The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Best of The Herd: 12/26/2019

Episode Date: December 26, 2019

Doug Gottlieb filling in for Colin Cowherd says LeBron James is not the main reason for the Lakers lose last night against the Clippers but he is by far not the best player in the NBA. If your looking for an NFL team that's been unlucky this entire season the Dallas Cowboys are far from it, look towards the Seattle Seahawks and Philadelphia Eagles instead. It's time to stop asking Tom Brady when he's going to ride into the sunset because Tom himself has no set date on retirement but he sure has earned the right to go out on his own terms.Guest: Chris Haynes Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed Human. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in. I'm Timbo, and every episode, we're cutting through the noise,

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

Another podcast from some SNL late-night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smigel and friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer Streeter Seidel, help an a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter.

Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and Friends on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, what's good, y'all? You're listening to Learn the Hard Way with your favorite therapist and host 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 iha radio app apple podcast or wherever you get your podcast what's up guys

this is clivert taylor the fourth and on my podcast the clivert show i'm bringing you conversations about all kinds of stuff like being an internet famous referee we're in the middle of a game this linebacker walks up to me he goes a ref my mom wants you to wave at her what Time out. Quarterback on office blue with 42. Hey, Rhett, my mama want you to weigh better. What? Hey, Ms. Parker.

Listen to the Clifford show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. Thanks for listening to the best of, heard podcast. Be sure to catch us live every weekday. From 12 to 3 Eastern, 9 to noon Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and FS1. Find your local station for the herd at Fox SportsRadio.com or stream us live every day on the IHeart Radio app by searching Herd.

This is the best of the herd with Colin Cowherd on Fox Sports Radio. What up? Welcome in. This is the herd, wherever you may be, and however you may be listening or watching the show. The IHeart Radio app, Fox Sports Radio, Fox Sports One.

I'm Doug Gottlie, filling in for Colin Cowherd, live from Los Angeles. Hope you had the very merriest of Christmas or you celebrate Hanukkah. Hope that's going well. Well for you, of course, we wish you nothing but the happiest of New Year's. We'll get to the Dallas Cowboys and why stats do, in fact, lie. Chris Haynes is going to join us, NBA Insider for Yahoo Sports.

Get his take on last night's unbelievable game in Los Angeles, between the Lakers and the Clippers. Rockets in postseason form already, right? Losing to the Warriors, things we can predict. The real Joelle Embed stepped up yesterday, but forget about all that. get to the nuts and bolts of it. We live in this really weird polarizing era in which you're either all in or all out. I've sat in this very chair before,

at this very desk, and gone through my thoughts on LeBron versus Michael Jordan, in terms of all-time greats. And if you don't, to the LeBron fan, bow to him and say, he's the greatest you've ever seen. Somehow, you're defaming LeBron James as a bad basketball player or massively overrated or you're a hater. When the truth is, if there are 450 NBA players and for the better part of his 17-plus year career, he's been one of the top five to 10 players

in the NBA. For that long period of time, including several years in which he was the best player in the NBA, you're doing anything but defaming LeBron James. And the hundreds of thousands of NBA players in the history of the game, if he's in the conversation of being the best, that's actually quite respectful. But I've seen enough to tell you that what we're all seeing last night does not all fall on his shoulders. It doesn't. I'm not putting the blame solely on LeBron James.

and they had a 15-point lead, and then, of course, the Clippers made a run, and then LeBron goes on a run to start the fourth quarter and gives them space. They have a six-point lead or seven-point lead with six minutes to go. They're at home, and it's not just home because they both shared the arena. Like, that was a Lakers home game.

It's almost always a Lakers' home game when the Lakers play in Staples, even when they play in the Clippers' home games. Look, they're not getting anything out of Avery Bradley. I don't understand why Ron plays so much. I think Anthony Davis showed his flaws as being a great player. They didn't double team Anthony Davis. They didn't make him pass the basketball. Montres Harrell is not seen as a great defender and he's shooting fade away jump shots instead of attacking the rim. The Clippers won the game

because they got to the free throw line and when they missed jump shots, they got offensive rebounds, whereas LeBron and the rest of the Lakers just settled for far too many jump shots. That's why they lost the game. So I'm not putting the loss. on LeBron. But I will tell you that if you didn't have the name on the back of the jersey, and you didn't know that that was LeBron, who some people considered the greatest player of all time, and he didn't know it was Kawhi Leonard,

who was the last year's finals MVP. If you just said, hey, I want you to watch this game and tell me who the best player on the court is, anybody would have said number two in the white jersey. If you go back to last Thursday night when they played in Milwaukee, and look, to people who said that Janus is, now figured it out. He's a great shooter. Now he can shoot. Now he can do it all. Like he was

0 of seven yesterday. He showed his flaws. But against Janus and the Bucks, he was at best the second and really the third best player on that floor. LeBron James has a lot of tread worn off those tires. And yeah, he's probably dealing with the groin injury. I'm not saying that he's not banged up. But you can't go load management on me when LeBron didn't play the previous game for the Lakers in an effort to rest up for Christmas Day. He wasn't the best player on the floor. In the last two games combined, made for TV, primetime, real NBA,

playoff caliber games, shoots 39%, 26% from three-point range, 22 points a game, six turnovers. And then it should be pointed out, he continues to struggle to make end-of-game free throws. Is that the reason they lost? Nope. Nope. he makes that free throw late, they're still down two. It's not the reason that they lost.

