The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Free agency, Antonio Brown, Packers, Russell Wilson, and the Cowboys

Episode Date: February 20, 2019

Colin discusses why most stars don't want to chase championships, why Pittsburgh Steelers WR Antonio Brown would be a good fit for the Green Bay Packers, an interesting rumor about Seattle Seahawks QB Russell Wilson, and some good advice for the Dallas Cowboys. Guests include Sam Amick, Michael Rapaport, and Dahntay Jones. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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

Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and Friends on the I-Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. What's up, guys? This is Clever Taylor the 4th. And on my podcast, The Cliverts Show, I'm bringing you conversations about all kinds of stuff. Like being an internet famous referee. We're in the middle of a game. This linebacker, this linebacker walks up to me. He goes, hey, ref, my mom wants you to wave at her.

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Now let's get this party started. You're listening to Fox Sports Radio. Here we go. This is the herd. Wherever you may be and however you may be listening. Live in Los Angeles, Iheart Radio, Fox Sports Radio,

and right here on FS1, it is a Wednesday. Joy Taylor is joining me. We have had a surprisingly active week. Another very good show today. Joy, how are you? I'm great. This is a superiors. a slow time. It is. Thank you to NFL wide receivers. We got all sorts of stuff happening today.

Yesterday, we talked about this on the show. Antonio Brown is an all-time, historically relevant wide receiver talent. He really is. He's, you know, he won't end up as Jerry Rice, but, you know, he looks and plays a lot like Jerry Rice. He's an all-time talent. 11,000 yards, 74 touchdown, six-round draft pick. He's a remarkable, remarkable player. And he's just out there. And we all know yesterday, Pittsburgh, the owners, the Rooney family said, listen, it's been great, Antonio, but we're going to move on. And Antonio went to Twitter and said, okay, it's cool, let's move on. I get it for the Steelers. They've got the quarterback. They got the O-line. They've got their other wide receiver. Pittsburgh will be fine. And Antonio Brown is what I really worry about,

because I think when you're that gifted in anything, you deserve the best organization for you. And I think Antonio Brown scared off some teams. And I was sitting there thinking this morning, Green Bay Packers. In the conveyor belt of quarterbacks, you're never going to get another Aaron Rogers. It's almost unthinkable you went Farve to Rogers. In between Bart Starr and Brett Farve, you went 20 years and nothing.

Go get Antonio Brown. And there's a lot of different reasons. Number one, the Chicago Bears are your rival. They went out and got a superstar. Good luck against that Chicago defense with a 35-year-old often hobbled Aaron Rogers and Devante Adams, one weapon. Congrats.

Good luck on that. Number two is, what was the one move in the NFL last year that really changed an offense? The Dallas Cowboys went out and got Amari Cooper. Wide receivers mattered more. If Amari Cooper can elevate Dak Prescott, what can Antonio Brown do for Aaron Rogers? Number three is, Green Bay's got two first-round picks. Give one up. It's going to take a first-round pick and maybe a backup player, some kind of player,

maybe a later pick to get Antonio Brown. this is the year. You've got two first round picks. Give one up. And four, Green Bay can't land generally top free agents. You got the pick. Make a trade. Make it happen.

You know, I'm reading stories. I read a story this morning, the Packers quarterback coach. Aaron Rogers wants to be coached. That was the article. You know what Aaron Rogers wants? More good players around him. Of course, Aaron Rogers wants to be coached. Everybody needs and wants.

LeBron wants to be coach. Kevin Durant wants to be coach. Michael Jordan wanted to be coach. Kobe wanted to be coach. What Aaron Rogers wants is more good players around him. And Aaron Rogers may only have a couple, two, three max years left in his prime. I mean, to really hit it. He gets hurt more and more.

You know what Green Bay feels like to me? They feel like they max their 401K. No risky investments. We don't do tech stocks over here. we pay off our house and we drive dependable cars. Great. Chicago Bears, Philadelphia Eagles, Cowboys, Rams, you know, playoff teams. They're like, yeah, we do some tech stocks.

Yeah, sometimes we make investments in stuff that could fail, but you can get rich. And we're not going to pay off our house. We're just going to move into a bigger house because we have enough security in ourselves that we'll be able to make a decent mortgage payment. We're confident enough. I mean, the Packers always feel so Midwest, they feel so safe, and they feel so prudent, and they feel so reasonable, and they feel so wholesome, and they use coupons. The Packers, boy, the Packers, they literally use every time they get a coupon.

They are using that coupon, and that is, they are always balancing their checkbook. Nobody balances their checkbook like Green Bay, down to the penny. 2019, even the Patriots went out and tried Josh Gordon. Green Bay, it's time to get comfortable with a little discomfort. And Antonio Brown will make you a little uncomfortable. He'll go and do tweet stuff and a Facebook live. And you do remember Green Bay what Moss did with Tom Brady for two and a half years. It rocked the league.

You do get Green Bay. You got two first round picks. You're not going to have that again. You do get Green Bay. You don't land free agents. You do get Green Bay. You went far to Aaron Run. That never happens.

That just doesn't happen. Okay, Lakers had to go out and get LeBron in his 16th year. You don't draft Kobe. 10 years later, you draft another Kobe. It doesn't work that way. I mean, everything is perfect for Green Bay. You have an extra first. You already have one good receiver.

Devonte Adams as a number two receiver, spectacular. Aaron Rogers has a 35-year-old coach who's been a coordinator for one year. Of course he wants to be coached, but what he wants is players at his level. Make it happen. Nothing against maxing your 401k, but instead of being consumed with paying off your house, you got a good job. You got Aaron Rogers. Moving to a nicer house.

You live once. Make a mortgage payment. You get to write it off anyway. It's one of the last write-offs for regular people. Antonio Brown and the Packers makes way, way too much sense. All right, yesterday we talked about this. And what do you know?

The day after we talked about it, about two hours later, Damien Lillard of the Portland Trailblazers came out and really picked up where we left off. Damian Lillard, great player, came out yesterday and said, I'm not willing to sell myself out for championships. I want to stay here. Here he is. Here's Damian Lillard. I do want to win a championship, but it's other stuff that means more to me.

Got you. I understand. It's almost like I'm not willing to sell myself out for that. My career is over. I'm going to know the relationships that I'm going to have that I did it the right way. And I took people's situations and their families and what could be into consideration before I just made a decision based off. All right, this is what would be best for me. By the way, this is what we talked about yesterday. LeBron has created this myth that all stars want to be global. And all stars are seeking super teams.

And all stars are politically engaged. And all stars dreams are limitless. No, they're not. No, they're not. By the way, Tim Duncan never had an interest in leaving. Kobe never left. Dirk never left. Dwayne Wade did for an hour, came back.

Kevin Garnett never wanted to leave Minnesota. And he's a Hall of Fame first ballot guy. He left and said, I don't want to do this. I just want to win more. There is a handful, and I mean a small handful of guys that really think like LeBron. By the way, Damien Lillard doesn't want to leave. Russell Westbrook doesn't want to leave. Remember when we had Janus, the MVP this year probably?

Remember what he said on our show a year ago? I like finishing the stuff that I have with Milwaukee. My goal is to win in Milwaukee, so I will never leave for LA. I can't judge every situation. KD. thought he was the right move to Gold State, so he did it. I think the right move for me is to stay in Milwaukee, so that's what I'm going to do. And I believe him, and I believe Damien Lillard. folks before Michael Jordan

did you ever really think there was going to be a basketball player who really had aspirations to own a team that was Michael's aspiration I'd never heard of a player before that that talked about it but Michael's the greatest player probably that ever played and before Michael nobody talked about owning a team

Michael was uniquely gifted and uniquely aspirational and uniquely driven to be successful in business Michael was an outlier. Even LeBron now in his 16th year signed a four-year deal with the Lakers. Why? Because he's in the 16th year. And he knows as you get older,

even the world's best player wants a little security. The truth is, LeBron's title runs are mostly over. But Colin, what about Kevin Durant? I've said it all year. I don't think he's leaving. What about Kyrie Irving? 75-25, I think he stays. He's flaky. He talks.

He says a lot of things. I think he stays. What about Anthony Davis? He was in a crappy organization for six and a half years until he said, I'm over this crap. I would have done the same, so would you. What about Kauai Leonard? I don't know.

He doesn't talk. He's got a weird laugh. I have no idea what he's doing. I'm told it's a 50-50 coin flip, Toronto and the Clippers. But just because Michael, Jordan and LeBron, probably the two greatest basketball players I've ever seen, just because they briefly alter the power structure in the NBA, where a player single-handedly is more important than a big chunk of the league.

Don't think that is the league. Last year, we had five, six big free agents. One, one moved. What a shock. It was LeBron. Damien Lillard is overwhelmingly what most players are. Pretty loyal, comfortable. making a lot of money, being in a city with their family, don't have to move their kids.

As long as the team doesn't completely screw it up, like the Pelicans, like the Cavs for six years with LeBron the first time, as long as the team gets a decent coach and shows some stability in the organization and can win and surround said superstar with some pretty nice pieces, players don't want to leave. Dirk never wanted to leave. Duncan never wanted to leave. Kobe threatened, never left. Dee Wade shouldn't have and did for an hour. Kevin Garnett did one entitled, but said at the time it was the hardest decision he ever made.

Don't take MJ and LeBron and think that's the league. It's not. I mean, I've moved around the country, but I wanted to eventually find the spot and just stay, okay? Took me a while in my goofy business. But Damien Lillard said, and I believe him, and Yannis said, and I believe him, this is where I want to live, Portland, Milwaukee. And that is the majority of players, even stars in the NBA.

Coming up next, I heard something yesterday, and this is one of those mind-blown, NFL star quarterback and a situation that is being discussed behind the scenes. This is big. It was a stop me in my tracks moment. Everybody's going to deny this. But a discussion has taken place. Behind the scenes, I'm going to have that for you next.

Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific. On Fox Sports Radio, FS1, and the IHeard Radio app. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its best. mind. Highlights are trending, opinions are flying, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in. I'm Timbo. Every episode, we're cutting through the noise, breaking down the plays, the controversies, and the stories behind the headlines. We go straight to the source, the athletes themselves, their locker room stories, their reactions,

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We're in the middle of the first. the game. This linebacker walks up to me, he goes, hey, ref, my mom wants you to wave at her. What? Time out. Quarterback on office blue 42. Hey, rec, my mama want you to wave at her. What? Hey, Ms. Parker.

Listen to the Cliverts show on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. What's up, fam? This Isaiah Thomas. And I'm C.J. Toledano and our podcast Point Game. is about defying the odds. Like LeBron heading into the playoffs without Luca and Austin Reed. And finding ways to win no matter what.

He's the smartest player to ever play the game. His IQ is at a level that we've never seen before. And he knows without Luca and Austin Reeves, I got to manipulate the game. We get a player's perspective on the challenges of the playoffs. I think Joker's going to be exhausted this series because when they don't have Rudy in the lineup,

he has to really guard guys like Nas Reid. He has to guard Julius Randall. And then he has to give us everything he gives us on the night-to-night basis on offense. And when IT's friends stop by, like Quentin Richardson, we dive into some playoff history, too. Steve Nass would get that thing. That man, hell get the flying. He run up the court licking his fingers while he got the ball. Like, after you go through a training camp with that, Isaiah, you figure it out real quick.

Get your ass up and down the court, and you're going to get the ball. So listen to Point Game on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. The very well-connected Sam Amick of the Athletic NBA Guy USA Today. Formerly now the Athletic will be joining us in 10 minutes. Peloton's a game-changing indoor cycling bike, brings the energy alive studio classes to your house. Learn more at Peloton bike at Onepelleton.com or visit your local showroom. So in the NBA, there's player movement. One of the things I have said for years, I don't understand how a college quarterback can have more leverage than an NFL quarterback.

college quarterback could transfer any day. An NFL quarterback. I mean, Andrew Luck, Indianapolis, first couple of years, bad GM, trapped. Aaron Rogers, won't give him a defense. Trapped. I've never understood why we don't have an NFL quarterback that says, hey, man, for my business, for my career, I want to move. Otto Porter, nice kid, good player, has more leverage than Aaron Rogers.

Now, some of this is just the collective bargaining because the NFL can franchise tag a quarterback for two or three years. But that gets very, very expensive. So the rumor I'm going to tell you about, I was told this yesterday, this is happening in the entertainment agent world. Everybody will deny it. It's not good to be out now. But Russell Wilson's wife is Sierra.

She is a singer and an entertainer. She would prefer to live in New York. And the Giants need a quarterback. And there's nobody in the draft they love. So just remember this. A lot of things add up. Last year of Russell's contract, his wife would prefer New York.

Seattle is not an entertainment mecca. Okay. New York needs the Giants need a star quarterback to replace Eli. You can get a lot of pushback on Eli. Remember when Tebow was in Denver? Who did Elway get? Peyton Manning. Nobody complained about Peyton replacing Tebow.

Tebow disappeared into the ether. Also, Russell Wilson, good-looking guy, classy guy, incredibly marketable and kind of buried in the Pacific Northwest. And the Giants also have an offensive head coach, not a 66-year-old defensive head coach. Now, Seattle could franchise Russell, but that would mean you're paying him $31 million a year. Would Pete Carroll, in that division, which I'm arguing now is the best division in football, certainly in the argument, You want to pay your quarterback $31 million a year and not be able to sign other important players? I'm not saying it's going to happen. I'm saying stuff I hear.

