The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Hour 1 - The Sixers are still in trouble

Episode Date: May 1, 2024

Colin gives the 76ers props for their miracle win over the Knicks but shares a harsh truth about their chances for the rest of the series NFL teams need to be willing to take chances and correct mistakes as soon as they canSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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to noon Pacific. Find your local station for the herd at Fox SportsRadio.com or stream us live every day in the IHeart Radio app by searching Fox Sports Radio or FSR. You're listening to Fox Sports Radio. Oh, here we go. It's Wednesday, live in Los Angeles. It's the Hurt. Wherever you may be and however you may be listening,

thanks for Megan That's part of your day. One hour from now, J-Mack, I do my post-free agent, post-draft, NFL standings. I'm allowed to tweak it twice. But I'll do that one hour from now. So yesterday we did the HERD hierarchy. post-draft. Now, I'll give you the standings. By the way, what you find in the NFL, figuring out the one in the four is not very difficult. The fours, the bottom teams, mostly all have bad quarterback situations. That's a real easy one. The ones we can argue between a couple of teams, but the bottom end of the league, and there's not that many, but there's about five easy calls in this league. I would say I'm clamoring to know your AFC East winner. I think it's a slam dunk in the Jets, obviously, but... All right. So Nick's Sixers.

It's amazing how even the game was last night. I went and got the box score this morning. Points in the paint, turnovers, rebounds, free throw percentage, field goal percentage, right across the board, it's even. It just came down to Maxie hit a couple of great shots. Earlier in the series, Jalen Brunson was hitting the big shots. That, in a nutshell, is the NBA playoffs. It doesn't matter who plays better. Whose star delivers late.

Lakers led the Nuggets for 70% of the series. Jamal Murray, two-for-two in game winners. Last night, Cleveland, Orlando. Evan Mobley, the big block for Cleveland, their star player, one of their star players. So the Knicks, I thought, had it wrapped up. They led by six, 28 seconds left. Game 7 is in New York. I don't think they'll need it.

I think the Knicks will win in game six. I still like the Knicks. I love their coaching. I like how they played. Maxie had a couple of brilliant shots, and he's an amazing player, who you know I've been a fan of for multiple years. the problem for Philadelphia winning last night, and it is a problem. It's just a game.

Is this going to make them? It shouldn't, but is it going to make them have false hope? This series is a go-either-way series. If Embedd was healthy, Embed's been healthy for a lot of the years, and they can't win a second playoff series, and if not for heroic great shots last night, this series would be a gentleman's sweep. And that's the problem with Philadelphia.

Maxi being amazing, coming back six down, 28 seconds left, it's making Philadelphia think, yeah, this is a go-either-way series. No, it's not. Nix of the better team. They've been better coached. They've been more reliable. They've been tougher. They've gotten the big rebounds late.

Last night they didn't get the big shots late. So sometimes in the playoffs, what happens is the delusion kicks in thinking, man, if we didn't just have blank, blank, and blank, you have to be honest with yourself in this league. A lot of teams aren't honest with themselves. Philadelphia has got issues. I love Maxie. I'd keep him. I'd strongly consider moving Embedd.

M. B. has been disappointing in the fourth. He's not around the glass in the fourth. And frankly, he gets hurt a lot. He just played 48 minutes last night. He's got one game rest. They go back to his place, Philadelphia. Knicks are going to win that game.

Knicks had the series, Knicks had the game, it was the Knicks night, they were the better team, Maxie was great, it happens. It happens, but don't let that cloud

the truth about this series or the truth about your future. The future for the Knicks is very bright. I mean, if they landed KD, what would we say in a month? The future for the Sixers is murky. What do you do with Mbid? Maxi's great.

Tobias Harris, Mbid, other pieces. Going to go through another coach. Here's Tom Tibbado after. Tough way to lose a ball game. You know, so we had a lead. We got to play tougher with the lead.

We filed in a situation that we didn't want to file in. And then, you know, the end, Maxie makes a big shot. So, you know, we got to do better. Yes. So I want to talk about something, and this is something I've been, you know when I defended Atlanta's draft pick when they got Kirk Cousins and Michael Pennix? And people really freaked out. You paid Kirk Cousins. What? So here's what's interesting. So the Broncos this morning, the Broncos this morning think they have the guy. Bow Nix, analytically, there's a story this morning from Adam Schaefter. They think Bo Nix is ready to play right now and will be as good as any quarterback of all this rookie class.

So suddenly, this franchise that was a mess and all this dead cap money with Russell Wilson, they took a big swing on it. I said, Denver, big swing, Russell Wilson, I'm here for it. Everybody now freaks out. But if Bo Nix can play, they just got Zach Wilson. He'll get a reboot, talented kid. and they have Jared Stidham, who they could use potentially as a very nice trade piece. 66 quarterbacks played in the NFL last year.