But LeBron James is not the same guy at 34 years old. Is it because he's in L.A.? I don't know, maybe. Right? Traffic two in front Brentwood does seem to back you up, and so maybe you're not spending as much time in El Segundo as in the gym. The stronger likelihood is he's 34 years old. Can't get his body to do what it used to be able to do. there's some Tom Brady to it.

Obviously, the difference with Tom Brady is Brady can fake it because he doesn't have to play defense. He doesn't have to match up with the athleticism of others, whereas when you're in the NBA, you're out there on an island. There's also, if you look back when the Ravens won their last Super Bowl, here's a huge difference. When the Ravens won their last Super Bowl, remember the Niners made a big comeback in the second half? How'd they do it? They attacked Ray Lewis. Couldn't play anymore. Now, LeBron's not there. He's not, I can't play anymore. But instead of what the game plan always used to be against Ravens,

which is go anywhere in which Ray Lewis is not. What's changed in the NBA, you're not avoiding LeBron James, the defensive end. And you're not, you're not all that scared of him at the offensive end. If you have the number of bodies that you can throw at him, to just put a in front of him. He won't get a step on you. He'll shoot a jump shot and there are nights like last night when he's not making them. What's helped LeBron become the superstar that he is is not just the body that he has, the downhill game in which he plays, but also the trend in the NBA, which is you've taken power forwards are no longer going to exist. They don't really exist. LeBron James is the build of an old power forward, yet he has the game of a new age

Magic Johnson. So you take a power forward out of the game and then you take a center and many of these centers are now shooting threes and you open up the lane. And oh yeah, by the way, the defense can no longer hand-check you and keep you from driving downhill. All of these have helped him get to the rim. Now when he loses some of that step and he can't get to the rim, in addition to which he doesn't have the necessary volume of shooters around him, LeBron does not look, Jason kid, end of his career, can't make a layup washed up. But if you're operating under the assumption that LeBron James is still the best basketball player on earth, you obviously did not watch last night's game.

And you obviously did not watch last Thursday's game. It doesn't mean that he's a terrible player. It doesn't mean that he's not a top 10 player in the NBA. It doesn't mean that he's not the Lakers MVP. He's still the Lakers' most valuable player between his. His intelligence at both ends, his passing ability, his scoring ability, his size and versatility, his leadership. Look, the Lakers have had a great run here in the first half of the season. But if you hadn't watched basketball all year or you didn't know anything about LeBron versus Quine and just said, hey, I want you to watch this game.

You tell me who the best player is. You would have said number two in the white jersey, not number 23 in the gold jersey. That happens. It does happen. We try and adjust on dated information. And if your information is that LeBron is the best ever, and that never changes, well, then you're not dealing with reality. Look, this is what happened in the NBA finals,

going back two and three years ago. I get it. Game one, two years ago, he's unbelievable 51 points. J.R. Smith doesn't know time and score and screws it up. but throughout the length of that series as well as the series before and the series before is even more telling because you can't make the argument about LeBron

not having a supporting cast. He had Kevin Love, he had Kyrie Irving, he had Tristan Thompson, he had the whole slew of guys. But he was matched up with Kevin Durant and Kevin Durant was the better player in the second half of all the important games and the Warriors won and he was the MVP.

Kevin Durant was. If you didn't know who LeBron was, you didn't know who Kevin Durant was, you would say, I think Kevin Rand's actually the better player in these particular games. And big games do matter. Like, look, I don't care about the, we're going to talk about the Cowboys in a second. It don't really matter the rest of the Cowboys season. Make a determination based upon how good Dak Prescott is on the road against a depleted Philadelphia Eagles team,

against a guy who was selected ahead of him and got a bigger contract than him. you want to tell me that he's better than Carson Wentz. He had better wide receivers, a better running back, a better offensive line. And he couldn't win the game. Couldn't score points. With the play calling, this is the same thing. Like last night, should the Lakers have run more offense late,

especially in the last possession? Sure. Is there, right? These are all explanations. These are all explanations. It's fine. It's fine to say that Kellan Moore is, inexperienced as an offensive quarter. It's fine to say that Jason Garrett's not a great head

coach. Okay. But if you watch the game, you'd say, Dak Prescott or Carson Wins, who's better? And then you factor in that Carson Wins has got practice squad guys at Wide Receiver, and Dak Prescott has, what we were told were stars at Wide Receiver and a star at running back. Big games matter. They help determine what's what. Who's who? Last night was as big an NBA game as we've had in a long time. Does it mean the Clippers are going to absolutely win game seven of the NBA finals? No. Doesn't mean they'll win the Western Conference Finals.

