The Herd with Colin Cowherd - 07/30/2021 - HOUR 2 - Aaron Rodgers, Eric Pincus, Benedict Arnold

Episode Date: July 30, 2021

In this hour of The Herd with Colin Cowherd, Doug Gottlieb--in for Colin--finds some contradictions in Green Bay quarterback Aaron Rodgers' comments from his training camp press conference. Plus, Bleacher Report's Eric Pincus talks with Doug about the dynamics of the Russell Westbrook-Lakers deal. Finally, Doug names his "Benedict Arnold" of college football.  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.

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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. A win is a win.

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From 1979, that was a big moment for me. 84's 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. 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. Thanks for listening to The 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 Herd. We're listening to Fox Sports Radio. Welcome in.

This is The Herd, wherever you may be. And however you may be making it as part of your day, thanks so much. I'm Doug Gottlie. In for Colin Cowherd, who is, I mean, like, look, he's been posting about it. He's getting a colonoscopy list. Best wishes to our fearless leader. So two days ago, Aaron Rod. He was going to be reacting ever since.

Today, he got a golf cart from David Bactiari, which I would expect lots of frankincers and myr to be left at his locker. As Aaron Rogers now at least has won. Like, what do they have on who wants to be a millionaire, right? There's Lifeline. You could phone a friend. You can, yeah, Aaron Rogers has life. lifelines where he threw a lifeline to Randall Cobb to bring him back to Green Bay.

Look, Rogers was as forthcoming as any player has ever been when he had the media, listened to him for like a four minutes stretch and then answered questions. This is all from his perspective, but it felt like coming from a place of honesty. Now there are some concessions in his contract that took place after Brian Gunnick's met with the media yesterday. He's supposed to be under contract for three years. 2022 is now the final year, so they voided that third year of the deal. Forfeiture of provisions were removed from the contract, preventing the Packers from pursuing a prorated portion of Aaron Rogers signing bonus. In other words, if he were to retire, they couldn't get the contract.

the, because he showed up this year, hey, you show up if you retire at the end of next year, we're not going to go after your signing bonus, even though you're under contract for one more year. And that would ensure the Packers either have to move on from him at the end of this season or sign him to an extension, or you can keep him on his current deal at a massive cap cost and then potentially he walks away as a free agent in two years. If the Packers cut or traded him before June 1st next year, they would have 26.8 million in dead money on their cap, but gain a net savings of $19.2 million from over the cap.com. So look, they've set this up in the contract previously. At the end of this year, it's a poop or get off the pot scenario.

None of that has changed. None of it. Rogers did contradict himself, right? like on one hand he said hey when they came to meet with me i didn't want to be you know i i i didn't want to be a lame duck quarterback so they just threw money at me but they didn't want to extend me and then after the draft they wanted to extend me but it was too late anybody who's been in a contract negotiation understands that sometimes that first contract offer can be so embarrassing that you you won't take or you'll carry that negative

angst with you at future like look this happens happened. I can tell you without any question happened to me when I was at the other place that Colin was at as well. That's what they would do. It's what all businesses do. Hey, hey, hey, hey, we're going to give you a new deal. We're going to give you a new deal. Check out this new deal. You're like, wait, I actually already make that if you take into account all the bonuses that I get. None of it. This is a new guaranteed deal. Like, yeah, I already have that. I deserve more than that. Then you go out, you get an offer for more than that. Then they come back and like, oh, no, no, we're it off you this.

Many people carry with them kind of that, that baggage of the first offer. But here's where I, so on one hand, he was like, look, I want to be extended. On the other hand, he was, he said it wasn't about money. Well, would you have been extended for $5 million, $10 million, $15 million? Of course not. I understand it's about security and about feeling like, look, it's the battle of wills. I want you to get rid of Jordan Love or at least sign me to a contract where it makes it impossible for you to keep Jordan Love.

That's what this season is. Jordan Love's got to prove himself in practice in training camp and in preseason games. And if he gets in a game. And Aaron Rogers has got to prove himself in games. And if Aaron Rogers is so good, then they'll ship out Jordan Love. It's unlikely, but it's possible.

