The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Chris Paul-Russell Westbrook, duo grades, and Sam Presti

Episode Date: July 12, 2019

Colin breaks down the Chris Paul-Russell Westbrook trade, and who actually won. His grades for the top duos in the NBA, and why Thunder GM Sam Presti could learn a thing or two from Patriots HC Bill Belichick. Guests include Chris Broussard, Kendrick Perkins, Matt Barnes, Stephen Jackson, and Jason McIntyre.  Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Another interesting day. This in Los Angeles Live is The Herd, wherever you may be and however you may be listening, IHeart Radio, Fox Sports Radio, and right here on FS1. Joy Taylor is joining me. We thought today would be one of those summer layup days you come in, have some fun. and now we got ourselves a lead story. We got a topic, Westbrook to Houston. I'm wearing Rockets colors today.

This NBA off season is the gift that keeps giving. It's incredible. And I'll say this again. Outside of the finals, I'm not sure the off season for the NBA is not way better than the regular season. It's fascinating. Why do you talk NBA, Colin? Example 38 in the last two weeks. This is why I talked to the NBA.

It's the great soap opera. By the way, Westbrook and James Hardin, according to a reporter in Houston, both pushed for a reunion. Yeah, this is the gorgeous Hollywood couple breaks up, gets back together, and six months later. Why do we get back together? We couldn't stand each other. It's not going to work long term, but it's interesting. I mean, we just know Westbrook wouldn't work with Kobe. Hardin wouldn't work with Kobe.

They're all too ball dominant, right? So when it doesn't work perfectly and it doesn't win in Houston, we're all going to blame Westbrook. Right? That's what Colin Coward was going to do. The herd's going to bang out Westbrook. But no, it will be on Harden, too. Because James Harden is simply a better version of Russell Westbrook. He's a much better player.

That's it. It's the same guy. One's better. James Harden dominates January. James Harden, because he dominates January, is exhausted by the second round of the playoffs. James Hardin's difficult to play with. James Hardin takes mostly the defensive side off because he expends so much energy on the offensive side.

Both Harden and Westbrook are hard to play with and unravel late, and I've watched one unravel Westbrook and one quit Harden in the postseason. And their stories are similar. Oklahoma City was convinced Westbrook was the answer to everything, and a very smart guy, Sam Presti, wouldn't listen to anybody. It ignored Westbrook's issues, which even I could spot. And Darry in Houston hardens the answer to everything and won't listen to anybody that says he's hard to play with. Nobody wants to play with him. I can bang on Westbrook all day.

K.D. Hardin, Ola Depot, everybody gets better. Mello tried to work with Hardin. Chris Paul tried to work Hardin. They tried to work Hardin in Oklahoma City with Westbrook and Durant and they got rid of him. It's not like James is easy, but James is better than Westbrook. He's one of the great one-on-one players in the history of the NBA. But both Westbrook and Hardin, they're not bad guys. Westbrook had Billy Donovan for years as a coach. They got a long. Hardin's not a bad guy. He gets along with Dan Tony. They're not coach killers. They're not bad guys. They're both fashionable. They're both really fun to watch. But they both have a huge flaw. Is that the NBA playoffs for 40 years has been officiated differently than the regular season. So you get to the playoffs and with each round, the referees swallow the whistle and let more pushing and more bumping and more physical. And Westbrook and Hardin get much less efficient and much more frustrated once they get into the playoffs and both erode and dissolve and don't look like the same player.

The difference is, of course, Hardin's just a better version of it. He's a better version. And both Oklahoma City with Westbrook and Houston with Hardin, we talk about them. They're great highlights. They're on TV all the time. They're fascinating. They make you choose sides. Harden's so great but very polarizing.

Westbrook's an amazing talent, but polarizing. And both disappoint us in the playoffs. So when this doesn't work, everybody's going to bang on Westbrook. But if you look at most championship players in my lifetime, they play both sides. They elevate in the playoffs. Tim Duncan played defense. Garnett played defense. Paul Pierce played defense.

Kobe played defense. Pippen played defense. D. Wade played defense. LeBron played defense. Scottie Pippen played defense. Most Kauai Leonard plays defense. Hardin and Westbrook have so much energy on the offensive end, dribbling around the floor.

They can't play great defense. Hardin's gotten better, but he's exhausted. Westbrook tries, but he's exhausted. Their games are fascinating, but severely flawed. It's just that Hardens is flawed less. But Houston's convinced he's the answer to everything Harden, and OKZ was convinced that, of course, Westbrook was the answer. answer to everything.

But neither is, and both will struggle to play with each other. Chris Carter talked about it this morning on first things first. Just because you're talented doesn't mean you play well with others. I've been around to me and these guys. These guys are so self-absorred. I know that. I was one of them guys, man. And let's not forget what Hardin has done the last several years.

Last year, 36, 6, and 7. I don't need Russ. I just did this by myself. Harden is playing the level right now. He feels like he don't need anyone. And when he gets into playoffs, that's his mentality. So what's he going to do to Russ? He's going to turn the team over to Russ?

Like, man, this is a juggling act. Like, so Russ is just going to take a back seat now after having his own team? I don't know how they're going to do it. If you look at the time of possession, both of them have the ball. It's impossible for them to continue playing the style they're playing. By the way, you could make the argument they'll change. But I was told something years ago by a very successful financial planner, very smart guy smarter than me. He says people don't change unless they're going to go broke or die.

You can go up to a billionaire at 50 and say, you're going to go broke unless you change, he'll change. Or you can go to that 50-year-old billionaire and say, if you don't stop smoking, you'll die and he'll stop smoking. But when you take a 20 or a 30-year-old who's got 150, 200 million in the bank and have been rewarded for their selfishness, and you say, just change. They won't. Why would they? They're fashion icons. NBA stars talked about.

30 million a year on shoes. They're not going to change. Why would I change if the market keeps rewarding me? I'm only changing if I'm dying or going broke and Hardin and Westbrook are doing neither. Let me shift to this. I am an opinionist. And this morning, everybody wants to know. Who won the trade?

Whenever a trade happens, who on the trade? This team, A, team, B team, that team. Neither did. Now, Vegas believes Houston did. But I can make an argument for both. Neither really won the trade. Now, Houston does get Westbrook. He is younger, healthier,

still mostly in his athletic prime, and Chris Paul wasn't. And Houston got rid of Chris Paul's contract. That's first or second worst contract in the league. So Houston, have a parade. Oklahoma City can say this morning,

we were being held hostage by Westbrook. He was screaming at reporters. He couldn't get along with teammates. He was hard to coach. No other star worked. And we got a bunch of draft picks. Oklahoma City, you go throw a parade. In my opinion, neither one.

The minute Chris Paul's hammy went sideways for Houston, they were absolutely screwed. Darry this morning got the worst analytic three-point shooter late games in the league. Is that a win? And Oklahoma City got a bunch of draft picks. Congratulations. You'll be awesome in 2034. You know what these are to me?

Oklahoma City and Houston. Both had ships, and both ships were sinking. And Oklahoma City said, hey, we're going to let it sink. We're going to get our insurance money back. We're going to start over and buy a new boat. We're just going to let it sink, take some insurance money, let it sink. And that's what they did today. We're just letting the boat sink.

But we're going to recoup draft pick slash insurance money, so we got some of our money back. Houston's saying, we're not letting the boat sink. We're going to salvage it. We're going to pay a lot of money, and we're going to patch up the hole in the boat. Okay, it's still leaking. Patch it up. Forget the insurance money draft. We're going to try to salvage a sinking ship.

In both instances, Oklahoma said he's not winning a title forever, and I don't think Houston's winning a title now. They both felt like sinking chips. One wants to salvage it. This is not ideal. Westbrook and Hardin's ideal. One is an atrocious analytic player, and both need the ball. I can see, listen, if I'm Sam Presti this morning,

and most people, Vegas included, feel Houston won. If I'm Sam Presti this morning, and I've never been, in this situation, but I've had friends who were in the situation. Westbrook was fighting with fans. He was fighting with media. It was ugly. I was told the owner of Oklahoma City was done with Westbrook, that after he blew up at fans this year, three or four times, the owner was just done with it. It was bad optics.

He was fighting with the media. The owner felt like, listen, man, this is just getting embarrassing. This thing's just not working. Let's move on, he told Sam Presti. But I have had friends before that are in relationships. And then, and it's a very financially good relationship. There's a lot of money. And they get a divorce and they got to go live in an apartment. And they feel like they won. They're not held hostage. They wake up happy. Nobody's screaming at him. You know, Sam Presti, this morning, I get a do-over. Yes, I'm not as rich.

I don't have Westbrook. I don't have Paul George. We weren't in the West. We're not winning titles of that stuff. Maybe my apartment's small. Maybe I don't have the money. Maybe I don't have the wealth. But I wake up happy. I like scouting. I like finding new talent. Sam Presti probably likes that.

Daryl Morey, yes, you got rid of a horrible contract and now have a bad contract. It should be noted. I'm looking at a graph right here. For those who think Houston won, with very few exceptions, once an NBA guard turns 31, the All-Star years dry up. Russell Westbrooks turning 31 here real soon. I don't think either team won. They made the most of sinking ships. One's letting it sink and recouping their insurance money and starting over and building a new boat.

And the other is going to try and salvage it. It'll look better for a while, but I don't think we'll translate to the ultimate prize. coming up next, I believe that general managers, you know how like pro athletes, football players, hang out with golfers, hang out with World Cup stars, Megan Rapino and LeBron yesterday hanging out, like athletes hang around athletes. Joy's brother Jason Taylor's probably got a basketball or a hockey friend or something. GMs would be well served in baseball, football, hockey basketball to hang out with each other. because Bill Belichick could have taught Sam Presti a thing or two.

Bill Belichick's golden rule, I'll tell you what that is next, could have saved the headaches for Oklahoma City. In L.A. Kendrick Perkins today, all sorts of stuff. It's the herd. 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 the game.

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It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashed. human potential. Either way, the podcast, Superhuman, documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the I-Hard radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. What's up, guys? This is Clivert Taylor the 4th. And on my podcast, The Cliverts Show, I'm bringing you conversations about all kinds of stuff. Like being an internet famous referee.

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Listen to the Clifford show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. It's great to have you in. On a Friday, I couldn't wait to get to the show today. You know, I was thinking like Friday's in the summer. I take some of them off. You know, it's a time for us to kind of like reboot for the football season. Then last night the trade happened, I'm like, I want to start the show for my bedroom right now. I'm ready to go.

Joy Taylor is joining me. First of all, if Sam Presti, who runs Oklahoma City was the Lakers GM, he'd be getting pulverized. He had Darden, he had Duran, he had Westbrook, he got to one finals. That's it. They didn't do much with what they did. And this is not to pick on Sam Presti because I don't know Sam Presti, but it is funny who the media falls in love with. Danny Aange and Sam Presti. You know who I want to talk about?

The GM of Denver and Utah. Those guys are done a pretty good job. But, you know, it's interesting now. So Oklahoma City is going to let the boat sink start over. They got 15 draft picks, first round draft picks in the next seven years. But many of them past 2023. Basically all the players they're going to draft are now 11 years old. And by the way, it's never been harder to draft players because you only have one year of college basketball tape.

And so if you find a big 10 guard you like, you've got about four or five games a year where he plays against another NBA level guard that you can look at it and say, okay. And half the time you don't know if the kid's calling the plays or the coach, because college coaches tend to be domineering as he's engineering the offense or the kid is. It's tough. That's why we have more bust than ever in the NBA draft. College football, I get three and four years of tape against other NFL guys. So, you know, I think it's going to be, you know, pretty bleak for Oklahoma City. But this is the way the NBA media does it. They fall in love with Sam Presti, who basically chose size over shooters and whiffed on 50% of his first picks,

but it had a nickname the process. Everybody likes it. He's now a consultant in football. Everybody loves Sam Presti. Three draft picks, Hardin, Westbrook, Durant, they got the one finals. They butcher the James Hardin trade. They didn't get anything for it. And in the end, they had a weird roster of guys who couldn't shoot,

including their star Westbrook. Weird. The big mistake Sam Presti did. And I'm not here to pick on him. People tell me he's very smart. He's probably a great guy. But Bill Belichick has a theory. And this is the theory of everything with Bill Belichick.