It does not. But it gives us a little, hey, Alex Caruso, not ready for that level yet. Right? Lakers still trying to figure it out. Clippers working together, but really won that game on toughness, rebounding, defensive intensity, tenacity. It wasn't always pretty. and maybe that's the way they always have to win,

or maybe that's the way in which they're winning now. Like, all of these are good explanations. But the facts remain that you just watched last night, it's okay. This is like having a discussion with your significant other when she's thinking about having a nip or a tuck or something lifted up. Like, hey, those lines in your forehead, that's okay, that makes you who you are. That's experience.

That's ups, that's down, that's life. If LeBron can win an NBA championship, that actually makes me think even more of him. He still won't be the best player on earth. He just find a way. Lift up other people. Add new pieces. Add an Andreigado, add somebody else who can come get them buckets late because LeBron cannot do that anymore. That's not who he is at this stage in his career.

And if you don't believe me, watch the big games. It's all you need to know. Playoff basketball, differ than the rest. big game NBA Cologne night basketball. Polon Colon is a special night. Last night was a special night, and it showed that Cawai Leonard was the best player in floor. If you don't think there's a difference between last night's game

and the other games, why did both Kauai and LeBron sit leading up to it? Because they knew, everybody knew. Games matter. It's a playoff intensity. And you find out who belongs on the court. You find out who does not. But you also find out who the better man is. And the snapshot in time of December 25th, 2019,

two in the white jersey was better than 23 in the yellow jersey. Doesn't mean that he's been better for the last 17 years. It does mean that last night he was, and this appears to be a trend. One more herd? The herd streams 24 hours a day, seven days a week within the I-Hart Radio app. Search Herd to listen live or on demand whenever you'd like.

Welcome to my new podcast, learn the hard way with me, your host, and your favorite therapist, Kear Games. And in recognition of mental health awareness month, I'm bringing over a decade of my own experience in the mental health field 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 Hardway and listen now.

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. SportsSlice 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 Sliced Life 12 in the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. What's up, guys? This is CliverTaylor the 4th.

And on my podcast, The Cliverts Show, I'm bringing you conversations about all kinds of stuff. being an internet famous referee. We're in the middle of a game. This linebacker walks up to me, he goes, hey, ref, my mom wants you to wave at her. What? Time out. Quarterback on office blue 42.

Hey, rec, my mama want you to wave at her. What? Hey, Miss Parker. Listen to the Clifford show on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. Hey, I'm Deanna Maria Reva. the actress, mother, lover, and a Gen X woman walking through life one hot flash and hormonal crying jag at a time.

You ladies know what I mean. I'll bet you a paramedipausal chin here you do. So let's talk about it. Join me on my new podcast. How hard can it be with the Adamia Riva, where I call on my Gen X squads from Ohio to Hollywood as we navigate midlife's most fantastic BS. All of a sudden, I'd had hanginess happening on my own. I was like, what the hell is that?

I was married when I had it. So I didn't even consider how empty that nest was going to be. Mood swings, night sweats, fupas, sex drive. Wait, what sex? Dating at 45. How hard can it be getting naked at 50 with the new guy? That one's kind of hard. Well, that's lighting.

They say we can't polish a turd, but we're sure going to try. So let's get blunt with laughs, tears, or tears of laughter, and dive into it unfiltered and unbothered and ask, how hard can it be? I cannot believe I'm about to say this out loud in public. Listen to how hard can it be with Diana Maria Riva. as part of my Cultura Podcast Network available on the IHeart Radio app,

Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I saw this in pro football focus. The Cowboys, strong offense, easy schedule, derailed by bad luck. The general point to the article, you can read it online, is that, look, in terms of yards per play and offense and defense,

strength of schedule, overall efficiency, the Cowboys should have won at least 10 games. How in the hell are they seven and eight? Right? Hell, I'm seven and eight. Sounds actually like Jerry Jones wrote it. Howie seven and eight? Don't really know.

Don't really understand. This is one of those, you run the numbers, and it works. You run the numbers and it works. You run the numbers and it works. And then you put it into play and it doesn't work. It doesn't work. look a lot of things are like this I mean in many ways

the idea of socialism for example should work right we should all get up and go do our job and not have to worry about health care schools and how much you make and we just go and do our thing

right just go do your thing every day get up focus whatever my job is I'm going to do it I'm going to come home and we're all the same. That sounds like a great idea. What gets in the way? Human nature. I'm working harder than that person.

I should be more valuable than that. I bring more to the table. Other businesses want to hire me. I put myself in the market. I should be worth more. Somebody's willing to pay more. Correct? Human nature and leadership, right?

Because even in pure socialist societies, there's leadership and leaders see themselves as above everybody else. Leadership, human nature, it derails the great socialism experiment, right? I mean, and capitalism, pure capitalism should work. What's the problem with capitalism? Leadership, human nature, cutting corners. And oh yeah, by the way, what if you can make something for far less money in a foreign land? Forget about how you treat them, how you pay them, whatever. It's a bottom line business in capitalism. Every business is a bottom line business.

