The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Best of The Herd: 02/21/2019

Episode Date: February 21, 2019

Colin had an instant vision of Zion Williamson shaking hands with Adam Silver during the upcoming 2019 NBA Draft wearing a New York Knicks hat after his shoe blew out during the Duke vs North Carolina game last night, the beginning of American Commerce! NFL quarterbacks are expected to be leaders holding the backbone of each team accountable yet passive aggressiveness like Aaron Rodgers and Big Ben create tension within the locker rooms. LeBron James admitted its time to put on his Super Man outfit to carry the Lakers into the post season playoffs. Kyrie Irving shows he cant handle the media and all the rumors swirling about words exchanged with Kevin Durant possible joining the Knicks, and Kevin Durant would be smart to play the field out and stay with the Warriors for one more season before jumping ship but wouldn't get any push back if he did leave for the New York Knicks.Guest: Daryl Morey - General Manager of the Houston Rockets 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. 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. I'm Timbo, and every episode, we're cutting through the noise,

breaking down the biggest moments in sports and giving you the real story behind the headline. And we're going straight to the source, the athletes themselves, their locker room stories, their reactions in the moment, and the stuff nobody gets to hear. Listen to Sports Slice on the Iheart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Sliced Life 12 in the TikTok podcast network on TikTok.

Another podcast from some SNL late night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smigel 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. What's up, guys? This is Clivert Taylor the Fourth. And on my podcast, The Cliverts Show, I'm bringing you conversations about all kinds of stuff. Like being an internet famous referee. We're in the middle of a game. This linebacker, this linebacker walks up to me. He goes, hey, ref, my mom wants you to wave at her.

What? Time out. Quarterback on office blue with 42. Hey, Wreck, my mama want you to weigh better. What? Hey, Miss Parker. Listen to the Clifford show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.

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

That's how personal it got. Wow. Then after that game seven, Mark keep coming until he's like, you know I love you, dog. You know, it's all love. This was just playoffs. This was just basketball.

So listen to Point Game on the IHeartRadio 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 SportsRadio.com or stream us live every day on the iHeartRadio app

by searching herd. This is the best of the herd with Colin Cowherd on Fox Sports Radio. Ah, here we go in a Thursday, hour one. This is The Herd, wherever you may be and however you may be listening. We are live in Los Angeles on IHeart Radio, Fox Sports Radio, and right here on FS1. Joy Taylor is joining me. Daryl Morey, Rockets General Manager, will be on the couch today, some pushback there. Broussard stops by as well. Joy, how are you?

I'm doing great. Good morning. Good morning. Last night was why America is great. Yes, I said it. Last night, Zion Williamson is done with college basketball. If not, he should be. And that is a great thing for all of us. It really is. Years ago, I was in Mexico in a pool. There was a surgeon from Beverly Hills, global traveler. We talked for like 30 minutes, sip beers. And I asked him before he swam away, just kind of hanging out in the sun. I said, what makes America great?

Why'd you move here? And he said, why America is the greatest country I've ever been. And again, he was a top surgeon in Beverly Hills, had lived in seven or eight countries. He goes, because America spots talent and then cuts a path and grooves it into commerce. For the gifted, there is no red tape. Commerce for the gifted is a wonderful thing. And it's why the world's best basketball players come here, and not Spain, and not Germany, and not China. They come here.

Because Zion Williams, my friends, is a prodigy. He should never play again at Duke. No, it's over. It's all over. By the way, the shoe deal is actually the greatest thing that ever happened to that young man. Nike now has to keep him. Oh, no, they have to keep him. When I used to work at ESPN, they used to bid on the Olympics, not because they wanted them.

they wanted to drive the price up for NBC. Make them uncomfortable. Under Armour and Michael Jordan, they're going to bid on Zion's shoes just to drive the price up because Nike's got more money. That kid is going to make more money on a shoe deal than anybody in the history of the business outside of MJ. Last night was not the end of amateurism. It was not the end of the NCAA. It was not the end of Nike. It was not the end of humanity.

It was the beginning of a wonderful thing called American Commerce. in the American basketball machine, Zion Williamson will make hundreds of people millionaires and himself eventually perhaps a billionaire. Executives, GMs, fans, he's different. He is a once-in-a-decade talent, a phenom. When he got hurt last night, was your first image really about the nets cutting them down in the ACC championship?

Mine wasn't. It was about wearing a New York Knicks hat. Buddy Healed was a college basketball player. So was Trey Young. So was R.J. Barrett. He is beyond that. The New York Knicks in Forbes magazine are listed at $4 billion in value. If he becomes a Nick, they are worth $4.5 billion the very same day.