If you don't know your own personnel, then you are clueless about the other 31 teams. You cannot make trades if you. You don't know your own personnel. That's why the Patriots, and Joy knows this because she was in Miami and Pittsburgh rivals, nobody knows their own personnel like New England. They always bail on a guy and you're like, why did they bail? Oh, that guy can't play anymore.

They do it every year. Sam Presti never understood how great Hardin was, didn't get equal value, and he embraced Westbrook. And he had years of history to know. that Westbrook, A, would not win a title, could never be the star, and B, would not age well. All you have to do is go read an NBA history book.

Six-three point guards who are hyper-athletic and can't shoot John Wall, Derek Rose, Iverson, Marbury, Stevie Francis, fall off cliffs. They don't age well. Because once they lose the hyper-athletic ability at 30-31,

now what do I have? This is why Steph Curry and Clay Thompson could play forever. Kobe could have played forever. Kobe did play forever. could shoot. The bottom line here, Sam Presti made a mistake on his two stars. He didn't know his own personnel well enough. Westbrook was never designed to be a championship player. He's a ball-dominant, hyper-athletic point guard that can't shoot. I've seen that. It's called Marbury, Francis, D. Rose, John Wall, Westbrook, Iverson. Now, Iverson obviously has other great skills, and he's an all-time great talent. How many titles?

So this is why GM should hang out together, because you can learn a lot from other people and other businesses. If you go look at the history of every business, smart people work less smart people. Pat Riley's made a living, working dumb GMs. I'm not saying Sam Presti is, but Pat Riley's history, he works. Jerry West's history, they work the B-minus GMs.

That's how it works in stocks. That's how it works in tech. The smart guys work the less smart guys. And in this instance, you can always find a sucker. Washington did this with John Wall. After his first contract, you're like, he's immature, he can't shoot, he's hyper-athletic and doesn't play well with Bradley Beale. Go find a sucker.

Somebody's going to be out there who's an old story. He goes 100 miles an hour. Go find a sucker. Give him John Wall, get draft picks and a couple good players. That's your job as a GM to know your personality. Now, I've been saying this about John Wall for years. I've been saying this about Westbrook. Go read a history book on the NBA.

They don't win titles. They don't play well with others. They don't age well. Wall's aging poorly. Rose age poorly. Barbary age poorly. Francis Bay. Westbrook.

Now, Hardin, I think, will age better because he can shoot. So he will age better. Not as ideally as like a Kobe, but he will age better. Joy with the news. No, no, no, no. Turn on the news. This is the herd line news. Well, it's been a busy few weeks in the NBA.

Kind of. Some big names have been on the move ever since Free Agency began earlier this month. And the Warriors have been in the middle of all that action. Obviously, they lost KD to the Nets and then parted ways with the Godala via trade and Sean Livingston was waived. Well, yesterday, Steph Curry opened up about Durant's exit with the classy answer you would expect from Steph Curry. The beauty of Free Agency is everybody has a decision, everybody has a choice. And you want to find your happiness wherever that is. The beauty of the NBA is everybody has that decision at some point, especially the guys that deserve it by Kay and the other top three agents.

Again, I like to look at what we accomplished and focus on that and be extremely proud of this run that we had. And now we're going to have to recreate it in terms of what it means going for. I wouldn't expect Steph Curry to be angry at Katie. I mean, obviously, we know he got on a plane to. from Shanghai even after he knew that KD had left. But it is refreshing to see teams react to guys leaving like Toronto and the Warriors and not react the way that Cleveland's in to LeBron leaving.

That was obviously always ridiculous. I think that they overall got a pass because people felt like they didn't like the way that LeBron left from Miami. And he was the first one. And as we say all the time, if you're a disruptor, then you're going to, you're going to have to the bullet. You're going to have to deal with all the backlash and then the next guy that

does it. It's not going to be as dramatic because you already dealt with all the backlash from it. And he's really why all this player mobility is available. And Katie didn't really get that as much pushback as I thought he would for leaving. And maybe it has something to do with his injury. But also, I mean, gosh, KD gave you so much. Just accept it and love him and let him go. Yeah, but I mean, LeBron gave Cleveland a whole lot too. Well, but Cleveland was better the second time. Well, of course, because they got their championship. Right, right, right.

It's easier to be a nice guy like Toronto when you get a big... When you get a trophy, yeah. Yeah, but I do like it. They're reacting that way. That said, the Warriors are going to be very, very interesting this year because I think everyone is kind of counting them out. I like them way more than everybody else. I feel I got some mistake as well.

So sticking with teams affected by free agency after the Chris Paul deal went down yesterday from the Rockets to the Thunder for Russell Westbrook, speculation about the heats off-season makeover turned from Russ to CP3. Obviously, Westbrook was, I mean, we were talking about reports yesterday, it was inevitable that Westbrook was going to go to the heat. Obviously, that's not the case. So Paul, on paper, appears to be more financially viable for the heats. They have similar salaries heading into next season, but CP3's three-year contract is a little

lighter than Russ's four-year, $170 million contract. So Miami, you think Miami is where he's going to go? Well, I mean, they basically are going to find a way to get Chris Paul where he wants to go. what the story is with Chris Paul in the Thunder. Like they tried to do basically, Woj tweeted that Houston tried to find a third team destination preferable for Chris Paul, but ultimately leaves it to OKC to execute the next step once Presti confers with CP3's agent, Leon Rose, Miami remains a possibility for him and OKC obviously has picks to incentivize the deal if needed.

So he's not going to stay in OKC likely. They're going to move him wherever he wants to go. I will say this. NBA players should thank their lucky stars. There's a lot of these GMs who are very decent guys. You could send him to purgatory. I mean, the idea that... Or keep him. Well, you could...

I mean, yeah, Toronto. I mean, to be honest with you, I don't think NFL GMs ever worry about where you land. No. It's a very different environment. But I do think that part of that is this is a star-driven league and how you treat players gets around to other players. And at the end of the day, this is everything that you do, whether it's with one player or another, is kind of a free agency pitch. Players are watching.

We saw it with the Clippers. Just because the season's going on and this team might have nothing to do with you, players, players, players. Players watch and see how you treat other players. How do you treat your stars? How do you treat your fans? What's the environment there? What's the culture in the front office? So while they don't necessarily have to give CB3 what he wants, and if he wants to go to Miami or wherever else, it does have longstanding.

effects on your future if you if you are cut throat that way. Finally, with legalized gambling, spreading and becoming a big deal, it's more important than ever for the NFL to give the impression that it's doing everything possible to get as many calls right. Well, because of an ongoing labor talks with the NFL Referee Association, the NFL announced that it has put its full-time officiating program on ice, which means that NFL officials will revert to being part-time employees. I'm not a huge fan of that. I never have been. Well, I mean, it's nothing different. freak out just yet. It may end up getting changed back. I am also not a fan of it.

The league makes way too much money to be having part-time officials, and especially after the disaster that happened with the Saints game last year, have a full-time officiating program and part of having the full-time officiating program, besides the fact

that obviously they don't have to have other jobs in the off-season, they can go to seminars and go meet with teams and be a part of the rule-change convention that they all go to. So there's lots of benefits to having them be full-time. The league makes too much money to have part-time officials.

You know what the NFL doesn't want, and they're pretty good at watching other leagues. They don't want to have a baseball umpire situation where the baseball umpire union is absurdly strong. And the NFL's prize said, we don't want to face another union every three years of negotiations. I understand that. I also think, you know, don't be greedy. It's the same conversation about players having lifetime health benefits. At one point or another, you are making enough money that you have to be reasonable with the quality of the product that you're putting out there. Don't compromise on a smaller amount or a little bit of power for the referees when it comes down to legalize gambling and situations where you have to change rules forever because of a blown saints call and having fans not trust the league.

It's not worth it. Joy with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The herd line news. All right, Chris Broussard. Chris thought he was going on vacation. He was done with his nonsense.

And this morning, oh, Lord. All right, everybody's telling me, Houston won the trade. Really? What do you make of that? You know, usually we don't agree when it comes to Russell Westbrook. But on this one, I do agree with you. Now, let me say this. Since the trade, I've been in contact with five or six NBA types,

some players, ex-players, some executives, scouts, things like that. They all like the trade for Houston. And they're bringing up two things. They're bringing up. Houston's going to be able to play much faster with Westbrook, which is true. And they're bringing up the relationship between Russ and James Harden. They like each other.

They wanted this. They'll make it work. I still am not buying it. This is a Hail Mary from the Houston Rockets. Feels like that to me. There's no question about it. Now, they're going to be good. I mean, they'll make the playoffs.

and they are a type of team I'd hate to play because Russ is relentless and he's just coming at you all 48 minutes. And Hardin is just so good that, you know, they're going to be a little bit of a problem. But can they win a championship? No. I like several teams better than them. And the fact that the matter is when Russ and Harden played together seven years ago, it was entirely different. Number one, both of them were at different parts of their career, especially hard.

He's coming off the bench as a role player. Now he's the best offensive player ever. Right. I mean, he's being mentioned in the same breath as Michael Jordan and Will Chamberlain. So that's all different. Number two, they had Kevin Durant. People act like it was just those two. They had Kevin Durant, who was still one of the top five players in the league,

even at that point. And he made everything go. And then three, the league was different. The three-pointer was not as prominent. So when they played together in OKC, when Hardin would come in, he would handle the ball, and Russ would be off the ball, which was fine back then because you could have a guy off the ball who could slash, cut, you know, and penetrate and all that, but couldn't really shoot back then.

Like Dwayne Wade was fine off LeBron, playing off the ball with LeBron in Miami. That'd be a challenge right now in today's NBA where the three are so prominent. So I don't think it's going to work to the point where they could win a challenge. championship. So I just see, look, I heard you talking about if it doesn't work or when it doesn't work, everybody's going to blame Russ. You made a great point about Hardin because if it were going to work, Hardin would have the best chance of making it work.

Thank you. Because his game is more versatile. Like, I think Russ by himself in a Mike Dan Tony system would be treacherous for opponents. Like him coming down a high pick and roll with the floor spread and shooters around him. He never had that in OKC. So I think he'd be dangerous in that. But Hardin's not just going to sit there off the ball.

But Hardin is more capable, I believe, of playing off the ball than Russ is. Russ is not going to be very effective off the ball because he doesn't shoot well. And so that's where Hardin. But look, everybody's talking about they like each other. They wanted to happen. Hardin and Chris liked each other. They may not have been as close as Russ in Hardin, but Chris didn't pick the Rockets out of a hat.

Remember, they had worked everything out. He calls the Clippers, hey, I want you to trade me to the Rockets. Don't think he didn't talk with Hardin, and they say, yeah, we'd be great together, so on and so forth. And Hardin did not change his game one iota. Thank you. Which shocked me. It shocked me to see Chris Paul off the ball as a two guard.

That's what he was with Hart. for the most part. Yeah. And if he didn't change it for Chris, how much is he going to change it for Russ? So there were reports and Daryl Morey denied them that Chris Paul and James Harden, everything's fine. And I'm like, it seems like to me everything. The reporters were all right.

It won very good. Right. No, apparently they had to make the move. My first order of business, if I was Darryl Morey, would have been to sit Chris and James down one-on-one and try to work. it out. And if I get some traction there, then I get them together with Mike Dan Tony. How can we tweak this thing and make it work? Like that, this is why I said it was a hell Mary. They panicked for no reason. Now I get it. The Lakers and the Clippers now are really good.

And I think better than Houston would have been even with CP3 and Harden. But two years ago, this did work. You had the Warriors down three, two. If Chris Ball doesn't get hurt, maybe you're the world champions. Last year, you lost the Golden State, which even without KD, was a great team. They very well may have been the second best team in the NBA the last two years. And once they lost the G State, they just panicked. Well, they're obsessed by G State. Right.

And they let everything out too. And Darryl Morey is fascinating because he's the poster child for analytics. And I'm with you. I like analytics. Analytics is a part of it, but it's not going to dictate. everything I do. But he completely ignores analytics when it comes to moves.

I mean, Chris Paul, Jimmy Butler, who they didn't get, but he wanted, Carmelo Anthony, Dwight Howard, none of those moves make sense analytically. And you have an analytics coach who only wants to shoot threes and paint shots. It's bizarre what's going on there.

