The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Best of The Herd for 06/10/2019

Episode Date: June 10, 2019

Colin says movies without stars usually disappoint and so do the NBA Finals when the biggest star is missing. He talks about Lakers players struggling with having their childhood idol and now teammate trying to have them traded. He admits where he was right and wrong over the last week. Plus, the legendary Charles Barkley talks about the futures of Kevin Durant and Kawhi Leonard and why the NBA has a major issue on its hands. 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,

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

Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and Friends on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. What's up, guys? This is Clivert Taylor the Fourth. And on my podcast, The Cliverts Show, I'm bringing you conversations about all kinds of stuff. Like being an internet famous referee. We're in the middle of a game. This linebacker, this linebacker walks up to me. He goes, hey, ref, my mom wants you to wave at her.

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

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

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

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by searching herd. This is the best of the herd with Colin Cowherd on Fox Sports Radio. Ah, this is the herd. Wherever you may be, however you may be listening. This week, no television at all. Not on TV at all this week. Don't have to deal with my ugly face. IHeart Radio, Fox Sports Radio, Sirius XM83.

Put our stuff up on Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube. Joy Taylor is joining me, one hour for. now calling right, calling wrong. For the next week, we get to do a radio show, which you started in radio. And I started in radio. And so Joy Taylor and I, these are like the good old days. You started in Miami radio. That's a good first market.

We're going old school. Well, I went to school there, so. That's a big market to start it. It is. It is. But that's, I encourage people to intern. That's how it works. Did you intern?

Yeah. I interned. My first job was actually the place that I had my first internship. Oh, that's, so they must have, you must have been a good intern. I was great again. Half of them I can't get out of the building fast enough. You were one of those interns. Everybody's like, oh, yeah, she could actually work here. I mean, that's the goal of getting an internship.

Yeah. So it's kind of a screw-off week. And I'm mean by that. It's fun. It's loose. And we're just, you know, we're knocked off obviously because of the women's World Cup, which tomorrow the United States plays, actually. And excited for that much more dependable than our men's national team.

I'll get to that later. Kevin Durant, here's the injury update. The Warriors, he practiced, according to two reports. He wasn't very good at practice. Of course, he's not very good at practice. He's got a calf strain. This series, it's 3 to 1 Toronto, and I think the series is over, and I think they went tonight. I don't think this is a very complicated series.

I said before the series, I think I picked Golden State in 6. Joy, you picked, what was your final pick? I picked the Raptors in 7. Okay. So I'm on the wrong side of that one. I think one of the things I said before the series, length is something that fans don't talk about, but every scout I've ever known talks about.

I had a scout, Mark Warkin teen years ago, said, you know, Scotty Pippen, twice a game deflected a ball, Chicago ended up with it. That gave Michael Jordan two more possessions. He made one. He goes, Chicago Bulls won a lot of close playoff games. Laint matters. Well, Mark Nassau, Pascal Seyakum,

Sir Jabaka, Kauai is one of the longest six, six, seven guys on the planet. And who's hurt for Golden State? Their longest player, Kevin Durant. Kvon Looney, 6-9, missed a game. Boogie Cousins is running around the court about 60, 70%. In the NFL, you would call this a cluster injury. When you have like three receivers go down or four offensive linemen or hurts called a cluster

injury, the warriors have a cluster injury with their bigs. And it is a huge disadvantage against one of the biggest longest teams in the NBA, Toronto. Toronto's shooting 45% in this series. And my takeaway on this, I've watched four games now. They're just getting more easy baskets. This is where Katie's length, boogie at full strength length, would be a factor. It's not just offense.

You're not missing just Kevin Durant's offense, obviously. But Kevin's a good defender, and Kevin's one of the longest players in the league. Golden State's not getting as many easy baskets. So Toronto, not known as a great shooting team, is shooting 45.5%. Golden State, known as the world's best shooting team, is shooting 43%. What does that tell you? Golden State's struggling to get easy looks. Toronto's getting more easy looks.

And over the course of a series, 6-11.5 KD hasn't played. Seven-foot boogie, not playing well. Six, nine and a half Kvon Looney missed a game playing about 75%. And those guys are running around at 70% or not playing at all, chasing a very, you know, Sergei Bocca is swatting things left and right. Gelsa Aukham for his size is incredibly athletic and nimble. And I think that's the series. The other thing, it's playing a psychological effect.

I saw Sam Amick of the Athletic said yesterday that, you know, the team, there's confusion, there's angst in the locker room. Is he going to play? Is he not going to play? I think there's a psychological impact now is they don't know. You know, I said this years ago, I used to cover Rashid Wallace. Rashid Wallace is one of the most talented players in NBA history. And I say that.