If Nike signs him and I guess they will, I'm almost sure of it now after the shoe exploding, if they sign him to a new deal, the valuation of Nike stock will rise billion. in an afternoon, maybe in an hour. We do this in America, and it's why it's great. This is why America's great. We do it for a Whitney Houston. We do it for a Bryce Harper. We did it for Barack Obama.

When you find a political, a sports, an entertainment prodigy, Bryce Harper hit a 500-foot home run in high school. You don't waste his time four years in the minors. You groove him for the show. That's what America's about. America's about giving opportunities to young people and sometimes older people who are special, who are different. Zion William isn't just a basketball player. Zion Williamson is a prodigy, is transformative.

He doesn't even look like other college basketball players. The appetizer portion of this meal is over. Let's move to the entree, the NBA. Tiger Woods had an agent by 12. It wasn't published, but I lived in Oregon. I knew the Nike people. It was true. He had an agent by 12.

You don't waste Tiger Woods time. When the Democrats found Barack Obama and thought of him as a political prodigy, you don't go door to door. You groove this system to get him all the donors of the party aligned. Notice the Democrats have nine different people want to be president. Once they found Barack, it was like, clear the tarmac. We found our guy. Last night is not sad.

It's not the end of anything. It's the beginning of American commerce. I cross my fingers. They say now the injury is not too serious. God, I hope they're right. And I think they probably are. But everybody last night was freaking out. Ironically, that shoe exploding is the greatest gifts Zion's ever had.

beyond what the man upstairs gave him. Nike has to keep him now. Are you kidding me? Nike has to keep him. Can you imagine Zion Williamson saying, I can't wear Nikes. Nike will spend whatever it takes to get him. Last night was not a sad night. Last night was not the end of anything. It was the beginning of the machine. He's going to get rich. His family's going to get rich. Executives are going to get rich. the fans are going to win, a team is going to win, the league is going to win, he is bigger than college basketball. And I don't say that about a lot of players. But in 2019, when you have mid-level NBA guys signing $32 million a year deals, the kid's too big for college hoops. It's okay.

Don't be mad. This is why the world's best players want to come here. It's why the world's best businessman want to come here. It's why the world's greatest surgeons from Saudi Arabia, who I meet in a pool in Mexico, want to work here. They could save your life, your kid's life, your daughter's life, your son's life. We have the best universities. Ten of the top 15. We have the best hospitals.

We have the best athletes. Nothing ended last night. It all started. And yes, I want to see him as a New York neck. I don't want to see him as a cavalier. Nothing against Cleveland. I've seen that. Your star left. I don't want to see him in Orlando. I've seen that. Shack left. Last night was a great night. As long as the injury report comes back and it's just a mild knee sprain, which they're saying this morning it is. Let me shift to this.

Don't we want our quarterbacks? Wants not strong enough. Don't we demand that our quarterbacks are leaders? We kind of do, right? Leadership's hard. leadership's not a popularity contest. That's why a lot of people don't want to be leaders. Kyrie Irving doesn't sound like he wants to be a leader. He just wants to be a basketball player. LeBron's a leader. Michael Jordan's a leader. Michael Jordan punched the teammate. Tom Brady screams at teammates.

So there's all sorts of stories right now. Kevin Colbert's the GM for the Steelers. He's a good one. He drafts very, very well. He defended Ben Rothesberger. He and Antonio Brown's relationship has gone south. He said he's the elder statesman. If our players were smart, they'd listen to him.

He's got 52 kids. kids under him. You've got 53 guys who he can say, hey, right now he's the only one. He can call him out. That's fine. And the media's kind of freaking out. They don't like calling him kids, blah, blah, blah. I'm going to show you a piece of video, if I may. Sorry for the radio audience. It's Tom Brady yelling at people. I've never once criticized Tom Brady for yelling at people as I show you this video. Tom Brady is aggressive. Troy Aikman barked at people. I've had three football friends who played with Peyton Manning. Peyton Manning barked at teammates.

Tom Brady on more than one occasion yells at teammates. That's called leadership, aggressive leadership. Steve Jobs was aggressive. Bill Gates is aggressive. Leaders are aggressive. The great politicians, they're aggressive. They take risks. What I don't like about Big Ben is when he's passive aggressive.

What I don't like about Aaron Rogers is he's passive aggressive. Remember this sound? I'm going to play a piece of audio. Do we have that from Aaron Rogers said about the Packers' front office? Roll that. I think it's pretty clear that players play and coaches, coach, and personnel people make their decision. That's the way they want it. That's passive-aggressive. I don't like that.

I don't like Big Ben when he's passive-aggressive. I don't like Aaron Rogers when he's passive-aggressive. You never hear me yell at Peyton Manning for barking at a teammate. Tom Brady barking at a teammate. Troy Aikman barked at a teammate. Terry Bradshaw bark at a teammate. That's aggressive leadership. Okay.