You know, I heard some Jimmy Butler stuff, and then Jimmy Butler ends up in Philadelphia, and I heard some LeBron stuff a year out, and LeBron ends up in Los Angeles. This stuff starts behind the scene with agents. And I'm not saying it's going to happen, but I'm saying, one of the things that's fairly remarkable to me is that in America, the two biggest stars in sports are NBA stars and quarterbacks. That's the royal family in United States. You know, in Europe, it's the soccer star.

And then maybe the tennis star. In America, it's NBA star, Durant, LeBron, you know. And then it's like NFL quarterback. And a lot of times, the quarterback's bigger than the star if it's not named LeBron. Seahawks want to pay 31, 32 in franchise. wife's have power in relationships. Russell's got his Super Bowl. You know, we always talk about for professional athletes,

and Russell Wilson's a first ballot hall of famer. Don't kid yourself. He's Steve Young. He's a right-handed shorter Steve Young. He's a first ballot hall famer. Russell, there's always for pro athletes, the show-off stage, hey, I'm good. Then there's the championship level stage. Then you start thinking about stuff like your wife, her career, endorsements.

That's not to say Russell Wilson doesn't want to win. But there's a lot of things. things that add up here. Final year of his deal. Wife. Giants need a start to replace Eli. Marketability somewhat wasted in Seattle. Giants have an offensive head coach. And that appears to be kind of the future of the NFL. I'm not saying it's going to happen. I'm saying when I hear these things, I come out on my show and I tell you, I hear these things. And I think it's an interesting proposition, I would love to see Aaron, Russell Wilson.

I want to see these guys, nothing worse than seeing a superstar quarterback that's got a bad old line that's running for his life, that doesn't have the coach. You don't get many Russell Wilsons. You don't get many Aaron Rogers. You don't get many Tom Brady's. You don't get many Joe Montana's and Big Benz.

When you get them, I root for them to get support. I'm just telling you, in the entertainment agent world, This is something I heard yesterday. For the record, the last time I heard a rumor this big, Mark Madden in Pittsburgh, a popular radio host, can confirm it because I sent him a DM. I slid into his DMs. And I said, Christian Pulisic is going to sign a massive deal in the English Premier League. And two months later, he did.

I did not report that. I think I may have said it once on the air. It was a massive deal. I was sworn to secrecy. This one, I wasn't sworn to secrecy. I'm not saying it's going to happen. I'm saying a discussion was had in the agent world. What do you think of that, Joy?

I think that would shake up the NFL just a little bit. I'm just telling you, if I hear stuff. We'll become of your Seahawks. They're not your Seahawks. You get very upset when people say that. When they won the Super Bowl, they were my Seahawks. From that point on, they're everybody's Seahawks. Joy with the news. Turn on the news.

This is the herd line news. Will Gronk play in 2019 or will he retire? We're all kind of on Gronk watch right now. Well, yesterday, Gronk's agent, Drew Rosenhaus, gave an update on the decision yesterday on ESPN. I checked in with Rob a couple days ago. I've talked to the Patriots about it. Right now, Rob is, he's thinking it through. You know, he's giving it a lot of thought.

Rob will certainly, I think, make it. a decision in the foreseeable future. I don't want to put any pressure on him and give him a time frame, but I would imagine that it will be sometime within the next couple of weeks. I get the feeling like Gronk is tired of coming back from the injuries. Yeah, same here. He's a big, huge physical guy who's taking a lot of very hard hits because he is much bigger than most of the defenders that are trying to take him down.

He's a lot of major injuries. He's an old 29, too, Joy. He was hurt in college. Because of his injuries. He's an all-time great. He's going to be a Hall of Famer. He's got his rings. I know that moving on from football is easier said than done

because he is only 29 years old. But the tone that I felt from him after the Super Bowl was like, I'm really tired of coming back from injuries. By the way, Elway did this. Elway could have played. And Elway's like, I'm beat up. I made my money. I want a ring.

Seacrest out. It feels like the first. perfect time to move. Everyone thinks of Gronk as a party boy, but he's actually been very, very responsible with his money. He has not spent any of his salary money. He lives only off of endorsement money that he's gotten.

And we kind of take for granted psychologically what it takes to come back from injuries as fans. Have you ever had a surgery of any kind? No, I had a toothache a couple years ago. Okay, so you've literally never had a surgery, like a knee or a shoulder or nothing. It's awful.

I had an ACL injury. And it literally took a year off my life. I mean, you can't walk for months. Literally, you are on crutches and then you have to teach yourself how to walk again. Now, imagine having to do that for your job. That's just like so I can get around to wear heels again. It's psychologically a lot to come back from these injuries. It's painful.

The therapy is worse than the surgery. So as many as he's had, I can see if he would be getting fatigued with that. So most of the NFL offseason's trade buzz has been centered around Antonio Brown. And you even think that the Packers should trade for him. I think it makes a lot of sense. What if instead they traded for O'Dell? Either way, can we get Aaron Rogers a world-class weapon? Even Brady got Moss for a couple years.

I know that O'Dell and Antonio Brown get kind of compared a lot, but I actually feel like O'Dell is less noisy than Antonio Brown, and I think he would be a better fit with Aaron Rogers. Well, my knock on O'Dell is he is a little fragile. I'm not saying he's injury prone. I don't feel Antonio Brown's fragile. No. I think Odell's a little fragile.

He's been hurt a couple, two, three times. The other thing about Antonio Brown and Aaron that is interesting to me is we often compare Aaron Rogers and Ben Rothesburger, personality-wise. And Antonio Brown seems to his biggest beef with Pittsburgh seems to be Ben Rathesberger. No, I mean, this is, it's a very good point that I have always said, people compare Aaron to Brady. Their personalities are completely different. Aaron is Ben. he's going to have opinions. He's got a strong point of view.

He'll push back on... Most quarterbacks don't push back on coaches. Aaron and Ben push back on their coaches. And Aaron's got a healthy ego. Big Ben's got a healthy ego. They both can be kind of passive-aggressive. That's their DNA. And they're both unbelievable first-belt Hall of Famer.

So that's a great point that Antonio and Aaron, he could have the same problems. But remember, you're not asking Aaron Rogers and Antonio to play together for 30 years. You play together for two. It's amazing. and by the third year, maybe halfway through the season, you move off. That to me is, I feel like Aaron Rogers is in sort of the LeBron state of his career right now. They win now in the next couple years' situation for the Packers. This is very urgent.

So I do agree with you that they do need to make a move and get him a weapon, a consistent weapon. And Antonio Brown and O'Dell have been in trade rumors. I just feel like O'Dell would be a better fit, especially considering the things that Antonio Brown's complaining about with the Steelers. It's fun. Finally, remember that January phone call that Kyrie Irving made to his former teammate, LeBron? Yeah. Well, Kyrie told Rachel Nichols that call was crucial for him to move forward in his life. I think that, you know, it takes a very, very strong individual to, you know, replay a lot of the experiences that you've had, you know, a lot of anger that you, you know, had built up, you know, that where you didn't address the situation and you allowed it to fester and then it was just combustion.

Like it was just, it came out and it just, you know, and then you realize like, hey, man, I didn't have to deal with that the same way I dealt with that. Apologizing that that was a step for me just to move forward in my life. Seems like they've made up. Yeah, I still contend he's going to stay in Boston. I really do. I know everybody's talking New York. I think the media wants him to go to New York and I get it. I want him to go to New York.

Sure, I get it. Boston, you've got plenty of pieces. You've got good stuff going on. Let's get the Knicks back on the map again. There was five, six NBA free agents, one move LeBron. Generally speaking, I think most players are like Janice and Damien Lillard. They'd prefer not to move. And unless you get the ideal spot, most players are not as aspirational as MJ and LeBron.

They're not. I agree with that. I mean, we should never assume that anyway. Everyone has a different personality and desires and is motivated by different things. Everyone wants to win, but at what costs also. And we have taken into consideration as well. When you move teams, you also move with expectations. Thank you.

You look at the magnitude that the NBA free agency period has become. If you are a free agent like Kyrie or KD or LeBron or really any of these guys are in the top 20 free agents, wherever you go, you're going to have an expectation to deliver. By the way, all these baseball guys that sign these $300 million contracts and $200 million contracts, you ever notice their first year, they struggle? Because baseball is such a mental game. It gets into their head. Carlos Stanton, A-Rod.

If you go look at the big contract guy, that is something that is very Albert Poole Holes had a really bad beginning. So to your point, once you're the star and get the money in the fame, there's a lot of pressure. Joy with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The Hurd-Lie News. Well, there's a handful of NBA people that I rely on and that I trust. use often Chris Broussard and Chris Haynes on this show via the Coward Global Satellite Network.

Let's go to Sam Amick, the Athletic, Senior NBA Rider, formerly of the USA Today, a guy I rely on often. And let me start with this. Jackie McMullen, you know Jackie, is a legendary NBA writer. She's just fantastic and she's ageless. She's been doing this for 40 years. And she said about a month ago, she said, listen, there's tension in Los Angeles. And I talked to Bill Plashky the other day, and he's like, I'm there every game. I'm not, he is.

I mean, Sam, let's talk about that. There is a burden with LeBron. You got to build to win now. And I sense there's real tension in the Laker building. Do you hear that? I do. I think Plashky's right. I think Jackie, the legend, is right.

I think the dynamic from top to bottom is just not the healthiest. And part of that is we all know the timeline of Luke Walton getting his job as coach. that Magic didn't hire him. Rod Polinkin didn't hire him. Jeannie has supported him all season long. You know, constant rumblings that LeBron's camp and specifically Agent Ridge Paul is not the biggest fan of Luke and that they've kind of kept him at bay. You know, that's part of it.

The AD sweepstakes with Anthony Davis being front and center. And as you know, Colin, you know, all these different trade pieces getting leaked to guys like myself in the media where, you know, the human beings in that Lakers locker room have to then reconcile that, hey, one day you think you're part of a young Lakers' core. Now all of a sudden, you're a chip in the AD sweepstakes. So a lot of layers to it, I do to your question, think that, I mean, the unrest is there. And I think that's going to make it challenging for them in these next five, six weeks as they try to go get that playoff spot. Anthony Davis and clutch sports were hyper aggressive in their sort of strategy.

And then they got pushed back. They got their hand slapped. And there was a lot of, hey, Anthony Davis is willing to play for anybody now. I don't, I don't, I don't, I don't, I don't, I don't it. I still think it's... All 29. Yeah, I think it's... I think it's two. I think it's Boston and I think it's Los Angeles. Gut feeling. Do you think he lands with the Lakers? I don't. I'm going to probably handicap Boston. I think the Celtics have the biggest treasure trove when it comes to New Orleans and whoever is making that call. Right now, Danny Ferry is in charge of the front office. But I think the Celtics are the ones who, once we get to late

June and they can have these discussions and get back in the game, who are going to get the Pelican's attention. The Celtics thing has been fascinating, though, when it comes to the way that Anthony's camp has handled that component, because as you know, his dad comes out and says a few negative things about the Celtics. AD comes out at All-Star Weekend says they're on the list. The KD part comes into play here because I think the Kyrie and KD idea in New York is very much in play. And I think that's, if you're Kyrie, you're looking at this, you know, if I can get AD to Boston, then maybe I don't go anywhere. But if these guys can't get that job done, then maybe I look at the Big Apple.

You know, it's interesting, Sam Amic joining us, the athletic, great NBA writer. You know, it's interesting, Sam, is that if Anthony Davis didn't become a Laker, there is a narrative growing, and I believe Sam, it started last year that not everybody wants to play with LeBron. You know, you're just a tiny, you know, he's the son, everything else is a tiny planet. Paul George chose not to. Kauai. I'm told by somebody I trust. Kauai's Raptors or Clippers, if Anthony Davis doesn't land there,

it does feel like Sam, the LeBron running the league days are over. I mean, this stuff all hits, you know, Peyton Manning. You know, it all ends. It's going to end for Brady eventually. If 80 doesn't land in L.A., I kind of feel like it's a tipping point for the league

kind of moving off LeBron. Am I hyperventilating here? You're not. It's crazy to think how quickly that story has become a real thing, but I honestly don't think it's hyperbole. I don't think we're too far out over our skis to look at it that way because it's not that complicated. To your point, Colin, if AD doesn't go, then let's look at the summer. Kauai is not pegged as a Lakers guy. Clippers definitely if he leaves Toronto. Clay Thompson, by all accounts, going to stay in Golden State. Kyrie, we're talking about New York, other situations.

Jimmy Butler is another one. even if he leaves Philly, I don't necessarily see him going to the Lakers. There are only so many players who qualify, I think, as a worthy co-star for LeBron and Lakerland. And because Father Time is staring at him the way that he is, I think the timing component is huge. Because we've already seen the kind of injury with LeBron this year that is extremely rare for him, longest time he's been on the shelf for his entire career. That's this brutal reminder for the Lakers that, yes, you're ecstatic that you got to this guy, but you did get him in the later stages of his career. I think that's why we saw

this push before the trade deadline so aggressively for them to try to get AD is because they know they've got to do something right now. Yeah, because the Celtic can't make a move until the season's over. Good point. Finally, I know, listen, the NFL, I said yesterday is meet the press. Regardless of the host, it gets a rating it lasts forever. The NBA is more of, it's more of a reality show. They're not going away, but it's as popular as a celebrity. on the show. Right now, you've got some really likable stars and it's a fun. But this Kevin Durant to the next thing, here's why I keep pushing back, is that Kevin from, I mean, from Woz on, I've read stories that it does matter to Kevin. He does want to be seen at some point as superior

to LeBron, at least on the floor. He won his first title, Sam, and about 10% of the people said he's better than LeBron, but it washed out. He wins last year. About 25% of the people are like, you know, he's He's better than LeBron, and it washes away. If he wins it this year, you're going to get about half the people that say, LeBron can't make the playoffs. This guy's the finals MVP. And here's my pushback. That's if he wins this year, and I think they will.