Just like Garapolo. Garopolo wasn't moved until the last possible moment to the one season where you're like, you got to pay him or, right? because we know what happens in this part at the end of this year in a rookie contract. You got to decide, am I picking up

the fifth year option at the end of year three? And this is year two. That fifth year option is no joke. But this is the part where I thought that Aaron Rogers made the biggest mistake. Here's Rogers. Here's Rogers wanting to help the team learn from their mistakes. I wanted to help the organization maybe learn from some of the mistakes in the past, in my opinion,

about the way that some of the outgoing veterans were treated and just the fact that we didn't retain a number of players that I felt like were core players to our foundation, our locker room, high character guys. I'm talking about Charles Woodson, Jordy Nelson, Julius Peppers, Clay Matthews, Randall Cobb, James Jones, John Coon, Brett Goode, T.J. Lang, Brian Belaga. Casey Hayward, Micahide, guys who were, you know, exceptional players for us, but great locker room guys, high character guys, many of them who weren't offered a contract at all, or were extremely low-balled, or were, you know, maybe in my opinion not given the respect on the way out that guys of their status and stature and high character deserved. All right. Obviously, Rogers is still pissed about Jordy Nelson

and crum row last year in in in in preseason and you know then he watches a lot of this is jealousy of Tom Brady right you watch Tom Brady he's got he brings he brings his his guys um in Rob Gruncowski and Antonio Brown and he's like look look what look what he had look here's a couple of things Aaron Rogers started by saying I want to help them with their mistakes. Were any of those players named? Were they mistakes?

Charles Woodson's an excellent player. He did have a Pro Bowl season afterwards. Right? But this is the business. The business is sometimes you're going to have to let a guy walk away because he wants to make too much money. Sometimes you're going to have to let a guy walk away because he doesn't have it anymore.

And this idea of, of you didn't offer guys a contract. Like, I want you to think about something. Guys making $10 million. And I talked to an NFL GM about this early on the week. Guys making $10 million. I said there was a GM I talked to about it, a different player, used to play for his organization, wanted big money, left,

and now signed a deal for, you know, one-eighth of what he was making his last year with the team. And I was like, why wouldn't you bring him back? He knows your team. He knows your sister's like, that never works. The cutting people's saying, salary and have them in the locker room, they're pissed about their contract being cut every day. And they blame you for that every day.

And then, oh, yeah, by the way, when they have a good game, then they're mad at you because you undersold their value. It's a no win. Plus, they don't like how they're looked at in the locker room as a guy who stayed to take less like that. There's no. Aaron Rogers contradicted himself when he said, I want to come back because he got a chance to win a championship.

Okay, so the same guy who made a lot of these hard decisions or group that made these hard decisions that have proven to be on many levels the right decision for the football team isn't the right decision for you personally because you like those guys and they were great players in their prime. Like everybody loves Clay Matthews. He was washed. Jordan Nelson was washed. They just were. And here's the big part. Here's the part that people are missing the most. Like, why not just run it by him?

Why not let him be part of the process? Aaron Rogers is, if he's part of the process, and they convince him, you know, hey, like, we got to let Jordy go. No, listen, I can, I can, me and Jordy, Jordy may not have it for everybody else, but me and Jordy, we're locked in here. Is it just a different level there?

His speed may not be what it used to be. It's coming off the ACL. Me and Jordy, it's a different, different connection. And they're like, look, it's just not going to work. If Jordy gets cut, okay? There's only two things that can happen and both are bad. Either Aaron Rogers is still ticked at the front office for not listening to him. You listen to me, but she didn't validate what I said.

He didn't hold on to him. Or Jordy Nelson says like, dude, Aaron Rogers, you couldn't have my back you. No, no, no, no. I tried to save you. Like, no, no, no. the second one of your friends gets cut and you're seen as one of the bosses, guess what they're not anymore.

They're not your friends. You walk into the Saints, you walk into the Patriots, right? What does it say? Do your job? What do you say make perfect sense? Like, look, I know this place. I know who works hard. I know who brings energy.

I know, like all of that stuff. Great. I have a podcast that's going to drop tomorrow. Right. It's with a guy named Charles. Jenkins. Charles is a spectacular player overseas. He was a second round pick out of Hofstra with the Golden State Warriors. During his first year with the Warriors, they had Monta Ellis and they had Steph Curry.

