The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Best of The Herd: 05/29/2019

Episode Date: May 29, 2019

Colin defends Magic Johnson because when successful people enter chaotic situations they have to break some eggs. He thinks the Kevin Durant injury is another reason why Durant should stay with the Warriors and explains why. He responds to Baker Mayfield taking another shot at him through the media. Plus, FS1's Nick Wright talks about the Rockets potential attempt to unload Chris Paul on to the dysfunctional Lakers. 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 on a Wednesday. This in Los Angeles is the herd. Wherever you may be and however you may be listening. No TV for one hour.

We're back in an hour on TV on FS1. We're on IHeart Radio, Fox Sports Radio. Sirius XM Channel 83 today, and we're absolutely packed. By the way, Damon Stoddemeier, who was in Toronto and left for Portland, we'll be joining us later this hour. He's an interesting case study with Kauai Leonard. I always heard Damon really liked Toronto, but Portland wanted him badly, and he ended up having a great career with the Blazers. Nick Wright, joining us as well. Joy Taylor's here.

Joy, how are you? Great. Good morning. Good morning, everybody. Joy's got an interesting story that is developing in the last 25 minutes, and she'll have that in a half hour on Herdline News before that. So stick around today. We're loaded. And again, we're all over.

audio today, but we won't be on TV for one hour. Then we're on TV one hour from now. So, you know, the big story and the kind of Magic Johnson's a superstar, right? And he ran the Lakers, then he quit. And there's a massive story. And this story had been rumored for a long time. There was a real negative Magic Johnson story coming. We talked about this months ago. And so the story broke yesterday right before the show, that Magic is an HR nightmare and he's mean to people and people had panic attacks. And I think you have to be very careful on this because, listen, the truth always comes out. If somebody was vindictive and mean-spirited and an awful person,

then Magic Johnson wouldn't have a great reputation for the last 30 years. You cannot hide who you truly are. Now, that's not to say that Magic Johnson is not an American superstar, and he's walking on clouds the rest of us aren't, and he's got a lot of people around him that are in awe of him, who are saying yes to everything. That's the downside to being really powerful. and famous and popular, is that people kind of move out of your way and it's not a real life.

And so I think he is, you know, he'll deal with that like every superstar from Arod to Reggie Jackson in the 70s to Tom Brady. It's a different life. It's not always a real life. You need a wife for a family member to hold you accountable or friends. But Magic Johnson in that big hammer job yesterday, he went back on ESPN and he talked about his management style. Here it is.

I've never sat in an HR person's office in 35 years. Two years with the Lakers, no HR parents. Jeannie Buss, do you think Jeannie Buss will allow me to abuse the employees? If that was the case she would have called me in. Joe McCormick would have called me in the lawyer for the Lakers as well as Dan, the other lawyer. It never happened. Now, a lot of Laker employees didn't like that. I held them accountable.

That's what my job was. Did I have to fire some people? Yes, because we had to bring about change and get better. When you enter a chaotic mess, you've got to break some eggs. I mean, look around the country right now. Magic entered an organization in utter chaos for five years. In fact, he admitted in the article, or yesterday on TV, his only regret was not just firing more people and bringing in his own guys,

But Magic's a nice guy came in, and instead of just firing everybody, he thought he could change people. But there's a lot of bad habits that are developed at companies that are in chaos. And it's hard to turn them around. But look at the current juggernauts in American business, Amazon. Who runs Amazon? Jeff Bezos, getting divorced and his reputation is tough and demanding on employees. Google it. Apple, Steve Jobs, read the books.

I did. Not easy on employees. when he was building the empire. Tesla, Elon Musk, beyond intense, tantrums, Rants, Hollywood, James Cameron, twice has had the number one movie of all time, Titanic and Avatar, difficult to work with. Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, doesn't even get along with the guys he started the company with. Microsoft, Clipper owner, Steve Bomer, once threw a chair reportedly at an employee who was leaving for Google. All right, man. Listen, when you're starting American business or cleaning up American business, warm and fuzzy is not the way that it generally

works. You've got to break some eggs. You've got to fire some, you know, mediocre people. And if an organization is in chaos for five years, you know what that tells me? You got a lot of average employees and you got a lot of bad habits. Because to be a bad company, you got to have bad habits. Not necessarily bad employees, but they get into bad habits. And this is an organization that's been a mess for years and magic came in. And now I think his biggest regret, and I think he said it yesterday was he didn't just clean house. He just went, he kind of took a lot of the people that were there and said, okay, I'm going to

change these people. And that's really difficult. And let me add this, I'm from the West Coast, but I lived on the East Coast for 11 years. And when I used to work in Portland or Las Vegas or sometimes in Los Angeles now, people will say, man, Colin is intense. You know what they said about me on the East Coast? Colin just works a lot. On the East Coast, is this a story?

Like L.A.'s chill. L.A.'s laid back. L.A.'s warm. L.A., they don't honk the horns despite our traffic. It's very laid back. And Magic's like, we can't be laid back. We've got to break some eggs. We've got to fire people. We've got to get after people. We've got to be rough. and yeah, I mean, it's, listen, one of the reasons that I love the East Coast when I lived on it didn't love the weather, but one of the things I loved about the people, they were harsh and they were authentic. If somebody didn't like you out east, they'd just tell you. They'd just tell you.

