The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Colin Cowherd Podcast - Wiggins-less Warriors, Barkley/KD Feud, Dangerous Lakers w/ Jason Timpf
Episode Date: March 31, 2023First (3:00), Colin explains how MLB’s rule changes immediately paid off on Opening Day, and why he changed his tune about the WWE after seeing Wrestlemania in person. Then, Hoops Tonight host Jason... Timpf joins Colin to discuss the Celtics 41-point beatdown of the Bucks, why Boston should feel good about their chances in a playoff series between the two, if the Warriors have any shot to repeat without Andrew Wiggins, if the Suns are the favorites in the West, their take on the ongoing feud between Charles Barkley and Kevin Durant, and if the resurgent Lakers can realistically make it out of the West. 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 See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Hi, everybody. Welcome in Jason Timph in 10 minutes.
Hoops Tonight, podcaster at the volume.
Bucks, Celtics.
Interesting thoughts on that.
So I watched two baseball games.
And two things were very noticeable.
The game really moves now.
The pitch clock speeds it up about 20 to 25 minutes a game.
It is very noticeable.
It moves.
It's swift.
Which sports should be.
And also, there were more base runners.
I can't prove that.
But I noticed in the games, I watched more stolen bases, more activity.
You know, that thing people like to watch called action.
Those were the two problems with baseball over the last decade.
declining attendance and declining TV ratings.
The games were too long and didn't have enough activity.
Hockey is over three hours.
Lots of activity.
Football over three hours.
Lots of plays.
Fewer huddles.
More activity.
Baseball was getting up around three hours.
No base runners.
So you needed to change the defensive shift.
Those outs now become singles and doubles.
More runners on.
More stolen bases.
More first to third.
More second to home.
More activity.
It was noticeable in the two games I watched.
But here's the thing about baseball.
Football's different.
I've never gone to a football game and not tailgated.
College or pro, ever.
I've never just shown up and gone to a game.
You tailgate.
It's understood you give half a day to a full day,
if you're a Patriot fan in Foxborough.
You get up, you have breakfast.
You're going to tailgate.
And then you're going to go to the game.
And then you're probably, because Foxborough is hard to get out of,
Knock down a beer or a brat before you go home.
You give the day to football.
So time becomes less crucial.
Sundays in the fall, eight home games.
Those are eight sacred family and friend moments.
Pictures, videos, food.
But the more games you have, the less it becomes an event.
Basketball 41 home games.
I've never tailgated for a basketball game.
Baseball, 81 home games.
Too many games for the games not to be succinct.
It doesn't matter if it's a Broadway play.
It doesn't matter if it's a movie.
You go to a movie once a month.
You're going to give it two hours.
You go get a bite to eat before the movie.
You go to the movie.
After the movie, you go out and get a glass of wine with your wife.
You know, you do that once a month.
If you went to a movie four days a week, five days a week, you're not going to do that.
It's too costly.
You don't have that time.
So the diehards will bitch and complain, and that's fine.
They always do.
I mean, go to Twitter, go to social media for five minutes.
There are people on there.
Their entire feed is about complaining.
I don't think it's just to get clicks.
I think they're miserable.
Some people aren't happy unless they're unhappy.
And so people can complain, hey, Colin, you don't worry about it.
You and the TikTok generation, I'm $50.
nine years old and I think baseball is slow. I'm not on TikTok. I'm barely on Twitter. I'm never on
Instagram. I have eight social media accounts. I don't have a password to any of them. They're run by my
staff. I occasionally post on Twitter. That's it. Baseball was too slow. And it's a killer with 81 home
games and 162 minimum over the course of a season. So people are going to come
playing the diehards, they're irrelevant. They're not going anywhere. They're scorpions in the desert.
You can't kill them. The bottom line is keep it moving. More base runners, more fun. And about the only
downside in the stadium, you know, you always go to a baseball game. You have a couple of beers.
You may not have time for a third now. Beer sales might decrease slightly. I think the sport,
Budweiser, Stella, Corona, will survive.
but I noticed it about a month ago.
I got in my car from my house to go to the grocery store.
It's about an eight-minute drive.
It was a Dodger game.
And they got through an entire inning.
And I thought to myself,
the late Vin Scully,
what would he have done with a sport that moves so quickly?
His stories, there would have been no time.
But Vince Scully would have made his stories more succinct to fit in to the time.
I will watch significantly
more baseball this year.
And by the way, diehard guy, you're not going anywhere.
You'll still watch too.
So baseball got both of us.
Love the feedback I got interviewing Nick Conn on the volume podcast, the Colin Coward
podcast, the CEO of the WWE.
I am told I got a lot of pushback from WWE fans because years ago I called him
booger eaters.
Colin, how could you be a hypocrite and talk to Nick Con?
Well, I talk to Nick Con every year.
since I've owned the volume.
I am fascinated by the spectacle and the business operation and the production side of WWE
WrestleMania's.
That's why I went to the one in Vegas.
It's why I'm going to the one in Los Angeles.
I don't really care about the outcomes.
I mean, I watch the stars.
I watch how they're marketed.
I watch how they're promoted.
I watch kind of the, again, just the holistic nature of the sport.
I said this on the air at Fox, and I'll say it again, I think anybody in the media in any platform should go to WrestleMania at SoFi over the weekend and watch how production at the highest level works.
I don't care about outcomes.
I mean, I know Charlotte Flair and I like her.
I think John Cena is a really good guy, but we all know it's scripted.
I'm not losing sleep on that.
But I've said this before.
I've gone to a lot of sporting events, and I'm not sure.
I've ever seen anything more impressive in person the way it unfolds the communication while it's happening.
Remember, these are scripted.
So choreography is essential.
And then when it's over, how they close up shop, get it on a truck, and they're off to the next city.
So I went backstage in a couple of events so far with the WWE.
And it's jaw dropping.
And, you know, when I created the volume, I consume media differently than a lot of fans do.
