The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Hour 2 - Here come the Wolves

Episode Date: May 9, 2024

Colin discusses the other NBA awards Thoughts on the Nuggets-Timberwolves series More on the Knicks and Jalen Brunson's style of play   Guest: Chandler ParsonsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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iHeart Radio app by searching Fox Sports Radio or FSR. You're listening to Fox Sports Radio. Here we go. Live in L.A. Hour number two, it's the herd, wherever you may be, and however you may be listening. Thanks for making us part of your day. By the way, somebody agrees with me with the Atlanta Falcons quarterback situation, the hill I'm going to die on. That in 15 minutes. So, J-Mack, I was looking at this this morning.

Seven of nine, take out Brad Stevens. That's an executive award. Okay. He won like executive of the year. Take that one out. The other nine NBA awards are player awards. Seven of nine went to the West. Western players.

Whoa. So MVP's and rookies of the year are West, meaning the best now and the best in the future are West. Top three MVP voting, all West. And that doesn't include Wemby and Ant, who I think will be in the MVP top three next year. Luca and SGA were in the MVP near the top and they're just moving into their prime. So the West has been better than the East since MJ. LeBron saved the Eastern Conference.

He was the face of it, struggled to beat the teams out west, but he was the face of the East. Now, he's out no longer in his prime. So if you look at the East in the last like 20 years, it feels like it's a lot of teams like Miami or this year's Knicks where they're punching above their weight. But it's not in terms of...

We don't think Eastern teams have the most talent. If you go to the top three teams with the most like assets, like draft capital, those three are all West, OKC, Utah and San Antonio. So the MVP's West, most awards West, best clutch time stuff, West. Most assets West. Now, are the GMs better in the West? Are the owners better in the West? Let me throw this out as a theory, just kind of a belief. is that

the east Chicago East Chicago Detroit Boston New York Philly D.C. It is louder angrier media and we all know that

GMs and owners listen to sports talk radio read columnists and are affected by the media and the loudest angriest media is all Chicago East Chicago, Boston, Philly, New York, D.C.

They take great pride in it. Get this guy fired. That GM fired. This owner stinks. That guy stinks. And GMs and owners make rash decisions. I look at the Eastern Conference of the NBA more as a microwave. And I look at the West, a softer, less aggressive media.

You're allowed to bake stuff. You're allowed to bake your NBA team in the West. You can take a few years. Nobody's going to fire Malone in Denver. I mean, he didn't win it until like his 7. seventh or is eight year. OKC, you don't have to make the playoffs. You're going to blow everybody out here.

Blow everybody out. The East Coast has a louder media. And in the NBA, a star league, the media creates more rash decisions, less patience. That's why the best Eastern Conference team in the last 20 years has been Miami, where you have really strong ownership and management that doesn't listen to a lot of it. I mean, Pat Riley, you're not going to fire Pat Riley. Mickey Erison doesn't fire like Spolstra. And so Miami runs themselves like a Western team.

Strong executives, nobody's firing Popovich or Kerr if they have back-to-back bad seasons. In the East, guy gets run out. And so I think if you look at the West in the East, that's kind of my theory on it. You're allowed to be more patient out West. You're allowed to bake in the oven out West. And in the East, everything's microwave, make it hot, edible right now, let's go, not good enough fire. But if you start looking at the award, take out the Brad Stevens Award. That's an executive award.

The other nine awards, seven and nine, they go to the West. MVP, defensive player, rookie, clutch, six-man, coach, teammate, hustle. Hustle went east. That went Alex Caruso, which is, I don't know if he really hustles more than everybody, but that's like a guess it's one of their awards. So it's my, I'm not necessarily saying this is absolutely right. But it does seem like when you see something over and over, like why is the SEC so great in college football more so than the ACC or the Big 12 or the PAC 12 forever and mostly better than the Big 10? Well, a lot of it was like they're saying, it matters more.

They didn't 20, 30 years ago, have as many pro teams. So college football was their pro team and they put their resources into it. And the footprint of the South, there's a lot of great high school football programs. So it matters more. There's more passion. the money in the South pours it into college football. The money in the Northeast spends it on a lot of things. The money in the West, Denver West, they spend it on a lot of things.

