The Herd with Colin Cowherd - ESPN’s Jorge Sedano on #HeatCulture, Kyrie’s Recruitment of LeBron & More!

Episode Date: June 6, 2023

On today’s episode, Jason is joined by ESPN personality Jorge Sedano for a lengthy conversation. During the interview, Sedano discusses the narrative that the Miami Heat’s hot shooting during the NBA Playoffs is unsustainable, what makes Erik Spoelstra arguably the best coach in the League, why Miami has more success with undrafted players than any other team in the NBA, the true meaning behind the ‘Heat Culture’ mantra, reports that Kyrie Irving is recruiting LeBron James to the Dallas Mavericks, how he expects the Los Angeles Lakers to plan for the future and much more! Click here to subscribe, rate and review all of the latest Straight Fire with Jason McIntyre podcasts! #Volume #HerdSee 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, Streeter Seidel, help an a cappella band with their between songs banter.

Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and friends on the IHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what I'm saying.

Yep, that's me, Clivert Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, my basketball and college football journey, or my career in sports media. Well, now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifers Show. This is a place for raw, unfilled conversations with athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. So let's get to it. Listen to the Clifford show on the IHard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.

And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok podcast network on TikTok. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I put on 10. 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. Hey, what's good, y'all? You're listening to Learn the Hard Way with your favorite therapist and host, Kear Games. This space is about black men's experiences, having honest conversations that it's really not safe to have anywhere,

but you're having them with a licensed professional who knows what he's doing. How many men carry a suit or armor? It signals to the world that you're not to be played with. And just because you have the capability that does not mean that you need to. Listen to learn the hard way on the AHA radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. The volume is Straight Fire with Jason McIntyre. What is up, Straight Fire, fam?

It's me, Jason McIntyre, Straight Fire for Tuesday, June 6th. And due to the extra day between games, two and three of the NBA finals. We've got kind of one of these slow news weeks already emerging. Listen, this is what happens in June in sports, ladies and gentlemen. It gets a little slow. So we decided we'd bring in a good guest today to break it up. It just so happens.

He has spent a lot of time in Miami. He's done radio there. He's now at ESPN radio out here in L.A. George Sedano. He, of course, is a big, big, big Miami Heat fan and has spent a lot of time around the team. He's very optimistic. He picked the heat to win the finals.

and for a moment he did not look good after game one after game two all of a sudden he looks kind of decent and we'll break that down we obviously will talk about the massive and i'm putting up air quotes here story about kairri irving recruiting lebron james to the dallas mavericks um long story short let's be real folks that ain't happening and it's kind of sad that kairy irving would be trying to push this on the media they would lap it up which they kind of have to do when two reporters are putting out the same exact story at the same exact time, come on, coordinated. And now you see that, you know, LeBron's in the middle of this weird situation. The Lakers are getting roped in.

We all know the Mavericks do not have anything to offer the Lakers for LeBron. I think the real story here is Kyrie Irving. Does he want to go back to Dallas? Is he getting the offer from Dallas that he wants, which is a four-year max deal? is he trying to leverage the fact that, like, listen, we're not that good. We've got me and Luca. Like, what exactly is going on here? Did he notice the Frank Vogel move to the Phoenix Suns?

And that probably means DeAndre Ait and is staying. Like, there's a lot of play here. We get into it with George Sedano and enjoy it. Jason likes to think he knows everything when it comes to sports. I know what sports fans want. But for everything he doesn't, he knows a guy who does. Let's just say, I know a guy, who knows a guy, who knows another guy. All right, let's welcome into Straight Fire.

A guest we've had on the podcast before, but the timing now could not have been better. He is a Miami guy. He picked the heat to beat the nuggets and now is looking kind of like a genius with Miami becoming the first team to win in Denver in the playoffs. George Sedano, how you doing, George? I'm good, buddy. Good to see you. I thought I would detect a little more excitement from you with Miami, stealing one. in Denver, but you just seemed pretty laid back like you almost knew this was coming.

Like you had an idea, you had a notion that Miami would be able to pull this off. Jason, at some point after two months, you stopped being surprised, I think. All right. You know, I know that you've, according to my friends who have told me you've called them fluky a few times. Yes, they're not happy. Yeah, I've heard you're on like their list. You're like on the most wanted heat list at the moment. So, yeah, I mean, it's not fluky when you've been doing it for two months.