I don't care about outcomes.
I'm looking, how does this company do it?
How do they do it?
What works?
What doesn't?
Mistakes, strengths, liabilities, weaknesses.
That's how I look at stuff now.
And so, WWE, Nick Kahn's a friend, one of my better friends, my consigliere in my career.
We joke.
He is somebody I lean on for big decisions for the first, you know, my ESPN career.
And now he's a friend who I don't have the access to now because he runs WWE.
But somebody, if I ever have a question, he's always got a definitive answer.
And it's always the smartest one in the room.
So I will forever support my friend, Nick Kahn and the WWE.
It is truly, these WrestleMania's are truly a production.
spectacle. Fascinating to watch and pull it off.
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We also have AIDS on the table right now.
Thank you for finishing that sentence.
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Really?
Yeah.
For me, it's one of the most important years for black people in American history.
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All right.
Welcome to Hoops Tonight, presented by FanDuel here at the volume.
Happy Thursday, everybody.
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first place that you guys can get these shows.
We're not going to waste any time.
today. We're going to bring on the great Colin Cowherd to discuss that stinker of a nationally
televised ass kicking from the Boston Celtics in Milwaukee against the bucks. And then we're
going to cover a bunch of big picture NBA topics. Colin, it is good to see you again. How are you
today? Good. I was thinking as I was watching it, and it was a decent first quarter and then it
was a disaster. And I thought, you know, Jason, generally, you don't have
dynasties in all these pro sports. Patriots had two really significant like six-year runs,
but 10 years in the middle that they didn't win a Super Bowl. And that's the longest dynasty.
But, you know, I was thinking about the NBA. So you have the Russell back in the 60s.
And then the 70s, it was wide open. And then you had the Celtics Lakers dominate the 80s.
And you had the Bulls, two, three-year runs. I think Shaq and Kobe three. Warriors, you know, have not,
they've won, what, four times.
but, you know, title, lost, couple KD, lost, disappeared back one.
Is that generally in NBA history, we don't have an all-time great team.
And I think we have to come to terms with the warriors, because of age, even if Wiggins
came back, have kind of moved out of all-time great team stuff.
Boston's not there yet.
They need to me another dependable score, although Brogden's been a nice fit.
And I watched Milwaukee tonight.
And, you know, it's a little bit like the Seahawks.
When the Seahawks won with Russell Wilson and the defense, we were all like, oh, we're getting four here.
We get one.
They kind of blew the second and it fizzles out.
And I watched Milwaukee.
And I like Chris Middleton, but hurt early.
He's not the same player.
He's simply not.
He's down to about 15 a game.
He's still, Jason, a good shooter.
he was never the most vertical player, but he's not the same player.
That's why they've leaned more on Brooke Lopez and Drew Holiday this year.
They've leaned on him more.
And so as I watched them tonight and Chris Middleton kind of walks off, I'm like, yeah, this is,
I thought we were going to get three, four, and I'm like, they're going to be in a real,
they're going to be in a real battle with a Cleveland, you know, by the second.
round potentially. That's my take is that I
thought this was going to be more
a night dynamic, but Middleton's injury
you know,
it's kind of like Janus, who stunk
tonight, and then
B-gu guys, that's what it
feels like to me. You know what was so
interesting about this game is Milwaukee
really lost their cool.
And I'm not talking about like emotionally. We did
have that one little blow up from Middleton where he
got on the ref and got the tech.
Aside from that, it was a
implosion mentally with their
approach to the game. You talk about this a lot on your show on Fox, this idea of like the way the
game of basketball has changed to where shot result, like jump shooting result swings the games wildly.
And like, you know, one team makes their threes, the other team misses their three, suddenly
you got to blow out. And like, you know, it's so funny is a lot of the analytics guys over the years
have tried to kill this idea of like the hot hand theory. Like there's no such thing as getting hot.
It's 100% random. But I could not disagree more. I actually think the hot hand theory expands out to
teams. And what was so interesting is in that first quarter, it's like Tatum's making his pull-up
threes and Brown's making his pull-up threes and the Celtics are really packing the paint.
And Janus is making those kickout passes and they're just missing everything. And you could see
it kind of got in their head. But what's so interesting is the really good teams, they see the
difference between process and results usually. And the bucks are usually one of those teams. And you go,
hey, we're just missing. Eventually these shots are going to start falling. Then we'll regain control
of this game. But no, in that second quarter, they completely lost their cool in terms of their
execution. Just dribbling up the floor, Janis just dribbling up the floor and shooting pull-up jump
shots, even though none of them were going in, Drew Hollidays dribbling up and shooting shots.
Chris Middleton, like, they got away from what was getting them the good looks in the first quarter
that they just happened to be missing. And I was actually messaging a couple of people that I talk with during
the games. And I was saying, like, you know, this is actually a little bit fools gold for Boston early
because they were taking contested pull-up threes.
Tatum and Brown were, and they were going in.
And I actually thought the script would flip in the second quarter
if Milwaukee stayed with their process, but they did not.
And that's what's so interesting is,
like Boston is a team that we've always kind of gotten on
for being a team that struggles with execution.
But that was the opposite of the script in this particular game.
And the narrative coming out of last year's Eastern Conference
semi-final series between those two teams was very much like,
Boston got away with one. Middleton was out.
Janus almost beat them by themselves.
But really all season long, Boston's looked great against Milwaukee.
There's clearly no mental advantage there.
Boston likes their chances in that matchup.
Yeah.
What's funny about the West this year is about who hasn't played.
A.D. misses time.
LeBron. KD.'s out.
Andrew Wiggins.
You know, Kauai.
Paul George now is hurt.
The East is actually the opposite.
The East is about, are they going to,
to get Tatum rest.
You know, the new Celtics coach, they want to get Jalen Brown all NBA.
So they're, you know, inserting them like tonight the Celtics got their guys out.
But there's been a real push in Boston.
Why is Jalen Brown and Tatum in these games late?
