The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Hoops Tonight - Top 25 Players in the NBA: LeBron James is still a SUPERSTAR at 38 years old

Episode Date: August 10, 2023

Jason Timpf continues his ranking of the 25 best players in the NBA by revealing number 8, LeBron James of the Los Angeles Lakers. When healthy, LeBron is still EASILY a top 5 player in the NBA, but because of his injury history the last couple years, LeBron checks in at number 8. #Volume #HerdSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Here at The Volume. Happy Wednesday, everybody. I hope all of you guys have had a great week so far. We are live on Amp. So if you're watching on YouTube or listening on the podcast feed, do not forget that Amp is the very first place that you guys can get these shows. We are continuing our player rankings today with number eight, LeBron James, the very first time I've had him outside of my top five. You guys know the drill before we get started. Subscribe to the volumes YouTube channel so you don't miss any more of our videos. Follow me on Twitter at underscore Jason LT so you guys don't miss any show announcements. And if for whatever reason, you guys miss one of these videos and you can't get back over to YouTube to finish. Don't forget, you can find

them wherever you get your podcasts under hoops tonight. All right, let's talk some basketball. The theme of today's show is going to be about accepting reality. particularly the reality of age because, you know, today actually happens to be my birthday. And I turned 32 today. And the reality of that is I'm not the same person, human being, that I was when I was 25 years old. A lot of positive changes, especially as it comes to life experience and just learning how to navigate the human experience, which can be super challenging with all the responsibilities, both financially and socially and with your family and all these different things. but physically you're going to experience a certain amount of decline, right?

Like, I've noticed that I can't eat the same way I did when I was younger without reaping consequences. I can't drink the same way I did when I was younger without feeling like absolute dog shit for a day, sometimes even two anymore. Even when it comes to basketball, I go up to the gym and I see the younger players dunking around between games and before games. I'm over there like, okay, I'll get loose, but if I've got to dunk in me, I'm saving it for the game because I just don't have as many reps left in me as I used to. And I'm only 32.

Mr. LeBron James in December of this year is going to turn 39 years old. And that made this the toughest decision I had to make in my top 10 because I was torn between LeBron and one other player, a player that you guys are going to hear about tomorrow for this number eight spot. And to be 100% clear, if both players were healthy and we were headed into a playoff series tomorrow with even rosters, I'd pick LeBron over this guy. And quite frankly, I'd pick him ahead of a couple of guys in front of him even further up the list. But there's a reality that comes with LeBron James' turning 39 this year.

A lot of the reality that you saw throughout the previous four or five years. years as he's entered into his late 30s. And those were the main reasons that caused me to go with him at 8. The bottom line is, is we don't get perfect circumstances. We don't get to fast forward and just have healthy LeBron in June. That's not how it works. You have to play an 82 game season. You've got to make it through four playoff rounds.

And the guys that I have above LeBron on this list, I just think that in the year 23, flowing into 2024, are safer bets to be better basketball players with this season. But let's dive into a quick season recap for LeBron. I played in 55 games this year. Dealt with multiple injuries throughout the season. I think it was a little flare up of his groin and then he had the foot thing. The foot one in particular, he played through in the playoffs. He had a different stress injury in his other foot as well.

He was constantly even when he was on the court dealing with different nagging injuries. LeBron has failed to play in at least 57 games in four of the last five seasons. So again, it's not just projecting forward for LeBron heading into his age 39 season. It's also the reality of what it's been like for the last several years, although this past season was the first time that stretched into affecting his playoff performance. It is now at this phase a pretty safe bet that LeBron's going to miss about a third of the season, and he's probably going to have something going on physically that's going to be hindering him in some capacity when we get to the postseason. Again, not a shot at LeBron.

LeBron in his prime was arguably the most dependably available star in the league. This guy used to be a joke that he could, Bill Simmons used to joke that he could break his leg off in the middle of a game and just reattach it and start playing again. Obviously, that's ridiculous. But you get the point. That's what it was like watching LeBron. You'd see a replay of him spraining his ankle and his ankle bone would like touch the floor. And you'd be like, there's no way he's playing after this. But there he is after the next TV timeout back in the game.

