The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Hour 1 - The Men's Basketball Olympic Team

Episode Date: July 11, 2024

After watching the Men's Basketball Olympic Team in their first scrimmage game against Canada, Colin believes this team is even more talented than the famed 1992 "Dream Team" He defends Caitlin Clark from criticisms about turning the ball over by pointing out her production It's obvious some in the Giants organization wanted to draft a QB   Guest: Rachel NicholsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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USA Canada basketball. Greg Burholter's out of work. The men's national soccer team. Always blame the coach. Never the players. He got the act. Dailing Johnson to the Bears. next hour. Things are good. USA, ugly to start the game against Canada last night, fell behind

11 to 1. They've got to figure out how to play with Steph. Are we going to get Anthony Edwards starting at some point, Colin? Probably. Come on. Probably. So, Canada got off to a good start, and Canada is better than any team that the 1992 Dream team faced. They're better. The basketball is so much better now than it's ever been. I mean, the game is incredible. Jason Tatum, did not start last night. He's better than Scotty Pippen. Offensively, it's not particularly close. It's a global sport.

Everybody can shoot. Everybody can handle the ball. I mean, I'm watching Wemby. He's not on our team. But what that kid can do, Chet Holmgren at 7-2 can do, it's incredible. The next two dream team, Larry Bird was shot.

He retired 10 days after the Olympics. You had multiple guys on that team, multiple, who could not handle the ball and who couldn't shoot. Anthony Davis on this team is a much better player than Patrick Ewing. Give me a break. Tatum's much better than Scottie Pippen. LeBron right now is better than Magic was to me at 32 or 33 years old. Our young guys are aunt and Halliburton. Their young guy was Christian Leightner. Give me a break. This team is old men aging very gracefully. KD. LeB. and Steph. Everybody shoots. Everybody can handle the ball. I mean, good God.

Joe L. M. B. average six assists. This year for the Sixers. Six assists, he's a center. The 1992 Dream Team was amazing. And a lot of people get to my age. They get gray hair, and they love looking in the rearview mirror. And they just romanticized everything. It's like if you want to wake up and listen to Stairway to Heaven from Led Zeppelin, it was awesome.

And it takes you back to a different time. But it takes two and a half minutes to get into the lyrics. Jimmy Page is on a riff. And that was basketball back then. Down to the center, pounded on the floor, very little ball movement. It was a very position-oriented game. You could do certain things as a forward. You could do certain things as a center.

Players can do anything and everything now. Wemby is 7-4. Handles it, behind-the-back passing, shot-blocking, three-pointers. The world is different now. and it's not a bad thing. Two things can be possibly true at the same time. The 1992 team beating Tunisia by 60 was amazing and a thing of beauty. But this team's bench has starters on that team.

Scotty Pippen, I covered him in Portland, not close to Jason Tatum. Patrick Ewing's not nearly as good as Anthony Davis. Christian Leitner on that team, aunt off the bench on this team. What are we talking about here? The flexibility. The bigs now can handle the ball and shoot. Back then, centers had a range of about 12 feet. You dumped it to him.

They'd pound the ball. It slowed everything up. That stuff doesn't last. You start looking at Dwight Howard's career. I mean, he's the line of demarcation. Dwight Howard, prodigy in high school, walks into the NBA. About halfway in his career, he couldn't do anything. Back to the basket.

Couldn't do anything. That's what a lot of the bigs, almost all of the bigs were. Today's game is motion and angles and free-flowing and speed and everybody can handle the ball. I mean, the Celtics won a title with an offense called five out. Everybody, including Al Horford, can sit in the corner and hit a three. Five out. You couldn't play that game. ESPN did 30 for 30s on the Knicks and Pacers.

The series had one pure shooter, Reggie Miller. The Knicks had nine guys in the roster that couldn't hit an 18-footer. They were tough guys. They were fun guys. They were physical. Even John Starks wasn't a natural shooter. He was their shooting guard. I mean, he was the guy in the perimeter.

You would trust. I wouldn't trust it. So Michael Jordan's the best player to most of you of all time. That's fine. I think LeBron does more better. LeBron's a much better version than Magic. And that's fine. And it's going to take this team a long time to figure out, you know,

it's going to take them a while to figure out Steph Curry. First four and a half minutes, they had a point. They've got to figure out Steph Curry style. But just look at the bench on this team. far. Look at the flexibility. It's positionless basketball. It's a thing of beauty. The game is global now. Guys come into this league from overseas. They are ready to play. They've played against 20-year-old guys and they're 17 years old. Here's Steve Kerr on the flexibility, the dexterity of this roster. Can't go wrong. Picking a starting lineup, you know, with this

group. So I think I told you guys the other day I'm going to do something different. The next two games. We're going to just look at a few different combinations before we settle on anything. But we wanted to establish Joel early in the game, knowing Canada didn't have a lot of size. We wanted to play Bam and Anthony Davis together with the second group and see what that looked like. Listen, anytime a team at business, anything has multiple ways to beat you, multiple lineups, completely flexible, the depth, the roster, the ball handling, you know, the shooting. It's not close. It's just a free-flowing game.