If he came back and did it a fourth, I think, and I think Golden State, based on, you know, can the egos maintain? But, God, Sam, if he won four there, I think there's a lot of people in bars and sports bars around America, that they're just going to say Kevin's better than LeBron, and I think it matters to Kevin. I don't see him leaving Golden State soon. Do you? Right now I do.

And honestly, everything you said makes a ton of sense. I think the one part that you glossed over a little bit, and bear in mind, you know, I'm based pretty close to the Warriors. I'm around them a lot, is that the human component, and these guys sharing the same oxygen for so many years now, is a major factor. And, you know, does that mean that when, you know, June 30th gets there, and he's got to really make up his mind that he doesn't kind of recalibrate and decide that what

you're talking about makes a ton of sense. The idea of just stacking up these chips, he could 100%. The next thing is fascinating, though, because as you know, there's this kind of unique calculus in sports media and sports fandom where the idea of getting one championship in New York is worth however many somewhere else. And that's where I think in his mind, that prospect of going there doing something like that, obviously that's a pretty tough mountain to climb. But doing it in that market in that city with that friendship he has with Jay-Z who knows better than anybody, kind of what New York can bring you. I think that is what he's looking at.

And it's funny because as I was waiting to jump on with you, I heard you breaking down the Russell Wilson story and the idea that backchannel conversations, as you know, agent conversations drive a lot of this conversation that we have. And that's the bottom line about Kevin's situation right now is that his people have gone around the league and talked in pretty, you know, kind of alarming term. about the New York possibility. That's why we're talking about it so much. Wow.

Man, that'd be just crazy. Well, that's why Sam, I love bringing you on. Go subscribe to the athletic, San Amick, a guy I absolutely trust. And Sam, it's great talking to you. Likewise, thanks, buddy. You bet. Sam's right. That's where this stuff starts.

When I heard about Christian Pulisic at the English Premier League, it was about two months out. And I texted, I DMed Mark Madden, who loves soccer. He's a Pittsburgh radio host, and I said, dude, it's happening. I can't talk about it now. I've been sworn to secrecy. The Russell thing I wasn't sworn to secrecy, just like he hasn't been sworn to secrecy with Kevin Durant. This stuff all starts with agents. Yeah, yeah, that's what I was about to say.

So you were sworn to secrecy except for telling someone. He likes soccer. Oh, so you got to pass for one person who also happens to be in the media and might just tell everybody. No, I told him. I said, Mark, don't tell anybody. And I don't think he did. I trusted it. Yeah, famous last words. Right, but you got told don't tell anybody and you told someone. Right. That's why you can't tell anybody anything because everyone's going to tell one person.

I am a vault. And you know what he did? He texts the first person that is also a big fan and was like, don't tell anybody. Come on. I'm human. You can't give me big nuggets. You can't hang a cheeseburger in front of me. Don't take a bite.

Don't take a bite. You give me these things. I'm going to talk about him. Yeah. Well, this is not good. Don't say this. I may be America's leading sports journalist. And I think that goes without an argument, but I can gossip too.

Okay. Coming up next. Cowboys Dax, speaking of the athletic, another story today about the Cowboys and the Dack Prescott. Cowboys are secretly saying this is a massive, massive quandary for us. And I don't think it is. I'm going to give the Cowboys the greatest advice I've ever given a team. Next, the herd. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific. Cold and flu season. Try Vixanax nasal spray. A couple of sprays. Works in seconds. Only you. as directed. Gets rid of that congestion. Good to have you in today. Joy Taylor is joining me. We are packed today.

Sam Amick was great on NBA stuff. Michael Rappaport. Mark Dominic, former NFL GM, will be joining us. Dante Jones also here today. There's actually some sports going on. So I'm reading Bob Stern, writes for the athletic. And they're talking about the largest contract quandary in Dallas Cowboy history, what to do with Dak Prescott's extension.

Jerry Jones likes Dak Prescott. But I was sitting there thinking today is negotiations are all about leverage, even when you're buying or selling a house. And the best advice I could ever give anybody, because I've played around with real estate for years, had 26 homes, bought, sold, whatever, sometimes stayed in a while, sometimes flipped, is weight.

It's amazing how much happens quickly in real estate. markets crash the guy you want to buy the house from loses his job gets a divorce all of a sudden you have the leverage when you didn't have any right now dac has all the leverage two division titles in three years playoff win he's won 70% of his games almost perfect quarterback leadership intangibles jerry's getting older does he want to rebuild uh playing for pennies for the last three years he can go in with his agent and say, I've made you a fortune, you've paid me nothing. That's a lot of leverage for DAC. The Cowboys leverage really comes down to this. Dak only makes $700,000 a year and is only going to make $726,000 from the Cowboys this year. Got another year in his contract left, his

rookie deal. The Cowboys leverage is, why not we just give you $20 million now? Why don't we do a four or five year deal, mostly guaranteed, you know, $20 million a year? So it gives us a discount, but get you money now. Now, Dak appears to have the personality that he would be patient. I think he's a grown-up. But when you don't have leverage, wait. You want to buy that house and the market's hot and the seller's not budging. Wait.

He gets a divorce. He gets demoted. The market crashes. Waiting is an underrated. tool in leverage. What's the worst thing that can happen for the Dallas Cowboys? Joe Flacco happens. Dak gets hot, plays the greatest month of his life,

and the Cowboys win a Super Bowl, and Dak's the MVP. That's the worst case scenario. You're a cowboy fan? You got a trophy. But you're also going to have to pay a B-minus quarterback, Dak, Joe Flacco, A-plus money. All right. So you won't make the playoffs next few years after that.

Remember, Baltimore wins the Super Bowl, pays Flacco a fortune, suddenly can't afford offensive linemen, can't afford receivers, can't keep their best corner. And they 7 to 9, 7 to 9, 7 to 9, 3 straight years. That's with a good owner, good GM, good coach. The worst case scenario is Dak goes on the run of his life like Flacco did for a month and plays completely over his skis. And Flacco and Dak, to me, are B-minus quarterbacks.

And Flacco played A-plus. He was just great for a month. He was great. and then you had to pay him a fortune. All right, but you got the trophy. And you know how fans are in Dallas. They just want a trophy. So, you know, I look at this and let him sit for another year and play.

The Cowboys offensive line, this is not disputable. John, you'll acknowledge this. It's getting old, fast. Okay. How's that going to be behind an offensive line that's not the top eight, not even the best in his own division? Let's let it. Wait, here's the other thing, is that if you sign DAC to a long-term contract, Jason Garrett did not get an extension. You may have a new coach in a year and be looking for a new coach.

And a new coach may say, I'm locked into DAC for four years. I mean, Josh McDaniels had Tom Brady. If Jason Garrett got run out of town, Josh McDaniels looking at that thinking, I got a lot of options. I'm not going to DAC for four years. I'm not saying he would say that, but I'm saying it's a possibility if you had an Urban Meyer. You had a Lincoln Riley. You had a Josh McDaniel in one year. If the Cowboys kind of putter around and go eight and eight and Jerry gets impetuous and says, Garrett's out of here, he got Dak already locked in for five years.

There may be some coaches that say, why would I want to go up against Carson Wentz twice a year? And I got back. It's a possibility. So if I'm the Cowb... Now, Michael Irvin came on this show. He disagrees with me. He said this about two months. months ago on our show.

It's not about performance. It's just about, hey, you're the next guy up. You get to be the highest paid. It doesn't matter in any other, like it does in every other position. So now you got to go to Dak before he becomes up. We got to work together in this.

We're going to give you, well, I'm going to come early. I'm going to give you a long enough deal with enough upfront money so you can be happy, but we're going to get a little bit of a break so we can put some other people around. There's a lot of people that think that. There's a lot of people that think you go to DAC, you pay them off early, and you get a break. Couldn't, I mean, if I was DAC, I would argue that the past three years, and if he plays on it the last four years, you've got a tremendous deal and I've heard of deal. And I've had plenty of money and you've not managed to put a team around me that can get to the Super Bowl. Yeah. No, no, no. Dak, I got to go. Taking a break means what?

Good point. Next hour. Coming up in L.A. It's the herd. One more herd. The herd streams 24 hours a day, seven days a week, within the IHeart Radio app.

Search Herd to listen live or on demand whenever you'd like. Ah, this is the herd. Wherever you may be and however you may be listening, we are live hour two in Los Angeles on IHeartRadio, Fox Sports Radio, and FS1. Joy Taylor is joining me as always. Michael Rappaport. Crazy Michael's going to be joining us,

who looks like Brian Scalibarini, but is not. Cannot play basketball like Brian Scaliburty. Mark Dominic, my friend, used to be the Tampa Bay Buccaneer General Manager, working with him at the other place. He'll be joining us in about 40 minutes. There's a lot of free agent talk out there. I told to the Russell Wilson rumor that's out there, Antonio Brown, O'Dell Beckham, rumor, New England.

These things are gaining steam. And, you know, it's the old smoke, fire. Where there's smoke, there's fire. If you hear stuff, that's because agents have. leaked it somewhere. Stories get out when people want stories out. That's why I've always said, you know, when you have JFK, they make

movies about it. If there was, if there was a secret, nobody would have been able to keep the secret on that thing. Well, apparently, if an agent wants a story, I'll just pass it on over near calling cowherd here. I DM'd one friend. That's still keeping a secret of secret. I told a friend, don't tell anybody.

I am human. You dangle a cheeseburger in front of me. I'll take a bite of it. Really, if you're telling a secret of that, magnitude and you have to say you don't tell anybody you should that's basically like saying okay you can tell one person hey it's a vault right here vault um so rob polenka does not run the lakers but he kind of runs the lakers not to say that magic's a figurehead or lebron isn't important but rob polinca's making the phone calls and doing the scouting international scouting drafting the players and rob polinka said recently about his lakers is you don't want to play us in the first round we could be dangerous

And I know I live in Los Angeles and you think I'm a Laker and a LeBron Homer, but I'm not really. I told you he was going to end up here, and he did. I'd be a homer if I told you he was going to end up here, and he ended up in Philadelphia. I would be a homer if I told you Tom Brady's the greatest and he couldn't make the playoffs. I generally support great. Be great. The rest of it's up to you, not me, to not talk about great. I don't think the Lakers are great.

I do think they're going to make the playoffs because the Clippers treaded Tobias Harris. And here's the current Western Conference standards. endings. Warriors, Nuggets, Thunderblazers, rockets, they're all playoff teams. The Jazz Spurs should be playoff teams unless they melt. And my guess here is the Lakers and the Kings, not the Clippers, battle for the final spot. I think the Lakers get in. I think LeBron in the last two, three weeks, kind of does his Superman thing and carries them to some close wins instead of close losses. But I do think Sacramento is a worthy adversary down the stretch because Sacramento is fun to watch, young, going to be fantastic in the next four or five years.

But I think they get in. But the argument Polinka says is you don't want to play us in the playoffs. So I think the West has one great team with all the answers and seven to eight other teams with nothing but questions. If the Western Conference playoffs started today, I would do the East, but the East is jumbled and will not look anything like it looks today. I think the Western Conference playoffs, as they're constituted today, will look very similar to this. One seed warriors play eight seed clippers. I'll take Golden State in an absolute sweep. They don't tend to, they overlook teams and can get nipped occasionally, but they will roll through the clippers.

Then I think the four seed blazers play the five seed rockets, and I'll take Houston. They are weaker defensively than last year. But this is a Star League. Portland last year got swept by a. star, Anthony Davis. I think James Hardin and the Rockets win. Portland's also a terrible road team. So to win a series, you've got to win some roadies, and I don't think Portland would. Denver two-seed takes on San Antonio. Neither has a transcendent star. Denver shoots the ball much better and is much deeper, so Denver wins that series, I think, quickly. And then Oklahoma City and the

Jazz, I'll take the thunder. The Jazz just don't shoot well enough. Now, they do have Rudy Gobert. which is problematic for Russell Westbrook. He'll drive the basket and not be able to finish at the rim. So it'll be up to Paul George to carry him, but I think he will, and I think the thunder prevail. Then it would be the one-seed Warriors against the five-seed Rockets. I think it's an interesting series, but I don't think Houston's good enough defensively to win. I also, Chris Paul late in the season, you cross your fingers, he doesn't get hurt. I think it's an interesting series.

Four or five, five or six, excuse me, Warriors win. Nuggets Thunder, it's a star-driven sport for the playoffs. Depth does not matter much. Now, Denver's depth will beat San Antonio's depth, but I think the thunder would beat Denver. You've got two stars. They'll get the calls. And I think Paul George right now is the league MVP with Janus. Then it's the thunder taken on Golden State.