And Steph had battle anchor injuries at that time in his career. And towards the end of the season, they traded away Monta Ellis. But if you go back and look for Andrew Bogot and that changed their franchise forever, if you go back and look and ask anybody, and Chris Mullen told me this, Look, we offered the bucks. The bucks were offered, either Monta Ellis or Steph Curry for Andrew Bogot. You pick, which proves two teams had it wrong. The Warriors didn't know what they had, and the bucks didn't know what they could have had.

So I asked Charles, like, did you know? And he's like, look, Steph was battling ankles and it wasn't the perfect system for him. And Monta was Monta, we weren't that good. He's like, but it was just, if you ask any of the guys, practice games, it just everything flowed better when it was Steph instead of Monta. And that doesn't mean that Monta Ellis can't play. He was a bucket. They're just different.

So there is a value in the players know you can't really fool him. And being a quarterback and being their 17 years and being the leader of a franchise, but also kind of being a fly in a wall for all the other stuff and understanding defenses. Like, he's a valuable guy. The problem with it is. You become privy to conversations. You don't need to be privy to. You get emotionally attached to players as he clearly is.

But the biggest thing is, eventually one of those guys that you want, that you and now, this is a guy we need to keep. You're going to be told no. How do you handle that? And how does the player who thought you had his back handle it? I can give you the answer. Poorly.

That's the nature of the business. You know? Just the nature of the business. When things end, they almost always end poorly. That doesn't matter how great your run was at a business. Ask yourself in terms of the businesses you used to work for. Oh man, I used to be at sales at this company. Now I moved over to Stryker and I'm killing it here.

Right. You may have left on the best of possible terms, but you leave. People get jealous of you leaving. It never really ends well, right? It just doesn't. Hey, we have people in my business got $10 million to walk away from a job, and they're still bitter about it. Like, that's what it is.

I mean, um, uh, God, what's, why am I forgetting? Seahawks, safety then was with the, uh, the Ravens, and they cut him last year. but he was the one who Earl Thomas gave the finger, you know, he gave the finger to the Seahawks when he was carted off during his last game with the Seahawks, right? You remember that?

Go back and look, Earl Thomas got every penny that he was in his contract. Every penny. How did it end? Poorly. Oh, he's in the poorly. Brett Farve with the Packers. How'd that end? Poorly. He retired and came back three times. And it ends poorly.

Like, that just doesn't, that things don't end well. You don't want to be a part of that. All right, coming up next. The Lakers have Russell Westbrook on their roster. Should they get ready to polish off number 18 banner? We'll discuss next in the herd.

Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays at 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'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. A win is a win. 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 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. 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. 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. 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 was 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 this is the second episode where we've discussed crack so I'm starting to see there's a through line

We also have AIDS on the table right now so Thank you for finishing that sentence 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, 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, 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.

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as we have real conversations about healing, growth, fatherhood, pressure, and purpose on my new podcast, learn the hard way. Open your free, our heart radio app. Search learn the hard way and listen now. Doug Gottliebend for Colin. This is the herd. Ooh, this is not good news.

Not good news. Actually, you'll hear, you'll hear some of the news regarding Carson Wentz. Carson Wentz. You're like Carson Wentz? He's with Indianapolis Colts. Some Carson Wentz news coming up for you in T-minus, what? five minutes, less than five minutes. Eric Pink is going to join us.

The Capologist and NBA writer for Bleach Report. We'll get his thoughts on the Westbrook trade. Speaking of the Westbrook trade, I just, I thought it's interesting. You know, it thought it's interesting that the Lakers, okay, the Lakers, there's a story out today from the L.A. Times that Russell Westbrook and Anthony Davis, Russell Westbrook and Anthony Davis and LeBron James had dinner two weeks ago where they discussed this possible union and decided to check their egos at the door.

Check their egos at the door. And all played together for one last championship run and Russell Westbrook would come back to his hometown and try and live up to the legacy of the late great, his hero, Kobe Bryant, and win a title. sounds great, sounds great. But I just, I have to ask anybody, like, where is, it's not like we don't have data on Russell Westbrook, you know, we have data.