And I always appreciated it. It's very intense. People work very hard. Maybe it's the weather. You know, maybe it's smaller states with more people packed than them, the density and the competitive nature of the East Coast. But it is intense, and I love that part about the East Coast. Nobody ever called me, you know, intense workaholic. They're like, yeah, call them puts in the hours.

They appreciated it. And it's like, yeah, if you want to be great, you're going to ruffle some feathers. And I just think, I read a story where two people had panic attacks. And I'm like, okay, either I don't know the whole story and there's more to it or Lakers just weren't used to putting in the hours and having a demanding boss. And I don't think, by the way, magic was the perfect fit. but I don't buy that he's lazy. He talked about that subject as well or that claim. Lazy?

I have built a $600 million business. You cannot be lazy going from playing basketball and winning five championships. So I wasn't lazy as a player. And I'm not lazy as a CEO and a business owner. That's never going to happen. I don't think he's lazy either. I do think Magic picked the wrong job for his current skill set and his current hours that he's available.

I just don't think he's available for 65 hours of grinding and minutia as a general manager or a president of a team. So if Magic had any fault, he picked the wrong job for him. Not that he wasn't qualified, but there are different stages in life. 27-year-old Magic had he never played would be perfect maybe 37, 47. Listen, man, he takes summers off. He goes out in a yacht with his friends. Okay, this is not the time for him to be.

a grinder. That's just the reality of magic. He's an American superstar. I think Alex Rodriguez is really smart, but he's got so many side businesses. I don't want him running my baseball team. That's not a knock on them. It's a reality with them. Magic side for this. Let me shift to this. Anthony Davis is meeting with the Pelicans' new GM David Griffin today. They're having a lunch. And this is going to be the most. most important lunch in the last decade in the NBA. This is potentially a breakup lunch because I think Anthony Davis has to do something today that Anthony Davis has never been comfortable doing and that's being confrontational.

According to sources, Anthony Davis will meet with the Pelicans big shot David Griffin today. The knock on Anthony Davis around the NBA from the executives and the scouts is that he's not confrontational. He's not really a leader. He's a little soft. He's not an alpha. He's not a guy that's going to carry a team on his back. LeBron can do that.

Michael could do that. Kobe could do that. We've had players who can do that. That's not his personality. and I'm very interested today to see if he is capable of going and sitting down at that lunch and making it very uncomfortable and very confrontational and very authentic and saying, I didn't want to be here two months ago. Why would I want to be here now?

A new general manager in Zion don't change the realities of New Orleans basketball. Listen, the South is the home of college football. It's got the most good players, the most good coaches, the best fans. But the history of the NBA has never started or ended in Atlanta or Charlotte. Heck, Dallas can't even land top-free agents generally. NBA stars have historically gravitated to some big coastal cities. Now, I'm not saying David Griffin can't win. He's a really smart guy.

And I'm not saying Zion doesn't have just unbelievable Magic Johnson magnetism. I just absolutely love the kid. But it's funny with this lunch, Anthony Davis really controls free agency and we're no longer talking about him. We're talking about Kyrie and KD and Kauai. It actually starts with Anthony Davis. If Anthony Davis sits down at lunch today and does something that he doesn't like to do, confront Alpha, be strong, lead, not back down, head on, be intense and say, what's changing? changed. A 19-year-old kid that played at Duke, this is not the hub of NBA basketball. I wasn't happy at all six months ago, five, four, three, two. It's not my future. And then if he says to

the Pelicans, listen, let's make it amicable, let's make a deal quickly, get the best possible allotment of players and picks you can, here's the three cities all playing, whatever they are. L.A., New York, you know, Dallas, whoever. Now the Pelicans, he can make it difficult for them and say, I'll just say publicly, I'm not going to go play. Don't trade me to Detroit. You know, don't trade me to somewhere I don't want to go. But I think it's a very interesting lunch, and we've forgotten about Anthony Davis.

If I'm Anthony Davis, and I didn't want to be there six months ago at a company, I'm not changing my opinion just because we got a new GM. I'm looking at the company's history. I'm looking at the personnel. Now, this is still a complete rebuilding team with Anthony Davis and with Zion. It's still a rebuilding team. It's the West. Anthony Davis has been in one playoff, two playoff series in his career.

It's still the West. LeBron's coming back next year. I mean, you know, look around the West. Look at where some of these free agents could land. Jimmy Butler could be coming out West. Kauai is coming out West. So this is a fascinating lunch. It's a massively important lunch.

and if Anthony Davis, unless he's just got split personality, is he willing to be what his critics say he isn't? Demanding, confrontational, uncomfortable, alpha, and just say, make a deal. Because by the way, if he says that and they trade him to New York, it's going to change free agency. Now Kevin Durant's like, I don't even need Kyrie. I got Anthony Davis. if he gets traded to Brooklyn. Kyrie can say, I don't need Kevin Durant.