And I think that's a bad matchup. I think you can put Draymond on Paul George, knock down his field goal percentage. And then the ever relentless Westbrook shoots his way to infamy. and I think that's a pretty ugly fast series. Not a sweep, but maybe one win, and the Warriors win it. But let's now look at the teams outside of Golden State. We know if the Lakers get in, it's probably an eight seed, and they will get completely rolled by Golden State.

But if they got hot and finished and a seven seat, and by the way, these teams at the bottom of the West are jumbled up. They could go from an eight to a six very quickly. Let's look at all the teams they would face. LeBron against Denver. Well, A, Denver's never been here before. the best player in the floor easily is LeBron and depth doesn't matter

when you get to the second and third rounds of play. It doesn't really matter in the playoffs, to be honest with you. Everybody tightens up their rotation. I'd take the Lakers to beat Denver close. I would. Oklahoma City. Again, LeBron's the best player on the floor. Westbrook has a history of going Westbrook,

shooting too much. Right now, Westbrook's the perfect teammate. I have a history of the last two years. He goes off the rails. He did last year. I could see it happening again. Portland. Again, they got swept last year when they faced a team that had a superstar, Anthony Davis, Houston.

James Harden, very James Hardin dependent in the half court. And James, like Westbrook, sometimes can go off the rails and just have one of those games where he decided waking up and driving to the arena. He wanted to shoot 29, 30 times, and he's off. He was last year. I also don't think they're very good defensively. They don't really have an answer for LeBron. and I think Utah can't shoot, the spurs can't shoot, and the clippers won't end up there.

So I do think if they got in, LeBron would put on the Superman cape. We all acknowledge that LeBron doesn't give you the 42 minutes of effort he used to. He plays sporadically. He plays in spurts. And we also know that in January, February, LeBron always down shifts. I do think if the Lakers can sneak in. Now, Vegas doesn't think they will because they have 25 less, 17 against playoff teams. I'll have the eight non-playoff teams they face.

Six are on the road. I just have a hunch. LeBron puts on the cape and gets them in. But I do think outside of Golden State, all it takes is for the jazz and the spurs to go in to get mired in little slumps here, which is very possible. Neither can really shoot. They don't have shooters on the roster.

You can end up in a four-game losing streak really quickly if you don't have somebody to save you on a nightly basis shooting. And I think the Lakers could make it uncomfortable for everybody except Golden State. I want to shift to this. I saw this story. There was a narrative last year. You remember that when Philadelphia won the Super Bowl, dog masks, politics, a lot of fun, cocky, football. We don't want to do it the way New England does it.

New England doesn't have any fun. Over here in Philadelphia, we have fun. Party. Put on a mask. Party. Well, that lasted about an hour. and Philadelphia is not as good as New England. And I never bought into that long term, and Philadelphia hated me and sent me all sorts of ugly stuff,

because I think football's hard, I think practice is hard, I think film study is endless. I think your body is never 100% healthy. I think football's highly repetitive. And I think it's the only sport where you have five to six times more practices than games. If you want to have fun, get a dog, go skiing. Okay, football's hard. it's like the media is not built to be liked. We're the IRS.

We're not meant to be liked. We audit. That's what we do. Sometimes we give you a check back. Mostly we ask for more money. The media and the IRS are not built to be liked. Football was never built to be fun. Football's hard and repetitive and endless and you're hurt.

And yesterday, Trent Brown came out. He was the new left tackle for the Patriots. And he said, got to be honest with you. The Patriot way is fun. You win. Tom Brady's cool. I like playing here. What? Philadelphia.

What? Folks, your life is built into three sections. You sleep eight, you work nine, you have fun for seven. But there's a reason they call the work part, work. You make seven figures. Your job can't all be fun. That's just not the way it works. And I thought the dog mask eagles were adorable.

It was an easy story to put your arms around. The patriots of the villain of the league, so it was kind of fun to see him get knocked off and everybody embraced it. But somebody who's very smart once told me this. Even in comedy, serious people win. The five richest people in comedy are Howard Stern, Jerry Seinfeld, Steve Harvey, Jay Leno, and maybe Bill Maher. They're all serious people who write comedy, who tell jokes. in Hollywood. A lot of guys with a Lambo driving around L.A.

eating at the Ivy. Spielberg, James Cameron, Hanks. They're Scorsese. They're serious people. Want to have fun by a dog. Football's hard. Just like the media has never been built to be likable, like the IRS. We're in the audit business.

Nobody likes the IRS. Most of you don't like the media. We're not built to be liked. Okay? Football's not built to be fun. Trent Brown, he said, it's kind of fun here, because we win. Football has moments that can be fun slash funny, but they almost always come with one thing, winning. Average and losing football stinks.

The sport is at its best, endlessly repetitive, physically daunting, and hard. Coming up next, Michael Rappaport. I told him, don't bring a 91-mile-an-hour fastball in here. Mid-90s or I'm going to knock it out of the park. Don't throw a backdoor slitty doing 78 miles an hour. That's a wrong show. He better bring his A-game. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon eastern 9 a.m. Pacific

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I will say this, and Michael Rappaport joining us. I am Rappaport podcast, Stereo podcast on iTunes. Crazy Michael. I say that with great respect and admiration, but you're an artiste. You're a producer, you're a talent, you're a comedian, you see the world. You're like my wife. The arguments are good, but she's an artist. She's a creative type, and I am more structured and dependable.

You're all over the map, but I love you for that. Thank you. I do. I am deeply bothered by Russell Westbrook's inconsistency and wild showmanship. You, I would imagine, love it as an artist because he is, he spills a lot of paint and you love Westbrook. Can you acknowledge now, even he admits. Paul George, it's his team. Colin?

Yeah. I was working out on Monday. You were? It was in the hills. I mean working out. Running, jogging, push-ups, burpees, these sorts of things. Okay, burpees. Listening to you on my headphones,

and I wanted to run off the mountain and run over here live, okay, and stop you for what you said about Russell Westbrook. Yes, I like the artistry of Russell Westbrook, because one of the things that makes him so great, whether you love him or not love him, it is a artistic expression for somebody to play that hard, no matter what, night after night. That has nothing to do with talent.

It's an inner thing. It's an Alan Iverson thing. So we can say Russell Westbrook this, Russell Westbrook, that. He may not be the best this. He may not be the best that. But one of the things he does do that is the best is how hard he plays. That being said, Monday morning in my workout, my meditative sat.

During your burpees. During your burpees. And you probably say, why during your private time and your meditative state would you be listening to me? That's my own sickness. Okay. You said on this show, and I quote, Russell Westbrook is a shell of himself. And then you went on to talk about how he passed up shots during the NBA All-Star game.

That in itself shows me that maybe, maybe you got a little sun poisoning over the weekend. Maybe you've gone a little nuts. Maybe your artistic nature is getting the best of you. And you've lost a step, Colin. Because first of all, for you to analyze any player during an All-Star game shows. there's not a lot of sports going on. But the fact that the man, you've been berating this gentleman for years,

the fact that you can call a guy averaging a triple double for the third straight season. And I've been on this show, this show, this couch. Yeah. Yeah. Smells nice over here. Yeah.

And I have said that these stats are a little bit different. Sometimes he pads his stats. But the fact of the matter is, three straight years, he's averaging 21, 11 and 11. 11 and 11 in the sister rebounds are more in both categories. He's averaging four less points than he did last year.

Yeah. You said, be a better teammate. Be a better teammate. He's a better teammate, and what do you do? You call the guy a shell of himself. He is, I will say. You called the man a shell. You said, be a better teammate.

Now he's number two to Paul George to be MVP, possible MVP. And now all of a sudden, after you've rioted him, him, judged him, humiliated him, shamed him, interrupted people's workouts. Burpees. Burpees. Yeah.

Now he's a shell of himself. Colin? What? Not fair. Okay, so yesterday on the show. Can I do burpees while you go? Do one. No, no, just go ahead.

I did say on yesterday's show, he is a better teammate, but he's a better teammate because he knows his shots broken. And Russell, knowing that I'm shooting 65% from the line. he is now relinquishing the ball late. It's not because he's altruistic. It's because he knows. I'm not the same guy. I'm messed up.

He's not Mark L. Fultz messed up, but you don't go 82% free throw to 64 as a guard. If you're a center, you know, you get banged up. It's a wrist issue. No, his shot is broken. His free throw. Well, he's never been great. He was always a great free throw shooter.

He's now a poor free throw shooter. That's mental. So I don't think it's altruistic. It would be like, let's say for instance. But that doesn't mean a shell of yourself because he's in a poor. They mean shell of himself as a free throw shirt. Well, yes. But a shell of himself as a player.

That's what you said. That's what I interrupted my workout. Two years ago, OKC, three years ago, chose Westbrook over KD. Now, they'll say we didn't choose it, but they babied and enabled them. They're not even close now. They don't even look like the same. Kevin Durant is playing at a different level than even LeBron. Westbrook's one for eight on threes in All-Star games.

He can't shoot. Star Games? What are we talking about all-star games? When Alan Averson, the great Alan Ivison said practice and I say all-star games, I'm on the herd with Joy and Con, are we talking about all-star games? Okay, let me ask you this, though. If I got learned, let's say I lost my voice. Like, let's say my voice is shooting for Russell Westbrook. And I lost my voice. My voice was going and I was losing energy. I'm getting, let's say I was getting very old. That'll never happen. And I let Joy do 50% of the talking. Would it be because, uh, altruistic or be because I just can't do it anymore. Westbrook can't shoot.

Therefore, now he's such a great passer. No, he knows guys like me crush him. So he wants to at least get triple doubles. So the narrative is, God, he's setting a record on triple doubles, which are mostly meaningless. Don't really, I mean, come on. You're not into that kind of stats. No, no.

Triple double is literally 10 passes, right? 10 assists. 10 assists. 10 rebounds. Who cares how many rebounds of guard gets? But I mean, he has been great at passing. He's a lot of fluff to those numbers. He's a reluctant passer.

Listen, I've been frustrated with Russell Westbrook, but for you to say shell of himself. What is he then? What's the word I should use? He's not as good as he was a year ago. I don't agree with that. I don't agree with that. He's still tenacious. He's still full tilt.

He still plays hard as crap. He's averaging a triple double. And I'll tell you something. I'll tell you something. If the Lakers somehow get into the playoffs, and if they somehow get into the seven and to the seven, on the seventh spot, and OKC continues, then everybody stays healthy. Oh, OKC would roll them.

Roll them. They'll have a better, they're going to get beaten worse by OKC than they would by Golden State in the first round because I think that LeBron might, you know, do a he he did last year, win one game. OKC, they're going to be like, yo. I just picked him to get to the Western Conference finals. You guys think I'm, people in Arizona think I don't like them. It's like, do I like the Sooners?

Yeah. Do I like Lincoln Riley? Yeah. Did I like Johnny Bench? Yeah. Do I love Paul? I said Paul George should be MVP. It's not like I don't like him.

I'm just, everybody's waving a pomp on palm for Westbrook. Somebody is out here's got to go, hey, he can't shoot. But he's never been a great, great shooter. Now he's terrible. But, but at one point now, I'm not saying now, but at one point, Derek Rose was a shell of himself. He's reinvented himself. And I never liked Derek Rose.

Okay, but we're not, you're talking about like Russell Westbrook is at where Derek Rose was when he was really struggling. Westbrook's better than Derek Rose ever thought of it. But you're saying, that word, shell of himself. It's like a guy who's, like who's done. If I lose my voice. Triple double.

If I'm a shell of myself. Yes. But you have in law. Russell, if you, if you, let me tell you something, Colin. If you lose your voice and you're averaging a triple double, you should, you should, you should wake up and thank your lucky stars. You should see my ratings or a quadruple double. Ha, ha, ha, ha, I like that.

I could go down to a triple double. Hey, you know what? Your ratings are fantastic. And I just want to say something. Maybe it has something to do with some of the great guests you pick. I'm here. I'm here. I'm here right now.

How about this? How about this one? This is a real. one. Hey, Sammy, throw up the standings again. You know, I generally, I used to live in Vegas, but I do believe everybody's got bias. We're all human. Yes. The only place that's really without bias is Vegas. They don't care. Vegas is like, we want to win money. So, you know, you can say this host is liberal, this is conservative, this is, I've got bias. You know, I'm a social liberal. So I tell people, I'm a fiscal moderate conservative, I'm a social liberal. It even shapes my sports opinions. Okay. Financially, I tend to be about. I'm a social liberal. I tell people, I tend to be about,

organization, not star player. Handful of exceptions. But if you look at the Western conference right now, the Lakers are three games out. They got to get past the Kings. I think you can make a real argument. They do match up with some of the Western teams. I'm not sure they're getting in.

I agree. This guy, Polinka, maybe he's putting too much hair gel. Maybe he needs a natural hair drug because he's always got the hair. He's got the hair. He's confident. You ain't confident. I don't think you can be. Here's the other thing.

Michael, if... There's no identity on that team. Think about this. You're a podcast, a comedian, a producer. You're a creative. You're multi-talented. And you know this in Hollywood. Yes.

As you age as an actor, you can have a bomb. Marlon Brando had him. Tom Hanks had the Larry Crown. What was that? Hanks had a terminal. Yes. Yeah, he had terminal. An old actor can have a bomb.

