The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Hoops Tonight - NBA Power Rankings: Celtics on top, Nuggets fall, Timberwolves massive jump

Episode Date: February 20, 2024

Jason Timpf drops his weekly NBA Power Rankings where Jayson Tatum and the Boston Celtics have maintained the top spot for much of the year, and this week is no different. After dominating the first half of the season, the Celtics have looked like the NBA’s best team, and will be a huge threat to Nikola Jokic and the Denver Nuggets in their pursuit of back-to-back championships. #Volume #HerdSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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

Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and friends on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal, but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque.

Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's Superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the IHard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. On the Look Back at it podcast.

For 1979, that was a big moment for me. 84 was big to me. I'm Sam J. And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick a year, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived it, with our friends, fellow comedians, and favorite authors. Like Mark Lamont Hill on the 80s.

84 was a wild year. It was a wild year. I don't think there's a more important year for black people. Listen to look back at it on the IHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. The volume. Get in on the action with Draft King's Sportsbook, an official sports betting partner of the NBA. New customers who deposit $5 or more can get a no-sweat bet up to $1,000 back in a bonus bet. I was looking at NBA futures this morning.

The Golden State Warriors are plus $5,500 right now. draft kings to win the title. So if you believe in them, that's a big number. In Denver, I have Denver as my championship favorite. And there's still the second best odds on draft kings right now at plus 450. So lots of good NBA bets to look at over the course of the end of the season. Download the draft king sportsbook app now and use code hoops. New customers can get a no sweat bet up to $1,000 if your first bet loses.

Only on draft king's sportsbook with code hoops. That's H-O-O-P-S. the crown is yours. Gambling problem, call 1-800 gambler or in West Virginia, visit www.1-800 gambler.net. In New York, call 8778, Hope N.Y, or text Hope N.Y to 467-369. In Connecticut, help is available for problem gambling.

Call 888-789-77777. Or visit ccpg.org. Please play responsibly on behalf of Boot Hill casino and resort in Kansas. 21 plus age varies by jurisdiction, void in Ontario, one no sweat bet per new customer issued as one bonus bet based on amount of initial losing bet. Bonus bets expire 168 hours after issuance. See dkng.com slash promos for deposit, wagering, and eligibility restrictions, terms, and responsible gambling resources. All right, welcome to Hoops Tonight here at the volume. Happy Monday, everybody. Hope all of you guys.

had an incredible weekend. We are going to talk about that travestee of an all-star game, but we're going to do that in our mailbag portion later on in the show today. To give you guys a breakdown of how this week is going to go, in this episode, we're doing power rankings like we do every Monday.

Then we're going to do a mailbag. I sent out a tweet earlier this morning. We had like 40, 50-something questions come in, so I've got a bunch from there, as well as some from the YouTube comments over the weekend. So we're going to do a mailbag in that segment, going to talk about the all-star game. And then later today, I'm actually recording with San Vassini from the Athletic,

one of my favorite people to talk basketball with, one of the smartest basketball minds that I interact with. We're going to go through contender rankings. That will be coming on the YouTube feed on Tuesday, and then we'll actually run all of them as breakouts as well throughout the week so you guys can see your specific teams. But I think now is a great time to just kind of revisit the contenders and really put them into tiers and really rank them based on what we've seen

through 50-some games. to this point in the season. So that's what we're going to be doing over the Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday portion of the week. And then Thursday evening, when the league returns back to gameplay, we'll be back on YouTube live after the final buzzer of Warriors Lakers. There's also a big showdown between the Sons and the Mavs that night that will probably have to hit the next day because of weird blackout rules involving the Phoenix Sons where I live here in Tucson. But we'll hit that show, that game on Friday as well, but a big jam-pack schedule

over the next couple of weeks as the NBA kind of takes control of things now that football is over. But that gives you guys a little breakdown how the week's going to go again today, just power rankings and our mailbag. You guys know the drill before we get started, subscribe to our brand-new YouTube channel.

It means a lot to me if you guys take a second to scroll down and hit that subscribe button. Don't forget about our podcast feed wherever you get your podcast under hoops tonight. It's also super helpful if you guys leave a rating and a review on that front. Follow me on Twitter at underscore Jason LT for film

as well as show announcements. And then last but not least, keep dropping mailbag questions in the YouTube comments so we can keep hitting them throughout this season. All right, so no in or out teams in this year's or this week's power rankings, but there is some shuffling based on where we were last week. Number 10, the team in Free Fall since changing their coach, the Milwaukee Bucks, they start the week by kicking the shit out of the Denver Nuggets and then promptly lose two games in a row to the injury ravaged heat and the injury ravaged Memphis Grizzlies.

And once again, as has been the issue since stock took over, it's the offense. The two losses to Memphis into Miami, a 102.5 offensive rating. Two more stinkers from Dame. He was 12 for 35 from the field in those two losses. He has shot below 40% from the field in 10 of his last 15 games. It's becoming a pretty consistent trend. And again, he's not going in the right direction on that front. He's going in the wrong direction on that front. He's had 23 games already this year where he shot below 40% from the field in 51 games. I think in 55 games last year, if I remember correctly, that's the total. But he had 23 games, or excuse me, 16, all of last year where he shot below 40%. So 16 and 55 games or so last year, 23 times in 51 games

this year, 10 of the last 15, definitely trending in the wrong direction on. that front. And here's the thing. The entire construct of the Milwaukee Bucks, when you sent out one of your best two-way athletes in Drew Holiday, and in general, when you look at the team and the fact that they just don't really have a ton of veteran speed, they've got athletes on the roster, but they're very young and not really involved in the rotation, your slow team. This team, the entire construct is built around them being a dominant offense, particularly in the half court. And so things won't really turn around for them until things turn around for Dame. And that's going to be something we're going to be keeping an eye on down the stretch of the season. Number nine,

the New York Knicks, O'N two this last week, losses to Orlando and Houston. The Knicks lost both of their starting forwards on January 27th, O'GNobie and Julius Randall. Since then, they are four and five, 11th in offense, but 23rd in defense and ninth in rebounding. Just to give you guys an idea of how bad that is relative to where they usually are at, at the time of their injuries, they were seventh in defense on the season and number one in rebounding. So the two biggest areas where they like to dominate basketball games are fundamentally altered by the fact that their two best forwards are out of the lineup. And like, again, it doesn't matter how good Jalen Brunce is playing.