Rashid Wallace just happened. His prime aligned with Tim Duncan's prime and Kevin Garnett's prime. So here you had in the Western Conference, Tim Duncan, the best four in 20 years. And you had Kevin Garnett, one of the best fours in the last 20 years. And Rashid's career just lined up with him. The difference is you knew what you were getting every night from Duncan and Kevin Garnett. You kind of knew the game you got. With Rashid, I thought he was just as talented.

But Rashid, you never knew what you were getting. He was a goofier personality. He's one of the best defensive bigs at his size, that position. Go ask Tim Duncan and Kevin Garnett. They hated playing Sheed. He's one of the longest players ever. But you never knew what you were getting with Sheed. Night to Night.

You did it with Duncan and Garnett. And with the Warriors, they don't know what they're getting with Kevin Durant. And they're sitting around talking about it. Are we going to get Kevin? Are we not going to get Kevin? And I think it's playing a psychological effect. So if he returns, I have real doubts he would add anything. And I don't know if I'm Kevin.

Durant, if I'm not 100%, I'm not sure I would play. So that's kind of my takeaway. I don't think this is a wildly complicated series. I think you have a series of cluster injuries in your size for Golden State. It's getting Toronto more easy baskets five or six times a night, six or seven times a night. It's getting Golden State, not that general easy look from Kevin Durant. And that's the difference in the series. And let me shift to this.

I think it's been a bit of a dud. not all NBA finals are great. There was the LeBron's first trip against Tim Duncan. Listen, there's a reason Hollywood pays movie stars $20 million. Kevin Durant's a star. You can't take Kevin Durant, Kobe, Shaq, Michael, LeBron, Magic, Bird. You can't take one of those guys out of a finals and say there's no impact at all. The ratings are down about 20%.

Some of this, probably 10% of it's Canada. Obviously, Toronto doesn't count for our ratings. And another part of it is we don't have time. Kevin Durant. I think he's the best basketball player in the world. I was watching a movie yesterday. I like serial killer movies. I'm not going to get into that. But I like, I've seen Zodiac two or three times. Zodiac's a good movie. The Zodiac killer, the Bay Area, serial killer. They don't know who it is, blah, blah, blah. But the movie's a good movie. It's not great, but it's good. It's not like Silence of the Lambs. It's not that level.

But what makes the movie more consumable is Robert Downey's in it. Jake Gyllenhauls in it. Mark Ruffalo's in it. And they're like, oh, those guys are like Avenger guys. Like, these are guys who got like great actors, right? And so it gives it a gravitas, a feel, a bigness, that it wouldn't have if it had just kind of de-list actor people. And there's a reason those guys are stars.

They feel bigger, you know, every time Mark Ruffalo is on the screen, Ruffalo, every time he's on the screen, he owns the scene. Like he owned, he's just, one of those guys, got a lot of texture. He's a very good actor. There's a lot of guys like that for me. Ed Norton, Don Chito, Ray Liana, they're on screen. I can't take my eyes off him. They just feel big and textured.

And they made the movie, an average script. It's okay. It's pretty good. They make it feel big. And this series doesn't feel as big. We got no Kevin Durant. But I also think, take the NFL out of it. Hockey, baseball, and basketball.

You could take a third of all those leagues out, a third of the franchises. It wouldn't affect it at all. The leagues, networks don't even put the bottom third of the NBA on TV, the bottom third of hockey and the bottom third of baseball. In the NFL, outside of two or three teams, Miami's supposed to be the worst team in the NFL. I'll watch. They got Josh Rosen. I'll watch the Dolphins.

So who is in the finals matters in baseball. Yankees feel bigger. Cubs feel bigger. Dodgers feel bigger. Red Sox feel bigger. In hockey, Chicago Blackhawks feel bigger. If you had like the Montreal Canadiens or the Detroit Red Wings or the Pittsburgh Penguins, they'd feel bigger. And in the NBA, it does matter that you have your stars.

and, you know, that's why the Pistons team, the Mavericks team that won, and this Raptor team will be far more forgettable. And so I just think these finals, it's a bit of a dud, and the ratings indicate that. But here's the other thing, is that, and I don't blame the players for this because I, not lecture, I try not to lecture, but I say it all the time, evolve. Watch what's happening to cultures. I said when I went from the other place to Fox, I noticed the culture of podcast and digital YouTube and Facebook was exploding.

So when I came over here, my sense was, I'm just going to grab my surfboard and ride this digital podcast wave. And my numbers will increase. Whether I did as good as show or a bad show, the numbers are exploding. So I watched the culture, which I considered a big digital wave,

a big podcast wave. I just grab my surfboard, boom, take the wave. Let the culture do the work for you to some degree, right? And I don't blame NBA stars for what I'm about to say. because I'd be doing the same thing. Kauai Leonard admits yesterday, yeah, the only reason I'm this good, I took 22 games off. Kevin Durant's hurt, Clay's hurt, bogeet's hurt.