The money in the South goes to a lot of college football coaches, programs, facilities. It matters more. So there's usually a reason if something is dominant, like in college sports. Why is Yukon so dominant in basketball? Well, they've had the best coach. They've got a coach who could coach the men and be dominant in the men. He's a great coach. So you always find these high football.

school programs in America where you find a high school wrestling program they won 13 to the last 14 state titles and you you always find the legendary coach that happens all the time in high school but in pro sports when you're firing coaches constantly there's almost always an answer for a trend especially like a 20 year trend i mean just take one player a singular player out of the east lebron james where their titles i mean all the dynasties warriors were a dynasty lakers were a dynasty lakers were a dynasty The Healds didn't really classify as a dynasty to me. They got real close. But the other thing, I want to say this.

So I've been, you know, there's the old saying, are you going to die on that hill? It's considered like a bad take and you're going to die on it. And I don't think my take's a bad take. So 66 quarterbacks play a year in the NFL. I think you have to spend real money on your backup. I can live with bad safeties. I want a really good backup.

And so Yahoo Sports. Charles Robinson wrote this column of the six quarterbacks that were drafted in the first round, who landed in the best situation. And do you know who he put number one? Michael Pennix of Atlanta. And his argument is he's got a two-year runway, even as great as Mahomes was. It was a great advantage coming in behind a veteran, Alex Smith, who was good, had a history. he can make the playoffs when he had the right coach.

Mahomes could have played as a rookie. He was more talented than Alex Smith, but they were going to teach him the system, clean up his mechanics, and Michael Pennix does need to clean up his underneath throws, his underneath accuracy. He throws a great deep ball. Now, the downside to both Mahomes and Pennix,

as the article points out, is, you know, guys want to play right now. Okay. My kids want a lot of things right now. I didn't always give it to him. It's okay if you don't play right now. So he has number two as Caleb Williams, J.J. McCarthy, 3, Jaden Daniels, 4, Bo Nix 5, and Drake May 6. We would agree on Drake May 6.

I don't know how the rest of them fall out. But again, Yahoo, Charles Robinson, saying what I'm saying, it's not the worst thing in the world to sit behind a Joe Flacco for a year or an Alex Smith for a year or a Kirk Cousins for a year. Colin, but they paid him, they didn't pay him 400 million a year. Kirk Cousins didn't make 300 million, 400 million, 250 million. That dead cap hit stuff is a lot of fear-based stuff. I think we did something on this about three weeks ago, where for the top five dead cap quarterback hits, those teams made the playoffs. You can get out of that really quickly.

If Michael Pennix can play and starts not this year but the next year, And he's playing at a high level, Atlanta's not going to be too worried about that dead cap hit. The Kirk Cousin's contract, by the way, is heavily front-loaded, heavily front-loaded. So, I mean, I think if Bow Nix can play, Denver's going to be fine this year. I don't think they'll be Super Bowl fine, but they'll be good. They'll be viable. If you hit on your first round quarterback, even if he doesn't play the first year, he plays the second, you're fine as a franchise. But this idea that what they did makes no sense.

I've said this before. last year Atlanta had no quarterbacks and had arguably the best talent in the division and couldn't make the playoffs. This year they arguably have the two best quarterbacks, which would you rather have? If there's any position I have too much talent at, it would be pass rusher and quarterback. I can live with that.

I can live with say, you know, we probably have an extra pass rusher. It's like saying, you know, our backup quarterback probably should start, really soon. I'm okay with that. I'm going to be okay with that. That is the hill I'm going to die on. So now we have a reputable source. Yahoo saying this is actually the best.

For the record, it can't always be about the player. It's okay occasionally if a quarterback's not getting exactly what they want. Even Tom Brady had to deal with Garoppolo for a few years. That's okay. Kirk Cousin is going to be a little antsy. That's okay. Okay. Nick Wright was telling me yesterday in a podcast. He said, you don't get everything in life. Kirk Cousins has gone to good organizations. He's made a fortune. He's been a starter.

He's been on Netflix. You don't get everything. Brady had to sacrifice money in his career. He took pay cuts. This year, Kirk Cousins is going to have to be a little uncomfortable as Michael Pennock sits behind him. I mean, I'm not going to lose a lot of sleep on it. Chandler Parsons, former NBA player, Saddle Up, ready to join us now live as we've been talking about a lot of things today. You know, it's funny, Chandler, I look at the Knicks, and I'm thinking, okay, when's this thing going to end? Brunson's hurt. O.G.'s hurt. Randall's out.