It doesn't really matter. Like, none of that matters. You know, basketball, we have a tendency to like make it very video game-esque and we focus on who's the best player and what if this best player plays this well or, you know, so-and-so outplayed this guy. And it's like, yeah, don't get me wrong. Matchups are a big part of the game. but at the end of the day, basketball is a team sport.

It is a five-man unit against a five-man unit, and it doesn't matter how good your superstar is if you don't have quality role players around them. And this is a great example, like decimate one position group, that forward position fundamentally alters their defense and their ability to dominate the glass the way they do, and now they're struggling to win games. It doesn't mean anything as far as the Knicks and their long-term potential

because obviously we got to evaluate them with OG in Julius Randall. But right now it doesn't really make a lot of sense to have major takeaways from the Knicks because they're basically playing with a different identity right now while they're waiting to get healthy. Knicks are down at nine. Number eight, New Orleans Pelicans that beat Memphis and Washington last week, obviously a lighter stretch of their schedule. Big thing standing out to me as of late with the Pelicans is Zion Williamson is really starting to pick up steam. His first 31 games this year, he was at 21.7 points per game. Fifty-eight percent from the field. Just three 30-point games in 31 tries. Last 13 games, 24.1 points per game,

59 percent shooting, and he's had five 30-point games in the last 13 games. So really starting to pick up steam on that front. The big one to me is his athleticism appears to be getting closer to what we expect from Zion. Early in the year, I thought he was like 80 percent of the athlete that we've grown accustomed to seeing with Zion. But then he had like that big transition game winner against the spurs where he got to that left-handed scoop shot off the glass. That was a really athletic play. I can't remember which game it was last week. I think it was the Memphis game, but where he ended up getting his head above the rim on a

block. And like you could just tell, like he's starting to get more of that vertical pop that we're accustomed to seeing from Zion. And again, he relies a lot on his physical gifts. And so him getting back into, you know, peak shape on that front could boat well for the additional level they can get to, especially on the offensive end of the floor. Number seven, the Phoenix Suns. They beat Sacramento last week as well as Detroit.

Kevin Durant, it's on a ridiculous heater right now. He's shot over 60% in five of his last eight games, averaging 28, 8, and 6 over that span, shooting 57% from the field, 40% from 3, and 85% from the line. Also, 2.9 stocks per game, steals plus blocks per game over that span. The Suns are fourth in defense over their last 15 games,

in large part, because they're anchored. by Kevin Durant. They have a big showdown on Thursday against the Dallas Mavericks that we will be covering, most likely on Friday morning because of the blackout restrictions here in Arizona. But I'm really looking forward to that game because both of those teams have been facing some easier opponents as of late and need kind of a signature win and they're kind of headed for a showdown there on Thursday night. That's going to be a fun one. Number six, the Oklahoma City Thunder. Only one game last week. They beat the Orlando Magic. J. Dub and Sheigeldress Alexander were insane in that game. They combined for 65 points. Jalen Williams, I can't say enough about this kid.

He's an absolute stud, absolutely torched Orlando in transition in particular, coming off of that wide dribble handoff that Oklahoma City always runs for him, hit a couple of nasty stepback threes in this game, one where he pounded between his legs and the other one where he kind of did a hard side step and covered a bunch of ground. His pull-up shooting has been kind of a revelation this year, 53% overall, 59% in effective field goal percentage weighted for threes, 1.18 points per shot. I don't know if you guys remember about a week and a half ago. I was talking to you guys about how James Hardin has been the best pull-up jump shooter in the league this year. Guess who's second on that list?

Jalen Williams. There are 44 players, excuse me, in the league, that have attempted at least 200 pull-up jump shots this year. Jalen Williams is second place on that list at 1.18 points per shot. That's highly unusual for a guy this early in his career. And again, like, and you could see it with his ability to turn the corner against Orlando and get to that right-handed layup off the glass. Like, it's just a combination of downhill force that allows him to get great separation on those stepbacks because, again, as a defender, you got to make decisions.

And when J-Lil Williams is hitting you with that hard between the legs dribble to the right, you have an option there. You can press up on it, take away that step-back. three, but then you're giving this outstanding athlete the ability to blow by you to his strong hand to the right hand side. And like, again, as you saw him at Orlando game in particular, he's just so good at getting that left shoulder lower and pass the defender so that he can kind of turn around and pivot and get that right-handed scoop shot off the glass. It's a really fundamentally sound game, which is what's allowing him to be so efficient. It is not a reliance

on super difficult shot making. It's using his athletic gifts. to generate high quality shots for himself, and he's hitting them at a high rate. His scoring volume is going up as well. First 35 games of the year, 18 points per game. His last 13 games, 22 points per game. He's also had 20 plus points in nine of his last 13 nights. So hot streak there for Jaylon Williams.

Again, light week for the thunder, but a lot of encouraging stuff coming out of Oklahoma City. Number five, the Cleveland Cavaliers took a bad loss at home against the injury-riddled Sixers with bad defensive effort game for them. They had a 130 defensive rating in that game against Philly, but they did bounce back and beat the Bulls. Effort is a huge determining factor for the Cleveland Cavaliers.

They do not have talent advantages over their opponents on most nights, but they're very well-coached. They play super hard. Every guy does their job on defense, and then they're good enough running in transition when they have opportunities, and Donovan Mitchell's playing well enough that they're able to win games. But again,

effort has to be there. They do not have talent advantages over most of the teams in the league. You see that in the record, by the way. They're 23 and 2 this year when they play teams that are below 500, but they're just 13 and 15 when they play against 500 or better teams. And so that effort thing,

like when they bring knights like they did against Philly, they're going to lose in a lot of cases. Number four, the Denver Nuggets. They dropped two games last week to the Bucks and the Kings. Contavius Colopo Pope and Jamal Murray both went down with injuries in the Bucks game. KCP, I believe, was a hamstring.