I can go Anthony Davis. If he gets traded to the Lakers, wow, that changes the league. So I'll be very interested in what comes from this lunch. And if Anthony Davis does what I think is best for him, because he's made up his mind, then the Pelicans can build around Zion and Drew Holiday. Those are excellent pieces. And Anthony Davis can kickstart free agency, but he's going to have to sit down. This is a breakup lunch.

Anybody watching my show listening to my show? You ever had a breakup lunch? Get a stomachache driving to it? You're like, this can be awful. This can be terrible. All you managers watching, ever gone to lunch knowing you're going to have to fire somebody? All you women broke up with men. Ever driven to that lunch knowing you're going to have to dump him?

I mean, that's what this lunch is if you're Anthony Davis, and you're true to what you want, and I think we all know what he wants. One more herd? The herd streams 24 hours a day, seven days a week within the IHeart Radio app. Search her to listen live or on demand whenever you... 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 Levan 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. you get your podcast. 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 WNBA 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 feel long. Don't let that be the reason you don't do it. An Olympic champs Gabby Thomas and Katie Ladeki. The ability to show a 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 IHart Women's Sports. 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, 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 beaters to controversial calls, we break it down, give you context, and ask the questions everybody wants answered. Sports 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 Fontaine, Ryan Clark. Sometimes when we're in the pursuit of the thing, we get so wrapped up in the chase that we don't realize that we are in possession of the thing. and we're still chasing it and we don't know when we've done enough because people scoreboard watch. Life becomes about wins and losses. Steve Burns, Dustin Ross,

because you find it important to be a good person while you hear on earth? Are you a good person because you're afraid? Because that's two different intentions, bro. Absolutely. And that's two different levels of trust. I want you to just really be a good person. Join me, Kear Gaines,

as we have real conversations about healing, growth, fatherhood, pressure, and purpose on my new podcast. Learn the hard way. Open your free iHeartRadio app. Search Learn the hard way and listen now. Boy, Nick Wright and I, first he came on the show, and he just loved that Milwaukee won. And he almost mocked me.

It was very painful. But then, I haven't talked to him since then, and Milwaukee went down the Tuberuski. And so both of us are in great pain. And Joy is the only happy person in the area code. Nick Wright via the Coward Global Satellite. or calls first things first. You know what? This is why the playoffs are great.

It's why you and I love the NBA. It's all sorts of twists and turns. Speaking of that, Magic Johnson yesterday gets hammered by ESPN. The article, mean-spirited, vengeful. He's a terrible guy. And my takeaway is, so he hid all that for 30 years. So for 30 years, he was an awful guy. And now it just comes out.

I'm not saying it was perfect, but I defended him and I said, when you go into a bad company, you got to break some eggs. What was your takeaway and all the story in his defense of his reputation? All right. So obviously, there are some major systemic issues with the Los Angeles Lakers. Rob Polinkas seems to have an honesty issue. Magic Johnson maybe had an attendance issue. Jeannie Bus has a ram by issue.

So, like, things are not all good in La La Land. We know that. But I think it is very clear where this story and a lot of these stories have been coming from. Who was the one person and the one group of people that totally skated from any and all criticism in this very long piece? Luke Walton and his coaching staff. So who do we think were a lot of the former Laker employees eviscerating the Los Angeles Lakers, maybe fired bitter coaches, who knows? And then the other aspect, who else, other executives and agents,

agents around the league, we know didn't always like Rob Polinka, and they hate and fear Rich Paul. They don't like Rich because they think he skipped the line. He didn't have to do the grunt work that a lot of them feel they did. And league executives have a dislike towards Rich because he and LeBron ushered in the era of player empowerment, which took the power away from the guys that look like them in the suites with the suits, to the guys that look like Rich and LeBron who were actually playing in the games.

And then the third group is the people who have just been waiting for the Lakers to be vulnerable for 50 years. It looked like the Lakers wait. In the 90s, maybe they're going to fall apart. Oh, Shaquille O'Neal demands to go there. Oh, wait, Kobe Bryant's era. is going to fall flat. Oh, here have Pal Gasol. So there's been a moment where the entire league, I feel like, that had some jealousy and some built up bitterness towards the Lakers exceptionalism is now feasting at the bone. And it is now left on either Linda Rambis to fix it,

or the gravitational pull of LeBron James to fix it by bringing a Kyrie Irving or someone of his caliber over to stop the bleeding. Speaking of that, I think there's a massive story today, Nick, Anthony Davis having lunch with David Griffin. My sources have always said with Anthony Davis, he's not confrontational. He's not. He's not the alpha. He's talented. But he's not a put a franchise on my back. And he doesn't have that Kobe, that Michael Jordan, that LeBron thing. Today's a breakup lunch potentially.

And if he goes there and sticks to his guns and says, listen, I want to play in L.A. or New York, he is going to fundamentally change multiple franchises in this league. Do you think he has the guts to do that? Because I know you like David Griffin, but I think deep down Anthony Davis doesn't want to be there long term, Nick. Oh, listen, I think there is the only way the Pelicans could sell Anthony Davis on Stang is by keeping him into the season, having him play with Zion, and rolling the dice that he will fall in love with playing with Zion.