But if you have... to ask Kevin Costner in a row, they stop Colin, and you've got to take roles that aren't ideal. Is Hanks has had a couple of bombs. He always follows with a home run. LeBron doesn't make the playoffs this year. And Anthony Davis does not come to the Lakers. To me, it's the aging actor.

It's a tipping point. I agree. People are just saying, well, I had just Sam Amick on, good reporter. he's like, I think he's not going to go to L.A. I think we're watching the end outside of Brady. These things happen. We just saw Farr if we had Peyton. We're watching Big Ben.

I think if they don't make the playoffs, and I think it's a coin flip. It's a coin flip. How do we view LeBron if 80 doesn't arrive and they don't make the playoffs? How do you view him? Well, we view him as this is the beginning of the end. And let me say this, I'm hard on LeBron, but I don't wish injuries on any player in any sport.

Clear on that. listen, they don't make the playoffs. I came on this couch in the beginning of the season, and I said I thought they were going to make it to the Western Conference finals. They don't make the playoffs and this injury, and he's starting, I think he's already planning for failure. He said a quote before the All-Star break, I don't have to achieve anything else.

I'm not chasing anything else in basketball. Okay, you get injured. You're producing TV shows, movies. Now you're Quincy Jones. a music record. He always said more than an athlete. God bless you. He can compartmentalize. When he gets on a court, he's going to go full tilt. But your body does what the body does. And that one injury gets to another injury. I think that LeBron James will not play through his entire Laker contract. I think LeBron James will wind up retiring early. Think about this, Joy, and Michael,

this could all happen in like a four-month stretch. He misses, he's hurt, he misses the playoffs, and he doesn't land AD. If those three things happen... He ain't coming here in the summer. I'm just telling you, for the aging actor, you have a second bomb. You lose out to a young star Ryan Gosling

in a movie you thought you had. You start the domino effect. We could go from injury, no playoffs, Mrs. AD. I'm telling you, it is, we have reached a complete tipping point. You're smiling at me. I don't think it's... We're already at one.

I'm smiling because it's LeBron. James and there's not an option for the sports guys to allow us to have the NBA playoffs without him. You know what, Joy? It's going to happen. We have to get used to it because just like Jordan, just like Kobe, just like in all sports, if he didn't make the playoffs this year, and I think that they will. If I had to bet money, I think that they will make the playoffs. But if he didn't, good, you know why?

Because we get to, like last year, Kyrie wasn't with the Celtics. We learned all about these great Celtics players. Jason Tatum, Jalen Brown, Terry Rozier. We're going to have to, at some point, whether you're a LeBron fan or a LeBron hater, we're going to have to get ready for the end of this era. And there's the Janus's, there's the Tatum's, there's the Philly guys, there's the Toronto guys,

there's the Donovan Mitchells, there's the Aaron Gordes, whoever you're into, there's the Knicks guys. We're going to have to get ready for the NBA without them. And this is a little litmus test. I do think they're going to make the players. They're getting bumped. And you know what's going to happen when they get bumped? What?

I'm going to come on this show with my Bruins. because it ain't going to be pretty. I'm going to have that broom out. And I'm going to sweep up. I'm going to go right down to the staples. And I'm going to start sweeping. Well, in between your burpees. Oh, yeah.

Oh, yeah, Colin. I was really upset about that. Really upset. I know I can tell you. A lot of it. You're getting very emotional right now. All right. It's been nice having you.

I gave you 14 minutes or something. That's a lot on this show. And I liked when you called me crazy Michael Rappi. But I'm like the guy at 7-Eleven who you're trying to avoid. But I got you. But I got you. Really? Is that what you've become?

been reduced to the crazy guy at 7-11. When you say crazy, Michael Ruppa, first I'm like, oh, that, and then I'm like, no, I like, I like, I like that. The guy that buys Annie freeze and actually thinks it's a beverage. Yeah, that's right. That's right. I've been behind the line at 7-Eleven with that guy. Yeah, I'll see it. I'll see it the deliator.

I'll be there. I'm Michael Rappaport. Joy Taylor with the news. No, no, no, no, no. Turn on the news. This is the herd line news. All right, we have some breaking news, Colin. Oh, what, huh?

Huh, huh? Levy on Bell will be a totally unrestricted free agent come March 13th. There's been some speculation that the Steelers might use the transition tag in hopes of getting some better compensation back. But according to Jeremy Fowler, the Steelers are not tagging Levion Bell, according to their GM. Levion is still a great player. We can't afford to use any other type of tags. Leveon will be an unrestricted free agent at the start of the new league year. Bell's agent can start talking to teams on March 11th.

He wants more than $17 million per year. so the Colts and the Jets are the ones that have the most space. Yeah, I don't think the Colts will get him. I think the Jets are strongly considering Lavian Bell. In fact, I'll go as far to say somebody I trust within the league in the last week, as said, the Colts are not going after him. They are not. The Jets are in the building, the Jets are considering it.

So this is interesting. So he's just out there now. highest bidder go. Yep. I think that he would be interesting with the Jets. I'm not sure on the situation with the Buccaneers, but I feel like we've talked about that a lot as a possible landing space for him. I mean, the issue is money.

Like, all the teams would be interesting with Levy on Bell, but no one really can afford it. I would also throw out the Ravens, because with Lamar Jackson, who is not, I don't think he'll ever be a world-class thrower, they've got Lamar. They drafted two really good tight ends. You go Lavian Bell.

You are a run-first-run-centric team. I think that's the way. Once you draft the quarterback in the first round, he has to succeed. Your job to figure out what he does well. Dak, very good with Zeeke. Gough, better when he has a great run component. Lavian Bell, I'm going to guess Ravens, Jets are my two guesses. Ravens are Jets.

I'm going to go Jets and Bucks just because of the money situation. I mean, he sat out for money and he's got to make that back. But anyway, he is an unrestricted free agent. All right. So the annual showdown between doing. in North Carolina in the 9,314 seat gym. That is Cameron Indoor Stadium. Yeah.

Pretty big one. Add in Zion Williamson. And it's insane. As of right now, the cheapest seat for tonight's game on subhub is listed at $3,166. Wow. That is to get in the door. Okay. Just think about this kid is moving the ticket prices in college basketball.

What is he going to do in the NBA? Yes. And we are not in the tournament yet. I mean, this is just a regular season game. I mean, this is why, Joy, he's going to be the number one pick. Yeah, I totally agree. This is exactly why if you have the number one overall pick, you don't have an option of going with something that may fit

or you see potential or growth, then you have to go with Zion Williamson. You can't explain it to your fan base while you didn't. He literally moves the needle. This is obvious. This is cool, actually. Most of the seats available on both sites are listed into the 4,000 range. And just to put this in perspective,

the getting the door price for the Super Bowl, the Rams and Patriots was around $2,300. Now, I will say this. For anybody that doubts this kid, he's got two or three things that are going to make him a star on the NBA. Transformative size, ridiculously great first step for a guy that size,

and a beautiful touch around the rim. As long as he can learn to shoot free throws, he's a 22-point, 24-point guy, because I'm telling you, folks, that body, that's like Carl Malone, Larry Johnson, a little Blake Griffin. He makes it look like the rim is too low.

Yeah, he does. I don't know. I can't wait for the tournament. It's going to be awesome to watch them. And finally, Jason Tatum is easily one of the most exciting young players in the league. And despite that team being loaded with talent, the Celtics playoff chances completely rely on Tatum playing well. The Celtics are 23 and 0 when Tatum is plus 9 or better and plus minus

and 29 and 2 when he's plus 6 or better. They are 2 and 14 when Tatum is in the negative for plus minus. He plays well, they win. That's it. They really need them. This to me is also a big factor in what will happen with the Celtics in the off season once free agency starts because I would not trade him. I know he's a hugely valuable piece. No, no.

And he's young. He's in his second year. He's doing this in his second year. He is the core of that team. If Kyrie ends up leaving. Can you imagine if the Philadelphia 76ers wouldn't have traded up and just taken him? Lord. Well, I mean, I think if we would

redrafted, you know, a few of these. They'd have him beat Tatum Simmons. Yeah. And the extra first round. If Philadelphia would have just sat there and taken him, nobody's in the east has beaten Philadelphia forever. That'd been like 10 years.

It's something. He's playing amazing. It'll be really interesting to see what they do with them. It's a pre-agency. Jerry Taylor with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The herd lying news. Should the Cowboys rush to pay DAC? What do we do with Lavian Bell, former NFL general manager friend of my Mark Dominic is going to join us next on the couch.

Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific. Mark Dominic has over 20 years of NFL scouting and front office experience, a former Bucks GM for four and a half years. I did a little work with John Gruden, by the way. Mark, it's great to see you again. We did some work at the other place. I want to start with something. Lavian Bell, Joy Taylor, just breaking the news, is an unrestricted free agent. It feels like to me the Jets need multiple playmakers to help a young quarterback and an average O line.

That feels like I'd roll the dice if I was the Jets. Does it feel like that's one of the places that makes sense? It makes a lot of sense. I mean, with a young quarterback, you know, you like to have a young tight end and you like to have a good running back because those are the outlets, right? Especially with Levyon Bell with the way his hands and how good he is out of the backfield, as we all know, to be able to sit there and say, I've got a comfort with my, it's my blindness blanket. By the way, John Dorsey's done this with Baker Mayfield. They now have Kareem Hunt, Duke Johnson, Nick Chubb, and a great tight end.

So Cleveland's doing what you're suggesting. That's what you want to put around a young quarterback to give them the best chance to have success. Because, again, those are easy decisions. Those are easy throws. You can game plan around that and build some confidence up in a young player. And so for Sam Darnold, if you can have Laveon Bell back there, carrying the ball, but also then flexing them out, put them out in space and using those hands as well, he's a two-way threat for them offensively.

So it makes a ton of sense to me. Then you put in the factor of the cap space that they have. I could see where if you want to kind of jet and move that team forward quickly with a running back like this, I think that this is something Woody Johnson, him as an owner, would appreciate the name recognition in New Yorktown too because they're kind of tired of here in Berkeley all the time. Yeah, that's a good point. Mark Dominic, over 20 years in this business. Let's move to Antonio Brown. We've heard reports, and I think they're substantial, that the Patriots did look at Odell Beckham Jr. We know Antonio Brown's going to be picked up by somebody.

If they were both available, OBJ, who's been now twice rumored to be on the market, one off-season, one maybe during season. Okay, so, and then Antonio Brown, who would you choose? Antonio Brown. Why? I like the body type of Antonio Brown. I like the thickness of them. I mean, consistently on the football field, doesn't miss time.

I think he's a fierce competitor. I think OBJ is all those. Look, OBJ is a great player, too. we're talking two of the top five guys in the National Football League. But for me, Antonio Brown, I actually really love when I watch him on tape just the power he brings with the ball in his hands, how good he is. OBJ can stretch the top off and take off all that kind of stuff. I think Antonio Brown, because of the way he uncoveres but goes inside and is able to take all those hits,

I think that makes him a better pro player for me. So I would be more excited, even though I know I'm getting an older player. I also don't think all this stuff we're hearing and everything that's concerning for Antonio Brown and how he's coming out publicly. it's a different feel to me than OBJ and what he was going through and all the stuff that we were talking about him. So I would have more confidence pursuing him in terms of Antonio Brown over OBJ. One of the rumors was Antonio Brown to Oakland. You work with John Gruden in Tampa.

Does he have the DNA to handle an outspoken star? John does. John can handle just about anybody. I mean, John could put you in your place really fast. I mean, he put Warren Sapp in his place. and that's about as tough as it gets in terms of to be able to trigger an emotion to make you compete is really hard.

I covered Warren Sapp and outspoken and difficult in Tampa. And John knew how to actually push the right button. So John's excellent that way. I mean, again, we won the Super Bowl with John. He was able to take a veteran team and really kind of change the offense in one season and how we got all the way to the winning Super Bowl 37.

John knows how to push buttons on players. So he's very good there. The problem I have there is if they go with Antonio Brown, not only they let Amari Cooper walk away, and Antonio Brown's a better player than Amari Cooper. Yes. But, you know, 25 versus 28 or whatever.

But they let Cleo Mac go because they didn't have money. And now you're going to suddenly have money. So the only way I could understand that is that's being a selfish head coach in terms of John Gruden saying, we got money just on the offensive side. That defensive side, forget that. By the way, he wasn't when he had more control over drafting and everybody's got weaknesses, John wasn't a great drafter. Yeah.

No. No. The more power John got in personnel, I thought John was good as a coach, but he became rock star and then he wanted to exercise his power and the more power John had in drafting. I think most coaches aren't, Belichick can't draft a wide receiver to save his life. No, the Patriots, really, if you look at the Patriots, just draft history. They're not that great. They're not Bill's a genius.

And Jimmy Johnson, to me, was always a personnel guy. As a game coach, he was good. Personnel. Amazing personnel. Jimmy's one of the, Jimmy could be the best personnel eye of any coach in league history. I think Pete Carroll has a very good personnel eye. You know, game coaching, sometimes I like it sometimes. I don't. Let me shift to this. Cowboys are saying, listen, they don't have to pay Dak for another year.

Agreed. He's making 700 grand. I could say, let's see how you do with an aging offensive line. What would you do if you're him? Or do you sign him now and say, hey, I'll give you $18 million a year, but I'll pay you now instead of 15 months. If he takes 18 a year, I'd sign him in two seconds. Could you like him? Well, I like him, but, I mean, the going market's 30, right? So if you want to take 18, sign me up. I think everybody in the National Football League would say, I'll take Dak, Prescott at 18 million. assuming that that kind of a deal, Colin, because I think that would be really a low offer. I think the only reason I would sign Dak Prescott.