Mitchell Robinson. And I'm like, okay, these guys can't keep playing 45 minutes. And then I watched them last night, and they won even easier than they won in game one. and it's a guy that played in this NBA for a decade. It's almost collegiate. Like they're punching above their weight every other night. Are you surprised by the Knicks? I'm surprised just because there's so much talent in the league this year.

And when I look at the New York Knicks roster, I don't think they have the most talented roster, right? Jalen Brunson, and I think partially because of Julius Randall going out and the injuries that's happened and the moves they've made, that has really opened up Jailen Brunson's game. He's playing at an absolute superstar level. There's not many players still playing that are playing better than Jalen Brunson right now, which is insane because he wasn't this prodigy.

He wasn't this, you know, for sure thing. Cubs could have had him for $55 million. That's probably one of the biggest botches in his career, and I'm sure he'll tell you that. But when you look at the Knicks, it's a classic Tibino-Tibode coach team, Colin. They're not the most talented. It's not the prettiest game. But, man, they grind you, they defend, they play hard. Josh Hart has kind of reinvented himself by doing the same things he's always done,

but now he's doing it on the Knicks, and now he's doing it in the playoffs, and Madison Square Garden, and he's finally getting the respect and love someone like that deserves just for his versatility and his toughness and his defense. And you can't speak enough about the Knicks before you get to Jalen Brunson, and he's been an absolute star, he's been there everything. But when you've got guys like DiVincenzo and Hardinstein and Deuce McBride, I'll be honest with you, I work in the industry of media. I just found out about Duce McBride this season.

So are the minutes crazy? Can they sustain that? Yes. They've been blessed with pretty good health with those main guys. Obviously they had Randall, Mitch and Robinson's been out. Hopefully, oh, G's not a serious injury because they can't really replace what he gives them. But they just outwork you. And in the NBA, Colin, that's half the battle is playing hard and buying into defense.

And they do both, which is going to give you a chance to win every single night. So I had said, I grew up in the NBA. the 70s where there were a bunch of good teams but no dynasties. From that point until about five years ago, the league had dynasties, one in San Antonio, Jordan, Magic, Bird, Shack, Kobe, whatever. And now I look at it and I'm like, I'm not sure who the best team is. Denver's getting dragged. I mean, this thing, this fight's over. Like, this fight appeals like it's over. And my takeaway is, I'm surprised. It's one thing if Denver would have lost in seven, but they're getting bullied. and I thought a year ago

these are the next Spurs. Are you surprised how completely lobsided Minnesota Denver is? I am. I mean my preseason picks were Denver versus Boston. I think those were the two best teams, the two most poised teams to win

right now. Phoenix was interesting. I was curious about them. The Clippers with Kauai Healthy early on, that was interesting. But when you look down to it, I never really trusted the Minnesota Timbo's I never really trusted the youth. I never really trusted the youth of the Oklahoma City Thunder, as well as they played in the regular season. Playoffs are different. You always hear this physicality, the intensity, every possession

matters. Minnesota and Oklahoma City are playing better now than they did during the regular season. So, yeah, I think when you look at this matchup, you look at an offensive juggernaut, like the Nuggets, like Yokic, and you look at the best defensive team. We've seen in quite some time, and we're looking at the best defensive team to the regular season, the best defensive team to the postseason. Now, you combine that with Anthony Edwards doing the things he's doing. Anthony Towns, having big offensive games. They're committed to their roles.

And when you have a starling Anthony Edwards, that's just such a refreshing guy, is such a happy two-way player. Most our players don't do what he does. They don't give the same effort on both sides of the floor. So when you have that mismatch of length, and you have guys like Nas Reid that have absolutely blown up this year and six men of the year, and you have guys like Jade McDaniels that don't care to shoot. He doesn't care to score.

He just wants to defend. They follow the scound report. The way that they've guarded Yokic in this series, is beautiful where they kind of play him one-on-one with a Nas read but then you have the defensive player of the year and Rudy Gaubert floating they're active their length they're bullying him there's a clip that you probably saw it where Alexander Walker is legitimately laughing while he's guarding Jamal Murray just cutting him off being physical and they love it and it's it's crazy I did not see this coming I made a joke after the game one I was like damn can you imagine if the nuggets get

swept it could happen which is which is crazy also Denver so good offensive and if they continue to get stuff from Michael Porter, who's been great, Jamal Murray's got to be better, he's got to be more efficient. But as soon as they win game three, I think everyone shifts to go, okay, now what happens? I don't think this, I think this series is far from over, but it is super impressive what Minnesota's done on both ends of the floor. You know, I had a GM telling me this 20 years ago. It's not about getting a star.