Okay, so Joy touched on this. Chris Paul trade, is there a place that fits to you? You know what? I mean, Obviously, Miami is in serious play, which would be good for Chris. They wouldn't be a contender in the East, but they'd be better and they'd be pretty good. Here's what the fit that I really am intrigued by. And I brought it up on here once before, about three or four weeks ago.

Philadelphia. You sound like my staff this morning. Chris Paul, Josh Richardson, Al Horford, Joel Embeddead, and Tobias Harris. In the East, that's dangerous. Okay, so what am I giving up? Ben Simmons. Okay. Now here's the thing.

Hey, I love that. You would do that? Okay, time out. My staff didn't give me that option. Let me finish this. Let me finish it. Okay, so I'm surprised you like Ben Simmons. Hold on.

And I am a big Ben Simmons fan. I hate to move him, but. Chris, we both love him. But Philadelphia, he works well with shooters in a clear lane. Philadelphia got more bigs this year. Philadelphia doesn't work for Ben Simmons. It doesn't. I got Horford in the middle.

I got Embed in the middle. They drafted a kid from Washington who can't shoot but is a great defensive player. Tobias Harris. Even if Simmons adds the jumper, it's not like he's coming back next year as Clay Thompson. By the way, if I'm Sam Presti this morning and I have those draft picks and I have Ben Simmons, Yes. I feel like I won. Right.

I won. I got my guy who could penetrate and kick and I'm going to build shooters around him. And here's, now, if I'm Philly, look, there's a little bit of hesitancy because Chris averaged 15 points last year shot 41%, 42% from the floor, way down for him.

If I'm Philly, I may want to watch the first month of the season and see, was that decline last year just because there was the end? injury and the situation and Hardin? Or has Chris really falling off? Okay, so if the deal goes, it would be Embeded Horford, Jason Richardson, Tobias Harris, Chris Paul.

Boy, there's not a lot of blanks on that team. Now, again, Chris got to play about 60 games. But again, Chris doesn't need to be your closer. Exactly. He doesn't need to be the closer. He's a floor general, get the right guys, the ball. You got a shooter in Josh Richardson. Tobias Harris can shoot.

I got my man inside. I mean, Horford actually can spread the floor and shoot too. He's a smart veteran. Let me tell you something. I take back all the bad things I said about Sam Presti if he would do that. I got, because here's the thing with Simmons, now Presti can take Ben Simmons and say, listen, I know what he is now. He is a driver and score. Now I can take all these draft picks and get shooters.

The problem in Philly is Simmons was the best available player. in the market. They drafted him. But they had Embed. So their best player was Embed, and they'd whiffed on a bunch of guys. So in Bede, so it's the star in the middle. But then the next draft, they're like, oh, Simmons is the best available players. So we get him. They don't work together. And honestly, the real problem, and you just have to put the blame where it belongs, Ben Simmons. This is what, his fourth or fifth year? Well, no, no. The one year where he wasn't hurt. So this would be his third year playing. This would be his third year playing, but fourth year in the league, because remember the one year he sat out. Why didn't you work on that jumper?

I get it. You have success all your life without it, but it's a different NBA. I'm going to tell you something right now. I am throwing a parade in OKC if they make that deal. For OKC is great. The question is Philly. And I get the questions.

Like I said, it's not 100% foolproof. Okay, here's what I want. Here's what I want. I want Chris Paul, but you got 17 picks. Give me two first round picks. I'll do it, but you got to give me picks. Yeah. Because you got to, by the way.

I need some insurance. Well, yeah, I mean, Oklahoma City now has, they have so many picks. It's absurd. Like, the guys can't all make the roster. So just say, listen, I want three first round picks and Chris Paul because of the knee. You get Ben Simmons. I do both teams. I do that tomorrow.

That's brilliant. You know, if my team could pitch ideas as well as you, I would have listened to them. What about, and they still have Schrooter? Okay, C. Yeah, they do. So maybe Chris Paul and Schrooter. Because that gives me, Schroeder gives me some insurance in case Chris Paul. You brought us.

smoke today. Hey, Sam Presti, I hope he's listening. Like I said, OKC would do it. It makes all the sense in the world. I would love it for them. The question is Philadelphia, and there's some legit questions. But if you want to win, Phillies and win now mode, how good would that team be in the East?

Have a chance to get to the finals. Oh, yeah. I think they'd be a favorite over Milwaukee. Yeah, I would. Yeah, they would. Chris Brousard. I got to take a breath. That literally almost changed my week.

I'm going to obsess about that damn trade all weekend. All right, let's take a break. I need, this is almost like an earthquake for me. This was a mental earthquake. This is too much for me to handle in this space. It's the herd. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific. 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 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 rapid. 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, or 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 How 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. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal, but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential.

Either way, the podcast's Superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the IHard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. What's up, guys? This is Clivert Taylor the 4th. And on my podcast, The Cliverts Show, I'm bringing you conversations about all kinds of stuff. Like being an internet famous referee. We're in the middle of a game.

This linebacker, this linebacker walks up to me, he goes, A, ref, my mom wants you to wave at her. What? Come out. Quarterback on office blue with 42. Hey, Wreck, my mama want you to weigh better. What? Where's she at?

Hey, Miss Parker. Listen to the Clifford show on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. By the way, I took a deep breath on that. It's kind of fascinating. Trades work when everybody thinks they won. trading Ben Simmons to Oklahoma City for Chris Paul, everybody wins. Philadelphia is a good team, but Ben Simmons is not a shooter, needs an open lane to score, and now Philadelphia doesn't have an open lane to score because too many bigs.

Chris Paul works for their offense, and he can shoot. What they need is more shooters with Jason Richardson. Chris Paul wins because Chris Paul now plays in a title contender. He doesn't want to play in Oklahoma City. Philadelphia wins because they get another guy that can shoot. They got nothing but size. They need another guy. Even if it's a mid-range jumper, Chris Paul can shoot.

And Oklahoma City wins because now they get a young franchise player who they can start from scratch and build around. And Ben Simmons, if you build around him, is a very promising player. He's a 610 point with unique vision, defends big scores at the rim. He'll never be a great shooter. Either was magic. You have all these draft picks. You surround him with shooters.

And you're going to be a terrible team. Oklahoma City, even with Ben Simmons for about three years. So you're going to get very good picks for the next three years. Go get the guys that can hit jumpers. And by the way, Oklahoma City has a surplus of picks now, like a cartoon number of picks. They can give Philadelphia. If Philadelphia says, hey, listen, Chris Paul, I don't like his knees, all right, we'll

give you Chris Paul and three first round picks and Dennis Schroeder. All right, that's pretty enticing. and then Oklahoma City is like, listen, we get a million picks. What I don't want is an unhappy player, Chris Paul, in OKC. What I do want is to start over, and Ben Simmons is a great reboot. I think that's what, now you could say to yourself, well, that doesn't make any sense because, come on, Ben Simmons just signed a big contract.

Well, didn't Blake Griffin signed a huge contract with the Clippers? And an hour later, they traded into Detroit and got pieces. didn't Paul George just sign a contract with Oklahoma City and then they traded him? Didn't O'Dell Beckham with a New York Giants on a massive contract? We will not trade O'Dell Beckham. Hour later, they trade him to Cleveland. Just because you sign a big contract doesn't mean anything. The truth is the big contract to Ben Simmons helps the deal.

Because in the NBA, you have to have salaries that match and Chris Paul makes a ton. Now Ben Simmons makes a ton. So just because you sign a guy, doesn't mean, you know, again, folks, here's what we know about all these genes. It used to be old stodgy GMs. You develop players. Nobody did trades. Jimmy Johnson always joked. Jimmy Johnson made more trades in one year with the Dallas Cowboys than the New York Giants had made at that time in the franchise history.

Jimmy Johnson was one of the first guys in the NFL. In fact, he was the first guy. I just got bang a bunch of trades. They created a chart. What was worth this? First rounder's worth that. Fourth rounder. linebacker, pro-Boulder, worth this,

and he created a chart that is now copied around the NFL. Jimmy Johnson, that's why he's an all-time great coach. He was a visionary, a disruptor. I'm going to make a bunch of trades, and it made the Dallas Cowboys dynasty, the Herschel Walker trade. Nobody made trades in the NFL until then. Well, what we know now about all these young general managers

in the NBA, they like trades. They are very flexible, very willing to change. They, heck, they'll trade guys. They're good guys. They'll trade you to a good team. NBA, everybody's willing to trade. I mean, Jerry West and the Clippers signed Blake Griffin, and they literally traded him an hour later, Odell Beckham.

So the trade mechanisms, that's just the sport today. The old guys, the new guys, Pat Riley, you know, everybody's into it now. And I also think Philadelphia today. Philadelphia is really good. I don't think they're a championship team. Give them a couple guards that can shoot with all those bigs. that feels like they're going to be better than Milwaukee. I'm not sure they're better than Milwaukee today.

That trade, they're better than Milwaukee today. And I think if you were OKC and could pull off Ben Simmons, I don't talk hypothetical trades on this show. I just don't. I mostly talk about stuff that's happened. I've always said I'm in the omelet business, not the egg business. I'm not here to make the omelet. I'm here to the omelets made and I'll talk about how great the omelet is.

That's a hypothetical that is fascinating to me. I won't sleep all weekend. I'll say right now I won't sleep by. I just wasted my whole weekend thinking about that trade. At the top of the hour, I'm going to play a game. First of all, you know, I always said we know that certain NBA players have had a transcendent, transformative impact on the game. Magic and Bird, if not saved the NBA, made it really popular. Michael Jordan made it global.

LeBron made it mobile. It's never been more mobile. We don't think of Kauai Leonard in those terms. But I've got to tell you something. The NBA now is a duo league. So we had this trend going on in the NBA. Boston Big Three. And then Miami, that Big Three was even better than Boston's Big Three.

And then Golden State's Big Three was even better than Miami's Big Three. And if Kauai would have joined the Lakers, that probably would have been better than the Warriors' Big Three. and Kauai's like, nah, nah, I'm not going to do that. I'm going to go to the clippers and bring a guy. Kauai, we could have had another big three folks, and it would have been the most dominant big three of all time,

because they keep getting better. Boston, oh, Miami's better. Oh, Golden State's better than Miami. And Kauai and AD in their prime and LeBron, that's the best big three ever. But he didn't do it. And so he created all these duos, a lot more parody.

in the NBA today. And I got to tell you, you know, I know we don't put him in the big room with all the Michaels, but to me, Kauai is the Thanos of the NBA. He destroyed the Spurs Dynasty, the Heat Dynasty, the Warrior Dynasty. By pulling Paul George away, he destroyed briefly OKC. The Raptors are now soulless and the Big Three movement died. He's Thanos. He killed the Big Three era.

It was going to go on. We were going to have our four straight Big Three. Raptor's now in a rebuild OkC lost Paul George in a rebuild He's just killing He's destroying everybody One more herd The herd streams 24 hours a day

Seven days a week Within the IHeart radio app Search herd to listen live Or on demand whenever you'd like 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 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, 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 or are you a good person because you're afraid because that's two different intentions bro absolutely and that that's two different levels of trust I want you to just really

be a good person join me Keer games is we have real conversations about how 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. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential.

Either way, the podcast's Superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days I'd put on 10 pounds, I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the IHard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. What's up, guys? This is Clivert Taylor the 4th. And on my podcast, The Cliverts Show, I'm bringing you conversations about all kinds of stuff. Like being an internet famous referee. We're in the middle of a game.

This linebacker, this linebacker walks up to me, he goes, hey, ref, my mom wants you to wave at her. What? Time out. Quarterback on office blue with 42. Hey, Brett. My mama want you to weigh better. What? Where's she at?

Hey, Miss Parker. Listen to the Cliverts show on the IHartRadio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. Hour 2, here we go. This is The Herd, wherever you may be, and however you may be listening on a Friday. We're on IHeart Radio, Fox Sports Radio, FS1. The big news, of course, Russell Westbrook traded to Houston. Chris Paul's going to OKC, but eventually somewhere else. It is great to have you in on a Friday. Kendrick Perkins in 15 minutes. I've got some interesting thoughts on Chris Paul. Joy Taylor is joining me. We're going to play a game.

