The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Best of The Herd: 03/28/2019

Episode Date: March 28, 2019

Colin says the NFL made an emotional decision to change replay rules and emotional decisions never work.  He thinks Kobe Bryant used Hollywood after his career and Hollywood is using LeBron in the middle of his.  Plus, Albert Breer of The MMQB talks about the Patriots attempts to trade for Antonio Brown and OBJ.  Presented by Perky Jerky. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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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. This is the Best of the Herd with Colin. Cowher on Fox Sports Radio. Ah, here we go. This is the herd. Wherever you may be and however you may be listening, we are live in Los Angeles. IHeart Radio, Fox Sports Radio, and FS1 loaded today. I believe Arizona is going to make a move and a trade here pretty quick on Josh Rosen. We'll get to that later.

Albert Brear this hour. Joy Taylor is joining. me today as always. We have a pack show today with all sorts of great stuff. Joy, how are you? I'm great. Good morning. Good morning. She's got those sunnies. Look at that. Spring. You're ready to go. You have moved off winter. I'm off winter. I'm off winter. I'm off winter. You put me in a good mood today. I always, I'm not a big person when it comes to advice. My life's different than yours. Yours is different than mine. I'm not a big advice guy. I'll give you opinions, here's one, don't make big decisions laced with emotion. You're mad, you're angry in my

lifetime, the more emotion in my decision, the worst decision I make. I mean, there's not even exceptions. I've had to apologize so many times in my life over the course of my 50 years, because the first five years I wasn't making a lot of decisions, you know, I was not paying a mortgage, that I've had to apologize for because it was like, you know what, I was overheated, I was sad. I was too happy. Take a deep breath, sleep on stuff. Not a night.

Not too night. Sleep on stuff for a long time. More emotion, worst decision. So the NFL, New Orleans Saints got robbed in a play, right? Emotion, emotion, emotion, emotion, emotion, emotion, emotion. And they changed the pass interference rule. It was a horrible call.

But yesterday, the NFL said, oh, right, we have overturned the past interference call. You can replay it now. Oh, what's interesting is the NFL also released several pieces of video from last year that would have been with the new replay rule overturned. Here's an interesting one. The Steelers were at New Orleans late in the year. This was called pass interference. It gave the Saints the ball at the one, two yard line.

They scored. They won the game. Oh, the NFL says with a new replay rule on pass interference, this would not have done. been ruled past interference. Steelers win, Saints no longer the number one seed have to go on the road 3,000 miles in Los Angeles to play the Rams and they don't lose much in Los Angeles. Yes. Yes, New Orleans, this game would not have turned out in your favor. By the way, the Rams calling are lucky to be in the Super Bowl. Actually, let's look at a second piece of tape. At the Super Bowl, the Rams would have had a first and goal had there been a

review of replay on this corner throw to Brandon Cooks. Because if you reviewed it, watch right here. Sorry radio listeners. Patriots grabbed his arm, first and goal. Rams would have scored. Instead, there was no call just incomplete. And on the very next play, Jared Gough pressured, through a pick game over. Rams could have won the Super Bowl had the replay been in. Would you have been happy with that in New England? Saints would not have had home field advantage?

Hey, Cleveland, Baltimore, Pittsburgh would have made the playoffs. When you make decisions based on emotion, you almost always make terrible decisions. The New Orleans Saints have really weak, corners in a division with really good wide receivers. Don't you think New Orleans could use a little leeway on the clutching and grabbing stuff? Because they got the weakest corners in their division, and that division's got nothing but great wide receivers.