It's about getting the right star who may sacrifice touches, who will defend, who will be the first guy in the wait room. There's a lot of great players, this GM told me, but it's the right star. Tim Duncan was the right star. And this is not a knock on Luca. But if I was an NBA player and could play with Tatum or Luca, I'd play with Tatum, even though I think Luca is more dynamic. Ant is a guy that looks like he likes to be part of a collective, but he's great. And again, this is not a knock on Lua.

It's his game. His usage rate is through the roof. And there are times, I think there are players that are like, bro, if I don't get touches, it's hard. And now, because of a usage rate, Chandler, he's hobbled. I mean, you play now because he's playing defense now. And I think to myself,

I see usage rate as a negative from my star. He can be in the top ten, but I look at Lucas' game and I'm like, of course he's breaking down. I mean, it's like Harden. Of course he's exhausted. He's a human being. What do you make of Luca at this time of the year

every year? Well, it is funny that we praise a superstar for playing defense just because he's so good on offense. The fact that he's now giving effort, I will say this. I think this team that Luca has, this is his best team. I love the moves that they made. I love the PJ Washington move. I love the Daniel Gaffer move.

And I even said this earlier on Run It Back on our show, months ago when they did this, I said it's got to be pretty exhausting playing with Luca because you just, you get stuck watching him. Your offense gets stagnant because he's so talented and he's so good offensively that sometimes you do get frustrated as if. teammate because he's taking these long low percent stepbacks but when he make them when he makes them it's like this guy's unbelievable yeah but then when he has a night like he did in game one it's like okay couldn't we get a better possession here in the game can we get a better look here

and we have a guy like kairie irving too i think they could offset the pressure and take a little bit more off him but i do think the dallas mavericks are a better team when everybody's contributing when they're getting something from tim hardaway when they're getting 15 from p.j. watched it's hard to say it would be it'd be tough to play with Luca I mean Daniel Gafford literally just almost set a record for the most consecutive you know spoon-fed buckets in the history of the NBA so I'm sure he would disagree with that but it's crazy how much talent how much turnover there's been with these star players like we were talking about Luca we're talking about

Jason Tatum I feel like we're talking about Jalen Brunston we're talking about SGA we're talking about Anthony Edwards more more so than those guys so I think the league talent-wise is in great position and I I do agree with you. I do think it can get a little exhausting playing with these ball-dominic, you know, high-usage rate guys. But it is on him to take better shots. It is on him to get his teammates' easy looks.

And then when he is buying on the defensive event, when your best player like Anthony Edwards is playing both with playing defense, that fuels your team. That fuels your locker room. So I do think they're a better team when Luca obviously commits to that end. But you can't take away from his talent on the offensive end. He's a generational talent. He's unbelievable.

But I think he just settles a little bit. I think he forces. I wish you'd lay off the reps a bit, but he's an unbelievable talent. Yeah. By the way, a couple minutes left. When Rick Carlisle last night blamed small markets, I kind of rolled my eyes. Because most of the big cities, Detroit, you know, Atlanta, Chicago, New York had been garbage for years. Small markets have carried the league.

But do players, when a call doesn't go their way and an L.A. or a New York team are winning, do players do they think some of them is rooting for the big markets do players think like that a little bit like in the end like in the playing tournament the lakers were in there we kept saying the NBA wants the Lakers in the playoffs

the NBA wants the Warriors in the playoffs so there's definitely part of that this season I ricks my guy I've paid for him for two years it doesn't make sense because the Oklahoma City and the Minnesota Timberwolves are arguably smaller markets than and they're dominating and they're getting calls and they're playing physical and they're setting the tone so I agree that being a referee Colin is the worst job in the world no matter what

every time you blow that whistle there's you know 20 people pissed it either think you made the wrong call right and when you slow it down I also the replay thing it's a whole other story but that pisses me off too because when you slow down every possession in an NBA game the reps probably missed three calls in that possession that weren't called so yeah of course when you slow it down in HD it looks like they did a horrific job I think think as a coach and a player, all you want is consistency. All you want is the same physicality, the same hand check, the same over the back. You want that call throughout the 48 minutes of the game. And when that doesn't happen and when it doesn't happen at the end of the game, it's more magnified and it pisses you off more.