Well, I mean, the word around the league is they want to get Jalen Brown an all NBA bonus.
You know, I mean, to foster chemistry with a new coach in a room, you want to make sure the guys like you.
And also, you know, Tatum too many minutes.
Embed, should you be resting in Bede and harden down the stretch?
Harden we've seen because of his ball-centric style, although he's a better distributor this year.
We've seen him kind of lag off.
So I feel like I get a true test of what the East is.
Cleveland matches up very well with Boston, very well.
Boston this year matches up very well with Milwaukee.
Chris Middleton is not the same player.
So, Brooke Lowe, you know, they're a very good defensive team on most nights.
Lopez, Drew, and Janus are tremendous defensive players.
but I do feel like I know what the East is.
The West, when LeBron and A.D. are playing, and now Austin Reeves has emerged.
You're like, oh, okay, that's different.
Austin Reeves is a real three in this league.
So I kind of feel like I know.
I kind of feel like if Cleveland faces New York,
Knicks don't have enough shotmakers.
Cleveland's won in that series.
And I kind of feel, I think Philadelphia, not that there are,
fools gold. I don't trust them situationally. I feel I'm going to get Milwaukee in Boston. And to
your point, the Celtics have matched up really well with them. Yeah. And that that little bit of
extra ball handling with Malcolm Brogden, you know, it's interesting. One of the big things that's,
and I want to give the bucks a little bit of slack. They were on the tail end of a back to back.
This is two times in a row that the NBA has handed the major national television matchups,
the Nuggets game and this game on the tail end of a back to back for whatever reason, which I would hope
that if we were having this conversation 10 years from now, they'd get rid of back to back.
because it's just so bad for the television product and a bunch of different things.
But Milwaukee was really struggling to contain Boston's ball handlers.
And you know what's funny is Milwaukee has never been a super athletic or quick team compared
to some of the other teams in the conference.
But they have this system, right?
Like it's okay.
You don't need to keep everybody in front.
All you got to do is funnel him to Brooke.
But then it's like Boston's going to park Al Horford out past a three point line and now
Brooke can't hang out by the rim the way he usually does.
And it kind of forces guys to slide their feet.
And all of a sudden, guys like Joe Ingalls and Jay Crowder look pretty slow and they can't keep anybody in front.
And that becomes an issue.
Then on the other end of the floor, Boston's just containing all of that dribble penetration from Milwaukee.
I've talked about this with you before, but I always look at perimeter defense as like the line play in the NFL.
It's like that unseen battle that not enough people pay attention to.
Whether or not you're containing ball handlers versus giving up a bunch of straight line drives is usually the difference between whether or not your defense has a fighting chance or not.
I'm surprised you're so low on Philly, though.
You know, Philly's had a couple of major national television games where they've shown up.
I've actually been really impressed with Embed and Hardin's fight in their competitiveness,
although I'm disappointed in B for sitting out that Nuggets game.
But I actually give them a little bit of a puncher's chance,
especially against a team like Milwaukee.
I just don't like their chances against Boston.
That's the one matchup I don't like for Philly.
Well, and also here's, it's not that I don't think since December, like mid-December,
I think Philly is like the first or second best team in the league.
So Maxi's highly athletic.
Hardin's become, I think, a better team player.
Embed is, I wish you would have played against Yokic is my number two MVP.
To buy, you know, I mean, Doc Rivers is Joe Torrey.
Great managing egos.
He's really good with that.
Always has been.
If you go back to Joe Tori was never great situationally.
But man, Steinbrenner, A.
A-Rod, Jeter.
They had to switch positions for A-Rah.
That's a lot of moving parts.
Joe Torrey was the stepdad.
Nobody ever wanted to disappoint.
Like, everybody liked Joe.
He had Don Zimmer next to him.
You never thought, that's Doc Rivers.
I don't think Doc late is Eric Spolstra.
I don't think he's Tailu late.
I think Spolstra Kerr.
But he's really good at managing a room for six months.
So I have, and I like Doc, but situationally, boy, he's blown some leads.
some late games.
And not that they're fools gold,
but when you haven't won a ring,
you do tend to play harder consistently in the regular season.
You're seeing it now with Cleveland.
They play hard.
First of all, their average age for their starters is about 23.5.
So they're playing their ass off.
And you see it, and you see it, by the way.
You see it with Denver.
You see it with Sacramento.
Whereas, you know, Golden State,
even Phoenix
you know
they've been to a final
so it's not that I don't
it's not that I don't believe
you know I argue this for years
with friends and Bill Simmons
the NBA is two seasons
football's not
it's one game a week
if you're not serious
you get hurt same in hockey
but it's different in basketball
it's two sports
and I'm always just reluctant
to embrace
teams that haven't won a title with talent.
So I honestly think Cleveland,
if they matched up eventually with Philly,
could be a real problem.
Could be a real problem.
Yeah, that's specific match.
The East is going to entirely come down to matchups
and who plays who in any of those teams has a chance
should they catch the right matchup.
You're right, though.
The Western Conference is so much more wide open.
I Denver's starting to get it together a little bit, but I still fundamentally,
I still fundamentally don't like some of their core basketball identity things with the
fact that they don't have a great defensive front court.
We talked about an hour last show about how in NBA history, you just need to have at that
four or five position, all time great defensive players to have a fighting chance and they just
don't.
And Jamal Murray runs hot and cold, which is concerning.
And I think that knee, it kind of continues to flare up for him from time to time.
Sacramento is actually tailing off and their defense is getting worse and worse as time goes along.
Memphis, again, they're getting it together.
But without Brandon Clark, it's a depth issue.
And I still don't trust their half-court offense.
And then again, it really just, everything points me back to the Warriors and the Lakers.
And I keep coming back to two things for each team.
For the Warriors, can they win without Andrew Wiggins?
And for the Lakers-I don't think they can.
I just don't think they can.