I think that, I mean, look, let's take last night's game, game two, okay, into account. That was only the fifth best night they've had in regards to shooting over expected shooting percentages. Like, think about that for a second. Like, they've had even better games in this postseason from a shooting perspective. And yet they were able to still beat Denver for the first time at home since March. Like somebody, nobody had beaten them since March. Miami hadn't won there since Goran Dragich, Rodney Magruder, Josh McRoberts, Luke Babbitt, and Hassan Whiteside were the starting five in the last game they won.

Is that before LeBron got there or is that after LeBron left? After 2016. That was post-Dwayne Wade injury, Chris Bosch, blood clots, like all that stuff. So, yeah. I guess the people who were upset with me, like, we have an 82 game sample size of what the heat were this season. and we know they were not a great three-point shooting team. They were not a great team. They barely got into the playoffs.

They lost the play-in game at home to Trey Young. And then they rallied in the final three minutes to beat my guy, Zach Levine. And then all of a sudden, they've turned into basically Steph Curry from three, whether it's Caleb Martin or Duncan Robinson. But they were the number one three-point shooting team with the same roster of the previous season. And I think that's what people seem to just continually omit. when they talk about them. It's not like they're not capable of shooting threes.

They had an incredible shot quality chart this season. They just didn't go in for one reason or another. Now, they also dealt with, I believe the fourth most lineup changes of anyone in the sport. So, you know, there wasn't a lot of continuity there, guys were in and out of the lineup. So that explains some of it. I don't believe that they're the best three-point shooting team,

but I think they're closer to the best than they are 20. which is where they were ranked because we saw that as a representative sample. And, you know, again, it's no longer a fluke when you're doing it for two straight months and you're shooting the way you're shooting. You could argue. So which are they? Are they the team that was great at threes last year, the team that was bad at threes this year, the team that's been great at threes for about 20 games in the playoffs?

Like, it's tough for me. I don't know. They're closer to the top of the three-point shooting arc than they are. are the bottom of it. It was infuriating for most people to watch them this year because to, you know, the point I mentioned a second ago,

they got quality looks all season long. They just didn't fall for one reason or another. And maybe the continuity was the issue. But ultimately, this team come playoff time, has the best coach in the sport, a guy who can certainly get guys open, and he's got really smart players. And I think that the fact that these guys,

have been there in three of the last four years in the Eastern Conference Finals and now two of the last four finals. For the most part, a very similar roster is back in the finals. There's a sense of, hey, we know what it takes to win at this point, right? Like, it doesn't matter what happened in the regular season. That doesn't mean anything. It's what Eric Spolster has been telling people forever. Another thing Eric Spolster has been telling people is, hey, we've had the most clutch games of anyone in the sport this season. I think there are over 60s. some odd now. Like they're well over 65 games now at this point where they've

been within five points with five minutes to go. And they've won, I want to say, of the nearly 70, 44 of them. So, like, that's not a small number. Most teams don't even, you know, most teams in a regular year are hovering around 500

at best in those scenarios. So while they've had those crushing losses too, they've had a lot of experience in these moments and they're just not phased when the game is close. And then the counter to that would be, well, they've had a lot of close games. Are they a good team?

And then they have the negative point differential. I know it doesn't matter. Negative point differential for the season. Meanwhile, the Nuggets, I think it was like maybe tops in the West or maybe second, whatever it was. But they're used to blowing teams out. And it looked like a blowout was coming in game two. At the end of the third quarter, they go up eight, and then the Duncan Robinson show takes over. But you mentioned a lot of numbers there.