So are the Pacers losing a series because the refs? No, they're getting outworked. The Knicks are playing harder. They have no answer for Jalen Brunson. Halliburton wasn't very good until last night. So that's the reason. But it's not the referees. Yeah, Chandler Parsons, give your podcast a plug, your show a plug here real quick. Yeah, so we're in year, too. Run It Back. It's me, Michelle Beadle, is our hosts. We got Sharm Sharania dropping all the tea and the scoop, so I still don't know how he gets all that info. And then my co-host is Lou Will, Legendary Six Man.

So we're on Run It's called Run It Back. We're on Fandall 7 a.m. Pacific time Monday through Friday. So you got to check us out. We've got to get you on the show. I'm very busy, but I'll come on and say hi. I know you and B. Good seeing, anybody. Later, dude.

Chandler Parsons, good talker, knows his stuff, really talented guy. No, the big market thing, like I get fans saying that. But if you just think holistically, the Clippers, the Knicks, I mean, Lakers right now are not in a good space, Detroit, Chicago, Philadelphia can't get past the second round. This is a anti-New York take more than it's a, you really truly think the league is rigged take. The big markets have massively underachieved in the NBA.

The fact that the NBA is getting a record-setting haul in their negotiations is not remarkable because the talent's been good for years. It's the best ever. It's remarkable because the big market stink. New York exception this year has stunk forever. D.C., Detroit, Philadelphia can't win big. What's remarkable is they're getting. this hall when clearly the future of this league is Oklahoma City,

could be Denver, Minnesota. That looks like the future of the NBA. It's not big market teams. The Knicks right now are a great story, but how much are they going to have to give up to get a Paul George or a Durant or whoever they get to go alongside Brunson? So I get fans saying that, but when a coach says it, let me,oy, yoy, come off.

Just to check, you did just say, OKC's the future. of the NBA. Is that what you said? Have you seen their, first of all, they have two stars, and they have so much draft capital, they can miss on half their picks and still be dominant for a decade. They could shell out picks and pick up a star. But we saw this with OKC with KD, Russ, and Hardin, and they went to the finals. And then Sam Presti, the genius everybody claims he is, says, oh, I don't think we can afford Hardin. Let's trade him. And he nuked him. Well, those were, if you look at those,

they were not the future of you. If you look at those three players, it was never going to work. They got to the finals when they were pumped. That's right. They got to the finals once, but it was a combustible room of nightclub harden, hard to play with Westbrook, and the official wanderer of the NBA KD. When you look at situation in life in the rearview mirror with perspective,

that was not a 20-year team. I mean, Kobe Shaq, and Derek Fisher didn't last that long, but that fit. You're not going to have hard, in Westbrook in a back court, their personalities aren't going to work long term, especially when they were in their prime. That is the back court of the clippers now. But yeah, I hear what you're saying.

Still. By the way, disappoints us. Well, injuries. K.D. and Russ nearly took down the 73 win warriors, I believe, led three to. Yeah. And when they were all in their prime. Prime, yeah. Okay.

And they had all that energy and no injuries. I understood Sam Presti's saying, let's run it back. but I think he came to the realization. Harden, Westbrook, both need the ball. KD's getting frustrated, not getting enough looks with time on the clock. So again, what they are now, Holmgren and SGA fit perfectly together. Like low ego, not as, I mean, SGA is a usage rate guy. Homegren's okay with that.

And they have more draft capital now than they had then. So if you look at OKC now, the construction of a team is the key to the team. Yes. It's not just your roster. What's the construction? Minnesota's dominating Denver because of as much Naz Reed, as much the construction of it. Two bigs. A defensive player in Gobert that doesn't even need touches.

An emerging young star next to an old, high brainpower veteran Conley. Minnesota's construction of a team. is I would argue the construct and the coaching is better than the pure talent. To get Conley next to Ant is brilliant. Like the KG veteran, the mentor next to the exploding star. Go bear that doesn't need touches at all next to cat who does. Nazreet, energy guys off the bench. Like Minnesota is, they put time and thought into this.

But we'll see how long it lasts. leads me to a question. So OKC, you just said maybe the future of the NBA. Maybe, maybe. 2030. Okay, between, this is 2024. That's seven more finals to go. Who has more final trips? OKC or the Lakers? OKC. I don't even know what the Lakers

would look like, and I'll take Lakers. Okay. I would take your window. I mean, I don't know the planet will still be. Do you understand it? I don't have this in front of me. Take the bubble year out. What are the Lakers done in 10 years. It's been a rough go post-C

overachieved. Okay, C, last year, overachieved. We thought they were way too young. They overachieve. This year, they're overachieving. Or maybe they're not overachieving. They're just good. You are what your record says. OKC, back-to-back years.