Okay. Sounds fun. What is the game? We should have gotten the Batman and Robin theme song for this. That would have been perfect. I didn't think about that until just now. So we have a bunch of good duos. Instead of being the big three, which we had a Celtic big three, a Miami big three. a warrior big three, and we almost had a Laker big three until Thanos, Kauai Leonard's like, no, I'm going to make a duo. Now we have in my lifetime, it's very exciting. I don't remember a time in my life where we had like 15 good duos. So I'm going to take the, we're going to play a game here together. I don't know how this ends up. Okay.

Because I wanted a surprise for both the audience and myself and you and everybody. So I took the top 12 duos, in my opinion, the top 12 duos. And I wanted to have a scoring system that I, don't know what the final score will be. So my scoring system depends on my formula. Right. So I believe duo should be based on two things. One, just what's their talent? Okay. One through five. One, it's not that talented. Five, okay, it's great. And then chemistry. This league is a fit league. All right? So will they work together? Because if stars don't, they don't win titles in this league. It's pretty simple. Yeah. D. Wade and LeBron, though not perfect, figured out.

out away similar games to work together. And so their chemistry wasn't perfect, but their talent was so absurd and they were smart enough to kind of make it work. Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, Rondo for a couple of years was a perfect fit, right? It all worked. They all played defense. So we're going to take all these duos and let's just play along radio and TV audience. So let's start with our duo report card.

Let's start with LeBron Anthony Davis. Okay. Okay, their talents of five. Anthony's the best big man in his prime. LeBron will be one of the top two players in the NBA. So I'd say talent one through five, I'll give him a five. Now, I'm only going to go three on chemistry because this, because I've watched LeBron and Kevin Love,

and I've watched LeBron and Chris Bosch. The LeBron big guy is a little problematic. LeBron tends to at times lose his confidence in his jumper. So what does he want to do? Drive to the basket and score over smaller defenders. But Anthony Davis spends a lot of his time. 90% of his buckets are around the basket. So again, these are two high functioning basketball players,

but I don't think the chemistry will be flawless. I think it'll be very much like LeBron and Biggs. We've seen this. I mean, I'm going off what I've seen. I don't think the chemistry will be as good as some other chemistry. So that's my, okay, so let's go to the second one. This is, I think the second, it looks like, you know, Kauai and Paul. Now, I'm not going to give them a five for talent because Paul George is not nearly as good as Anthony Davis or LeBron James or Kauai.

So I think he's more of a four. Kauai's a five. So the talent's a four and a half. But I think they work. Hardworking, nose down, not a lot of drama, defense offense, can both hit a jumper, both respect each other. They have some similarities here, but they're not ball dominant. So even though they have similarities, I don't think they're ball dominant.

So I would give each of them four and a half talent, four and a half chemistry. All right, let's go to West. Westbrook and James Harden. All right, talent, you can't deny it. James Hardin is offensively the best one-on-one player in the league. And I know you think I'm crazy on this, but Westbrook is a world-class talent. I mean, come on, he's got a 44-inch vertical.

He gives you 27-190. He's Mr. Triple-Double. Chemistry, I don't think it works. So my scoring system, my scoring formula 1 through 5, their talents are 5, 4 and 1 half to a 5. Their chemistry is a 1. All right, let's go to the next one. And this, by the way, is in no particular order.

I'm just like how they end up, we'll see. Okay, this is the Warriors. Steph Curry and Clay Thompson are their duo. I'll give the talent of four. Clay Thompson can be a little streaky. And Steph Curry, I love him, but there are times he gets sloppy and he's not much of a defender. So I'm going to give their talent a four. Now, their chemistry is as good as any duo ever.

I mean, even their egos work. Like they're kind of, for NBA superstars, they're kind of like egoless. Staff's not a great defender, but Clay is extraordinary, so he picks up for him. So their talents of four, their chemistry is a five. I'm not, I don't, I forgot what my grades were here, but the chemistry on this is as good as chemistry is going to get. It's worked every year it's been together. Next one. All right, this is Brooklyn's new team.

Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving. Again, Kevin's the first or second best player in the world, and Kyrie's the best small finisher, perhaps ever, left and right hand. I have my doubts on chemistry. A, I think Kyrie is a ball-dominate guard, i.e. Harden, I-e. Westbrook. I think he's hard to play with. Now, he did play in a couple years really well with LeBron, but LeBron was so much better than everybody else in the league.

LeBron made bad coaches work. I don't think the chemistry is great. So talent, I'd give him a five, the Brooklyn duo. Chemistry, work, and progress. maybe better early than late, but I'd give it a two and a half. Let's go to the next duo report card. All right, Milwaukee. I give the talent of four.

Yonis and Chris Middleton. I give Yonis a five. Chris Middleton's a three. So it becomes a four. Middleton's a really nice player. He's not special, but he's a really nice player. Chemistry, fantastic. You got the guy who scores low.

You got the hardworking guy, Chris Middleton, who can hit the jumpers. Again, I've seen this work for a couple years now. The chemistry here, they're both good guys. Janice was ignored for a long time. Chris Middleton's an overachiever. They're good guys. They work hard. Very respectful teammates.

Both incredibly coachable. Chemistry's a 5 in Milwaukee. Next one. All right. This is the Sixers. M. B. and Ben Simmons. Again, I think they're talents. I like Simmons better than everybody else.

I think he's absurd. M. B's arguably the best big man. Everybody loves him. scares me about the physical stuff, but he is a monster. I mean, the guy's absurd talent. Now, Ben Simmons, if Ben Simmons could hit a jumper, I would put their talent at a five. But I'm going to give it a four and a half because Ben Simmons does everything well except shoot, and you've got to ding him for that. I don't like how they work.

I don't like their chemistry. I don't like it. Simmons needs the open paint and beads not going to move outside much. I don't think it works. I think, listen, if it worked, they would have won the East because their talent is absurd. We got another one. All right, here's a Boston one. Campbell Walker and Jason Tatum,

listen, they're not knocking anybody's socks off at this point in talent. Kemba's a really good player. He's a B. Jason Tatum plateaued. I think he'll pop more this year, but he is a baby. And what is he, like 20 years old? So if you're going to give Janus a five, you know, he's going to be more of a three.

Now, chemistry, I'm going to guess here, but I think it works. Kemba's fairly eagle-less. Jason Tatum and Brad Stevens. I think the, I think the chemistry, and this is pretty good. Now, I think their ceilings low. I think it's a team that will win playoff games.

I think if you put them in the West, they'd be kind of a team. That wouldn't be as good as Utah. I don't think they'd be as good as Denver. I don't think they'd be as good as Portland, Lakers, clippers. But I think in the East, you know what? You can have an off night in the East and win games, and you build that chemistry and you build that confidence. I like the Celtics chemistry more than their talent.

Two and a half talent, four for a chemistry. All right, next one. All right, Blazers. Now, you may say, how are you given Damian Lillard, is C.J. McCullum just a three in talent? Because Damien's fantastic. CJ's a really nice player. But do you think CJ's special? Is he Yonnas? Is he A.D.? Is he Kauai? Is he hardened? No. I think he's a good player. I think Damien's filthy. Now, the strength of this, I think their chemistry is great. It's not easy to play when you have a, your best player's a

guard and he's a scoring guard like Damian Lillard. But Damien's a good dude. McCullum, they play well together. You know what they are? They're a poor man, Stefan Clay. And I say poor man, just because Stefan Claire are the best back court of my life. Damien and CJ are one of the top five or six back courts of my life.

So I'd give their talent a three, their chemistry of four. And what's left? All right, the jazz. Now, this one's fascinating because I actually like their team. Mike Conley and Donovan Mitchell. Now, I'm only given their talent two and a half because I do think Conley's past his physical prime, although I like him a lot.

He's some injury stuff. stuff to worry about. And Donovan Mitchell has not hit his prime. Very good defender who's becoming a better offensive player. I think their chemistry is going to be great. I'll give it a four. I think they're going to work really well together. I may be low-balling their chemistry. I got a feeling their chemistry is going to be great. They're both really good guys, both play defense. But I can't give them a ton of points on talent because I think Mike's passed his prime and Donaldman's not into his prime. So I may be a little low on talent, but I put their talent at two and a half chemistry at four. Anything left? Oh, oh, Denver. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay, now this is interesting.

Jamal Murray and the Joker. I give their talent a four. First of all, Yokic, I think is the best ball handling passing big ever. He's really good. And I love the way they work together. Jamal Murray's the perfect guy off ball with the Joker in Denver. I think their chemistry is great. I'll give it a five. And I think it's just going to get better when they're on the court together. That team is really good. I'm not going to get their talent-ify because I think Jamal Murray at this point is more three to a three-and-a-half player. I think he's getting better and I like him a lot.

Yokic is the most underrated player in the NBA. He's got a NBA bad body. He plays in the Rocky Mountain. They were too young to get noticed until the playoffs, but he is absurdly talented. He is the best passer on their entire team. And the last guy, there's only been three centers in my life that were great passers. Bill Walton, Arvita Sabonis, and Yokic.

Like, the best passer on their team is a center. And we got anything else? Oh, Mavericks. Okay. I'm going to give them a higher talent grade than you'd suspect. Four and a half. Luca Dantich and Christop Porzingis. I think they're absurdly gifted. Just don't forget how good Porzingis was. Has the NBA ever had a 7-4 slasher?

That's it. Now, their chemistry is going to be very interesting. I just don't know. I just have to watch it. Luca is going to score a bunch of points. You're going to look up in 15 years with Luca Dantzich, and he's going to be a top seven score in league history. He's going to score 24 points a game for 12 straight years.

He's just a natural score. He was in Europe. He is here. And then Porzenga. So I give their town of four and a half, their chemistry, at three and a half. Now, now, don't show me the tears yet. I don't know. Okay.

So for my radio audience, the TV audience, I don't know where they end up. I said, I want to score everybody, but I don't want any bias. And my staff said there's going to be three tiers, the title contender tier, the very, very good and interesting, but not a title contender tier. And it just won't last long tier. It won't work. So let's go to tier one. Now I'm going to turn up and watch.

What is tier one? Okay. Tier one is Warriors, Bucks, Denver, and Clippers. So that, to me, should be favored for the NBA championship. Talent and chemistry. Now, obviously, coaching matters, bench matters. That's Tier 1. Denver Clippers, Warriors Bucks.

By the way, that's not, that Denver's higher than people think. What's Tier 2, which is very good and very interesting, but a notch below the title teams? Tier 2 is LeBron A.D., Luca Porzingas, Durant Kyrie, which won't happen next year, and Damien C.J. McCollum. So these are playoff teams. They win multiple series, but they maybe get ousted in the conference finals. This is for this year.

Yeah. And then what's the tier three? Which is just not that great. What? Boston, Houston, Philly. Utah. Well, Utah's got a great coach, and Utah has a very good starting five.

So we're only judging duos, right? You need other stuff. You need a bench and a coach. So, all right. So Utah is the team I really like. tier three, Conley and Donovan Mitchell. Mike's out of his prime. Donovan's not yet in it. I think you have

CJ and Dame a little low on the talent ends because you have Jamal Murray and Yokuch higher than them. So I would have given them like a three and a half four for the talent scale. I do think there is something with

Westbrook and Hardin. I know they both have very high usage rates and they both like the ball, but they've known each other since high school. Yeah, but I still have. And they played together for several years. A lot of people I went to high school with, I just don't like. I mean, sure.

But if you played with them, you don't have to, like, they have a relationship. So you don't have to get past that hurdle to begin with. And they both are at the time in their career where they have something to prove. They need to win a championship to validate their career. I think the chemistry, I think the chemistry will be better than people think. And you think I'm a little high on Denver's talent and a little low. on Westbrook Harden chemistry. Yes.

And C.J. Well, yeah. I'm a little low on Portland's talent. Yeah. All right. Kendrick Perkins is a little low on Chris Paul. He's going to be joining us next. One more herd.

The herd streams 24 hours a day, seven days a week within the IHeart Radio app. Search Herd to listen live or on demand whenever you'd like. He played for 15 years. He played with a big three in Boston. He played with all the stars in Oklahoma City. LeBron in Cleveland, Anthony Davis with the Pelicans. What is that seven separations of who's that actor?

