The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Best of The Herd

Episode Date: April 21, 2026

Colin Cowherd identifies the major issue the Knicks have after their shocking 4th quarter collapse vs the Hawks in game 2 of their playoff series. Colin claims Heisman Trophy winner Fernando Mendoza is on the same level as Andrew Luck as a prospect ahead of Thursday’s NFL Draft. Plus, Nick Wright from First Things First joins the show to tell Colin why LeBron James in year 23 and 41 years old is still underrated.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed Human. Hey, guys, it's us. The Jonas Brothers. I'm Joe. I'm Kevin. And I'm Nick. And guess what? We created our own podcast called, Hey, Jonas.

We invented a podcast? Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to it. We're the first people to do podcasts. We get to ask other people questions because we're sick and tired of being asked questions. Well, sick and tired is a strong way to put it. But, you know, tired and sick. Tired and sick.

Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you. you get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it. Another podcast from some SNL late night comedy guy. Not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and Friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier.

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The rallies are relentless. And at the French Open, only the toughest survive. I'd know. I competed there for decades. Join me, Renee Stubbs, on the Renee Stubbs tennis podcast for no-nonsense breakdowns of the biggest matches, the toughest players, and the moments that define Roland Garris. She can win. She's an outsider to win the French fame.

And she likes Clay. Listen, Lina Rubakina is arguably the best player in the world right now. And I actually can win on any service. Listen to the Renee Stubbs tennis podcasts on the Iheart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Presented by Capital One, founding partner of IHeart Women's Sports. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in.

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Thanks for listening to The Best of the HARD podcast. Be sure to catch us live every weekday on Fox Sports Radio in noon to 3 Eastern, 9 a.m. to noon Pacific. Find your local station for the herd at Fox Sports Radio. or stream us live every day on the iHeart radio app by searching Fox Sports Radio or FSR. This is the best of the herd with Colin Cowher on Fox Sports Radio. Oh, playoff basketball doesn't even look like regular season basketball. We're live in Chicago.

It's the herd. Bulls are looking for a coach. Billy Donovan stepping down. Get to that in Herdline News. Wherever you may be and however you may be. listening. Thanks for making us part of your day. Okay, 16 teams get into the NBA playoffs. 16. There's three levels of playoff teams in the NBA. Great. There's one. Oklahoma City defending champs. Best roster, deepest roster, best defense, dominant score. That's a great team.

The other 15 playoff teams are very good. That's Denver, you know, that's Boston, very good teams. and then there's the Knicks. The Knicks are good. They're a good team, and they're going to beat inferior Atlanta. But Nick fans have put their best player, Jalen Brunson, on a level above what he is, and they put their team a level above what they are, and so people get unhappy. That's unrealistic. New York is going to beat Atlanta.

But they led by eight with six minutes left at home, and Atlanta goes, out and hits seven of eight shots, and C.J. McCollum looks like MJ. He literally hunted Jalen Brunson. Well, Jalen Brunson's a great player. No, Ant is. SGA is. Yokic is. Wembe is. Those are great players. Brunson, after a great first quarter in game one, disappeared the rest of game one, and last night, he's 11 for 37 since the first quarter of game one. Ant, meanwhile, was better last night. He'll get better as the series goes on. So, I mean, Jalen Johnson and

Jonathan Cominga down the stretch, they were just too much. They're too athletic for New York. So great players can make a stop on C.J. McCollum, who is shooting 75% in the series when he's guarded by Jalen Brunson. Nick fans treat their team

in Brunson like everybody treats their kids. Oh, my kids are brilliant. Look at this. Picasso. It's a dinosaur. It actually looks like a cat. I don't think it's a dinosaur. Like you can't treat your teams and your star player, your very good player. So Brunson's very good, but he has great moments,

great plays and great possessions and great knights. He's very good. And it's great. The Knicks are just good, and they have very good halves and very good quarters. But I mean, Jalen Brunson, after a great first quarter in this series hasn't been very good offensively, and we know he's not good defensively. So, you know, you just got to take a deep breath on this stuff.

