The Herd with Colin Cowherd - HOUR 2 - Right & wrong, Dolphins, Lakers

Episode Date: April 11, 2022

Where Colin was right and wrongMore on the story about Tom Brady almost becoming a minority owner of the DolphinsLeBron James talks to the mediaGuest: Ben Volin Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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And FS1, playoffs start tomorrow in the NBA with the playing games. Very interesting. Keep your eye on Brooklyn. Also, the NFL draft is heating up. I would say by the end of this week, we're going to start talking a lot more draft. It's not a star-studded draft. It's not a big quarterback draft.

It's a lot of really good players, a lot of B-plus players, not as many A players. But nonetheless, it could be a very funny draft because a lot of bad organizations have a lot of picks at the top 10. So there's, and there's always 30% of the first round picks don't work out anyway, and that's when the good teams have some good picks. So this year it's a combination of giants and jets and lions and Texans and Jags all at the top. Seahawks have been a terrible drafting team over the last five, six years. They're up there.

So it could be a little bit of mayhem. could have a higher bust rate than other NFL drafts, but that's where we stand. Joy Taylor is joining me. What did you do this weekend, by the way? I worked, and it was really nice here in L.A. this weekend, so I spent a lot of time outside. Yeah, it was beautiful. Went down to the beach. Beaches were packed.

Yes. There are all sorts of people on the beach. Yeah. All right. We call it Colin Wright, Colin wrong. I am plenty of both. On a Monday, we do it every week at this time, and here we go. Where Colin was right?

Well, I didn't think Tiger Woods had a chance to win the Masters. I said he'll probably be good early, but he'll deteriorate over the weekend. And he was minus one on Thursday and plus 14 the rest of the weekend. Listen, he's only 14 months out of a hospital. And he was in a hospital for three months. Think about how long that is. Somebody that was older that went to an ICU unit during our pandemic was out in a month. Three months in a hospital.

He was limping by third. Thursday. And so I thought it was a remarkable story. I thought he was very gracious. I think he understood winning was a long shot. He's now facing young tigers, big, strong alphas who were 300 yards off the tea. But it was fun watching him anyway. Where Colin was wrong. I never paid a lot of attention to these rumors that Tom Brady was going to potentially be an owner of the Miami Dolphins. But according to Ben Volna of the Boston Herald, it appears to be true. Multiple sources now. He's He was going to be a part owner of the dolphins. He has a relationship with Sean Payton. Peyton was going to coach. Brady would maybe play for a year. And all of this stuff, backed by a trip to England to watch Manchester United and talk to the Glazer family when he realized it wasn't going to happen.

It was all blown up by the Brian Flores lawsuit against the dolphins. It screwed it all up. So, you know, the dolphins have a tendency to screw things up. So the story has legs. It was real. and there you go. Where Colin was right? I said first week of the NBA season.

Lakers are going to fire Vogel. It's not going to work. They're too old. They have no elite shooters. And this thing between Carmelo, Westbrook, LeBron and Dwight Howard sounds like an all-star team in 1999. And that's exactly what it was. Too many injuries, and that's what happens to old teams.

They get hurt more and they're out longer. They were the most bet team. to win the NBA championship. And I warned you, I said it's fools gold. It's a sucker bet. This is a borderline playoff team. And as the season ended yesterday, we were right. Where Colin was wrong.

Now, I did have Dustin Johnson winning the Masters. In fact, I said last week, I think the big hitters are going to do well. Well, Brooks Kepka missed the cut. Bryson DeShimbabon missed the cut. And Dustin Johnson faltered over the weekend. I thought because the weather was going to be so bad Saturday and windy. that it would be great if you were long off the tea. Kepka struggled. Dustin Johnson struggled over the weekend, missed some puts,

and DeShabo was just an absolute mess. Where Colin was right? Well, Bruce Ariens took another shot publicly last week at Tom Brady. He said he wasn't that important. Bruce said, I'm not that important. Tom Brady's not that important. It was Byron Leftwich. That was the eighth public marginalization criticism.