You can love Michael. Larry Bird was shot. I think this team, I don't know how that team would defend him, that plotting style. And I love Barclay. And I love the old players. Two things are going to be true. But go listen to Stairway to Heaven. You were absolutely sure it was the greatest song ever.

if you wake and bake, maybe it still sticks. But for most of us, get to the lyrics. All right. So I think we're staring at the wrong thing with Caitlin Clark. So Caitlin Clark, and we all know this, is that when you're a college player and then you come into the pros, the game's much faster and it's more physical. And so there's always bumps.

But I tend to just look at your production. So Caitlin Clark's production is incredible. She has now done four straight double-double games, points and assists. 15.12 assists. 13-11, 1913, 29-13 last night. Incredible. She reminds me of Andrew Luck, same city. Doesn't have a lot of support.

He comes in with terrible old lines, has to win by a shootout. At the time breaks the rookie passing record, 4,400 yards, 28 total touchdowns, goes 11 and 5. And all anybody wants to talk about is, like, through a lot of interceptions. Yes, college to the pro, the game is faster. The corners are better. But 4,400 yards, you're looking at the wrong stuff with Andrew Luck. His production with a terrible O' line, 4,400 yards, 28 total touchdowns. All at the time, rookie records.

Anybody wanted to talk about that? The picks. Yeah, 18 picks. Yeah, he's not a veteran quarterback. dude was a production machine with virtually no pro bowlers. And that's Caitlin Clark's turnover talk. All I've heard, oh, the turnovers with Caitlin Clark. A, she's got the ball in her hands a lot.

B, she is a rookie, right? The game is faster. And you know who also has a lot of turnovers? Players that play fast and loose. LeBron leads the NBA all time in turnovers. F. Curry has a lot of turnovers. Luca has a lot of turnovers.

I've never banged on quarterbacks who throw picks if they're productive. Peyton Manning, John Elway, Dan Marino, Brett Favre, go back to Joe Namath, threw a lot of picks. Tom Brady had picked sixes

in the Super Bowl and won. Turnovers happen if you're a quarterback that plays with courage. My biggest knock on Aaron Rogers has been if he throws an early pick, he backs off and play safe football. Brady, Peyton, Manning, Elway, Mahomes do not. Let it rip, baby, play fast and loose. You got to have a short memory in the NFL. And you've got to have a short memory in basketball if you play fast. Steph Curry can have back-to-back awful turnovers. He's going faster the next time down the

floor. And that's what makes him Steph Curry. So I think with Caitlin Clark, and if you look at her numbers in the last 10 games, she's not only good, she's getting better. As she's catching up to the speed, she's getting much better, much more quickly. So if it's just, it's one of those things. I will support quarterbacks who are highly productive and throw some picks. I'm not going to support Daniel Jones who throws picks, but I will support Trevor Lawrence with some of his turnovers. He can be very, very productive.

Josh Allen came into this league. He was a little wild, but he was wildly productive. Joe Burrow, Matt Stafford, they throw interceptions. They're great. Like Mahomes is like historically unique. You get the production without the picks. He's the best quarterback ever. After Tom Brady, who gave you the production with no picks.

That's why those are the goats. Joe Montana, now it was a different time, but Joe didn't give you a lot of picks. That's what separates great from, you know, top two or three guys ever. But I'm okay with Favre and Burrow and Stafford. And I'm okay with Caitlin Clark's turnovers. She's good. She's productive. Double doubles.

Right now, in fact, I looked it up this morning. Caitlin Clark, her production, she is second in the WNBA and assists per game. By the way, not like she's got a lot of finishers on that team. So she's second in the league on a team without a lot of finishers. She's third in total threes made. when everybody in the league knows guard Caitlin Clark if you're playing Indiana.

It's not like she's got all-star teammates who are taking off some of that. So you turn the telescope. You're staring at the wrong stuff with Andrew Luck for years. You're staring at the wrong stuff. The turnovers don't bother me. And those will come down over time

to catch up to the speed of the game. Interceptions over the course of time Trevor Lawrence won't throw as many. Caleb Williams for Chicago this year. My guess is he's got some turnovers. Year two fewer. Year three will find the light. comes on, the game slows down, then it'll be fine. All right. Rachel Nichols, USA, Canada.

You know, I just, I didn't grow up in a traditional family. I mean, we weren't hippies, living in tents in the backyard, but I didn't grow up in this highly traditional family. So I don't tend to embrace, you know, stuff in the 70s and 80s and 90s. There were great. Walter Payton's the best running back I've ever seen. I would defend it forever. That is the best running back Power speed, everything I've ever seen. Better than Barry, better than McCaffrey, better than Derek Henry, better than Adrian Peterson. There are some things. Ted Williams hitting a baseball.

Bob Gibson throwing a baseball. I'm not saying, guys, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. You've got to be kidding me. I mean, the guy literally, Bill Walton is a college basketball player would be great today. It was great then. The late great Bill Walton. But a lot of this stuff is nonsense. You're grabbing on to stuff.