We're like, wow, this is surprising. Maybe it's not surprising. They're well-run and really good. Or they could be the Titans, the number one scene in the AFC a few years back and then turn in a pumpkins in the playoffs. No. Go Mavericks tonight. You think, OK, OK,

OkayC is Tannahill and the Titans? I'm just tossing that out there to throw fire on the hell. I know the OKC fans will hate that, but sorry. Not one of your better tosses. One more herd? The herd streams 24 hours a day, seven days a week, within the IHeart radio app. Search Herd to listen live or on demand whenever you'd like.

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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,

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Open your free, our Heart Radio app. Search Learn the Hardway and listen now. So what the New York Knicks and Jalen Brunson are doing is like movie stuff. Right, like undersized player, ignored second round guy, gets traded to a big city, and then takes them almost by himself, now hobbled and limping to playoff win after win. You get Cinderella stories in college, Steph Curry at Davidson, Jimmer for Dett, Sweet 16, BYU, Bo Kimball, Loyola, Derek Rose at Memphis, but that's a one-game setting. But in the NBA, Cinderella stories die because they're seven-game series.

That mostly eliminates wild upsets. Bad nights, bad official calls. The stacked decks win. But the difference with the Knicks and specifically this Jalen Brunson style is it's almost collegiate. That in a league of ambivalence and indifference at times, load management, they play like a college team. They play hurt. they play hard, they're relentless, they defend. Jalen Brunson is not tall, long, physically imposing, a vertical machine.

That's not what he is. He's a grinder with a game that just keeps getting better, and in a league of giants, it's a really good story. In fact, it's a great one, and here's Tibbs after last night's win. He's a great leader, so I think the players all have respect for that when I got goes out and is willing to give whatever he has. And so it says a lot about him. The mental toughness piece is so important.

And so the ability to get through things, you know, to be at your best when your best is needed, even when you may not be feeling your best. You know, and that's who he is. Another story, this one in the NFL, an NFL executive told Jeremy Fowler at the other place that they suspect that stubborn, Jim Harbaugh would not allow the Minnesota Vikings

who passed on Harbaugh last year as a head coach. He would not allow them to trade up to get a quarterback. Harbaugh was going to be stubborn, it says here, and petty. Well, that happens all the time in the NFL. I think what it was, and New England gave you the key to this. New England had the number three pick, better than the Chargers, and they acknowledged, after the draft.

We didn't get any good offers. This is a copycat league. And the Carolina Panthers, the year before, were aggressively moving up and got burned. And I think it made everybody in the league a little hesitant. Again, it's a copycat league, even when it's not making moves. So Carolina went big and whiffed, and it looks like it has potentially set them back for a long time. And by the way, if Harvard, was stubborn or being petty or whatever.

And I don't know that to be true and I don't believe it's true. He actually, in my opinion, did Minnesota a favor because clearly multiple teams could have moved up for J.J. McCarthy and did not. And Minnesota only had to give up middle-round picks a couple of them to move up one spot to get him. So in this instance, if Harbaugh did have a chip on his shoulder with Minnesota, Harbaugh got a great player, Minnesota, then got the quarterback, they may, still think they wanted Drake May, may have wanted and didn't have to waste draft capital.

Hurtline news around the corner. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific on Fox Sports Radio, FS1, and the Iheart radio app. Hey, I'm Doug Gottlie. The podcast is called All Ball. We usually talk all basketball all the time, but it's more about the stories about what made these people love their sport and all the interesting interactions

along the way. We talk to coaches. We talk to players. We tell you stories. You download it. You listen to it. I think you like it. Listen to All Ball with Doug Ghalib on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.

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

creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. One week, I'll take you behind the scenes of the biggest moments in sports and entertainment, and the next we'll talk about life, mental health, purpose, and even music. The Clifford Show isn't just a podcast. It's a space for honest conversations, stories that don't always get told, and for people who are chasing something bigger. So if you've ever supported me

or you're just chasing down a dream, this is right where you need to be. Listen to The Clifford show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. Do you remember when Diana Ross double-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 Kim? Well, you can find out on the Look Back at it podcast. I'm Sam J. And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick it here, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived it.

