The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Colin Cowherd Podcast - AD's Lakers Future, KD/Suns Fit, Westbrook Decline w/ Jason Timpf

Episode Date: February 15, 2023

First (3:00), Colin explains why the Super Bowl proved politically charged claims of a permanent NFL boycott were always a joke, and the report that shows Aaron Rodgers can’t escape his neediness during his 4-day total darkness retreat. Then, Hoops Tonight and Lakers Tonight Podcast host Jason Timpf joins Colin to discuss if the Warriors are still the favorite in the West despite Steph Curry’s extended injury absence (12:00), if the Lakers will deal Anthony Davis in the offseason to please LeBron (16:00), if Jaylen Brown is the true Celtics closer over Jayson Tatum (22:00), why the Suns are a perfect X’s and O’s fit for KD (25:00), if the Ja Morant Grizzlies are the most overrated title contender (31:00), why Westbrook and the Lakers ultimately imploded (40:00). Follow Colin and The Volume on Twitter for the latest content and updates, and check out FanDuel for the best wagering and daily fantasy action! #Herd #Volume #HoopsTonightSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed Human. Another podcast from some SNL, late-night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer,

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It's the Colin Coward podcast presented by Fandul. Super Bowl's here. No better place to get in on the action than Fandul. The Dremont Green Show is presented by Fandul. The NBA season, kicking into gear, baby, no better place to get in on the action than Fandul. Fandul app is safe. You get paid fast. lot of ways to play. The spread, the money line, team totals, players, props, a lot of stuff.

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All right. So I want to start with this. If I get upset with my kids or my wife and I express my disappointment, the reason I do that is because I want to be heard. And I want you to respond. I want some sort of visceral connection. I love you. I'm committed to you. Are you committed to me? I want to be heard. And everybody wants to be heard. That's why I've never taken criticism personally. If I don't want to go to a restaurant anymore, I don't write them a letter. I just stop going. When people really leave my show, they just stop listening. They don't inform me of it.

I thought it was interesting that the Super Bowl had its biggest rating in years. 113 million people watched it. Third most watched TV program in American history. This comes, of course, after the boycott from Colin Kaepernick taking a knee. All I heard for 18 months and the words used by all the boycotters all never watch the NFL again. They didn't say they'd come back eventually. They said, I'll never watch it again.

They all came back. What are you going to do for 20 Sundays in the fall? What are you guys? Farmers? In the end, it's the NFL. We bet it. We watch it. We love it. Many of us played it.

Not particularly well. But you wanted to be heard. Conservatives overwhelmingly. wanted to be heard. Remember when the CEO of Goya Foods, G-O-Y-A-Foods, backed Donald Trump, there was a boycott. Liberals were outraged by the comments. We are going to boycott Goya Foods. Actually, sales went up 22% in the following weeks. Goya reported sales of some beans. Apparently, Goya loves their beans, rose 400%. I remember when Kaepernick did that first Nike ad,

ooh, people wanted to be heard. I will never buy Nike again. The stock price at the time was 68. It is now 84% higher at 126. actually rose to almost 170. Nike's never been stronger. NFL's never been stronger. Goya Foods is fine.

By the way, because of the platforms, the number of platforms I'm on today, I get more hate, more ugly comments, more threats, more boycott tweets than ever before. January was my most watched, most listened to, most downloaded month of my 30-year career. And that's okay.

yell, scream, call me an idiot. People want to be heard. Liberals wanted to be heard with Goya Foods. Conservatives wanted to be heard with Kaepernick and Nike, the NFL. That's why I don't take things personally. When people really leave brands, restaurants, leagues, TV, by the way, teens do not watch linear TV. teenagers don't watch it. It's down 74% from I think like a decade ago. You know what I've never received in the history of social media? A teenager saying, I'm no longer watching linear TV.