Literally never missed a playoff game for an injury over the course of his career. As a matter of fact, still to this day has not missed a playoff game with exception of situations when his team missed the playoffs. So it's not a shot at LeBron. It's just the reality of where he's at at this phase in his career. But despite all of that, he had a very, very productive season. Average 29 points per game. He was top 10 in scoring ninth in points per game this season. an eight rebounds, seven assists, 58% true shooting, which is very good.

One of LeBron's most impressive seasons, in my opinion, from the standpoint of floating the ship under less than ideal circumstances. So this is where the Lakers Front Office comes in. To be clear, since the basically from the Rui Hachemura trade on, the Lakers Front Office has been fantastic. We've laid that out on the show. They extended that by locking up Anthony Davis long term under, what, $62 million a year or something like that. through, I believe, the 2028 season, if I remember correctly. They've done an amazing job this offseason.

They're set up for a trade in the middle of this upcoming season to potentially upgrade where they might need to. It's been great for the Laker front office. But before that, it was really rough, especially coming into this season. The Lakers were kind of set up to fail. They brought Russell Westbrook back, despite the fact that it was a super clunky basketball fit, and he brought some locker room issues just from the standpoint of his attitude. they didn't have any forwards on the roster. The only forwards they had on the roster were guys like Juan Tiscano Anderson

who were unplayable due to the lack of offensive skill, and Wenyan Gabriel, who was more of like a backup center type of guy. LeBron and Anthony Davis were literally the only two forwards on the roster. They didn't have any shooting. They brought in a bunch of guys who were defensive-minded, guys like Patrick Beverly and Troy Brown Jr., guys that could defend at a reasonably high level, not an elite level, but a reasonably high level, but that were super inconsistent as jump shooters,

which again, once the lack of shooting around LeBron James and Anthony Davis is just a ridiculous idea. And then in addition to that, they had one of the toughest schedules in the league to start the season, playing just good team after good team after good team. And so inevitably they started two and ten, and their playoff odds looked miserable. And then they started to get it going a little bit,

peaking with Anthony Davis drop in 55 on the Washington Wizards, but then AD gets hurt. A stress reaction in his foot that causes him to miss 20 games. So you've got that incredibly flawed roster, and you've got Anthony Davis out for 20 games in the middle of the season. The vast majority of players in the NBA would have just been like, not our year. This isn't the year.

Two and ten, no AD for at least a month and a half. How are we going to do this? What's the point? but I would imagine that Rob Polinka must have had a conversation with LeBron somewhere around that point because LeBron played some of the very best basketball of his career to float the ship during that stretch. In the 20-game stretch where Anthony Davis was out, LeBron James averaged 35 points per game, eight rebounds and eight assists on 63% true shooting,

unbelievable scoring and volume, playmaking, and defense. Lakers ended up going 10 and 10 in that span, which again doesn't sound great. But when you factor in the roster in the no Anthony Davis piece, marching out lineups with a bunch of undersized and less than skilled players, they found a way to win just enough to wait for Anthony Davis to come back and to wait for the trade reinforcements to come. They made the play in tournament by one game at 43 and 39. and that resulted in a Western Conference finals run. So that little stretch there in the middle of the season where LeBron played some of the best basketball of his career

and it was clearly one of the best players in the league at that stretch, that saved them. Long enough for when LeBron got hurt for Anthony Davis to step in and save them. It was a lot of heroic floating going on from LeBron James and Anthony Davis throughout this season. And all of this, by the way, was despite LeBron having the worst jump shooting slump he's had since 2000. He had a 45% effective field goal percentage on jump shots this year.

Last year he was 51% and 50% the year before that. Again, you want to be above 50% in effective field goal percentage on jump shots. LeBron was bad this year at 45%. He was especially bad on pull-up jump shots. This year he shot 43.5% in effective field goal percentage on pull-up jump shots. He was 48% and 49% the last two years. Those are, again, high 40s. That's where Paul George lands.

for instance. So high 40s, totally acceptable for pull-up jump shooting. Low 40s, really bad. And that's where LeBron was this year. So after being, again, throughout the majority of his career, I'd say since the 2011 collapse, LeBron has been a pretty consistent jump shooter, right in line with most of his peers, probably slightly above average compared to his peers. But in 2015, and again in this season, for whatever reason, he just went down a huge level as a jump shooter. And to be honest, a huge part of how the end of LeBron James's career will go will come down to how well he shoots the basketball. But despite the poor jump shooting, LeBron was on his way to another great LeBron season. Again, that 35, 8-and-8 stretch up until the Dallas Mavericks game where he tore the ligament in his foot.