They're going to need leeway the next couple of years. As Drew Brees gets older and older, the offense isn't quite as explosive, had a couple of guys leave. New Orleans is going to need a little leeway on those corners. As Dean Blandino said yesterday, when you react emotionally and then have an owner's meeting and rush something right into the market, right into the game, it's generally not a good decision long term. What the NFL did yesterday is they won the press conference, right? They won the press conference,

but as we all know, that's not, that's only part of it. Now we've got to figure out all the unintended consequences and vet out where normally the competition committee has months to go through this, think about it. Obviously, the play happened in the NFC championship game. No one wants to see that type of mistake affect a game, but is replay truly the fix here? Or is it officiating on the field and making sure they have good direction? They're coached up. They know what pass interference is, and they're going to make the call when it has to be made. Dean Blandino used to run the officials. The league is not as smartly officiated or as well officiated since he left. I said it last year. The NFL's got to get him

back and pay whatever it takes. The answer to this was educating your officials. The answer to this was improving the quality of officials. Instead, they let Blandino leave the league, money issue, just pay them. What's bigger than officiating the fabric of your sport? And not overreacting to this. Just a basic rule in life. Take emotion out of your decisions.

You make better decisions. And don't overreact. active stuff because of a crazy event. Nick Wright on the show yesterday had my favorite analogy on this. Colin, if you're driving on the 405 and you go under an overpass and a giant boulder lands on the hood of your car, it hadn't happened, your entire life will never happen again. You don't buy boulder insurance.

You say, man, that's terrible luck. You don't change a system for an anomalous event. It won't happen again anytime soon. And to change the system because of it is absurd and mark it down. Fans will hate it. I have no idea what in the world anybody is going to do with Hail Marys. If you go letter to the law, they'll all be pass interference. The desperate team will get a huge edge.

And I think sports should be built for better coaches, better players, better schemes and better organizations to win, not give the trailing team late, the fluky team, an officiating break. Let me shift to this. Last night, this will make news. It's sort of silly. It's like one of those late night shows,

James Corden, Jimmy Kimmel, Jimmy Fallon, Stephen Colbert. They're not journalists, they're entertainers. And when guys like Kobe Bryant go on, you know, they're going to play to the crowd. And last night was one of those moments. where the non-sports host, who doesn't want to get sports, brings on the sports star, and, you know, it's the environment. You know, Kobe says something,

and people make a big deal out of it. Here it was. I would like you to rank these legendary basketball players from best to worst. LeBron James, Michael Jordan, and Kobe Bryant. Fine. I'm the best. Michael's second best. Okay. Don't make a big deal.

out of that. Okay, I don't even care the rankings, but I will say this. Here's where Kobe and Michael are much better than LeBron. Focus. Anybody noticed how brilliant Kobe Bryant's post-basketball career has been? Wouldn't we all agree it's hard to be great at multiple things at one time? Kind of is. Kobe was transfixed with basketball when he played it. He had no social life. Mocked for that, Kind of a loner, aloof. But nobody would argue his basketball career was A++. Then Kobe shifted all his passion and intensity and retired from basketball and moved into his next career. That has also been so far A++.

He won an Oscar for a short film. It was fantastic. And he has a bestseller, a new kids book that's out that is fantastic. People on our staff have bought it. A++. because Kobe and Michael understood, I'm all in on hoops, and then I'm not,

and now I'm all in on business. LeBron James basketball suffered this year, and none of his projects are actually A-plus. He's doing too many of them. This is where LeBron is absolutely behind Kobe and Michael. Kobe and Michael, the power of the word no.

How many dinners did Kobe turn down with Hollywood stars through the years? Thousands. How many meetings? Hundreds. Kobe, when he played basketball, was in a basketball. And then when Kobe's basketball ended, he had no insecurity having to do TV, movie projects while he played. Kobe used Hollywood.

Instead, Hollywood has used LeBron. They haven't given him the best writers and the best producers. He's got a bunch of marginal TV projects, side businesses. They're fine. None are disasters. They're not special. Kobe spent so much time in Los Angeles. He wasn't enamored by it.

Kobe used Hollywood at his discretion. You want to have dinner? No. Want to do this project? No. Want to do this? No. And then when his career ended, it was a series of carefully, smartly designed yeses. Yes, I'll work with this elite animation director.