or minimizing of Tom Brady. I don't care what those guys say in their Instagram. Superstars do not want to be publicly marginalized or minimized or criticized. And Ariens went to it again last week. Now that the stories come out with Ben Volan, clearly Brady and Arians, they could be in the same room together, but there was tumult here. Where Colin was right? Well, good story this weekend. L.A. Times reported that Russell Westbrook's combativeness and stubbornness, and this has always been my criticism, were apparent in the first week that Vogel came out and said, hey, this is the way the game is moving. Anybody that gets the rebound, take the ball up the court. Westbrook was outraged. He said, I'm the point guard. Only I can bring it up the floor, according to the L.A. Times report. I've said this about Westbrook. His self-awareness is brutal. Like Carmelo Anthony, at

took a while, but he got there. He's a bench player. A Derek Rose took a while, but he got there. I'm a bench player. Westbrook is a bench player. He can't shoot as a guard with perhaps the worst hands of a little guy I've ever seen, and he still views himself as a star and is combative and stubborn for anybody that denies it. He simply has not aged well, and as we predicted, at 3233, there'd be no market for him, and we're now right. where Colin was wrong. I think I said more than once a couple years ago and last year, if I had to move off Joel M. Bid or Simmons,

I'd move off NB'd move off NB, because I worry about his health. And that in the NBA, when a big guy gets hurt early in their career, they get hurt often. Well, M. B's probably going to win the MVP. He's the first center in 22 years to win a scoring title. That would be Shaq, who did it then. Listen, he's a joyful guy. He's fun.

He's amazing. some shack in him. But I've always been very cautious with M. Bid, because I've seen the Greg Oden stories. I've seen the Sam Bui stories. I've seen these big guys get hurt. And the big guys that work in this league, Janus or a Kareem, they just have unique bodies. And they don't get hurt early. They don't get hurt late. And it's very, it's rare. With M. Bid, he's not only flourished and proven me wrong, but, you know, he is the reason why even though they gave up a lot trade, many think they can end up in the finals. Where Colin was right?

When you have a big personality, Cam Newton, James Winston, Johnny Mansell, Baker Mayfield, you will find after your first team dumps you that you have no market. Baker Mayfield, Baker Mayfield has no market. It is official. Seattle, there were rumors early that Seattle may have been interested, they're going to go with Drew Locke. I said this with Baker. When you come into the

league at that position as a big personality, you can make a lot of money with commercials, but what you'll find is that if you get cut or they move on, your market shrinks. Because people don't see you as the kind of quarterback, they can fold into their franchise. Mitch Trubisky, multiple teams wanted him, though he's limited. Baker Mayfield, No market whatsoever. Where Colin was right. And Adam Silver, NBA commissioner, finally admitting what we've been on for a year.

It's not a small problem. It is a major problem in the National Basketball Association, allowing stars to just miss multiple games whenever they feel like it. I'm sorry. I grew up as a little kid. I went to maybe one NBA game every three years. And if downtown Freddie Brown wasn't playing, or Gus Williams or DJ or Jack Sigma,

it was a crushing blow. A big percentage of NBA fans are families that drive a long way to get there and they want to see their stars. And NBA players have to admit, if you're going to be the highest paid athletes per sport in this country, you've got to be available, even if it's playing limited minutes.

So Adam Silver at his state of the union acknowledged he does not have a solution, but it's a major problem. He's going to have to find ways to incentivize players to play a larger percentage of games. And our theory, and we threw it out there last week, is force players to play 85% of the games on the schedule. If they do not, they can't be an All-Star, they can't be an MVP, they can't win a scoring title, they can't be All-NBA, take away awards that are often built into their contracts, and also players like to be All-Star.

and they go home in the offseason. They like to be all-NBA. They want to be all-stars. So at least Adam Silver, listen, the first way to solve a problem is to admit you got a problem. And he admitted it's not like a small issue. It's a major issue. All right.

So Ben Bowlin, Boston Globe around the corner on a story I didn't, I didn't really pay a lot of attention to. It seemed like it was crazy town. And apparently it wasn't. Brady was going to be a part owner. Of the Dolphins, the Brian Flores lawsuit kind of exploded the whole situation. He and Sean Payton were going to go there. They both said, see ya.

Peyton retired briefly going to broadcasting. Brady unretired went back to the bucks. We'll talk about this coming up. 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. The USFL is coming Saturday and kicks off with a historic inaugural game is the New Jersey Generals take on the Birmingham Stallions and primetime on Fox and NBC.