In its purest forms, both of these should work on paper, an algorithm. The reality is that leadership and human nature, chemistry, if you will, gets in the way. That's the problem with Dallas Cowboys. Has a kicking big game been an abject disaster?

Sure. And in all honesty, the ease of their schedule, especially early on, that was fools' gold. Yeah, you dominated the Redskins. They suck. You dominated the dolphins. They're atrocious.

Congratulations. He got the Giants twice. Okay, everybody got the Giants. You know, the Giants started a rookie quarterback against you. Go through the cap. The hard part about the NFL this year is, usually by about this time of year, we have teams that have packed it in. You get to 15, 16, week 17.

This year we had teams that were packing an end that were stinking purposefully or based upon their roster in week one. So it's really hard to compare those stats. You cannot compare Cowboys versus Dolphins, Cowboys versus Redskins versus Cowboys versus Eagles on the road week 16. Can you? It's like a different sport.

So it does create a little bit of false equivalency. You know, it does create fools gold. But if you want to know why when you're running in a computer, 100 times over, the Cowboys come up with 10, 11, or 12 wins, and the reality is seven wins, what's the proper answer? Leadership, chemistry. Is it bad luck? What is luck?

What's the definition, the street definition of luck is where what timing and preparation meet? they weren't properly prepared. And yeah, I guess their timing was off. Having an owner who calls into question every decision a coach makes while not giving the coach an extension before the season creates unrest and a lack of quality leadership. Making coaching changes with the position coaches and the offensive coordinator, including putting somebody in charge of calling the offensive plays who's never done it before, is ill-time preparation in this important a year.

Look, did a lot of things go their way? Sure. Dax's been healthy the whole year. Zeek's been healthy since he's been back. Amari's been healthy the whole year. You know, for the most part, obviously Van der Wesch has not, but for the most part, they've been a pretty healthy football team. That luck has actually been good.

The only luck that's bad is we create this luck. They should be better. They have all these yards. They dominate time of possession. That's not how you decide football games. Can you make a play on third down? Can you make a play in the red zone? Special teams, kicking game, coaching, chemistry,

ownership, leadership, right? Don't give me this bad luck stuff. Bad luck is what's happened to the Eagles. Bad luck happened to the Seahawks. The Seahawks lost CJ Pro Seas. The CJ, they lost Rashad Penny, Chris Carson. All for the year, all within the last two weeks. You want to give me bad luck?

I'll give you bad luck. Seahawks, they play great all year. They stick around. They lost it home to the Ravens. They lost it home to the Saints. But with a roster that's still kind of trying to figure it out, they were in line for the number one seed in the NFC. Now they're, they went and dusted off Marshawn Lynch out of retirement.

Who hadn't carried a football in a year and a half. since he caught the Bart back from the Oakland Raiders game. That's bad luck. It's not bad luck. This is where stat guy will never be true sport guy. Because sports defy statistical logic. Stats give you a little sense. But if a team statistically or based upon an algorithm should win more and doesn't,

that's coaching, that's chemistry, that's leadership. That's human nature. That's what's going wrong with the Cowboys. 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. 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 sure. 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, is we have real conversations. conversations about healing, growth, fatherhood, pressure, and purpose on my new podcast, Learn the Hardway. Open your free iHeartRadio app. Search Learn the Hardway and listen now. 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 in the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. What's up, guys? This is Clivert Taylor the 4th. And on my podcast, The Clivert Show, I'm bringing you conversations about all kinds of stuff. Like being an internet famous referee.

We're in the middle of a game. This linebacker walks up to me, he goes, hey, ref, my mom wants you to wave at her. What? Time out. Quarterback on office blue 42. A rep, my mama want you to wave at her. What? Hey, Miss Parker.

Listen to the Clipper Show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Hey, I'm Deanna Maria Riva, actress, mother, lover, and a Gen X woman walking through life one hot flash and hormonal crying jag at a time. You ladies know what I mean. I'll bet you a paramedipausal chin here you do. So let's talk about it. Join me on my new podcast. How Hard Can It Be with Deanna Maria Riva, where I call on my Gen X squads from Ohio to Hollywood, as we name. navigate midlife's most fantastic BS.

All of a sudden, I'd had hanginess happening on my own. I was like, what the hell is that? I was married when I had her, so I didn't even consider how empty that nest was going to be. Mood swings, night sweats, fupas, sex drive. Wait, what sex? Dating at 45. How can it be getting naked at 50 with the new guy? That one's kind of hard now.

Well, that's lighting. They say we can't polish a turd, but we're sure going to try. So let's get blunt with laughs, tears or tears of laughter, and dive into it unfiltered and unbothered and ask, How Hard Can It Be? I cannot believe I'm about to say this out loud in public. Listen to How Hard Can It Be with Diana Maria Riva as part of my Cultura podcast network available on the Iheart radio app,

Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Speaking of the end of the football season, Tom Brady and the Patriots did it again. For the 11th consecutive time, the Patriots won the AFC East. That is crazy. Utter and sheer domination. This was Tom Brady talking about his NFL future.