And then Murray, I believe, was shin splints, if I remember correctly. But they were kind of getting punked anyway at the time that they left the game. Then both guys were out for the Sacramento game. The Sacramento loss was kind of weird because I felt like Denver was in position to win that one. And then they went to this bizarre coverage where like the guard was on the ball, which ended up being Justin Holliday and Aaron Gordon. But they were in their possessions on Deerr and Fox. they were defending like it was an ice coverage,

like they were trying to deny the ball screen and force him away from the screen. But the actual screen defender, typically in an ice coverage, when a guy is denying the use of the ball screen, the guy that's guarding the ball, or the guy that's guarding the screener typically drops into the lane

so that you're forcing him to drive away from the screen right into your helper. But what Denver was doing, which was weird, is they had the on-ball guy up denying the screen like he was icing. And then they had the screen defender all the way out on the other side of the screen, for a hedge, which doesn't make any sense.

Why would you deny use of the ball screen, but then also have help at the ball screen? The whole point is the on-ball defender is not letting him get there. Darren Fox was just like literally just driving into a handcrafted easy driving lane and just torch Denver at the end of the game with layups and floaters. And it was just a really, really confusing defensive strategy down the stretch. And again, like here's the thing. I'm not worried about Denver, but the lifeless losses are starting to pile

up just a little bit, and all it means is that they do need to kick in with a little bit more urgency here down the stretch of the season. Number three, the Los Angeles Clippers. Minnesota loss was a bit concerning. They got strangled by the perimeter defense of Minnesota and then overwhelmed by their size on the offensive end of the floor. But I was really impressed by the Golden State Warriors win the other night. No, Kauai Leonard had a big run from Golden State like they typically bring in the third quarter as they went up double digits. It would have been really easy just to be like not our night, but nope, they weathered it. They played Clippers basketball down the stretch, really smart driving kick possessions to great shooters in the corners. And they got

a really impressive road win. I hitting a lot of the checkboxes that I look for championship contenders, the Clippers at number three. Number two, the Minnesota Timberwolves, three and a week, followed up their dominance of the Clippers with back-to-back wins over the Blazers. They've won four in a row since their clutch collapse against the Chicago Bulls. And all have been blowouts. And again, if you have issues with late game execution, that's a great way to avoid those situations, be a dominant basketball team. This was the big thing for the, the Lakers in the 2020 year where like they leaned heavily on defensive personnel, ran a lot of big lineups where they'd play, you know, a center next to Anthony Davis and stuff like that. And what ended up happening is

throughout that season, they would struggle a little bit in the half court just because of the lack of offensive skill off of LeBron James and Anthony Davis, but they just defended like crazy, got out in transition a bunch, and didn't let games get close late. You know, like even if you look in the finals, it's like they lose that one game where Jimmy Butler scores all those points, but then they just blow them out in game six. And that's got to be the pathway for Minnesota. They're not going, they don't have the personnel to be a surgical half court offense, but they do have the personnel to win games by 10, 15 points, strangling teams with their

defense. and that just needs to be their MO here down the stretch. Number one, Boston Celtics, 2 and 0 with two wins over the Nets. As I predicted before the season, I thought they'd run away with the conference. They are now six games up on the East two seed. They have a four-game lead over the Minnesota Timberwolves for the number one overall seed. They also have the third easiest remaining schedule. Like, they proved themselves to be the best regular season team while playing a very tough schedule early in the year.

most of their tougher opponents were front-loaded, and so they actually have a much easier schedule here down the stretch. And so the reward is they can be really cautious with injuries and guys that are a little banged up. They can mess with lineups. They can tweak strategies, and they just have an enormous margin for error. They have the ability to really kind of like flush things out in terms of what they want to have in their bag as like punches and counters and adjustments when they get to the postseason just because of all of the leeway that they've built for themselves in the sense. standings. They do have a little bit of a tough schedule to kick off the post all-star stretch. They go to Chicago, then to New York, although the Knicks are a little beat up right now.

Then they come home for Philly and Golden State. That's a little bit lighter stretch. But then they go to Cleveland, two Denver, to Phoenix. So going to learn a lot about the Celtics and some of their offensive progression here in the next couple of weeks. But then their schedule lightens up again after that. So I don't think it'll matter in the standings at all. but this next few weeks is going to be a good opportunity for us to learn more about the Celtics. We're going to be covering them very closely over that stretch. There you go. There's our power rankings for this Monday, February 19th.

Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's Superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth.

Listen to Superhuman on the I-Hard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what I'm saying. Yep, that's me, Cliver Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, the reactions, my journey from basketball to college football,

or my career in sports media. Well, somewhere along the way, this platform became bigger than I ever imagined, And now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfiltered conversations with some of your favorite athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated.

One week, I'll take you behind the scenes of the biggest moments in sports and entertainment, and the next we'll talk about life, mental health, purpose, and even music. The Clifford Show isn't just a podcast. It's a space for honest conversations, stories that don't always get told, and for people who are chasing something bigger.

So if you've ever supported me or you're just chasing down a dream, this is right where you need to be. Listen to the Clifford show on the IHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. Do you remember when Diana Ross

double-tap Little Kim's boobs at the VMAs? Or when Kanye said that George Bush didn't like black people. I know what you're thinking. What the hell does George Bush got to do with Little Kim? Well, you can find out on the Look Back at it podcast. I'm Sam J. And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick it here, unpack what went down,

and try to make sense of how we survived it. Including a recent episode with Mark Lamont Hill, waxing all about crack in the 80s. To be clear, 84's big to me, not just because of crack. I'm down to talk about crack on day, but just so y'all know. I mean, at this point, Mark, this is the second episode where we've discussed crack. So I'm starting to see that there's a through line. We also have AIDS on the table right now.

Thank you for finishing that. sentence. I don't think there's a more important year for black people. Really? Yeah. For me, it's one of the most important years for black people in American history. Listen to look back at it on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Have you guys ever had a bad ticket buying experience?