And then you said they're a very smart team. This is what I think angers like the calculator crowd, you know, the analytics folks, because Miami's breaking them, literally breaking the people. They are outraged. They don't know how to handle this. And I got a number here. So I just saw this stat. The heat point differential through 20 playoff games. First quarter, they're minus one. Second quarter minus 11, third quarter minus 12. In the fourth quarter in 20 playoff games, they are plus 90. Yeah. Nothing about their resume would detect their plus 90. And this is the one thing they've, the calculator crowd can't quantify is like the undrafted players, the guys who really had to fight and work hard just to get here. I mean, I know they have Kevin Love who was a top five pick, and Bam out of bio was a lottery pick. But by and large, they got a bunch of dogs. They got a bunch of

guys who are working their tail off, Caleb Martin, Max Truce, Gabe Vincent, Jimmy, like, no quitting these guys because they know what it took to get to the league. Now, I'm not saying that Denver has a bunch of coddled guys. I mean, Jamal Murray is a super high pick, Porter or Gordon, Yokic was second round. But is there something to that that we can't put a number on to heart and desire and grit and all this? Like, is this stuff that you can't really quantify? This is going to sound like I'm mythologizing them, but it's the truth.

I mean, they are open and honest about this. When Eric Spolstra and everyone there says, we're not for everybody, it's the truth. They have guys that they know that they can identify certain traits in that. right? And it's not just the basketball stuff. It's a mental toughness thing to not everybody can play there. I mean, you remember that there was this viral video like a year or two ago of Germaine O'Neill talking about how he had a chance to play with LeBron Wade and Bosch because remember he was in Miami the previous season. And then he made the joke, I like Oreos too much, right? I didn't want to, I didn't want to have to deal with all the weight stuff and the way they just kind of do things there.

it's military school. Even LeBron, after the fact, left to Cleveland. What did he do? He brought in a bunch of Miami guys, James Jones, Mike Miller. I mean, there's a ton of guys on that Cleveland roster that he brought in to help establish a culture. So I think that that's one of those things that they do really well at. They know how to identify certain guys that not only physically will fit what they want to do

on the floor schematically, but mentally that they can handle dealing with military school. And that's exactly the way I would describe it. So I think that's part of it. And that's a credit to Adam Simon, who is their vice president, assistant GM, I believe. He's the guy that minds all this talent going way back. Okay. This isn't something that that is just a recent phenomenon. If you look at their history, they vote, I mean, Udonis Haslam, for God's sake, right, is in this 20th season. He was playing in France after being at the University of Florida. So they just are really good at identifying this stuff. And certain teams are.

Toronto is another team, I think, that's great at that. They've identified a lot of guys over the years. Fred Van Vlead, Pascal Seacom, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. The spurs were once great at it and perhaps can be good at it again. But they certainly had a knack for that for a long time. I think it's just that. They just know what they're looking for in a particular player. They almost treat it, Jason, like a football team.

They know, hey, this guy fits this role. role. This is what we want him for. He's got the mental toughness to be able to deal with what we need to deal with or we want to deal with and where we want to be and the expectations that we have. And that's it. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal, but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth.

Listen to Superhuman on the IHard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care which I'm saying. Yep, that's me, Cliver Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, the reactions, my journey from basketball to college football, or my career in sports media. Well, somewhere along the way, this platform became bigger than I ever imagined.

And now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfiltered conversations with some of your favorite athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. One week, I'll take you behind the scenes of the biggest moments in sports and entertainment.

And the next, we'll talk about life, mental health, purpose, and even music. The Clifford Show isn't just a podcast. It's a space for honest conversations, stories that don't always get told, and for people who are chasing something bigger. So if you've ever supported me or you're just chasing down a dream,

this is right where you need to be. Listen to the Clifford show on the IHeart radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. Do you remember when Diana Ross double-tap Little Kim's boobs at the VMAs? Or when Kanye said that George Bush didn't like black people.

I know what you're thinking. What the hell does George Bush got to do with Little Kim? Well, you can find out on the Look Back at it podcast. I'm Sam J. And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick it here, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived it. Including a recent episode with Mark Lamont Hill,

waxing all about crack in the 80s. To be clear, 84's big to me, not just because of crack. I'm down to talk about crack on day, but just so y'all know. I mean, at this point, Mark, this is the second episode where we've discussed crack. So I'm starting to see that there's a through line. We also have AIDS on the table right now. Thank you for finishing that sentence. I don't think there's a more important year for black people.

Really? Yeah. For me, it's one of the most important years for black people in American history. Listen to look back at it on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hard Way with me, your host, and your favorite therapist, Kear Games. And in recognition of mental health awareness month, I'm bringing over a decade of my own experience in the mental health field and conversations with so many incredible guests. I'm talking.