And I'm a Dak Prescott fan. Like the guy's thrown for 10,000 yards. He's got, what, 32 wins and only 16 losses. We forget all the things, durable, 48 straight starts, and we're just like beat this poor man up. And I know he's still got deep ball accuracy that he has to improve upon. I get that. I think every cowboy fans goes, but the deep ball.

I get it. But I like this quarterback. I've always liked Dak Prescott from when he came to the Senior Bowl to where he's now. remember watching him at the Senior Bowl and coming out publicly on other networks and sitting there saying, I would draft this guy. So he's always been the guy I like. I think he started out so hot. And everybody says, well, the offensive line, that's why he's having all the success. He's still got to make decisions. He's still got to make good throws. You still got to make good reads. You still took that Green Bay game all the way to the end and you just lost. He's not a world-class armed talent, but he's got a lot of things he does. He's got great leadership. He's a little mobile, durable body, mobile enough. Let me shift to Kyler Murray. Speaking of the Senior Bowl, did you go this year as well? Did I go to the senior?

Yes. Yeah, yeah. So when you go to the senior bowl, what's the process with Kyler Murray, who I do think in 2019 will be a first round talent? Eight years ago, pre-Brussell Wilson probably pass. But I watch him with Lincoln Riley, and I'm like, Lincoln Riley, he's a heck, I think he throws a good ball. So I like Kyler Murray.

No, I do. And I think the interesting thing for Kyler Murray is that he's got the combine next week. So I'll be going to the combine next week and watching all the quarterbacks go there and and throw. And I think right now the sad thing is he's debating whether he should. throw or not, and I think that's a complete mistake. Kyler Murray has to prove to everybody that he loves football. And the first way you start to prove that is compete at the combine.

You know, his height weight's going to be what it is. We're all going to get to see that. But how does he throw the ball because he is a shorter quarterback? Russell Wilson, Drew Breeze, they have great high release points where the ball comes out really high. So there are six-foot quarterbacks or just under, but have high release points at 6-2 or 6-3. Kyler Murray is even shorter than they are.

I want to see where that ball comes out of his hand. And there's a lot of stuff we've got to dig into this young man. terms of how much does he really love football? Think of all the things. As a former general manager, what would I be doing with Kyle and Murray? I would be calling, number one, I'd be calling Billy Bean. And I would talk to Billy Bean, like, why did you take the ninth pick in the draft on this guy? Like, what did he say to you to prove to you that you would actually invest that kind of a collateral for your organization? I'd want to talk to his baseball. It's Scott Boris. What's he said to you? Because obviously he's got a different representation now

in the national football. And those guys aren't going to gas him up. They're not happy with him. No, and then I think the other thing that's really interesting about Kyler Murray trying to dissect this young man because it's such a big decision is the Oklahoma situation. Every player there over the last couple of years obviously has had a chance to sit there and say, we've played with Baker Mayfield and now we've played with Kyle Murray. I mean, how great is that. But tell me how they're similar. Tell me how they're different. Who loved it more? So find some Sooners who played with both.

Absolutely. Dig into that locker room. There's so much information you've got to pull out on this young man because the scary thing is with Kyler Murray. as a former general manager, is if it doesn't go well, if he doesn't get draft where he wants to go or he struggles early, and I like the talent, but he can grab his other ball and go home. And that's what you're always worried about. He's one of those rare people that go, I'm going to pick up a baseball,

and I'm going back to baseball because it's not working the way I wanted it to. I don't know if he thinks that way. I want to meet him, but you have a lot of opportunity to dissect him and find out how important football really is. Well, I think that, and what you point is, football's hard. It's really hard for quarterbacks in the first two years. So if you do meet an obstacle and you're getting ripped by

the media, does he have the kind of innate intuitive love for football that he's like, I don't care? Is the grit there? Or if you've got an exit off the interstate and it's really comfortable and lucrative. Good stuff. Mark Dominic, you're at the Combine next week? The Combine next week. I think we're at the Combine next week.

We may just tend to you with a mic flag and you can do something there for us. Listen, we'll put you to work. Let's do it. It's a grind joint. Good to see you again. It's great to see you again. Hour number three, Dante Jones around the corner in Los Angeles. This is the herd.

Want more herd? The herd streams 24 hours a day, seven days a week within the IHeart Radio app. Search Herd to listen live or on demand whenever you'd like. This is The Heard Hour 3. We are live in Los Angeles, wherever you may be, and however you may be listening. IHeart Radio, Fox Sports Radio, and FS1. By the way, cold and flu season, try Vixinex nasal spray, use his directed. A little squirt up there. Works up to 12 hours. Joy Taylor is joining me for hour number three. Big story, congratulations on getting that out there. Labian Bell is an unrestricted free agent.

Well, I didn't report it. Jeremy Fowler reported. I just read his report. Who did? Who did? Who did it? Jeremy Fowler. I did not report that.

It seems to me on this show you reported it. I am not taking credit for other people's work. John, do we have a breaking news for Joy Taylor appeared to break that story? I read it. Breaking news. Ashley gave me the paper and I read it. That's the amount of credit I'd serve for that. small j journalism but it still feels sort of like journalism to me it's not it's just i'm just telling everyone

what happened okay channel 83 serious xm the herds on that as well so that's a real story yes uh lavian bell to me makes a lot of sense you know cleveland with baker mayfield's getting this thing right to be honest with you they're kind of getting it right where they're giving them a bunch of running backs okay so i saw this tweet with antonio brown and art runy yesterday you can see that on the screen um and it simply dawned on me Green Bay Packers, in the conveyor belt of quarterbacks, you're never going to get another Aaron Rogers. It's almost unthinkable you went Farve to Rogers. In between Bart Starr and Brett Farve, you went 20 years and nothing.

Go get Antonio Brown. And there's a lot of different reasons. Number one, the Chicago Bears are your rival. They went out and got a superstar. Good luck against that Chicago defense with a 35-year-old often hobbled Aaron Rogers and Devante Adams. one weapon. Congrats. Good luck on that. Number two is, what was the one move in the NFL last year that really changed an offense? The Dallas Cowboys went out and got Amari Cooper. Wide receivers mattered more. If Amari Cooper can elevate Dak Prescott, what can Antonio Brown do for Aaron

Rogers? Number three is, Green Bay's got two first round picks. Give one up. It's going to take a first round pick and maybe a backup player, some kind of player, maybe a later pick to get Antonio Brown, this is the year. You've got two first round picks. Give one up. And four, Green Bay can't land generally top free agents.

You got the pick. Make a trade. Make it happen. You know, I'm reading stories. I read a story this morning, the Packers quarterback coach. Aaron Rogers wants to be coached. That was the article. You know what Aaron Rogers wants? More good players around him. Of course, Aaron Rogers wants to be coached.

Everybody needs and wants. LeBron wants to be coach. Kevin Durant wants to be coach. Michael Jordan wanted to be coach. Kobe wanted to be coach. What Aaron Rogers wants is more good players around him. And Aaron Rogers may only have a couple, two, three max years left in his prime. I mean, to really hit it.

He gets hurt more and more. You know what Green Bay feels like to me? They feel like they max their 401K. No risky investments. We don't do tech stocks over here. we pay off our house and we drive dependable cars. Great. Chicago Bears, Philadelphia Eagles, Cowboys, Rams, you know, playoff teams.

They're like, yeah, we do some tech stocks. Yeah, sometimes we make investments in stuff that could fail, but you can get rich. And we're not going to pay off our house. We're just going to move into a bigger house because we have enough security in ourselves that we'll be able to make a decent mortgage payment. We're confident enough. I mean, the Packers always feel so Midwest, they feel so safe, and they feel so prudent, and they feel so reasonable, and they feel so wholesome, and they use coupons.

The Packers, boy, the Packers, they literally use every time they get a coupon. They are using that coupon, and that is, they are always balancing their checkbook. Nobody balances their checkbook like Green Bay, down to the penny. 2019, even the Patriots went out and tried Josh Gordon. Green Bay, it's time to get comfortable with a little discomfort. And Antonio Brown will make you a little uncomfortable. He'll go and do tweet stuff and a Facebook live. You do remember Green Bay what Moss did with Tom Brady for two and a half years.

It rocked the league. You do get Green Bay. You got two first round picks. You're not going to have that again. You do get Green Bay. You don't land free agents. You do get Green Bay. You went far to Aaron Ron.

That never happens. That just doesn't happen. Okay, Lakers had to go out and get LeBron in his 16th year. You don't draft Kobe. Ten years later, you draft another Kobe. It doesn't work that way. I mean, everything is perfect for Green Bay. You have an extra first.

You already have one good receiver. Devonte Adams as a number two receiver, spectacular. Aaron Rogers has a 35-year-old coach who's been a coordinator for one year. Of course he wants to be coached, but what he wants is players at his level. Make it happen. Antonio Brown and the Packers makes way, way too much sense. All right, yesterday we talked about this. And what do you know?

The day after we talked about it, about two hours later, Damian Lillard of the Portland Trailblazers, came out and really picked up where we left off. Damian Lillard, great player, came out. yesterday and said, I'm not willing to sell myself out for championships. I want to stay here. Here he is. Here's Damian Lillard. I do want to win a championship, but it's other stuff that means more to me. Got you.

I understand. It's almost like I'm not willing to sell myself out for that. My career is over. I'm going to know the relationships that I'm going to have that I did it the right way. And I took people's situations and their families and what could be into consideration before I just made a decision. based off, all right, this is what would be best for me. By the way, this is what we talked about yesterday. LeBron has created this myth that all stars want to be global.

And all stars are seeking super teams. And all stars are politically engaged. And all stars, dreams are limitless. No, they're not. No, they're not. By the way, Tim Duncan never had an interest in leaving. Kobe never left. Dirk never left.

Dwayne Wade did for an hour, came back. Kevin Garnett never wanted to leave Minnesota, and he's a Hall of Fame first ballot guy. He left and said, I don't want to do this. I just want to win more. There is a handful, and I mean a small handful of guys that really think like LeBron. By the way, Damien Lillard doesn't want to leave. Russell Westbrook doesn't want to leave. Remember when we had Janus, the MVP this year probably?

Remember what he said on our show a year ago? I like finishing the stuff that I have with Milwaukee. My goal is to win in Milwaukee, so I will never leave for LA. I can't judge every situation. KD. thought he was the right move to Gold State, so he did it. I think the right move for me is to stay in Milwaukee, so that's what I'm going to do. And I believe him, and I believe Damien Lillard. folks before Michael Jordan

did you ever really think there was going to be a basketball player who really had aspirations to own a team that was Michael's aspiration I'd never heard of a player before that that talked about it but Michael's the greatest player probably that ever played and before Michael nobody talked about owning a team

Michael was uniquely gifted and uniquely aspirational and uniquely driven to be successful in business Michael was an outlier. Even LeBron now in his 16th year signed a four-year deal with the Lakers. Why? Because he's in his 16th year. And he knows as you get older,

even the world's best player wants a little security. The truth is, LeBron's title runs are mostly over. But Colin, what about Kevin Durant? I've said it all year. I don't think he's leaving. What about Kyrie Irving? 75-25, I think he stays. He's flaky. He talks.

He says a lot of things. I think he stays. What about Anthony Davis? He was in a crappy organization for six and a half years until he said, I'm over this crap. I would have done the same, so would you. What about Kauai Leonard? I don't know.

He doesn't talk. He's got a weird laugh. I have no idea what he's doing. I'm told it's a 50-50 coin flip, Toronto and the Clippers. But just because Michael Jordan and LeBron, probably the two greatest basketball players I've ever seen, just because they briefly alter the power structure in the NBA, where a player single-handedly is more important than a big chunk of the league.

Don't think that is the league. Last year, we had five, six big free agents. One, one moved. What a shock. It was LeBron. Damien Lillard is overwhelmingly what most players are. Pretty loyal, comfortable. making a lot of money, being in a city with their family, don't have to move their kids.

As long as the team doesn't completely screw it up, like the Pelicans, like the Cavs for six years with LeBron the first time, as long as the team gets a decent coach and shows some stability in the organization and can win and surround said superstar with some pretty nice pieces, players don't want to leave. Don't take MJ and LeBron and think that's the league. It's not. Damian Lillard said, and I believe him, and Yonis said, and I believe him, this is where I want to live. Portland, Milwaukee. And that is the majority of players, even stars in the NBA. Former LeBron teammate, championship with the calves, Dante Jones, is around the corner. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific on Fox Sports

Radio, FS1, and the IHeard Radio app. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind. Highlights are trending, opinions are flying, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in. I'm Timbo. Every episode, we're cutting through the noise, breaking down the plays, the controversies, and the stories behind the headlines. We go straight to the source, the athlete themselves, their locker room stories, their reactions, the stuff nobody gets to hear. The laughs, the drama, the triumphs, the moments that never make the highlight real. From viral moments to historic games, from buzzer beaters to controversial calls, we break it down, give you context, and ask the questions everybody wants answered.