I'm out. They just leave to all my media brethren. Don't take the insults personally. Roger Goodell doesn't. The CEO of Goya Foods doesn't. Phil Knight at Nike doesn't. All of us. When you're connected to something,

when you've been a customer, a fan of viewer, a listener, sometimes you're just pissed and want to be heard. I'm the same way. So Aaron Rogers is about ready to go on his darkness retreat for four days. According to reports from legitimate sources, he's considering filming it. Little irony there, an isolation trip. Hey, let's make sure the camera guys got it.

The lighting guys over here. It's supposed to be isolation, thinking you, by yourself. Aaron wants attention, ripping Adam Schaefter, ripping Ian Rappaport, the vaccine. Aaron Rogers wants attention. He wants to feel important, right? No kids, never married, may not have a pet. It's why he needs to do these weekly hits. Aaron needs to be the center of attention.

It just cracks me up. Like, when you go on these retreats, you go to Ohio, you're looking for peace, you're not supposed to be making another state farm commercial during your isolation trip. You know, people, myself included, have odd habits. I tend to be a creature of habit, you know, three or four things for breakfast my entire life. Fruit early, fish late. I eat the same way. I exercise the same way.

Same time of the day. Very much a creature of habit. And I understand not everybody has the same habits. You know, my kids are quirky. I'm quirky. And I've had friends that have, you know, mannerisms or things that are, I consider odd, but the one thing I've dropped friends and people in my social circle over. High maintenance slash neediness.

Fuck Aaron is needy. He is really, really needy. As a small business owner or hiring manager, success depends on the team you surround yourself with. That's why you should check out LinkedIn jobs. hire qualified candidates more efficiently by matching open roles with people who have the skills, values, and experience you want. That's what LinkedIn Jobs does. They go beyond resume data by using insights from your job post company and their 875 million member profiles to put your post in front of the most qualified candidates.

It's really cool. They make it easy to screen and rate applicants based on your job qualifications all on one platform. That's why small businesses rate LinkedIn jobs number one, number one, in delivering quality hires against leading competitors. Go to post your job for free at LinkedIn.com slash Colin. LinkedIn.com slash Colin. Place is great. Post your job for free. Terms and conditions apply LinkedIn.com slash Colin. 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 huge. Others say it's unleashing 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. His name is Jason Timp. We were able to grab him a couple years ago. he's going to be with us for a long time. Hoops Tonight podcast on the Volume Network. So I was talking about this, Jason, about the Kansas City Chiefs. If you were going to beat him, it probably should have been this year. Kind of a makeshift receiving core, six rookies played, O-line is still pretty young, not great at tackle.

Now, this year, they've got 11 draft picks. All the rookies at running back. in the secondary, we'll have a year under their belt. Mahomes is only getting better. And, you know, this could have been the vulnerable year, right? Because they were very, very young. And I feel the same way about the Warriors. Last year, Clay Thompson at 70%.

Young guys weren't ready to play. Now they've got Peyton, he'll be ready by the playoffs. Clay's better. Pools emerged as more consistent. Dante D. Vincenzo's actually a perfect fit for that system. now they're actually really deep in the next two months, really, really deep. And Coominga is at least now a contributor. And so as they go back and forth, we know they're not the same team without Steph Curry.

But I really believe Milwaukee's the best team in the league. And I really believe in two and a half, three months, Golden State, a team that's in Boston's head, will be second. How much of a believer or a cynic are you of these? warriors going forward? Well, generally speaking, I'm always going to be very bullish on championship cores that still have their core that we've seen show what they can do on that level. Because the NBA regular season is so monotonous and boring. And they've had issues.