But David Griffin is too smart for that. Because the moment you let Anthony Davis play in another game is the moment you put the entire Zion Williamson era at risk, at least the beginning of it, because you risk that Anthony Davis gets hurt and his trade value goes to zero. Because if he gets hurt, it doesn't have to be a season-ending injury. It has to be an injury that knocks him out to the trade deadline,

His trade value then, of course, becomes zero. David Griffin saw the Pelicans butcher the Anthony Davis era by trying to microwave it. He will not do that to Zion Williamson. And don't you think in New Orleans they want a clean start to the Zion era, not have the specter of Anthony Davis hanging over him? So unless they can leave this lunch with Anthony Davis saying, you know what? I'm sold.

Give me the contract, which he won't. They're going to trade Anthony Davis this summer. David Griffin's too smart to do anything else. That's exciting because I think it's a linchpin for some amazing things happening in the NBA. I'm going to get to the Rockets in a second because I would not interview you without bringing that out. But I'm going to throw one more thing at you with KD. It's very interesting. LeBron is the greatest total athlete in league history.

And even LeBron two years ago sort of opted to play defense as a hobby, not an hockey. occupation. And I totally give him a pass on that. Kevin Durant now has another injury. And so he's limping to the end of this season. Do you think there's a chance he's thinking, okay, I was playing 26 minutes a night at the end of the season. I only average about 33 during the season. I can coast in spots with Stefan Clay. Or I'm going to go to New York hobbling or Brooklyn. They're going to need 40 minutes. I don't get a coast because I have Kevin Knox. You know, I'm looking at this injury and I'm thinking if I'm Kevin Durant, Nick, there's an old saying, work harder or not smarter, I don't know if I'd want to hobble into New York and carry a franchise playing 42 minutes

because this injury looks worse than any of us initially suspected. What say you? Yeah, I think that that might be what you would do. And I think a lot of people would say, wait, this amazing team in the Bay Area that's about to walk into a brand new arena can pay me the most money. and can give me the best chance to win. Why would I leave? So why would Kevin Durant leave? Because this mountain has been climbed

and it's turning out wasn't really a mountain. They're minus 280 favorites to win the whole damn thing and he might not play another minute. They haven't lost a game since he went down with this cap injury. If Kevin Durant, as I think most all-time great athletes do, want to see how great they can actually be. And while, yeah, LeBron, in year 15, when he really had 18 years of tread on the tires and seven and then eight straight trips to the finals started moderating his usage, Katie's not to that point yet.

He's supposed to be playing 38-ish minutes a night carrying a team and seeing if he can climb the final mountain. And if he was going to stay in Golden State, we know it. He's not allowed to say yet, I'm leaving. He's been allowed to say all year I'm staying and he won't because he's not. You, for some inexplicable reason, want him to, even though the league is exponentially more interesting if he leaves. Just why the only, I just think maybe deep down, you're worried he's such an odd guy with the media that if everyone's like you've got to leave, you've got to leave, he's going to stay. So you're doing some Princess Bride. I know what you know, what I know what you know.

Duplicitous thing here. but everyone wants him to leave. I think deep down you've got to want him to leave. Let him go. Spread your wings in New York City, Kevin Durant, bring somebody with you and go try to win a title. Yeah, listen, I was rooting for Zion. I try not to root on the air,

but I said I was rooting for Zion to go to New York because I think New York's an incredible basketball city. And whatever I root for never happened. So, you know, I'm from Seattle. We don't win much there. Finally, Houston Rockets. One of the reasons I love Darry, and this is why I love Howie Roseman,

who runs the Philadelphia Eagles, and I love Les Needs who runs the Rams. They're dealmakers. They like their dealmakers. They like to set up the poker table and they'll bluff and they'll and basically your guy, my guy, I love him. Darryl Morey says today through Woj, I'll move everybody. What do you make of that? Yeah, I mean, I think it's the, and I know Wode's couched it a bit, I would be shell-shocked if he were to trade James Hardin. I think it's really everyone but Hardin. But the problem is not many tradable assets. He is a poker player. But he also went all in on this year and next year via that Chris Paul contract.

It was keep in mind the only way Chris Paul consents to the trade with the Rockets is knowing he's going to get this contract. So you wouldn't have gotten the year before this unless you had agreed to give him the extension. There's kind of a wink and a nod situation there. And they are obsessed with the Warriors and the Warriors slayed them. And now they have no flexibility. They're capped out. They have their own draft picks, but those aren't great draft picks because the team's consistently good. I believe for a major franchise changing move, the only real hope they have is to trick the Lakers into taking Chris Paul.