Tripp Fontaine, Ryan Clark. Sometimes when we're in the pursuit of the thing, we get so wrapped up in the chase that we don't realize that we are in possession of the thing. And we're still chasing it. And we don't know when we've done enough. Because people scoreboard watch. Life becomes about wins and losses.

Steve Burns, Dustin Ross. Because you find it important to be a good person while you hear on earth? Are you a good person because you're afraid? Because that's two different intentions. bro. Absolutely. And that's two different levels of trust. I want you to just really be a good person. Join me, Keer Gaines, as we have real conversations about healing, growth, fatherhood, pressure, and purpose on my new podcast, Learn the Hard Way. Open your free Our Heart Radio app. Search Learn the Hardway and listen now. I mean, as a Miami guy, I'm wondering, have you ever been able to drill down on what is in that secret sauce for identifying grit, toughness?

mental fourth quarter capabilities because, you know, you can see it like Jimmy Butler's history. Like Jimmy Butler, his story is incredible. I've been a big Jimmy Butler guy. I've been saying Jimmy Butler over Kauai Leonard from my Fox Sports radio show before Kauai won the title in Toronto. And I got so much hate for it. And I would stand by it today. I know Kauai's a great talent. Give me Jimmy Butler any day.

He's a dog. But I don't know. Has anybody in Miami ever elaborated to you as to what exactly goes into identifying these undrafted gems? I mean, I looked up Max Truce. He went to Lewis College and then DePaul. Gabe Vincent, UCSB, played in the G League. I don't know what it is, but I would love to find it.

Well, I think I'll give you Gabe Vincent as an example. Gabe Vincent, Santa Barbara, a gaucho, was a scorer in college. But when they saw him, they saw the handle, right? They saw the poise. They saw the fact that he was the guy in college, right? And he realized, okay, I'm going to small school, right? I'm going to try to do my best to go through the G league, the NBA, all that stuff. They identified him and they said, hey, we know this is what you're already good at, okay?

You're good at scoring. We know you can put the ball in the basket. You can shoot it. You're a three-level score. We're going to teach you to be a point guard too. And we're going to teach you to defend because the way you're going to make it in this league from the G-League is by being able to do everything, being as much of a Swiss. Army knife as possible and playing a role. And not everybody is made for that. Mentally, think about it. You're the man, right? Basketball for sure is tough, I think, in a lot of ways. Because from when

kids are very young, we tell them they're the best player. You're the best player on your team and, you know, in AAU. You're the best player in high school. You're the best player here. You're the travel team, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. You're the best player in college. And then you hit past college and it's like, oh, this is different. There's only 450 of these spots. And a lot of these guys take one of those spots up for a decade. Right. So it's hard to break through. And I think for certain guys, they just can't come to grips with it mentally. And other guys, they buy into it. They say, how am I going to make a living playing basketball? I got to buy into a role. And the heat, for whatever reason, are really good at selling these guys on these roles. And they're

good at player development. It starts with their head coach. Eric Spolstra was a player development guy. When Dwayne Wade came into the league, do you know who was working with him on his shot? Eric Spolstra every day was the guy working on his shot. It's why Dwayne, you know, not the only reason, Dwayne gets the most credit for it, but Eric was there when he was developing that mid-range game as a young player. We knew how explosive he was and how he can get to the rim. But he helped him find his balance with his shot. And that's just what they've always been. They've always been good at just mining talent. Forget about the heat. Go back to Pat Riley with your beloved Knicks, John Starks, Anthony Mason, finding those guys in the CBA. People look at Pat Riley and they say,

oh, Armani, slick hair, showtime, all those things are true. But at the core, Pat Riley is Schenectady, New York. Pat Riley is lunch pail. His dad, you know, worked in a factory. He, you know, you know, had a rough upbringing. Yes, he was a star in college. But Pat Riley was more Bruce Bowen in the NBA than he was LeBron James or Dwayne Wade. I don't disagree with any of that. I mean, it's really unbelievable

what they've cultivated there in Miami. That being said, I'll got to be point blank. You had no clue this was coming, coming into the first round as an 8th seed versus the buck. No, no, right. I had Milwaukee in six, and then from that point on, I'm like, I looked at the path.

