. We already kicked it off with Ray Allen. We've had Donovan Mitchell so far this season, L.J. Larry Johnson. And right now, we just dropped Jamal Madge Brown yesterday. But it's plenty more coming. We've got some good surprises in store. Good stuff. Jamal's had a heck of a post-basketball career, too. Jamal's really a successful business man. We get all into that because people don't really know. He's somebody they haven't really talked a lot about.

I'll tell you, that was fun, Quentin. I love Quentin Richardson stories. That was my favorite story on this show in a month. I appreciate you stopping by. No problem. Any time. 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.

focus came out and they put out a top 10 quarterback list. I've been watching football since 1972. That was the first year I watched football that I remember. Miami Dolphins beat Washington in the Super Bowl. George Allen against Don Chul, all that stuff. The way the NFL has always worked for quarterbacks, there's been five guys running the league, maybe one or two other guys worth mentioning

everybody else is looking to upgrade, and they just don't want to tell you. So pro football focus came out with their top 10. And once again, in 2021, that's what it is. The top five guys pro football focus has, Mahomes, Brady, Rogers, Wilson, Josh Allen. Then they got DAC 6. Kirk Cousins 8.

Give me a break. Baker 9. Lamar Jackson. Nope. The top five, there's a couple other guys worth mentioning. Lamar Jackson, Deshawn Watson, everybody else, if they could, would upgrade. It's been that way of a whole life. You go back to the 70s. I watched it.

It was the first decade I watched football. Bradshaw's Stabler Stalback ran the league. Then Greasy was part of a great, he wasn't as dynamic, but part of a great team. And then Fran Tarkin and ran around for years. Those five guys, those Minnesota teams didn't win Super Bowls. They were in the conversation every year. The Purple People Eaters defensive line, Chuck Foreman, the running back, a moderate Shad, the wide receiver.

They were in the discussion for a decade. The 70s, there were five guys. There were one or two other worth mentioning. Everybody else was looking for a better quarterback. Then you go to the 80s. And the 80s, it was Montana, Fouts, a young Elway, a young Marino, and Joe Thaisman, like Greasy, was part of a great staff and a great team, wasn't asked to do as much, but those guys ran the league.

Fouts was part of the number one passing offense. Montana was winning the Super Bowls. Elway and Marino were turning heads. Thaisman, part of the greatest structure. And then you go to the 90s. It was Aikman, Farr, Elway, Kelly, ran the league. And at the end, here came Steve Young to replace Montana. He emerged as this crafty Russell Wilson, he left-handed run-around guy.

But it was Aikman, Farb, and Elway and Kelly felt like they were running the league. at that point now, Marina was too old and not as effective. And you go to the 2000, 2000 to 2010. It was Peyton and Tom in their prime, Drew Breeze in his prime, Brett Farve leaving his prime, and Kurt Warner was emerging. It wasn't Big Ben. They were winning with defense. Warner was part of these wild offenses, and he was emerging as a guy that,

ooh, he was bagging groceries. He was in like the Arena League and Warner put up profound numbers. and you go 2000 to 2010. It was Brady getting old but still winning. Russell, Aaron, Breeze getting old, still winning, and Peyton Manning. By the way, say what you want about old Peyton Manning. He just kept figuring out ways to win his division, win the AFC, and get to Super Bowls. And right now, what do you know?

It's the same thing right now. You got an old Tom Brady clinging to it like an old Peyton. He just knows how to win. And then you got your four other guys, your mom. Holmes, you're Josh Allen, you're Aaron Rogers, you're Russell Wilson. It's been like that my whole life. You got five guys running the league, two other worthy of discussing. But Lamar can't win those playoff games he should.

Deshawn's not winning enough playoff games. Everybody else is looking to upgrade. Pro football focus has Kirk Cousins at 8. They tried to upgrade from him. They tried to already. He's got Matt Ryan in there. They were going to draft a quarterback. Baker Mayfield?

why isn't he getting a big contract? So that's the truth about this league. GMs don't want to know that. They don't want to tell you that. GMs don't want to tell you that. Coaches don't want to tell you that. Right now, San Francisco, you know, they went and upgraded.

I mean, they got a guy that got to the Super Bowl. They're moving. It could be different reasons. You're too expensive. You're too difficult. I mean, look at Aaron Rogers is great. They already got a guy. They're trying to get groomed.

So this league has always been run by about, it's five quarterbacks. Two are interesting. Everybody else would take a phone call. Every single team would take a phone call. And sometimes those five guys that run it by the end of the decade, like the teams are starting to take calls. They're not ready to move off them yet, but they're taking calls.

I mean, with Drew Breeze, they brought in James because they're like, he's getting old. So we got to have a plan. So there's always the people start ranking top 10, top 15, top 20 quarterbacks, folks, 90% of the people are taking calls. If you got a call, they'll listen. It's just a reality of it. My guy's rated at 8.

Kirk Cousins is rated 8. Minnesota already tried to move off him. I mean, Derek Carr and the Raiders, you think that's a death-to-wey part? I mean, you'd think that's lasting forever? Come on. If they don't make the playoffs again, that thing's not going to work.

Another podcast from some SNL, late-night comedy guy, On Humor Me with Robert Smygel and Friends, me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, S&L'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. On the Look Back at a podcast. From 1979, that was a big moment for me.

84 was big to me. I'm Sam J. And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick a year, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived it. With our friends, fellow comedians, and favorite authors. Like Mark Lamont Hill on the 80s. 84 was a wild year.

It was a wild year. I don't think there's a more important year for black people. Listen to look back at it on the IHeart 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.

Clivert Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, my basketball and college football journey, or my career in sports media. Well, now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Cliford Show. This is a place for raw, unfills of conversations with athletes,

creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. So let's get to it. Listen to The Clippert Show on the I-Heart 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. 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 iHeart radio app.

Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed human.