Antonio Brown, his former teammate, Ryan Clark, who now works at another network, went on the air, knows Antonio Brown, and said this about him. I knew already that they were going to offer Antonio, and he's walking past, and I turn to the strength coach, and I say, when you give him money,

you're going to create a monster. Okay, so we have a teammate saying money changed him. So who is going to rein him in? Mike Tomlin. Mike Tomlin doesn't even hang out in the offensive meetings. Defensive head coaches, we had players say it this week on the show. They don't hang out in offensive meetings. Your quarterback's got to be the guy.

Your quarterback's got to yell. Dan Marino's got to yell. John Elway's got to yell. Troy Aikman's got to yell. Peyton Man's got to yell. I don't love everything Ben does. But I'll defend him on being aggressive. I'll defend Tom Brady turning around and barking at Joshman Daniels.

That is the opposite of passive aggressive. And I've criticized Ben. But I criticize him when he drops a goofy comment after a game and you're trying to read through the lines and you think he's Barry and Tomlin. Could be the Rooney's. That I don't like. But we demand that our quarterbacks are leaders. It's what I talk about all the time.

It's not about arm strength. Are you a grown-up? Are you a man? Can you go right out and call out somebody? Because most people don't want to do that. Most NBA players don't want to punch teammates. MJ did. Most teammates don't want to call out players.

Kobe did. LeBron does. I will defend aggressive leadership always. Antonio Brown was so upset that he didn't win a team MVP award this year. They gave it to Ju-Jew Smith-Huster. That he pouted and the team had to suspend him. You can bang on Ben all you want. Ben has never missed a game

because he got mad that he didn't win a team plaque. Ben's not perfect, but I'll defend aggressive Ben calling out guys, and those are the claims here, over the passive aggressive actions of Ben and others anytime. What are the wise guys where?

I get asked that from time to time. The answer is the new gear from theherdnow.com merchandise store. We are now officially open for business. We have all the apparel, diehard herd fans need to represent the show. Go to theherdnow.com. If you don't, that's a you problem. And that's a you problem is one of our shirts. Check it out.

Theherdnow.com. Theherdnow.com store is open for business today. Last night, a blown call changed the game. This morning, the internet lost its mind. Highlights are trending. Opinions are flying. And nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in.

I'm Timbo. Every episode, we're cutting through the noise. Breaking down the plays, the controversies, and the stories behind the headlines. We go straight to the source, the athlete themselves, their locker room stories, their reactions, the stuff nobody gets to hear. The laughs, the drama, the triumphs, the moments that never make the highlight real. From viral moments to historic games, from buzzer beaders to controversial calls, we break it down, give you context, and ask the questions everybody wants answered.

Slice brings you closer to the action with stories told by the people who live them. Listen to Sports Slice on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Slic Life 12 and the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. 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 Fantaine, 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, as we have real conversations about healing, growth, fatherhood, pressure, and purpose on my new podcast, Learn the Hardway. Open your free iHeartRadio app.

Search Learn the Hardway and listen now. What's up, guys? This is Clivert Taylor the 4th. And on my podcast, The Cliverts show, I'm bringing you conversations about all kinds of stuff, like being an internet famous referee. We're in the middle of a game. This linebacker, this linebacker walks up

to me, he goes, hey, ref, my mom wants you to wave at her. What? Time out. Quarterback on office blue with 42. Hey, ref, my mama want you to wave at her. What? Where's she at? Hey, Miss Parker.

Listen to the Cliverts show on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. What's up, fam? This Isaiah Thomas. And I'm C.J. Toledano, and our podcast Point Game is about defying the odds. Like LeBroninburne. heading into the playoffs without Luca and Austin Reed. And finding ways to win no matter what.

He's the smartest player to ever play the game. His IQ is at a level that we've never seen before. And he knows without Luca and Austin Reeves, I got to manipulate the game. We get a player's perspective on the challenges of the playoffs. I think Joker's going to be exhausted this series because when they don't have Rudy in the lineup, he has to really guard guys like Nas Reid.

He has to guard Julius Randall. And then he has to give us everything he gives us on the night-to-night basis on offense. And when IT's friends stop by, like Quentin Richardson, we dive into some playoff history too. Steve Nash would get that thing. That man, hell get to fly. He running up the court, licking his fingers

why he got the ball. Like, you go through a training camp with that, I said. You figure it out real quick. Get your ass up and down the court, and you're going to get the ball. So listen to Point Game on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. You know, for years and years,