Like even the core of this team has struggled to close games this year, which is super unusual for a team that you'd expect to execute super well. And obviously, they've had issues with the bench. but Colin, did you know that there are 27 five-man lineups in the NBA this year that have played at least 200 minutes? And Steph Clay, Andrew Wiggins, Ramon Green, and Kavanaughan-Luny are still by far the best in the league. They're outscoring teams by 22 points per 100 possessions, five and a half points better than Denver starters who are treating this season every game like it's the last game of their lives. Now, again, the bench was a little concerning, but at the end of the day, there's two things that give me optimistic. there. First of all, Gary Payton will be available for the playoffs. Last year in the playoffs,

they outscored teams by three points per 100 possessions when Gary Payton was off the floor, and by 16 points per 100 possessions when Gary Payton was on the floor. So, you know, to their credit, they made the Wiseman mistake, but they were like, hey, we're going to undo two mistakes and one move here and bring back Gary. Now, it sucks that he's not going to be available for this next stretch of the regular season, but if he's available for the postseason, that solves a lot of problems. And then Jim Michael Green, there's been all this talk about them going after. after a backup big, but he is shooting the laces off the basketball since he returned from injury. And that kind of alleviates that issue. Give me Gary Payton, give me Jam Michael Green,

give me Jordan Poole and Dante DiVincenzo with that starting lineup we just talked about. In a Western conference, that's super flawed. I mean, is anybody a safer bet? No, and that's what I go back to. I do think when you have a veteran team and you have a long playoff run, you're talking about 20 more intense games. This is not. Tuesday against the Pelicans at home at Oracle, right? Like these are, these are play 40 minutes of playoff basketball. And so I don't think it's surprising the warriors were flat defensively, frankly, awful defensively until about, I would say about two weeks ago, it feels like there's

moments now. I think they've gotten, they're not great, but they've gotten better. Probably because Kerr's been barking at him, Dremont's been barking at him. But I tend to, I'm with you on this. Until you have a ring, teams play really hard. Those Chicago Bowl teams with Derek Rose, Jesus, every game was game seven. You'd go into the United Center and LeBron would go in there. And then the playoffs show up and LeBron shuts down D. Rose.

Speaking of LeBron, I had a scout I trust say the body language by AED wasn't a coincidence. he's had, as you've pointed out on your podcast, a series of bizarrely ineffective games. Like strangely ineffective. First half against the Warriors was weird. Like not there. And I had a scout tell me last week, Dallas is going to make a run at him. Anthony Davis has sort of kind of believes he's lost the trust of LeBron. That's what I'm hearing.

and that they're going to try to get their way into the playoffs. And I do think if you gave me LeBron in that roster, seven-gamer playing, let's get, that's a series against Denver, I'd take my chances with LeBron. What do you believe of somebody that watches every minute for the Lakers? What do you make of the last five to six games of Anthony Davis? The Anthony Davis thing is truly bizarre because all of the intel is that his foot is fine. Now, generally speaking with foot injuries,

there's a difference between fine and I trust myself to explode off of this foot when I need to. The numbers are really bad. So he's been back for nine games, 22 points and 13 rebounds, which is the weird thing with LeBron and AD. There's always such a disconnect between what their box score production is and what you actually see on the floor because I think he's been bad by his standards. He's shooting just 61% in the restricted area since coming back, which is awful for a big.

That's okay for a point guard. to give you some perspective, DeAndre Aiton is shooting 79% in the restricted area this season. So he's just getting manhandled around the basket. He's not running up and down in transition. He's losing boxouts everywhere right and left. Now, if he's dealing with something up here, the reality is this roster is so talented now, because they've really addressed their two biggest weaknesses. Back court.

Back court offensive skill, size on the perimeter with Rui Hachamura and Jared Vanderbilt. So if they get LeBron back and he's playing at an MVP level, at a certain point, AD will have no choice but to lock back in. And I believe that he will. But, you know, if he does not, because one of the biggest subplots of this Lakers era is Anthony Davis's inability to remain at his ceiling. Since the 2020 playoffs, it's been like two games against the Suns in the first round where he looked really good, like maybe 10, 15 games earlier this season.