This is fourth team in four years. And while I value his ability to bring it every night, and I understand he will not be the first or second in terms of go-to options, which is going to be unique for him. and a challenge for him for a guy who's dominated the ball so much. My guess is that they kind of let Russ be Russ a ton in the regular season, and as they get close to the regular season, they play through AD, they play through LeBron, and Russ gets a little bit of the third wheel. And in all candor, we still don't know what the Lakers are really going to look like

because that's three starters. they still have a lot more work to do. I can't see them. I mean, do they, what do they do with Caruso, who's a free agent? Like they've been signed, they got his bird rights. What do they do with Dennis Schrooter? They don't want anything to do with them, but they can sign and trade him. They have some future draft picks.

They have some stuff they could move. Of course, they have Taylor and Horton Tucker, who they've been unwilling to part with. but for the right piece they could part with them. It's still very much a work in progress of a roster. But I don't know. What's been missing from the Lakers the past couple of years? Shooting. Don't we have enough data to tell you that Russell Westbrook's not a good shooter?

And actually not a high-level finisher in terms of the metrics, how he finishes at the rim. The Lakers themselves didn't, guard him in the playoffs. Didn't guard him. Dared him to shoot. To much success. So is there a way in which you can use him and he can be successful?

Yes. Can he help you in the regular season? Sure. Do they all get along as men off the court? Of course, the friends. And bringing Russell Westbrook back to his hometown of Los Angeles, a former MVP seems like an absolute win. But are they actually a championship basketball team with that roster as opposed

to where they were last night. I like him better than Schrooter, but not that much. I don't know. Let's get to lead to lap with the news. No, no, no, no, no. Turn on the news. This is the herd line news.

You mentioned it, Doug. There is worry in Indy. The Colts don't know yet, as Carson Wentz left Thursday's practice with a foot injury. He's going to go undergo test. But as of right now, Adam Schaefter and Mike Wells VSPN report that he is out indefinitely. Right now it's going to be Jacob Eason, fourth round pick from last year,

and 2021 pick from the sixth round, Sam Ellinger as the next two quarterbacks up. From Texas. That's right. Sam Ellinger from Texas. Jacob Eason has all the physical tools, but it's never been able to put together. I mean, look, this story is really, really simple. Carson Wentz. Yikes.

It's like I can't get right. Anytime you hear out indefinitely, that's like, ooh, he broke his foot. Right? That's not a planter. It was planar fasciitis. They would go like, wow, he's got planar fasciitis. They can monitor it. If they say out indefinitely, it means he broke his foot.

And for a guy who's had a knee, and then it was a back in the playoffs, right? Yeah, back vertebral fracture. Yeah, fractures back. And now his foot, like a yikes. He's had tears, ACL tears, LCL tears, and his knee. these chest rib fractures. Like chest rib fracture is not injury prone.

Right? And I got to know how this injury happened. Did somebody step on his foot? Or did he just break his foot? Like this is a big thing with athletes that I know. Matt Holliday is a dear friend of mine. I'll never forget. He's like, yeah, my last year in St. Louis,

people said I was supposedly injury prone. I got hit on the hand with a fastball and broke my thumb. Like, that's not being injury prone. That's getting hit by a fastball. Like that's it, like, that's the thing with Carson Wentz. Like, okay, if you get hit and you break a bone in your back, there's not a lot you can do there. Now, if you are just dropping back the pass and you plant and you're like, ah, my foot hurts and you turn to break your foot, that's being injury pro. That's, you didn't drink enough milk when you're a kid.

On to this, Doug, Brown Center and NFL Players Association President J.C. Tredder. He has a, he has issue with the wristbands and vaccination protocols with the NFL saying, just kind of nonsensical idea. They say they need a differentiator between unvaccinated players and vaccinated players. We already have a differentiator. It's them wearing masks, you guys. No other sports leagues use any other sort of scarlet letter or helmet decal or wristband because they know it's not necessary and the teams know who's vaccinated and who is not vaccinated.

Who said this? This is the NFL Players Association president and Brown Center, J.C. Treader. just get vaccinated and let's stop dealing with it. By the way, that's my response. You don't like to be wearing the bands? Get vaccinated. You don't like wearing masks?

Get vaccinated. So it's okay. Like, look, it's pretty obvious. They're doing the most they can possibly do to force you to get vaccinated without force you to get vaccinated. They're making your life as cluttered as humanly possible. And as coach Kevin Stefanski has his back.