Kevin Bacon. Kendrick Perkins is the Kevin Bacon of the NBA. He's played with everybody and he's joining us via the Coward Global Satellite Network. All right, let's start with Westbrook and Harden, Perk. Do you think it works? I look at it and I see ball usage. What do you make of the fit? Well, absolutely it works.

Listen, H-Town, Houston, Texas should be on fire right now in a great way. Great move by Darry. Listen, you have Russell Westbrook and James Hardin, who grew up together in Los Angeles, California, been knowing each other since grade school, played together for over five years in Oklahoma City, knows each other tendencies. Listen, you're getting two former MVP's teaming up together in their prime. It's no doubt my mind that it's going to work. We know what we're going to get out of Russ.

We know what we're going to get out of James Harden. These two guys want to be together. They wanted to play together. Both of these guys forced this trade and stood up for each other. James told Dale Moore, he wanted Russ, and Russ told Sam Presti that he wanted to be in Houston. So it's no doubt my mind that this is going to work. The pressure is, my only concern is, and I quit. question this is Mike Dan Tony. And I'm a fan of Mike Dantony's, but I also want to say this.

It's going to be the pressure on him to put these guys in position to be successful. Chris Paul once again wanted out. What do you make a Chris Paul at this point in his career? Well, I mean, you know, it's just like anything in life, Colin. If I get into it with 10 people and I have 10 people that's ready to fight me, sooner or later it's not the 10 people that have a problem. Sooner or later, I'm just saying, it got to come to a point where I have to look myself in the mirror and say, you know what, Perk? Hey, it might be you.

Matter of fact, it is you for the simple fact, and I have to do a reality check on myself. Think about this. CP forced his way out of New Orleans. He forced his way from the clippers. And now he couldn't coexist with James Hardin. Do you know what type of guy James Hardin is? James Harden is the most laid-back, encouraging leader that I ever been around.

He's one of the best teammates I ever had. He's an easy guy to get along with on and off the court. So if you have a problem with James Hardin, man, it comes to a point where you might have to do a self-check. No, that's fair. Now, Oklahoma City, they got a bunch of draft picks. You've played in Oklahoma City today. How should they feel there?

Well, they should feel great. I think Sam Presti did a great job. I thought he did a great job with the Paul George trade. He maximized in that deal. And I thought he did a great job with the Rush trade because, for one, he done right by Russ and let Russ decide what team he wanted to go to or what was his top team.

And Sam got the max that he could for Russ. Think about this. He got a young point guard from the Clippers, expiring contract that's coming up in Golanari, multiple first round picks that he got between both teams. So hats off to sound Presti, halfs off to Troy We've and Mr. Clay Bennett over there in the OKC organization. I think they did a wonderful job on how they handled both the PG and the rush trade.

I want to ask you about players demanding trades. I believe if you sign a contract, you know, that's why it would be very careful about signing a contract because you have to live throughout the rest of the contract, even if you're not happy. But in the NBA now, players are demanding trades and they're getting out of it. How does that fall on for you?

Well, I think it's a great move, Colin. I think, and listen, we have to give a lot of credit to Adam Silver. Ever since he's taken over and been our commissioner, everything's been going great. The guys love Adam Silver. Adam Silver, let the guys be who they are. And it's starting to turn into a player's, lead. You have to give a lot of respect to the players union because they're doing a great job

and to the NBA as a whole. They're trying to coexist. They're trying to make things right. So you have to also give credit to the ownerships because they're all in this together and they're trying not to have the separation between owners and players, although you're going to have that separation. But now you can see where owners are listening to players because for the simple fact, who wants to be paying a guy $41 million and he don't want to play for your team? So I think it's a great thing that players are now having control over their own destiny. You know, all the dust settles, there's a bunch of duos in the league right now,

and I counted this morning, there's about 14 duos, like you have either All-Star or close, and is there one duo among all of them that you're really, really like. I think the whole Paul George Kauai thing works for me with Doc Rivers. I just think they'll coexist. They both play really good defense. I think they can be on the floor together.

If one sits, the other one brings a lot of the same qualities. I like Kauai, Paul George. Is there a duo that you like? Well, it's a few duos I like, but, you know, I like Paul George and Kauai, obviously. But you got to look at Anthony Davis and LeBron James, even though Braun is aging. but he's still LeBron James.

But you got to love this duo between Russell Westbrook and James. Oh, boy. Two guys, two former MVP's over the last, what, three years, teaming up together in their prime. I mean, you got to like that. So, but it's a lot of great duos out there.

You have, you know, Yannis and Chris Millerton. You have Dame and C.J. McCullough. So, I mean, the duos are there, but, you know, I'm telling you, man, listen, LeBron James and Anthony Davis, you cannot count them out. But the West, man, listen, it's so crazy. I was thinking about this last night, and I couldn't just point out who could win the West.

I couldn't point out who was my favorite duo because they all match so perfectly. Yeah, it really is incredible. I don't remember a time in my life when half the league has two, half the league has two stars. Golden State's got a third, but Clay's not playing for a while, and Kevin Durant and Brooklyn not playing for a while. Perk, it's great talking to you in Houston.

Have a great weekend. Hey, Colin, thanks for having me on, man. You too, brother. All right. You know, it reminds me a little bit of the SEC and football where the third best team in the SEC, the fourth best team in the SEC in most years, can compete for other teams championship.

You know, it usually feels like an Auburn. that could play with anybody else in any other conference, but they'll finish fourth in the FCC. If Denver or Utah finishes like fourth or fifth, I've got to be honest with you, if you look at the Lakers players, except Kuzma, they're old. So the only guy that's going to get huge minutes for the Lakers is Kuzma, they're a young guy.

I don't think they're built for the regular season. I think they're built to figure it out, get ready for April. I think the Lakers could end up being a five or a six seat. Because I don't think, I think there's a lot of disparate parts that, you know, better movie poster than movie initially. There's going to be a very good team in the West, like a Dallas, that will not make the playoffs that could have been a third seed in the East. I really feel that. And I think Dallas is the team I look at and I'm like, I think Dallas can be really good.

I'm not sure they're a playoff team. I am not sure Dallas gets in and I really like their guys. Joy with the News. No, no, no, no. Turn on the news. This is the herd line news. So as we were just discussing, Westbrook and Hardin, our teammates. once again, Rockets GM, Darrell Mori, told ESPN Zacklow that Hardin not only wanted the reunion,

but also said, I know how to play with Russ, and he knows how to play with me. Okay. Now, they do rank first and second in highest usage rate in the single season. They also have an interesting kind of streak when it comes to the most turnovers ever in a single season. James Hardin is first. Westbrook is second, followed by James Hardin, followed by Russell Westbrook. followed by Hardin. Yes.

Which is very, very interesting. Now, there are going to be obviously some doubters as to whether this chemistry is going to work. But I think Perk just made a really good point, which is how I feel as well. James Hardin and Russell Westbrook not only wanted to play together, they've known each other since high school. They were in Pango's All-American camp together. They played for three years with the Thunder. And they both have a lot of incentive to win. They need to win a championship in order for their basketball legacies to be complete.

I mean, they want to win a championship, and now they're back together. But my concern is not them. It's DeAnne. It's the system. Are they going to find a way to assign roles to everyone on this team that creates an environment where they do have guys with super high usage rates, and they can balance that out and balance it out with the rest of the team? Because they have a lot of X-factor pieces still on that squad. So that's more where I find that this situation is going to be interesting.

Not with whether the two of them have the desire to play together. or the chemistry or their personalities fit or they have relationships because there was a lot of conversation about whether Chris Paul and James Hardin were getting along at the end of the season and now we kind of have the answer on that. Those are not the questions I have here. Dan Tony can't make Westbrook a three-point shooter. So let's say he did a great job to make it work. In the end, in playoff time, if Hardin's not giving the ball up at time,

he's just not. And he shouldn't. He's the best analytic offensive player ever. So if Hardin's doing his ball-centric thing and passes to Russ, If Russ was a three-point shooter, I'd say, even with his rigidity, I'd be like, it works. My question is, Hardin's going to have the ball most of it. It's his franchise. It's his city. It's his team.

And frankly, he's a great player. What does Westbrook do? Does he just stand and wait for the open jumper? Well, no, I mean, he's going to have to adjust his game a little bit. But that's, again, on De Antony. Is he going to be able to put this team in the position to win? But here's my thing. You say it's on Dan Tony.

Is it on our bosses for us to work, or is it ultimately we have to work? it's not, but they have to create a structure. We don't just come in here and wing it. Right. Most days. I mean, we know what to do. We know what our jobs are. But he is the leader, right? Like, D. Antonio has this system that gets all these points and has all this success. Well, it's now crunch time. Like, you made the move that you needed to make. You've been chasing the warriors. That's no longer a thing. It's now the moment that all this needs to come together or it's just not really as real as we thought it was. Now, that's not saying that they're not great. That's not saying that Hardin isn't amazing and that Westbrook isn't amazing.

But your game is your game. Your game is your game. So figure it out. Like there's other great pieces on that team. Assign roles. Everybody has to buy in. And that's what I think it will come down to. And that does require some push from Dan Tony. Yeah, I don't. And he's a passive aggressive guy. So the reason this doesn't all work, for a lot of reasons,

Russ can't stand, wait and get it and shoot. He's not, that's not what he is. Dan Tony's passive aggressive. Dan Tony's not confrontational. Right. If you had a Pat Riley in this thing, Yeah, that's why I thought that that would have been a great fit for Westbrook. But they had, Jimmy Butler and Westbrook hadn't played together,

so they'd have to get over that adjustment. I just, I don't think that Harden and Westbrook getting along and being on the same page and wanting to play together and all, like, their relationship is not going to be what the issue is here. So over the last two years, the NBA has obviously seen massive player movements. In fact, only eight of 24 players from the 2017 All-Star Game are still with their original teams. The rest have moved out. Can you guess who the longest tenured NBA player on a single team is right now? The longest.

The longest tenured NBA player on a single team. This will sound crazy. James Harden? Steph Curry. Oh, okay. He's been with the Warriors since 2009 longer than any other NBA player. And then next is John Wall. He's been drafted by the Wizards in 2010.

So from the 2017 All-Star teams, only Janus, John Wall, Kyle Lowry, Kevin Love, Curry, Clay Thompson, Jermon Green, and James Harden are with their original squad. That's so much movement. Eight of the 24 players from the 2017 All-Star game. Well, you know, in the end, all that movement's given us 14 fun, interesting,

legitimate playoffs teams. Oh, no, I'm not playing. I love it. I think it's great. Complaining. I think that the whole world's changed, though, right? Like, the way that we watch sports growing up, you watch the game that was on TV, right? You watched the game that was in your city. You didn't even get to see some players

ever even play. It's a whole different world now. You can stream from anywhere in the world. Some people only watch the NBA through highlights. Like it's, you become a fan of a player more than a team. And that's why this mobility hasn't hurt the NBA, because the world is different as well. Well, nobody reads the article. They read the headline. Nobody watches the game. They watch the highlight. So that's the world we live in on your phone. You don't watch the game. You watch the highlight. So you become a fan of, not chemistry, but the player. The player. And that's why this works. So finally, this is a really interesting story. California is inching closer to a direct conflict

with the NCAA. The state took another step this week towards allowing its collegiate athletes to profit off their name, images, and likenesses. The Fair Pay to Play Act passed through the State's Assembly of Higher Education Committee with a unanimous 9-0 vote. So what does this mean? Well, in a letter last month, the NCAA president, Mark Emerit, warned of unintended consequences and lobby to postpone the bill. Russell O'Coon of the LA Chargers spoke in favor of the bill and didn't disagree with that assessment. He told the committee he's absolutely correct. These so-called principles of the NCAA should be materially altered because they are far

from virtuous. I watched our university lavish elite donors with high-end dinners while some of my teammates were skipping meals due to lack of funds. Even just having the opportunity to sign autographs for money without sacrificing eligibility would make a huge difference for so many student athletes. Now, this is also becoming a big push because of kids like Zion and Johnny Mansell obviously had some issues with this. You got guys like Kyler Murray and Baker who have these huge brands in high in college,

but really coming out of high school into college and then they explode in college and they can't make any money off their likeness while the college is benefiting. Now, why is this matter? Basically, the NCAA president has said that if this passes, it may block all California schools from being eligible for championship games. Well, California has a history of helping the individual over the massive corporation. California tends to be light years ahead of much of the country. So once again, California is there to help the individual

and be tough on the big, you know, monolithic enterprise. They go against the man from time and time. Yeah, California's history. Well, I mean, I'm fully for this. There are some rules that go with the NCAA that are just archaic, and this is one of them. Like, a kid should be able to sign an autograph and make money off of it. That's not hurting the NCAA. It's not changing where someone's going to commit to go to school.

or not. They need to be more progressive with this. But if this ends up passing and the NCAA tries to push back on all California schools being eligible for championship. So nobody can get into the basketball tournament from California. They will not be eligible to play in championship. Lord.