Yes, I'll create this elite children's book. Basketball A-plus, focus, projects A-plus. LeBron didn't grow up in Los Angeles. Like a lot of people who may have a house here, but the first time they live here, it overwhelms you. And they take a bunch of meetings and say yes to every dinner. And it's yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. I'll do this, this, this, this, this. And Hollywood uses you.

LeBron's basketball suffered, and LeBron's projects are average. That is the difference. Nobody would argue it's almost impossible to be great at two different things. Hell, it's hard to be great at one, but it's impossible to be great at two. And MJ and Kobe realize that.

That's not to say in the off-sense, season, you can't shoot a commercial? That's not saying in the off season. You can't have a little project. But if you're trying to have multiple, multiple dozens of projects during a season, as you just moved to Los Angeles, it will engulf you. This is where Kobe and Michael got it. They didn't suffer from some deep-seated insecurity that they had to prove that they knew

Hollywood and they knew politics and they know business and they know pizzas and they know basketball all in, projects then all in. Michael Jordan's shoes today still sell more than LeBron and Steph Curry's combined. Michael on hoops, Michael on business. Kobe on basketball, Kobe on projects. This is where LeBron could step back and take a lesson from Kobe. LeBron, you're going to get all sorts of projects. Say no to almost all.

of them. No on that TV, no on that movie, no on that project, no on that meeting, no on that dinner. No, no, no, no, no. And then you will in three years be gone, have $800 million of net worth, then smartly pick and choose with great discretion the one or two great movie or TV products. What are you doing these for? Money? You don't need it. Fame? You've already got it. Kobe Bryant, more than any athlete I can think of. I mean, I don't even know who to compare him to. Look at Derek Jeter post baseball. You've been sloppy. Payton Manning's disappeared. Tony Romo's been pretty good, but Kobe Bryant's been brilliant. The power of the word no. Use Hollywood. Don't let it use you. Alarm. The Willys. Hiby-jeebiz. Panic. There are dozens

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to go there. They know who sent you. We did. Simplysafe.com slash H-E-R-D. The number one pick in the NFL draft is Arizona. And there's a lot of speculation. They take Kyler Murray, the quarterback from Oklahoma, a little small, but good arm, good on tape, fast, runs around, very instinctive. He's an NFL quarterback. A little small for me. Wouldn't be a guy I draft. I think he plays at about 190 pounds. I don't compare him to Russell Wilson, who I think plays at about 220, 25 pounds. They don't even look together. We put the video up months ago or a month ago where Russell Wilson and college and Kyler Murray in college, don't tell me that the same height and the same size. They're not. One's bigger, stronger, more compact, plays at 220. One guy

plays at 188, so I wouldn't take him. But I think he's an NFL quarterback, and I tell you why this morning I think Arizona is going to take him and move off Josh Rosen. There was a quote from Cliff Kingsbury. There's only one and two possibilities here. He said yesterday on Kyler Murray, NFL meetings. I mean, I guess it's more what you don't like about Kyler Murray. When you watch him play, I mean, he can run it, he can throw it, he's a competitor.

He's one of the better dual threat players to ever play. Okay, if you're all... openly flirting in a marriage, you're leaving the marriage. The only thing I can think of is, and I don't believe this, they're trying to drive up the value of Kyler Murray so somebody comes to Arizona and gives him a bunch of picks. That could be possible. And if that's possible, then they've told Josh Rosen, listen, we're going to pump him up. We're going to say amazing things.

We're going to tell you how great he is. Don't bother. We're just trying to get more picks to get you more support. But I don't believe that's true because Josh Rosen about three weeks ago erase some Instagram stuff and appear to be upset about it. The only other thing I can come up with is they're drafting Kyler Murray. Why in God's name would you go public with that comment? Folks, superstar quarterbacks are insecure.

Aaron Rogers, Tom Brady, Joe Montana. with Steve Young. Like the greatest that have ever played the game are thin-skinned. What about a rookie who was the fourth quarterback or third quarterback taken in the draft, had a chip on his shoulder, got beat up last year, is looking up at the rest of his division, how do you think he is consuming this? How do you think this lands for him? For Kingsbury to come out and say that, that's just openly flirting during a marriage.