You keep getting frustrated, and it's like, this is why the Yonah stuff makes sense. And here's the other thing. The Knicks have a central issue, that they have to have Brunson and cat on the floor because it optimizes their offense. But then they become a huge hold defensively late. So, I mean, when Brunson and Kat checked in with about $750 to go, the Knicks led by 9.

Uh-oh. They couldn't hold a lead against Atlanta, an inferior team at home, because C.J. McCollum just took him to the rack. So, and it's interesting. After the game, I'm going to let you listen to CJ, and you won't hear the follow-up question, but the follow-up question after his initial comment is, did you hunt, did you attack, seek Jalen Brunson. Listen. I love it.

It's why we play the game. It's fun being in, you know, opposing arenas. And when the buzzer sounds and it's quiet and you walk off the court, I think there's a level of, you know, mutual respect. Like, it was a, you know, a tough game against a good team. Like what you had in that end of what's in the world? What you think? What do you think?

Yeah. Yeah. Did you hunt Brunson? What do you think? What is everybody think? And you're taking it as a criticism. The Knicks are not a very good team. They don't get much bench scoring.

They can't defend a three. Their two best players are defensive liabilities. They'll beat Atlanta. But Atlanta made them look pretty unathletic down the stretch. CJ's 34-year-old vet getting great shots, total pro. He can get, like any NBA veteran, In the back court, he can get hot, he can deal, he can play out of Lehigh, had a very nice career. But you just got to take a deep breath.

Brunson's a 6-2 guy, not super hyper-athletic and a defensive liability, and he's not a great playmaker. He's a very good player who you think is great. And the Knicks are a good team that you think are as good as Denver or as deep athletically as Minnesota. they're not so if you scale that down you're not going to be as angry okay the other series and again i'm working on four hours sleep this is april um it's a fascinating series Denver Minnesota so Denver's got the best player in the series Yokic and they've got Gordon and they got Jamal Murray and there's a there's a drop-off Minnesota has aunt but they have a a deep long athletic roster and what's happening is Denver needs yokech to be great and Rudy

Gobert defends him pretty well but it's not just Rudy it's aunt it's Julius Randall it's Nas Reed it's Devengenzo it's jaden McDaniels they got length and depth and experience and they're just Minnesota we said all year what's wrong with Minnesota well when you watch them in the playoffs you can see what's right with Minnesota a well coached team with a lot of playoff minutes and a guy that defends Yokic better than almost everybody else in the league. Yokic, by the way, was one for eight last night. One for eight. This doesn't happen very often for Yokic when Rudy Gaubert guarded it.

And they've got Julius Randall looks like a defensive end. And Nas Reid is a big-time athlete. Jaden McDaniels is an un... I've said this during the middle of the year. If the Lakers just had Jaden McDaniels, they'd be a different team. That would be a Western Finals team. He can shoot now and he's a... great defender. So it's a fascinating

series. You need Yokish and Murray to be great offensively. And Minnesota is giving Yokic problems and almost nobody in the world does. So it's you know, Minnesota is just, I mean, all season, this is how valuable Yokic is.

His nine worst offensive games, Denver's 2 and 7. Where Minnesota can compete with anybody, even when ants off. They prefer he's on and maybe in Denver you need Ant to be great, but they They are so deep and so long and so thick and so experienced. So Minnesota is a handful.

And just to show you the depth of Minnesota, Ant scored his last bucket with about six to go. If I told you, Yokic scored his last bucket with six to go, six minutes to go, you'd be like, oh, Denver loss. But in Minnesota, Ant scored his last bucket with six to go. It didn't matter. Thie Vincenzo hit a shot. Julius Randall hit a shot.

Jane McDaniels hit a shot. So Minnesota's got, they've just got a lot of length and size and experience and athleticism. And they all kind of fit together. They've got the defensive big and the hyper athletic scoring Aunt Edwards. And then they've got defensive guys and a three and D guy. And Defingentils, tough guy that's been around the league forever that can pop up and hit a three. Minnesota is a deep, feisty roster. And they don't have to, even if.