If you're an NBA star, are you watching this finals thinking, I'm not playing 82 games next year? That'd be stupid. Why would I do that? I mean, we have all over this country and the world, people are talking about a four-day work week. work less, work smarter, work a little longer on a day, but don't work every day. Work four days a week. That's a real trend.

I think in America over the next decade, and I firmly believe in this as a trend, four intense days, give people a Friday off. By the way, all you business people that freak out, people are going to shop more, eat more, sex more, recreate more, spend more. It's great for business. Not bad. It's great. Ask your employees to work 10 hours, not 8, to get Friday off.

Guess what? Your employees will be out. people coming to your business shopping. So my takeaway on the NBA is how can players watch this finals, especially star players, and not come to this conclusion? I'm taking 20 regular season games off next year. Now, this is not a problem the NFL faces because with only 16 games, you know, guys are dying to get on the field when they're hurt. And games tend to have more impact.

But you have an 82 regular season schedule. And, you know, the power in the NFL is in ownership and management and coaching. The power of the NBA is the players, especially the star players. And I think you're going to have a little bit of a runaway train that Adam Silver knows is coming. That's why Adam Silver this year, All-Star Break is longer, fewer back-to-back. Adam Silver sees this runaway train coming. It's going to be a real challenge for the NBA because I think you're James Hardin and your LeBron James and you're Kevin Durant and your Steph Curry and your co-operable.

Leonard. I think they're going to look around and go, look at these finals. Kauai's the best player because Kauai's not hurt. Kauai Leonard came out yesterday and said, the reason I'm so effective is I took 22 games off. And this is not, you know, every league has challenges. I think this is going to be a real challenge for the NBA going forward. I think this is going to resonate with players. I think guys are looking around and the regular season, which has never been watched much to begin with in the NBA, it's pretty much about the playoffs, the finals, and free agency. I think you have a little bit of a trend resonating in this league right now.

Guys are looking at all these guys hurting the finals and they're going to say, what the hell am I worried about Denver on a Tuesday night? Kauai Leonard's now being called the best player in the world, and Kauai is like the only reason I'm here is I took 22 games off. So I think that's a little bit I think the finals is missing stars, a little bit of a dud. I do think leagues ebb and flow, I mean the NFL's had a violence problem, a CTE problem.

OTAs now, there's much less hitting college football during the season. There's almost no hitting anymore. I mean, it's like, I've talked to coaches across the country. They're like, our hitting has been just taken off the board and practice. We want healthier kids playing. So leagues have challenges. I do think there could be a little bit of a runaway train here on the, I'm taking a lot of regular season games off for stars

because I'm watching this final. My takeaway is why is Kevin Durant playing 78 games? What's the point of this? I mean, do you realize John Goulet told me this this morning, the Warriors over the last five years have played 109 extra games? What the hell you play? What are you playing Memphis for in January? I want my guys available.

So Kevin Durant went through full shoot-around, getting treatment now. Still a game-time decision, Steve Kerr says, God, I wish they'd just keep it quiet. Play them or not. Good Lord. This roller coaster day-to-day, whether he's playing. Well, he's gone through a workout. I think the series is over.

I don't think Katie coming back is going to change it. I really don't. I cannot see the Raptors going and losing two home games. I mean, first of all, it's hard to beat anybody three times in a row. I think the Raptors are going to win the series. Didn't initially, but I do now. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific on Fox Sports Radio, FS1 and the IHeard Radio app.

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 SportsSlice 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. 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. 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 about healing, growth, fatherhood, pressure, and purpose on my new podcast, Learn the Hardway. Open your free iHeartRadio app. Search Learn the Hardway and listen now. What's up, guys?

This is Clever Taylor the Fourth. And on my podcast, The Cliver 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. Hey, rep, 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 post, podcast. Hey everyone, it's Rider Strong and Will Ferdell from PodMeets World. And now the Podmeets