Yeah. It's possible. Matt. Yeah. You know, some of these athletes are getting paid from what I read. Just not all the schools are paying. From what I'm reading, some of these guys are making a heck of a living. That's an issue too. Joy with the news. Well, that's the news.

And thanks for stopping by. The Herd Live News. Matt Barnes around the corners. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific on Fox Sports Radio, FS1 and the IHeart Radio app. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind. Highlights are trending, opinions are flying, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened.

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Last 12 hours. Matt Barnes, 14 years in the NBA, a championship with the Warriors in 2017. So you played with stars and seems we had a big three era and now it's a big duo era. Let's just talk the obvious one. Westbrook and Harden, very high ball usage. I think Hardin's the better player. Westbrook is aging not particularly well because he's not a shooter. He's a score.

I don't see it as being great, although fascinating. I do think it's fascinating. And how does it work to you? If it did work, what would it look like? I think both of these guys need a sacrifice. I think both of these guys have been tremendous individual players who put up historical stats, but haven't been able to get over the hump, which is a championship, but I know every player wants. But I think this can be good.

I think they both need to look at each other, look in the mirror and realize, like, hey, we have something special here. We're both going to have to sacrifice to make this work. But they can make it work. If you think about Houston the past two or three years, they can't. to run into a dynasty. That dynasty is no longer there. So to me, Houston's always been the second best team in the NBA. They just keep running into the Warriors. So, you know, you replace Westbrook with Chris, or excuse me, yeah, Chris for Westbrook, which is, you know, Westbrook is probably the better

player at this point in their career. Closer to his prime. Right. And see what you can do. So I like it, but I think it's going to take a sacrifice from both those guys. Okay, you played with Chris Paul three years with the Clippers. Listen, he wanted out. of New Orleans. He wanted out of L.A. He wants out of Houston. Sometimes I just have to admit I was wrong. I heard for years he was difficult and my thing was, well, he wins. He doesn't get along with stars particularly well. It looks like to me. Is that fair to say? Well, Chris is a throwback point guard. Chris is a 80s, 90s point guard where it's not so much about worrying about your feelings.

He wants to get the message across. So whether that's yelling, sometimes cussing, I was someone that was completely fine with it. You can yell, cuss. yell cuss right back at you, but we know that the common ground is to win. But you were a football player. Yeah, I was a different type of guy, yeah. Football players in America get yelled at by coaches. So you were very capable ofwithstanding that

verbal barrage. Like no tears would well up in my eyes or anything like that. I'd be all right. But with some of these younger guys, it's hard, you know, with the way they've been catered through the AAU system and they're the man right away and they've always been pampered. When you run into a coach, or excuse me, a player that kind of barks at

you, you take offense to it. That's what we ran into with the Clippers. You know, like I said, what he was saying nine out of ten times was right, but his delivery would rub guys the wrong way, and there would be issues with that. So I'd kind of, you know, be the mediator, like, hey, this is what he's trying to say to you. You know, and I would just say it in a different way, and we would get it. But, you know, like I said, with the James situation, I wasn't there. I couldn't tell you, but I'm sure, like, I know Chris well.

He lived around the corner from me. Our kids play together. I just think sometimes his delivery may rub people the wrong way, but he's not saying the wrong thing. Yeah. When you talk about all these duos, I tend to think Kauai and Paul George, it just works. Now, I think a lot of the reason it will work is Doc Rivers. You've got young guys who will kind of be looking up at him, and the old veteran guys aren't stars. Lou Williams knows he's not Kauai Leonard.

So the clippers have this sort of thing where the young guys will comply with the stars, and the old guys will comply with the stars. The clipper thing works for me. Is that the one of the duos you like? I love that duo. And I think before those guys got there, they had a team of guys who bought in. You know, Doc God had all those guys on the same page, and they were doing everything they were doing without a star per se or a superstar per se.

You know, they made the ace seed, gave the Warriors a run for their money, and played really well as a team. So that's why when you add two unselfish, two of the best two-way players in the game to that team, the chemistry should be fine. Is Paul a three or a four? They're both kind of interchangeable three-fours, aren't they? I think either one, you know what I mean?

Because I think Kauai could obviously guard a four. You know what I mean? He guarded Yonis. Right, in play point forward. So I really don't think the position matters with those two guys. You just want them on the floor. And an era where defense is non-existent. When you have two, your one, two and three are locked down guys.

And then, you know, Montres Harald plays, you know, good defense at the four, too. this is a team that not only they could score with the best of them, but lock down some of the opposing offenses. So I'm really high on the Clippers here. I'm happy for them. I'm happy that it's back to duos instead of trios because I feel there's obviously there's more parity and balance in the game now. And for the first time in, you know, five years almost,

I think a handful of teams really feel confident in their opportunity to win a championship. Yeah, there's even, I mean, the Mike Conley, Donovan Mitchell, duo won't get the press. But boy, that's very solid. That's what Donovan Mitchell's been waiting on. He's been waiting for a back court running mate to take some of the pressure off him. You know what I mean? He's been tremendous from, you know, his rookie year, the numbers he put up, but there would be sometimes where you would just see that the young kick in.

You know, he's a little young, so sometimes that kick in. So Mike is a proven veteran point guard. They can do a little bit of everything. And I definitely think this is what Donovan Mitchell wanted and needed. And Utah's going to be a very good team. I love Quinn Snyder over there at the coach. Yeah. You know what I love about Utah?

They really love their team. Yeah. The community loves the jazz. And they're always a system, you know what I mean? They're always similar to San Antonio. Like, they're always in their system. No one's bigger than the program and everyone buys in. And that's what I've always liked about them as well.

Well, they don't get superstars generally through the free agent market. So they have to build a system. San Antonio similarly got lucky with Duncan. Drafting, right. Yeah, but I mean, there's a lot of different ways to win in the world. Tony Dungy was low-key and did it with defense, right? And Bill Belichick's low-key and covert and grumpy. And then there's high-energy guys, right?

But, you know, just a proposed trade, because Chris Paul is not going to end up in OKC. They're going to try to get him to a place. This was proposed, and I think it's fascinating. Oklahoma City has a million picks. They don't want to build around Chris Paul. Go to Philadelphia. Say, listen, you've got all sorts of size. Even your point, even Ben Simmons is big.

You need more shooters. We'll give you Chris and a bunch of picks. They got, like, how many, in the next seven years, they have like 15 first round. picks. OKC says, listen, we'll give you three first round picks. Chris Paul's a mid-range shooter. You got Biggs and a bunch of non-shooters. Give us Ben Simmons, who, by the way, doesn't work with MB.

No, it doesn't. But if you're Sam Presti and OKC, okay, now I got my guy who needs an open lane to score. Now I just draft wings. That's not terrible. I like that. I mean, I think they have a big decision in Philly who is their guy they're going to run to the future with. Is it Embed or Simmons?

Because together, I think there's a ceiling. I think if you split them up, they're both very talented. But, you know, their strengths are each other's weaknesses, so to speak. You know what I mean? Like, Embed needs the painted area. Simmons needs the painted area open. You know what I mean? So they're going to continue to kind of run into each other.

And I don't think they're going to reach their potential with both those guys. So you have to decide as an organization who's your guy you're going with. And if it's Embeddd, I mean, I couldn't be mad either way. I think they're both very talented guys. They just don't work together. By the way, that's what we're talking about with Hardin-Westbrook. We know they're great. Is it going to work together?

This whole thing is like talent and then chemistry. By the way, it is funny. Well, forget about Kevin Durant for about a year because he's hurt. The Western Conference now? Loaded. Man, it's crazy. I love it. I'm excited for the first time.

And I think this is what continues to make the NBA grow globally. is all the drama or crazy movement post. You know, we just finished a finals where a dynasty was taken down and Kauai carried the team and there was so much suspense with that. And then we jump into a free agent. And to me, it's been more exciting than the season was. There's no question. The NBA is easily the best offseason of all the leagues.

And I'm not even sure. I don't even think it was a second place. It's like a reality TV show. You know what I mean? Like you always, you don't want, but you're always tuning in. or, you know, you're always going to tune in. So I think it's great for the league. But back to your point, like I said, I think duos balance out the league.

And there's a lot of special duos, you know, starting here in L.A. with Kauai and Paul and A.D. and LeRond. All right, Matt Barnes. We got to go. Hour 3. Good seeing you, bud. The herd. One more herd. The herd streams 24 hours a day, seven days a week within the IHeart radio app.

Search Herd to listen live or on demand whenever you'd like. Last night, a blown call changed the game. This morning, the internet lost its mind. Highlights are trending, opinions are flying, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in. I'm Timbo. Every episode, we're cutting through the noise, breaking down the plays, the controversies, and the stories behind the headlines.

We go straight to the source, the athlete themselves. Their locker room stories, their reactions, the stuff nobody gets to hear. The laughs, the drama, the triumphs, the moments that never make the highlight real. From viral moments to historic games, from buzzer beaters to controversial calls, 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 SportsCise 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, 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. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal, but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashed. human potential. Either way, the podcast Superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the I-Hard radio app, Apple Podcasts,

or wherever you get your podcasts. What's up, guys? This is Clivert Taylor the 4th. And on my podcast, The Cliverts show, I'm bringing you conversations about all kinds of stuff, like being an internet famous referee. We're in the middle of a game. This linebacker 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, rep, my mama wants you to wave at her. What? Where's she at? Hey, Miss Parker. Listen to the Clifford show on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. We've got a full slate of baseball heading your way tomorrow on Fox in a World Series rematch.

Cody Ballinger and the Dodgers take on mooky bets and the Red Sox. In other regional action, the Giants, battle the brewers, or the nationals face the Phillies. It all starts at 7 Eastern on Fox and the Fox Sports app. Check local listings for the game in your area. Dodgers get Corey Seeger back. He's their all-star shortstop, great young player. Great, great player. Get him back injured.

All right, Stephen Jackson. By the way, I have a theory that as brilliant as you are in life, the one thing that punctures anybody's brilliance is being rigid. Bobby Knight is probably as smart as any college basketball coach we've ever had. Bobby Knight refused to accept the one and done, and he became a dinosaur, lost games, and disappeared. Greg Popovich is a brilliant guy. He hates threes.

The Spurs have shot 4,500 fewer threes in the last three years than Houston. They're two stars now. DeMarcus de Rosen can't hit him. doesn't shoot him. Lamarquez-Aulridge can't hit him, doesn't shoot him. They just gave away their best shooting three guy, a backup center to Washington. As great as Popovich is,

he does not like threes. You can't get in the way of evolution or progress. Some things just happen, right? Like, if it rains, grab an umbrella, because it's raining. I look at Popovich. You played for him. Of all these teams in the West, one, we haven't mentioned

in three weeks, San Antonio. They don't have any three shooters. You love But you can't win games with mid-range jumpers only. I wouldn't say he doesn't love threes. He just like he rather the high percentage threes. And Senator has always been an offense. They play inside out. You know, they always have big guys that can score.

That's his thing. That's his thing. I think that people can't say he's stuck in the time warp because when Kauai was there, he changed the offense for Kauai. When I was there, we wasn't doing no ISOs, no post-up plays for point for guards. when Kawha was there, Kauai got a lot of ISO plays. So he did change because he knew he had a talented player.

And I think he would change if he had that talent on the team. He don't have guys that can come down and just pull up threes. And that's why they play like that. But don't count them out. You know, they always fly into the radar and do something big. Don't count them out. They might still have something up their sleeve. You were on our show Tuesday.