But that's about it. And if he can't stay at that level, the Lakers will have to look seriously at whether or not he can be a foundational piece for them. Well, the source told me Dallas will make a run on him because Kyrie and Luca have huge defensive efficiencies and they don't trust Christian Wood. It would make sense. What can you get in your opinion for an Anthony Davis at the end of the year? Man, okay. So if he does not ever in this season return to form, I think he becomes, he's got. similar value to LeBron James, meaning like you're looking at him and you're like, yeah,

like I might get some top tier superstar production here, but I also might not. I'm not going to give away three, four first round picks and two three picks and a good young player. I actually pitched this idea to Ryan, our producer, earlier today. But like, if AD cannot return to form, you start to look at potentially him being the vehicle for a Kyrie Irving sign and trade. which satisfies both needs. Maybe you get a Josh Green out of Dallas as well.

Maybe you get one other first round pick. And the two, you know, Jared Vanderbilt such a good work hard forward for them. If they can get one other center, you start to look at them as a more offensively focused team behind Kyrie and LeBron. And in LeBron, when he's surrounded by really good ball handlers and shooters, he does devote more energy to the defensive end of the floor. And he can be really impactful there. Just look at the 2016 Cavs. So that would be an interesting direction for them to look. if Anthony Davis can't return to form.

And here's the thing, Colin, if I asked you, what are the percentage chances that Anthony Davis returns to MVP form before the end of the season? It's like a coin flip or worse. Oh, absolutely it is. And I think as you pointed out, it may be a little physical. Some of it's mental. And I think that's where he's struggled. You know, there's some things you can teach and some things you can't.

Passion, like Patrick Mahomes, visibly in intense pain during the Super Bowl and sprints for 26 yards, in my opinion, his greatest moment as a pro player. And he is wincing pain tolerance is a skill. Playing through injuries is a skill. Dwayne Wade was banged up almost the last 10 years of his career. He was constantly on the deck.

So let me start with this premise. I think Milwaukee when healthy is the best team in the league. You agree. I do. I just don't trust Boston to close games. And then everybody in the West is significantly more flawed. And Milwaukee kind of float under the radar as they were consistently near the top of the standings despite Chris Middleton being out and Drew Holiday being in and out of the lineup. Like, Janice has been sneaky like a favorite, one of my favorites for MVP this year and not getting enough credit for it because he's been floating a really limited roster. And so, again, to me, it's about the safeness of the.

bet and I just can count on Milwaukee in a way I can't anybody else out east. So that brings me up to, and you watch the NBA in a more consistent level because I'm kind of a generalist than half the cherry pick stuff. But I've watched the Celtics. I get on a treadmill and I watch them as much as I can. I'm going to watch them tonight when I, we hang up here and I'm going to go watch their backups play Milwaukee. My daughter's actually at that game totally about the Celtics.

All rightings aren't starting anybody. So one of the things I've noticed. and a game that a lot of people watch was the Laker game, which was a fantastic night of NBA basketball. It felt like a playoff game. Is that I think Golden State remains in Boston's head is even though they won that game and that had a playoff feel to it. This is, and you played college basketball at a high level and we're good.

Late in the shot clock and late in games. the body language tells me that Jalen Brown is really the alpha. He wants the ball. He's more aggressive seeking the ball. Now, when they design or set screens for Jason, a play, he'll come get it. But he won't take over a possession. I always feel like Jalen's the alpha, Tatum's more talented. And I think when you get into these huge games, that may only rear its head.

three possessions in the last six minutes. That's the difference between beating the warriors and not. There's something, it's almost like Tatum's too nice a guy. That's my takeaway. It's like, I don't want that. When Steph wants to score, there's nobody else on the floor. Steph, do you see this ever with the Celtics in big possessions in key spots? Some of it is skill set.

I think Jalen Brown is much more of an improvisational score. He can score in the sense that like every basket looks different than the last. Jason Tatum is very much your modern NBA analytical offensive approach. Like he's toned way back on his mid-range jump shooting. He's taken a ton of threes. He's finishing better at the rim than he used to be. But he's kind of becoming a more predictable offensive engine. And at the end of games, nothing goes the way you want it to.

There's so much contact that goes uncalled. There's random double teams and weird schematic things. And having a player that's an improvisational score, a guy that can take and make weird shots, ends up being a huge advantage there. And I think that's a huge part of why Jalen Brown thrives so much in those settings. But it's funny because I would agree with you that Golden State's in their head. Even when they won this last game, they kind of backed into that win. Yes.