I have been critical of the media when they rip athletes for being honest, even if they say things we're not comfortable with. And LeBron James said something yesterday, and some will push back that it's too much ego or that he's admitting that his regular season effort isn't equal to his playoff effort. But LeBron James got hurt, wanted to come back slowly. And we've said this for years. January and February, that's where James Hardin is looking to get a plaque,

and Russell Westbrook wants to be nominated for him. an Oscar. LeBron doesn't care. He's not chasing plaques. He's chasing immortality. And he does not. And believe me, Larry Bird didn't play hard by the time he had a bunch of titles and a bunch of money every single quarter, every single moment, that I think it is smart in every business when you become a legend to pick your spots. Michael Jordan, believe it or not, he retired from basketball. He wanted to give it a rest. Okay, went and did baseball for a couple years for whatever reasons. So LeBron admitted yesterday this year he didn't he didn't want to play as hard as he's going to have to play. He didn't want to put on the Superman cape left yet,

but he's going to have to now because the Lakers are three out of the final spot. Well, it's going to be a little bit different, you know, for me now. I'm just knowing the position that we're in, you know, for me personally, I haven't been in this position a while because of my injury is kind of, you know, hit us, hit our team, you know, and obviously we would love to have the success where I was out, but we didn't, and this is where we is right now. So, you know, I'm going to be a little bit different, a little bit earlier than I would like to be in previous years. Just get in. I've said that from the beginning.

Just get into the playoffs. The Lakers have their next seven games. I think the Lakers go five and two. I think they lose to Houston tonight. Then I think they beat New Orleans, Memphis and New Orleans again. Then they lose to Milwaukee in L.A. They're a very good road team. They beat Phoenix and the Clifference.

They're five and two. They make up a little ground on the clippers and kings. They're a game out by then, maybe two. And here you go. Just get into the playoffs. But I appreciate LeBron being honest. LeBron is telling you, listen, regular seasons now, I can't be gas going into the postseason.

I've played 168 playoff games in the last eight years. I appreciate his honesty. And by the way, in the NFL and in the NHL and hockey, You got to play hard every time you're on the field, head in a swivel, or you get hurt. But in baseball, not every yet bat is October, and in basketball, Tuesday night in Memphis, in February is not Sunday night on ABC against the Warriors.

Tip of the cap, Superman Cape goes on earlier than he wanted, and I do think again, the Lakers and LeBron get in. Seven or eight spot, don't last long. If they're the eight spot, seven, they can win a series. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific on Fox Sports Radio, FS1 and the IHeard Radio app. Kyrie Irving of the Celtics, he is talking a lot lately. He was talking to Rachel Nichols that he asked me in about all these rumors about where he's going.

And he had a quote, he said, people don't realize on the outside that a lot of things that are said get into the locker rooms. like a lot of things that are put into the headlines, they get into the locker rooms. And media has broken up locker rooms. It's been done before. Yeah, weak locker rooms. The Patriots. And their locker room doesn't get broken up with media.

And Alabama football doesn't get broken up. And Clemson football doesn't get broken up. And the Golden State Warriors don't get broken up. Weak marriages, weak businesses, weak cultures, and weak locker rooms get broken up by the media. If you can't withstand the, media? I mean, if Golden State couldn't handle us, you think they

beat Michael Jordan's Bulls or the Showtime Lakers, they couldn't handle us? A bunch of out-of-shaped sports riders and sportscasters. And then Kyrie Irving said this about the rumors about Kevin Durant and the video in the hallway that showed he and Kevin Durant talking, Kyrie said this.

So it's a video of me and one of my best friends talking. And then it turns out to be a dissection of a free agency media. You get that? Do you get that? And then I'm asking, and I'm asked questions about it.

That's what disconnects me from all that. It's my life, right? There's two people talking, having a conversation. But it's a video of somebody assuming what we're talking about, right? Making an opinion about it. So why would I care about it? Why does that have an impact on my life? Why are you asking those types of questions?

Because you're a superstar in the NBA. This is not an indictment on the media. It's an indictment on Kyrie Irving who's letting this crap get him worked up. Like, dude, you left the best player in the world, LeBron, and then you left a team that had been to the finals three straight years, the second best team in the world. So you left the best player and the second best team. I'm going to assume that you have the right to leave in three months.

You may, and you're a star. And I thought with all this stuff, you know what? Instead of criticizing him, certain players I just sort of give up on the sensitive stuff and I put them into my all-sensitive Hall of Fame. And without further ado, it is time to induct our newest member into our all-sensitive Hall of Fame. And before we do that, let's look back at the other members of the Hallowed Hall. Kevin Durant, who has dominated the NBA finals and also the comment section on YouTube.

Kevin Durant is in our All-Sensitive Hall of Fame. Odell Beckham, Jr., who can handle a football with one hand, but doesn't appear to be able to handle Doug Gottlieb. Terrell Owens, a man who needs no introduction, but at this point could, really actually use a conclusion. So Kevin Durant, Odell Beckham's on the all-sensitive team. And I think T.O. is already a member of the all-sensitive team. Baker Mayfield, who gained admittance into the hall just last year for his constant need to attack anybody who dares criticize him.