Pretty nice to have three guys, and you could move two of them, and you think you have the future in Bo Nix. And this is why I've defended Atlanta. If you're going to have more talent than you need right now in the NFL, make it at quarterback. Eventually, you can move backups. I mean, good God. Arizona was able to get a draft pick out of Josh Dobbs last year in the middle of the season. Minnesota was so desperate.

So if Bo Nix hits, the Russell Wilson drama is irrelevant. And I'm going to tell you something now, and nobody wants to say this, because fear drives so many decisions in the NFL and in life. People are very fear-based. Go to the internet about the election. It's all fear-based. Everything's fear-based. Nobody's optimistic.

Everybody's negative. The word dead cap. When you hear that, everybody thinks, oh, it's a funeral. It's an NFL funeral. Dead-cap money. I would much rather have teams take swings and end up with a little dead cap. Give an example. The Green Bay Packers last year, do you know how much dead cap money they had?

$40 million. They not only made the playoffs, they went into Dallas and rolled them. Why? Because Jordan Love balled. The Buccaneers made the playoffs last year. $35 million of dead cap. They made the playoffs. Why?

Because Baker may feel bold. They took a swing. They took a big swing on Brady. They won a Super Bowl. Who the hell cares if they have dead cap money? Go get another quarterback. Oh, it doesn't end there. The Rams last year.

Listen to this. $80 million of dead cap. Made the playoffs in a rebuild year. Why? Because they take big swings and Matt Stafford can ball. in Philadelphia. Remember that 2021? Carson Wentz, what a disaster

that contract is. They took a big swing. Huge dead cap money. But they drafted Jalen Hertz. He ends up being good with the right coach. Has Philadelphia struggled in recent years? Been pretty good football team. Philadelphia, the Rams, the Packers.

It's funny. Buckingeers. They're all Fine, they took swings. Tampa took a swing on Brady and got a Super Bowl. You think they regret it today? Four of the five highest dead-cap hits last year made the playoffs. They made the playoffs. Green Bay took a big swing.

They moved off Aaron Rogers. Buccaneers made a big swing with Brady, won a Super Bowl. And then they took a swing on Baker. If Bow Nicks can play, then the Russell Wilson thing, it's going to be last year's news. Nobody's going to care. Where you don't want to be in the NBA, where you don't want to be,

is in the middle. You're just, you're in quicksand. You're not terrible. You're not great. A big swing can make you great and get your ring, and if it blows up, you get a better draft pick. It's like the Phoenix Suns took a huge swing on Katie and Bradley Beale. Everybody's freaking out.

But you know who could really use Kevin Durant? The New York Knicks. And they got picks and they got good young players. Take swings. The whole Russell Wilson thing, it's the end up if Bo Nix can play. The dude completed 77% of his passes last year. He's Drew Brees with mobility potentially. The Russell Wilson drama won't matter.

It didn't for the Rams. It didn't for the Packers. It didn't for the box. Four of the top five dead cap hits made the playoffs. Now, I'm not saying I'm rooting for it or it's ideal, but it's not as punitive as everybody makes it out to me. The San Francisco 49ers, draft Trey Lance, give up a boatload of picks. Are they in the Super Bowl? Don't think he get into the NFC championship?

Take a big swing. It's either going to get you gold bars and trophies or close to it. And if not, it's amazing the opportunities that are wrong. if you hit on a draft pick. You don't even have to have Caleb Williams. Brock Purdy is getting to big games. Bo Nix can absolutely do the same

with Sean Payton. All right. Knicks are freaking out. By the way, here is Albert Breer earlier this week on the Broncos' confidence. What they believe Bo Nix is. When Sean Payton got the numbers back from their analytics people,

I'm telling you, like in so many different categories, critical categories. Bo Nix was number one. So you had the play style, you had all these critical categories, and then you had the meeting in Eugene, and I'll give you one anecdote. Sean Payton pointed down at Bo Nix's backpack and said, what do you have in there? So Bo Nix emptied his backpack. He had a pair of football cleats. He had a, he had a roll of athletic tape, and he had a lacrosse ball in there that he uses to crack his back. And the Broncos looked at that and said, this kid is all about football. They're going to be fine in Denver, as long as Bowenix can play, and I think he can. So I thought the Knicks last

night, I thought it was all sealed up, just like you thought the Lakers had so many games in that series sealed up, but in the end, you know, Maxey's a shotmaker, and Brunson's a shotmaker, and Jamal Murray's a shotmaker. That's all the Lakers need next year. Trey Young, another shot maker. Nicks could use Kevin Durant, great shot maker. Nicks are going to win this series, though. You're on that, right? I hope so. Colin, listen, You know, I coach my kids in youth sports and I play in men's leagues. Up three, less than 10 seconds left.