Maybe you go to checkout and ends up being way more expensive than it was when you clicked on it. Or maybe you go to your seat and ends up being not what you expected when you bought it to begin with. Or maybe it's just an overly convoluted and complicated. process. Well, this is where I want to talk to you guys about Game Time, the fastest growing ticketing app in the United States. They have all in pricing. So you know exactly what your total is going to be up front. And you know you're getting a great deal before you check out. Also, you get to see the view from your seat in the app. So you know exactly what you're getting for your money. And it's a super easy process. You can buy tickets in seconds with two taps.

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And as great as it is watching these games on TV, especially with the NBA heating up here on the home stretch, go out and see a game. Go to see one in person. The NBA is in a really great place right now with talent. You've got to get into the arena to really get the full experience. Take the guesswork out of buying tickets with GameTime. Download the GameTime app, create an account, and use code Hoops for $20 off your first purchase.

Terms apply. Again, create an account and redeem code Hoops, that's H-O-O-P-S for $20 off. Download GameTime today. Last-minute tickets, lowest price, guarantee. All right, let's move on to the Mailbag. I got 17 different versions of this particular question, but I just picked one. How would you, because I thought this was the best one that kind of encapsulated like the broader issue, how would you incentivize players to play more competitive in the All-Star game?

It feels like the game becomes more boring to watch every year, and the offensive highlights cannot compensate for the lack of competition. Greetings from Germany really enjoy watching the show. Thank you for supporting the show. As always, I appreciate the kind words that you guys drop in the comments. I didn't even watch the game last night. I was actually joking with my wife as we were just relax. We typically take Sunday to kind of... Saturday is more of like a busy, do stuff around the house day, and then Sunday's like a chill day.

And at one point, I looked over at the clock, and it was like seven. And I told my wife, I was like, I'm pretty sure the All-Star game is like on now or starting soon. And I was like, I could not care less about watching the game. I remember the last time that was like a point-minute viewing for me with the All-Star was when they launched the Elam ending, just because I have always been a fan of the Elam ending,

and I wanted to see it. And we got a couple good ones, and then the Elam ending even ended up kind of crapping out there towards the end. And, like, I think part of the issue, too, like, one of my, like, fundamental things that I think causes the poor effort, first of all, Anthony Edwards is right. The guys just, they're looking for a break. They don't want to compete.

They want to break. Just imagine the grind of the 82 game regular season. And then suddenly it's like, okay, from Thursday to Thursday, there's no games. So you can take a break. And it's like, okay, but I have to fly to Indiana for this All-Star event. You know, even LeBron, like, comes in the day of the game, right? You know, like, these guys are, they're exhausted from the 82.

This is just another thing they have to deal with during the season. And so I think, I think that's why they don't necessarily want to go all out while they're there. But then the format itself, it kind of like breeds a certain amount of lackadaisical effort. What I mean by that is like, let's say I'm throwing the opening tip. There's 48 minutes of basketball to play. If there's 48 minutes of basketball to play, like, of course you're going to be chilling at the start of that game. One of the things that I think made the Elam ending work, at least there at the beginning, was like it was a very small sample size of basketball at the end of the game, 24 points.

You get 24 points here at the end. But even then when we got to the later phases of that Elam ending phase, one team would be up 10, 12 points by the time they got to the fourth quarter and so it didn't really feel like it was in flux. And so like there's different things you can try. I've seen people say, well, what if we did USA versus the world?

Yeah, I think that would, I think that's a little thing that would breed more competitiveness as like the guys just out of pride might feel more interested in competing. But that's never going to work because you can't have a system where you pick 12 all-stars from outside the U.S.

and 12 all-stars from inside the U.S. it doesn't balance out equally with the talent or the conferences. It just would never work. And so there would be maybe eight foreign all-stars and 14 U.S. all-stars. It just wouldn't work. You could never do that. So it's a good idea, but would never work.

What if you had the home court advantage in the NBA finals determined by who wins that game? That's a terrible idea because that specific format is already so loose and sloppy. And it's way too big of a swing to leave in the hands of basically, just for fun type of event. You know, baseball doesn't rely on effort. That's why they can get away with that. Baseball doesn't rely on effort. So like they can have an All-Star game and like guys are going to still have like a pretty normal looking baseball game because it's not that type of environment, right? So like I don't think that's a good idea for, uh, for an NBA All-Star game to have some sort of massive like swinging factor of the NBA playoffs at stake in that environment. There,

what I would do if I wanted to try to manufacture some competitiveness is create a shorter gain. And what that means is like, what if you just took 10 all-stars from both conferences and you made four teams of five and you played four, you played two Elam ending games? Just game to 24, twos and threes, toss up the ball, let's play. Then do another game to 24, twos and threes, toss up the ball, let's play. Maybe you, had a king of the court element by position group. Like, how fun would that be to watch like Yokic and M. B just play one on one against each other? Or like the stuff that you see at Team USA where you see Paul George and Kevin Durant and all these guys

just playing King of the Court from the elbow to dribble limit, that kind of stuff. Like I would turn it into an event where you have these shorter bursts of higher competitive energy, two five on five pickup games where all the bench. bunch guys goes, all the bench guys go against each other, all the starters go against each other. Because that's the thing. Like you throw the ball up at center court and it's like first one to make 10 baskets basically. Like that's a way more like achievable effort thing than to throw the ball up at center, center court in a 48 minute game and be like, come on guys, play hard. At the very, at the very least they're sitting there going like, we're going to at least chill for 20 of these minutes, maybe 30 of these minutes and maybe we'll pick it up towards the end. 48 minutes is way too long to expect guys to go hard in that environment.

But at the end of the day, make no mistake, even with my idea, the idea of having a couple of pickup games and maybe some King of the Court stuff, even in that specific format, it doesn't matter unless the guys compete. And so everything fundamentally comes back to what Anthony Edwards says. We can do whatever we want to try to foist some competitive energy onto them, but they have to bring it. It's inevitably on the players. and the players have told us they don't care about playing hard in this environment.