I said for a long time my tune hasn't changed. So I hope to continue playing. I've had long-term goals. I had short-term goals. And again, football is a contact sport. So you never know when your last game is going to be and you should count your blessings every time you walk off the field to help me. I hate to interrupt here, but I'm going to.

Football is a collision sport, not a contact sport. Basketball is a contact sport. You make contact with their guys. Football is a collision sport. A little bit more dangerous, just slightly more dangerous, right? I say this all the time about the concussion protocol on basketball. No offense, but there are no basketball players who struggle to find where they park their car or their keys because they had debilitating brain issues because of past concussions in basketball.

It just doesn't. It's a violently dangerous sport. And he's been able, with exception to one year in which somebody rolled up on his leg, and able to not sustain a major injury. It's remarkable. But a blind man can see that he's not the same, and a smart man would have told him, hey, dude, you won the Super Bowl last year.

You should have walked then. All the signs are there. Like all the signs. I don't know what Tom Brady is going to do. I think there's a chance that Tom Brady doesn't know what Tom Brady's going to do. Legit. I'll think about that. When I think about that, I have a conversation with Giselle.

I have a conversation with my money. with my TV guy with my football. Like, I'll have my dad. We'll have those conversations then. I haven't decided. But if there are signs, remember when LeBron left Miami for Cleveland? Remember his wife had, all of a sudden there was cars on like a, not a flat bed, but one of those like double-decker car transporters like in front of his house in Miami.

You're like, wait, there's, and then there was like a plane. There was all these other signs that, wait, maybe they're going back to Cleveland. You're like, nah. His contract's up. They can't franchise him. Whatever the reality is of the offense, because the reality is they've tried to put wide receivers around him. They may have missed on Nikiel Harry might not be good enough.

A lot of people in Boston don't think he's got it. They may have missed there. They may have missed on replacements for Rob Grankowski. They tried to get Antonio Brown. They couldn't make that work. Josh Gordon, they couldn't keep him in line to make that work. you know, I mean, look, look, if you look back, they made a trade for Muhammad Sanoo. Probably should have traded for Emmanuel Sanders.

I don't know if the Broncos would have done an inner AFC deal. I don't know. But I do know that Emmanuel Sanders has been far more effective since he was traded to San Francisco than Muhammad Sanoo has been since he was traded to the Patriots. Mohammed Sanoo looks like he's, looks like Atlanta got over on him. Oh, no, he's fine. He's good. You want him? Oh, sure. Yeah, no, he's good. He's ready to go.

Yeah, no. Not even close. But it's not for lack of trying, right? They went out and added wide receiver, drafted one in the first round. You know, got Antonio Brown as well. Like, those are, they put some resources towards it. But at the day, Brady couldn't possibly be happy with the supporting cast, which, of course, only exasperates his own limitations at this stage in his career.

year. Like, look, I'm not saying he's Peyton Manning. People forget Peyton Manning. It wasn't just bad in the Super Bowl. It was bad all year. Nine touchdown, 17 interceptions. Brock Osweiler replaced him. Like, Brock Osweiler, instead of, Peyton's hurt. He was terrible. And they, they recharged him and got him just back, just upright enough so that he could take him to a Super Bowl. And the defense and special teams won that Super Bowl against Carolina Panthers. I just, Brady's got to be. be really, really careful, because when it goes,

it can go in a hurry and it can get really, really ugly. And if the ego says, I want to get paid and I'll go to L.A. I'll go to L.A. Yeah. I mean, Johnny Unitas ended his career in a charger uniform, I believe, right? We've seen O.J. Simpson in a

nineer uniform. Like, these things don't Emmett Smith, an Arizona Cardinal. Joe Montana did he, he went, they won playoff, game with the Chiefs. Like he wasn't, it wasn't terrible with the Chiefs. But this whole idea of continuing to play, like, it doesn't get better.

It tends to get worse no matter how. He does have the Benjamin Button thing where he keeps getting better looking. But your play isn't better. He's not getting better as a player. 42 is old, old, old, old by anyone's NFL standard. And, you know, you can keep telling us that, I don't know, as to still the same plan. Put your house in the market for a reason.

Your contract's up for reason. The team's offense has fallen apart for a reason. All of these things seem to be working the fashion of, you know what, dude, if you don't do it, if you don't win it, if you can't get back to a 10th Super Bowl and win that seventh championship to somehow put you ahead in some people's minds of Michael Jordan, I wouldn't keep chasing it.