It's basic math. You foul. You cannot let the guy shoot a three. They let Tyrese Maxey walk into a logo three up by three. That is insanity. I cannot believe how badly Tibido did that. We've seen that in the NCAA tournament. So you're blaming the coach, said.

No, no, no, hold on. I mean, this is just simple strategy. Colin, we saw this earlier in the Bucs Pacer series. Pacers are like, let's not foul. Middleton, Prayer 3. be good over time. You have to foul up three. Colin, you know this.

I mean, why would you let Tyrese maxi, who's already cooking you? He's got like 40 points at the time. Walk into a three point. Well, you do realize the best three-point shooters in the league shoot 38.5%. That means over 70% of the time they don't make that shot. I don't know. Seems like the numbers are on my side. I'm definitely fouling all.

I mean, all the smart math guys foul. So that's what I would do. But listen, Tibido has, I don't think he answered that question. Mitchell Robinson owned it. He was like, listen, I made a stupid foul to give the four-point play to Maxie. Colin, you've got a foul up three. That's, I mean, you cannot let Tyrese Maxie, who's, like, you've been on this for about a year. He's an amazing player.

You've got to just grab him in the back court foul. Make him make free throws. Extend the game. Get Brunson on the line. He's money. You know, what's interesting in that game is how many missed free throws there were. Nick's had big misses. Maxie had big misses.

It is amazing how gifted these basketball players are. I mean, they're unbelievable. And even the guards, even the guys that shoot free throws well. How many missed free throws happen? It was funny. I was watching the Lakers Nugget series a couple days ago. I don't remember it was like 80, 81. It was really close.

And there was a five-point swing where, Austin Reeves missed a free throw, the first of two. And then they came down and I think it was Porter, Jamal Murray, hit a three. And I'm like, that's a five-point swing in eight seconds. It was missed free throws. if somebody comes down and hits a three, if you don't hit the first one,

those are five-point plays in the NBA. And all it means is, you just come down and hit a three. And like Denver's got Porter can hit it, and Yokic can hit it, and Murray. That's when you played Denver. You got to hit your free throws, because, man, they are punitive. They will come right back. I mean, Yokic is like

a quarterback. He's throwing the deep ball constantly. And so often, when they throw the deep ball Denver does, they don't go for the layup or dunk. He throws it on the wing, and they saddle up in KCP sits there for three seconds and dials in a three. So Denver is so good at burning you off miss free throws or fast break opportunities. Those guys just go to the wings and light it up.

So it does sound like you're confident Knicks will still win this series? Knicks are the better team. Right now they're playing better basketball. I watched last night and the whole game I felt like the Knicks were going to win the game. And I was sitting there watching it. At halftime I went and Uber to a friend's place and had a little cocktail a little chicken parm, you know, and I'm sitting there watching it, and I'm like, you know, the place I'm at erupts when Maxie hit it, you're like, oh, what a dagger that is.

And then, you know, that's, that's playoff basketball. You know, I was reading a story yesterday. NBA is going to sign these huge Amazon deals, NBC, whoever it is TNT, is a bidding war for it. It's massive money. You can complain all you want about the NBA regular season. It is, the load management to me is a bad business, outrageous. I don't like it. But this league makes its money.

And these playoff games are fantastic. That you can't argue about. If you're making money in life and you're living a good life, that's good. And the playoff basketball games are absolutely great. I'm not watching Pelicans OKC. I'll watch the next round. That one I haven't gotten too much. But I'm watching all that, like tonight, Mavs Clippers.

Are we going to hang out and watch that tonight at the watering hole? We could. I do have a hall pass for the night. Oh, you do? What happened? I asked for one. I said Coward needs a wingman. All right.

Let me know. I do like the clips tonight. Maybe we shouldn't hang out. I'm on the Mavs. What's the number? I think three. Mavs favored by three. Oh, I like the clips.

Listen, they've actually, what's really interesting about the clippers is they can play without Kauai. What they can't play is without a point guard. It's fascinating how valuable Hardens become and how replaceable, because Paul George is pretty good wing player, obviously. Kauai is. Like James Hardens the one they need. I predict Westbrook off the bench tonight. is very good. Watch the Clippers bench tonight.

Bold. Okay. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific. On Fox Sports Radio, FS1, and the IHeard Radio app. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential.

Either way, the podcast's Superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the IHard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care which I'm saying.

Yep, that's me, Cliver Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, the reactions, my journey from basketball to college football, or my career in sports media. Well, somewhere along the way, this platform became bigger than I ever imagined. And now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfiltered conversations with some of your favorite

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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.