If Ant doesn't play great did last night, they're trouble. Denver is very Yokic dependent, and he's being put to the test. And after the game, Jaden Daniels, goes out and says the quiet part out loud about Denver's limitations maybe athletically. go out Yokic Jamal all the bad defenders

Tim Hardaway Cam Johnson Aaron Gordon the whole team like just go out they're all bad defenders they don't got people

that can defend the rim and if he is there we still more athletic than them and just got to be able to finish when we do so that that feels like a second round series

or a conference finals you've got a lot of star power you got Ant you got Yokid but you know Minnesota is one of those rare teams that I could argue is actually built for the playoffs right like like teams that are um you know like Lakers Austin Reeves Luca LeBron Aiton Rui these teams that are pretty good offensively in fact exceptional offensively I mean if you come in with little rest you don't get much prep and the Lakers spread you out with spacing they can create a lot of opportunities offensively. Minnesota is the kind of team you don't want to play in the playoffs.

They're grabby and they're physical and they're deep and they defend and they protect the rim and they can throw Naz and McDaniels on the wing. They're just, they're built for the playoffs. Minnesota is built for the postseason. The sexy, beautiful offensive teams, those teams can really carve it up in the regular season because let's be honest. Not everybody brings their B game during the regular season in the NBA. You got load management, you got tanking.

Yeah, Tuesday night in Minnesota. You know, it's just the reality. Lakers are the best team in the league in March. Right? A lot of times offensive teams do that in the regular season. You got to play defense in the postseason. That's what Minnesota does. So that is a wild one.

That is a great series so far. And there is a, so Bruce Feldman went out and talked to an NFL personnel director and an NFL top scout. And they're saying that Fernando Mendoza is being bunched into this, well, he's no Cam Ward, he's no, Drake May. He's no. And these two are saying, no, no, no, no, no. He's better than Drake May. Drake May just got to a Super Bowl. Interesting article, thoughts on that coming up.

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. You ready? NFL fans, when the lights hit the stage, when the picks go down, we got you. Listen to the best NFL insider, Jay Glazer, one of the best linebackers in LaVar Erington, a man who's been in the war room, former Falcons GM, Terry Fontenough, and Fox Sports host, and Jenny Taft. April 23rd and 5 p.m. Pacific.

It's Draft Night Live. And it's brought to you by Express Pros and Webo. Your NFL draft coverage is on Fox Sports Radio. Hey, it's us, the Jonas Brothers. And guess what? We have some big news. What's the news, new? Huge news.

We created our own podcast called, Hey Jonas. We invented a podcast? Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to a... We're the first people to do podcasts. Pretty, yeah, pretty wide range of podcasts throughout there. But this one's extra special.

So how do we actually come up with a name Hey Jonas, guys? I honestly don't remember. I think it was on a call about what we should call it. Well, we were thinking I'm originally calling it one of the early names of our band. Before Jonas Brothers was... This is how you guys remember it going down? Yes. I have a very different memory of this.

We were talking about a thing, a bit for the podcast, where people could call in and say, hey, Jonas. And then I wrote down on my little notepad, Hey Jonas, Jonas, and offered it up as a potential. title for the podcast. But thanks for remembering that, guys. Listen to Hey Jonas on the Iheart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it.

Another podcast from some SNL, late-night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer Streeter Seidel, help an a 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. The French Open is one of the toughest tests in tennis. And I know firsthand because I competed there myself. I'm Renee Stubbs. And on the Renee Stubbs tennis podcast, I'm breaking down everything happening at Roland Garris. every match, every upset, and what it really takes to win on Clay. Jen she went. I mean, she went down in three to Rabakina, but I'm delighted.