He says it's not on our lanyards. And when you're in the building, as you know, we're not dividing the team over this issue. Yeah, it's not divided. Get vaccinated. This is not rocket science. Hey? Get vaccinated.

Like, they're trying to have a league. They don't want to have to go through all these health and safety protocols. They don't want to go through the quarantine thing. We don't want to do all this stuff. Just get vaccinated. And unless, like, look, if your doctor says you can't get it, but if your doctor says you can't get vaccinated, you know, you probably aren't playing in the NFL right now.

Lastly, here, it's the Madden 22 ratings week. Everyone makes a big hullabaloo about it, and of course, once somebody who could have been rookie of the year last year, Justin Jefferson has a lot to say. This is him with Gabe Henderson of Vikings.com earlier today. So we were talking a little bit. You're madden ratings. You're a little upset about that, huh?

100%. I play maddening. You know, I'm a big gamer, so I'm all into that. And after I've seen, you know, the ratings and me not being in the top 10 in any of the ratings, that was crazy to me. But, I mean, that's just motivation. Motivation for him here. Let me lay out the top 10 here.

We got Devante Adams, Diannoy Hopkins, Tyree Kills, Defon Diggs, Julio Jones at number 5, Michael Thomas at 6, Keenan Allen, Amari Cooper, Mike Evans, and Alan Robinson, rounding out the top 10 with a 90 overall rating. Do you think Justin Jefferson in his sophomore year could have cracked that top 10? Yeah. What the hell is Julio Jones doing in there? It's like JJ Watson 95 overall.

Like, stop it. It's like it takes to Madden folks like two. years because they don't want to, they don't want to make JJ Watt mad. They don't want, Julio Jones was on the cover. They don't want to, both other cover guys. They don't want to, they don't want to diminish them in some way. Those guys, he's not a top 10 ride receiver anymore.

Like what are we doing? Julio's not a top 10 wide receiver. Everybody knows that. He was great at his peak. And now he's still really good. He's not, I mean, Justin Jefferson is the now. Julio Jones is the, what was? Sorry, that's the reality

of it. But this is also the reality. Like, are you really going to get mad about a video game? Like, really? And in the things to get mad about, a video game is, I don't know, got to be about, like, in terms of disrespect, it's like, we're talking like, I don't know, in the let somebody else get mad about it for you. Do you buy into its extra motivation for him? No.

Was he a rookie of the year last year? No, Justin Herbert was. Okay. Your motivation should be to win games. and to get paid. Madden doesn't really affect that. You know? I don't.

If you spend time worrying about what a video game maker rates you, it just only proves that athletes have way too much time. Like, look, I understand this is actually a real thing. The real story for people,

I have a buddy who's a doctor now. I never forget, he was playing in the CBA and he went to medical school and he's like, man, it is so hard to actually lock and do all this study and stuff in class all day because when you're playing professional basketball

you get up in the morning, you lift weights and work out, then you have a shooting workout or some sort of conditioning, then you come home, you sleep, you eat, you chill, you play video games, then you go and you practice at night, and then either you come home and get some dinner and go out or you come home and you shut it down and watch a show or a movie, right? Like, we all think as athletes we work way harder than everybody else, we don't, we got a lot of time on our hands.

during the short periods time when we work, we work. And you have an ability, Justice Jefferson has an ability that like 10 people on Earth have in terms of getting open. But again, if you have enough time to worry about your Madden rating, you have too much time in your head. Find another hobby. And that's, I'll lead to lap with the news. Well, that's the news.

And thanks for stopping by. The herd lie news. Let's welcome in Eric Pinkos who joins us. Of course, he does an excellent job as a capologist, an NBA writer, at Bleacher Report. Eric, your immediate reaction when you heard it was Russell Westbrook heading to Lakers. I thought it was a bold move from the Lakers. I think there's going to be a lot of criticism on fit, and Russ is not a shooter, and Russ is somebody who's going to ignore.

LeBron and try to score all the points in the most important moments, and he's going to I don't buy into that. I think Russ is going to help them. He's extremely talented. I think he and AD and LeBron are on the same page, and I think it's, it's, let's put it this way. Buddy Hill is a better fit, but they'll get more wins with Russell Westbrook. Okay.