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So I'm starting to see that there's a through line. We also have AIDS on the table right now. Thank you for finishing that. Sentence. Yes. I don't think there's a more important year for black people. Really? Yeah. For me, it's one of the most important years

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Because that's two different intentions, bro. Absolutely. And that's two different. levels of trust. I want you to just really be a good person. Join me, Keer Gaines, is we have real conversations about healing, growth, fatherhood, pressure, and purpose on my new podcast, Learn the Hardway. Open your free, our Heart Radio app. Search Learn the Hardway and listen now. There's a story out this morning, two sources, one of them, Mark Stein, that Janus,

his reaction to the Bucks eventually losing this series, and I think they will. Nice win last night without Dame and Janus, but I think they're going to lose a series to Indiana. Multiple teams are monitoring what Milwaukee's going to do. And I feel like if you just counted the good NBA teams, and there's probably like 10, 12, whatever the number is, just the good teams. Let's not talk about, you know, lousy teams. And the NBA's got a pretty big swath of bad teams. If you just talk about the good teams, they're all in two tiers, two camps.

The first one is sort of ascending. championship capable pretty soon or now. That would be Denver. That would be Boston. That would be OKC. That would be Minnesota. That would be the Knicks. They may need a piece.

They may not quite be there, but they're growing. They're ascending. You could see a championship happening. And it's a realistic view. The second tier is these teams that are clinging, I think, somewhat delusionally to an old plan. Golden State, Lakers, Clippers, Sun, Sixers, Bucks, Miami Heat, unfortunately. Tier 2, the teams that I think are a bit delusional, they always use two excuses. They always use two excuses when they lose.

The first one is, well, if Blank was just healthy, if Embed, Kauai, Jimmy Butler, you know, Bradley Beale, whatever it is, it's always the first one for tier two is if this guy was just healthy but the funny thing is if you go back and look at that star or that guy he's hurt all the time and their second excuse is oh as well we just need a new coach it's a coach's fault lakers are into this well we got to need a new coach do you realize the lakers sixers and bucks have all had three different head coaches in six years that's embarrassing those are big brands like lakers sixers bucks Three different head coaches, six years. I think Milwaukee, my opinion is, I'd blow it up. This is an old roster. They're not built. It was a nice win last night. Now, you could do a lot of different things to blow it up.

You'd preferably keep Janus and move everything. Middleton, Dame, Brooke Lopez, whatever you've got to move. Or if Janus wants out, you would get a haul that may only be rivaled back in 1971. with what the Bucks got for moving Lou Al-Sinder later, Kareem Abdul-Jbar. I mean, you could get five first ones, multiple all-stars.

But I think Milwaukee's kind of fallen into this Laker thing. You know, let's run the coach out. Doc Rivers, he'll solve it. Darwin Ham, let's get rid of him. No, that's not the answer. I just, I think Milwaukee is further away,

and the clippers are further away, and the Lakers are further away. Doesn't mean they don't, they can't win a series or they don't have really good pieces and a sharp general manager. That's not what it's saying. But, I mean, I'm reading this story this morning. Two people that have been in this league a long time are saying people are monitoring the situation.

Well, that tells you there's tension in the building. If they're monitoring, nobody can keep a secret in pro sports. I mean, nobody can keep a secret in the NBA. So if stuff's out, people want it out, and there's stuff that should be out. Jay Mack with the news. No, no, no, no. Turn on the news. This is the herd line news.

Let's start with the Boston Celtics, who will look to close out their series with the heat tonight. Yeah. But they're going to do it without Christap Porzingis. According to Woj, Porzinger is expected to miss a minimum of several games due to a calf strain. The same injury, Janus has been dealing with. You could see watching here, Porzingis just comes up lame, everybody's scared. I don't know.

Wode says several games, let's just say he's not playing the next. round against Orlando or Cleveland. Will he play in the conference finals? We'll see. I don't think, I mean, they have the luxury of being so deep. Derek White's their fifth best player. Now he'll move up to their fourth best player. They don't need to play Porzingis.

So just rest of them. Like in this series, Janus needs to play. Indiana is a bad matchup for Milwaukee. But Janus has been out a month with this injury, about a month. So this idea that, let's say Porzingis takes all of May off. Come back for the NBA finals. They would need him against Denver or if Minnesota. I think they're going to be okay without Porzingis.

I mean, it's not going to be, they're not going to steamroll people. I think they would struggle against Minnesota in the finals or Denver, the size. Porzingis is really valuable against the top Western teams. I don't think they need them in the East. I really don't. I mean, like, let's say Orlando wins. Paolo Bankero, awesome night last week. Well, Mitchell Robinson's not an offensive threat.