Larry Bird was shot. The older magic's not the older LeBron. Your bench got Christian Leitner on it. It's a whole different ball game today. All right. First 12 minutes ready to go. Rachel Nichols stops by later this hour as well. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific.

On Fox Sports Radio, FS1, and the IHeart Radio app. What's up, fam? It's Isaiah Thomas. And I'm C.J. Toledano, and our podcast Point Game is about defining the odds. Like LeBron heading into the playoffs without Luca and Austin Reed. and finding ways to win no matter what. He's the smartest player to ever play the game. His IQ is at a level that we've never seen before.

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And then he has to give us everything he gives us on the night-to-night basis on offense. And when IT's friends stopped by, like Quentin Richardson, we dive into some playoff history too. Steve Nash would get that thing. That man, hell get the flying. He running up the court, licking his fingers, why he got the ball. Like, you go through a training camp with that, Isaiah.

You figure it out real quick. Get your ass up and down the court, and you're going to get the ball. So listen to Point Game on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, I'm Jared Adano. You might know me as that loud guy who yells out, Help on the internet. Help!

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The World Cup is almost here. Experience it all with us. Listen to Inside American Soccer with Tom Bogart and Tab Ramos on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, wherever you get your podcast. You're now entering the No Bull Zone, sponsored by credible great rates, none of the Bull. So these, Hard Knocks has the Giants this year. HBO available to stream on Max. These shows, in my opinion, are kind of played out because we have so much access on our phones now

that you get so much behind the scene stuff. But there are glimpses on these shows like Hard Knocks. You'll get about every episode or every couple episodes. You're going to get a little moment. And sometimes the moment is a GM or a coach playing to the camp. They know the cameras are on. Joe Shane of the Giants did that a couple of times. Defending Daniel Jones.

He's playing to the camera. It's nonsense. And then you get other moments where after a while, like at the NFL Combine, the general manager sort of, you know, if you put a mic on me and I walked around L.A. for an hour and a half, I'd probably at some point forget I have a mic on. Now, if I was in my office knowing there's a camera on, I would never forget that. I'd see it. I'd know it.

I'd watch the guy set it up. But sometimes you put a mic on these guys, they wander around, and they just forget the damn mics on. And at the Combine, the Giants GM goes and talks to the Patriots who had the number three pick. Giants had the six. Elliot Wolfe. And it's pretty clear that the Giants wanted to draft the quarterback. I'm just going to go down there and just say, hey, before you do anything at three, just make sure you let us know. Just plant the seat if you are going to move the pick.

Don't do it without at least giving us a call. Yeah. No, we're. Less rebuttal. We're interested. If you guys are going to do anything at three, like move out at all. Again, I don't, you've got to tell me your plan or anything. But if you have any inkling, just call me.

Just call me if you're going to do anything. Now, reportedly, Jordan reported this at the time that the Giants made an offer to the Patriots, including another number one pick, not only swapping the three into six, but the following year's number one pick. So they wanted a quarterback. They wanted to go get Drake May and New England said, we can go either way here, but we're going to keep him because we got Jacoby Brissette. So, listen, sports fans always think if you don't pick the team, that you're against them.

We're not against the New York Giants. We just don't think Daniel Jones is the guy. I talked about this with Caitlin Clark, wildly productive, but she's got some turnovers, very Andrew Luck. I'm okay with that. With Daniel Jones, in 59 starts, I got 62 touchdowns, That's it, and 40 picks. It's not the picks that drive me crazy in a passer rating of 85.

Justin Herbert, who has almost the same number of starts, has double the touchdown passes, 114. And he's got 42 picks. I can live with that. But it's the production. Justin Herbert gives you better completion, better pass rate. I ain't going to give you 114 touchdown passes and run for some. It's not the picks.

Because when you have the wrong coach or a bad old line, and with the chargers, you're going to have picks. With Daniel Jones, you don't get the upside, but get all the downside. A little bit of my theme today. I can live with mistakes. Nobody's perfect. You see who's running for president, both sides? That's the position of president of the United States.

Not great choices. I can live with mistakes. I can live with picks. I can live in basketball with turnovers. But you've got to give me an upside to it. If you're going to be a rock star and trash the whole hotel room, you got to be guns and roses and sell out the show at the Rose Bowl and give me 110,000 people if I'm the promoter. Go ahead and trash the hotel room.

Trash the van that gets you to the Rose Bowl. You got to sell out the Rose Bowl. And so it's pretty clear. It's pretty clear the Giants GM and the coach wanted to draft another quarterback. Here's Jordan with the news. No, no, no, no, no. Turn on the news. This is the herd line news.

All right, Colin, Brandon Ayukes, Skippy, and, entirety of the 49ers offseason program and is still looking to get his future sorted ahead of training camp in an appearance on the Rich Eisen Show, George Kittles said he's not concerned with IUC's contract situation. Being a 49er and where most of the contracts have gone, like, I didn't get signed to like the second week of training camp. Debo was pretty late. Boso was late too. Boso was the first week of the season. I was like, that's just how business has done that out there.