And so what I've always told everybody on the show is like if you're a fan of a team and the team you're rooting for is not bought into the goal and they're not playing hard on a nightly basis, then you need to adjust your expectations with what you expect from that team. Same thing goes for the All-Star game. If the players aren't interested in it, adjust your expectations, and then you won't be disappointed. Like it's very clear that they don't care.

But if I was the league and I was trying to force them to care, that I think is the move. smaller bits of basketball that don't have this long 48 minute commitment where you can get guys to play hard for a short burst of time. The one thing I like about the king of the court format too is I think guys would be a little less worried about injuries because you're not as worried about, you know, stepping on a help defender's foot or going up for a rebound and having a guy come up underneath you. It's a little bit easier to avoid injuries in a one-on-one format, which I think could bring some more effort out of the guys.

But I mean, here's the thing, guys. Your guess is as good as mine. the league's tried everything and nothing's worked. So it is what it is at this point. Next question. Hey Jason, thoughts on the biggest MVP snub ever. Is there a year that sticks out to you and makes you think? For instance, 2017 Hardin instead of Russ, for example.

2017 Hardin over Russ is a really good example. The one that always sticks in my craw, obviously, as a LeBron fan, is 2020. I thought, who is the best basketball player in 2020? LeBron. Who is the best basketball team in 2020? the Los Angeles Lakers. Literally, the league was incredibly deep in the Western Conference, and then the bottom of the Eastern Conference was historically bad. There were like eight terrible teams in the Eastern Conference. And so Janus and the Bucks would just beat the living

shit out of all of these bad teams. And remember, you play the other conference for 30 of your games. You play your conference for 52 of your games. So like when the East, and by the way, It's happening again this year. Same things happening in the Eastern Conference this year. A less dramatic version of it. But the bottom of the Eastern Conference is substantially weaker than the bottom of the Western Conference. That's why when you look at the cross-conference record,

the West is kicking the shit out of the East in their inter-conference play. But anyway, in that 2020 season, the Bucks kicked the shit out of everybody. Yonis only played like 32 minutes a game or something like that. And it was because they were playing all these bad teams and it massively inflated all the advanced metrics. Remember the whole thing about per 36 and like Janus is averaging this per 36. And it's like, LeBron was a better basketball player, playing better basketball for a better team and a tougher conference,

still was right next to him in the standings. It just beat him head to head before the end of the season. The only reason they won in Milwaukee is Yonis made, Milwaukee won in Milwaukee was because Yonis made five threes in the game. Like the Lakers were just better. LeBron was just better. I thought he clearly deserved MVP that season. It's actually of all of the season in LeBron's career.

It's the one time I thought he got robbed. LeBron fans like to say that he deserves to have 10 MVPs and voter fatigue is what killed him. And I tend to go the other way on that because LeBron tends to be a guy after Miami who super chills in the regular season. But that one year, that 2020 season with the Lakers from the start of training camp to the moment he hoisted the trophy, he attacked the season with a crazy level of intensity. I thought he was by far the best player in the world that year. I thought he got robbed of the MVP. That should have been his number five.

Next question. It's no secret that Steph and LeBron draw the best ratings. However, is it a factor of Stefan LeBron just being simply better? Or is it an issue of the NBA failing to market the newer teams, better, Minnesota, Oklahoma City, etc. So I actually think the league does a better job of marketing, maybe not relative to what we want, but relative to what it used to be. because of the tools we have at our at our disposal, because of social media, because of even like little things like just league pass

and how easy it is to find NBA content, whether it's team-specific podcasts, YouTube channels, so many people out there do such an amazing job covering the league. But like when people complain about like, oh, ESPN, they never talk about these other teams.

All they do is talk about LeBron and stuff on first take. And it's like, I'm like, okay, sure. But like, you don't have to turn on ESPN. I never, ever, ever turn on ESPN unless I'm watching an NBA game on ESPN. Like, if I want to listen to NBA content, I go to the people I want to listen to. So that to me, and it's easy to find that stuff. So like, to me, I've never understood the like the league is responsible for, no, we all are. All of us as fans, by virtue of the way this new ecosystem works, we are responsible for how the league is marketed.

There's Oklahoma City fans and media members who do an amazing job marketing their talent. Minnesota fans, and they all do a great job. You want to know why Stefan LeBron are more famous and popular than all these other players? Because they've won eight of the last 12 championships, guys. They've won eight of the last 12. Think about that. The rest of the league combined has won the same number of titles as LeBron and Steph individually have won over the last 12 years. That is why Stefan LeBron are revered the way that they are.

That is why they are the face of the league. That is why they are such a big draw on national television. By the way, you know what? One of our more successful teams to cover as of late in terms of performance on the channel, the Denver Nuggets. You know why? Because they're a truly special basketball team with an all-time great player who, in my opinion, as long as he stays healthy and his team stays healthy,

is going to win a bunch of championships over the course of the next five years. And guess what? By the time we get further down the line there, Nicole Yokic will have. have a level of fame and notoriety here in the U.S. similar to what Steph Curry and LeBron James do. Throughout NBA history, throughout all of history, that's the way it works. Who are the most famous players in NBA history? Michael Jordan, six championships. Kobe Bryant, five championships. Magic Johnson, five championships. Larry Bird, three championships. Like, that's how you become a legend. That's how you become famous in this league. You hoist the damn trophy. And by the way,

that is why I'm a loyalist of the banner. That's why. I care about it so much. It is eternal. It is everlasting. It is the thing that it's the one thing you can do in this league that transcends everything else. Stephen LeBron have done it more than everybody else. That's why they're the faces of league. That's why they're as popular as they are. Next question. What do you think of the Paul George fit with the Warriors if they somehow managed to sign him as a free agent next season? So the idea behind this kind of idea is, and by the way, like Paul George has not signed an extension yet. the idea here is the second apron. And the more and more I talk to people around the league or other people who cover the league, the biggest thing that that's becoming like a talking point as of late is the new CBA.