She's an outsider to win the French for me. And she likes Clay. Listen, Lena Rubakina is arguably the best player in the world right now, and I actually can win on any surface. Because if she's serving, well, good luck. Consider this your court side seat to the French Open. Listen to the Renee Stubbs Tennis Podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

Presented by Capital One, founding partner of IHeart Women's Sports. 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. Oh, welcome back. I've got to be honest with you, at least for short stints. I like playing on four and a half hour sleep. I got a lot of energy today. I got a lot of Nick Wright's coming up next hour,

see if he can match this energy. So an anonymous personnel director in the NFL, An anonymous scout told our Bruce Feldman. Fernando Mendoza is a better prospect than Cam Ward, although Cam moves better, and he's a better prospect than Drake May. And this personnel director said, and I like Drake May. Everybody does. So it's interesting about this. When Sam Darnold came out, I said his comp to me, one of his comps was a poor man's Brett Farr.

Well, I got a lot of crap for that. For the record, they both have one Super Bowl trophy. But if you go look at the completion percentage for Fav and Darnold, it's identical, 62%. Yards per attempt in their career, identical, 7.1, 7.2. Touchdown to interception ratio, Darnold Fav, identical. Passer ratings, 86, identical. Super Bowl titles, identical. Both also were small town guys, tough as a $4 steak, loved by their,

teammates, sometimes got reckless, both struggled with their first team, Falcons and Jets, but eventually end up with a great GM and a great coach and have a great career. Now, Fav is better than Darnold, but they're both, you know, near the, you know, their first round talent. And Darnold is, like, Fav is tough and he moves plus arm. He's athletic. Both Fav and Darnold get a little red. reckless, little hero ball.

But when they get the right coach, they win a lot of games. Their division, playoff games, Super Bowl, that's what they are. Remember, the knock on Fav was, God, he threw interceptions at the worst time. That was Darnold until he hoisted a trophy. Like when Brett ended up with Minnesota, had that game one again. I forget even who they were played. They had the game one. He throws a pick, and you're like, you can.

got to be getting me. That's a little Darnold. So I am not saying Farr's not better than Darnold, but there's a lot of traits. So when I see the Bruce Feldman story on Fernando Mendoza, and I'm going to say this, Fernando Mendoza has a little bit of a poor man's Andrew Luck. Both went to non-traditional football powers with quirky coaches. Both are often better when they get hit in the mouth. Andrew Luck used to say, until I take a shot, the game to start. Both Fernando Mendoza and Andrew Locke have a short memory because they're going to throw some ugly picks and they shake it off and forget about it. Both come from great families. Both are big. Both have excellent ball placement. Both ended up being very, very good players and tight

games late. Both didn't play with the best rosters, but elevated teammates. Intellect, toughness, family, short memory, size, like to get pop before they really, really develop in a game, power throwers. So, oh, come on. You can say what you want about this stuff, but the darn old farf thing was not crazy. If you go look at the numbers and Farve's better. Farve had a much better career. Sam's got six more years. Sam's passer ratings could end up in the 90s. going to be much higher. His yards per attempt with JSN is going to end up higher as well. His touchdown interception ratio with JSN, that's going to end up much higher. I think Mendoza's got a little bit of Andrew Luck. He's not as athletic as Andrew Luck.

Big, strong, smart, tough, family. I mean, was there ever a quarterback that was as humble as Andrew Luck? If I said most humble, talented quarterback ever, Lux won. From what I've seen from Mendoza so far, he would be two. Maybe Kirk Pousins is up there. Here's Bruce Feldman last week on Fernando Mendoza. You can affect him, but you cannot rattle him. And what they mean by that is, and this is totally backed up by the track record of 2025 season. It was like over and over again where they would say, all right, you know, you may get him on one play, but then he comes back on the next series, and as he's ready to go back to work. I always tell the story. I was at the

Coliseum in Los Angeles. Stanford was playing USC. It was a wild shootout. I think Matt Barkley, was Matt Barkley USC's quarterback. I think he was. But two great college quarterbacks. And Andrew Luck throws a terrible pick six late in the game. And he grabs his helmet. He's like, oh! And you can see, I saw a picture of him later on the highlights. He's smiling. I think David Shaw, if I recall was the coach. Next drive, Luck March is right. down the field. That is very Fernando Mendoza. Size, intellect, family, toughness, good late, sometimes going to make mistakes, short memory, bounces back. I don't think that's crazy. And I didn't think Darnold, I'm saying poor man, I'm not saying Darnold's

farb and Mendoza's luck. But there's some stuff there. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific. The NFL draft is where it all starts. This is crazy. From the picks to the breakdowns, weird cover ain't all of it. Hey, hi! Because in the NFL, I put myself in a position to be here. One pick can change everything. It's draft night long. Join Jenny Taft, Jake Laser, LeVarerrington, and former Falcons GM.