Sports Slice brings you closer to the action with stories told by the people who live them. Listen to Sports Slice on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Sliced Life 12 in the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hardway with me, your host, and your favorite therapist, Kear Games. And in recognition of Mental Health Awareness Month, I'm bringing over a decade of my own experience in the mental health field and conversations with so many incredible guests.

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

Steve Burns, Dustin Ross, you find it important to be a good person while you hear on earth? Are you a good person because you're afraid? Because that's two different intentions, bro. Absolutely. And that's two different levels of trust. I want you to just really be a good person. Join me, Kear Gaines, is we have real conversations about healing,

growth, fatherhood, pressure, and purpose on my new podcast, Learn the Hardway. Open your free iHeartRadio app. Search Learn the Hardway and listen now. What's up, guys? This is Clever Taylor the Fourth. And on my podcast, The Cliver Show, I'm bringing you conversations about all kinds of stuff.

Like being an internet famous referee. We're in the middle of a game. This linebacker, this linebacker walks up to me. He goes, hey, ref, my mom wants you to wave at her. What? Quarterback on office blue with 42. Hey, rep, my mama want you to wave at her. What?

Where's she at? Hey, Miss Parker. Listen to the Clippers show on the I-Heart Reef at. Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. American soccer is about to explode. The World Cup is coming. Ramers sending on to Ernie Stewart for Chip. I'm Tom Bow.

On our podcast, inside American soccer, you'll get the real storylines. I'm not worried about Policic. I'm not worried about Balagan. I'm not worried about McKinney. My only concern is what happens in the back. The biggest decisions. If you're going to look at stats and numbers, he has no shot at making this World Cup team. And the truth about the U.S. national team.

It wouldn't be a huge surprise if our team ends up in the quarterfinals or potentially a great run into the semifinals. The World Cup is almost here. Experience it all with us. Listen, inside American soccer with Tom Bogart and Tab Ramos on the iHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, wherever you get your podcast. By the way, Boston Bruins take on the Vegas Golden Knights at 10 Eastern. card key matchup, get your free credit scorecard today, even if you're not a Discover customer. Learn more. Discover.com slash credit scorecard. Limitations apply. By the way, our next guest is smart and he went to Duke, Dante Jones. And, you know, you know, all this stuff. So you're a Duke guy.

Yeah. Handsome, smart guys go to Duke. So here's a story. Zion Williamson is, I told Joy, they played a night against Carolina. Tickets are going for more than the Super Bowl. Yeah. Floyd was at the last game, right? Yeah, I mean, the bottom line is. I don't even remember. Joy asked me two days ago, when was the last college basketball player

that got you to a TV set? And I was like, Patrick Ewing? I don't even remember. Kobe didn't play. LeBron didn't play. Garnett didn't play. Good question. I mean, I don't even remember.

Anthony Davis was good. Everybody to the TV. I would say Carmelo Anthony, halfway through the year, you're like... During the tournament? Yeah, I mean, Danny Manning was a... Manning's playing tonight. I'm too young for that.

Yeah, I mean, I'm just telling you, Patrick, Ewing was, oh my God, Patrick Ewing's on television. And by the way, he kept coming back and back. I mean, there's been teams. Oh, no, no, no, no. A lot of teams. I'm talking.

And if you're, if you're excluding what happens in the tournament. No. Katie and not. I'm thinking out loud. No, he was a skinny kid that scored points, but nobody watches Big 12 basketball outside of Kansas. True. Seriously.

There's been six guys in my life. Pearl Washington, Patrick Ewing. The Duke team, Leitner was great. Oh, Shaq. Shack at LSU. When Shaq was on, you were like, No, Grant Hill? No, because it was just Duke.

They're all good. That's very disrespectful, but that's fine. No, I'm just playing. I covered the final four where they beat UNLV. So I want to give you my thumbnail sketch on Zion Williamson, and you just rip it apart. Please. Probably won't be able to because it'll be genius, but here goes.

Transformative size. Very, very good first step. You're going to get fouled a lot. Really nice, touch for a big around the rim. He's not a big. Well, he's an athlete. Positionless basketball is what we play right now.

So he can guard one through four right now. Concern. Does he become Oliver Miller heavy and he's big now? He's been losing weight. Okay. Secondly is he's about 67% from the free throw in line. He's going to give up 10,000 points in this league if he didn't get to 74%. But I think he's a 20 plus NBA player really soon. Really quick.

Second year. he does one thing that most players don't do sometimes with his talent level, his athleticism. He gives energy and he plays extremely hard. He does not need the ball in his hands. Name some guys in this draft that are the top five of the last couple of drafts that don't need the ball in their hands to be successful. That's a good point. Okay. Ben Simmons without the ball doesn't do much for me.

Doesn't do much for you. But this kid can go get the ball. So he rebounds at a high clip. He can go get the ball and make plays. He gives energy and he plays with a lot of energy. He plays hard and people look like they're having fun playing. When have you seen two kids that could possibly go one and two really enjoy playing with each? Fab five.

It's like a fab five look. Right. And that's a rare occurrence. It's a long time ago. And that shows a genuine appreciation for how hard they both play and their love for the game. He loves the game of basketball. Now, shooting is not an issue because we watched Kauai Leonard develop a jump shot over a year. years with the right coach. And they have the same, six degrees of separation because

Chip England was Kauai shooting coach. Chip England is Duke grad. So it's nothing for Zion to be able to possibly run into Chip because Chip is always on campus and always helping kids with basketball. It's not like it's a, it's a paid thing. It's about I'm giving back to my university, which is awesome. Like some guys don't really care about that university. You know, it's interesting because Joey and I were talking about Zion. and he plays tonight, and it's obviously, he's the, I cannot remember a college kid. I'll go home tonight, and I will, I can always tell when somebody matters, because I get home and I never do this.

You used to do it with a TV guide. You know, I go to my, I go to my TV and I look up, oh, when's Duke playing? I don't do that much. Or I go to the internet. I don't, you know, used to be the TV guide you'd get home. Let me throw this out. That when you look at Zion, does this worry you? that he plays with this incredible juice and this incredible energy.

But he doesn't, okay, R.J. Barrett's the number two, Kai, right? So Joey and I went back and forth on this. He's a skilled. Okay, so again, you're a GM. I have this theory that you had to draft LeBron because you'd be fired if you didn't. Right. You had to take Jadavian Clowny, who literally looked like nobody in the league at 17, that you will be forced to take Zion Williamson,

because the owner's going to say, do you see what the tickets go for it, Duke? You have to take him number one. Even if he may not be the best long-term fit, you would be forced as an owner to take him. You're absolutely correct, because it's like Greg Oden and Kevin Durant. Kevin Durant was the most skilled.

He kind of had the biggest ceiling because you saw his skill level, he saw what he could do, and his body got, like, all the what-ifs that went behind it. And then Greg Oden's like, you can't, this is generational one-time opportunity, seven-footer runs to fly,

can score in the post, dominates big body. Like, you got to. And that's a... I think there's an institutional pressure on about every eight to ten years in basketball. There is a player that for your own good as an owner of GM, you have to take LeBron number one. You have... It didn't matter if Carmelow was more refined offensively. You pass on LeBron.

That's on your tombstone. Right. But even look at the teams that have the biggest chance to get them, right? Nicks. Nicks got a lot of money in free agency. So you're going to be able to buy ball-dominant people. So he matches well with ball-dominant people. He runs the floor.

He's athletic. He can do a whole bunch of things to help your team win. So if you can buy ball-dominant people and ball-dominant scores, around him. Then he works. Yep. He works. By the way, listen, the Lakers are three games out,

25 games left, 17 against playoff teams, of the eight that aren't six are on the road. Sacramento's ahead of them. That's a real team. Clippers are ahead of them. They'll go into semi-tanking mode. in about a week here. My gut feeling is LeBron puts the cape on and they get into the playoffs.

When does he put the cape on? Usually after the All-Star break. Because, honestly, he's in 16 seasons right now. He can't expend the energy that he used to do at 10-year mark in his career. 82 games, it takes a lot of energy to play 82 games the same way and then give something more in the playoffs when you're supposed to be getting better. So I look forward to his postseason push coming up right now. Like this is when you really see LeBron James.

You see a point in time in the season where he's trying to get up to postseason shape. And I think that's what you saw before he got hurt. But now you're going to see this postseason push and then him get better in the postseason. It's rare that you see a guy who can flip a switch and get better in the postseason. And that's what you have in number 23. Explain it to me. It's about winning in sports. Now, again, I'm not saying money doesn't matter.

But I've seen LeBron take less, D. Wade, Chris Bosch. I think the smart guys in this league know. You know, the difference between, and I won't use LeBron, but, you know, $90 million in the bank and $108. At the end, I always think it's really valuable for players to be playing in June. Adidas, Puma, Nike, Under Armour. You play in June. This is why Kobe went to China in the offseason for the shoes. So I would take $3 million, $4 million less a year if I could play in June.

Kevin Durant is guaranteed to play in June if he stays with Golden State. It's a guarantee. Why would you leave that? Why would you go to New York? By the way, Philadelphia has now got four legit players. Boston can play. Yonis and Milwaukee got something.

They're going to re-sign Middleton. Why would you roll the dice on that? I don't get it. It's like having $100 million in the bank, right? And it's saying, you know what? I have $100 million in the bank. Why would you invest at that point in time? Why wouldn't you just live off interest?

Because it's the possibility of more. The possibility of a bigger stage, bigger accomplishments. Like when you have somebody that big, they're trying to be better at all points in times. So he's trying to beat his last feat. So winning with Golden State, what's bigger than winning with Golden State? Winning by myself, doing on a city that people don't think you can do it in. You got to check his personal motivations. That's what I'm saying.

I'm not saying that's what he's going to do. What I'm saying is you got to worry about the individual and what's inside of them, what's pushing them, what's motivating them. There is no way that LeBron would have left Miami if D. Wade had seven more years in his prime. When Pat Riley said the other day, I want to read this to you because I kind of rolled my eyes at this. Pat Riley said, you know, I saw a dynasty fly out the window. We thought this was a 10-year team. That's a bunch of hooey. I defended LeBron then and it'll defend him now.

Wade could not give you back-to-back great games. he couldn't. Bosch got a blood clot, unfortunately. And by the way, Badiye was old and retired. Ray was old and retired. And Miller didn't, he was old, didn't retire. That team was a pop-up business. It was not IBM. It was not built to be 10 years. It hit. It was awesome. It was a fireworks show. And LeBron Smartly is like, we're getting old here. I'm out. I always thought. I didn't look at it in that perspective. I looked at it like,

that was LeBron going to college. That was LeBron getting away from home. like it's one thing to be from a small town or small city grow up there play there get drafted there and if he plays 20 years there he would have never known anything but Ohio like him taking him taking the opportunity to go to Miami it's like him going to college and getting away and seeing what the other side is like that was like his fab five moment right that was his opportunity to go to college what she would like he had to go see he had to go see he had to go see And him leaving after four years was like, you know what? I've seen it.

And it made me appreciate where I'm from. Kevin Durant. And if I can go start a business there. Kevin Durant went to college. There's no way LeBron, if he was on the Warriors right now, LeBron wouldn't leave that. LeBron is a, more than anything, has a sense of the temperature of the room. LeBron's a macro thinker.

LeBron left Cleveland because Kyrie left. I'm not sure he's gone if Kyrie stays. I don't think he does leave Cleveland. I don't think he leaves Cleveland. Why would you leave Cleveland? You'd move Kevin Love, get somebody athletic on the wing. I got my star to finish games off if I can't. I guess it was his faith in the organization and the ability of the organization to build around him.

See, that's what people don't understand when people in the media or people on social media and saying, you know what, you got to stay here and dig it out. But the people that dug it out had great organizations behind them and great coaching. You're putting your hands into upper management. But you're putting your life into upper management's hands. Okay. So you have to depend on the GM, the president at the time, to take care of your career and your legacy. If they don't have anything and they don't have assets and they don't.

Then you go. Then you go into what you think is best. But like the Bulls, they took care of Jordan. They gave him all the resources. Some organizations don't do it. But Durant's getting all the resources. Why would you want? Then you have to look to his personal motivation.

Or what he grew up looking at and what he's trying to build for the future. Like, we can't account for all those things. We can't see where his mind is going into business capacity. Because if he did ultimately go to the Knicks, winning on that stage puts him in the upper stratosphere of all-time grades. I've heard that from everybody. Nobody can win there. Okay. So the place that nobody says you can win, if you do it, how big is that effect on the NBA, on the game of basketball?

Oh, listen. If the New York Knicks have a parade, a championship parade, how much bigger is that parade than the parade that goes in San Francisco? That is, there's no question. You know, I've said there's three or four things in sports I would love to happen. And I always said top of the list is the Knicks to be great. Because I've been to the garden. There's nothing quite, you've been there.

Everything's bigger in the garden. Okay, Jeremy Lynn has that run in a Golden State Warriors uniform. Is it as big? Oh God, no. It took over the NBA for a month. Right. Jeremy Lynn took over the NBA for a month. So if Kevin Durant does what, it just beats himself with some help.

And it's on a national stage in New York. NBA wins. He wins. And now you start talking about in the realms of Michael Jordan. Like he's won in two places. He's taking this team that nobody thought like it's going to be a different conversation. Dante Jones. 13 years in the league, wasn't it?