And the fact that like starting next year, there's all of these crazy rules in place that make it a lot harder to work around the margins once you enter into that second apron. And so I think in general you're going to see a lot of teams that are going to make tough decisions on who they retain and who they don't. So like, for the record, my guess is knowing Steve Balmer, he's probably going to find a way to bring Paul George back. I expect him to be a Clipper. But if there's a version of this where it goes south, what it would look like is the Clippers would sit down and they go, hey, we want to have a sustainably great team. We just built this

brand new arena. It's going to, I think they're moving into it next year. Like we need to build a sustainable model. We cannot just go all in on this Kauai Paul George fit and then have a situation where they both age out and then suddenly we're a complete full rebuild team. So let's figure out a way to do this. How about James Harden? We could bring him back for 20 million a year and have him long term. Or we can bring Paul George back and we have to pay him 50 to 60 million a year. Well, what if we just bring back James Hardin. And what if we, you know, kind of let Paul George go is our means with which to have a

more sustainable model in terms of having more flexibility to make moves on the margins and to come up with cap space quickly if needed and things along those lines. Okay, all of a sudden, uh, Paul George becomes a free agent or the, the clippers look to trade him to get asset return so that they don't lose him for nothing. Okay, now a team like, uh, Golden State jumps in and goes, here's Jonathan Kaminga. here's two first round draft picks, whatever it is. That would be the framework of how that would work. I don't think that's going to happen.

I think Paul George is going to stay with the Clippers. But I do think you will see teams around the league that will make tough decisions about really great players because of their goal to avoid that second apron and all of the limitations that come with it. Does Paul George fit with the Clippers? Absolutely. He'd be amazing in that situation.

Not just as one of the best close-out attackers in the league, but I think he's a good enough passer and off-screen. player to thrive in their five-out system. He's an excellent two-way player. He can defend the other team's best player. He's just a way, way, way, way, way, way, way better version of either Andrew Wiggins or Jonathan Kaminga. And like now, I think Jonathan Kamika has the potential to be better than Paul George

in the long run. But the idea there is you put Steph Curry with Paul George and Draymond Green, you instantaneously become a top-tier championship contender. That's the idea. So again, we're going to talk about this in a bunch of ways over the course of this summer when we get into free agency and stuff like. Don't Galaxy brand this stuff. When you put two all-time great basketball players next to each other,

they tend to figure it out. So the fit with the Warriors for Paul George would be excellent. But again, it's unlikely, although I do think we'll see some more player movement in the future surrounding the CBA. Next question. What are your most intriguing teams coming back from the break? What will you be looking for with those teams? So for this question, I picked one from each conference.

In the Eastern Conference, I'm really going to be watching the Milwaukee Bucks. they have the third toughest remaining schedule by opponent win percentage, and they're already in free fall, have lost seven of their last 10 games. I think over the next 26 games, the final 26 games of the season, in order for the Bucks to be on track for their ultimate goal to win the title, I think they need an offensive rating over 120 and a defensive rating below 115. I don't care about anything else to this point in the season. if from right now over the final 26,

an offensive rating over 120 tells me that they have gotten to their own offensive ceiling. They figured out with that group how to score at a high enough rate to buy them margin for error on the defensive end of the floor. A defensive rating below 115 to me would tell me that they are committed enough to the details to positionally be in the right spots

enough on defense to at least defend well enough so that their offense can put them over the top. That to me is the benchmark. an offensive rating over 120, a defensive rating below 115, here down the stretch of the season. That's going to be what we're watching with Milwaukee on a night-in-night-out basis. Out West, the team I'm going to be watching most closely is the Dallas Mavericks. I've had a lot of people say, why haven't you talked about Dallas more?

Dallas has been a really hard team for me to learn about. And one of the main reasons why is they're just, they've, every time I turn them on, it's a different team. They've had 16 different players start a game. they've had 11 different players start at least five games. As a point of reference, Sacramento Kings have had only eight different players

start a game as opposed to 16 for the maps. That's half as many. They've had six different players start at least five games. That's half as many. So it gives you an idea of just the level of like turnover they've had. Luca and Kyrie themselves have combined to miss 30 games. Even it's like, I really want to watch some more Daniel Gafford. I really want to watch some more Jalen McDaniels as we're trying to,

not J. Le McDaniels, excuse me, PJ Washington, as we're trying to figure out whether or not these additions can kind of move the needle for Dallas post-deadline. And it's like I'm watching them against the San Antonio Spurs. Like for instance, Daniel Gafford, Daniel Gafford fits into a mold that we've seen a lot around the league, which is like the undersized big, that's a really good athlete and a really solid role man

with his ability to finish around the rim, but has some defensive limitations. And because he's not necessarily the biggest guy to have around the rim. And we've seen a lot of these guys over the years, whether it's like Montrez-Harrell or like a Thomas Bryant, where they're like good athletes. They play hard. They're they have length and they can finish above the rim, but they're just they're just a little bit undersized for the position and they're not great defensive players. And so like, for instance, like there are some possessions where I'm watching Daniel Gafford against San Antonio. And I'm like, yeah, this is not going to be good enough pick and roll defense to get the job done.

But at the same time, it's against the damn San Antonio Spurs. You don't need to play hard necessarily to beat those guys. And so I'm excited just to see them post-deadline, get healthy, have a bunch of games in a row where they have, you know, consistency in the lineup so we can learn about them finally. It's been tough to learn about them. Even in this six-game winning streak, it's like they blew out the thunder. That was a huge win, dominant, impressive performance.

But their other five wins were against the injury ravaged sixers, the injury ravaged to Knicks, the Washington Wizards, the San Antonio Spurs and the Brooklyn Nets. We are going to learn a ton about the Dallas Mavericks over the course of the next few weeks. They play Phoenix on Thursday in that major showdown I told you guys about. Then they immediately go on the road to Indy,

on the road to Cleveland, on the road to Boston. And so we're going to find out a lot more about Dallas over that span. I just want to see some consistency in the rotation so we can actually learn about what this group is capable of specifically defensively and on the glass. They've defended extremely well.

They have the number one defensive rating in the league over this six game span. But again, they're playing against some inferior competition. And so I really want to see what holds up, what is translatable to the postseason among their upcoming opponents in the tougher stretch of their schedule here in the next couple of weeks. So those are the two teams that I'm most intrigued by after the break. And that will probably be covering pretty closely Milwaukee and Dallas. Next question. Imagine an Olympics where doping. is not only legal, but encouraged.