You do that if you're leaving the marriage. otherwise you keep it private. Okay? I don't even get this. This is either driving up the value. People look at Kingsbury, hear the quotes and think, damn, boy, Kingsbury is one of these spreaded out big 12 guys. He loves this guy.

And then you drive up the value in Arizona goes, we'll take four picks. Or you're moving off Josh Rosen. And that is my gut feeling today. Because I have been told three teams have made, Arizona an offer a second round pick for all three. For Rosen. For Josh Rosen.

So I've been told three teams that made a second round pick. Arizona wants more because there's a reason that teams continue to call. Because Arizona's never told teams we're not interested. Arizona just wants more for it. Arizona could trade Josh Rosen today for a second. They've got three offers on the table, I'm told. And there's been stories coming out. The Giants could be one.

New England could be one. People are saying the Chargers could be one. I can confirm a couple of those. I'm not going to tell you which one because, you know, Joy and I have sources. This is the way the world works. But when I see that quote, they're either playing a game and Josh Rosen is in on it or they are creating irreparable damage to their young quarterback self-assess. team. You do not do this.

There are things, you know how we talked about this recently where there are certain things you just don't go public with in the NFL. It's a very, it's like NFL is like covert. The NBA is about saying everything. You talk politics. You talk everything. That's the NBA's business model. It's okay.

The NFL's the opposite. It's like the military. You don't give out any secrets. You don't want your stars talking. You want anybody talking. You lose a playbook. You get fined $100,000 by your team. You lose your playbook in the NBA.

Everybody goes, who cares? Give it to Durant. He'll score. There are two different leagues, two different business models. This tells me there's a trade in the works. That's what it tells me. Well, I'd love to believe that Arizona is crafty enough to trick the entire league. That's one of my, that's one of two things that could be happening.

Right. But the issue with that is everything that you just said, if that turns out to be the case and it really was just to get draft picks, then the rest of the league knows if you do business with Arizona, you may be getting a little extra sauce on the story there. So that kind of ruins your reputation moving forward when you're doing business because that's clearly what you were aiming to do. So to me, that's not possible. And the other issue with that is, what about the fan base?

You still have an entire fan base that needs to know who their quarterback is, who they're getting behind. So the more that you drive up the value of Kyler Murray, you're also talking to all of your fans who are starting to get kind of sold on this guy. And then you stick with Josh Rosen and it feels like a disappointment because you've been talking so highly of someone else. No, I mean, listen, when you start talking

like this, you're gassing up your fans, you're gassing up everybody. If you don't consummate the deal, you just have Josh Rosen. In Arizona, by the way, doesn't sell out all their games. You know, this is an organization that wants to sell it all their games. I mean, that's a hard pitch. Oh, we were just doing that to trick everyone so we could get

all these extra picks. Yeah, it's crazy. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd. Weekdays and noon Easter. 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. 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,

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Search Learn the Hardway and listen now. Jacob Kingston grew up in an isolated polygamous sect. We were God's chosen kingdom on earth. He felt destined for greatness. So when a swaggering Armenian businessman catapults Jacob into an extraordinary world, he doesn't look back. Ferraris and Lamborghinis, private jets, meeting the president of Turkey. I'm Michelle McPhee, and this is one of the most shocking criminal conspiracies I've ever come across. When Jacob met Levin this went to a billion dollar fraud.

But with two kings from entirely different worlds, just how long can their empire survive? The largest tax investigation in American history. You need to tell me what you know. Is somebody coming after me? Jacob told Levan, you're ruining my life. Listen to Kingdom of Fraud on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Life throws hurdles big and small. The question is, how do you conquer them?

On hurdle with Emily Abadi, we sit down with the most inspiring women in sports and wellness, professional athletes, coaches, and Olympic champions to talk about the challenges that shaped them and the mindset that keeps them going. From the WMBA standout Kate Martin and rising hockey star Layla Edwards. If a boy can do it, I don't see why a girl can't. Like, I've never understood that. Like, it didn't make sense in my brain. It's hard to be in spaces that no one looks like you, but don't ever feel like you don't.