And that leads us to our newest inductee, Kyrie Irving, who today earns admittance for his continued dedication to believing that the entire world even though he's an NBA superstar, should not talk about him in a hallway, even though the reason we talk about him in a hallway is because he's a superstar, and that's good for his business. So congratulations, you have been inducted into our All Sensitive Hall of Fame.

Aaron Rogers, by the way, has been nominated. Not inducted yet, but he's like this far out. Aaron Rogers is not in? It's Aaron Rogers. In fact, this weekend, where the committee is voting. Oh, okay. I feel like he's got, he's just got one more little push.

Hey, like every Hall of Fame, there's always somebody you think should be in or not. Yeah, there's always that final vote. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific. So I've never bought into Kevin Durant leaving the Warriors. I think it's insane. I would never do it. But Sam Amick, NBA reporter, came on our show yesterday. And I asked him, do you think he's going? And he said, well, certain people.

are talking. There's this kind of unique calculus in sports media and sports fandom where the idea of getting one championship in New York is worth however many somewhere else. And that's where I think in his mind, that prospect of going there doing something like that, obviously that's a pretty tough mountain to climb, but doing it in that market in that city with that friendship he has with Jay-Z who knows better than anybody, kind of what New York can bring you. I think that is what he's looking at. His people have gone around the league and talked in pretty, you know, kind of alarming terms about the New York possibility. That's why we're talking about it so much.

Okay. So once Sam said that, then it's a real deal. That's where I got my Russell Wilson story. That's where I got my Christian Pulisic story about a month before I got reported. Once agents talk, that's who star athletes go to when they have a question or a crisis. They don't go to mom. They don't go to dad. They don't go to their cousins.

They don't go to their coach. They don't go to their GM. They don't go to the team owner. They go to their agent. That's what agents do. They solve problems. and they give you information, and they lay out the land for you. That's the number one reason I think it's real.

The number two reason is Kevin Durant is sensitive, and I don't think he'd get me pushback for going. The media is rooting for him to go to the Knicks because it makes the league more interesting. The NBA right now has a parody issue. If he left to the Knicks, you know, the NBA writers get read more, get more clicks, get more money, get more value when we're interested in what they say. Secondly, the NBA privately would love this. They know they have an issue.

Numbers are down. 12% All-Star game down. 20% TNT ratings are down. Is that because the guys are not good basketball players? No, they've got a problem. They have a team that's so dominant that nobody can compete with them. And I don't think he gets crushed for this. When LeBron left Cleveland the first time,

it was almost like bailing on your high school girlfriend. You were super talented, but come on, she was there for you. And when he left Small Market Oklahoma City, Kevin Durant, it was, come on, they stuck through you. Nobody's going to have any pity for poaching Golden State in their dynasty that's already won three titles if he goes to New York. So number one, agents are talking. That usually means it's real. And number two is Kevin is sensitive, and I think he knows. Not going to get a lot of pushback.

Just think about this. Let's say tomorrow he announces. I'm going to the Knicks. Media doesn't rip him? Oh, well, I mean, it's still the middle of the season. No, no, no, no. Let me reframe it. They win a title and he announces next day.

I'm going to New York. Not going to get any pushback for that. Like, in fact, what the media will do is what they often do. They rip you for doing something. Then when you win, they rewrite history and go, you know, I told you so. This was a brilliant move by him. The media never admits they're wrong. The media never admits they were on the wrong side.

and the media was completely diametrically opposed to him going to Golden State. They ripped him. We did not. They did. And I wouldn't rip him for leaving. But they will also, though critical initially, the media will be like, it's good for the league. It is great for the league because it's New York. And like like I said before, I feel like the Knicks are the Cowboys of the NBA.

They're just that iconic franchise that maybe hasn't won the big game in a long time. They haven't won the championship, but they are a humongous international brand. And also, Joey, he's signed one-year deals. He's never married them. He's been dating. He's been doing one-year contracts. No, it feels a lot like the LeBron and Miami situation. And I would argue that even though if he stayed, he may win that fourth title in a row, which would be a big deal.

It'd be a much bigger deal if he won three titles in a row and then eventually won one title in New York. Because it's New York. I actually think that would be bigger than winning the four because people are constantly going to say he joined this super team and that it was just easy for them. Yeah, I think it feels like it's more likely to happen than not happen. In fact, the story today, the headline today is Warriors, quote, have no idea, unquote, if Kevin Durant will re-sign in the offseason. I would stay.

I would win a third, stay for a fourth with a new arena, then see if Zion goes there. You know, I want to see what happens. I want to see what gets cobbled together. One more herd? The herd streams 24 hours a day, seven days a week, within the IHeart radio app. Search Herd to listen live or on demand whenever you'd like. Waiting for this interview all day. I only get Darrell Morey a couple times a year and his Rockets are in Los Angeles to take on the Lakers.