Because I thought if they get Boston in the first round, I thought they could upset them. I was very, I was, I mean, on TV and radio, I kept saying if they can get the seven seed, they've got a shot to get to the finals. But if they don't, then it's going to be way tougher. But they beat Milwaukee. And I know everyone's going to say, well, Janus was hurt,

this, that, and the other. Great, true. No question. Listen, when Janus was off the floor, the heat won by 10 points per 100 possessions. When Janus was on the floor in that series, they won by 16 points per 100 possessions. So they beat Janus too when he was on the floor.

But once they beat Milwaukee, I was like, all bets are off. They can get to the finals and they can win a championship depending on what happens. Now look, there's a long way and a long path from there. But I text you, you didn't respond. I felt like maybe you thought it was a threat. I might have missed it.

I might have missed it. Where I said, your boy Tibbs is next. Next. Because I saw you talking about, talking about... I like the Knicks in that series. Yeah. Yeah. And listen, there was little doubt I thought they were going to be the Knicks.

Like, I was surprised. Nix were favored, I believe in Vegas. I believe Nicks were slight favorites. It's not big. They were not even on the... This notion that the Knicks were the more talented team was silly. If Jimmy Butler doesn't turn an ankle, it's a sweep. Well, Julius Randall now has surgery, so he was still not 100%.

But I digress. So let me all... Okay, so we said nice stuff about Miami up buttering up your heat audits. because I got to hit you with this. Okay? And I have it in my phone here. So in game two, they had the heat.

The, I believe, third best fourth quarter shooting the basketball in the last 25 years, 11 of 16 from the field. Historic stuff. They needed Duncan Robinson to go off. Jimmy Butler,

Caleb Martin, who is sick, his little flu game, hits a big three in the corner. I mean, it was a historical fourth quarter. And they survive when Jamal Murray misses a game tying three that was online, looked good, at the buzzer.

So as excited as we are about the heat, let's put it in perspective. They needed a historic fourth quarter to and survive a Denver game tying shot with no time left on the clock. That's who they've been the whole season in the postseason, Jason. They have survived or come back. They have seven wins this postseason when trailing by 10 points or more. That's tied for the most. You know who's tied with? No? No? The Warriors. I'm talking about all time. Oh, all time.

The Warriors last year and the heat twice with Wade and LeBron and Bosch. Okay. That's what they, that's what they've accomplished. Which of those is different, huh? Yeah. LeBron and, wait, LeBron and two Hall of Famers, Curry's Hall of Fame team, which what I would argue is the greatest team of all time. And then the Miami Heat of 2023. Right. But again, this is this is this is where Colin needs to be on to help you here. This team is built like a football team. Okay. Everyone plays a role. Jimmy and Bam are the stars, the star running back or the star quarterback or the star wide receiver and the pastro. However you want to label it.

They're the two guys. They're the central figures. Everyone else plays a role. That's how this thing works. And again, it's still only the fifth best three point shooting night they've had based on expected expectations per second spectrum. Right.

Like it's still not even despite all the stuff you mentioned, which is 100% true. It's not even their best their best three-point shooting opportunity. The two teams, by the way, that were ahead of them, the Lakers in 2000, barely above them, I think less than a percentage point.

And then the Spurs against the heat. When I was watching that game, and that was game one, if you recall that one, that was the air conditioning game in San Antonio. Oh, right, right, right, right. Yeah. And even in that series,