Twirled podcast. We're two men who were completely clueless to reality TV, who now have covered Dancing with the Stars, traitors, and we're gearing up for the season finale of Survivor. So yeah, now we're experts. I know we annoyed a lot of our listeners by our severe lack of survivor knowledge. That is the point of the show. I'm just going to remind you, I have watched some Survivor. I obviously haven't watched enough. Did people not like it? Like what was... Yeah. Just because we... Yeah. We'll be recapping the big conclusion

of the 50th season from the final attempts at gameplay to the desperate pleas of finalists to a bunch of ha-hoo. Ah, ha, ooh. Again, we are experts. So make sure to tune to to Pod Meets Twirled for all our Survivor 50 takes. Listen to PodMeets Twirled on the IHeard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or

wherever you get your podcasts. So, Rojohn, Rondo, sat down with Rick Bueger this past week. They went and had lunch. Bukes told me about it. Well, the story came out a couple days later. And there's all sorts of great quotes here from Rondo, who's always been, he can sometimes not be as functional. He's one of these guys. He doesn't suffer fools easily. And if you can't play at his level intellectually, it just gets worn out. And he's kind of rigid. He kind of has the coaches I know that have dealt with him said he's sort of a coach on the

floor. He can be tough. I mean, Doc Rivers is pretty easy to get along with. He battled with Rick Carlisle. Those are pretty easy coaches by coaching standards to get along with. But Rondo's bright as hell. And he's talking about, it's a fascinating opinion on being with the Lakers this year. And he talked about what happened at the trading deadline when Kuzma, Brandon, Lonzo, Josh Hart, their names all showed up in the paper. They're getting traded. He said, listen, every guy in our team, LeBron was their first. favorite player growing up. Everybody had his shoes and they had his jersey, biggest fan in the world.

It's like you're playing with MJ. And then you get there and it's like your mom and dad or that person you looked up to, they don't want you. He goes, it even freaked out the old guys. I'm not going to say a name, but I'm sitting there on the bench for the Atlanta game right before the All-Star break. And the old guy's cussing and talking about the situation. I'm like, dude, snap out of it.

This blank is over with. But even veterans were freaked out by it. And I think this is something that in basketball, there's a very unique, specific culture that doesn't exist in any other sport in America, the shoes. So you start wearing your favorite basketball players shoes when you're seven, eight, nine, right? Like, there's a thing. You don't wear, I've never, you never talk about wearing Drew breezy shoes or Russell Wilson's shoes or Patrick King. of the Black Hawk shoes, skates. You know, it's not the way it works.

Maybe in golf a little bit, you use Tigers clubs or whatever. So at 7, 8, 9 years old, you're wearing your idol's shoes. So that is a deep, visceral, emotional connection that you don't have with other athletes. So then you enter the league, if you're one of the rare great players, and you're on, not only your idols team, but you've been wearing his stuff. So the emotional connection is far deeper. And Magic and LeBron, superstars, I always thought were just way too glib on this trading deadline thing. These guys just got to get used to it.

And these guys just got to get. No, that's because you've never been these guys. You were both into the league. Remember, LeBron entered the league as a superstar. Magic entered the league as a superstar. You know, a lot of guys, Duane Wade, Marquette, then by like year four, you're like, oh, my God, this kid down in Miami, he's a superstar. star. LeBron was a star at 15. Magic was a star at 18. And so as superstars, they just didn't understand, I get it. I mean, it happens. They didn't understand the magnitude of the players in

the room. Everybody looked up the magic and LeBron, mostly LeBron because of the age. Remember, the NBA and Nike had a B-like Mike campaign. There's never been a B-like Brady campaign. In fact, if you look at Brady's marketing, it's not about you and I being the same. Tom is saying, hey, my life is amazing. I'm going to live to be 140. If you'd like to join me up on this private jet, wearing my ugs in kale pajamas,

even the mattress Brady sells is like the most expensive mattress. Tom is not saying I'm one of you. Tom Brady is saying I'm living an elevated life. Would you like to come join me? That's why I always defended Tiger Woods. When Tiger Woods never said he was you. Go look at, Tiger Woods was like, bro, American Express. American Express is what rich people use.

You know, MasterCard's what everybody uses. When people said, Tiger Woods, what am I going to tell my kids? Tell him he's the greatest golfer you've ever watched. They're your kids. That's your problem. Don't have sex if he can't handle the parenting. Tiger Woods never said he was you. John Daly said he was you.

I drink too much in smoke when I play golf. That's what I see in a public course. That was his marketing. Now, Peyton Manning's marketing has always been Oreos, mid-sized cars. So if Peyton Manning does something, I'd be tougher on pay. Tom Brady's never done that. I wear Ugs. I'm married to a supermodel.

Would you like to join me on the private jet and live to be 140? Then buy my book and go to my age clinics. That's his marketing. And so in basketball, everybody can buy shoes, right? They're expensive, but you buy shoes. So all these kids buy shoes and they're emotionally connected to LeBron. LeBron comes in. They love me.

I'm not really interested in the kids. They're all like I can trade it down to the neighborhood. And I don't think LeBron ever quite understood that. And I guess you probably wouldn't, right? Because you've never faced it. LeBron didn't come into the, I mean, he loved Jordan. But LeBron was a superstar at 60. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays and noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific.