He has been the Rockets GM for 11 years. NBA executive of the year multiple times. You now have a beard. You look very professorial, very academic. I mean, you went to MIT anyway, but it does, you grew a beard. Why? I started when James started his 30-point streak and figured I'd have to shave it soon. But no, here it is.

Still going. So the best player on your team and the GM got a beard thing going. Do you worry, though? And I said this last year. I don't think people understand it. To play on both ends of the floor at an elevated level is hard. I mean, Kobe at one point was a good defensive player. He didn't do a lot of it after about year 10.

LeBron's not the same defensive player, not a criticism, it's a reality. Do you worry that James, the effort to score 35 in this league, it's daunting that he could be gassed by the second round? He had to do it. I mean, we've had so many injuries. This is our first healthy night for our starters, I think, in months. Tonight? Tonight?

Wow. Against the Lakers. So we're full strength and we're against playoff for LeBron. Superman, Kate LeBron. It should be a, it should be a, it should be a, great show for folks. Hopefully we do it well. But you know, we were in bad straits. We had Chris out.

We had Clint out. We needed him to step up. He put us on his shoulders. He's actually been playing both ends really well, having his best defensive season as well. So the reality is it's what we needed. You can fall out of the West easily as the team we're playing tonight knows.

You know, it is interesting. For years and years, there was a narrative. The West is better than the East. I bought it. I think the East is a little better this year than it's been in years. I want to throw a theory, and I've never been able to figure it out. I've never been able to figure this out. Why that's the case?

Why for 20 years, the West is better than the East? Now, I used to float a theory that it's a winter league, and players would rather wake up in Phoenix and L.A. than Chicago. Why do you think the West has been the spot? My theory, and to your point, it's all theory, I think just frankly the owners are better in the West. They've been consistent. I think ownership is the number one factor for a lot of these teams.

They set the tone. They hire the people, everything. If you look at the West owners, they've consistently been very good. So it's kind of just happen, Stan. It worked out that way. Yeah, I think so. I would argue NFC owners outside of Bobcraft always felt a little better than AFC.FSI. owners. So I think that that may be it.

Maybe smart owners like buying teams in nice weather places. So maybe that's more. You just went second level thinking on me. Player mobility, I've moved a lot. So I would be an utter hypocrite. You and I have talked about this for me to go on the air and say don't move. I'm always pro-mobility. I do, I'm going to throw a mythology at you.

I think LeBron and Michael are just historic outliers in the sport. Okay. LeBron's political. Most players aren't. Kevin Durant's like, I just won't play basketball. Is that when LeBron leaves, there is no other LeBron. Is that most players are closer. James Hardin's not gregarious. Kauai Leonard's not gregarious. Yana said, I want to stay in Milwaukee. Damian Lillard. A lot of this is fear-based from smaller markets.

But LeBron is very rare. He has historic aspirations that player-moving. Mobility is oversold and over, we're two of the country, the commissioner, we're freaking out about something that has largely been empowered by LeBron, but he's probably gone and out of the league in five years. I just think player mobility, it's fearmongering. I see it with political hosts. I see it with sports host.

What do you make a player mobility? I think it's very good for the league. I think it keeps us at the top of, you know, your show and other shows. I think players should be. able to go play where they want to play. I think a lot of the changes to shorter contracts have increased player mobility. I'm a big

fan of player empowerment. I think players are the talent. Players are the people who generate the wins. And I like when players get to choose where they want to be. Because I think to be frank, I think that favors the Houston Rockets. Players want to play with us. Players want to play with the best team. So we're a big fan of player mobility.

But the smaller markets, Darrell, What do you say to that? I'm not in one. That's a good answer. Yeah, it's somebody else's problem. Yeah, no, my job is to help the Houston Rockets win, so I focus on that. And I get that the league office has to worry about those issues.

But for me, I'm just trying to win the championship somehow. One of the things we can't talk about Zion Williamson, but I do think there's an interesting conversation to have. We have the NBA, that's the entree, and college basketball has always been sort of the appetizer. There is a league in between those two that I think is wildly underrated called the G League. Now, I don't think last night was the end of Nike college basketball or amateurism, but I do think there were a handful of 16, 17, 18-year-olds that watched that and thought,

I think Adidas is very excited right now, too. The G League. One of the reasons I'm not a huge believer, you have to pay out college athletes, because if you are a basketball prodigy and there's about seven domestic kids a year that are literally good enough to go to the NBA, maybe need about an hour with Mike Shoshavsky or Bill Self, that the G League is an absolutely viable transition league. Do you believe that or am I overstating it?