You know, what's interesting is with the Wiggins piece in particular,
like, and it's almost a testament to how great that core is that they've managed to win as much as they have.
But they're coming back from major deficits in all of these games.
Like they beat the Pelicans, they were down 20.
They beat the Sixers.
They were down 11 in the fourth quarter.
They came back and almost beat the Timberwolves.
They were down nine early in the fourth quarter in that game.
You know, even that Bucks game, like they were down eight with two minutes left.
Like Steph and Clay and Dray and Drayman and Steve.
Kerr, they're just grinding out wins. And it's crazy because when you're looking from the
standpoint of the standings, they're like, they're actually in good position to potentially get the
five seat, especially with the clippers remaining schedule. They might end up getting the five seat.
And I actually like the matchup with Phoenix because Phoenix is such a bad perimeter defense team.
But the thing is, is when they get to those higher level, high pressure situations and late rounds of
the playoffs, you just need Andrew Wiggins. You do. One of the most underrated parts of their
playoff run last year was the job he did on Luca Donchich and the job that he did on Jason Tatum
and taking him out of that equation makes everything so much more difficult for them. And I want
to so bad believe in what they can do. But here's the thing. If Wiggins isn't coming back,
I just don't think they can do it. Well, and also, Jason, is Wiggins in shape? No. So I was told
he wasn't going to play for the regular season. He was nobody knew about the playoffs and nobody
knew at the time I reported it. Nobody knew if they were going to make the playoffs, right?
So let's say he comes back and is not in shape.
This is the NBA.
It's hard enough in November to enter the season, not in shape.
You can't play yourself into shape in the playoffs.
And he's their best on-ball defender, high IQ, super twitchy.
I mean, Jason, they have no front-court scoring.
None.
So, I mean, Weissman, they moved off him eventually because, you know, he just didn't fit the time.
Everything with them I've been told, Kerr's feeling is, as long as Steph is great, they're going to do whatever it takes for Steph to have a chance to win a title.
The organization I've been told, Steve feels we owe Steph just as many titles as we can give him.
So they're going to make moves and bail on young guys.
Now, the good thing about Wiggins out is Coominga has gotten more of a chance.
But he's so raw.
He's so inconsistent.
I mean, that's the difference between talent and wisdom.
Jordan Poole's good, but has bad nights.
You kind of know what you get from Steph.
Cumbinga, again, crazy twitchy.
But there are nights.
You get 16 minutes and six points, and he's just not there.
So I think in the building they know they can't win without Wiggins.
I've been told they know that it just doesn't work.
Yeah, with the Kuminga thing, it's funny.
I always joke like, as a young basketball player, every time you have a good game,
you kind of look back and you think about what caused you to have a good game and you kind of
commit that to memory. And every time you have a bad game, you kind of think about what caused you
to have a bad game, you know, this specific process thing that you did poorly or this specific
thing with your form that got out of whack. And over the years, as you become a more experienced player,
that's what causes you to become more consistent as you learn how to avoid the things that
lead to bad games and you learn how to replicate the things that lead to good games. And that's
the thing, Kaminga's actually done a lot of Wiggins-esque stuff. He's done some isolation scoring.
at the end of shot clocks. He's done a really good on ball defense. He, like he did a pretty
damn good job on Luca the other night when he was guarding him. And then he's working really well
in the warrior system cutting and in finding ways to be impactful offensively. But the problem
is, is then he'll have a night where he goes one for seven and gets a loss a little bit off the
ball. So that's the inconsistency piece. The sons are undefeated with Kevin Durant in the lineup.
Chris Paul, Devin Booker, Kevin Durant, and DeAndre, and if I have played 154,
possessions together and they are outscoring teams by 30 points per 100 possessions.
And they're amazing on both ends of the floor. Are you buying Phoenix? I'm a little bit worried
about them being thin and it's easy to push them around a little bit. And then their perimeter
defense is a legitimate concern from a matchup standpoint. But whatever I'm saying, the scoreboard says
they're kicking everyone's ass. So where are you at with Phoenix? Well, their bench scoring is 10th. So they have
Warren, Craig, T. Ross, it's okay. It's not dynamic. But you know this. Go to the finals last year. Seven guys for the Warriors and seven guys for the Celtics got big minutes. You shrink that thing fast. I think the concern, Chris Mannix was on my show today, and I think he's right. My concern is they have a lot of elements I like, an experienced coach, two dynamic scores, semi-decent length and rim protection. The issue is, Chris,
Paul. Like, there have been nights like he's not close. And this happens to NFL wide receivers.
They hit 34 and it's like, who's that? He can't separate. Like, that's a position where you fall off a cliff fat.
There's gradual for a left tackle. You know, Andrew Whitworth for the Rams. It's very slight, very
gradual. Receivers fall off cliffs. Chris, like, if you went into a series and you took a 1-0 lead,
there's an argument to be made.
You could rest him in game two for game three.
Like you almost get to a point where you lead a series three one.
You just rest him.
So, and by the way, this is, I mean, I can remember great players Barclay at the end.
It just wasn't the same.
He needed an extra day's rest.
So the question is they can win a series like that.
Can they win three?
Probably not.
Because, but everybody's got a little bit of this.
Robert Williams for the Celtics.
Huge concern.
right in terms of health k d and chris paul big concern
kawai and paul george i mean denver's one of the few teams
we don't really worry about that their guys are going to play most of your
yeah i mean most of your good teams in the league i mean i'm one of those you know and b
it's always a finger crosser to me like he i've seen it the way he plays fast and hard
and anthony davis right so i like most teams in
this league have a guy that is a health or age liability. And I think that's the Phoenix issue.
I think the bench is good enough. Yeah, you know, Chris Paul has actually become a target.
I remember I was watching a game like a week and a half ago or so where I was watching Joe Ingalls
just barbecue. Like he couldn't keep Joe Ingalls in front. And then I was like, uh-oh.