They won because Golden State also made a bunch of mistakes. Like even on that final possession when Jalen Brown got open, it was a transition cross match and Jordan Poole got lost and they left Jalen Brown open. Like again, we talked about this earlier, but Golden State has struggled with late game execution. Jason Tatum was awful down the stretch and regulation of that game, including having Steph Curry on a switch on the left wing, no double team.

Dude, you've got the advantage. And he ended up just like kind of like trying to step sideways into a three. And Steph was all over it. And he ended up turning the basketball. over it. And you can tell there's something going on up there. To be clear, Boston's even better than they were last year. Malcolm Brogden, we talked a lot after the NBA finals about them needing backup ball handling. Malcolm Brogden was a home run trade. He's been amazing for them. But at the end of these games, if I would feel so much better about Boston if they just kicked Golden State's ass in those

two games. I would be in a completely different place mentally with them if they just close the deal in those two games emphatically. And instead, they lost one. And they fell ass backwards into a win in the other. And so that just puts me in the same position where it's the same type of flaw when they get to that big stage. Yeah. And that's why Golden State picks its spots. The Boston game, that Memphis game, you know this. There's about, for defending champions, there's about six nights a year, their national TV games, or they're the cocky upstart Memphis.

It's like, oh, okay. The guys don't have to be talked into it. So I think everybody, I've probably seen Phoenix play six times this year. Chris Paul is not what he was two years ago. Let's start with that. McHale Bridges, really valuable wing defender. No question. That's where they're not as good.

Kevin Durant remains, however, when healthy, about the best, easiest bucket in the league. I tend to think it's going to work because in the NFL, I always feel in pro football, and offense needs an identity can overcome lack of, of personnel if you have New York Giants won a playoff game. They knew what they were and what they weren't. I don't worry about that in the NBA. What I worry is do you have elements? Two great wings, a big that runs the floor, a smart distribution veteran point guard, a respected coach situationally. I look at Phoenix and I think there's a lot of elements here I like. Now, they're not deep. But, you know, Golden State plays eight guys. Like depth is a tad overrated. I think Phoenix could mow through,

some of these teams in about five, six games. I think the sons, it works for me. But now in three years, this could be a disaster if they fall apart. But just for this year, does it work for you? Well, overnight, they have the most talented top four in the NBA, in my opinion. Putting them ahead of Philly in Boston, there's also schematically a supernatural fit for Kevin Duran. Kevin Duran has been by far the very best pick and roll ball handler this year. He is having one of the very best pull-up jump shooting seasons in NBA history in all

pick and roll coverages in the NBA concede pull-up shots. So every team in the league has just been like, let's just double KD and play four on three in the back end, which is why the Nets have been so good the season when he played. Phoenix is the preeminent pick and roll team in the NBA. That's what they run every single possession down the floor. They run a variation of it called Spain pick and roll where they include a shooter that replaces to the top of the key while Aiton is rolling. So KD offensively is just an incredibly natural fit with him. He's also probably the best plug-in-play star in NBA history because his off-ball offensive talent is every bit as effective as his on-ball offensive talent. And he makes quick, predictable

decisions. Like, compared to Luca, where it's like there's nine seconds of dribbling and you don't necessarily know where he's going, that can be tough to play with sometimes. But when you're playing pickup basketball, and there's that dude where you know exactly what he's going to do, and he makes that decision quickly, it makes it easy to play with that type of guy. So that's why he plugs in so well. On the defensive end of the floor, he's actually having one of his better defensive seasons of his career as a help defender on the back line with his length. And DeAndre Aiton, one of his biggest issues is he can be a kind of up and down defensive player from his motor, from the perspective of his motor. Now, they're not a perfect team.