Yeah, that's the thing. The West, you need Porzingis. You don't in the East. No, 100%. Next up is LeBron's few. future with the Lakers. I feel like it's going to be a talking point for the next, what, two months after the first round playoff exit to Denver. LeBron has made it clear he wants to play with Brani. However, it sounds like he's changing course on that. According to Woj, the goal for Brani is for him to go through the pre-draft process, see if there's a right developmental system and organization to maximize his growth.

His freshman year at USC kind of went sideways due to the heart issue. He never really had a chance. Yeah. And it's a bad draft. He may be a reach in some drafts. This draft is out of players by like 12. But it also made it sound like LeBron is not wedded to playing with his son. I don't think LeBron wants some inferior team just to draft him. And I say, LeBron, we got him.

Come on, come on. LeBron also just lost a playoff series and they could use another perimeter shooter. If the Lakers could go grab the best available perimeter shooter in the draft that would help dad he'd probably want it. Brony needs to chart his own course. I mean, I think there was a quote in this story that, let, let Brony's a smart kid, let him chart his own course. I think he's much better getting out from underdad and doing his own thing. I would tend to be it's a cool idea to want to play with your son, but I don't think it's outrageous to draft him, but I also, I think it's probably better for Brony to do his own thing. I think eventually, if you

look at famous dads and their sons, the ones that chart their own path tend to do pretty well. Yeah. Now, the interesting angle here with LeBron and free agency, Colin, obviously this is an Olympic summer. We know on the Olympic team in Paris is Kevin Durant. We know on the Olympic team is Steph Curry. There will probably be some recruiting. I just looked at up. U.S. Hoops Training Camp for the Olympic team begins July 6th in Vegas. We know that July 1 is the NBA free agency period. Should LeBron be looking around? And then he goes to camp and he's hanging out with Curry. We know the Warriors did go after him, remember? At the trade deadline, they made some calls. We know Kevin Durant's going to be there.

Like, this NBA all season is about to get real interesting. Thanks to all this. Those Olympic years are interesting, aren't they? I wish somebody would do a survey. If you go back to the last 10 Olympic years, how often players that played together at the Olympic years like ended up eventually becoming friends, maybe playing together. I remember when LeBron was in Cleveland.

Remember when he broke into the league? You kind of felt like he was going to stay in Cleveland forever. He was the Akron kids. And then he goes to the Olympics and plays with really good players. And he comes back and he goes to Miami. He's like, yeah, it's pretty fun to play with All-Stars. Like, you don't have to do all the lifting every night in Cleveland. And then eventually when he came back to Cleveland, he made sure, you know, Kyrie Irving, Kevin Love.

He didn't want Andrew Wiggins. He didn't want the draft picks. He's like, no, no. I've done the young guys that aren't great. And I've done the old veterans that are great. I'm coming back to Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving. I don't want draft picks. So it's funny for like, you put these young ascending stars.

on these teams and they look around and it's like I would get impatient too. You look around and like, I got my guys back in Indiana or I can play with a great player. So the Olympics sound great for your favorite player to go, but he's going to be introduced. He's going to be introduced to the bells of the ball all through the league and these guys hang out nonstop

for whatever amount of period of time it is. They talk. Other guys on the roster, Devin Booker, who we talked about, I mean, you think Phoenix would trade him. I cannot imagine that they would. This young man named Anthony Edwards in Minnesota. We'll see how far he goes in the playoffs here. But are people going to be like, I want to play with Anthony Edwards.

Like, I want to get in that business. Tyrese Halliburton, Drew Holiday, Kauai Leonard, Jason Tatum, and Joel M.B. is on the team. Health pending, of course. Final story is the Atlanta Falcons. And the Kirk Cousins move, followed by the Michael Pennix move. We've heard their defense of the draft pick, which I think is questionable. You disagree. Assistant GM Kyle Smith spoke about how the team views their quarterback situation.

It's an unsettling feeling. Sitting there in 21, I'll never forget sitting there with Terry and being like, okay, well, what's our future? What's our plan for the future? How are we going to solidify down the road? What we did to get Kirk Cousins tells everybody what we believe about Kirk Cousins. He's our guy. We set ourselves up and in the draft, Michael Pennix was there, and it's a, quarterback, a young quarterback that we believe in, we pulled the trigger. So now we feel really good

at five years minimum. Yeah, I'll go back to saying this. Jay Glazer has a quote, the worst thing in the world in the NFL is driving to the facility every day knowing you can't compete at quarterback. If you're going to be heavy anywhere, overpay at quarterback. You can get out of it. Again, the Packers, Aaron Rogers' cap hit was $40 million, I think it was last year, whatever I said earlier. Aaron Rogers cap hit. Jordan Love bald. Nobody cared. Nobody cared.

Green Bay, suddenly, with all those young draft picks at receiver tied end and Jordan Love, that got no cap problems. The bottom line, Tampa Bay. Tom Brady's cap hit was like $35 million. You're like dead cap. Like, oh, my God. All of a sudden you watch Baker and you're like, dude's, bad. balling. So some fluky stuff happened. Like historically, dead cap hit equals you can't really compete.