But like, I'm not concerned about it. IUC is a phenomenal football player who's a big part of our offense, and he's like one of the most complete receivers that I've ever played with. So I'm going to assume that I used to be on our team by the time the season starts. There's a lot more pressure this year on Kyle Shanahan than I think people realize. This has been the most talented roster in the league probably for three years. Since they added Christian McCaffrey, this has been the roster of note in the league. Kansas City hasn't had the best roster.

Philadelphia has been close for a year. Baltimore's been good. this is the best roster. And pretty soon you're going to have to pay Brock Purdy. And Trent Williams and Kittle and Christian, Debo, getting banged up, getting older. Like, I think this is the year. And if they underachieve, and I love Kyle Shanahan, even he'll get pushback. But we kind of look at this team and we're like, and they're loaded.

Their best players, Detroit and Green Bay are different in the NFC. The Rams are different. Their best players are overwhelmingly old guys with a lot of miles on the odometer. And so I think this year for the Niners is really important. I think if you look at Brock Purdy and Brandon Ayuk, to your point as well, IUC has really been his top receiver not named Christian McCaffrey. I mean, Debo's tremendous, but Iyuk is that traditional ex-receiver. And if you go back to week one last year, Purdy's coming off the elbow surgery.

Who does he target against Pittsburgh? Eight targets, eight catches, 129 yards, two tuddies for Brandon. in IUC. NFC Championship. They're down 17 to Detroit. IUCs make that circus catch. It brings them back. Ultimately, they go to the Super Bowl.

Maybe it's not Justin Jefferson type of money, Colin. But ultimately, I believe San Francisco wants Iyuk there long term. I think Ayuk wants to be there. And I ultimately believe not only will he, but he deserves to get that type of money. Maybe Amon Ross St. Brown. You see Tyree Kill in there somewhere along those lines. Big time money for a big time player. No, there's no question.

And I think they drafted two wide receivers, so they're eventually going to move off one of their receivers. Yeah. Yesterday we heard from Justin Jefferson, as he discussed, he wasn't too surprised that Kirk Cousins left the Vikings. In the same interview on the reticent show, Jefferson also talked about what it's been like working with rookie J.J. McCarthy so far. They put J.J.J.'s locker right next to line.

Just like how they did Kirk. You know, they want me to be that guy that, JJ can always, you know, talk to and ask questions about. And he's definitely that type of kid. You know, he definitely wants to ask questions. He wants to learn how to become a top quarterback. He wants to learn how to become, you know, a problem in this league. But I always tell him, you know, don't really worry about the expectations.

All you have to do is just carry yourself with confidence. Yeah, whoever quarterbacks Minnesota, you have to be. productive. There's too many good players. This is on Sam Darnold and JJ. Whoever's taking the snaps. Like, I've defended Sam Darnold forever. That's your guy. It's not about his record. Sam has to be productive

this year. He could go, if he starts eight games and goes four and four, but is really productive and they move on to J.J. McCarthy, Donald will get another shot. It's like Baker Mayfield came to the Rams. Remember that he had one practice? Everybody went.

Then he had that crazy comeback. Yep. And then all of a sudden, he's going, gets to Tampa. That's right. That's right. The key for Sam Darnold is not about wins and losses. They're not going to win the division. But if Sam goes four and four and then they decide around Thanksgiving, we're going to go to J.J. McCarthy, which is what my guest they'd like to do.

You know, give Sam up to Thanksgiving or maybe longer. It's not about winning for Sam. Can Sam do a Baker Mayfield where he finally gets a good offensive coach? You know, Baker gets John McVeigh. Everybody's like, it's a television game. Everybody's like, oh, Baker's pretty good. Baker kind of reboots the reputation. Baker grows up, he gets the right coaching, gets the money in Tampa.

It's really interesting. I just saw Sam a week ago in Rhode Island. If Sam is productive, nobody's going to hold the record against him in that division. And I think with their left tackle, tied end, running back, two wide receivers, head coach, I think Sam's going to be more productive than people think, and he will get another run. Remember, Kyle likes him. NFL people like him. Everyone's always like Sam Darnel.

I think the beer question is when do they go if they go to J.J. McCarthy? And you saw the week five by, I believe, after the Jets. J.J. needs, I think J.J. needs to sit for a year. Yeah. I don't think he's Joe Burrell. I don't think he's. Yeah. I'm going to, I just want to tell you, this is a conversation I had with J.J.

I took some notes. I asked them about the 32 runs in a row against Penn State. He was a Heisman candidate Heisman favorite the week before. Did that bother him? No. I said, does it bother you that people talk about you as a winner, but you don't have the most gaudy stats? No. He had Jim Harbaugh.

Now he's going to go to Kevin O'Connell. At some point, he will be the franchise. All this guy does is win, though. Just as a point of reference, he goes 27 and 1 at Michigan. He's the third highest winning percentage ever. He wins two state titles in high school, a national championship at IMG. So he's about winning. Kevin O'Connell is someone that we've seen can cater to and develop young quarterbacks. I think it's only a matter of time. Maybe it's not week five, but Darnold, to your point, is going to get his shot.