I kept saying to myself, man, are the Spurs ever going to miss? Yeah, Sometimes it doesn't happen that way. Listen, it's possible that Duncan Robinson and company, the undrafted guys, whatever you want to call them, they keep up this in Fuego and she stunned everybody. And I mean, Denver was the third largest favorite, I believe, this century after was it the Warriors, obviously with KD and Curry, and then the Spurs team that faced the young LeBron Cavs,

if you remember, like 2007. It's funny you bring that up too because ESPN stats and info had this. a couple of days ago where if you, and it was in our Slack, I believe, I don't know if they posted it. But basically, Eric Spolstra is either three or four in one as some of the big, like he's like,

he's got like four of the biggest upsets as far as Vegas was concerned in postseason history. One of them was Milwaukee, obviously this year and then Boston. But he's got two other ones from previous seasons too. So it's like, again like everyone wants to sit here and just like is befuddled by this but you know the parts fit the coach is great and they've been doing this for two months right like this season here's some

more numbers for you because I know you love numbers and I know the calculator folks as you like to call calculator crowd they hate that it's so deris but but here's another thing this postseason alone the heater shooting 40% on open threes okay by the way that's within a player of within three feet, right? A player within six feet, which are called classified as wide open threes, they're 45%. Like these guys, this is who they are. This is closer to who they are than what they were in the regular season. What people need to stop focusing on is an 82 game regular season,

which was completely disjointed for them in a lot of ways. I've compared this team to the New York Giants with Eli Manning when they were just a pedestrian team in the regular season. Then they get to the playoffs. Eli's unstoppable. They go three and O. in the Super Bowl. Twice.

And the parts, but the parts fit, right? When you watch that team, the parts fit on that team. Michael Strahan, right? All the, the defensive line,

they could rush Tom Brady with four, right, which was always the key to having success against Tom Brady. So, yeah, like, I could give you something like that,

sure. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential.

Either way, the podcast's super Human 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. A win is a win. A win is a win.

I don't care which I'm saying. Yep, that's me, Cliver Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, the reactions, my journey from basketball to college football, or my career in sports media. Well, somewhere along the way, this platform became bigger than I ever imagined. And now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show.

This is a place for raw, unfiltered conversations with some of your favorite athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. One week, I'll take you behind the scenes of the biggest moments in sports and entertainment, and the next we'll talk about life, mental health, purpose, and even music. The Clifford Show isn't just a podcast.

It's a space. For honest conversations, stories that don't always get told, and for people who are chasing something bigger. So, if you've ever supported me or you're just chasing down a dream, this is right where you need to be. Listen to The Clifford Show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. Do you remember when Diana Ross double-tap little Kim's boobs at the VMAs? Or when Kanye said that George Bush didn't like black people. I know what you're thinking.

What the hell does George Bush got to do a little kill? Well, you can find out on the Look Back at it podcast. I'm Sam J. And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick it here, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived it. Including a recent episode with Mark Lamont Hill, waxing all about crack in the 80s. To be clear, 84 is big to me, not just because of crack. I'm down to talk about crack on day, but just so y'all know.

I mean, at this point, Mark, this is the second episode where we've discussed crack. so I'm starting to see that there's a through line. We also have AIDS on the table right now. Thank you for finishing that sentence. Yes. I don't think there's a more important year for black people. Really? Yeah.

For me, it's one of the most important years for black people in American history. Listen to look back at it on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hardway with me, your host, and your favorite therapist, Kear Games. And in recognition of mental health awareness, in this month. I'm bringing over a decade of my own experience in the mental health field and

conversations with so many incredible guests. I'm talking. Trip Fontaine, Ryan Clark. Sometimes when we're in the pursuit of the thing, we get so wrapped up in the chase that we don't realize that we are in possession of the thing. And we're still chasing it. And we don't know when we've done enough. Because people scoreboard watch. Life becomes about wins and losses. Steve Burns, Dustin Ross, because you find it important to be a good person while you're you here on earth? Are you a good person because you're afraid? Because that's two different intentions, bro.

Absolutely. And that's two different levels of trust. I want you to just really be a good person. Join me, Kear Gaines, is we have real conversations about healing, growth, fatherhood, pressure, and purpose on my new podcast, learn the hard way. Open your free, our heart radio app. Search Learn the Hardway and listen now. Let's quickly pivot to the other story. We're recording this Monday afternoon.