It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's Superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the I-Hart Radio app,

Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A win is a win. A win. I don't care what you're saying. Yep, that's me, Cliver Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, the reactions, my journey from basketball to college football, or my career in sports media.

Well, somewhere along the way, this platform became bigger than I ever imagined. And now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfiltered conversations with some of your favorite athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. One week, I'll take you behind the scenes

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

or you're just chasing down a dream, this is right where you need to be. Listen to the Clifford show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. Do you remember when Diana Ross double-tapped Little Kim's boobs at the VMAs?

Or when Kanye said that George Bush didn't like black people. I know what you're thinking. What the hell does George Bush got to do with Little Kim? Well, you can find out on the Look Back at it podcast. I'm Sam J. And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick a here, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived it.

Including a recent episode with Mark Lamont Hill, waxing all about crack in the 80s. To be clear, 84's big things, to me, not just because of crack. I'm down to talk about crack on day, but just so y'all know. I mean, at this point, this is the second episode where we've discussed crack. So I'm starting to see that there's a through line. We also have AIDS on the table right now.

Thank you for finishing that sentence. I don't think there's a more important year for black people. Really? Yeah. For me, it's one of the most important years for black people in American history. Listen to look back at it on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Not a question about the All-Star events,

but I've been thinking about how you brought up that young and fast teams tend to win a lot of games in the January to February part of the season. With the Cavs recent and out of nowhere explosion, do you think it's legit or just January woes? So here's the thing. I don't, I think it's always

a combination of factors. I don't want to undercut the success of some specific players on the Cavs. Donovan Mitchell's having the best season of his career in my opinion. His playmaking is better than it's ever been. His defense is better than it's ever been. That's gone a long way towards helping that situation. Dean Wade, turning into like a really impressive two-way player, very important for the turnaround of this particular team. Just around the board, Jared Allen's playing incredibly well. They're just getting

really impressive two-way performances from these guys, but there's something to be said about the fact that they're young, they're hungry, they're well-coached, they're playing harder than everybody. and that absolutely will manifest in wins, particularly in the January, February stretch of the season. This is the stretch of the year where the younger, more athletic teams that play hard more consistently will carry weight in the standings. This is also the stretch in the year where the older veteran teams that have had a lot of playoff experience that struggle to get up for regular season games. You'll see them drop a bunch of games in this stretch of the season.

I think like I mentioned earlier in the power rankings, I think you see that in the way that the Cavs wins have broken down. they're 13 and 15 when they play teams that are 500 or better, and they're 23 and 2 when they play teams that are below 500. They are very much an effort and energy and speed type of team. Next question. Which of these teams do you think is more of a threat in the playoffs this year? The Pelicans, the Mavs, or the Kings?

I love this question, by the way. These types of questions, more of those, please, in the mailbags. Like little choices between different options. I've always had fun with those. So, bigger threat in the playoffs, the Pelicans. the Mavs or the Kings. I go with the Mavs, no question. And it's really this simple.

If you're ranking playoff performers out of that group, Luca's a clear number one. Number two, in my opinion, it's like a toss-up between either Brandon Ingram, Deeran, Fox, or Kyrie Irving. I think Kyrie Irving's in that group as one of the, his three-level shot creation is just so incredibly valuable, especially in a secondary role.

Like, and again, everyone wants to say, like, oh, who's the best player in a vacuum? that doesn't matter. All that matters is how much you impact winning in your specific situation. That's what actually translates to the goal of getting the trophy. And so I'm always going to like, Jamal Murray with the Nuggets, for instance. To me, it doesn't matter how he stacks up against, you know, Adir and Fox who's in a different role. That doesn't matter. It's not his role. His role is next to Nicole Yokic. And he impacts winning at an incredibly high level next to Nicole Yokic. That's who he is as a basketball player in the real sense of what matters in this season in

pursuit of the trophy. And so, again, give me Luca and Kyrie with athletes versus Brandon Ingram with athletes versus Deeran Fox and Malik Monk with athletes. I just think, I think when they get into that setting that Luca and Kyrie just brings so much more to the table in terms of that slowdown half-court environment, I would lean into the Mavs there. Next question. Why isn't Luca the MVP right now? The answer is really simple. They have the 12th best record in the league. The last time a team with a bad record won the MVP was Russell Westbrook in 2017. They had the 10th best record in the league.

So if Luca won the MVP right now, he would literally be an even bigger stretch in terms of where they are relative to the rest of the field and the standings, then Russell Westbrook was in 2017, which retrospectively most people look back at as a mistake as someone who didn't deserve it, right? We talked about that earlier with James Hardin. So again, like, do I think Luca can win the MVP? yeah, but they've got to win a shit ton of games over the last 26. And by the way, I get it. They've been ravaged by injuries. We talked about all that. Luke has been incredible this year, massive leap,

especially as a pull-up jump shooter. I also think he's having a better defense and rebounding season than he's had in either of the last couple of seasons. Like, I'm not trying to undercut what Luke is doing at all. They just have the 12th best record in the league. And, like, again, NBA history tells us the MVP is typically a guy from one of the best teams in the league in terms of where they land in the standings. Two more questions, and then we're out of here. How do you analyze clutch time defense?

Feels like everyone makes a big deal about clutch offense, but I don't hear a lot of analysis about what makes clutch defense successful. So clutch defense, in my opinion, becomes more about personnel than it does about execution. It's the biggest difference between the kind of like run-of-the-mill regular season defensive rating stuff. It's a big reason why I view clutch numbers

as an important indicator of what a playoff team is capable of. By the way, while we're talking about Dallas, you know he's been an excellent clutch team this year on both ends of the floor. Dallas, they've actually been like an elite, like top tier late game clutch situation defense this year. I think their defensive rating is like around a 104, if I remember correctly, in clutch situations. They've been a team that's demonstrated that they have the personnel to get stops in late game situations. Why do I say it leans more on personnel than scheme? Over the course of 82, there's a lot of traditional coverages. there's a lot of base schemes.