They're going to be probably the worst perimeter defense team out of the, out of the, out of, the high level playoff teams and that will put them in some trouble against driving kick teams like the clippers or Golden State with Jordan Poole constantly putting downhill pressure on the rim. They're going to have some issues. But again, I go back to what I said with Golden State in a Western conference where everybody is flawed, you'd be foolish to write them off. And you've got to look at the buyout market. Like they snatched Terrence Ross away from Dallas. I would be surprised if they go after someone like Patrick Beverly as well. Like they're going to be there. And I think Kevin it might be the best player in the world right now.

So they're going to be a pain in the ass for everybody. Yeah. No, I think you really put it well. He's the best plug and play guy in the world. Like I love LeBron or Janus, but you have to sort of build around them. Luca, because he's so ball-centric. He's, I think he's a much better,

well, not much better. He's a better version of Harden. But, I mean, at his best, James was hard to play with. Like, Chris Paul, for all the misgivings, kind of works in every era. He would have worked in the 70s. He works now in the three-ball era and doesn't shoot him. Like, he's a really effective player with a lot of personalities.

I mean, Blake Griffin, to me, sort of disappeared when Chris Paul left his side. D'Andre Jordan. That offense dried up. Looking to get more out of the NBA season? Well, now's the perfect time to download Fandul, America's number one sportsbook. Right now, new customers get a no sweat first bet up to $1,000. That's free bets back if your first bet doesn't win. The promo code is always Colin.

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Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. 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.

Okay, I'll give you a team. I want you to give me a team that you just don't buy. Okay, I love watching Memphis, but if Jaws off, and I just had dinner the other night with an NBA scout, Jaws probably a better, I don't like hyperathletic guards that can't shoot, never like John Wall, don't like Westbrook, Derek Rose wore me out. I think Jaws a better shooter than those guys. But Jason, he's 178 pounds. He's tiny. I don't know if I buy Memphis.

I just, I like their depth. I like their coach. Do you? I don't buy this team as a championship contender, do you? Yeah, Memphis is who I put down as my most overrated team in the league. So to give you an idea, these are the top four teams in the league and their records against teams that are 500 or better. Boston is 22 and 9 against winning teams. Milwaukee, 21 and 10.

Denver, 19 and 11, Philly, 16 and 10. Memphis, 16 and 15. Once again, against Boston on Sunday shortly before the Super Bowl, they competed. they were in the game. It was close late. And they backed way off of jaw and made him shoot threes that he couldn't make. He went 0 for four. And on the other end of the floor, they could not contain Derek White driving to the basket, which put them in rotation nonstop. And they gave up a bunch of wide open threes and they lost. This is a phenomenon I've seen several times in NBA history where there's a team that has an outstanding regular season machine to produce wins. My favorite example,

this is the 2021 Jazz. They were third in D.D. defensive rating in the regular season. And then they ran into the Clippers without Kauai Leonard. It turns out that it turns out Mike Connolly and Donovan Mitchell couldn't guard anybody. They gave up a hundred and twenty eight points per one hundred possessions against the clippers and lost. And so what happens is in the regular season, you can set up a baseline scheme and you can hide guys. But then you get to the playoffs and it becomes so a, the game slows down and it just teams target your entry points. And what it is is, Marant is one of the easiest entry points in the NBA to a defense. If you attack him,

you can quickly get them in rotation. And then it doesn't really matter what kind of personnel you have in the back end if you're playing four on three. And then on the other end of the floor, they just don't have any shot creation behind Jha. And so they're actually a bottom 10 half court offense in the NBA according to cleaning the glass. And so if they can stay up and down in transition and funnel guys to Jaron Jackson in the regular season, they're fine. But they get to the playoffs, the game slows down. It's entirely in the half court on both ends. They're attacking jaw. On the other end, they're back and way off of him. And that's why they struggle against good teams. Those clutch situations and those games against the good teams, those are what mimic the

playoffs most closely. And this is the final stat I'll give you. The Jazz are third in regular season defensive rating this year. They are 24th in clutch defense this season. So when the game slows down at the end, they just can't get stops. Well, this was always my knock on Westbrook, is that in the regular season, if you face Westbrook and you played the night before and he has two games rest, you're effed. He's going to get 16 points in transition. And then, I mean, but in the playoffs, we're all equally rested. And I can attack his flaws over and over and frustrate him.