But at some point this season, Minnesota does have to go to McCarthy, no? Yeah, I think they will. I think about you get to Thanksgiving. Again, when you have an offensive coach, quarterbacks tend to develop faster with offensive coaches and offensive cultures. Yeah. St. North, Amonrae St. Brown had an incredible season. season, Colin, earning him a huge payday this off season. And Netflix's receiver series, St. Brown, revealed that he actually tore his oblique, quote, off the bone early in the season, played through the injury only missing week six. Okay, Colin, when you think about tearing an oblique and then having an all-pro-calibre season,

crazy. Think about how impressive that is. What does that say? I got to tell you something. I watched him in high school. I watched every snap he took at UFC. I've been blown away by how good he is. Now part of it is Jared Goff with time to throw is really, really good, but that kid's a worker.

I saw him have a great freshman year at USC that I thought he kind of plateaued. I didn't think he had to speed to separate. And I'm like, he'll be a nice number two or three receiver in the NFL. Blown me away how good he is. It shows you a lot about the staff, a lot about his sort of work ethos. But he has been, I mean, he's a fourth round pick. And he is an absolute number one. He's a dog.

They call him a fourth round pick who was two. small, wasn't fast enough, didn't have enough shorter air quickness, he's a slot, he's done everything else. He's incredibly productive. He deserves a lot of credit, but I also think Detroit, this is an offensive line that gives Goff time to

throw, and Jared's really good with time to throw, gives you a little, gives you an extra step to get open. Yeah, I would say that this season with Jameson Williams, who's apparently in great shape, and this is year three now, you know, former top ten pick. That's a really fascinating one-two punch when you consider

Leporta, David Montgomery Gibbs. They could be even better potentially offensively. Yeah. Okay, so Colin, this has been a lot of soccer these last couple of weeks. The U.S. Federation parted ways with head coach Greg Berthor yesterday after the team's rough performance at Coppa America, failing to get out of the group. Reports indicate the U.S. has identified former Liverpool manager, Yurgan Klopp, as the top target for the position.

They've made initial contact. Now, Klop has actually rebuffed the sentiment that he could be the United States national coach. What do you think about this? Well, we always blame the coach. Yeah. You know, remember the red card in Copa against Panama? Timway, I got the red card.

And so Americans played a man down, and we lost two to one to Panama. And that's the one that got him fired. Well, playing a man down for 75 minutes is really hard. And so I think Burr-Holter knows what he's doing. I think he got us into the round of 16. with a team with nobody in their prime, a draw against England. We weren't in the same class

as the Netherlands and not in the same class as Argentina. And this is a very young team. Copa, for a lot of reasons, was a tough spot for our team that's more skilled than European. These are smaller fields.

Gritty Copa tournament, not built for us. And they didn't get a lot of quality shots on goal. But, you know, listen, this is, I've just learned, It doesn't matter if it's Bruce Arena, Greg Burrhalter. It's got a 69% winning percentage. The best ever for any United States men's national team coach that has coached over like 20 matches.

Yeah. But I understand everybody's like, well, this is the best team we've had. No, it's the most skilled team we've ever had. But we're still two years away from the World Cup and two years away from most of our young players moving into their prime. We have a young, young roster. and Copa, I thought, was a bad fit for us, our style. But that's life. I've just come to terms with soccer fans are never going to blame the player.

It is always the coach, because that makes us feel better like if we just change the coach, we can beat Argentina. That makes us feel better instead of acknowledging we're not quite there yet. We're still really young. But hasn't it felt like we haven't been quite there for the past few years? Well, no, we pivoted out of the Clint Dempsey, Josie Alton, TOR. We pivoted out of that. We went young. All our guys now, all our best players are in Europe.

We play a more European style. We want a wide field, speed, skill. That's not what Copa necessarily is. But they don't create enough chances. They don't have the... That's fair. Yeah, but maybe, to your point, maybe they're more sophisticated,

and that nuance hurt them in Copa. They didn't have the aggression, or we talked about the grid or the South American teams. They didn't have an enforcer. Yeah, Copa's got some... lower world ranked teams. And because of that, it's a grittier style.

That's how they overcome their lack of skill. Not saying there aren't teams in Copa that do have skill. Like Argentina, you're going. But I'm not making excuses. When you get to the World Cup, FIFA regulations are forcing all these American stadiums. They'll be regulated through FIFA. That's why Stan Cronky is like, I don't want to spend $20 million to change SOFI to get the regulation feel, right?

And so, in Copie didn't have that. Sure. And so I'm not making excuses here. I just think we're a very young team. Sure. We're almost European stylistically now. Copel was a weird fit. We lost a game against Panama because of a red card, playing a man down.

But in fairness, to the soccer fans who want Burholter out, we didn't. I don't think in Copa generate consistently enough really high-quality shots on goal. And that's going to fall in the coach. when you have players like Pulisic, who's really an all-time gifted United States athlete. Yeah. All right, Jordan with the news. Well, that's the news.