The other big story. And listen, this doesn't involve any SPN reporter, so we can be real here with each other. At about the same time Monday morning, Shams of, you know, yeah, he worked for like three places. And Chris Haynes, who I'm sure you know. Yeah, I saw this. Both of them at the same time reported,

Kyrie Irving reached out to LeBron James. Hey, LeBron, want to come to Dallas. George, listen, we've been doing this a long time. This is some really pathetic stuff. Not from the reporters, from Kyrie Irving. Because you remember last week he stood on his soapbox, went on Instagram Live. Hey, to all my fans, the Kyrie Hive,

or whatever he's pretending to be like Beyonce with her beehive. Don't listen to the reporters. Don't listen to all this stuff out there. George, we know Kyrie Irving directly fed this to the reporters. Why? I don't know, Monday morning. Capture the news cycle.

Extra day off between games two and three. And now LeBron is the big story. When we know, what, zero percent chance of this happening, negative percent of this happening? There's no way LeBron is taking a pay cut because they can't afford him with the max deal. Take a pay cut to go to Dallas.

Dallas doesn't even have any parts to send to the Lakers. This is asinine stuff, is it not? Yeah, it's crazy. But no, the reporters did their job. They have to do their job. Kyrie Irving calls you or text you. You got to run with it. And I don't know if it's Kyrie directly,

but it could be someone in his circle, clearly, who these guys, trust and I would I would understand why they would trust a source like you know depending on who it was so if they're reporting it that clearly it's a trustworthy source and to your point they both did it within seconds or minutes of each other little fishy yeah so yes it's silly Kyrie is not LeBron's not going to Dallas okay now could Kyrie still end up on the Lakers that I'm still not ruling that part of the equation out but I don't see LeBron I know LeBron loves Luca

I know Luca loves LeBron, but to your point, there's no way to actually make this work without LeBron doing something that is completely unprecedented from a financial standpoint. First of all, you'd have to ask for a buyout. Let's start with that part of the equation, right? Because I don't see the, to your point, the Lakers aren't making a deal with Dallas,

and Dallas has really nothing to give them. So it's great for us for content, but then at the end of the day, it's just us putting the pin in the balloon because as much as we can talk about it, there's really not a lot of there, if you know what I mean. Now, the other angle that I would take is just what percentage chance? Let's say that Kyrie and LeBron got together and hatched this plan.

How do we get this out there? Is there an agenda where they are trying to use this to send a message to Dallas? Hey, Kyrie don't want to stay unless you can get more guys. Or is this LeBron's way of saying, hey, Lakers, I want Kyrie? Is there a world where LeBron is in on this with Kyrie to get this message out? That's pretty McAvelian, but I don't know if I would go that far. I would say that those two clearly have a relationship again. And I would say that the Kyriece stuff with Dallas, to me, that's more plausible.

Look, I think LeBron wants help. I don't think there's any doubt about that. I think LeBron looks at himself at 38 years old on two busted feet, right? one of them which may need surgery according to certain reports. And I think he thinks to himself, I only have so much left to give. Like I've got to have one more shot at this. And as much as there are players on this team that I think he likes, Austin Reeves clearly, Rui Hachimura, I would imagine that adding Kyrie would be something

he would want. He has not been shy about that in the past. So do I think that him and Kyrie are on the phone, I'm bashing this out. You text Shams and Chris Haynes. No, I don't think that. But I do think they, there is, it seems fairly clear that they would be open to playing with each other.

So you said LeBron wants help, okay? In what world is Kyrie Irving helping? Because I don't know how you're getting him without giving up AD. And is that? Well, I mean, he'd have to come. He'd have to come. They'd have to basically renege everyone, right? on renege on everyone on their on their balance sheet outside of lebron and ad which they can't right

and then sign kairi into space and then they could go over the cap for certain guys like an austin reeves because they have the bird rights etc etc but then you're looking at a lot of minimum veteran minimum guys after you're you're envisioning lebron kairi and ad together yeah the only way they can do that is by renouncing the rights to pretty much everybody that is not available or that's not under contract going into this offseason. And then resigning a couple of those guys who they can sign to their bird rights, like Austin, as I mentioned. I think they've got one exception they could play with potentially.