Including a recent episode with Mark Lamont Hill, waxing all about crack in the 80s. To be clear, 84 is big to me, not just because of crack. I'm down to talk about crack on day, but just so you're just so you're not. y'all know. I mean, at this point, this is the second episode where we've discussed Craig, so I'm starting to see that there's a through line. We also have AIDS on the table right now, so. Thank you 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 IHeartRadio 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, or 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, our heart radio app. Search Learn the Hardway and listen now. Jay Mack, see you over there studying. Julian Ellman will be joining us next hour. Chandler Parsons, great, showed up earlier today. J-Mack with the news. No, no, no, no, no. Turn on the news. This is the herd line news.

Studying our opponent, big men's league game tonight. Got to know what's going on. I know you care. How about this, Colin, this first story is absolutely crazy. So the draft happened recently, and rookie quarterback, Terry and Arnold. A very talented player talked about the process that he went through as he was drafted. On a podcast appearance, Terry and Arnold says the Raiders used a, quote, coin toss to select Brock Bowers over him with the 13th pick.

Here's the audio. They knew that the Raiders, it was a poplar that they took me, and actually the Raiders coach, they called me after the drive. They were like, you know, we actually had a coin toss between you and Brock Bowers and landed on him. I was like, oh, wow. I don't know if I believe that. I think you could tell an athlete who you wanted to, you know, used to, hey, we love you, we love you. It's a coin toss here.

Right, exactly. I don't think they actually tossed a coin. Brock Bowers was as high. The Rams, who draft pretty well, tried to move up to get Brock Bowers. It's very rare in league history that you move up to get a tight end. You can take it tight end. You don't move pieces to get him. multiple teams try to do that with Brock Powers.

I don't think they took a coin out. According to Terry and Arnold, this was, the head coach told him that. It was a coin test. Now, did he literally, figuratively? Raiders assistant GM, Champ Kelly, told reporters he can't confirm that at all. So Antonio Pierce, off to a rocky start, shall we say,

talking about, first of all, I don't know. Just tell somebody sometimes. I'm going to defend Antonio Pierce. I have used this through the, years, especially now because my circumstance with a volume, you tell people, hey, it didn't go your way. It was a coin toss. It's a nicer way to say we chose somebody else. And if you did like them, but it just something was superior to the other candidate, it's a nice way to say it was a coin

toss. And that's a way to say, it could have gone either way. We just went the other way, but it's a coin toss. That makes somebody feel better. You know what? And by the way, I would never say that if somebody was great and somebody wasn't, but if you have two good candidates, it happens all the time. What do you say in that case if somebody's great and somebody wasn't? Well then it's like we're going to go in a different direction. We can't say no to this person. This person is really kind of a different level.

I don't think you have to get into specifics when you don't hire somebody. When you do hire him, you're saying, hey, listen, we expect this. You're great. We love you. Let's keep it going. When you don't hire somebody, it's like very best to you. It was a coin talk. I like how you get the furrowed brow. Well, it just didn't. It didn't pan

out. Went in a different direction. Next story, Colin, you're going to love this. Let's not do 30 minutes, but we could. Tua Tung of Iloa will play this season under his fifth year option. He's only going to make $23 million guaranteed. That's reasonable. While he looks to sign a long-term deal. Jalen Ramsey, his teammate, went golfing with Tua.

Wouldn't you know it? Jailen Ramsey posted their golf card on Instagram stories. And look there. We put a yellow box around it. Jailen Ramsey wrote, pay Tua. On the scorecard as Tua's grinning. I'll just cite some numbers from 2003 for Tua in a

Prove-it year, right? Everybody wanted to see them proving this year. Played 17 games, pro-bowler, career high and touchdown passes, completion percentage. Tell me more, Colin. Tell me more about why they shouldn't pay Tua. Yeah, I watched him in Kansas City when he couldn't throw a deep ball because it was windy and cold. I need my quarterback to be able to throw a deep ball.

Not have every game have to be in a dome or 74 degrees. This is the NFL where many of the best teams, playing lousy weather in January. Don't judge quarterbacks the weather's ideal. Aaron Rogers' ball could cut through. Tom Brady's ball could cut through bad weather. And then

Josh Allen's ball cuts through bad weather. It'd be one thing if Tua gave me Lamar Jackson's mobility. Like Lamar's ball is okay, but he gives me such dynamic mobility, I can, you know, I'll pay him. But Tua doesn't give me mobility. It doesn't give me a strong arm. There's the injuries, though he was healthy last year.