He averaged 38 and 7 on 58% true shooting. That is top-tier production, top-tier winning impact. playing 500 ball without Anthony Davis on that roster was nothing short of extraordinary. He was on track for another great LeBron season. He was also dominant attacking the rim. He was third in the entire NBA and restricted area makes per game at 6.4 per game on 75% shooting. That was third in the league behind Zion and Janus. So other than the two guys who once again, that's all they do, I mean, that's an oversimplification,

but that's their bread and butter is just bulldozing to the rim. LeBron is the next best guy in the entire league. doing that specifically. But then the Dallas game happens. The Mavs get out to a huge lead. LeBron and Anthony Davis start kind of slowly, methodically pulverizing the Mavs in the post. They get a little burst from Jared Vanderbilt in the first half as he kind of gets some steals and runouts that kind of set the tone that the Lakers are on track to come back and make that a game. LeBron really takes over in the second half, particularly out of the post, but he does a basic jumpstop move right there by the right block

and he falls down and he visibly says to his teammates that he felt something pop in his foot and he just was never the same guy after that. Missed a good chunk of time Anthony Davis was carrying during that stretch again. AD is above LeBron on this list and we will talk about Anthony Davis when we get to that point. But here are some numbers just to demonstrate the drop off from LeBron after the foot injury. So again, before the injury, 38 and 7 on 6.4 restricted area makes per game, 75% shooting. after the injury in the regular season. He played eight games, 25 points, eight rebounds, six assists,

and then in the postseason in 16 games, 25 points, 10 rebounds, and seven assists. A clear delineation. He basically went down from being a 30 point per game guy to a 25 point per game guy, all like just before and after this torn ligament in his foot. It was still a very impressive playoff run for the record. Still couldn't make a jumper.

He was 43% effective field goal percentage on jump. overall. That's really, really bad. 34% effective field goal percentage on pull-up jumpers. That's like yikes bad. So the bad jump shooting continued into the postseason, but he was great in dribble creation. The Lakers scored 287 points on 281 LeBron Pick and Rolls, ISOs, and post-ups in the postseason. That's 1.02 points per possession. Remember, anything over one point per possession in half-court shot creation against playoff defenses is great, especially. when you look at the types of teams that they were going against.

He really evolved as an off-ball player. He's always had this in his game. You saw a lot more of it when he was in Miami. Briefly went through a stretch with Cleveland, where he was a little more heliocentric. But this has always been in his game, but he's been relying on it a great deal since coming to the Lakers, especially this past season with all of the guard talent on the roster.

Post-deadline, when you're dealing with Austin Reeves, DeAngel Russell, and Dennis Schroeder. LeBron was a big part in the seating of control. Him and Anthony Davis both. went way down in their live shot, like on-ball shot creation reps and devoted a lot of those to the guards and just became screeners. And LeBron didn't do what a lot of stars do when they're not involved in the offense where he just stands around on the perimeter. He was active as a cutter, as a ball screener in particular, especially when Anthony Davis was off the floor. It was Austin Reeves, LeBron James Pick and Roll, DeAngelaela, Russell, LeBron James Pick and Roll, Dennis Schroeder, LeBron James Pick and Roll.

He was finding a way to be functional in the offense even when he did not have. the basketball. That's a large part of why I thought this particular playoff run was one of my favorites as a LeBron fan. Just, again, not his best, but one of my favorites rooting for him because he was so clearly not close to his normal self, but he just found a way through his basketball IQ and through sheer force of competitive will to impact winning at an extremely high level. My favorite moment of this playoff run from LeBron was game four against Memphis. Once again, just having a nightmare game, can't get a jump shot to go to save his life. Clearly is just a little bit hobbled,

but when it came down to it and his team needed him to make a play, Memphis was up to on the final possession, about to send the series back to Memphis tied, in a situation where Memphis would have become the favorite to win the series. LeBron James just forced his way to the basket and made a ridiculous right-handed scooping layup off the glass over Jaron Jackson, all the way fully extended to send the game to OT.

And then in OT, he does it a couple more times once beating Jaron Jackson himself off the dribble, a second time ripping through on Dylan Brooks and getting an and one, just forcing through sheer competitive willpower a win when nothing else was going for the Lakers. That was my favorite LeBron moment in this particular playoff run. And that, to me, is the encapsulation of a competitor.