I always thought fit was the most important thing, but I don't think the, the, the who has the ball thing. He's just not, he can't shoot. And he's had four knee surgeries. And I mentioned he can't shoot. And they need shooting. Right. Okay.

So, so what do they shoot when they won the title? They shot terribly. They were the worst shooting team in the league when they wanted to title. And they were unbelievable defensively. That's completely correct. It should be pointed out. They didn't play the clippers.

It should be pointed out that the Warriors were basically took that year off, right? Those things should be pointed out. And I think the road would be, will be a little bit tougher this time, but it's an accurate point. They won because they were the best defensive team, and Anthony Davis and LeBron James carried them with just enough offense. It's totally fair.

But, you know, this is not the bubble. This is the NBA. And it's another older part that you're going to expect to play a lot. And what derailed them this season was injuries, right? Do we know if Russell's played every game, I think, three of the last four years, do we know if he'll have it in the tank? or if he doesn't get, not going to break down again because he's

in his mid to late 30s. All right, what about what's left? You're a capologist. It looks like they're capped out. So what can they actually do to build a team around these three guys? Well, that's going to be a test of two people, really. Rob Plinka, of course, who's the one who actually makes the deals and probably LeBron to recruit free agents.

And you can argue right now the Lakers only have three. starters, obviously the three stars. And then after that, you've got Mark Gasol, who's older and can certainly start if they need them to, but probably not necessarily the guy you want to have playing a serious role. I mean, he can play a role, but not a major role, probably not a starter role. And they're likely to bring back to Taylor and Horton Tucker, the young kid who's a really dynamic attacker and probably in the ilk of Russell Westbrook, an attacker who can't shoot. So that's

not solving that issue. So you need a shooting guard who can really score. You either need a center or another wing. It depends on if you're going to play Anthony Davis at center. They just need some size, length on the perimeter defensively who can shoot. So three and D guys. I think Otto Porter is probably the name that jumps out when it comes to pre-agency. They have about just under $6 million to spend on one player. And then after that, you're talking about minimum players. So probably bringing back guys like West Matthews, Marquith Morris, Jared Dudley for his leadership,

and then it's who else? Who's out there who wants to come? You want a shooter? JJ Reddick, do you want to come and try to win a ring? I don't think they can get Danny Green at the minimum, but he's someone who will want to ring with them. You just got to go through who's out there.

I don't think they have much to offer and trade. They have to decide on Alex Caruso. I'm not sure if he'll be back or not. I would like to see them bring back Alex Crusoe, but again, he's not a shooter either. So your point on them needing shooting is accurate. I think getting Westbrook and having those three players as your primary drivers of the offense and surrounding them with shooters and defenders, I think that makes a lot of sense. Okay.

What was your, was there a big takeaway from the dread? Like, did you, I mean, obviously, I love Kate Kenningham. I think he's eventually going to be a star in this league. but these guys continue to be younger and younger and they went to rebuilding teams. The elite players, for the most part, went to rebuilding teams. Was there any big takeaway from the draft last night?

I mean, I thought teams, for the most part, drafted well, there were a few reaches, but by and large, I just want, you've got to be patient. I mean, you touched on it. I mean, the Timberwolves have had number one picks for multiple years and haven't gone. to the playoffs. Zion has been a tremendous young star. Pelicans haven't made the playoffs yet. So it's not like Cade Cunningham is going to turn the Pistons into a playoff team tomorrow. It's just not

realistic. Jalen Green will probably be a great player for the Rockets, but it's going to take some time. So I think what was missing a little bit, you know, teams like the Golden State Warriors, their picks came in a little bit lower than they had wanted when it came down to the final lottery at 7 and 14. I think that was something we were looking at to see. Can they make some blockbuster trade to rejuvenate the warriors instead of adding more kids? So I didn't see anything in the actual draft that changes the landscape of the NBA, but of course we had the bigger news, which was the Lakers, and I don't know how much that changes things anyway, and that they were already one of the favorites to at least compete for a championship

or at least threaten in the West. So I'm not sure we saw a major shake up in the NBA. Have you seen this stuff going on in Brooklyn with Kyrie where there's the weird tweeting back and forth being Kyrie and KD? Then you couple it with he fired Rock Nation. That's his second agent he's fired in the last two years. And then he had the – then he posted. that his new shoes that Nike is releasing are trash and he had nothing to do with them.