Don't belong. Don't let that be the reason you don't do it. An Olympic champs Gabby Thomas and Katie Ladeki. The ability to show gold medal to someone and have their face light up and smile, that means the world to me. And that's what motivates me to win more gold medals. At our level, at this scale, like being able to fail in front of the entire world. Like, I can do anything. I can do anything. Because resilience isn't just about winning.

It's about showing up, even when it's hard. Listen to Hurtle with Emily Abadi on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Presented by Capital One, founding partner of IHeart Women's Sports. Via the Coward Global Satellite Network, Albert Breir, senior NFL reporter Monday morning quarterback. I was a little shocked by the Gronk News. What do you make of the Patriots out looking at all these top receivers? They have 12 picks. Does that indicate to you?

They're going to draft two or three wide receivers for Brady now that they missed on OBB. Jay and Antonio and that Gronk is retired. Well, I wouldn't say that the idea that they could actually trade for a receiver is off the table. I mean, you mentioned some big names there, Antonio Brown, O'Dell Beckham, but there's a secondary market for receivers, and I know they have asked around about those guys, guys like Stirling Shepard in New York, Mohammed Sunu in Atlanta. There have been guys that kick the tires on that maybe aren't as big names that could be

depth pieces for them. I would just tell you, Colin, you know, my sense of it is that they're not. nearly done in putting skill talent around Tom Brady right now. And that's probably going to include a tight end in the draft. And they almost certainly will include a receiver in the draft. And the receiver position was one that from the jump, they were going to have to get younger at coming out of 2018 with Julian Edelman getting older. Chris Hogan, obviously, still a free agent.

He was getting older. And so the plan has always been to address things at receiver. And even if Gron could come back, they were going to be looking at this tight end class because it's a very strong tight end class for his potential successor. And so now that just becomes a little bit more important. What did you make of the New York Giants story that was leaked? Stories only get out if they're leaked. They are interested in Josh Rosen.

I think they should have taken Donald last year. They didn't. That's done. What do you make of that story? What does it tell you about the Giants? What's it tell you about Arizona? Well, I would tell you, on the Giants end of this, there's no question that they are looking at the idea of replacing Eli Manning this year.

or finding his eventual replacement this year. They have spent a lot of time looking at Dwayne Haskins. They have great institutional knowledge of Daniel Jones, who of course played for David Cutcliffe, who is basically a Manning family member. So they've got a good handle on this year's draft class. They looked at Josh Rosen last year. I don't think they're locked into the idea of finding Eli's replacement this year.

They could wait for the 2020 class with Tuatogoviloa and Jake Fromm and Justin Herbert coming out. But certainly, I think the overriding theme here is the Giants are looking at this as a big, a big time rebuild, which is part of the reason why they dealt Beckham in the first place. And as for the Cardinals, they have to be quiet about this because the minute that Josh Rosen's name gets out there, everybody knows what their intention is on draft day. And so if they want to leave their options open on draft day, if they want to leave the option of maybe trading the first overall pick open on draft day, then they have to at least be a little quiet about their intentions to trade Josh Rosen.

So I do think that the probability is that they wind up trading Rosen and Kyle and Murray is the first overall kick. But until they've actually locked in on that decision, it makes sense for them to keep things vague. By the way, NFL, I think, is overreacting. I said this to start my show. Anytime in my life I've made a decision with heavy doses of emotion, it's been a bad decision. I think they're overreaching here. Video came out yesterday in the Pittsburgh Saints game that would have benefited the Steelers, hurt the Saints and they would have probably not been a number one seed where the pass interference

was called and the league came out and said no on this play we would have not called pass interference the Saints wouldn't have had a first and goal what are your sources say what are your people were you surprised it was so almost unanimously approved to review PI no because I think that was the one thing that the league came in and actually was felt good about you know they did a lot of research over the last month the competition committee did and they ran in on this. Here's an amazing number for you. Of the 50 most impactful plays that were penalty flags were thrown in 2018, 25 involved defensive pass interference. That's half of those plays. And so the Competition Committee went into the meetings knowing the change was coming as to