It's one thing when you're making it look easy because you're just better than everybody. And obviously there's a huge, that's the ideal version for any basketball team because you're going to win a lot of games more easily. But just, you know, I've always, you guys know, here we talk about competitiveness a lot on this show. It's the difference between loving basketball and hating losing.

You know, a guy who loves basketball will spend a lot of time in the gym working on his game. A guy who hates losing will get dirty on the court and fight and scratch and claw and just find a lot of. way to win games. The best players in the world are always a combination of both. They love basketball and they hate losing. And you know what? LeBron's basketball decline was inevitable and it's coming, but through his competitiveness and his basketball IQ, that sheer force of will, he has found a way to maintain a deeply impactful NBA playoff career even into his late 30s. Again, here's a wild

stat for you about an injury-riddled 38-year-old LeBron James in the playoffs. There were two players in the entire playoff field this year to average at least 24, 9, and 6. LeBron James and Nicole Yokic. And again, like, obviously LeBron wasn't the second best player in this playoff run. He had a lot of issues,

but the point is, is when it comes to production, reliability, and finding a way to impact winning, LeBron is still one of the very best players in the league at it, even when the circumstances are not ideal. The playoff run was minimized, in my opinion, in terms of people accepting it or really realizing it because of three things. It was a level below what we expect from LeBron James in his prime. Everything is relative, right? It's relative to normal LeBron.

Yeah, it's bad. But relative to other NBA players, it's still really damn good. It was a level below what he did in the regular season. So it looked, again, when you see a guy average 30 and 8 and 7 or whatever during the regular season, and then suddenly he's a level below that. In the postseason, your first instinct is to think bad. But again, relative to other NBA players, he was still deeply impactful. And then lastly, as good as LeBron was, Anthony Davis was better than him in this playoff run.

So he was the second best player on his team. That always will diminish just the amount of credit that a player receives for one reason or another. LeBron was older. LeBron was injured. He was playing a different style of basketball, but he was still outrageously good. But alas, the Lakers had three major weaknesses going into that playoff run. Weaknesses that I talked about before the playoff run, weaknesses that I've talked about all summer. You Lakers fans will remember right off the top.

The three things I talked about were backcourt athleticism, the lack of a backup center and the lack of over-the-top shot making, and all three of them came back to haunt them in the playoffs. The lack of back-court athleticism, that was what led to Bruce Brown, just utterly destroying DeAngelo Russell, which was one of the biggest swing factors in the Western Conference finals. The lack of a backup center led to an injured LeBron playing center in most of those units, and they got destroyed.

The Lakers experienced an 18.2 point per 100 possession drop-off in the playoffs when Anthony Davis went to the bench because they did not have a playable backup center to keep LeBron at the four. And the last but not least, LeBron and Anthony Davis both declining as jump shooters, made it so that the Lakers were incapable of getting it. the boost you get from over the top jump shooting. And we've talked about these boosts in the past, rescue possessions. Like, it's an advantage when you've got guys like Jamal Murray and Nicole Yokic,

who two, three times a game, are going to turn a bad possession into a made shot. Like, they give it like this. Jamal Murray makes an impossible step back. Yokic makes some crazy one-leg fade away from the baseline. Yokic makes a crazy one-leg fade away from the left wing. That's a three. That's eight, that's seven points. in a series where all four games were close,

three of them involved clutch situations, the one that didn't involve clutch situations, the Lakers had a double-digit second-half lead. So a seven-point swing on rescue possessions that can completely swing playoff series. And the Lakers got none of that because of the decline of LeBron James and Anthony Davis as jump shooters.

That also hurts you in clutch situations. The Lakers won four straight clutch games to start the playoffs on the strength of their defense. The Lakers' defense was outrageously good in clutch situations this year. But when it came down to it in the Western Conference finals, Yokic and Murray just shot their faces off in the fourth quarters when the games got close. And so despite keeping every game close, it was a sweep. And the Lakers didn't get a single win in the Western Conference finals. And so, I mean, those flaws were inevitably going to come back to haunt them, and they did.

And I think, you know, specifically when it comes to LeBron, we have to factor that in as we're talking about this list. So the last question is, why do I have LeBron James down at 8? When, as you guys know, he's my favorite player, so obviously I have a good amount of bias there. And the reality is this. If I could guarantee his health, like guarantee LeBron's going to be healthy in the playoffs.