Terry Bonham, April 23rd at 5 p.m. Pacific. And it's brought to you by Express Bros. and Weibo. It's so I'm doing for, man. Hey, it's us, the Jonas brothers. And guess what? We have some big news. What's the news, name? Huge news. We've created our. own podcast called Hey Jonas. We invented a podcast? Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to it.

We're the first people to do podcasts. Pretty, yeah, pretty wide range of podcasts. We're starting a trend. But this one's extra special. So how did we, how do we actually come up with a name Hey Jonas, guys? I honestly don't remember. I think it was on a call about what we should call it. Well, we were thinking I'm originally calling it one of the early names of our band before Jonas Brothers. This is how you guys remember it going down? Yes. I have a very different memory of this. We were talking about a thing, a bit for the podcast,

where people could call in and say, hey, Jonas. And then I wrote down on my little notepad, Hey Jonas, and offered it up as a potential title for the podcast. But thanks for remembering that, guys. Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it.

Another podcast from some SNL, late-night comedy guy, Not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and Friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, 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. The French Open is one of the toughest tests in tennis, and I know firsthand because I competed there myself. I'm Renee Stubbs, and on the Renee Stubbs Tennis podcast, I'm breaking down everything happening at Roland Garris. Every match, every upset, and what it really takes to win on clay. Jenchian win. I mean, she went down in three to Rabakina, but I'm delighted. She's an outsider to win the French for me.

And she likes Clay. Listen, Lina Rabakina is arguably the best player in the world. right now and actually can win on any surface. Because if she's serving, well, good luck. Consider this your court side seat to the French Open. Listen to the Renee Stubbs tennis podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Presented by Capital One, founding partner of IHeart Women's Sports.

Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast Superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

And with that 10-year anniversary yesterday at FS1, Nick Wright is now joining us. And boy, he has had many looks. many looks over 10 years. He is a bon vivant. He's got kind of a European poker star look now. Congratulations. Congratulations, my friend. We were talking about the Giants.

I think John Harbaugh was creating a culture. And he's like, hey, I'm not starting this thing being held hostage by a defensive tackle that had relative to his career in offseason. I like the Giants. I know it's not a great draft, but I kind of like what they did with Dexter Lawrence. You? Listen, I think it is, without a doubt, one of the biggest trade steals in the last decade. I think Dexter Lawrence is a very good player.

He had a down year, hurt his elbow the year before. I still think he is a top five defensive tackle in the league. And when healthy, a top three, maybe top two defensive tackle in the league. But, Colin, this century, one non-quarterback has been traded for a guaranteed top 10 pick. Randy Moss to the Raiders. That's it. When I heard the Giants were getting the 10th pick for Dexter Lawrence,

I thought they were sending back, I thought they were sending Dexter Lawrence and the 37th pick to get the 10th pick. I did not, I thought a fair, you're in Chicago. I thought the Bears trading the 25th pick for Dexter Lawrence was about one. what the market would be, a late first rounder, similar to what the chiefs got for Trent McDuffie, what the Dolphins got for Jalen Wattle. To get the 10th pick of the draft for Dexter Lawrence is a great, even though he's a very good player, a third contract player.