All right. We do it on Mondays. Colin right. Colin wrong. I make a lot of mistakes. Hold myself accountable. Here we go. Where Colin was right? Well, I said, the story broke 10 minutes after my rant, I said, Mark Stevens, warrior owner, you got to kick him out of arenas. And I would have kicked him out of the owner's circle. And people said, you're kind of harsh, Colin. You're overreacting. Well, 10 minutes later, the NBA dropped the hammer on him and said, you're out of our

arenas, and we're giving you the second largest fine ever. I still contend that they went a little light on it. Most people disagree with me. But it is unthinkable to me that in this day and age where everything, every piece of video, you're always on camera. Forget just an arena, a shopping mall, a grocery store, that an owner would not only shove an NBA player, but drop multiple F bombs. And the NBA came in harsh, not as harsh as I would have, but nonetheless, a lot of you, your initial reaction was calling you're being ridiculous.

And the NBA said, no, not really. out of arenas for a year, second largest fine ever, and I think they got it right mostly with Mark Stevens. Where Colin was wrong. You know, I kept laughing all year about load management. I'm like, who came up with that term?

But it's worked. Load management is what Kauai did. He just took 22 nights off, and, you know, an athlete knows his body better than I do. I don't think, I think going forward, it's problematic for the league to have stars sitting out. And I've always contented the NBA, be better to 60 games, 65, 68 game schedule.

But the message is pretty clear if you look at these finals. Give players more time off. And I know they make a lot of money and let's baby the stars. Ask yourself this. Would this finals be better with a healthy Kevin Durant? Would it be better with a healthy boogey cousins? Would it be better with a healthy Clay Thompson? Come on, Looney?

Yes. And by the way, Toronto's guys are all dinged up. So the reality is, I can laugh all I want at load management. Kauai Leonard's an advertisement that that's the future of the NBA. Where Colin was right? Carson Wentz got signed two years early to a long contract. Can you stop with the Nick Foles nonsense? Nick Foles is a C-plus B-minus quarterback talent.

Can win your games? Very, very coachable, and that's a big thing. I'm not denying that. But Carson Wence is the future. He is the 10-year quarterback. I think he's an amazing talent. He's one of four or five guys, Patrick Mahomes. You know, like, they're just different.

He's just physically bigger, stronger, faster than another guy. and I love this kid when he came into the league and everybody in Philadelphia was pushing back and I was getting a lot of this Nick Foles nonsense. They let Nick Foles walk and they signed two years early Carson Wentz. The Eagles see Wentz and Foles precisely as I see Winson Foles.

Where Colin was wrong. The Warriors without KD are not competitive. Listen, I never said they were better without KD, but I didn't think they were different and that different was good enough to win the final. This isn't really a competitive finals. I think they lose tonight. It's not just his scoring.

It's his length. I mean, the reality is Kevin is the best basketball player in the world, and he's probably the longest basketball player in the world. And Toronto's getting a lot of easy looks down low. And, you know, Draymond, you're big. Boogie cousins. It's really been a disaster matchup. And I do think Kevin Durant alone being inserted in if he was healthy would change the series.

So there's two different warriors. With and without him, the with Kevin Durant can beat everybody. The without Warriors Kevin Durant can beat Portland and can beat a lot of teams. You're not beating this Toronto team without Kevin Durant. Where Colin was right? Roshan Rondo to Rick Buecker confirmed what we had told you all February, March, and April is LeBron James never understood the impact of these trade rumors. Magic Johnson never understood the impact of these trade rumors. Rondo was brutally honest to Rick Buecker saying,

not only did it affect our young guys, he said in the interview, the old guys were all worked up. LeBron was their idol. It's like your mom and dad telling you they don't love you. You can go live with your neighbors. And that's why you cannot tell me that if you read your name in the newspaper and you're 21 years old, and this is as much on magic as LeBron's,

more on magic than LeBron. You cannot tell me a 22-year-old playing for the Lakers being rumored to be headed to New Orleans. Most have never been to New Orleans would not affect the team. And Rondo confirms it absolutely did. Where Colin was wrong. I've never really trusted Kyle Lowry in the NBA playoffs, but he was very good against Milwaukee, and he's been very solid 13.7 assists in this finals had 23 in game three. He also showed restraint and judgment with Mark Stevens, the owner of the, one of the owners of the Warriors pushing and dropping F-bombs. He's also had to guard Steph Curry, which is a real assignment. Steph had one great game, but has not had a remarkable series.

And so, you know, he's a guy that for years and years, I always felt if Lowry was your second best player, you're not going to win a championship. On this team, he's probably the third best player. There have been nights where Serge Abakka, Seyakum, Mark Gassolab and the second best player. Now, as a third best player, I can take Kyle Lowry, and I think I can get to the finals. But he's been better than I thought. Where Colin was right? Been complaining about this forever in baseball. Could you guys occasionally have fun?