And so Westbrook, Derek Rose, these are remarkable regular season players. And they have their moments. I mean, you can't stop all transition. A team misses. You're good in transition. This has always been my knock on Westbrook. And he's gotten worse is that he doesn't have good hands. He won't set a pick.

He's become a terrible defender. He can't shoot mid-ranger outside. So when you take the sloppy transition points away for the team, you know, I wonder if in history, if you look at Westbrook against the team without equal rest, he's just, he's a handful. He's just too much athletically in the half court. And that's always been my knock on Westbrook. The playoffs are a different sport.

It's not a coincidence. He struggles when we're all equally rested. I do think he's a good guy. I do think he's well-meaning. But, I mean, you've been really critical of him. Are you ever surprised, or I should say how surprised at the pushback you get, when it appears his flaws are so obvious and counterintuitive to really good, solid playoff level basketball, right?

It seems obvious. He can't play off the ball. My time covering Russell Westbrook with the Lakers has been one of the more confusing experiences as a basketball fan because it goes beyond even just the crazy angry fans. There's also really smart basketball people that I know that don't see it. And for the record, like, I do see the positives with Russ. He's excellent at pushing the pace. He actually had a lot of success this year in the middle portions of games against inferior bench. guards when the game had a more up and down flow. And I do believe that he could help a team if

he ended up in a situation where he was only in those types of situations. That's why I actually like him for the Clippers as long as Ty Lou wouldn't play him in crunch time. They have so much shooting. Give him a big who runs the floor. Put him in those middle portions of the game running up and down, pushing the pace. He can bring a lot of value. But the problem is, is there's a disconnect between the way league personnel view Westbrook, at least in terms of. At least in terms of the coaching staffs and the players around the league and the way the really smart basketball players see him. Because what would happen is, is you get in these situations and like, Darwin Ham's like, I need Russ out there in crunch time. And I'm not sure that Ty Lou wouldn't

make the same mistake. And so like if I could create the perfect set of circumstances for Russell Westbrook, he's still a very productive NBA player. But the problem is, is like everything about the playoffs is not the perfect set of circumstances. It's about being a dead. It's about having versatility, which is everything that Russell Westbrook is not. And it was just a frustrating experience because it wasn't like people would be like, oh, you're hating on Russ for the ratings. No one cares. Like, no one cares.

It's like it's authentic. I just as a basketball fan and I've always been a big LeBron fan, so I've been covering the Lakers and I've been rooting for that team. It was like pulling my hair out trying to watch the guy. And I'm just thankful that he's hopefully going to end up in a better basketball situation. now because of all the places to have that loud and that critical of a fan base in the worst possible basketball fit. Anthony Davis, who doesn't like to run the floor and a complete lack of shooting, like it was the worst possible basketball fit you could have scripted for him. You know what I'll all explain it to you.

So in baseball where personality is often seen as a negative, there's a way to play the game. If you don't work analytically, you don't work. Seam heads push back. They don't care how cool Cody Bellinger's swing is and how cool he is. If you don't work analytically, you don't work. Basketball's always had an allure to the aesthetic. Style matters. I never trusted Dr. J shooting a free thrower, hitting a jumper, but God, I love watching him.

And he's absolutely crucial to the NBA story. World B-free. I loved World B-Free. Marbury, Stevie Francis, I don't know what their analytics are. They have to be really suboptimal. But style matters, fashion matters, cool matters. That's why I love the NBA. There's always these weird, quirky players who are completely limited and can be marginalized. I love watching them. It doesn't work that way in baseball. personality is seen as a weakness, a liability, disrespectful to the game. So I get the Westbrook. Like I always said, Zach Levine, he's not a winning player, but he is fun to watch. Hell yeah. Hell yeah.