And with the way the Lakers are run, they might be able to trick the Lakers into taking Chris Paul. But three years, $120 million left on a guy who at this point, you can't rely on more than one 20-point game. a month from. That's going to be a tough sell, but I don't know. Maybe you can call up Linda Rambis and convince her, and she's running the operations there, so we'll see. The new and improved, Nick Wright, I don't know who is doing your hair, but you look spectacular. Look at this. Speaking of hair, if I may, if I may, Joy Taylor, your hair looks fantastic today, as always. I just one quick correction, if I may, during herd line news, you said that Doc Rivers compared Kauai to the goat,

but then you talked about Michael Jordan, not LeBron. I hate to point out a factor there, but try to be better in that regard. All right. All right, Nick, I should have seen that coming. By the way, Danielle, his wife is responsible for his hair and attire. Listen, if he wasn't married to his beautiful wife, he would look like six miles of unpaid road.

Instead, look at him. Oh, yeah. And instead of talking to you, right now, I'd be gambled. in an Atlantic City living probably my worst or best life. The road not traveled, we'll never know. 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. 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 Levant this plant 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 podcast. Life throws hurdles big and small. The question is, how do you conquer them? On Hurtle 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 belong. Don't let that be the reason you don't do it. An Olympic champs, Gabby Thomas and Katie Ladeke.

The ability to show a 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 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 IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Presented by Capital One, founding partner of IHart Women's Sports. 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. 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 beaters to controversial calls, we break it down, give you context, and ask the questions everybody wants answer. Sports 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,

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I've done this four times in my life. I've moved cross-country. And what's kind of fascinating about it, this is the world Kevin Durant is in. You don't make up your mind months in advance. Four out of the five times I've moved cross-country, I have not made my mind up months in advance. Only moving here did I.

But the reality is things can change. You think you're going to move cross-country and then your wife gets sick. Or you learn something about your family and they need your support and you've got to be close to family so you decide not to take the job in Dallas that you were going to take when you lived in Boston because your grandma gets sick, your mom gets sick, your wife gets sick. You know, anything can change. So when you're going to make a big career move, it's remarkable how many times in my life you think you have it figured out and 48 hours out you decide something else. So the word is that Kevin Durant is going to go to the next. But I just want you to think about

this. That sounded great when we thought the Warriors, Kevin Durant was going to stay healthy. they were going to win another championship, and he was going to be finals MVP. And you're like, all right, three for three, did your job, go to New York. Like, I got that. I would move out of a great team like Golden State. But I got that. I got that argument. But can I, we know that Kevin Durant's a thoughtful guy that probably is going back and

forth. In fact, last night, I was told by somebody I trust in the NBA, Kevin's not made a complete decision yet. I just want to throw this out. don't you think this injury perhaps just perhaps has made Kevin Durant think about this okay I'm getting older

I've been in the NBA 12 years this is not my first injury this one is way worse than I thought and is keeping me out way longer than I thought do I really want to go to New York and play 40 minutes a night 80 games really

okay this year he coasted at the end of the year. He only played 26 minutes a night in Golden State at the end. He only averaged 34 minutes all year. When you have Steph and Clay, there are nights, I hate to use the word coast, but there are nights that Clay and Steph have the hot hand, and you can observe your teammates win.

There'll be none of that with Kevin Knox. He's 18, 19 years old. There's going to be none of that with Mitchell Robinson, a really talented center for the Knicks. You're going to be playing 40, two minutes a night. And bro, emotional, the angst. Ask LeBron what it's like to play with kids.

There are no nights off. I mean, I went to Laker games this year, and literally, LeBron would start every game the same, waiting for the young guys to take over the game. And then about nine minutes into it, LeBron's like, all right, we're down 11. I got to take over the game. That's what it's like playing with Kevin Knox and Mitchell Robinson. And Katie's in his 12th year, going to be his 13th. He's had injuries.

If Kevin was in the league three years, he'd be playing tomorrow night in the finals. This is what happens your 12th year in the league when you played a lot of playoff games. That calf strain? It's not one of those. There's an old saying in the NBA. When you're a rookie and you're a rookie and you bang knees with another player, you miss a half. Five years in the league, you bang knees with a player. You're out for a game.

Ten years in the NBA, you're on the IR. Fifteen years, you go to a second knee brace. Like, this is a guy that's put a lot of time in and a lot of travel, a lot of planes, a lot of overnight, a lot of... Twelve years. Isn't there a saying in life, work harder, work smarter, not harder? As you get older, pro golfers, they have more money. They play in fewer tournaments. Tennis stars, fetter, picks fewer tournaments.

tournaments. He don't want to be in all the tournaments. He didn't want to have to play. LeBron James this year pretty much acknowledged, I'm done playing defense. That's why picking the Lakers was problematic for him outside of business. He could have gone to Portland, you know, with C.J. McCollum, Damian Lillard, Nerkich, they needed a point forward. It had been perfect. They'd have won titles. Portland was actually a perfect spot for him. He wouldn't have to work nearly as hard. He had two guards that could score. Kevin Durant's got two guards on certain nights. He can take all the offensive workload. I'm just saying when you get older, like right now, I do this radio show,

and I'm done at three Eastern, noon Pacific, and then I go home, and I work out. Sometimes I take a nap. I hang out. Yesterday I watched my wife do art for an hour. I played with the cats. That's what you want to do when you get into the, you know, you hit the turn on your career. I don't want another TV show that's four hours of work a day. And this other thing is, Well, he'd play with Kyrie. All right, let's look at Kyrie. Gets hurt a lot. Not going to help you on the defensive end.