As a result of that, it's more about effort on a night-in-night-out basis, right? And that's why I view defensive rating is more of an effort stat than a defense stat. But when you get into late-game situations, typically you're just running a set isn't going to get you a bucket because they're probably going to switch it, and chances are they scouted a lot of your late-game stuff and they know how to get in front of it, right? Also, more contact is allowed on both ends of the floor.

So you're not going to get some of the kind of cheap, whistles that you get elsewhere in the game. So in that situation where there's more switching, more scouting, less foul calling, it becomes way more about picking on matchups and what athletic gifts your lineup has. And so there are a lot of teams, for instance, that will be able to get stops for large portions of the game and then they get into the final minutes and they struggle to get stops. And that to me is a big indicator of some of the issues they might have down the line when they get into the postseason. And so on that note, I mean, like, I'll give you an example.

Like, do you remember the Utah Jazz teams with Rudy Gobert? They would consistently be an excellent defense in the regular season. Then they get to the postseason and their defense fell apart. Because it turned out their base scheme of chasing guys over the top and funneling them to Rudy Gobert worked great over the 82. But when they got into the postseason, it was like, oh, all we have to do is get Rudy into rotation. And as long as we're a little bit more deliberate about the next layer of our attack,

Rudy won't be there anymore, that's when we can kind of pick them apart for catch and shoot three or driving layups. And like, that was when they started to kind of figure things out and the clippers just pick the jazz apart at that point. So like, again, when you get into the clutch situations, it more closely resembles playoff basketball. It becomes more about the actual athletic tools of your defensive lineup. That's why I look at clutch defense as closely as I do. Last question. And I actually have two. them here because I wanted to just kind of make a larger point about the way we do the show. The way Jason has ditched Cleveland all season long is disappointing.

The second one I got was from the nerdsesh guys. 17 minutes of talking about a trade that is very unlikely and can't happen until the summer while we are in the middle of one of the best NBA regular seasons is an interesting decision. So usually when I see stuff like this, it annoys me just because of the fact that like we structure the show for this very reason. So you got to think of it like this. There is the basketball nerd side of this. show, but then there's the business side of this show. And in a typical situation, it's difficult

to manage that dynamic from a time standpoint. And so you kind of have to pick one or the other, right? And so you'll see major television shows lean big into the business side. And it's a lot of LeBron. It's a lot of Lakers. It's a lot of warriors. It's a lot of, you know, big picture NBA topics being argued about on TV. And then the niche podcasting world, they'll devote all their energy to more of the basketball nerd stuff. Well, our show is unique in the sense that we just do more than most shows, meaning like in terms of the hours of content that we do. Like, I on average during the season do like six episodes a week.

How many niche podcasts out there are doing six episodes a week? You know what I mean? Like usually they're doing three. You know what I mean? So what we do is both. Like, guess what? I did a deep dive on the Cleveland Cavaliers. Carter Rodriguez from the Chase Down podcast less than a month ago.

Brought him on, we did 48 minutes of calves. For that episode, I watched a bunch of calves tape. This year, I've watched plenty of calves. The difference is, like, what happens is over the course of a week, we'll have three hours of content that we put out. Usually it's more. It's like four hours. And so, yeah, in that four hours of content, you know,

half of it might be business stuff. Here's LeBron topics. We cover the Warriors very closely. You know why? We have a large Warriors fan base. We cover the Lakers very closely. You know why? We have a large Lakers fan base.

We cover the top teams in the league a lot. Why? They are the ones that have the most engaged fan bases because their teams are good. And so we can get more of the business side out of it. But we work so much here that we're able to hit on everything. This one is the funniest one to me. 17 minutes of talking about a trade that is very unlikely and can't happen until the summer while we are in the middle of one of the best NBA regular seasons is an interesting decision.

It was an hour and a half long show. It was an hour and a half. We got into an argument forever about like the Timberwolves versus the Oklahoma City. Like we were, we did rookie rankings. We were all over the weeds in that episode. That's the beauty of it. When you talk for an hour and a half, you can spend 17 minutes talking about a Trey Young Anthony Davis duo and how it stacks up to the rest of the league. That's the way it works here.

Like, yes, you're going to get a lot of Lakers. You're going to get a lot of Warriors. But I don't just do Lakers and Warriors. I do a ton of additional stuff. We break it all out into additional clips and we market it so you guys can see it. Like, I go above and beyond to make sure that we get to as much of this stuff as possible. Our staff behind the scenes works really hard to edit all of that stuff and get it put out in a way that is easily digestible for you guys. So, like, again, like, I, chances are, if you want to hear me talk about your team,

all you have to do is look in the feed. It's in there somewhere. It just, it might not be at the start of the show. It might not be marketed in the full show thumbnail, but it's in there somewhere. You just got to look for it. We do that much content for that very reason. And again, the only reason why I'm kind of ranting about this right now is like, I want these people to know that stuff's there.

Like, if you're, like, I encourage you cast fans. We did a big deep dive, not just. just on the group that went on a run without Evan Mowgli and without Darius Garland. We even broke down how those two guys when they returned to the lineup, how it's going to kind of change things. We even broke down big picture what the calves look like in five years. It was an hour of calves content. Go find it. It's there. I encourage you to check it out. Carter does great work. It was awesome that he came on the show and gave us his time and gave us such an interesting perspective. I just want you guys to know that stuff's there because we

work too hard for it to go unnoticed, if that makes sense. All right. I'm on my soapbox. I appreciate you guys for supporting the show. We'll be back with San Vasini for contender rankings. Tomorrow, I will see you guys. The volume. Another podcast from some SNL late-night comedy guy, not quite.

Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer Streeter Seidel help an acapella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes.

Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and Friends on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal, but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential.

Either way, the podcast's Superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the I-Hard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A win is a win.

A win is a win. I don't care which I'm saying. Yep, that's me, Cliver Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, my basketball and college football journey, or my career in sports media. Well, now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Cliver Show.

This is a place for raw, unfurreds of conversations with athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. So let's get to it. Listen to The Clifford Show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok podcast network on TikTok. This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed human.