No, absolutely. In fact, it's underrated. Commissioner Silver has done a fantastic job growing that. People don't realize the worst D-League team would beat Duke by 20 to 30 points on a given night. Yes. The level of play is super high. The talent is super high.

I see a huge future in the G-League. I think it'll be a viable option for these players. And a viable option is playing overseas as well. I think you saw Luca Donchich, you know, tweet about, hey, you know, players should maybe play overseas like I did. He made significant money over there before he came over. I do think the G League is an up-and-coming model. Is there any value to college basketball? For me to evaluate them as draft picks, yes.

You're being very honest today. I really appreciate that. Okay, so you said this, and I just pushed back. I didn't love this comment. Love the beard, didn't love this. You said that Hardin could be in the conversation as the best offensive player of all time. And I said, he's not as good as Kobe. He's not as athletic.

I don't think he's quite as long. I don't think he's as vertical. I don't think he's quite, I don't think he's Kobe. Now, I'm not going to deep dive into analytics. So for you to say that, knowing your MIT background, in your analytic specialization. Why do you say that? Because I look at Kobe and James,

and they're both all-timers, but I lean Kobe because I think he was a little longer, a little bigger, a little more athletic, and a little more vertical. So there's a dimension there finishing at the rim. That's my pushback. Yeah, I don't want to compare too much to Kobe. He's an all-time great,

so you can't take anything away from him. But if you just look at offensively, the best offenses of all time are currently playing in the NBA. They're our team, their Golden State. Yeah. And just literally just the fact that when we cross half court, we score more points than any team has in history. And how does that happen? It's happening because of the great players on our teams. And obviously Golden State has multiple, multiple top players. We have James Hardin and Chris Paul. We didn't have Chris Paul out of the season. If you just look at James Harden and when he drives the basket, what happens? Out of isolation, out of a set, he generates more points than basically. any player in history. So that's my argument. People made it sound like there's this horrible comment. And then I felt better. There was like 10 articles after basically saying, no,

Daryl's right. He is one of the best offensive players of all time. Until we get a ring, people aren't going to probably recognize that. But offensively, his talents are undeniable. You know, what I've always liked about you, we had lunch a couple of months ago. And, you know, people forget this. Bill Belichick has whiffed on all sorts of draft picks. He just has a lot of them, is smart. Yeah. And that is smart. The reality is you can't look within a kid's soul. You can do as much scouting. When you look at the NBA today, who's a player in the NBA that has shocked you? That is significantly better than you thought. Even with your scouting department, with your expertise, your Celtics, your MIT, your rockets, is there a guy you're like, I didn't see that?

Yeah, no, there's quite a few. I mean, uh, in the NBA. It's hard for me to talk specifically about them, but the guys who are picked later, really the NBA missed on them. You know, you look at... Play Thompson. He was picked later. Then you can even go into the second round.

There's been some great players in the second round picked recently. So, you know, we like to think it's a science, the draft. And the reality is it's still 70, 80 percent not science. It's luck or art, whatever you want to call it. What matters to you? Now, using today's game, I don't want back to the basket bigs. I want the Euro big face to the basket. highly skilled. What matters

when you look at a player, Mark Warkentine was an executive used to always say, you guys never talk about length. He goes, I love length. Scotty Pippen gave me two tip passes. Jordan converted one of those to a basket. That won a lot of games in 10 years. What do you look at?

You mentioned length. That's actually the only physical factor when you control for how you play that actually is additive. It actually helps you predict what they're going to do in the NBA. So Warcintin was on that. I would say the biggest thing we look for, it sounds silly, but it's like a guy who really elevates his team's ability to win. We don't tend to, we haven't picked high in a long time.

Right. Our highest pick ever is 14 since I've been with the Rockets. So we're generally picking not among the hyper talented guys that everyone talks about, but among the grinders and the winning players. And we look for, we look for those players who love the game who are going to continue to work on their game and who already are doing it in college. That's generally what we look for. And we've had a very good track record with that. Tonight Rockets Lakers, Chris Paul Rondo facing since the spitting incident, I could forget a lot of things. But if Joy spit on me in between segments, a year from now, if I saw Joy for the first time, it wouldn't sit well. I would not blame Chris Paul if he was

not in the greatest mood tonight. Are you concerned about that experience? Chris is one of the most intense guys I've ever been around. Whether he's been spit on or not, I think he's bringing it 100% always. So he doesn't have a mode. He doesn't have a playoff mode and a non-playoff mode. So Chris is bringing it tonight, you know,

whether he's been spit on or not. I don't think it's a big factor. When you, how did you know Hardin and Chris Paul were going to work? By the, for the record, I like to enjoy, I don't know you went on the show yet. My takeaway was they're both really smart. If you put two smart people in a room, they'll figure it out.