And then you're looking at a lot of veteran minimums. Yeah. You know, I don't know if you like to put yourself in the role of GM. It's one of the most fun things ever. Is there a world where you would want to add Kyrie Irving to your team right now? Only if I could line it up. with Anthony Davis's contract. I'm not giving him more than the two years

or whatever Anthony Davis. Kyrie doesn't want that. He wants four. But that would be the only way I would do it if I were in charge unless here's the other part of the equation. And I don't think the Lakers will go down this path necessarily. I do think that they are open to

everything because they have to be at this stage because they're in the LeBron James business. When you're in the LeBron James business, they understand that you have to push your chips to the center of the table every season. That's anyone who's been in the LeBron James business, particularly for the last decade plus, understands that that's part of the job requirement. So, but Anthony Davis is due for an extension. That's another part of the equation that you have to factor in. What's that

going to look like? What is the expectation from him, from the Lakers, et cetera, et cetera. There's more to this stuff with the Lakers roster beyond this offseason that needs to be answered here sooner rather than later. And I believe, I'm not 100% sure on this, that AD's extension is, they can offer to him, I believe, either in, you know, in the fall or somewhere like that. Before the season starts, they can offer to him. I just don't know the exact timeline, but it's definitely before the season, they can potentially offer him another extension.

I think Janus has a similar situation. And so you've got to wonder, like Janus is wondering what's going to happen in Middleton and Lopez and a holiday. It's tough for me to extend Davis, but it's even tougher to envision a world where you give Kyrie Irving four years. LeBron will definitely be gone in four years. And then AD, who the hell knows what his body's going to be like in his 30s. And then Kyrie Irving is your main guy going forward.

And that is not something. I mean, again, you know. Right. Which is why I would only do it. You probably talk to Jeannie Bus more than I have. Right. I don't really talk to Jeannie Bus that often, to be honest. with you. I've occasionally run into her

and we've exchanged pleasantries, but I don't really chat with her very often in regards to basketball stuff. You know, so I don't like to pry like that, first of all. Yeah, yeah. Who would want to ask? Hey, do you want to get Kyrie over here? Can we? Yeah, I don't that's, yeah, there's plenty of other people

I can find information from around the league without having to go directly to the owner and put her in a compromising position. But the, in an uncomfortable position, because what is she going to say? A little bit, yeah. She's not going to say yes or no to any of it. But ultimately, man, I just think that the Lakers are in a tough spot.

Like they clearly are close, right? They were in the conference finals. And I think, though, they have to look at their situation with their two stars. And I'm a big believer of the biggest predictor of future injuries, past injury. And we're now at the point, particularly with LeBron, right, where we're now seeing this becoming more and more regular. With Anthony Davis, there's always been things that he's dealt with. None of them outside of the one Achilles thing, he had that one year that kind of terrified

people and understandably so. Have I felt like there's been like this crazy injury? But if LeBron were to have surgery this offseason, it would be his first, at least to my knowledge. So, and at 38 years old, that's stuff you have to wonder. So the Lakers are not in an easy position. They have to balance trying to win with an aging superstar. and also having to deal with what the rest of that looks like beyond his time there.

And I just don't know if you can strike that balance well is what I would say. Most teams can't balance that. And that's not a knock on Rob Polink or anyone. It's just really hard to thread that needle. Yeah, yeah. All right. George Sedano 710 in out here in LA, ESPN Radio. Miami native, right, right, native?

Actually, you'd be surprised. Born in Manhattan, grew up in Miami, moved when I was six years old. Ah, okay, nice. So there is some Knicks fan, no, no, just kidding. No, no, not at all, actually. Not one bit. Wait to shut that down. All right, man.

Hey, thanks for taking the time, buddy. Good to see you, bud. Thanks for having me on. Another podcast from some SNL late-night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and friends, me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and

head writer Streeter Seidel, help an a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and friends on the I-Heart Radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care which I'm saying. Yep, that's me. Clifford Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, my basketball and college football journey, or my career in sports media. Well, now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw unfilled conversations with athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. So let's get to it. Listen to The Clifford Show on the IHeard Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast.

And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's Superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds.

I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the I-Hard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, what's good, y'all? You're listening to Learn the Hardway with your favorite therapist and host, Kear Games. This space is about black men's experiences,

having honest conversations that it's really not safe to have anywhere, but you're having them with a licensed professional who knows what he's doing. How many men carry a suit or armor? It signals to the world that you're not to be played with. And just because you have the capability that does not mean that you need to. Listen to learn the hard way on the AHA radio app,

Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed human.