And guarantee normal career average jump shooting. Not like shoot the lights off, laces off the basketball, just normal LeBron jump shooting. right around 50, 52% in effective field goal percentage on catch and shoots, or overall in jump shooting, and right around 48, 49% and pull up jump shooting. If I could guarantee that and guarantee health, I think LeBron James would be easily in my top five. I'd have him at four, as a matter of fact, and I'd have him in the exact same tier as the three players above him. When LeBron is healthy and in his normal shooting rhythm, I think he's a bona fide top tier superstar.

Why? Because he combines all of my favorite basketball traits. He's a big rim pressuring forward who's an outstanding playmaker. He's a super versatile scorer who is consistently in the NBA's top tier for both volume and efficiency. Again, ninth in scoring this year despite having the injury at the end of the year that pulled his point per game average down. And he was second in scoring the year before that to Joel Embed. Last year he had 62% true shooting. LeBron averaged 30 points per game on 62% true shooting last year. And then this past year, 29 points per game on 58% you're shooting.

LeBron is consistently, when he's healthy, one of the best volume and efficiency scores in the NBA. He can play effectively both on and off the ball. He's heliocentric, but only in spurts, which is something that I've always believed in. And then lastly, when he's engaged physically, when he needs to be at the end of games and in an important situations, he's got plenty of defensive versatility. That's all of the reasons why when LeBron James is at his peak, I believe in him as a bona fide top-tier player, even at this age. But that's not reality.

And again, the theme of this show is reality. The reality is we don't know if LeBron's going to have his jump shot back next season. And we don't know if he'll be healthy for the majority of the season. As a matter of fact, it's a pretty safe bet. He's going to miss a third of the regular season. And he'll probably be playing through some sort of nagging injury when we get to April. I hope that that doesn't happen. and but like I just would be shocked if it didn't happen.

I would be genuinely surprised if LeBron was just trucking along, played 75 games this year, and was just ready to go for the postseason in top shape. I just would be, I would be shocked, wouldn't you guys? And so how do we not factor that in in this list? Guys, he turns 39 years old in December, 39. It was completely unprecedented for him to play at the level. he played at age 38. It's not going to get better from here.

If it did, it would be highly unusual. As for the jump shot, as I talk about a lot on the show, Lyft is one of the most important elements of jump shooting. And it's not just in the vacuum of the jump shot. It's in the flow of actual basketball games. I've got a bunch of, I did a workout yesterday at the Richard Jefferson Center with five of my younger college friends who are still playing in college and they're all just in town for like a week before they had out of town.

And every summer when these guys come back, I just do workouts with them. And they're all in incredible shape. And they're at a higher level than a lot of the players I normally play against in Tucson. And I was playing with them yesterday. And like just the fatigue element, just from like running around and playing like crazy intense physical basketball against real basketball players, there's a fatigue element. And like getting the, like you go to rise up into your jump shot and the lift your custom to getting just isn't there.

It's not, oh, do you have enough lift to get the ball to the rim standing by yourself in a gym doing a shooting drill? It's LeBron James at age 39 trying to get lift into a jump shot playing against young kids who feel great and their bodies are all in great shape. And look at the pace the NBA is played out now. Look at how the floor is spread and all of the driving and kicking, the sheer amount of distance traveled in an NBA game right now is unprecedented. And LeBron at age 39 is trying to keep up on a team that has a defensive identity.

And so that's the thing is like I'm more like 50-50 on this. Like with the injury thing, I feel relatively certain LeBron's going to miss at least a third of the season. And I'd say that there's probably what, like a 70% chance he's dealing with some sort of nagging injury come April. With the jump shot thing, it could be either. One of two things is true. Either it was just a slump or this is a byproduct of his decline and he's not quite getting the lift he needs.

And so he's starting to leave jump shots short more often or he's having to use his arms more in a shot, which is always a disrupts muscle memory. So we don't know. I thought this was one of LeBron's most impressive seasons in terms of competitive force of will and doing whatever his team needed to float the ship under less than ideal circumstances. and when in-healthy, when in rhythm and healthy, I think he's one of the very best players in the league. But in my opinion, those guys above him on this list are just a safer bet

to be at their individual ceilings as players. And their individual ceilings as players are higher than LeBron's basement when he's playing with nagging injuries. And so that's why I have LeBron James down at 8. And outside of the top five for the first time in well over a decade. One last thing before we get out of here, I had some Luca Donchich fans ask, why did I have LeBron up at four after missing the playoffs the year before? It's a fair question, but it's a very simple explanation.