Yes, the bucks nailed every free agent. Rams. Nailed the draft. Packers. I give you four examples. Hold on. Packers. Jordan loves that for three years. Jordan loves sitting around like, come on. He sat for three years. And by the way, halfway through the season, we were still like, oh, what are they like? At the end of the season, we weren't. Yes, fair. I'll just, I'll repeat it. Michael Pennix walks into the building.

Yo, what's up, everybody? Hey, how are you? Hey, you got to take first team snaps. Kirk Cousins still not ready. Oh, well, Michael Pennock's going to try to make this his team. And that's like... And that's my problem. That's like, again, that's like paying a lot in taxes. That's a rich guy problem.

So why did you sign Kurt Cousins if this option was there? Again, remember this. You didn't know the option was going to be there. This draft was totally circumstantial. Totally circumcumptimate. I kept saying this before the draft. I knew the New York Giants had like seven options. I had somebody close to the Giants that no.

most people in the building, they're like, they don't know what they're doing. They're waiting to see what's available. We thought the chargers were going away. So Atlanta's sitting there at eight and they're like, they clearly thought Panix was the one guy outside of like Caleb, maybe. Like, Penix was their guy. And they thought he would go at three. Some were saying people would move up to four, to five, to six, to seven. Then it's eight and there are guys there. And they're thinking, Pennix is. And then we find out the Raiders made a move. I got that confirmed. the Raiders made a call on Pennix, the Saints made a call, the Seahawks made a call. Minnesota must have sort of liked him because, well, I won't say that.

They didn't like J.J. McCarthy as much as we thought. So the idea that Atlanta at 8 knew Pennix was going to be available. We knew, you and I both kept saying before the draft, all these quarterbacks are going to be done by like 15, 18. You and I didn't think Pennix was falling to the second or Boe next. I kept saying, Bow's going to Denver. you kept saying Pennix to Miami or Seattle, which I believed in. So this idea that everybody in the draft knew what was going to happen, I think Atlanta sat there and went, oh God, oh God, nobody moved out for the Chargers.

Penix is there. Get him. Figure it out. and didn't have the money to my I told my people get him we'll figure it out later and he's been a hit sometimes in life you just get people and you just figure out everything else you don't have a plan in life for everything so the part of that feels like process versus results what is your process to build a team in Atlanta and I say it's sorry ask backwards look at their last four first round picks all top 10 very questionable moves tight end running back

now quarterback which may have been a reach after paying Kirk Cousins. I just don't think the process for Atlanta has been there. Could they win the division? Sure. They may win the division. The division stinks. They're heavy favorites to win the division. But the process to get there, I don't think is right.

And I don't think long term, this guy's saying, oh, for the next five years we feel great. Okay. I disagree. Well, I feel better than Tennessee does. They don't think they have, they don't know if they have one quarterback. They're a, if you look at the betting market, Tennessee is dead last. maybe the worst team in the league. Atlanta's favor to win their division.

So the betting market is telling you, and we know quarterbacks are the most valuable player, the betting market's telling you, Atlanta's in good shape, Tennessee's in bad shape. Would you rather have a better process and no quarterback in Tennessee? Or kind of a wonky process and two quarterbacks in Atlanta.

I'll take the wonky process. Trotting out your gun show buddy, Will Levis for this year. See what he's got. If he flopped, oh well, we're drafting in the top five next year. No, Mike Tyson. Everybody's got a plan until I hit him in the face. Logan Paul or Jake Paul has got a big process and a great plan for the fight. Mike Tyson's like, I'm going to knock you out.

Everybody loves the process, and I love the process, and I think the process is valuable. But sometimes you're Alabama and Johnny Mansell comes out, and he's just winging it and ad livin. You look up and you lose the game. The process doesn't always determine the results. Sometimes you're like, oh, crap, that guy's available. By the way, the Rams were watching Brock Bowers fall, and the Rams are like, whoa, whoa, whoa! Rams made a call on Brock Bowers. They thought he'd be gobbled up and you're like, he's there at 10, he's there at 9.

The Jets didn't take him. And the Rams did all that process. They wanted Jared Verst. And all of a sudden it's like, we're shelving Jared Verst. Let's make a call on Brock Bowers. Because they didn't think he'd be available. I think Atlanta went, oh crap. Michael Pennix is available.

Forget the process. Get him. The process was to get Kirk Cousins. They made that determination probably six months in advance. Pennix was, oh crap, he fell into her lap, drafted. By the way, how do you? do you think Pennix feels assuming Kirk Cousins is ready to go week one and camps and everything? How do you think Pennix feels walking? Hey Mike, you're going to sit for two years, buddy, chill.