I wouldn't keep chasing. I understand that it's the last time in life in which, you know, 45 other guys on a Sunday are going to be dependent on you. And 75,000 people are going to be cheering for you. I get it. It's a rush, and he's earned the right to try and walk away whenever he wants to walk away. He legitimately has earned that right. I don't believe most guys have, but there's an expression in boxing,

which is, and I may butcher it if you're a boxing guy, feel free you can tweet at me. Outleap Show, which is basically like no fighter walks out of his last fight, right? They all get carried out. It's like Floyd Mayweather, I'm never going to box again, never going to fight again, now he's going to do some, like you don't get, nobody walks out of that last fight. Muhammad Ali didn't walk out of his last fight. They just don't.

They keep going back and keep going back and ultimately you end up getting carried out. And that's the last thing you want to have happened to a Tom Brady. I thought he should have had somebody pull him aside at the last, and the last year's Super Bowl and go like, hey, dude, this is it. You cannot get, it wouldn't have been like Peyton Manning. Like Peyton Manning retired, but it felt like he had to. Tom Brady could have said, I'm retiring because I want to. I want a Super Bowl and I want to.

Now we're getting to the category of you might have to. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific on Fox Sports Radio, FS1, and the I Heart Radio app. Let's welcome, men. He's an NBA insider for Yahoo Sports. He's Chris Haynes. He joins us now in the herd, fresh off of,

they usually call it, you usually call it. There's no presence in there. There's no presence to know. It's quite the walk-up. See, too many NBA games. He had this, like, slow walk-up where he's expecting people to take pictures of the suit. What is your, give me your biggest takeaway of last night's battle of L.A.?

Well, I think the Clippers, are legit. They're real. Like I said, they are who we thought they were. And their record is not going to be reflective on how really good they are because they're going to have these load management games throughout the season. But, you know, this is why they built this team this way, just to have so much length and versatility to be able to combat the powers of the Lakers, which is AD and LeBron James. And so I'm not going to overreact, you know, off of one game, Christmas Day game, even though they are up 2-0 in the season series. But I just think it shows that, man, this team is legit.

Went healthy. You know, I just suspect the winner of the Western Conference stand is barring injuries. I expected to come out of L.A. I watched last night's game, and I thought a couple things. We'll get to LeBron in a second. I do think the Lakers are missing something. And everybody believes they'll add, likely to add Andre Godala. The reasoning there is Rob Polenko was his agent, right?

and they need one more guy. I think they need a guard and a combo guard. Like, Darren Collison was supposed to be a Laker. He decides to retire. And so now you're working with Rondo and Caruso. They have an infatuation with Rondo. I don't understand, you know. He hasn't been a good player in the league in five years.

He hasn't been a great asset for a championship team in like 10 years. That's debatable, Doug. I mean, he's been really good the last couple of years. When? Rondo. He's been really, Rondo was putting up numbers last couple of years. When was he good, though? They were better in New Orleans when he was, you know, he was, he was decent in New Orleans.

Okay, he got, he got run out of, what was it, was it, Dallas, right? Dallas, yeah, then he had the resurgence in New Orleans. In New Orleans, New Orleans, right? And he's been solid. And he was okay with the Bulls and he was really good in the playoffs for the first two games against the Celtics and then he got hurt and they collapsed. I would, how many years ago was that? Well, I get you, but I would agree that maybe. His skill set doesn't blend well with LeBron James,

because typically when LeBron James team, he needs a stretch point guard type of. It's not just that, though. Like, look, if he can't shoot, and like his numbers actually tell you he can shoot, but nobody in the NBA thinks he can shoot, he has to be Patrick Beverly at the defensive end, and he's not.

I give you that. Right? The whole thing with Rondo is he's an unbelievable defender. He has statistically, every metric tells you, He actually hasn't been a great, maybe even a good defender in a long time. He lives on reputation there. And then he's not a good finisher in the lane. So it's like, all right, if you're not going to bring much on offense,

just stand outside and shoot, you've got to give me something on defense. And he's not that tenacious junkyard pit bull, junkyard dog that he used to be. Well, to your point about them needing to bring in another addition, I agree with you whole Harley on that. The fact that I think they need them more of a 3D player. I just don't think there's anybody outside of Danny Green really on that roster who's going to hit that jumper consistently and stretch the defense. Kyle Kuzma can do it from spurs. But, you know, somebody like J.R. Smith is out there.

I know he's probably a red flag for a lot of GMs out there. But, you know, LeBron James has familiar with him in Cleveland, knows how to, you know, handle him, get the best out of him. Somebody like that makes a lot of sense. I understand. I agree with you in terms of shooting, but there's also a lack of shot creation. Right? Like LeBron is not the same guy athletically. None of us would be if we played that many years in the NBA, right? Is that like, look, we've seen him in these games.

The Milwaukee game and this game. You can say groin, and I'll be like, all right, but, you know, when you're 34, your groin does flare up more often. That growing is important. You know, you want to. It does damper what you're able to do. What's your assessment of LeBron? We've seen him in two big games against high-level competition in this last week.