Like I get you can't really figure out, Kyrie, but is there something up there in Brooklyn we should pay more attention to? I'll say that Kyrie is a very different kind of human being. And there's some beauty and genius there, but there are some perplexing qualities as well. I mean, he's putting his money into providing water and, and, and, and, and, and, and, you, and resources into an African country, or he's tweeting and saying crazy things about this, and the other thing, I'm trying to take him as an overall person

and not judge him by how I would everybody else. If he's there and he's playing and he's competing, I don't have a problem with him. He did take some breaks throughout, I guess, were they mental health breaks? Were they just time off? How much should we say that's not the right? thing. I think we're starting to understand a little bit that you need to allow for people to be

human beings. I think Kyrie is odd. And in a way, it could hurt the next chances of closing this thing out if they can't really rely on Kyrie. But at the same time, he was there in the playoffs. He was great in the playoffs. And if Kevin Durant has a slightly smaller shoe, they probably win a title. Yep. Or if he was healthy, they probably win a title. All right. So Chris Paul, isn't going to the Lakers. Is he going back to Phoenix? I think that he's going back to Phoenix. So if you go, if you rewind,

I had reported that I expect Chris Paul to opt out and to look for $100 million over three years. So he's got an option for $44 million. But it makes sense for him to opt out if you can get $100 over three. It's more money. He'll make less than that first year, but it's a bigger deal overall.

And then the sons went on to get to the finals. that sort of changed the picture. And the issue in Phoenix is that they've got to pay DeAndre Aden. He's looking for max money. They've got to pay Bridges. He's probably at least 20, if not 23, $25 million a year. And they're already paying Booker. And so if you pay Chris that kind of money long term, they're going to be in the tax. Now, my argument is it's not an issue in year one because the extensions wouldn't kick in. It'd be an issue in year two. So yes, tax in year two. And by year three, it's, you know, it's not that hard to move a contract. And in my mind, you could probably move Chris at that point if you had to. So if I'm Robert Sarver, the owner of the sons, I'm getting it done.

But there was, I forget who he spoke to. I think it was Gambo on the radio, I believe. John Gammoner. Yes, thank you. Sarver said something all that was, it wasn't like a smoking gun or anything, but it was very wishy-washy about keeping Chris. It was kind of like, yeah, well, you know, we'll do our best. It just didn't come across.

All he had to say, like the right thing to say was, we hope Chris is with the organization for a long time. That leaves you blameless. You try, you do it, but it was so wishy-washy. It just left a seat of doubt. And so when I look around the landscape of the NBA, I look over at the Knicks. You've got Leon Rose, who used to represent Chris Paul with CAA.

There are a lot of CAA ties. Chris is still with CAA. there's a relationship there. And the Knicks are, they have the money. They're a team that has been really lousy for a really long time. And then this last year, they finally took that big jump, got into the playoffs. And we've seen what happens the last few years. When you add Chris Paul to a good team, he elevates them to be immediately a borderline great team.

You know, we could debate. But obviously the son's a great team. And so I think he makes a ton of sense for the Knicks. and so he has a landing spot if it doesn't work out with Phoenix. I still think Phoenix should sign him, pay him that money, make it happen, worry about the problems with tax down the road. I think it's a no-brainer. But teams do things sometimes that perplex me,

and they're not all taking my calls, so we'll see what he does. Last thing really quickly. It doesn't appear they're going to trade Demi Lillard yet, so they're going to try and add some pieces to try and get him to stay. What can they add? That's a tough one. So they don't have much. They have Norman Powell, who's a free agent, and they need to, they probably need to

overpay to keep him. He's got so much leverage because they can't afford to go backwards, right? They traded Gary Trent for him. They haven't drafted especially well, but one of their better picks was Trent, and so to lose Trent for nothing, just have Powell for five minutes. It doesn't make sense. And so Powell can really get some money out of that situation. and then everyone in the league knows that they're trying to salvage the Dane thing.