Like this is this is a problem. And that is going to be the big question mark. I think this off
season is whether or not they're better off trying to use Chris Paul's salary as a vehicle with
which to bring back some higher level role players for a team that needs more,
you know, kind of like an adult in the room ball handler.
So I'll be interested to see what they do there.
The one other major concern I have with Phoenix is they do not generate rim pressure.
All three of their guys, Chris Paul, Devin, Booker, and Kevin Durant are driving to pull up.
So when they come over those ball screens, they're constantly getting that 10, 15 foot area,
and they're trying to pull up.
And the inability to have a guy on the roster who's relentlessly attacking the rim,
which collapses the defense and creates closeout opportunities for your teammates.
That's the one thing that kind of concerns me because when you're a heavily, let's just put it this way.
The Sons were already the team that took the second most pull-up jump shots in the entire league off the dribble jump shots.
That was before Kevin Durant came.
And Kevin Durant is the most prolific pull-up jump shooter in the league.
So the thing is, is if their pull-up jump shots don't fall, do they have a second punch?
And that'll be the one that if they do lose, I think that's how it'll happen.
It'll be all their pull-up jump shooting going cold, probably in a physical match.
up where guys like Devin Booker and Kevin Durant get fatigued by constantly having to fight for
every inch of position and them not getting enough lift on those shots and not knocking them down.
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A win is a win.
A win is a win. I don't care which I'm saying.
Yep, that's me, Clivert Taylor the 4th.
You might have seen the skits, the reactions, my journey from basketball to college football,
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you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network
on TikTok. Hey, this is Robert from the Stuff to Blow Your Mind podcast. Joe and I are both
lifelong Star Wars fan, so we're celebrating May the 4th with a brand new week of fun,
thought-provoking Star Wars-related episodes. Join us as we tackle science and culture topics
from a galaxy far, far away, such as the biology of tontons and wampas on the ice planet
hot, or the practicality and corporate business sense of the Sith rule of
too. Listen to Stuff to Bo Your Mind on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your
podcasts. Before we move on, I wanted to ask you, did you see that quote from Charles Barkley
directed towards KD? Or he said, he is sensitive. It's weird. I said to you for three or four years
now, I'm not sure why he reacted to it again. I don't care where it goes. He's a great,
great player. I think he's a good guy too. He's sensitive and I'm not worried about it. Did you,
did you see that altercation between those two guys? Yeah, I've always thought, you know,
I've got kids.
So some people are just more sensitive.
Like when I was in my 20s, like I just didn't get it.
I was kind of a relentless full steam ahead.
Then you have kids and you realize I got six, two biological four steps.
Some kids are more sensitive.
You know, Aaron Rogers is really sensitive to criticism.
Kyler Murray and his people are.
Kevin Durant is.
It's okay.
He's in touch with who he is.
I have a soft spot for Kevin Durant.
I think he's, I think he is the only player in the league.
take centers out.
If you had a one-on-one tournament in the history of the league,
I think Durant's the only person that would beat LeBron and Michael Jordan.
I think he's just, I think he is just, he can put it on the deck.
You know, take centers out.
I don't want to see Kareem against Ray Allen or something.
He's insane.
But if you're talking like, you know, Dirk Novitsky, Durant, Janus, or the high end,
I think Kevin's one of the greatest scores.
He's also a willing defender.
I think he's really smart.
but he's a different cat.
You know, his upbringing, he's just different.
And it's like, I'm going to accept that.
Everybody comes from different backgrounds.
And Barclays, you know, listen, I think about this all the time.
If I was a pro basketball player and literally,
one of the greatest players ever was ripping me on television
and all my friends are DMing me like Adam Silver said a year ago,
he goes, my players are miserable.
So I'm old.
I don't care, right?
And I don't sit on the internet.
But I didn't generationally, Jason, grow up with a phone.
I'm not on it all the time.
I mean, Friday, when I leave work till Sunday, I'm not even on my phone.
I got my staff, said, I'm not even close to it.
Kevin grew up and you did in the iPhone generation.
It's a magnet.
My kids' eyes are on it all the time.
And he gets a little beat up by it.
So I'm sympathetic.
He is sensitive.
But I'm going to embrace that.
I would love to see.
see him when in Phoenix. I really would love it. I think it would be, it would validate a lot of,
because listen, we both knew this. When he left Golden State, it was a, it was a really bad career
decision. I've compared it to Mahalm saying, I've got a buddy, I'm going to go to the Jets. No,
don't do that. Don't. It was the same thing. But in basketball, we tend to give the star a little bit
more of a mobility edge, the shoe sales, it's more of an individual game. There's not the team
construct. LeBron leaves. Of course he does. Mahomes leaves. You're like, why? So I find myself,
I'm not supposed to root, but I find myself sort of rooting for Kevin to succeed. I'm rooting for him
too. I think it's such low-hanging fruit to be like he only won with Steph, therefore he's not a
real champion. Like to me, Kevin Durant's always been a phenomenal basketball player who just got
partnered with two extremely volatile point guards. Russell Westbrook on the floor,
Kyrie Irving off the floor, that ended up being kind of what submarineed a lot of
great point. Great point. Yeah, and I'm, and I'm, I am rooting for him to have that
legitimizing title, just like I rooted for it with Steph in, in last year's playoff run, because
a lot of people undercut some of his success because of Kevin Durant, which I thought was
ridiculous. You know, Katie went after the whole concept of these older players being disrespectful.
And you know what's so interesting to me about that, Colin, is like usually there's a camaraderie
with the players. Like our job, by virtue of our need to be authentic, demands that we criticize. That is
part of what we have to do. But what's interesting is players in the league are typically pretty
tight-knit with criticism. For instance, Russell Westbrook was objectively awful with the Lakers for a
year and a half. You couldn't find a player in the league who would throw him under the bus.
Every time someone would interview them and they'd be like, what do you think about Russ with the
Lakers? Oh, Russ is a former MVP. He's in Hall of Famer. Love that guy. I'm rooting for him. He's
Like, no one would criticize because, like, there's this tight-knit, like, respect among the players.