And thanks for stopping by. The Hurd-Lie News. People think I'm banging on our team. I think our team's really good. But I'll give you an example. Like, an NHL rink isn't the same as an Olympic hockey rink. Like, NFL hash marks are different than college hash marks. That stuff matters with the way your team plays.

and I thought Copa was not ideal for us, what we are now stylistically, but, you know, I'm not sure we can get that guy from Liverpool either. Just because you want somebody, doesn't mean you can get somebody. How about a little pep from Man City? I mean, you got to get one of these guys.

They're paying Burholter or something like $2 million. It's going to cost a lot more to get one of those big-time managers. I don't think money is our issue. I think delusion sometimes, in patience is our issue. To your point about, holistic too. Really good player, but should he not be your third or fourth best player? If you're going to try to really compete in the World Cup? Oh, I think we'll compete. I think he can be your best player.

He doesn't, you don't have to be LeBron to win a title. You can have, I mean, Boston won and their best player got outplayed by Jalen Brown in the conference finals and the finals. I just don't think we have enough quality. I think we're, I think our quality is pretty interesting. And it's the first time of my life, I felt that. And then they need to play G-Rena. That's another one. Well, that was it that had a lot. With his dad, Claudia. Oh, that had a lot to do with it.

Listen, you get, I don't love politics too much in my sports. I know politics and sports are, you know, the kind of... Give and take? Well, it's a part of it. Parallel universes, right? Look, we understand that. I don't like too much politics in my sports, but, you know, if players stand for something, I get it.

History, politics, sports, I get it. I mean, there's some sports in politics and politics and sports. What's politics, but fundraising and campaigns and races? It's got a sports vibe to it as well. But you see. start getting into these FIFA, United States men's national team soccer and the coaches and and also international soccer is a lot like the NBA.

It is player driven. There it is. The NFL isn't. Soccer is NBA. These are star-driven, player-driven infrastructures. The NFL's not. It's about the shield, the coach, the owners. The owners.

That's what the weak union in the NFL, strong union and baseball. Strong union and baseball in the NBA. It's a whole different ballgame. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific. Paulie Fuscoe here with Tony Fuscoe. Yo, as everybody knows, we're the host of the award-winning Pauley and Tony Fusco show. Yeah. But instead of us telling you how great we are, here's how Dan Patrick described us when he came on our show.

Quick, knowledgeable, and funny, opinionated. Whoa, whoa, whoa. What are you doing? You're interrupting our promo. Yeah. He wasn't talking about you. You took those clips totally out of context. Oh yeah, well, after this promo, I'm going to take you out and beat you.

Let me put this into context. Shut up. Yeah, anyway, just listen to the Folly and Tony Fusco show on IHod Radio, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Yeah. What's up, fam? It's Isaiah Thomas. And I'm C.J. Toledano, and our podcast Point Game is about defying the odds.

Like LeBron heading into the playoffs without Luca and Austin Reed. And finding ways to win no matter what. the smartest player to ever play the game. His IQ is at a level that we've never seen before. And he knows. Without Luca and Austin Reeves, I got to manipulate the game. We get a player's perspective

on the challenges of the playoffs. I think Joker's going to be exhausted this series because when they don't have Rudy in the lineup, he has to really guard guys like Nas Reid. He has to guard Julius Randall. And then he has to give us everything he gives us on the night-to-night basis on offense. And when IT's friends stop by,

like Quentin Richardson, we dive into some playoff history too. Steve Nash will get that thing. That man, hell get the flying. He running up the court, licking his fingers while he got the ball. Like, after you go through a training camp with that, Isaiah, you figure it out real quick.

Oh, yeah. Get your ass up and down the court, and you're going to get the ball. So listen to Point Game on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, it's Edwin Castro, also known as Castro 1021. And I'm Conkey, his best friend, and business manager.

And we've got a new show called The 1021 Podcast. I'm taking you behind the scenes on how I became one of Twitch's most popular streamers. We also love sports. And with the World Cup right around the corner, we'll be breaking down the biggest storylines ahead of the big tournament here in the USA. Listen to the 1021 podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, I'm Jordan Arano. You might know me as that loud guy who yells out,

Help on the internet. Help! Somebody! Please! But there's so much more to me than me. I'm an actor. I'm a comedian, and recently I've become quite the helper myself. And on my new podcast, Hope I'm a Hippocrat.

I'll be changing lives, helping people in need with my sage advice and thoughtful solutions. Sike! I'm a comedian! I'm not qualified to give good advice. Join me and my comedian friends as we riff rant and recommend some of the most legally dubious advice known to man. If I'm calling you, even if you're on your phone, let it ring twice. One ring is too scary.

Cream a chicken suit. Hey, cream a chicken suit. This is Help from a Hypocrite, the worst advice from the dumbest people you know. Listen to Help from Hypocrite as part of the Mike Cultura podcast network available on the IHart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

American soccer is about to explode. The World Cup is coming. Ramo sending on to Ernie Stewart the chip. I'm Tad Ramos. I'm Tom Boe.