So let's say you're the Sixers and you want Damian Lillard. And the Blazers are calling up offering C.J. McCollum for Ben Simmons. Well, no, I mean, you don't want to help them. You don't want to give them. Who's to say Simmons keeps Lillard? Let's say he was the key. Why are you going to offer him to the Blazers to help them solve their Damian Lillard situation when you want them to have that kind of failure where they have to be.

with Lillard. So I think teams are going to squeeze the Blazers, but that doesn't mean that their top executive, Neil Olshe, can't find something. It's just they don't have a lot of assets. They don't have a lot of picks to offer. They don't have a lot of young players that are really coveted. They're in a very difficult spot, but we've seen stranger things, and teams sometimes find a way out.

They find some player that is better than everyone thought, but I'm not entirely optimistic on the Blazers solving this issue. I think ultimately the result is going to be deemed going to ask out and they're going to have to accommodate on some level. I just don't know when that'll be. Eric Pinkis. Eric, great stuff, man. Look forward to reading your next piece in Bleach Report. Appreciate being our guest on Fox Sports Radio.

All right. Anytime. Thanks for me. All right. What was a rumor a week ago is official now. But what does it do to the sport we discuss next in the herd? Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays at noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific. Hey, it's me, Rob Parker. Check out my weekly MLB podcast Inside the Parker for 22 minutes of piping hot baseball talk, featuring the biggest names and newsmakers in the sport. Whether you believe in analytics or the I-Test, we've got all the bases covered.

New episodes drop every Thursday, so do yourself a favor and listen to Inside the Parker with Rob Parker on the I-Heart Radio app or wherever you get your podcast. 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. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what you're saying. Yep, that's me, Clifford Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, the reactions,

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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. 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 Kim? Well, you can find out on the Look Back at it podcast.

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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

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I want you to just really be a good person. Join me, Kear Gaines, as we have real conversations about healing, growth, fatherhood, pressure, and purpose on my new podcast, learn the hard way. Open your free. iHeart radio app search learn the hard way and listen now this is the herd fox sports radio the i heart radio app so uh it's officially official texas texas and oklahoma are going to the cc now what i believe

about oklahoma hey the ben and dick donald of college sports what they did to oklahoma state is wrong it's wrong and it's a really hard one for oregon Oklahoma State in the future where, like, do you play them? You played them every year for over 100 years since 1910. You know, you fill up your stadium. You fill up your coffers and, you know, it's a rivalry across all sports. Or do you say, you know, you guys left us in the lurch, potentially ruining our athletic programs? Like, we're supposed to be, you know, we're not on the same team, but we're supposed to be brothers here, right?

Like, that ain't, it's not right. There's no one can try to explain a way, oh, it's right, it's not right. So I'm thinking about this, but I mean, I have to admit, like, it's going to be amazing football league. And what happens when you see this sort of dramatic change, right?

You take the two most powerful entities in the Big 12. Like, the crazy part about it is, so Bob Stoops is doing Big Noon kickoff, right? Urban Meyer went back to coaching. Bob Stoops is, now taking his seat, I think he'll be great. But he does realize that seat, only for a year? Right?

Because the Big 12, however it reconfigures itself, becomes a different league. Like my guess is they're going to keep the name and the schools long enough so that they collect the checks from Texas and Oklahoma. They're going to play in the SEC next year. Like, we all know how this goes. This is just posturing, right? Oklahoma and Texas saying like, hey, we're in in 2025. in the league saying, you know, if you leave before,

eventually they're going to get a check. Will it be every penny owed? I don't know. That's, again, probably a negotiation. But like all of a sudden now, are we going to have four leagues? Are we going to have three? Clemson and Florida State who were previously blocked from joining the league. Do they want to join the league?

And if so, how do we look at the records of schools? If you're going to play conference foes and they're the type of confidence, conference foes, we could see like, how do you adjust to, hey, this team has four losses, but they're playing the SEC as opposed to everybody else has like one loss. A dramatic change in the landscape of college athletics. And now it becomes official earlier today. The Lakers have decided to go with their own big three. But will it work?

I'll tell you next. I'm Doug Gottlie. This is The Hurt. One more HARD. 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. 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.

A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what you're saying. Yep, that's me, Cliver 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 Clifers Show. This is a place for raw, unfills of conversations with athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but the show. celebrated. So let's get to it. Listen to the Clifford show on the I Heart 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. Eighty-four's big to me. 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 with our friends, fellow comedians, and favorite authors. Like Mark Lamont Hill on the 80s. 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. This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed human.