And oh, by the way, hasn't Kyrie intimated before he's near the end of his career? So this idea that, oh, Kyrie, not helping you on the defense event. Kyrie, by the way, doesn't like the deal with the press. So he's not going to take that off your plate. It's not like when LeBron went to Miami. Dee Wade and Bosch were great with the media. LeBron could be like, talk to D. Wade tonight. Kyrie doesn't want to talk to the media.

So Kevin, play 40 minutes, be a coach on the floor. You're going to have to deal with all the media questions. I'm just saying, this injury, could I not argue Kevin Durant sitting there thinking, damn, God, it was all laid out. I could win a third title. Third MVP. It was going to be such a clean break. There's a strong possibility.

He's not going to play at all the rest of the year. You can't tell me he doesn't wake up going to treatment for the eighth straight day thinking, this is the easiest minutes I get. New York could be much harder. All right, I don't want to do this story, but my staff handed it to me, and I do believe at certain times when accusations are made, anybody should defend themselves. Magic Johnson went on the air yesterday and defended himself

because Magic Johnson will call a lot of bad things, and Magic said, time out, time out. I'm going to defend myself on this. Magic quit and got really quiet. Magic wasn't talking. He held a press conference and never heard from him again. But Magic's come out in the last couple days to defend himself, and I'm going to come out and defend myself.

Baker Mayfield, I didn't engineer this. I didn't create this. Baker Mayfield came out about a week ago and started making shirts the land versus the hurt. I thought it was funny. It was clever. So I acknowledged it and addressed it. I didn't make the shirts. Now he came out yesterday or the day before to something called

complex sports. No idea what it is. No idea. So, but it was an interview and it got sent to me by a bunch of people. And he goes on and calls me a liar and calls me a lot of things. I'm going to break what he, I'm going to break it down into three sections because it's a lot of accusations. The first one is, you know, said Baker, there's there's people like that who really are abusing their position, abusing a platform to a point where people are going to listen to it. He's supposed to bring out facts and he chooses to put out irrational opinions. Well, In fairness, I don't think I would build a 25-year career based on irrational opinions. Does Charles Barkley have irrational opinions saying he thinks the Portland Trailblazers are going to win the NBA championship?

Or is Charles Barkley a wildly funny, entertaining opinionist on an NBA show? He is, and so am I. That doesn't mean Charles Barkley can't make calls and have contacts, but this is not Big J. journalism. I'm not in locker rooms like Jackie McMullen, a hundred-night-night-old. a year or Rick Buecker. I do not believe I would build this career on irrational opinions. I think I'm opinionated. Sometimes I'm wrong. That doesn't make it irrational. The second quote from him was, people can say what they want. They can say, I'm not really supposed to comment on this, but a liar is a liar is a liar. And that guy really just full of it needs to be put in

his place. Well, again, I would say, I can be wrong, and I am. In fact, about, 10 years ago, I don't know, John, when we started calling right, calling wrong, I felt it was important because I'm sitting here blabin all day to have a segment every week where I acknowledge, I whiffed on that. I'm in the opinion business. I'm in the strong opinion business. I'm wrong all the time. I've had sources that misled me. I'm not proud of every sentence or every tweet, but you don't build my career on being a liar. You just don't. I think he's confusing wrong with lying, nothing I've ever said about OBJ, is factually incorrect. OBJ gave me a list of places he wanted to play.

Cleveland wasn't one of them. Maybe he changed his mind, but what he told me, he didn't bring up Cleveland. Here's the third one from Baker Mayfield. I'd be the first one to tell you, I'm not always right. I know my flaws. I'd love for people to correct me so I get better, but he can say what he wants. He thinks he's always right. He throws people's names under a bus. As soon as he starts talking about me, it's fine, but my teammates, that's where I have a problem. Well, Baker, your problem is you're in a fight now with a media person.

That's below Tom Brady. That's beneath Russell Wilson. That's beneath NFL quarterbacks like the legendary Bart Star. Brett Farve didn't do this. Peyton Manning didn't do this. Tom Brady doesn't do this, Russell Wilson doesn't do this, Steve Young didn't do this, Joe Montana didn't do this.

You're actually Baker proving my point. I never questioned you could play. I said I didn't want to deal with your immaturity and judgment. You're in a whizzing match with a member of the media, who, by the way, isn't engineering any of this stuff. I said, I don't like your police video. I don't like you grabbing your junk. and I don't like you throwing footballs at people's heads in pregame.

I stand by all of those. I'll go to my deathbed saying, I'm never going to draft a quarterback in a police video, grabbing his junk, grabbing a steak and jamming it in the midfield. I'm not saying you're not draftable with other people. I said, if I ran a team, that's an undraftable quarterback,

because I just don't want to deal with 15 years. of the nonsense. I'll take Sam Darnold, who's not on Twitter. So this again is me responding, like a magic responding to claims. I don't believe I'm irrational. I think the audience is too smart to listen every day to somebody for 25 years they think is irrational. I think I've been wrong, but I don't think I'm a liar. I think my wife and my kids and my associates and my bosses would vouch for me on that and John Goulai, who can hate me, but I don't think he thinks I'm a And by the way, I do like the fact that you're willing to defend teammates, but this is what I said, turn me off.