There's going to be limitations of what I'm going to pay. Interesting. Okay, so you couldn't beat the Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs. We don't want to pay you. By the way, it's not that you lost. It's you couldn't basically, your coaching staff. It's a bad game. No, no, no, no.

It wasn't a bad game. It was the coaching staff by play design acknowledging we're not throwing the ball down the field. It's how you lost. In negative 30 degree weather. Got it. Okay, so we look to talk about process on the show. Do we not? We do.

Well, one of us does. So you don't want to pay Tua. And let me see. Oh, I'm looking at the Dolphins draft. Did not take a quarterback this year or last year. Interesting. What's the process going on? So what are you going to do?

You just play it out, 23-mill. You're making less than a lot of bums out there. Daniel Jones. Daniel Jones making double the money you are. Sorry about that. Yeah. And then maybe next year, maybe next year we'll franchise you. Tag you. No insurance at all for Tua going forward.

Look at all. the guys that get paid more than Tua. Who on that list does it bother you gets paid more than Tua? Burrow, Herbert Lamar, Jalen, Kyler, forget Deshawn. Oh, Kyler? What about Kyler?

Knoter is a great deep ball. Kiler is an all-time talent. Kiler's a world-class quarterback talent. He gives you hyper-athleticism. Behind bad old lines, he got him

the playoffs. They didn't win a game. I got a check, but I think Tua and Kyla have the same number of playoffs. How many GMs in the league? Come on. Kyler. Kyler complied. He was a great high school player. But by the way, Kyler's making double double what Tua is. He's not

double the quarterback. That's a stupid conscious. We would agree. Nobody, you know, double, you're saying double the staff. If I'm too, I don't need, I don't need Kyler money, even though I'm better than him. Okay, Kirk Cousin, 45. Most of these quarterbacks that are paid a lot are worth it. Daniel Jones?

We both would say Daniel Jones is a mistake. Other than that, even Dax 40 million, his current deal I can live with. It's the 58 million he's seeking that I'm not comfortable with at all. So go to Tua. Let's take two. We'll put your 40 million a year. How about we, you know what they do in the NFL when you want to keep somebody for a year? You franchise them. Oof.

One year. That is so disrespectful. Hey, we don't trust you. You're probably going to get hurt again, but we're just going to franchise, thank you. Kyler Murray made the playoffs in a chaotic organization. Tua couldn't convincingly win the job early from Ryan Fitzpatrick, who's now a broadcaster. Early. So who cares early?

Tua made the playoffs. Kyler Murray does not have a playoff with. I cannot believe you're going to, you're defending Kyler like this. And again, you've made it sound like I don't like Tua at all. That's not true. he's been terrific. I think he's great at the mic. He's a grown-up. He's an adult. He's a leader. Hats

forward. A lot of things I like about it. But now we're getting into a different conversation of give him the bag. No, no, no, no, no, no. That's like six guys in the earth. I'm giving the bag to at that position. And about seven pass rushers. And about ten receivers.

And two tight ends. You know, like, that bag thing pay the latest you can and very rarely and the ones that get it deserve, I would have paid LeBron in his prime, whatever the world. He was underpaid. Kobe in his prime, Shaq in his prime, Barkley, I'm talking about this. This idea to just automatic next guy up, that's not the way it works.

Next guy up doesn't mean squat to me. Unless I'm the next guy up. Then you just pay him. I wanted them to draft a quarterback. Remember, just further away. I think you're just arguing today because I don't think you like to as much as this argument. I like the discussion. And I don't like to do it.

I like the discussion. I'm sorry, smart TV radio. Like, we're doing that. I like the discussion, but this whole next man up, no. Next superstar up. Yeah. I'm not paying next guy up.

Yeah. All right, so we're going to save the next story for later on in the show because we're out of time. All right. Jay Mack with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The herd line news.

I don't like the term next man up. Oh, great. I like the term next superstar up. All page. Stafford, you know, even with Jalen Hertz now, I think he's the guy, but it's like, without Shane Steichen, I don't know. I don't like what I saw.

Two hours flew by. Julian Edelman is around the corner. It's the herd. 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 grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's Superhuman

documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the I-Hard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. 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's experiences, having honest conversations that'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 tauntons and wampas on the ice planet hot, or the practicality and corporate business sense of the Sith rule of two. Listen to stuff to blow your mind on the

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