Yeah. Great job by John Harbaugh. And on Cincinnati's side, this is why bad franchises, stay bad franchises. Panic, short-sighted moves. Yes, that will, this, he will help. them more than whoever they draft would have drafted at 10 next year, but it's not a long-term move. Okay, so I said this yesterday, and Daniel Jeremiah said the same thing. If you're the Rams of the Chiefs, you're never going to draft in this position again. It's like going to Disneyland,

and you may never go again, and you're like, well, I'm going to ride the roller coaster. I'm not coming to Disneyland. It may be the only time. I don't live in Anaheim. This may be the only time I ever come to it. So I said yesterday, I'm the Chiefs. I have three to four issues running back, check, solved it. Cornerback, there's a ton in the second round. A ton of good corners in the second round. Also, right tackle, but you did acquire a player from the Niners who in-house you may think can do it.

Okay, so my take is your other issue, and it's a real thing in a division with Herbert twice a year, Bo Nix, now Fernando Mendoza, AFC is the quarterback conference. Move up, call the Jets, both our first round picks, We'll take the best pure edge rusher. So I have solved running back. Because this team has depth.

They lack a little star power that the Rams and the Seahawks. Maybe the Eagles have. I don't think that's crazy. Brett Veets saying we are going to be the one team that moves up and gets a star edge rusher. Am I nuts? Listen, I don't think you're crazy. And where you and I are totally aligned is what the chiefs need to come out of that top 10 with is a pass rusher. I hear all the folks saying, oh, they might go offensive linemen.

They have a first round picket left tackle, a second round picket left guard, the highest paid center, the second highest paid right guard. Right tackle is a bit in flux, but like you said, they have Jaylen Moore who they signed from San Francisco. You can't spend five premium assets on all five spots on the offensive line. So there's that. Wide receiver might be a need because of Xavier Worthy's health and Rishi Rises off the field issues, but it also might not be a need. Passrusher is a definitive got to have it need. Now, I wouldn't trade up prematurely. I would wait and see how the draft is falling and to see is Rubin Bain going to be there.

Obviously, you're talking about David Bailey is like the ideal guy. But I think the chief's taking an impact front. seven defensive player when you don't ever expect to draft at nine again in Mahomes's career is what they've got to do and I would imagine what they hope to do. Okay, so I said every team in the play of the 16 playoff teams, they're three levels. They're either great. That's one team OKC. If Boston wins a second title, maybe we can put them in there. But OKC's defense is historically good. Their depth is historically good. Their GM's the best arguably

in the sport. They have one of the great scores ever, right? So that's a great team. Everybody else is very good. I would say Boston. I would say San Antonio until proven otherwise. Very good. The Knicks are good.

They have great halves. They have great quarters. They're good. I also said with Jalen Brunson. People say he's a star. No, no, no, no. There's a difference between weaknesses and flaws. LeBron can have a bad shooting series. He can work on it. You can work on weaknesses. Flaws are small, not hyper athletic.

I mean, to be honest with you, if you kind of look at him, he's a second round pick out of Bill and over for a reason. Like there are flaws, and then there are stars often have Yokin may have a weakness. Jalen's got flaws. You can't be a great player with multiple flaws. He's a very good player on a good team. Nick fans think it's a very good team and he's a great player. And then my takeaway is that's how you get disappointed as a fan when you have unrealistic expectations. How wrong am I?

I don't look. Wrong isn't the word I would use. Harsh maybe. Listen, I don't think, I think that can you win a title with Jalen Brunson as your best player? Can you? Yes. Does everything have to be perfect and do things need to fall exactly right? Probably. Now, they tried to build the exact team out that you would have to build with Jail as your best player. These long athletic switchable wings, another scorer in towns, all of that. And I respect that. And however, they built a team to beat Boston that, to its credit last year, even if Tatum hadn't gotten hurt, they beat Boston.

They beat Boston and they were going to win that series, even if Taden didn't get hurt. But they also are susceptible to what we saw last night, which last night was an egregious loss. That was so much worse than what happened with Denver. Denver had a big lead early. It was tied at halftime, then it's back and forth. The Knicks are in total control the whole game and then give it away. And Jalen, who I do think is one of the dozen best players in this league. I do that.