pass interference. Where the compromise happened is allowing non-calls to be a part of this. I know the owners didn't want that going in and had to be convinced of it. And then finding a way to involve the replay official, which will happen in the last two minutes. And I can just tell you, there are people on both sides of this who feel like this is just the start of it. Like, this is the first step to show other owners, some of the owners that have been hardliners on this, that this is not going to muck up the game. This isn't going to slow down the pace of play, that this is simply a mechanism to get it right. And on Monday, the 32 coaches voted 32 to nothing to put a more aggressive proposal in place and in front of the owners. And that would have

involved both offensive pass interference, defensive pass interference, as well as roughing the passer and the defenseless player penalties, and it would have given the replay official oversight over those penalties for the entire game. So that would have been, in effect, created a sky judge.

And I could tell you that some people on both sides, as owners and coaches, both believe that that's eventually where they're going to get, and that this is just a first step in getting there. By the way, Grunk retired, sort of surprised me. Ultimately, he just didn't want to go through the grind. What do you make of it? It doesn't surprise me. You know, I still remember talking to him

after the game and, you know, when we got into it, we can kind of explain how satisfying winning a championship was because of how hard this season was. And one of the hardest things for him over the last couple of months was the idea of jumping back into the grind of an NFL season and going back and committing the six or seven months of doing things the way he did him last year, it was very, very difficult for him to get through the 2018 season, Colin. We all remember how it ended, but November, December, he wasn't himself. He didn't feel great. He had a problem with his back. I think all of that was a big part of this decision was the idea of locking in to six or seven months of this again was just too much, especially when you consider he had the bulging disc last year. And going back out

there, he'd risk having a fourth back surgery, which could affect him later in life. Now, here's the one caveat I'd put on all of that, right? I mentioned, I said, there how daunting it is, the idea of going through six or seven months of this. Well, if the Patriots call in November, and now all of a sudden it's six or seven weeks instead of six or seven months he's looking at, maybe he sees that a little differently. But I do think the idea of going through the grind of an NFL season was ultimately what made him decide to walk away. Good stuff. Albert Breer Monday morning quarterback, former Patriot Beat Guy for the Boston Globe as

well. Good seeing you, bud. You too, Colin. What's going on, everybody? John Middlecough, three and out podcast. brought to you by the Colin Coward Podcast Network. This week, owners meetings, coaches pictures. You know we're talking about new rule changes. I think the fourth and 15 slash onside kick rule is fascinating.

And Gromf retires. Again, John Middlough, three and out podcast, go subscribe. A couple days ago, I did a graph. I think it was yesterday. And I got a lot of heat for my graph. I'm not in the graph business, but we created a LeBron and Zion graph. And I said one's a declining asset. slowly declining and ones are a meteor rising and people said well that the way that graphic works

it looks like you're saying Zion was as good as the MVP LeBron about five years ago so our graph wasn't great but I'm not going to show you my new graph yet I just want to talk about this we've always known because LeBron is older than Kevin Durant by four years and he entered the league four years earlier and LeBron's played so many playoff minutes we've always known there would be a time when Kevin Durant would surpass LeBron on the floor. You know, he's a younger player. He doesn't have like nine straight trip to the final minutes. And there would be a time when Kevin would probably be,

I'm not talking about legacy, all-time ranking. I'm just talking about there would be a time on the floor that Kevin was better than LeBron. The time on the floor that Kobe was better than Michael, right? The aging star, the rising star. I think that time is today. Kevin Durant again last night, 12 of 13, he's on a absolute tear. So let me give you my new graph, and I think we've done a better job with this one.