Well, look, I have to take him by his word that he's not 100%. And I look at last night's game, and he clearly wasn't imposing his will physically on the opponent. You know, there wasn't a lot of drives. It wasn't a lot of attacking. There wasn't a lot of pounding. And that's what LeBron James does. And, you know, Doug, up to this week, you know, there's been talks about him being, you know, in the MVP race. And so his play has been there, you know, instead, you know, it's, you know,

except for the last, you know, four or five games. Chris Haynes joining us. Let's go to the call, okay? It was kind of a weird possession where, again, Rondo's in the game, where you're like, why is he in the game? But LeBron has the basketball, late, a couple seconds left, goes up to shoot, and Rondo hits the ball out of his hands. And it appears you're going to have a timeout.

It's going to be Laker Ball. And we're going to find out, you know, if the Lakers bench can draw something up for three-point shot. they go to replay, and on further review, the ball did go off of LeBron. Is this the right call? Well, I mean, it is the right call. I mean, it went off of LeBron's hands,

and so ball goes to Los Angeles Clippers. I think what people have a problem with is just a slowing down to game. Obviously, this is a call. If you're looking at it just what you did I, you're going to say Patrick Bradley tipped the ball out. It's going to ruin pickup. I said this in the meeting, We didn't have some of our guys that play a lot of pickup basketball.

It's going to ruin pickup basketball forever, and here's why. Okay, and pick up basketball, whichever direction the ball goes, automatically determines who we think the ball went off of them. Yeah, that's true. That's true. Right? Like if you're, oh, no, it can't go that way. I didn't hit it that way, right?

Patrick Beverly hit the basketball in that direction. It went out. It has to be off Patrick Beverly. But now that we've seen on the replay that it actually went off of LeBron. Yeah. And look, I go back and forth with the replay. obviously you want to get the right call on the court, but... Are we going to get the right call every call?

No, and that's what you're not. Even a replay, you're not going to get the right call every time. Because, you know, sometimes, you know, the reps can't find, you know, they can't really truly get it right. And so they'll leave the call the same, you know, they'll leave it as is. You know, it's one of those plays where it's like, damn, you want to see, you know, no matter who you rooting for,

you want to see if LeBron or Lakers, if they can get, you know, see what they're. they can do with those three seconds left. And, you know, they get the chance to do that. Is LeBron James still a top five player in the NBA? No doubt. No doubt. No doubt. No doubt in my mind.

You would take him ahead of Kauai today. You would take him ahead of- Physically right now. Yes. Well, since- Well, it's like the whole thing. Hold on. Since LeBron James is banged up right now, yes, I'll take Kowah.

Come on. You say it today. All right. So you would take it for the year. You would take him ahead of Kauai Leonard. Right now. not for the entirety of his career. This is what we're doing.

We conflate. Do you like LeBron James? You love what he's been and what he is right now. It's like Tom Brady. Tom Brady's not a top 10 quarterback in the NFL. It's 42 years old. But he's still the most successful quarterback

in the history of the sport. This might be the last year I say this, but I will still take LeBron this season. Over Kauai Leonard? I will take LeBron this season over anybody right now. Were you in person? I was there in person. How many fingers am I holding it?

You have two. You got two figures of it. I realize the Dominosel Coy litter. I know that boy is a bad boy, but I'm saying I... He's a robot. He is a robot. He can't be touched. You can't move him.

You can't speed his game up. You can't mentally challenge him. He's his own person. But I will say this, you know, I believe like you have to take it from somebody to be the best. I don't feel like anybody's took it. Durant didn't take it from him two years in row in the finals? Came down the court in Cleveland. Two years in row, the exact same spot came down and hit a three right in his eye.

That's not banquishing him. right in front of his own people? Kevin Durant even acknowledged himself that he thought more people will jump on the bad wagon and say he took it. And he was disappointed that that narrative didn't take over. I mean, but the reality of it is it, I felt like it did. And then Kauai, because Kevin Durant was hurt, he was the guy. He's the guy.

And then Janus felt like he took it from him. But you're saying hurt. That's what happens. When somebody's hurt, somebody else has to take over. What do we do with LeBron's fourth quarter foul? shooting. There's no, there's no defending that. I mean, it's weird though because usually the older you get, those are the things that you do better. That's true. Right? Like the athletic things you don't do as well, but your brain, you know, like look, he wasn't a great three point shooter. He's got that

kind of awkward stepback, which last night he didn't hit it, but he has become a better three point shooter and a better mid-range shooter, you know, and has a little bit more in his bag, if you will. But the free throw shooting the fourth quarter, like he made the first one. The second one was like, like, oh my gosh, that might not draw iron. I was playing pickup one of the homies from back when we were teenagers, and he couldn't shoot then, and he still can't shoot now. And I'm like, dude, what have you been doing for the last 20-something years? Like, that's your jumper is what gets better.

Right. You don't, you don't, athletically. I agree. So what, like, even I can make jump shots now. I don't. So what happened to, what's up with LeBron in the fourth quarter? Not a lack of volume? I've covered this guy exclusively, you know,

pretty much on a daily two years in a row then periodically last four years. He's changed his free throw style stance. I want to say about five or six times over that time. He's never stuck with one thing and just, you know, developed it. He's always switched. So I think that is a reason. But, you know, look, if he doesn't get that right, man, that's going to be a problem come playoff time for sure.