We're generally speaking, they speak positively of each other in a way that the media has a little bit more free reign to be critical.
That's what's so weird with this older generation.
And I'm so glad Kevin Durant's going at it.
It is bizarre, the sheer amount of these older players that are being outwardly disrespectful of these players.
They do not feel the same level of obligation to kind of keep that tight-knit, like kind of mutual respect.
And I do find that super interesting.
Do you buy Kevin Durant when he says that he doesn't care about legacy anymore?
No, no, he cares.
Everybody cares.
I mean, I, you know, legacy is a lot of vanity, but, and I don't spend a lot of time on it.
But I don't want to end my career poorly, right?
I want to end it having some control, you know, being part of the volume when a network
kicks me off the air because my hair is even grayer than this.
So I think, I think everybody, you know, as you.
age, you just, you think about that stuff. And, you know, Brady at the end, wanted to have more
control, wanted to end it. So he picked a team with a bunch of good receivers and an offensive
coach. I mean, he knew what he was doing. He, he, Tom Brady figured out, listen, I can't carry
the load anymore. I'm going to go to a team with a bunch of really good receivers in Tampa,
really good tight ends, bring Antonio Brown and Gronk. And I'm not going to have to lift as much.
Like Matt Stafford got old. Oh, I got McVeigh as a coach. Oh, I've got Cooper Cup. Oh, I've
I think, you know, as you age, you still have it.
You just don't have it 48 minutes a game as an NBA player or 17 games,
relentless as a quarterback.
So I think, I think Kevin is aware of his legacy.
And his legacy is going to be a better version of Dirk Novitsky.
I mean, to me, he's going to be a more well-rounded version of Dirk Novitsky,
a more lethal version with more titles.
And that's a pretty good spot.
Dirk's an all-timer.
he's going to be a better version of that.
Sort of like Michael's a better version of Kobe.
It's a pretty good space to be.
That's an all-timer.
Yeah, you know, I buy him to a certain extent.
Like, I do think he cares about legacy at least a little bit.
But I do believe him that he, I think he's just, the way I would describe it is similar to
what we go through as members of the media.
You obviously with a million, a ton more experience.
But you know how like, I'm not sure what it was like for you when you first got into
the business because I know there wasn't.
social media. But like, obviously, I came in right with the Twitter trolls and the relentless
social media harassment. So I've got lots of people that would DM me and talk shit and say all these
awful things. And what's funny is, like, it pretty quickly within about a year, I realized like,
oh, like there's a significant segment that you will never satisfy. Like you're just,
they're going to hate you no matter what you say and you can never win. So just focus on doing your
job and look at the results. There's way more people who support you than don't.
And I think, I think Kevin Durant has kind of come to a similar realization.
I think he realizes now that there is a segment of people that no matter what he does,
no matter where he wins, no matter how much he succeeds on the basketball court,
they'll call him a cupcake and they'll say that he doesn't defend and they'll say that he jumped
on Steph's bandwagon.
I think Kevin Durant has just come to terms with the fact that he's never going to be
able to satisfy everybody.
And I think that he's, I really do believe that he has come to the other side of things
where he's like, I'm just going to play the.
best I can and I'm going to win as much as I can. And whatever happens in terms of the legacy
is clearly outside of my control. So I'm at peace with that. I do think he cares about his legacy,
but I think he's at peace with the fact that he can't control it. Yeah. And I think, I mean,
the most criticized player in the NBA is LeBron James. I mean, I always said this about Barack Obama.
You didn't have to agree with his policies. You can't get worked up because once he wore a beige suit.
He's a beautiful family, smart guy.
If that really ruined your day, fuck out of here.
You're just a miserable person.
Like, that's just not good enough, right?
You don't have to like his policies.
But he wasn't weaponizing social media.
So, you know, they're durst.
I think, I always figure like, you know, like we forgot about Joe Montana very quickly.
And, I mean, it went from, you know, Montana was the goat.
Brady beats Atlanta.
we've never talked Joe Montana since.
It went like Brady to Mahomes.
And Joe Montana is out there.
Hey, I got four.
Right?
But I think Joe Montana is so happy in his personal life.
If you ever see him around his wife, they're like teenagers, cuddly, kissy.
I mean, they're this cutest couple.
And I think the happier you are in your personal life, none of that stuff matters.
Joe knows who he is.
I mean, we literally went from Brady.
We talked Rogers, Mahomes.
It is like Joe Montana never.
played. It's insane. And I think as Kevin ages, I think young people tend to think they've got it
made. They're not married, no kids. They're happy in their 20th. Research shows you get happier as you
age because there's less societal pressure. You kind of prune your tree. You don't really care who
cares about you. I think as Kevin is aged, this is very human. He's more comfortable with who he is.
and it's been clearly to find who he is.
He is, you know, I would say this.
He's one of the 10 best basketball players I've ever seen.
And I've been watching since Wilton, 1972, 73.
He's one of the 10 best basketball players on his good nights I've ever seen.
Injuries have not helped him in the last four or five years.
He is brittle now.
So it's hard to put him in that top five or six.
He's probably, I would say, top 12.
But he is really, he's kind of a one-on-one.
I mean, he's, he's unique.
I mean, Mark Few, coached gone Zagga, he coached on those Olympic teams.
And I think I've told this story.
I was talking to him one time about what it's like.
And I said, anybody surprised you.
He said, even among great players, Kevin Durant's ridiculous.
Like, even among all the great players, they've got to work to get their shot.
Durant just gets it, gets a great shot.
Not a good one.
A great one against our greatest players every time down the floor.
he's like Colin, I've seen a lot of basketball.
There's just nothing like Kevin Durant.
Yeah, putting him all-time, all-time lists get so convoluted by centers
because they're just, they play.
I take him out almost.
Me too.
I keep a completely separate list.
It's like just here's all the best perimeter players of all time.