All right. It's the story that I didn't even buy was a story. And according to Ben Volan, Boston Globe and others, it was a real deal that basically Tom Brady was going to go be part owner of the dolphins and retire. And then the Brian Flores racial discrimination lawsuit in Miami, other teams as well, kind of blew it all up. and that Sean Payton was going to be the coach of the Dolphins. We know they wanted to pivot to the offensive side of the ball. We've seen that by getting Mike McDonald, the Niners assistant. And Ben Volan now joins us Boston Globe. I mean, it's fascinating.

I was watching you connect the dots today. It really does tell you about the power Brady has in Tampa. Well, what does it tell us? Yeah, Colin, this is a story. where truth is almost stranger than fiction. And what does this tell us is that on the masthead of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, you have the Glazer family at the top, and then Tom Brady is number two. And I think Tom Brady has more power there than the general manager than the head coach.

And whatever Tom Brady says goes in Tampa Bay. He is everything to that franchise. They were seven and nine, hadn't made the playoffs in more than a decade. He shows up. He immediately wins them a championship. He brings Rob Grunkowski with him. Hey, you want Antonio Brown? sure, we'll go get him.

Now I think we're seeing a case where Brady probably preferred a switch at the top of the organization. I think he was ready to have Todd Bowles and Byron Leftwich take control of the team and to have Bruce Ariens perhaps move on to a different role in the organization. So Tom Brady, you know, he means he's brought them thousands of season tickets. He sold them thousands of jerseys. The Tampa Bay Bucks were a fairly irrelevant professional sports franchise until Tom Brady showed up. So he, he's the man in charge there. You know, it's really interesting.

Belichick older defensive side, Aryan's older offensive side. And they're very different personalities. But in the end, Tom has always had sort of an aspirational view to remain young. I mean, the TB12 brand, youth. It comes in the form of avocado ice cream and not my cup of tea. But it is interesting is what Brady is done with his last two moves. The Belichick departs. and Aryans, could I not argue, Ben? It's like, guys, the league is changing and your dinosaurs. He's kind of saying, I mean, that's what it kind of feels like to me, Ben. I would say Brady has certainly felt empowered the last few years

and has seen how other athletes, certainly in other sports like the NBA and Major League Baseball, how these athletes have really been able to take control of their own careers and their own destinies instead of sitting back and just wherever you get drafted or wherever you have to be, that's, you know, he's no longer just employee number 12. He's a brand and he's a mogul in a sense. And, you know, you look at the NBA where these guys annually, the players are the ones running for agency. And I think you've seen that now coming to the NFL. And Brady, I think, correctly, you know, rightly has been at the forefront of it. Who's bigger and more powerful and deserves to have more of a say at the table than Tom Brady? You know, we saw it a few

years ago with Jimmy Garoppolo here in New England. He kind of went over the coach, went to the owner told him his issues and they got Jimmy Garoppolo traded out of town. Brady made sure that he would reach free agency at the end of his Patriots contract. He don't want the Patriots having any say over his future. He was able to completely detach and then able to choose the best situation for him and go to Tampa. And now I think we're seeing it again where he certainly, I think, had some influence in the decision to have Brouserian step aside and Todd Bowles assume the team. So yeah, I think it is a new day of athlete empowerment, certainly at the top of each sport, and Tom Brady is driving that. I got to ask you a Patriots question, because I often compared Belichick to Greg Popovich,

is their legends perceived as the best coach in their respective sport, but as player empowerment has increased, their wins are decreasing because they fall in love with a system. And I do think systems and ways of doing business stuff. worked even five years ago. It doesn't today. Whereas McVeigh is very pro-player, very pro-culture, you know, willing to pivot literally off players and personnel very rapidly. I look at the Patriots today. They let J.C. Jackson go. Shack Mason was becoming a star offensive lineman. From what we read, Belichick may call plays, there are virtually no stars. It's very much San Antonio with Popovich. He let Kauai just go to Canada. There was some pettiness there. But in the

And he just wanted to coach who he wanted to coach. And I look at Belichick now, and he said that, Ben, like three, four years ago. I want to coach who I want to coach. And I think, well, sometimes you just got to coach guys who were great. Do you see when, and you're in the heart of Patriot fandom, but is there anybody there? I'm sure you would look at it and think, boy, Bill, this is not trending in the right direction. They couldn't force Josh Allen to punt one. time in the last two games. I mean, what, where are they going right now? It's a starless football team.