Okay. I'm wondering about the Rockets. Like, look, I just, I don't think it's going to work. Obviously, yesterday becomes confirmation bias. It's only one game. Last year, the Warriors lost to the Lakers in the exact same game. But you see the volume of shots that Russell Westbrook took and did not make, right? And you just start to say, here we go again with the Rockets.

Do people in the NBA think the Rockets are at the same levels of the Lakers and the Clippers? No, no. Nobody really thinks that. But when you say it's not going to work to what extent? They're not going to take that next step, right? That's why they made it. Yeah. Yeah, okay.

Okay. I get you there. No, no doubt about that. Playing in the finals. Like, can they, you know, it's like they couldn't beat the Warriors. And I guarantee what Tillman Fertita said was like, look, we can't beat the, remember when they lost to the Warriors, again, at home, the Warriors didn't have, you know, didn't have KD.

And they come, like, if we can't beat the Warriors now, we're never going to beat them. we had to rethink things. They try and rethink things. They go with Russell Westbrook, who's a more athletic at this stage version of Chris Paul, but doesn't do the other things Chris Paul does, is this version of the Rockets at the same level as the Lakers and the Clippers.

And you're saying you don't believe they are. I don't believe so. But what I would say this is that they're dangerous enough where you really can't take them for granted. Because I'll say that the seating has to play in their favor, playoff seed that is. They can't go through L.A. and the Clippers in the playoffs. You know, seating has to be in their favor

where they meet those, you know, meet one of those teams in the conference finals. But I was, you know, look, when you got Hardin, you know, playing like, by the way, he's a top five player in the NBA. He, I give him that. No, definitely. He's top five. Yes.

Oh, hold. Oh, are we? No, I'm just saying, like, you're going to. I know he's trying to get up. You have Kwai, but you have Kauai behind LeBron. You put Hardin behind LeBron too? Yes. Okay.

Yeah, I mean, I think that's legit. I know he only plays one end, but he's pretty good at that one end. Well, Hart's been playing better at the other end now, especially in the post. Just for the, for the, Full disclosure. I love basketball. Uh-huh. Okay?

I was in a gym at Hope University of my son and my nephew. Yesterday, hooping, like, then watching all these guys. I love basketball. I think James Hardin's great. I cannot stand watching James Hardin play, but I will tell you he's probably the best offensive player in the league. I will give you that right now. He's revolutionized the game.

He makes you like, there's seldom guys that come into a league and they do moves where you have to look at him like, dang, was that allowed? Like he really... No, the answer is not. Shouldn't be allowed. The travel shouldn't be allowed. Well, I'm sad, but there are some of his stepbacks where I have to replay it in slow mode to look like, man. That was legit.

It is kind of ballet. Last thing. Look, I know Joel Embed is not at that level because he doesn't do it consistently. And because everyone holds their breath thinking he's going to get hurt. But man, is that guy a talent? Like, I'm in the, he might be the most talented cat there is. Like, seven feet can move, can shoot, can pass. can block shots.

The most talented. Is he in your top five? No, because he doesn't. We don't see that from him on a consistent enough basis. Okay, most talented. He's arguably, AD. I mean, a seven-footer that can move like that

and do all of those things. I mean, what Janus does at 6-11, you know, is pretty damn impressive. I don't think Janus is as good as shooter. No, he's not as good as shooter. But, I mean, he can do pretty much everything else better than Joel M.B. Can't score in a post.

Not a true post score like MB. He does everything with the ball a little bit better in terms of creating for himself. The Euro step is... Consistency. Consistency from MB. That's what everybody... If you were a betting man right now, I got 15 seconds. Sixers or Bucks out of the East? Bucks. I don't need to hold 15 seconds. Bucks.

They usually shoot it very well. They did not shoot it well yesterday, and the Sixers did. They're on a mission. I don't... Christmas Day game, whatever. They're on a mission. Bucks. Chris Haynes. You check him out and speak for yourself a little bit later. Read his work in Yahoo. sports, follow them on social media. It does a great job.

Incredible rise for you. Merry Christmas. Happy New Year. Thanks for joining us. Thank you. 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, the stuff nobody gets to hear.

Listen to Sports Slice on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Slicelife-Life 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, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer Streeter Seidel, help an a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and friends on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, what's good, y'all? You're listening to Learn the Hardway with your favorite therapist and host, Kear Games. This space is about black men's experiences, having honest conversations

that'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. What's up, guys?

This is Clivert Taylor the Fourth. And on my podcast, The Cliverts Show, I'm bringing you conversations about all kinds of stuff. Like being an internet famous referee. We're in the middle of a game. This linebacker, this linebacker walks up to me. He goes, hey, ref, my mom wants you to wave at her. What?

Time out. Quarterback on office blue with 42. Hey, Wreck, my mama want you to weigh better. What? Hey, Miss Parker. Listen to the Clifford show on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human.