So that's where I think you're short-changing him a bit. Jalen can't be going 10 for 26 in playoff games you have control of. Like that's, you can't have in the second half of this game, I think it was 13 shots and one assist. That's not going to play. And I thought there's going to be a close series. I pick Nixon 7, with my analysis being at the end of these close games, one team has Jalen Brunce. the other team is C.J. McCollum. And with respect to CJ, I tilted that heavily towards Shailen. Last night, C.J. McCollum reminded everyone he's been in the league 13 years. 11 of those years he's

been in the playoffs. And he is in 70 career playoff games, 20 points per game in the postseason, which is like he's a real guy and he had an awesome, awesome moment last night. Okay. So Nick is saying I'm being harsh. So here comes to soft Colin. Oh, great. Is that I, this doesn't come out much. I feel terrible for KD, who doesn't believe in load management, who plays hurt often, who played 78 games, they didn't have a point guard in Houston. Second in the league in minutes.

37 years old. Incredible. Second in the league in minutes. Unbelievable. But if he misses tonight, that is the argument for, well, this is why guys load managed. So you're ready for the postseason. And I feel terrible because you can see how much it pain.

him. You know this is crushing him. If he can't play in this series, is it not what's Snape-Rle? I mean, except they say you just bang knees in practice, but I'm glad you bring this up because I want to take you to task on something because you, like many people, when I was saying, hey, the Lakers have a shot. Don't write them off. They're minus 900's too much and you were already doing your trade machine. Where are we sending Liberals? who fits with Luca doing the whole thing. What you and everyone said to me, yeah, LeBron's great, we get it. But of the six best players in the series, the Rockets have five, to which I say, okay, so without KD,

the Rocket should still be fine. Well, of the five best players in the series, by your guy's math, the Rockets have four. So a 41-year-old year 23, LeBron shouldn't be able to give him so much trouble, except, of course, he can't. Because what we have learned is ancient LeBron has regressed into prime Chris Paul. Ancient LeBron, all he is now is the point god with a little dash of Magic Johnson. And the way LeBron controlled every aspect of that game does make me feel like, man, even if KD comes back, the Rockets could be in trouble. And I'll give you a fun little stat, Colin. LeBron in his career 31 times has won game one of a series.

They are 29 and 2 in those 31 series. The last one he lost was 15 years ago, and LeBron in his career 32 times has gone up either 2-0 or 3-1, gone up two games in a series. They're 32-0, which means if the Rockets lose tonight, it's over. The Lakers will be advancing if they win tonight. and then, oh my goodness, Luke and Austin back, someone to come end our long national nightmare of the OKC floppers in their title reign? Oh my, I can't wait for it.

I will say, first of all, I'm working on peanut brittle and Red Bull today. I watched both games. By the way, NBA, unless you outlive on the West Coast, NBA, do me a favor. Oh, yeah, listen, you love Chicago. you love riding the train, but now all of a sudden games aren't over at 11 o'clock. I'm on the East Coast. The Laker game tonight, Colin, Tips at 1042 Eastern. Tips, 1042.

Hey, he's going to be on until 2 in the morning. But go ahead, as you were, sorry. Well, I mean, you know, you're a late night guy anywhere. That's true. They'll have it on in the card room. I mean, that is true. It'll be on there. Congratulations.

I mean, you got more. I mean, you've had more looks and hairstyle changes than Lady Gaga, but I love you to death and you're fantastic. I appreciate it. And you have to verify, Colin, as a character witness, that, because you've been with me every step of the way, there wasn't any flight to turkey and all of a sudden new hair. This was a grad, I had a shaved head look because I liked it. I might go back to it one day. and then I decided to grow my hair out. The two biggest scurrilous accusations I get. One is people think I'm very short. I happen not to be.

And the other one is I have fake hair. It's not true. Plenty of things to make fun of right here. That's fair game. The hair's real, though. See you, buddy. And you are as well authentic. Nick Wright, first things first.

Great show is after us. Yeah, the 10 years is a run. Is that how long our show's been hanging out here to 10 years? We've been on, because if he's been here 10, that means I've been here 10. 11? When you're having fun, it just flies. Hey, guys, it's us. The Jonas Brothers.

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