The old unwritten rule baseball guy is so tired, is so tedious, I'm so over it. So Max Baumgartner this weekend, Giants hosting the Dodgers, Mac Muncie hit a ball 600 feet into the bay. Covey Cove and admired it for, whoa, three quarters of a second. And Baumgartner didn't like it, ran over to first base, chewed him out, and Max Muncie said this after the game. You know, I hit the ball, and then he yelled at me. He said, don't watch the ball.

You run. And I just responded back. You know, if you don't want me to watch the ball, you can go get it out of the ocean. Didn't Major League Baseball do an ad campaign? Lighten up. Let the kids play. This continues to be a really bad. for baseball. Cranky announcers, cranky old school

unwritten guys. Let people celebrate briefly a 600-foot bomb into the ocean. Ken Griffey did it. We were all okay. And Barry Bonds did it and we were all okay. And I grew up and all sorts of stars did it like Reggie Jackson and baseball was more popular than lighten up old school unwritten rule baseball dork. where Colin was wrong.

AJ Green is arguably the first or second best wide receiver in the NFL. He's a monster. He said this weekend, I just can't see myself playing anywhere else. What? With Andy Dalton? The Cincinnati Bengals are the third to fourth most interesting football team in their own state. Ohio State football, Cleveland Browns.

Listen, you've become the Bermuda Triangle of star players. You've disappeared. You're unbelievable. You can't see yourself. playing. Do you realize that in the 111 career games, he has 63 touchdowns? When he's healthy, he's a thousand yards guaranteed. He's one of the great receivers. And I'm not joking here in NFL history. AJ Green is an unguardable, dominating player. And he can't see himself playing anywhere else. Yeah, I can with Tom Brady. Get on the phone. Where Colin was right?

I never bought the old local radio guy says Kauai Leonard has bought a house. Kauai Leonard was asked about buying a house. No, I didn't. It hasn't happened yet. No, I haven't bought a house. Sports writers are generally not real estate moguls. I do not buy stories from sports media. and I've seen, I don't know, three dozen of these in my career,

so-and-so coach bought a house in Austin, Texas. That means Nick Saban is coming here. No, Nick Saban sent his wife to Austin and made sure the news got a hold of it so that his athletic director heard that Nick Sabin's wife was in Austin looking at houses and they gave him a big fat off-season raise. It is a game.

Everybody plays it. There's a reason these stories leak. Story had no validity. Colin right, calling wrong. On a Monday. One more herd? The herd streams 24 hours a day, seven days a week within the I-Heart radio app.

Search herd to listen live or on demand whenever you'd like. 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. 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 SportsSlic. On the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Sliced 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,

Kier 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 just, 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, is 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. What's up, guys?

This is Clever Taylor the 4th. And on my podcast, The Cliverts show, I'm bringing you conversations about all kinds of stuff. Like being an internet famous referee. We're in the middle of a game. This linebacker, this linebacker walks up to me, he goes, hey, ref, my mom wants you to wave at her. What?

Time out. Quarterback on office blue with 42. Hey, 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. Hey, everyone, it's Ryder Strong, and Will Ferdell from PodMeets World. And now the Pod Meets Twirled podcast.

We're two men who were completely clueless to reality TV, who now have covered dancing with the stars, traitors, and were gearing up for the season finale of Survivor. So yeah, now we're experts. I know we annoyed a lot of our listeners by our severe lack of survivor knowledge. That is the point of the show. I'm just going to remind you. I have watched some Survivor.

I obviously haven't watched enough. Did people not like it? Like what was just because we? Yeah. We'll be recapping the big conclusion in the 50th season from the final attempts at gameplay to the desperate pleas of finalists to a bunch of, ha, who.

Ha, ha, ha, who. Again, we are experts. So make sure to tune into Pod Meets Twirled for all our Survivor 50 takes. Listen to PodMeets Twirl on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. The Cowboys and Dak Prescott on the heels of Carson-Went's contract, quote, are not close on a new deal. Everything that I have been told said Mike Garofalo of the NFL Network said, Garofolo, excuse me, they're not close. Dax's not close. Cowboys aren't close. Not even close on numbers.

And here's the thing about Doc Prescott. On paper, you should pay him. On film, you shouldn't. All right? So on paper, he has two division titles. He never misses a start. He won a playoff game and he's 32 and 16. On paper, he deserves 33 million a year. On film, he deserves about 22 and a half because he misses open receivers. He's got first round town all around him. His accuracy is hit and mess. He doesn't throw the ball particularly well downfield. And he fumbles a lot, got kind of small hands, fumbles a lot. And on film, he doesn't pop. On film Carson Wentz and Patrick Mahomes, pop. You got to pay him.