You thought Hardin and Westbrook were going to work together. I got lucky. He worked. It happened. Now they're buddies, but Westbrook doesn't and can't shoot threes. So my takeaway is Hardin's not going to change his game. He shouldn't. He's the best basketball, one-on-one player in the world.

You're not going to go to a guy with $300 million to say, you know, you're the best in the world at something. If somebody came to me and said, you're good at that talking thing. Stop talking. I'd be like, no, I'm pretty good at the talking thing. You're not going to get hardened to change his game, nor should he. He's the best in the world at it. So that means Westbrook's going to do some standing and watching, get the ball past to him late in the clock, and he's not a shooter.

How does it work? Well, I think the biggest thing, besides all that, is the new owner of this team needs to listen to everything he's hearing that he's trying to ignore. He's hearing it from everywhere, not just this show, but millions of shows. You're talking about the Rocket's owner. Yeah, the Rocket's owner. You need a different coach. Point blank.

Everybody's saying he's hearing it from everywhere. It's all on TV. I'm just not saying I watch TV all day. Everybody's saying Dan Tony is not the coach. He needs a coach that will hold these guys accountable. and that these guys will respect more. And that's what these guys have dominant personalities. Yes.

Russ's personality is way more dominant than James's. So, and he didn't hold James accountable. James didn't play defense at all. So they need a coach to hold them accountable or this trade would be for nothing. I promise you. Remember I said this trade will be for nothing. Dan Tony is a passive, a great. Now he's analytics guy.

Russ is not an analyst player. He's not a defensive guy either. Dan Tony. He's definitely not a defense guy. The way these guys play, though, you cannot ask James Hard to do the impossible. James. He has, though. He has done it impossible.

He can't play defense. He's too exhausted by the time May comes around because he's so bald-dom. Hold on. Last year, James was at the top of the league of steals. Steele's doesn't mean you're a great defense. You get won a game. Steels generally mean, by the way, the guy that led your team on steals, was he always the best defender?

Or can you man a guy up and play him? It's a big difference. Yeah. A lot of guys get steals, but they don't play good team defense. Man-to-man defense, right. I mean, listen, we always. we always blame the coach for everything in this league. I get it.

I'm not going to defend coaches. But I do think there's realities of game. You know, Chris Brousardo says, your game is your game. Yep. Are we going to try to ask at 31 years old, Russell Westbrook, change your game? This is who he is, and he's very good. Right. I don't know.

I just, I don't, it'll be fun. Yeah. But you think it works on the court if they get a new coach. I think it'll work because not only if they get new coach, because not only are these guys friends, but they wanted to play together and I think they compliment each other because hopefully Russ's energy

and the way he plays the game will rub off on James. When you play with a good player, this one thing about Pop, he used to always teach through Tim. He used to get on Tim all the time. So I had to take it. Tony Parker had to take it.

Everybody on that bench had to take it when Pop got on him. I think this is the type of situation that they need. James plays with a lot of passion. He's one of the greatest offensive players I've ever seen. But with Russ's energy,

if that can transfer to some of James, where James can play with more energy and care about the game a little more, that team will be a dominant team of top three team in the West. They will play faster. They will play faster. That's not disputable.

They'll move up and down the floor because Westbrook's a better athlete. Right. You know, it's funny about Chris Paul. Like, I think I was wrong on Chris Paul. I always like Chris Paul. But now he's asked for, he's forced his way out of three teams.

I was wrong. I think in the end, I'll give you an example. You know Matt Damon, the actor? Yes. He's a very good actor. Yes. I don't think he's Meryl Streep.

I don't think he's maybe Samuel Jackson or Jack Nicholson in his prime or Jeremy Irons. He's a very good actor. But what makes Matt Damon a superstar is he's an A who can work with other A's. He works with anybody. If you're LeBron, you're so gifted, you don't have to be the world's greatest teammate in his prime. Right. But Chris Paul's like Matt Damon. really, really good.

But Damon realizing I can elevate my stardom to superstardom by being a good teammate and working with other stars. Chris doesn't work with stars. He didn't get along with Blake. He didn't get along with Hardin. He didn't get along with D'Andre Jordan. He doesn't get along with stars. I don't think Chris is gifted enough to not get along with stars. It's easy for a star to get along with a C guy because the C guy is not going to confront him.

But when I look at Chris, I think it's fair to say now. He struggles with other alphas. You know, that can be true because you only can go about what you see. Right. But even with the rough situation, and they're trying to put Chris in the same situation saying you got to consider him being a bad teammate now too. And this is how I look at it.

I was considered a bad teammate a lot because of my passion for the game because I wouldn't settle for less. Because I wouldn't let you with not getting away with not playing hard or not appreciating your job. So at times, Russ's energy and the way he plays, he plays harder and everybody. Caring about the game more than the next guy and doing more and working hard

will make you look like a bad teammate at times. So I can't just believe when people says a guy's a bad teammate because sometimes just caring more about your job more than the next guy when they just want to go under the radar and go through the motions, it will make you look like a bad teammate. And I understand that from being that. Yeah, Jimmy Butler gets that label because he's a lot. Because he cares.

You should care. How many, what percentage of guys deeply care? I would say probably like 30%. Percent. Or the NBA cares. Now, by the way, Tony Gonzalez always tells me this. Tony Gonzalez, the Hall of Fame tied in. I'm like, how many guys are fully committed?

He's like 3%. I'm like, what? It's just the truth. It's just the truth. I mean, you can see it. Being around the game, you can see the guys who play with passion. Patrick Beverly. You can't tell me you don't see he played with passion.

Right, right. Coah Leonard. You can't tell him he might not be. either screaming and bumping chest, but you can't tell me he don't play with passion. It's easy to see the guys that play with passion. The guys just out there going through the motions. By the way, the players demanding trades, I grew up sort of. You sign a contract.

You live with it. But the players demanding trades are one of the reasons the league so fascinating. You've got players moving all over the place. So what's your takeaway on demanding trades? Like Paul George, like get me out of here. You can wake up in the middle of the morning and you trade it to a team. in Ungawa somewhere. And you don't even, you know what I'm saying?

You didn't even know. You just wake up and find out on TV. I was with Rashid Wallace. When we were with the Hawks, we were sitting at the Cheesecake factory and we were looking at the TV, he found that he got traded to the Detroit Pistons. I'm glad the players can control

on where they want to go. They can trade you in the middle of the night any time of the day and just send you where you don't want to be. I think it should go both ways. But the only reason it's a problem because they want to bring back some of the control. They don't, some of the fans

are unhappy because, you know, They expected this player to be here for the amount of time they signed the contract. Now the player doesn't want to be there. But at the same time, if a team is not showing the player that they're going in the direction to win, why would you want to be there? Well, that's why LeBron left Cleveland. Seven years you couldn't get me one all-star. I defended LeBron. I was like, okay, everybody whiffs on a draft pick.

Like Anthony Davis is like, you got me Drew Holiday. That's about it. You didn't give me enough players. I like Drew Holiday, though. No, no, no. I like Drew Holiday. No, no, I'm saying. Anthony Davis is like, you missed on a lot of these guys.

I got Drew Holiday and me, and that's it. That's it, right. You got to get me more players. No, it is, I get both because I am for mobility. I'm pro player. It is the sport where players drive the league. I get all that stuff. You know what I think a lot of it is when you're in a less desirable market.

Let's say Sacramento, Utah, maybe, or Oklahoma City, there is this sense that nobody, the players don't want to play there. But I always say, well, Damian Lillard loves Portland and Janus loves Milwaukee. and Stockton and Malone love Utah. You can't tell, now there are certain players who are big city guys. Right. I get that. Like, D. Wade feels like Miami.

He doesn't feel like, you know, but he went to Marquette, which was a small place. So did you ever demand out? I demanded out of Golden State. After they traded the whole We Believe team, I was the last one there. Actually, it was the year they drafted Steppen Curry. When did you demand the trade? The beginning of the season. So the season had started.

The season has, you. even started yet. We was in, we was the media day. And I said, uh, if this team don't have a plan on winning, because they were going real young. And I was, I was up, I was in my 30s. And, uh, it wasn't nothing against, uh, Steph or the guys they were having because, you know, Stephens and, uh, Montaella's, I thought they were going to be a great tandem. I didn't want to hold him back. Uh, and Don Nelson was my guy. Uh, it wasn't a problem. It wasn't the issue. He sent me to Charlotte and, uh, ended up being great for me. Now, by the way, how did you go to

Don? Don's an older veteran guy. Did you knock on his door, text. him how did it work? Well, this is, this exactly how it happened. He had already knew, you know, before we even had this conversation. We were playing in Milwaukee, and Brandon Jennings had just gave us 55. Yeah, and I had a good game, but we got, we end up losing. But he came to my room, my hotel, because we stayed overnight. He was like, Jack, that's a young team.

I don't even want to do this until you have you going through this year. You know, how about I send you to Charlotte, you know, and go play for Michael Jordan? I'm like, perfect. I would love to because I was going there with Jersey. Wallace and a couple of guys and I knew I was a missing piece to a lot of teams that year and Charlotte was a missing piece I was a missing piece of that team we were able to get to playoffs for the first time in the organization so you had a good you you weren't mad at Don no not at all that's my guy I was never mad at Don this was the first coach that

they had the they had the guts to make me a captain you know oh he didn't this is the winning coach ever and he said if I have my my my choice I would have five Stephen Jackson's on the court at one time that's the ultimate compliment so did that give you in the NBA was that did that kind of change the perception of you? Yeah, to a lot of people. Yeah. Because he's well respected. And for him, I missed out on All-Star games.

I missed out on a lot of notoriety because I was loyal to my teammates in Detroit. Yeah. I don't regret it at all, though. I don't regret it. Stacks. You even have an NBA nickname, Stacks. Stack. I didn't get that from the NBA.

Captain Jack is my NBA nickname. Stack coming from money. I know how to stack it up. You're funny. All right. Good seeing you. Thanks for having me. All right, Joey, with the news.

No, no, no, no. Turn on the news. This is the herd line news. Well, it's been a busy few weeks in the NBA. We thought it was kind of quiet and down, and then one of the biggest moves happened yesterday. Well, the Warriors have been right in the middle of all that. They lost Katie the Nets, parted with Iggy and Sean Livingston. And yesterday, Steph Curry opened up about Durant's exit with the answer that she would expect from Steph Curry.

The beauty of free agency is everybody has a decision, everybody has a choice, and you want to find your happiness wherever that is. The beauty of the NBA is everybody has that decision at some point, especially the guys that deserve it like Kay and the other top free agents. So again, I like to look at what we accomplished and focus on that and be extremely proud of this run that we had. and now we're going to have to recreate it in terms of what it means going for. You know, the warriors kind of feel a little bit like the heat after LeBron left because you never really felt like Durant was a warrior all the way. Right. You know what I mean?

Like there was always this feeling that he joined them after getting beat by them, that he was joining a dynasty, that they didn't really need him, as it turns out they did. but it never really felt like, you know, Wade is a heat player for life, no matter what, even if he left. Like, yes, he's a part of that. Like, Steph Curry is a warrior. Like, that's how it feels. It never really felt like Durant was all the way there. And I don't think that was ever fair, but it's clearly how he felt, too.

You know, it's going to be really interesting, Joy. So we kind of knew Kevin was going to leave. And I think the warriors knew. That's why they, you know, they didn't show up and the bags were packed. They kind of knew it wasn't going to work. What will really be interesting with Golden State is what do they do with Dremont? Because he feels like he's a warrior and he's going to want a lot of money. And I don't think they're going to, you know, listen, he averaged seven and seven last year in the regular season.

But he's, I mean, he's a part of that. I know, but you can't pay him, you can't be $34 million for Dremon Green. Like the analytics are telling you, he's been a great player. But I don't know. Well, I mean, look, who knows? That will be tough. It's really, he's not going to be Draymond Green on a different team. And by the way, I'm not sure he's Draymond Green going forward.

I do think you've seen the best of it. I mean, physically, we've asked so much of him. Guard the best guy, scramble. And I love Dr. And he's been incredible. He's been great. He's been instrumental to all those championships and everything that they've been able to do. I don't know if you pay him that much, but I also don't know how you move on from him.