I don't know. Who knows after? Yeah, I mean, after a certain amount of time, you just start stacking up those wins. Who keeps track? Yeah. By the way, the new K-Wave mattress, perfectly aligned for your body, try it for 100 nights,

free shipping, white-gloved treatment, casper.com slash wave, code herd, terms and conditions apply. Hawaii and Alaska, you may have to pay a little more. Alaska always gets host. Said that the other day. Every time. It's always, Alaska, got to pay more for.

it. It's a bummer. Hawaii I don't feel bad for. They have waves and surfing and stuff. Joy with the news. No. No. No. Turn on the news. This is the herd line news. And you know, KD would have done all that during the LeBron era. No. Say it again? I'm saying. Katie would have done. I would have accomplished all that if he wins a championship. Those two in Golden State or three in Golden State and one in New York all during the LeBron era. I'm just saying there's another conversation there if you had.

So you would go to New York? If I'm Katie, I think I would, yes. So Kobe Bryant leaves the Lakers after three straight with Shaq. Wouldn't you just go, how are you doing? I mean, people move. Like, Katie's already shown that he's capable of moving. I'm never moving from this place. You get treated like this.

There's nothing, I think, in the NBA, aside from going to Chicago and winning four straight, that could top bringing a championship to the New York Knicks. The New York Knicks are the Cowboys of the NBA. Yeah, but God, they've been bad for at least the Cowboys get to the playoffs occasionally. Occasionally. God, the Knicks are a mess. They are a dumpster fire. It would be something.

All right, so we talked about this breaking news earlier. Levion Bell will be a totally unrestricted free agents come March 13. Wow. There's been some speculations. The Steelers might transition tag him in the hopes of getting some compensation back. But GM Kevin Colbert told reporters this morning, Levion is still a great player. We can't afford to use any other type of tags. Levion will be an unrestricted free agent at the start of the new league year.

I got to tell you, I think, listen, I know running backs are a dime a dozen. Todd Gurley, once he wasn't healthy, the Rams were never the same. Don't tell me Dax is good without Zeke. I don't, by the way, let's just throw this in there. How valuable is James White been for Brady as a past catching running back? The Patriots run the Super Bowl this year because they're running backs. Like, it's still a valuable position. Ends, ends. I know everyone wants to talk about how, you know, the Steelers seamlessly moved on from Levion. I don't recall seeing them in the playoffs this year.

So for whatever that's worth, they didn't make the playoffs without Levion this year. Jets, Ravens are my picks. So the Jets, I don't know what the Ravens' money situation is. The Jets are up there. The Colts are up there with money. The Jets have a, I think the Jets have like 90 million. in cap space? The bucks have a lot of money. The Jets have 102 million, a little over 1002 million in cap space. I would have

no problem. Listen, the Jets have no running backs. Baker's got three. You've got to give young quarterbacks hope. They don't have any receivers. They have a bad old line. You've got to give Donald help here with something. Well, he wants a big contract. He wants more than 17 million per year. His agent can start talking to teams on March 11th. And you look at the biggest running back contracts. Todd Gurley signed a four-year, 57. million, 45 guaranteed. Devante Freeman, five-year, 41,

22 million guaranteed, and David Johnson, three-year, 39 million, with 32 million guarantees. So I'm guessing that the money is going to be around the $50 million guaranteed. I think he wants a lot more than that guaranteed. But either way, wherever he goes, it's going to be to the highest bidder because that is why he wasn't playing because he wanted more money.

So that's what ended up happening there. So, Gronkowski, we're all on Gronkwatch to see if he will retire, if he will play next season. And Gronk's agent, True Rosenhouse, gave an update on decision yesterday on ESPN. I checked in with Rob a couple days ago. I've talked to the Patriots about it. Right now, Rob is, he's thinking it through.

You know, he's giving it a lot of thought. Rob will certainly, I think, make the decision in the foreseeable future. I don't want to put any pressure on him and give him a time frame. But I would imagine that it will be sometime within the next couple of weeks. Gronk is going to have no problem having plenty of ways to make money after the NFL. He'll be able to do movies. Yeah, wrestling. Wrestling keeps getting thrown out there.

I don't know with the injuries if he's going to end up doing wrestling on that level because it is very physical and he's had major injuries. I mean, obviously, you're not getting hit every other play type of injuries. But Gromk's been really good with his money too. So he's not in a situation where it's, you know, he's got to play. Now it's obviously a lot more money and consistent, but I just think that Gronk is tired of having to come back from injuries. We don't take into consideration the emotional and mental energy it takes

to come back from a major surgery. It's not just go good surgery, and it's like, oh, yeah, in a couple months, I'll be back. Like, the rehab is exhausting. Mentally, you don't, physically you're fatigued. Mentally, you're worried about if you're going to get back to where you were before. And he's not a lot of them. And after a while, it takes a toll on you.

So we'll end up getting an answer from him in the next couple weeks, I'm sure. Finally, we were just talking about Zion Williamson. The showdown between Duke and North Carolina in Cameron Indoor Stadium is a big deal. Zion Williamson takes us to the next level. As of right now, the cheapest seat for tonight's game on Subhub is listed at $3,166. That's to get in the door. Just to put that in perspective, the cheapest seat to get in the door at the Super Bowl, around $2,300. Most of the seats available on both sites are around $4,000.

Duke is beatable because they can't shoot. They're really good in the interior. But whoever beats them, I can't wait for the tournament. I think Duke and Michigan are going to end up in the championship game. Michigan doesn't have the talent, but they have a great coach, play defense. There's a lot of great teams this year. I'm excited for the tournament. So do I.

This to me most of all says that he's going to go number one overall. Kentucky's playing well. Yeah, no, I think he is. You're right. This is kind of like if you're doubting it, this is. Yeah, I mean, there's no real reason to doubt it other than like Dante was just talking about the Greg Oden effect. But I don't see Greg Oden with him. Obviously, you get concerned about a big physical player because you want them to also develop their skill.

Eventually, you're not always going to be the biggest and most physical player. You don't want to rely on that. But a business decision you have to make as well with the number one overall pick. I mean, box office. Good stuff. Joy with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The HARD Lye News.

The five most interesting moves that could happen in the next couple of months with NFL free agency, and there's a lot of them, plus the draft. We'll mention that coming up. Be sure to catch live editions of the HARD weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific. Hey, this butcher box is good stuff. Clean eating means food the right way at Butcherbox. Sign up today. Butcherbox.com slash herd.

Two free cuts of filet mignon, free bacon, $20 off your first box. Butcherbox.com slash H-E-R. I'm having salmon tonight. I've been in a real seafood kick. My wife went vegan and somebody's got to make the house reasonable. You can't we all be eating beans all day. Somebody's got to have fish. That's a vegan thing. They don't have a vegan option for fish? Nah, really. They have a vegan option for chicken and it doesn't taste that much like chicken. I mean, how do you make something up that's salmon that isn't salmon? Well, I mean, to me, vegan food is just vegan food. Like if I want to eat chicken, I'm going to eat chicken. Don't tell me the vegan food tastes like chicken. It doesn't taste like chicken. It doesn't taste like chicken. chicken tastes like chicken. That's exactly right. This tastes like vegan. And I don't lose sleep. If a chicken was as big as me and I was as big as a chicken, they'd peck me to death and eat me. Why am I

losing any sleep or eating a chicken? Chickens were six feet tall and a buck 95 and I was three pounds. A chicken be chasing me around the studio. Peck in the top of my head, I'd bleed to that dying and eat me. So why am I losing sleep eating a chicken? This sounds like a Colin Coward home debate. All right. Best for last. Let's roll the tape. After almost

three hours, Colin apparently hasn't gotten to the point yet. Hold on us, cowherd. It's the best for last. Trade rumors are swirling everywhere. We've got a lot of stars out there. I told you one this morning that I won't include in this. There is an agent out there saying that Sierra, Russell Wilson's wife, would prefer to live on the East Coast, and the Giants need a superstar to replace Eli, because a college guy is not going to do it. He's, Eli is loved in New York. But I thought, one of the five moves that we've heard rumors about that have either been documented by real reports, reporters or there's there's there's strong inklings more than just you know internet chatter here are the

five moves that I think could still happen and in order of most interesting number number five lavian bell to the jets okay as joy told you earlier unrestricted free agent you want him go get him jets have a ton of cap space lavian has the highest average yard gain from scrimmage of any player in NFL history is also a great pass catcher sam darnald to make a rook quarterback work. He's in his second year. Their O-line, bottom five. Receiving Corps bottom three. Running backs, awful. They need a playmaker. They're going to draft two receivers. They're going to draft offensive line. They got to go get a playmaker. Labian Bell to the Jets. And by the way, they're going to cut ties with Isaiah Crowell. Their leading rusher last year and another one of

their running backs. Their number two running back. Hold on. It's a free agent. Yeah, Powell. So this a ton of sense to me. Sam Darnold getting, Lavian Bell. Number four. Kyler Murray to the Cardinals is really interesting to me. I like Josh Rosen, but the Cardinals had the NFL's worst offense last year, point scored and totally yards. Their offensive line is a two-to-a-three-year rebuild. Rosen's a fragile quarterback, and he's not mobile, and there's a way to solve both those. Get Kyler Murray. Cliff Kingsbury was the offensive coordinator for Johnny Mansell and Patrick Mahomes. He's okay with run-around guys. First time the Cardinals have had the number one pick since 1958. And again, the offensive

line is a huge issue for the Cardinals, and they don't have the picks or the cap space to solve it in one year. You are putting Josh Rosen, not the most durable and mobile guy in the crosshairs. I think it could happen. Number three. Nick Foles to the Redskins. First of all, there's history here. Donovan McNabb once went from Philadelphia to Washington. Foles has already informed the Eagles he'll buy out the rest of his contract. Several reports are saying Alex Smith will miss next season. And it would make sense for Washington. First of all, he knows Philadelphia.

He knows their personnel. He's played the Giants. He's played Dallas. He's played Philadelphia. He knows the division. And frankly, if you look around right now, you want to go Colt McCoy or you want to go Nick Foles against that Eagle and Cowboy Front. Jay Gruden's an offensive-minded coach.

So I think Foles would look at that and think, I know the division, don't have to travel far. I've got an offensive-minded coach. Nick Foles to the Redskins feels like a real thing to me. Number two. Antonio Brown to the Packers. He's a first-round pick. That's what you're going to have to give up. The Packers have two first-round picks.

There was a trade, there was a tweet about Antonio Brown to the Packers. and Antonio Brown liked it on his Twitter account, not the end of the world, but it's something. Also, you have a 35-year-old head coach and really one-star offensive player in Devante Adams. If you think you're going to beat that bare defense and Khalil Mack with Devonthe Adams and 35-year-old Aaron Rogers running around, you're not. I'll just give you a heads up on that. I also think it's time for the Packers to get uncomfortable a little. I know they put their money away in their 401k, and I know they pay off their car, and they drive a nice dependable automobile.

It's time to roll the dice. The NFC's got stars everywhere. It's a new time. Dallas went and got a receiver, and it popped. I think the Packers and Antonio Brown's a real thing, and frankly, don't waste any more Aaron Rogers' time. He doesn't have that much more time. Thank you.

You have to get wild and quick. Number one. Odell Beckham to the Patriots. They have a history of going after guys at wide receivers. Ocho, Randy Moss, Josh Gordon. They feel they've got such a stable personality in Tom Brady. They're willing to roll the dice. Philip Dorset was a little bit of a bust in Indianapolis.

They'll roll the dice in offensive players. Odell is currently second in receiving yards per game in NFL history. Only Julio Jones is greater. Over the weekend, Tom Brady was on Instagram, and Beckham commented, love you, brother. This is something that has been reported that they made a run at him and showed interest. And in fact, they showed so much interest that Giants thought, you know, if the Patriots like him,

maybe we're crazy here. So these are the five moves that have been discussed, rumored, reported that I think are pretty interesting. By the way, tomorrow on the show, in studio, put him to the fire. One of the smart guys in basketball, Darry, Rockets Lakers tomorrow night. Lakers remaining schedule. It is a real thing here. Just say this out loud. LeBron hurt.

LeBron can miss the playoffs. And Sam Amick came on the show earlier and said, no, no, no. Anthony Davis is not a lock to the Lakers. Most people that cover the NBA think it's a lean toward the Celtics. You know, we're close here, man. You know, take Tom Brady out of it. This stuff generally ends pretty quickly,

a series of events. The aging movie star has back-to-back bombs and no longer gets calls. You could have a LeBron injury, a LeBron miss playoffs, and 80 passing in a three-month period. It changes the narrative completely on LeBron James. So Daryl Morey's in studio tomorrow. He doesn't like talking about free age and stuff, but I will press him because that's what we do here.

It's real journalism. It was a good show today. Got a lot of stuff done. Got a lot of stuff done. There was a story today that Pat Riley, I think it's kind of funny, Pat Riley's trying to rewrite history. He said, you know, I saw a dynasty fly out the window when LeBron left, and it's like Pat. When Shaq and Kobe were in their prime and broke up,

almost everybody in the league thought, they got three more. What are you doing? Golden State right now, a bunch of guys in their prime, they could win three more. Do anybody watch De Wade, Bosch, and LeBron against San Francisco? Antonio in that last finals. San Antonio destroyed him. Miami was old. That was a pop-up business, not IBM, and I disagree as though as much as I like Pat Riley. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where sports slice comes in. I'm Timbo, and every episode, we're cutting through the noise,

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