So I do think a lot of it is, if you love basketball, you know, I'm old now, man. I watched Wilt in 72. Wilt was a flake. But Wilt was cool. Like, there was value to Wilt being Wilt. and Moses Malone was amazing, but his game was boring. It was offensive rebounding. You know, Paul Silas, a lot of these guys just not vertical players.

So I guess that's my explanation is basketball has this unique relationship with its fan base that style matters. And I mean, just, I just since I've been a kid, I loved Spencer Haywood, Dr. J, World Be Free. I mean, that's way, way a long time ago. Alex English led the damn league in scoring in the 80s. There's no such thing as an Alex English fan club. He led the damn league in scoring. And by the way, a good decade. The 80s.

He wasn't vertical. He hit elbow jumpers. So I just think it's why I love the NBA, but sometimes why it's maddening to argue about players. Yeah, you know, I wish people could understand that me, being critical of the way Russ is playing for the Lakers when they have a championship expectation, which sounds hilarious with the way they've performed. But that is not the same as me disliking

Russ as a person or not having an appreciation for his career. I have so much appreciation for Russell Westbrook's all-time resume in his accomplishments in this league. It's also true that he never adapted to become a functional off-ball player. It's also true that in a league that has been dominated by skill guards in recent years, which have literally the skill, of guards has completely changed the landscape of the NBA. It's changed every pick and roll coverage in the league. It's changed the geometry of NBA defense. Everything is different because of what Dame does and what Kyrie Irving does and what Steph Curry does. And in a league where all those guards have gone this way, Russell Westper could be left completely unguarded by himself all season long and

shoot 29% from three. Like at a certain point, like me saying like, hey, dude, you didn't adapt, is not the same as like I am now tossing away Russ's entire career resume. Huge Russ fan. Loved watching him play when he was in Oklahoma City. It was rough for the Lakers, man. I don't know what to tell you. Yeah. No, I mean, and some of it is, Russ, I don't think it's lack of effort.

Derek Rose shot had a weird spin to it. Russ has bad handles. Like for a guard, he's got 1974 power forward hands. He can't catch. And I just think he was even at UCLA, Jason, he was just an athlete. They didn't know what to do with them. I don't think Oklahoma City for the first two years. Nobody knew what to do with him.

But he was too damn athletic to keep off the floor. And again, in the regular season and transition, it's like John Wall. You just couldn't stay in front of him. And now, Russell comes in when they eliminate the hand check. So forget it. He's just going to score with the rim. I mean, hell, LeBron still gets to the rim. In year 20, you can't stay in front of him.

Better than ever. I mean, really? So anyway, folks, for those of you, and of course, if you watch the volume and the YouTube, you know who Jason Timp is. But I think it's the smartest basketball breakdown. We're so happy to have him. I don't know if it's official yet, but he's going to be with us for a long time. He just loves the game, played the game.

Absolute pleasure to have you. It teaches me stuff every time we talk. Keep crushing. And go to our YouTube page. It's hoops tonight. It's on the volume network. Nobody at our company works harder more consistently. You know I love you.

Your work's fantastic. You make everybody, including me, much smarter. Thanks, buddy. Hey, Colin, I just wanted to really quickly say congrats on two years with the volume. Hey, man, I know it's been a successful business venture, but it's also created a bunch of really cool opportunities for a lot of people, including myself and being with the volume has completely changed my life. So I wanted to say congratulations, but also I just wanted to say thank you for everything you've done, man. Listen, as you age as a sportscaster, the coolest thing is passing the ball.

I'm like Chris Paul. I can't shoot from three anymore. I really can't defend on back-to-back nights. You know what I mean? I can give you about 26 decent minutes, but I can still dish. I can still deal. And it's just been great. I love having you as a teammate. You can finish the fast break for us, buddy. I appreciate it. Thanks, Colin. I'll see you next time, man.

Make sure to check out the Dremont Green Show. I brought Dremon Green into the volume because one of the more entertaining voices in sports, unique perspective, understands behind the rope. Also chops up with guests like Gary Payton, Zach Levine, Tracy McGrady. Make sure download the Dremon Green Show

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