Not your arm, not your talent, not your confidence. You're off a 7, 8, and 1 season, and you're getting into this nonsense. It kind of proven my point. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific. Well, when I lived in Portland for seven years, it was a remarkable time, because Portland had loads of talent. And I believe to this day, they were better than the Lakers Shaq Kobe team. They would have won the championship.

They lost in game seven in Los Angeles and led going into the fourth. It was the craziest series I've ever covered. And they've gone from Damian Lillard, but before that it was Damon Stodomier. And he was the number one high school basketball player. He was the first pick ever by the Toronto Raptors. And now we have a Raptor situation where they're no longer new. been around, they're stable, they win a bunch of games. And Damon, and this is just great, is the head coach at Pacific the last three years.

So from one of the first families of Portland, Damon Stottomeyer, Dame, how are you doing? Colin, man, what's going on? It's been a minute. It has been a minute. And I know, it's funny, when I covered Portland, that team had all sorts of personalities. And half the time all the players hated me, but you always talked, you always stood up in that locker room. You never ducked interviews. And it's interesting.

I'm thinking of you today. You're the first ever Raptor. And a lot of people say, you know, NBA guys don't want to play in Toronto. But I asked you once at your house. I said, did you like Toronto? And Damon, you told me you loved playing in Toronto. But it's gotten a reputation where guys, maybe they don't want to be there. What did you like about it?

Why could it be a good place for Kauai to stay? You know, when I got there, and it's still the same. now, the diversity of the city. You know, the one thing that I didn't, I'm going to tell you, I'm going to tell you, this is the one thing that I didn't take into consideration. And I don't know why guys don't think about this now. It's one thing to be, to be like a star in the United States, but sometimes we take for granted, you know, you could be the star in two countries.

Right. And I'm just telling you, like, what is that? A guy just offered Kauai a penthouse to stay to his penthouse if he stayed or he could add a penthouse. Like, I mean, you know, we overlook, we start to nickel and dime, but here's the reality of it. You know, when you're talking about taxes, man, once you hit a certain threshold, it don't matter. You're going to get taxed anyway. That's just the game. That's what it is.

It's going to happen. Figure it out. but I think that, you know, even me looking at it all over again, like the beat, I didn't realize what it was. Like, I had a whole other level of popularity over in Canada, and the endorsements was coming in crazy. And I just think that you're giving up the chance to be a star in two countries. That's like, it's almost like being, being an artist. And when an artist, when they have nothing left over here, in our, In the United States, they always start touring what, overseas,

and their popularity is still what, the same as it was in the height of their career. Yeah. Like, I just think, I just, you know, I look at that alone, and I'm just saying, man, like, you know, the money's the bread, man. You know, get that money, man, and, you know, be the king of Canada, too. Yeah, I mean, listen, Drake is number one in Canada, and he's near the top in America. That's a lot of albums, man.

You are selling. I mean, seriously, it's a real. really, really good point. You know, it's funny. When you look at Portland, Damien Lillard, like you, represents the city really well. And Damien came out this year, and he goes, I don't want to go anywhere. I want to stay in Portland. I like it here. And it's funny, David, because we always think all you guys want to go chase money. But, I mean, let's be honest about it. Damien doesn't want to leave. When you look back at your career, if given the choice, what you're basically telling me is you would have stayed in Toronto the whole time,

Most players, do you think most players do just want to stay with one team? I mean, there's, you know, and I think deep down, you know, a lot of guys, a lot of guys, they, you know, I think that they do want to leave, but I just think that for me leaving Toronto back then, I just think that in 1998 compared to 2019, it's two totally different, two totally different perspectives. Sure. All we had back then was winning. That's all we had.

It wasn't about endorsements because there was only one guy in the NBA. He was getting all endorsements, and that was Michael George. So it wasn't from that perspective. So all we had was winning. And when the opportunity came to go to Portland in a young up-and-coming team, you know, they just signed Brian Grant and then traded for Rashid. and then I was like that third piece. Like, you can't, you can't, you couldn't beat that at that time.

Right. But when I'm looking at the players now, it's all about their brand. I think that they look at the team just as much as their brand. And like you said, you're talking about Damien, you know, I don't think he needs to go anywhere, you know. And I love the fact that he wants to stay in Portland, you know, being that it's the hometown. But, you know, he's maximized everything he can out there. he needs to just play basketball and do what he does. And like I tell all players that ask me in the NBA,

let the organization figure out the rest. But don't you taint your image and don't you do nothing dumb because you know you, Anthony Davis fans. I think that through all the trade demands and all that stuff, and I could be wrong because I don't know Anthony Davis like that. But when I look at Anthony Davis, he looks like he's uncomfortable with being the villain. like he looks uncomfortable in his skin about the demands of that you know we you know and and that's hard you kind of have to alienate and be and be a really tough tough minded strong thick-skinned individual

to basically do what he did and i'm saying from afar he looks like a great guy and i don't know if he's comfortable with that no that's it's a really really good point lebron james came out after he left cleveland he said i don't like being the villain like i'm joyful man Yeah, and these are really, really good points. I want to ask you about a player that's interesting. You are as good as anybody in league history. What was your size? Five, nine and a half, five, ten, right?