And I think Kevin Durant is clearly one of the 10 best perimeter players of all time.
How do you even compare him to someone like Will?
It's a completely different sport.
I think you make an interesting point, though.
It's really this simple.
Have you become secure in who you are and what you've accomplished,
then you're never going to allow some stranger to convince you
you're something less than that.
And again, I do believe that Kevin Durant in a previous version of himself,
you know, five, seven years ago,
I think he did buy into that stuff a little too much
and he let the noise get to him a little bit.
But I do believe him that he's made a little bit of a transition
into a new phase or he's more kind of at peace with the fact that he can't control
that stuff.
So I want to talk about the latest.
for a minute because Colin, I'm going to be honest with you. Every time I watch them,
especially with LeBron, with him being back, I am so tempted to pick them to come out of the West.
They are four and one when LeBron is played post-deadline. That one loss was a loss to the Bulls
that they immediately avenged and kind of kicked the shit out of them. And in that game,
Anthony Davis had a weird game. He only took eight shots. It was just a weird loss for the Lakers
on Sunday. They are outscoring teams.
with LeBron on the floor by 20 points per 100 possessions since the deadline.
That is the same type of number that I was giving you with the Warriors in their top five starting
lineup metric.
Now, again, it's small sample size, but they've been dominant.
Here's a crazy staff for you.
The Lakers starters against the Bulls.
By the way, the Bulls came into that game as the fifth best defense in the league.
They are an amazing perimeter defense.
They contain the basketball better than just about any team in the league.
The Lakers starters scored at a rate of 150.
points per 100 possessions against that Bulls unit with that starting lineup.
The combination of amazing offball offensive skill with guys like Austin Reeves and DeAngelo Russell.
And then LeBron James and Anthony Davis just being two of the biggest walking mismatches in the league.
Like how awesome is that that it's like, oh, our guards are struggling with the Bulls ball pressure.
We'll just have Anthony Davis bring the ball up the floor because Vucevich can't guard him.
And then we'll post up LeBron James on Alex Caruso and get fantastic shots.
every single time. I think they're going to get mismatches like that in every single series
in this playoff run should they stay healthy. So I, again, I, there's two things that concern me,
LeBron's health, Anthony Davis's inconsistency in health, because he is the kind of guy that'll take
eight shots one night against the Bulls, even though he's being guarded by like Derek Jones,
Jr. and then take 20 shots and score 38 against the same team the next night. That's definitely a
wild card. But I do think when they're clicking on all cylinders, I think they have a higher two
way ceiling than any of these teams in the Western Conference. Am I too high on them or do you agree?
Well, there's one thing they do exceedingly well. And this is where they're the opposite of Phoenix.
They're going to get a lot of free throws. Anthony Davis attacks the basket. LeBron attacks the
basket usually. Austin Reeves attacks the basket. So they're the opposite of Phoenix. Phoenix is always
bitching about free throw opportunities. Lakers are going to get to the line. Everybody's going to say,
it's rigged. No, this is what they do. They don't pull up. Reeves is a, he's a
contact machine. He's always eliciting contact. You know, again, the other night, I mean,
Anthony Davis shot one three. He gets the line. When LeBron puts his mind to it, he does.
So they're going to get a lot of free throws. The downside is that's a lot of contact.
Anthony Davis hits the floor. So I kind of know what I see. They're going to get people in a foul
trouble. Darvonham is an excellent defensive coach. The minute Westbrook left, he got
got buy-in from the role players, and their defensive efficiency went through the roof.
So they play real defense.
They have a defensive coach.
Vogel was a pretty good defensive coach.
Defensive coach, they have guys that attack the basket.
They're going to get free throws, meaning they're going to be fairly consistent on offense.
What I see is the liability, and I don't believe role players win titles.
Malik Beasley, where did he go?
Rui can play 12 minutes and give you one shot and no points.
I mean, he's just, that's why he moves.
their bench at times is just not there.
Now, they tend to be guys that will commit on the defensive end,
but I think you're going to get a very consistent effort.
They'll play good defense.
They'll get to the free throw line.
They're going to be in games.
Absolutely going to be in games.
Whereas you watch, you know, there are teams like,
if Phoenix doesn't hit shots, they don't get to the line as much.
They're going to get blown out.
by the way, the Warriors don't get much front core scoring.
They settle on jumpers.
They're going to have knights.
They don't get to the free throw line.
So anytime the Lakers actually have the worst style considering they have injured players,
they're constantly in contact.
Their players create it.
So the good news is they're going to get to the free throw line.
And if you do that, you force other teams to make substitutions.
You get them out of their game because of foul trouble.
So I think the Lakers will be a really, a really, a really,
consistent team and you just cross your fingers on health. Reeves, you know, when it first started,
I thought, is he Jeremy Lynn, a limited player who's getting minutes because they just,
because Carmel's out, Jeremy Lynn's it, they just need his energy, right? And I thought, okay,
LeBron, they just need his energy, but he really is an excellent passer, gets to the free throw
line. He's a willing, I always say, is he a willing defender? Westbrook,
a terrible defender.
Kyrie's a terrible.
Luke is a terrible defender.
Reeves is going to stick.
He's a real player.
He's a starting NBA player.
You know, it's funny.
The free throw thing is so funny to me.
When I was growing up listening to you, Colin,
you used to all the time go after conspiracy theorists.
And you'd be like, what I hate about conspiracies is there's always one giant hole.
And you'd be like, like, why didn't we ever find a big foot, you know, carcass somewhere
one of these days, you know?
To me, to me, that's the thing with the Laker free throw debate is it's like,
the league is just trying to rig these games against the Lakers.
It's like, then why didn't LeBron get the call against Tatum at the end of the game against Boston?
Why didn't LeBron get the call against Christian Wood at the end of the game against Dallas?
Like if it was rigged for the Lakers, they're getting the wrong calls wrong.
You know what I mean?
So I've never really bought into that.