On film, DAC doesn't pop. But his resume, that's a popper. And so that's where the Cowboys are at. On film, he's a $23 million quarterback. On paper, he's 32 and a half. You got to pay him a little more than Carson wins. And, you know, you see this in Wall Street all the time. A company buys a company.

It looks good on paper. And then this company buys a smaller company and they get them in a house and they're like, you know, the synergy doesn't work. It's not the same company. You know, we were on the outside looking in and I've seen this a thousand times. I mean, how many of you have worked at a company that you admired on the outside? Then you got in the door and you're like, it's a lot of stress. People aren't happy here. Morale's not good here.

DAC is great on paper. On film, not quite the same quarterback. I always say this about websites. On the outside Twitter, it's so glamorous to own a website. And then I know three people who have, and it's ungodly hours. It never ends. Like the game's never over. The margins are tiny.

But some newspaper corporation or TV corporation will spend $100 million and buy a website, and it's all smoking mirrors. They don't make any money. I mean, Barstool makes a lot of money selling merchandise shirts and their podcast. They're websites? it's a lot of hours and tiny margins, if anything. Websites are the classic, man, just glamor it. Then ask people who work on websites.

And they're like, yeah, I know the guy that used to run ESPN.com, Chad Millman. He's like, it never ends. Like, there's not a, there's not like a, oh, and the game is over. Or like, as a columnist, oh, I wrote a story. Now I send it to my editor. Or we do a show, Joy and I, and it's done at noon Pacific and we go home. Like websites are a 24-hour radio show. They never end.

And so I think, Dak, you've got to figure out the resume on paper says this. The film says this. And the happy medium is, to me, if I'm Dallas, it's probably going to be around $28.5 million, which is more than I want to spend. But I'll tell you what, he doesn't get hurt. And he's great late in games. You can go look at the numbers.

If you're close late, Dax's one of those guys that plays better in crisis than he does without and you got to pay him. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific on Fox Sports Radio, FS1 and the IHeard Radio app. Well, a little surprised guest today.

I came into work and they said, Charles Barkley may call the show. I said, you all right, I'll take that. There's two networks that have the NBA. There's a reason I watch one more than the other. TNT because of Charles Barkley. He's on a pre-and-post game show. It's the best thing on television during the NBA season.

And he's always very accommodating to the press, talks to people all the time. He was a hoot when I covered the NBA in Portland, Oregon. And Charles is joining us. Charles, I'm thinking about this with KD the other day. If I was KD's agent, I could never tell him, go to a worse owner and make less money. I could never tell a player that. The idea that Kevin Durant is going to take less money and go to a lousy owner in New York, if you were KD's agent, what would you tell him to do, Charles?

The guy who never won the championship who would have played with the most talent available. Because losing sucks. I mean, losing sucks. And no matter how much money you make, he's going to make money from Nike and do commercials. But, you know, I'm always fascinated when these teams break up because they can't get alone.

When I got traded to Phoenix, I got Dan Marlin, Kevin Johnson, and Sabalas those guys, I thought I was in heaven. You know, playing in Philly on those teams that sucks all those years, being a one-man band, that's not a lot of fun. What about Kauai Leonard in Toronto where they don't attract free agents? I can win here, but I'm going to have to carry the surplus of the minutes and points. what as Kauai's agent would you tell him? I would stay in Toronto. He's got arguably maybe the best GM in the league, so he's always going to get him players.

I mean, he might be, no disrespect to R.C. Bufa or Sam Presti, I think Maasai is the best GM in the NBA. He's done a fantastic job, not just, this year. But, because listen, Ray, the Rosen, firing the coach

of the year, put all your steps to the middle of the table as one of the justiest move of all time. Because,

you know, everybody's going to be on his bandwagon. Now, if these guys had lost the first round or second

round of the playoffs, we would have been killing him. Yeah. But now we got to praise that man. Because he could have kept

the Rosen won another 50-some games a year and got beating the playoffs and been content. I've got nothing but respect for that man to put all his chips in the middle of the table.

You know, Colin, what's going to be interesting, I'm watching all these people talk about free agency. Listen, if you don't get KB or Kauai, you're not really getting a superstar. But what's going to be really interesting,

none of these guys and go to teams by themselves. That's what I hear these guys are going here. But what if you get that guy? Your team not going to be much better unless you get KD or KWI and another guy. Your team's not going to be in the better. If you get two decent free agents, he's just going to be a middle of the road team paying two guys max dollars for the next 10 years.

Do you think LeBron wakes up this morning? He's got $500 million net worth, a bunch of rings, a great legacy, good guy. But do you think he wakes up this morning and is sort of bummed what the Lakers, like if he could do a do-over, he'd say this doesn't work? Or do you think he reached sort of a, I'm Michael Jordan may have done this. He kind of reached a mogul stage. Basketball's big, but it's not everything. What do you think LeBron thinks about when he wakes up after this past year?