No knock on our stock market graph maker yesterday. That if you look at, sorry radio, if you look at LeBron and Kevin Durant entering the league, LeBron's been the better player. And I think any arguments to oppose that are reaching. but I think now we have reached that point, and that happens with declining and rising stars that were close to begin with, or Kevin Durant's the more efficient player.

And efficiency matters. Remember, overall numbers for LeBron in his best years, Miami were a couple of these and Cleveland were a couple of these. He had about a five-year peak. His numbers didn't explode. His efficiency did. Because overall total numbers, volume can be deceiving. efficiency isn't. Right now,

Kevin Durant's efficiency against LeBron, efficient field goal percentage, true shooting percentage, win shares, stuff that NBA analytics, mavens pour over. Durant's the better player. That's not to say LeBron's a bad player efficiently,

efficiency-wise. It's just Kevin Durant now is as good as anybody in the sport. And if you don't believe this, and I believe this morning, if you asked all 32 NBA GMs, you've got to sign one of these guys, guys to a four-year contract. I think virtually all of them would take Kevin Durant. I really do. Unless it was ticket sales involved. LeBron comes with baggage, clutch sports. You got to kind of find

the coach that works with him. I think all GMs based on game longevity would choose Kevin Durant. And that's not to say it wouldn't be close. That's not to say LeBron's not going to be great next year. It's not to say LeBron isn't efficient or wasn't good this year. But GMs today going forward, I think we've reached a moment where Kevin Durant's the better defender, the better score, more dependable and this has more juice to his game. And if you don't think this is true, there's going to be a very powerful moment optically in two and a half months. Kevin Durant's going to hoist another trophy and be the MVP of the finals and LeBron's going to be in a couch. And the last two years, this has happened. Remember the first year when Durant beat LeBron in the finals? About 15%

of you said, Kevin Durant's better than LeBron! And I didn't work with joy at the time, but I said, that's stupid, you're overreacting. And then it happened last year. And about 30% of you said, Kevin Durant's better than LeBron. And I said, that's stupid, you're overreacting, but they are getting closer. This year, LeBron's sitting at home, 11th seed in the West, not really competitive off an injury, an injury we've been told now in the last week, a little worse than we thought. And Kevin Durant hoisting a trophy, it's going to be about 50 to 75% of you that

are going to be saying, Kevin Durant's better than LeBron. And I'm going to say, today, yes. Holistically, legacy, brand. No, no, no. Basketball player? Yes. Better defender. Better score.

Better shooter. More efficient. Yes, yes, yes, yes. We knew there was going to be a time. This is not, we knew this was coming. LeBron's not an elite defensive player anymore. He doesn't give you those juice moments as much. He doesn't give you 44 relentless minutes.

He's never been the show. shooter in the score of Durand, and now the other parts of his game have lapsed. This is not to say LeBron's bad, and would that all shift to this? Brian Winhorse wrote a very interesting story. I used to work with him at the other place, and he talked about within LeBron's camp, within the Lakers camp, and with LeBron, there are concerns. Is this the new normal? Or, like, you know, MJ's Wizards, Kobe at the end.

Is this kind of the new normal? and one of the concerns is LeBron's efficiency numbers have eroded and he had a major injury. Now, there's three things here to remember. LeBron is in the West, the West is way better. It's harder to win here. Number two, LeBron had a big injury. You can't deny it. And number three is, I think even LeBron in his camp would acknowledge he's been a little distracted with the 49 TV radio projects.

But let me defend LeBron on this. And LeBron stopped following me, I'm told. I don't check this on Twitter and social media, so he's mad at me, and I'm totally cool with that. But let me defend LeBron. I'm not anti-Lebron, but I trust my eyes and my ears. I know what I'm hearing and I know what I'm seeing. He's not the same. There was about a five-year period where we got the best LeBron.

It wasn't early in Cleveland. He was raw, and it's not now. The five or six-year period when we got the best. LeBron was also the five and six year period that both Miami and Cleveland gave him help in two departments. They gave him smart players and they gave him great shooters. Ray Allen, Badi A, Mike Miller, Chris Bosch, Kyrie Irving, Kevin Love, Kyle Corver, Goofy J.R. Smith. Here's something I know about LeBron. He is great when you give him shooters.