But that's my rule on any business. But there was a lot of pushback that their styles didn't work. You rolled the dice. Why? So that's the right answer that we thought it would work, but we didn't know. Nobody knows, right? No one knows for sure. I think we had a lot of things that made us feel good.

Coach Santone had coached them both together in USA basketball. USA basketball shows that if you've, to your point, if you get smart, good basketball players, they're going to like make winning plays together. It's only when you get talented players who maybe don't think the game well. But Chris is only, well, he's not only good. He's good for a lot of reasons. But a key reason he's good is he's extremely smart. That's also true of James Harden.

The fact that they're both smart and they're putting a great system by Mike, we thought it could work. It actually worked better than we thought, frankly. Yeah. Yeah, it was better. Yeah. By the way, you have a new owner. and owners can be demanding.

You've made moves. You're never afraid to make moves, which is interesting because when you're on a good team, you don't want to disrupt character. You've been kind of a, you're a dice roller. So, and a lot of, you know, it's easy if you've got nine wins. The Knicks can make all sorts of moves. But you're good.

You're seen as the real challenger to the warriors, and you've made acquisitions. I know Trevor Reza was painful, but you can't sit around and whine about it. where do the epiphanies come? When are you, is it a discussion with your scouting department and to drive to work? What is the trigger moment for you to go, I'm doing it? Yeah, I mean, we're looking at some signings right now, so this is pretty relevant.

And to your point, you know, Tillman Fertita, what I love about him is he's brought in, he's been successful at everything else by being a risk seeker, a smart risk seeker. and, you know, he's given, he's empowered us to really take that mode. He has. And that's a mode that we like. Because I, you know, we're still chasing the Warriors, all-time great team, probably should have won four titles in a row, one three. We need to take risks.

We're not as good as them. We hope to be as good as them by April 15th. So we're going to continue to take swings at this. We took swings at the start of the year. Everyone sort of criticized what we did, what we didn't do. our goal is to be the best team on April 15. That's always been our goal. And that's what I'm moving towards.

And that means trying things. Yeah. The NBA is fun. The ratings are down a little bit this year. And I do think the Warriors are a really fun story. But I do worry that. And you worried about this at the end of Michael Jordan's first three-year championship. Is there a fatigue that nobody can beat them?

I do think, this sounds macaw. but Stephen Kevin Durant have twisted an ankle a couple of times. It may take a bad break for them. Analytically, though, I've asked you questions before about players. Analytically, have you guys ever looked at the Warriors and the Chicago Bulls and said, what do the analytics tell you about that matchup? My eyes tell me that the physicality, if you were allowed to use some of the old rules, I would take Chicago.

If I said to you, Warriors, Bulls, the rules are split. It's a little more physical. What do the analytics say about that matchup? Yeah, I'll say what I know I can say, I feel. So if you took the Bulls in their prime and, like take 97, maybe that's the best team. And transported them to now and played the rules now, Golden State would crush them. I don't even think it would be close. I can't, I don't feel like I know enough.

I watched the Bull. I watched the Bulls beat my Cleveland teams growing up over and over. Both were good teams. Yeah, we were great teams and Jordan was always in the way and Pippin, all these guys. So it's very frustrating. I don't feel like I know enough to know what happened if you take Golden State and transport them back. I respect the opinion. Maybe they would lose because of the rules are different.

But in today's game. Today's game, it's not close. And it's not just the rules. I just think the players are better. I'm not saying you put Jordan now and he wouldn't be elite, elite. he would be right there with the best in the league but if you go down two through 15 or maybe in their case more like four through 15 they had some great players the players after that are just better you know the other thing darrell that i always i always when i talk to friends about this everybody can

handle the ball in the NBA now yeah yeah you you could literally at a seven game series i can look at that bull team and say take the ball to boom boom even back then on that team six guys you don't want the ball. You used to be able to play elite rebounders who could do nothing else, non-shooters who could just defend. You can't be a specialist in the NBA. It's going to get targeted in the playoffs and you're and you're going to get killed. Is Dan Tony a nice guy? Unbelievable guy. The best. I mean, really. Really? Yeah. I mean, he's got that West Virginia accent and just the best guy. Yeah. And smart and an innovator. I'm lucky to work with Yeah. You know, the Fertita family, when I moved to Vegas out of college, I was a big ball of mess and had no money. But I would go to the Furtita's places. And they used to have 99 cent breakfast. So I ostensibly bought the Rockets because I have spent more money. I have put more money between UFC and between their casinos. I think they're called Station Casinos in Las Vegas. Golden Nugget.

Golden Nugget. Spent a lot of money there. Yeah. Well, your percentage of the Rockets is probably a seat. at one of our games. So we'll hold it for you. Okay. Hey, it's great seeing you. Thanks for having me. Good luck. One of the really smart, good guys in the NBA, Darry, GM. 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. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind.

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