You guys know this. I always give enormously leeway to champions. And yeah, I know you think, oh, LeBron, he won his titles in 2012 and 2013 and 2016. Yeah, you're right. But guess what? Do you remember when Janus won the title? The title that has Janus really high on this list in terms of recognition of his ability, Yanis won the title not that long ago.

And that was just nine months after LeBron James won a finals MVP should have won the league MVP, in my opinion, and was clearly the best player in the world. We are not that far removed from LeBron James being in that situation. It was very clearly roster-oriented. That's why they won the freaking title. Russell Westbrook trade two awful years, right? Then get rid of Russell Westbrook

immediately back in the Western Conference Finals. I thought LeBron deserved a great deal of leeway as a four-time NBA champion and a four-time finals MVP with one relatively recently than Luca Donchich, who got his ass kicked in the Western Conference Finals once. Okay? So like, and for you Luca fans, again,

this is the most important detail, I am unbiased in the way that I apply that rule. If Luca wins a championship, I'm going to be giving him the same leeway. Guys, if Nicola Yokic missed the playoffs this year because he got hurt or Jamal Murray got hurt and Michael Porter Jr. got hurt and the West was stacked and he ended up in a tough playing game on the road against Minnesota and Yokic went for 38, 17, and 14 and they lost and he missed the playoffs. I'm not dropping Yokic very far. Probably you'll still have him at the top unless someone else has a truly great playoff run to supplant him.

Why? Because he's the defending champ. Not young Luca Donchichu hasn't accomplished anything in the league yet. Again, you guys remember, to me, talking about what Luca is capable of is fantasy basketball. That's theoretical. Talking about a guy who hoisted the trophy, that's reality. We play the games so that it's not theoretical. theoretical only goes so far what's the saying from Oppenheimer theory will only take you so far or whatever

that's that's the real if if it was all theoretical we would give all these guys a 2k rating and give the trophy to the guy who had the highest 2k rating that's not how it works you play the games the games are what matters the games lead to the trophy the trophy has to mean something and yes i gave more leeway to the guy who had four trophies than the guy who has zero and that's always going to be the way that I do this. And again, when it comes down to this stuff, it's all subjective. And I guarantee you, even if, I guarantee you even some of you on this, who listen to this show, who see the game very similarly to me, we'll have a very different list. And there hasn't been a single person I've put on this list that I haven't gotten

complaints about. I got complaints about how high Jamal Murray was, how high Anthony Edwards was, how low Devin Booker was, how low Kawhi Leonard was, how low Donovan Mitchell was, Everyone complains because they're subjective lists. And that's just the way this stuff goes. I will say that I'd much rather have you guys give a basketball case. I've seen a lot of people disagree for one reason or another in the comments and they write out all the reasons why. I always enjoy those because you're giving me your basketball perspective on why you disagree. But when it's just like screw you, dumbass, why do you have so-and-so above whatever, like that doesn't move the conversation forward at all.

I mean, we disagree. I guarantee you if you made a list, I'd probably see something on your list. that I think is pretty foolish as well. But that's the nature of just how stacked the league is, how difficult these decisions are. I mean, I obsessed over this LeBron one forever. But I feel like for me I made the right decision, putting him down at 8.

But I guarantee you guys that when I come back to record for the next show, I will be getting absolutely slayed for having LeBron solo, because it's crazy as every other fan base can be, you've never seen anything like LeBron James fans and how they can react about this kind of stuff. But that said, most of you guys, obviously, I tend to overly focus on the negative, and I have to be better about that,

and I will be working on it as we go into this season. Most of you guys have been very positive and supportive, and I do sincerely appreciate that. We are almost to the end of this list. We have seven more players. We will be back tomorrow with number seven. Some of you guys might have a guess as to who that is. But in the meantime, enjoy the rest of your night.

I'll see you guys that. Another podcast from some SNL, late-night comedy guide, 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, S&L'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. 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. On the Look Back at a podcast. 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. This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed human.