How do you think he feels about that? This guy played five years of college football, went through tons of injuries. He's ready to go. He's one of the best quarterback in the country. Patrick Mahomes knew he was better than Alex Smith. He couldn't win anything at Texas Tech. Did he win a bowl game? It's like a 500 quarterback. Pete Schrager was releasing video the chiefs had fed him. And literally Mahomes in camp, like Andy Reid was telling people, oh my God. And they said, young man, you're going to sit. And Mahomes, the most talented player on the face of the earth, not panics, Mahomes, sat for 16 years. They had a process.

We've got Alex Smith, a former number one pick. We went to the playoffs. We're going to draft him trade up for Mahomes, sit him for a year, and then he's going to ball out. That process worked. Your life, you think you've got all planned out. I don't. People have their lives planned out, and all of a sudden the wife comes in and says, you know, I'm pregnant.

Life changed, didn't it? Life's all about, oh, yo, by the way, you have, sometimes you're sitting around and you're like, oh my God, you know that house we always wanted in those people? They're putting it up for sale. Oh, we just changed how we viewed our entire family's living situation. Stuff changes. Outline your life in pencil, not pen. outline your life in pencil

Atlanta outlined it in pencil oh crap, Penix is available get him that's how you do it I do think planning's important but sometimes best plans don't work

J-Mac with a news well that's the news and thanks for stopping by the herd lie news after a long day I mean I just threw pregnancy, literally into the rant. I mean, that really, that was the icing on the cake

right there. Childbirth always closes a rant. There's no doubt about that. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific. Hey, this is Tom Perducci from Fox Sports, MLB Network, and Sports Illustrated.

And I'm Joe Madden, and we're going to be around to talk a little bit about managerial decisions and what may have occurred in the dugout, maybe in the 1980. It's the Book of Joe podcast. I can't wait for this, Joe. We're going to dive into what goes on in the dugout and behind the scenes in Major League Baseball. Cars, whined, whatever else we want to talk about. Yeah, well, there are no boundaries, right?

Listen to the Book of Joe podcast on the IHeart Radio app, on 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 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 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 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 a little kill? Well, you can find out on the Look Back at it podcast. I'm Sam J. And I'm Alex English.

Each episode, we pick 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 is big to me not just because of crack. I'm down to talk about crack all day, but just so you're not. But just so y'all know. I mean, at this point, this is the second episode where we've discussed correct.

So I'm starting to see that there's a through line. We also have AIDS on the table right now. Now you're finishing that sentence. Yes. I don't think there's a more important year for black people. Really? Yeah. For me, it's one of the most important years for black people in American history.

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

and conversations with so many incredible guests. I'm talking, Tripp Fontaine, Ryan Clark. Sometimes when we're in the pursuit of the thing, we get so wrapped up in the chase that we don't realize that we are in possession of the thing and we're still chasing it and we don't know when we've done enough. Because people scoreboard watch.

Life becomes about wins and losses. Steve Burns, Dustin Ross, because you find it important to be a good person while you hear on earth? Are you a good person because you're afraid? Because that's two different intentions, bro. Absolutely. And that's two different levels of trust. I want you to just really be a good person. Join me, Kear Gaines, as we have real conversations about healing, growth, fatherhood, pressure, and purpose on my new podcast.

Learn the Hardway. Open your free iHeartRadio app. Search Learn the Hardway and listen now. Saturday on Fox, the United Football League takes center stage as the Houston Roughnecks battle A.J. McCarron and the same list of Black. Battlehawks, it all kicks off Saturday at 3 Eastern on 5th. By the way, have you seen the ratings for this? 950,000 for games in the spring. I've been saying this for years. Spring football is going to work. You just got to get the capital, right? And now you've got the Rock League, the Fox League. Now it's like, oh, you're getting 900. 50,000 people watching these games.

Spring football is going to work in America. Major League baseball games and hockey aren't getting that. Like on a lot of nights. So I was thinking about the Knicks. The Knicks lost last night. I think they're going to win the series. I think they're a better team. I like their construction. I mean, they're doing this without Julius Randall, who probably won't be there in a year.

The Knicks feel real right now. Like, you're watching a real team. They have a real hole. They're very Jalen Brunson. independent, Josh Hart is becoming their number two. He leads the NBA in playoff minutes. Like Josh Hart, they're asking him to be a two, and he's not. He'd be a really nice player as a four on a championship team, maybe a three. But the guy leads the NBA in playoff minutes. He's 33rd in scoring. So he's a four. He's like, it'd be like asking Austin Reeves for the

Lakers to be LeBron's two. He's not. He's a four. A two is Jamal Murray. A two is Booker. And this is where I think it's interesting. It's why KD to the Knicks is not delusional. It's the peace. Because KD may have more gifts offensively, although the way Brunson's playing, who knows. But Brunson is the leader of this team. He has established himself as a one. When Nick fans were clamoring for KD when he left Golden State, you were delusional.