Like, you do still need a guy like Draymond on that team. So it will be interesting to see what they do with him. Wow. So the Rockets pulled off one of the bigger moves of the week, but they don't want to stop there. According to Sam Amick of the Athletic, the Rockets are now poised to make some sort of run that had begun to look so unlikely, especially if they keep adding to the roster from here.

So priority number one, secure a deal for Andre Iguodala. The Rockets have continued to put their push to land the 35-year-old via trade. They were also hoping to add veteran Big Man Tyson Chandler. Well, Woj just tweeted that the Rockets have landed Tyson Chandler. They have signed him to a one-year deal. He's entering his 19th season. Quite a career for Tyson Chandler. Really just amazing.

Yeah. Big for them, too. They needed some size. But Mark Stein also tweeted that there is some belief within league circles that the Grizzlies are prepared to take Andre Aguendala into the season unless they receive a tradeoffer featuring a future first round pick. What? For a 35-year-old?

Come on. He's in high demand. I mean, the rockets have been interested in. He's been talking about with the Lakers, also the clippers. A 35. I'm going to give me a first round pick. By the way, Memphis's first round? Well, that would be Houston's first round.

I think if you are in a situation where you need to win now, you do it. Andre Aguadala is a, first of all, he's a finals MVP. Well, you can have your conversation about whether that mattered or not, but I think it did. I used to wear braces. I was in high school. Having a guy like Andrea Godala on a championship team matters. I don't think you get caught up in the whole future first-round pick thing when it comes to putting together the pieces that you need.

What do you say, Greg? Houston guy here, he's got an opinion. I can't hear you. What's another first-round pick? Yeah. I mean. So it would be Houston's first round pick, which would be a crappy pick anyway. Right.

I mean, yeah, I don't think you could. I mean, if this is the guy that you feel like you need, and Andre Godala is a reliable veteran, he's been there. he's a winner. I think you do it. Finally, after Chris Paul was dealt yesterday, speculation about the heat's offseason makeover turned from Russell Westbrook to CP3. Paul on paper appears to be a more

financially viable move for the heat. They have similar salaries, Westbrook and Chris Paul, but CP3's three-year contract is lighter than Russ's four-year, $170 million contract. It's interesting to see what will happen here. The Thunder GM, so Houston originally wanted to try and find a three-way situation to send him

to send Chris Paul where he wanted. to go and it appears that the thunder are going to figure out a situation that works best for everyone and move him somewhere. Just as a side note, Dwayne Wade has weighed in on all of the movement around the league. He said, all I know is my jersey swap collection is looking kind of bootleg since free agency started. It's true. Some of those are, he's got a bunch of throwback jerseys now, not quite the same situation. Yeah, but it'll be interesting to see if he ends up with the heat. I like him with the heat. I don't like it. as much as I liked Westbrook,

but the Thunder seemed like they're going to do right by CP3. Wow. Joy with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The Heard Line News. One of my favorite segments every week. It makes me laugh.

Jason McIntyre comes up, tells us what will be the biggest headline of the next NBA season. Tomorrow's headlines today with Jason McIntyre, J-Mack, and that is coming up to wrap up our frenetic week. Be sure to catch live editions of the Heardtons. weekdays in noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific on Fox Sports Radio, FS1, and the IHard Radio app. Great news. Quick and easy way to save 15%. Go to Geico.com 15 minutes. I'll save you 15%.

Hope you have good car insurance the way you drive out there. You're young. You live in Manhattan Beach. The streets are tight. I don't need to drive anywhere. I know. Manhattan Beach is Uber territory. Do you take Uber joy or do you drive around? I take Uber when I have to. But we have a Tesla, so it drives itself. Oh, geez. I can't wait until all cars do that. Hello. It's better. Your car drives decisions?

Your car drives you around? Well, not on the side streets, but on the highway. Yeah, it just stays in the lane, breaks for you. Is that what a Tesla does? It's wonderful. Do you have to plug it in when you get home? Yeah. That's a lot of work.

Next to your toaster. How is that more work than going to the gas station? Can you imagine being a single guy? Hey, let's go out tonight. Hold on. I got to plug in my car. I think they'd be impressed, actually, if you got to plug it. your car in. You don't have to go to the gas station.

I like the gas station. I met a lot of people. I love to hang out at gas stations. Some of the nicest people have ever met with gas station. Yeah, and whatever. Somebody else's issue. Whatever. All right, Jason McIre, J-Mack. It's called Tomorrow's Headlines Today. Will Hardin

and Westbrook succeed with the Rockets? Yeah. All right. Roll the production. Tomorrow's headlines today. I didn't know about this trade until you called me last night. I know. I was floored. And, you know, I gave it a lot of thought overnight. And the headline will be Houston.

We have two problems. Listen, Colin, I know you're not a big Westbrook fan. I have been bashing Westbrook since I got to FS1. Yeah. Way back in 2016. I just want to point out a couple things. So Westbrook turns 31 in November. And I know Chris Broussard earlier said he was intrigued.

You know what I'm intrigued by? Russell Westbrook has had four knee surgeries in the last six years. Yeah. Okay? You know what? In the last five years, he shot under 30. percent on threes four times. He can't shoot and he's going to the most prolific three-point shooting team in NBA history.

How is this going to work? Give me one scenario where this one's got. My bigger problem is they're both rich, successful, talented guys. It's very difficult to tell rich, successful people. Hey, make some alterations. They've been rewarded with their style, which is wildly entertaining. And we're all going to blame Westbrook. But the truth is, Harden right now is considered the best offensive analytic player ever.

If you think you're going to get him to budge off his game, he's going to be like, well, you know, you couldn't tell Kobe. Kobe, five rings change up. Kobe's like, my net worth is 500,000. What am I changing? Yeah. So here's a great story.

Brian Winhorst told this story. During the Warriors Rocket series, game six, Hardin and Chris Paul were on the floor, and they were kind of together in space too close. And Chris Paul's barked at him and Hardin when the whistle blue goes, it's always effing something with you loudly. Teammates heard it. People court side heard it.

And you could tell right after that game was when Hardin said, we know what we need to do. That Chris Paul thing ended badly. I don't see it working out with Westbrook. Tomorrow's headlines today, what will happen to Chris Paul and the Thunder? Oh, Oklahoma City. I hear it's lovely this time of year.

Not as good as Park City. But I believe the headline will be, whether Chris Paul stays or goes, the Dust Bowl becomes the dust bin. I'm sorry, Oklahoma City. No national TV games. It's going to be bleak for Chris Paul. I mean, I feel a little bad for him, but on some level, Chris Paul kind of brought this on himself.

You know, you can't fight with Blake Griffin in the locker room. I hosted a Dan Patrick show this week with Matt Barnes. He was in that Clipper locker room. He told me some good Chris Paul, Blake Griffin stories, and they're not good in a good way. And now you can't get along with James Hardin and Oklahoma City. You know, there is this weird situation in the NBA, Colin, where we're now judging trades on the process, not the results. Everybody's championing. Hey, look, we got 15 first-round draft picks over the next six years.

That's a victory. No, no, it's not. You're totally irrelevant if you're in the draft every year. And you told me this yesterday. Here it is. Look on the screen. Look at all those picks they have. I give it a big, who cares?

I mean, if you look in the last 20 years of the NBA, the only two teams that have won through the draft with the Golden State Warriors by hitting on Curry and Clay and the San Antonio Spurs, hitting on Tim Duncan, Genoblee, Parker, and then Kauai Leonard. Other than that, it's all free agents. Look at the Celtics. Look at the heat super teams. Look at the Cavs super teams.

It's all free agents. Well, the Warriors, by the way, also transition into that super team. They got to run. They won one time. Yeah, but I'm telling you, I'm sorry Oklahoma City. I just, this is awful. All right. Tomorrow's headlines today.

Which team is going to win the next NBA title? So you've been prattling on all week about the clippers are the best team in the league. I really would love a good deep dive. Yeah, yeah. You know what I like? I like the new headlines. The headline next season will be Lakers, 2020 NBA champs. No puns, nothing funny, just facts.

Okay, here's two things that I think jump out at me that I haven't heard you talk about, okay? Paul George, you know what he's done this offseason? Just had shoulder surgery on both shoulders after he ended the season. So he's going to probably miss the start of next season. He will. Coming off double shoulder surgery. And the second thing is, you know, Laker fans,

I talked to a couple of fans out there, a couple season ticket holders. How are we going to guard Kauai and Paul George? Well, the Lakers picked up Danny Green, and here is a fun Danny Green fact. He has been on every Kauai Leonard team that Kauai Leonard's been in since he got in the league. San Antonio and Toronto,

in practice together, working out together, defending one another in practice. If anybody in the NBA knows Kauai Leonard's game, it's Danny Green. And I think he can be a major factor defensively against Kauai Leonard for the Lakers, allowing LeBron to kind of hide. They put Coosma on Paul George.

I think the matchups actually favor the Lakers here. By the way, I'm so glad the Lakers kept Kuzma, because everybody wanted to bail on him. Just throw him in. Kuzma, now here's an interesting thing. If Kuzma gives me 18 and a half a night, and I know that today, I would take the Lakers. Because I know LeBron's going to give me mid-20s,

AD. If Kuzma becomes a legitimate third scoring option, guess what? Lakers are going to be in. a nightmare. Minor cause for concern with Kuzma. He's dating Kendall Jenner.

She is a Kardashian. I know. And he's transitioning into like, I'm a playboy now. I'm out in L.A. Joy, I don't know if you follow him on Twitter and Instagram. He's really becoming like that playboy type deal.

Listen, DeAngelo Russell got to the Lakers. Remember when he was drafted? And I saw him posted up at all the spots in L.A. Like really loving life. Loved it too much. Kuzma, I'm a big fan. I know he works hard on offense.

Be careful with this Kardashian relationship. He's a good follow him. on Twitter. He goes by coos. He's very funny, actually. He's getting a lot of marketing deals. People are throwing money at him. He's got that look. He's cool. He's very... And he's a good kid. Yeah, good guy. I like him. Laker people like him. All right,

tomorrow's headlines today. Are the Cowboys going to give DAC a massive contract extension? You know, NBA's pretty much done. We're starting to go heavy football. I thought we were done yesterday. Yeah, until last... Then Westbrook got traded. So I think here's where I'm starting with the NFL. The first headline

will be DAC your bags. Oh, yeah. They love it when Calhurt's cracking up. There's more talk this week that he's a $30 million quarterback, which is just utterly insane to me, Colin. They've got a really good supporting cast offensively. They have some.

They have. Offensive weapon ones. If you said best seven young players in the game, I think Dallas would be one or two in the league. One of the better young rosters in the league. And, I mean, listen, Jerry Jones is a gambler. We've talked about this off air, like, not just necessarily in sports, but in life,

you become a billionaire by taking some risky gambles. And the Amari Cooper, everybody lambasted them for that trade. True. Stroke of genius for the gambler. It was. I do believe Dak Prescott. Look at these stats. I mean, he's just a mediocre quarterback, and you're going to give him $30 million?

Well, it's, is there anybody else out there? Well, and that's where it gets interesting. Remember I was pushing the trade for Josh Rosen as a possibility? But months ago, he ended up in Miami. There are going to be some guys, I think, that emerge as, as well, what if we take a chance on him, a by-low here? I mean, Nick Foles is now going to be starting in Jacksonville. He could have been an option.

I don't think you need a $30 million quarterback, especially one who's average. Dak your bags. Colin, Jerry's going to move on. Here's what's interesting. Dallas has two great linebackers. Yes. You could actually give one. I mean, you could give one away.

They have the best laggingbacker in tandem youth. It's interesting with them. If there ever was a deal to be made, and I don't think they'll make it. I think they'll reselling it. Oh, here we go. Here we go. Go to a team that's got one of the top four or five picks that doesn't need a quarterback. Like, you know, I mean, what's it?

What if the Jets end up getting it? You're not going to draft it and say, give me one of your linebackers. You can have our pick. Then they could get one of the three college quarterbacks that year. To a tagoviloa? There's not many teams in the NFL that need a star quarterback. If Dallas wants to move up this year, they can move up. Do they need a star quarterback?

Well, I'm just. going to float this name. Okay, we got to go. Okay, we got to go. Darn it. It's good. I'll save it for next week. Tomorrow's headlines today, Jason McIntyre. We're out SFOE next. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind, and nobody's telling you

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