So as we blame LeBron for everything, I just want to remind you smart players who can keep up with LeBron intellectually on the floor, smart guys and great shooters is what he works best with. And the

Lakers gave him dumb guys and guys that can't shoot. This team was castoffs, difficult, goofballs, a couple nights ago, Lance Stevenson, stepped on a guy's foot, the guy fell backwards, and the Laker bench erupted. I felt bad for LeBron. I honestly did. LeBron has been reduced to this. That's a big deal. Lance is a goofball. LeBron's so far above this. This matters. A big component to this season.

you can't blame LeBron for it. There is a roadmap for LeBron. And it was about six years. Pat Riley gave him super smart guys. Badié, Bosch, Ray Allen, D. Wade. And guys who could shoot. Because LeBron likes to handle the ball. And by the way, then LeBron said, I don't want Andrew Wiggins.

I want Kevin Love, he can shoot. Kyrie Irving. LeBron said, get me J.R. Smith. Get me Kyle Corver. LeBron knows his game. The Lakers went in the opposite direction. They got him goofballs, not smart basketball guys, distracted guys, and guys that can't shoot. So for LeBron, the Lakers in his camp, even the greatest players in any sport, in the history of basketball, there were players that Michael Jordan played. well with. Michael Jordan never played well with guys who needed the ball early in his career. He played well with slasher's and shooters, Steve Kerr, Scotty Pippen, Tony Cootch, guys who

could step back, let Michael dominate, and then when Michael needed Coot Coach, Pax and Kerr to hit shots, when he needed ancillary players to do what they do, Michael was great. Michael wasn't good early or late in his career when he didn't have those components. Kobe always played very well with a very good big Shaq got doubled. Gasol, Shaq and Gasol,

high IQ guys. Every star needs certain players that work for them. Don't blame this all in LeBron. High IQ and great shooters. LeBron's great because he's super smart, he's very savvy,

he needs guys who get it, And guys who can shoot when he drives and passes. The Lakers are the opposite. Goof balls, weirdos, not smart basketball minds, and nobody can shoot. It's not all on LeBron. LeBron gave you a roadmap on what works. He didn't give many of it. Now, by the way, LeBron wouldn't be in L.A.

if Kyrie wouldn't have left him. That's the funny thing about this situation. If Kyrie doesn't flake and leave, LeBron's not in Los Angeles. So when Kyrie left and J.R. Smith broke his heart in the finals on that dumb playing game one, LeBron felt like I got to get out of here. Okay, Kyrie's gone. Love is becoming a little bit of a liability defensively. J.R. is driving me crazy and Corver's getting old.

So this idea that LeBron, like, I think LeBron deep down wanted to stay in Cleveland, but Kyrie left. Corver's getting old. J.R.'s goofy and loves eroding. So he had to go. I didn't necessarily choose the perfect team, but I got it. But can't all be LeBron here. A big component of this is the two things that work with him, they didn't give him either. And for the record, if you think Anthony Davis solves the shooting, you're wrong.

He doesn't solve the shooting part. This is the second worst shooting team in the league to Phoenix. Get some shooters. They've always worked with LeBron. 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 Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Slicalife 12 in the TikTok podcast network on TikTok.

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. Hey, what's good, y'all? You're listening to learn the hard. way with your favorite therapist and hosts Kear Games. This space is about black men's experiences, having honest conversations that it's really not safe to have anywhere, but you're having them with a licensed professional who knows what he's doing. How many men carry a suit or armor.

It signals to the world that you're not to be played with. And just because you have the capability that does not mean that you need to, listen to learn the hard way on the AHA radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. I'm Michelle McPhee, and I've been unraveling the strangest criminal alliance I've ever reported on. A Mormon polygamist and an Armenian businessman. Multi-million dollar house, Ferraris and Lamborghinis, private jets, a billion dollar fraud. But how long can this alliance last? Tell me what you know.

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