I think he wakes up instead. I owned a state. When I went back to the Cleveland, my legend is already secure. And I can just play. If we win another one, they might make me present if I win another one in Cleveland. Because, listen, going to the Lakers, I clearly don't think that was a basketball decision. That was the after-life decision. He was going to learn the business model for Magic Johnson.

And I think he made a mistake going to the Lakers. Yeah, I think you're right. Load management. I don't like it, but man, Charles, Kauai Leonard looks healthier than these warriors is the future of the NBA guys saying, I'm taking 20 games off in the regular season. I'm taking 20 games off.

The NBA won't be around. We can't be paying guys $450,000, $60 million, and them sitting out 20 games a year, the best players. That's not fair. to the game. It's not fair to the fans. Listen, Kawai is the perfect superstar. He's a no drama.

He just wants to play basketball. First of all, he's looked like he doesn't have been nothing in some of these games in fairness. But to get back to your original point, we can't have Katie, Kawai, LeBron, Yonis, sitting out 20 games here. But it's not going to work in the sixth sister from a fact. natural step on overall for the NBA. I've been lucky, Charles. I've worked at good companies with good bosses,

and I've always felt my career to some degree a large chunk of it, at least half, as I've been well managed and well represented. I would struggle to play for a James Dolan. I would struggle to play for Phoenix. I don't trust the ownership. When you look back at your career, did you value that, undervalue it, overvaluate? Because at Kauai Leonard, boy, that Toronto's well-run. I'd have a hard time leaving a well-run team. What do you make of the owner playing a part in the free agent decision? Well, I think a couple of things. Number one, don't sell yourself short.

You've been successful for a long time for a reason. That takes talent. I mean, seriously, though, you need to pat yourself on the back. When you are able to run shows and people know who you are, the longest period of time, you're very talented. Hey, we've only seen the flash in the pants, but you've had a great, amazing career. So that, number one,

patch stuff on the back. You know, I've been blessed. I had good owners in Philly, Phoenix, and Houston. To me, the one thing that would concern me, I know if you go to Phoenix, the God won't let the people who run the organization do their job. Yeah. I would have to sit down with Steve Mills and Scott Peres and wait.

are y'all going to make the decision? You know, I mean, clearly, we all got issues with Dolan. But my number one concern would be, is you're going to let these guys do their job because, you know, I've heard stories from Steve Kruhear and on those guys. And Robert Stover comes over two and three in the morning and talks about three.

I'm like, are you kidding me? I mean, this is a general balance in one of the greatest players in Grant Hill. and the owner is coming to their house at 2, 3 in the morning trying to make trees. And you can't have an owner doing that. So, yes, that is a concern with Phoenix. And like to say, I don't know if Dola stays in or out of it.

I got to be honest with you. I'm a big Steve Mills and Scott Perry fan. Yeah. But you know what thing to bother about this whole thing in the NBA, hey, call us. I can't, when did we get to the point where we let these teams suck, and they just put all their eggs in the free agent basket. There's not enough free agents to go around.

That's what's going to be really interesting this summer. 20, 20 seconds, Charles. 20. No, no. We can't let teams just suck and wait to raise somebody free agents every year. That's not a good. Yep, I totally agree there. 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 SportsSlice comes in. I'm Timbo, and every episode we're cutting through the noise, breaking down the biggest moments in sports and giving you the real story behind the headline. And we're going straight to the source, the athletes themselves, their locker room stories, their reactions in the moment, and the stuff nobody gets to hear. Listen to Sports Slice on the iHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Slica 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 Acapella 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 Smygel and friends on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. What's up, guys? This is Clivert Taylor the Fourth. And on my podcast, The Cliverts show, I'm bringing you conversations about all kinds of stuff. Like being an internet famous referee.

We're in the middle of a game. This linebacker, this linebacker walks up to me. He goes, Hey, ref, my mom wants you to wave at her. What? Time out. Quarterback on office blue 42. Hey, ref, my mama want you to wave. better. What? Where's he at? Hey, Miss Parker. Listen to the Clifford Show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. American Soccer is about to explode. The World Cup is coming. Ramos sending on

to Ernie Stewart the chip. I'm Tab Ramos. I'm Tom Boeh. On our podcast, Inside American Soccer, you'll get the real storylines, the biggest decisions, and the truth about the U.S. national team. It wouldn't be a huge surprise if our team ends up in the quarterfinals or potentially a great run into the semifinals. Listen, Inside American Soccer with Tom Bogart and Tabramos on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, wherever you get your podcast. This is an IHeart podcast.

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