Yep. Okay. And I've always argued this. Steph Curry doesn't get the love from a lot of players because he's kind of slight. Because, I mean, he got those crazy pharmacy nurse shoes. They're not cool. And, like, in the league, players don't put their arms around. They put their arms around Westbrook and Hard.

But sometimes when you come into this league and you're a little smaller and you're a little different and you were a small left-handed shooter that would go right into the bigs and score. There was nobody else that looked like you. When I watched Steph, I'm like, he's so different than when I grew up with. How do you see his game? I mean, quite frankly, I just, the way I see him is I think that he's as good as advertised. I think that's number one. I think number two, he's tougher than what we give him credit for.

I think he's way tougher than what we give him credit for. And then three, I think that we tend, I don't know if this is a, it's not a generational thing because I think that it just is what it is. At times, I think that, you know, we tend to not are people tend to not pull for him at times now. I'm not saying all the time. Right.

Because it looks like from afar, man, he just got everything going. He got he got he got he got mom and pops. I mean, pops play the league. You got your brother. He's in the league. You got your brother-in-law. He married your sister. I mean, it's just he got a lot of stuff going for him.

Right. But it's like we try to find things to discredit Steph Curry, but we don't give him the credit that he deserves as a great basketball player and an ambassador of his game because that's what he is. And he's earned it. He's earned that. He's earned that right. Finally, so good to talk to you.

It's crazy to me that Kevin Durant would leave a great team and a great organization and go to New York. But you got social media and Twitter and Instagram, and you know this now. coaching at Pacific, your players are on the Instagram and Twitter, and I think sometimes, I think sometimes, Damon, some of this stuff gets into players' heads that you got to stay off that phone sometimes. As a coach, when you're coaching your 17, 18, 19-year-old guys at Pacific, do you see how disruptive Twitter and Instagram and social media can be to a kid's mental health?

It's a different time and day. You know, we all, you know, it's funny, you talk, you talk about earlier, talk about how when we were in Portland, you were in Portland. You know, I remember you had the 1130 show, and it was a love-hay relationship that you had. You did. You had a love-hay relationship with a lot of guys on the team, but that's just what it was. We seen you, everybody said their peace, and you moved on. But that wouldn't happen in today. It would be people building up that negativity right there. And I think what happens is when you got the social media, there's just so much there's so much negativity

within the social media and it gives people it gives people platforms that otherwise wouldn't have it and I think the one thing that we don't you know everybody everybody calls or wants to say

that Kevin the Rannis says no man he just cares like he cares with people thinking there's nothing wrong with that so if some people say well they're better with the reality of it is don't say he's not better with without Kevin Durant, they just play different.

Yeah. You know, I just, I think that's all it is. But I, but I do feel like, you know, that wears on him a little bit. Sure. You know, but I think that, I think that he's the type of guy. He's going to have a big decision to make. And, you know, for me, I mean, I would say where I'm at. I mean, you're in position to try and three-peat, whether you play or don't play,

and you're going to get the max contract, whatever you want, whether there's one year or two, you call your deal and you stay there and you keep winning. But that's a decision that he has to make. And I, for one, I'm not of the notion that Kevin Durant has to go win one by himself to submit his place in history. I mean, he submitted his place in history. What he did, he had the right to do. You can respect it or not respected, but he had the right to do. but he had the right to do that. He wasn't locked in.

He did what he did. He went there. He's been MVP of the finals two years in a row. All NBA teams. He's won MVP. I mean, his credentials are just as good as anybody. We can't take away from what he's done because of the decision that he made. Here, here, totally completely agreed.

Damon Stottomier, head coach Pacific past three years. First Raptor ever drafted, 13 years in the league, great years, a rookie of the year, a number seven pick in the mid-90s. and one of the first families, a big true basketball family from the Rose City, Portland. Damon, I'm very happy for your success. We may have battled time to time, but I always knew how great you were, and you were always a stand-up guy that would listen to my nonsense. And any question I ask, you'd fire right back, and I always appreciated it.

Hey, well, I tell you, I appreciate you, but there's a couple people that you're pissed off on your show, boy, boy, but, hey, I appreciate you, Colin. I watch your show, man. I'm a fan. Thank you. Thanks for having me on. 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. Is somebody coming after me?

Listen to Kingdom of Fraud on the Aihar Radio. Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Life is full of hurdles. So how do you keep going? On Hurtle with Emily Abadi, we're talking with the most inspiring women in sports and wellness from professional athletes, coaches, and Olympic champions about the challenges that shape them and the mindset that keeps them moving forward. At our level, at this scale, being able to fail in front of the entire world. Like, I can do anything. I can do anything. 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 I Heart 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. 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 headlines.

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