It's really this simple.
They're one of the best teams in the league at defending without fouling.
And they're one of the best teams in the league at getting to the free throw line.
Therefore, you're going to have a massive differential.
The second best free throw differential team is the Miami Heat, and they don't generate a lot of free throws.
So again, they're the only team that's good at both. That's why they have the big deficit.
It's the most simple explanation in the entire world. Now, the bench thing is super interesting.
And this is where Darvin Ham, I think, has kind of dropped the ball a little bit post deadline.
The Lakers have five really, really good shot craters.
LeBron James, Anthony Davis, Austin Reeves, the Angela Russell, and Dennis Schroeder.
And one of the things that Darwin Ham has been doing is he's been going with a line shift,
approach with his subs. So he'll take DeAngel Russell, Austin Reeves, LeBron, and Anthony Davis,
all out of the game at the same time. And then they ran a unit against the Bulls yesterday with
Dennis Schroeder and four bench guys. And like that's just you're setting yourself up for failure.
I always say that role players, if you can create for them small roles, they will thrive
and knock those rolls out of the park. As soon as you grow their roles, they have to outkick
their coverage. They're not capable of it. They start to be in over their skis and they make
mistakes. And so they need to have two or three of those guys on the floor at all time.
to have a chance to succeed, and
Darwin Ham just hasn't really done,
I think a good enough job of staggering.
That said, up in everybody's minutes,
you know, Malik Beasley is completely off the reservation.
Like, it's, and you know,
this is a recurring theme with the Lakers.
They're a high pressure franchise.
Their fan base is ravenous.
And like, like, I'll give you an example.
DeAngelo Russell.
And maybe it's because he was there when he was a kid in his formative years.
he is thriving under that LA pressure.
But Malik Beasley is falling apart underneath it.
And it's getting to the point where now he's like,
there was a play yesterday.
I don't know if you saw it in the Bulls game where he was dribbling up the floor
Malik was.
And he just dribbled into Anthony Davis and fell over and lost the ball.
Like he's completely off the reservation.
And I actually think they need to try to pull him entirely from the rotation.
At this point, either up the other guards minutes or go with Lonnie Walker.
But so they definitely have some stuff they got to iron out in terms of the rotation.
but I love their combination of rock fight front court physicality with LeBron James and Anthony Davis,
supplemented by real skill in the back court and forwards that can do the dirty work.
And Jared Vanderbilt and Wenian Gabriel in particular.
And so really the vulnerability is the health.
And you made a great point.
They play a style that requires you to be resilient physically.
The best example of this is that Sun series two years ago.
Anthony Davis obliterated them in game two and game three just by killing them on the offensive glass fighting for every rebound.
Like it wasn't like he was hitting ISO jumpers in that game.
No, he killed them physically at the rim and then broke down in game four.
And so that's where it's like when you're asking them to go through four rounds, you know,
where you're playing, you have to beat a team four times in two weeks, four times in a row.
It is a lot to ask.
And that's why, like if you ask me gun to my head right now, who's going to win the West?
I go Denver just because no one else deserves that faith.
You know, I'd go Denver and then probably Phoenix.
But like all those other teams, it's like, yeah, if Wiggins comes back, Warriors' Corps, like, let's go.
They're going to do it.
Lakers, LeBron James, Anthony Davis, stay healthy.
Of course they can do it.
Kevin Durant, Devin Booker get hot.
Yeah, the sons can win.
But there's so many question marks with those groups, whereas Denver has just been good all year.
And at what point does that become the safest bet?
Well, I think the West all season is about whose healthy is winning.
Why would it change in the playoffs?
I think the playoffs are going to be the regular season.
If LeBron and 80 are healthy, watch out.
Denver probably healthy, watch out.
Clippers probably won't be.
Wiggins probably won't come back.
And Chris Paul or Kevin Durant get dinged.
So, I mean, this is what it's been all regular season.
Like, let's be honest, Memphis has depth.
They lost John Morant for a spell, but they have real depth.
They've won a lot of games.
You know, Denver, we can talk about are they built for the playoffs, but they've got pretty good depth.
They've got about seven, eight guys that already play.
So my guess is that's the playoffs.
And, you know, it, I really do like Phoenix.
I think the thing with, that's interesting with Denver is Draymond Green.
his game doesn't get in Yokic's head because he plays so far away from the basket.
So Drayman really changes your offense.
He's really, he's like Rodman, but a catalyst on offense as well.
He's a better version of Rodman, not the rebounder, but the better overall player.
But it doesn't really work against Yokic because he's so far out.
So you kind of take Draymond out of space.
And if you take Luni away from the basket, they're tiny.
I mean, they are just so vulnerable on the glass.
So I like Golden State of Wiggins came back, but if he doesn't, you know, I think the Lakers would beat Denver in a seven-game series.
I think they're a weird matchup for the Warriors.
And I think the Warriors know it.
I don't think they want any part of Denver.
I think they want Phoenix.
I think the Warriors want Phoenix.
I don't think they want any part of Denver.
Yokic is just a, you know, he's such an unemotional player.
So the Dremont stuff, it just doesn't, it doesn't, I was talking to the T. Wolves coach about this off the air. He loves Dramon, you know, and he just said, Yokic doesn't buy into any of it. He's not an emotional player like that. And, you know, you said this earlier. There are teams that match up really well with other teams. And I think you're going to see matchups and health will dictate the West. Yeah, that's what's so interesting about them potentially getting the five seed is I like their matchup against Golden State.
against Phoenix.
But your reward for beating Phoenix would be Denver in round two.
And I like them as a team that can beat Denver with Wiggins,
but without Wiggins,
I just don't think they have the size to hang.
They're just too small.
They're just too small.
Yep.
All right, guys, that is all we have for tonight.
Colin, thank you so much for taking the time to hang out tonight.
It's always fun talking basketball with you.
Oh, it's great.
I enjoyed it.
Talk soon, buddy.
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