On our podcast Inside American Soccer, you'll get the real storylines. I'm not worried about Polic. I'm not worried about Balagan.

I'm not worried about McKinney. My only concern is what happens in the back. The biggest decisions. If you're going to

look at stats and numbers, he has no shot at making this World Cup team. And the truth about the U.S. national team.

It wouldn't be a huge surprise if our team ends up in the quarterfinals or potentially a great run into the semifinals. The World Cup is almost here. Experience it all with us. Listen, inside American soccer with Tom Bogart and Tabramos on the iHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, wherever you get your podcast. Great to see Rachel Nichols again. Hello, sir. You've been covering the NBA for 1993, 30 years. Yeah, I started when I was in college. So I was in college and Northwestern in Chicago. and I had interned for the Washington Post, and they called me up and said, do you want to be a stringer and just do some Chicago Bulls games for us?

I think I got 20 bucks an article, which I would have probably, don't tell anyone, I would have done it for free. I think I was 19 years old, and I went for 20 bucks. I would go to Michael Jordan's Bulls and write up my story and go to practices. So you probably know Greenie. Yes, absolutely. You were battling him for the MJ quotes. No, one of my best old-time stories is Michael Jordan, just that, you know, I started doing that, and I was 19 years old and younger than everybody, and the only woman in the room a lot of the time and all of that stuff.

So we'd be at practice, and, you know, there's a scrum around the players, and I would always just sit there and take notes, but I didn't want to, you know, I was a little gun-shy about asking a bunch of questions and kind of sticking my nose in, and I was the new person. And the third or fourth time, Michael just, like, looked around the group, and he settled on me, and he was like, do you even talk? talk, do you talk? Are you mute? And I was like, no, I can talk. I was, you know, again, 19 and terrified. And he's like, well, you better pull your weight and, you know, start asking some questions, otherwise you shouldn't be here. And I asked him a question, and he deemed it good, and he totally answered it, and he sort of made a point of showing the other guys that he would chat with me and stuff. And it made a big difference in terms of, if Michael trusts you, there you go. He had a little power back then. Yes, exactly. A lot of influence.

Exactly. I can remember at the end of Michael's career, I didn't cover him. I was bouncing around the country doing other stuff. But when Michael Jordan would come to town, even in the Washington days, it was the lead story in local news. Michael's in town. So because of Nike was in Portland, Michael was in Portland a lot. So he'd be at a steakhouse. He'd be, you know, it'd be at the Nike facility.

Sure. It was a big story. It's really, you know, there's a couple of athletes that have said this. If Muhammad Ali would break the Internet today. Yeah. Oh, God. You can go back in YouTube Muhammad Ali. Yeah.

He was so lyrically gifted. He would go to press conference. I've said this before. There are YouTube moments with Muhammad Ali. First of the way, it was good-looking. He was funny. Yes. He would go on and do a 90-second, two-minute poetic rant.

And I'm like, where are the cue cards? Right. I'm a broadcaster. Right, right. I can't do that. No. Not off the cut. And the other one is Michael Jordan didn't live in this world, this IG world today.

It actually, I think, protected Michael. I was going to say. He is very, very lucky he did not live in an IG camera phone world. No question. Yeah. So last night I watched early, I went out to dinner with Jordan. I came home, I turned it on, and we were awful for about five, six minutes. Yes.

What did you make of that? We come back to win. Would you make of that? Yeah. I mean, look, these are a bunch of guys shaking off the rest who haven't played. They haven't played together. This was the first time this team played together because remember all these World Cup, you know, events were a different team, basically, a younger team. So there's nothing I didn't expect.

The fact that they played so well defensively, that they were great defensively from the start, and they played so well defensively throughout and with so much energy and effort, that's really what you wanted to see, and they completely delivered on that. Anthony Davis was asked after the game, if you guys just defend this way through the whole tournament,

you know, how do you guys will do it? It's like, we're unbeatable. And I think that's true. I think if they play with this defensive effort and energy, and then, of course, they're going to have crazy scoring to pour into the basket. I really do think that they have the best chance to win of a while, and they've had very good chances to win in the past.

Yeah, if Jason Tatum's coming off the bench, if Anthony Davis is coming off the bench, and I said this earlier, I loved when I was younger rock and roll. Stairway to Heaven, Led Zeppelin. If I listen to it today, I'm like, it's two and a half minutes of a riff by Jimmy Page. I'm like, can we get to the lyrics?

And I do feel like the dream team, I mean, Larry Bird was shot, Christian Leitner's on the team. it was very position-oriented basketball. Ewing, you can't do this. Barclay was one of the only players that Charles could do everything. Yes. You know, transition, low post, Charles was 101.

This team's a lot of Charles. Yeah. Everybody can handle the ball. And I say this respectively. Two things can be true. The dream team was the coolest thing ever. Yes. This team's talent, I don't know.