There was no reason to go there. But to go to the Knicks now is not. not delusional. It's real. So Brunson's an A. There's no reason for KD to come in and be annoyeded to one. Brunson's your quarterback, but all quarterbacks need a great receiver,

a great target. Can be a tight end, can be a wide receiver. Asking Josh Hart to be a two is like asking a blocking tight end to be Travis Kelsey. It's just not fair. He's a three to a four. Probably a four, but a great four on a championship team.

You know? like a really nice for you may have to give him up to get katy whatever it is but you got to find somebody with jalen brunson that doesn't take the ball out of his hands and katy doesn't kd's probably the best guy in the league in 15 years Clay Thompson was up there too that you can just get the ball too late in the shot clock and he can hit a bucket that katy is as good as anybody i've seen there's not many guys better and so you got to get the the right start. When I hear Donovan Mitchell to the Knicks, that doesn't work. That doesn't work. I don't want that. We saw Luca and Jalen Brunson. People are saying, well, I didn't know Jalen Brunson

was that good. Well, you couldn't tell because he didn't have the ball enough. So the Knicks now for KD, that fits. And the Knicks have several things that they got to get on this. First of all, Jalen Brunson is playing a lot of minutes and hard playoff minutes. You don't know if he's going to break down. KD is also going to be 36 at the start of next season. The Knicks role players right now have good contracts. They're going to be there unless they're traded for a couple of years. And the East is really wide open outside of Boston. The East is wide open.

And so this is the time for the Knicks. And generally the Knicks have been very impatient and made really bad moves. KD makes a ton of sense. He's getting older. You can't keep asking Brunson to be a workhorse at this level. Josh Hart's not a two The East is weak Your role players are under reasonable contracts

Also Brunson has He makes good money right now Jalen Brunson in two years Is going to be with this new All these new TV networks I mean he's going to be He's going to be paid top of the market You know a year and a half two years

He's not now Jalen's contracts very workable So this is the time Go get KD Nick Wright On KD potentially being a Nick as a basketball fan would love to see him have one final arc somewhere else i think lebron james bringing the new york nix to the NBA finals for the first time in a quarter century would be

pretty great i think he would fit you know in that julius randall spot quite well i also think four rings for four franchises would be unbelievable yeah feels right but that when the nicks thought they had a shot at a lebron or a kd years ago nothing was right. The front office wasn't right. The pieces weren't right. If you put on paper, what are the Knicks need? You'd be like a great catch and shoot score. Clay Thompson in his prime, who didn't need the ball. Steph would get it to him late. KD right now. And I think KD's got at least two more great years left, maybe three, maybe more. But he played a lot of games this year. There's been some injuries. Now's the time to go get KD. And it's not, if you look at the last 20 years of the Knicks. It's not a reach. It's not crazy. It's not delusional. It actually is perfect.

It's the kind of thing Miami's done for years and years to go get a star alongside D. Wade. Like they got Shaq or a LeBron. And when you looked at those moves, you're like, yeah, that's a really smart move. Big swings are important, but the Knicks have had a history of kind of missing on their big swings. This big swing makes complete sense. So, like, LeBron is the system wherever he goes. Everything orbits around him. Kevin Durant just slides right into the Warriors.

Seamless, perfect. I think Durant, he's not a system, right? Jalen Brunson, to me, is the system in New York. Everything orbits around him and Kevin Durant fits perfectly. That'd be exciting. And I think the NBA needs it. It's getting more European. The Lakers look like they're kind of jammed up.

Like the Knicks being great is its time. It would be wonderful for the leak. Hour two. Coming up. Another podcast from some SNL late night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and friends. Me and hilarious guests.

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

Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and friends on the I-Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal, but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotes.

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. Hey, what's good, y'all?

You're listening to Learn the Hard Way with your favorite therapist and host Kear Games. This space is about black men. experiences, having honest conversations that it's really not safe to have anywhere, but you're having them with a licensed professional who knows what he's doing. How many men carry a suit or armor? It signals to the world that you're not to be played with. And just because you have the capability that does not mean that you need to, listen to learn the hard way on the AHA radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. Hey, this is Robert from the Stuff to Blow Your Mind podcast. Joe and I are both lifelong Star Wars

fan so we're celebrating May the 4th with a brand new week of fun, thought-provoking Star Wars-related episodes. Join us as we tackle science and culture topics from a galaxy far, far away, such as the biology of taun tons and wampas on the ice planet hot, or the practicality and corporate business sense of the Sith rule of two. Listen to Stuff to Bole your mind on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed human.