Like, it's... I mean, look, the dream team, every NBA player on the dream team, into the Hall of Fame. I don't know if you're going to be able to say that about this team, right? And look, Tyrese Halliburton, Derek White, their careers are all ahead of them. So we have no idea. But I'm not sure you're going to be able to say that about this team. So the level of talent on that team. The top of it. The top of it. And it just, you know, yes, Larry Bird was barely there, but he was there in all the important ways. So I just, I think that's a hard comparison to begin with, as you know. And then I, the dream team to me is,

so iconic that what I've been saying about this roster is that it's the best since the dream team. It's certainly deep. Yeah, and the 08 roster was amazing too, so you can maybe hold those three teams up as the best that Team EOSA has ever had. So the Jaylon Brown thing is so weird. Oh, man. It's so weird. So first of all, and in people, you know how it is. If you're marginally critical of like Jason Tatum, and I'm like, listen, the guy is great,

but when I watch the Celtics late in games, I always feel like Jalen Brown is the more alpha guy. Well, it turned out to be true in the conference and the finals. That doesn't mean Tatum's not great. Of course. Love him as a play. Love him on my team. Collaborative, smart, all that stuff.

But when I defended Caitlin Clark getting on the Olympic team, I said, these Olympic teams, after like the top six players, it's fit, chemistry, relationships, politics. How is Jalen Brown not on the? his team and Derek White and Drew Holiday are. Yeah, I mean, I don't quite see, I wouldn't have made that decision is the best way I can say it.

I understand, I do understand what Team USA was doing. They wanted someone who could be that scrappy, dirty work sort of point of attack defender, and that's what Derek White is. And Jalen Brown, by the way, is an excellent defender. But Derek White's probably better defender. And, you know, there's

talk, they didn't say this out loud, but there's talk that sort of, oh, White's not going to be afraid to be the 11th or 12th guy. Excuse me. 11th or 12th guy on the bench. You know, does Jalen Brown have an ego about that? I get all of that. But he's the finals MVP.

He's the finals MVP. And unless you really believe that, man, having Derek White there instead of Jalen Brown, when you're talking about skill sets defensively that are not this far apart, I don't know. I can't see that being the difference maker. I still think this team will roll. You're replacing Kauai Leonard, so it's not you're replacing a role player, right? You're replacing a star, so having another big name in there shouldn't be something you're afraid of.

Unless it's the difference in winning the gold medal, and I can't see how it would be, you go with the finals MVP as a sign of respect. He's earned it, right? And to take a guy who's on his team, but way down the level in the starting five than he is, as you point out, like it's just, I don't know. I would not have made that decision. Derek White will do great on this team. Derek White is a fun player. He's a terrific player. I'm thrilled he's getting this recognition.

Coming at the expense of Jalen Brown is a little odd. And the fact that Jalen not only pointed that out on Twitter with a spyglass emoji, he later made a direct comment about Nike. And that was something that Grant Hill had to deal with yesterday was people asking him, look, two guys not on this team, or Kyrie Irvin, who we know was ditched by Nike. Nike and Jalen Brown, who has been very critical of Nike. When they made the Kyrie decision, Jalen came out publicly and criticized Nike and said, you know, what does Nike know about ethics and that sort of thing?

So the fact that the two guys not on the team are two anti-Nikey guys, and Hill says it had nothing to do with it. Who knows? Plus Nike's stock struggling. It's not a good time for Nike right now. It's not. Okay, we're going to get you back soon because I want to talk. People are freaking out about Brony's performance,

and I'm like, folks, he's a defensive player at this point. He's doing exactly what he's supposed to do. We had good defensive numbers last night. Rachel Nichols, first hour down. Great to see you as always. Alexei Lawless, Jalen Johnson of the Bears. Next hour, it's The Hurd. Another podcast from some SNL late-night comedy guy,

not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smigel and friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer Streeter Seidel help an a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group

perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and friends on the Iheart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. What's up, fam? It's Isaiah Thomas. And I'm C.J. Toledano. It's our favorite time of the year on our podcast

Point Game, the playoffs. We're digging into the biggest surprises of the season, and I'm looking back on some of my greatest playoff moments. If we didn't talk ever again, Again, I was harmed. You just understood. That's how personal it got. Wow.

Then after that game seven, Marquis come in to you, he's like, you know I love you, dog. You know, it's all love. This was just playoffs. This was just basketball. So listen to Point Game on the Iheart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is Saigon, the story of my family and of the country that shaped us. From IHeart Podcast, Saigon. You don't think I'm serious about a free Vietnam?

One city, a divided country, and the world. War that tour America apart. This is for Vietnam. They're pouring patril all over here. Freedom for Vietnam! There's a fire coming to this country and it's going to burn out everything. Listen to Saigon on the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Joey Dardano, and on my new podcast, Hope from a Hypocrite, I'll be changing lives, helping people in need with thoughtful solutions.

Sike! I'm a comedian. I'm not qualified to give good advice. Join me and my comedian friends as we riff rant recommend some of the most legally dubious advice known to me. This is Help from a Hypocrite, the worst advice from the dumbest people you know. Listen to Help from a Hypocrite Wednesdays on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,

or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed human.