Yeah, Colin, it's, it's not all rainbows and unicorns for Bill Belichick this offseason. And you'd think a guy who's won six Super Bowls would, would consistently get the benefit of the doubt. But it's been a tough go for him the last couple of years since Brady's left town. Obviously, Brady wins in Tampa Bay. And the Patriots have been okay. They made the playoffs last year. But to your point. They got blown out by Buffalo. They're nowhere close to competing for a Super Bowl right now. And then you look at the, they're not doing anything at free agency this offseason. And then you look at, you know, they lose Josh McDaniels, the coaching staff now. They don't have a single guy on staff who's ever been a quarterback's coach or an offensive coordinator called a play.

You know, they're relying on Joe Judge, who until he was the Giants football head coach was a special teams guy for the Patriots. And Matt Patricia has been a defensive coach and an offensive lineman. And now all of a sudden he might be involved with who. Who knows? I mean, the Patriots obviously aren't very forthcoming with how the operation is going. So to me, Belichick is really just betting on himself. They're not making crazy moves in free agency. You know, Devante Parker was a nice move. I actually kind of like bringing back Malcolm Butler. You know, we'll see how that one unfolds. But they don't have a very experienced coaching staff as far as putting guys around Mack Jones right now. They didn't add players in free agency. And it's really Belichick, to your point saying, with my system, another year together, I've developed these.

guys as good coaches. It doesn't matter what position they've, they're coaching. Mac Jones, he's going to be in his second year. Belichick is really, I think, placing a heavy bet on himself this year that he alone in his system can get the Patriots back to being championship caliber. It doesn't look that way on paper. No. But Belichick's making that bet right now. Yeah, and that's the bet Popovich has made. He's in a playing game. So Ben Volan, Boston Globe, read his stuff. Fascinating article today unveiled about the Brady Dolphins. Sean Payton situation. For the record, in all your reporting,

I think Joy and I said this last week, I think Sean Payton is just sitting in the weeds. This is why, even though he appears to be a very strong broadcasting candidate, nobody's really announced a broadcasting plan for him because Sean deep down knows I needed a year off. The Saints, obviously, we peaked. The broadcasting will pay me some money. I think Peyton's going right back into the league.

And like a Phil Jackson, he's going to cherry pick the organization that has a quarterback, you know, somebody he can ride with. Like if I said last week, I think Brandon Staley's a smart guy. If they don't get to the playoffs again with Justin Herbert, in a Los Angeles market, you may have to make a move there. Any inclination about Sean Payton going forward? Because very rarely do we have a Hall of Fame coach on the market with 10? 10 great years left.

I think you hit it on the nose. You know, Sean Payton, when he stepped down at his going away press conference, even said, yeah, I plan to coach again and maybe pretty soon. And that struck me as odd because rarely in a, you know, stepping down retirement type of press conferences, the guy then admit that he's going to be joining another team in a year or two. But obviously he's meant everything to the Saints. And I think was probably just ready for a new challenge.

And not to mention, as you said, they don't have a quarterback there. And I think we've seen this offseason how hard it can be to land these guys sometimes. So I just don't think he wanted to go through that. And yes, I do think he'll be back soon. And I do think the quarterback will be number one as far as the factor to determine which team he was going to join. And that's why he was going to go to Miami potentially because some guy named Tom Brady was probably going to eventually. I don't know about this year, but eventually Tom Brady was probably going to come out of retirement and quarterback for the Dolphins. You know, when Brady joined the box, he almost joined the Saints.

and Sean Payton then, but Drew Breeze decided to come back for one more year. So they would have connected a couple of years ago, if not for Drew Brie's kind of messing the whole thing. By the way, is Brady to Miami off the table after this year? I can't tell you for sure. To me, the key is, so Brady clearly has to get a pay raise from the Buccaneers. He's on the books for $10 million plus $4 million in incentives. It's the deal of the century.

So they've got to get him a pay raise. If it's just a pay raise and it's no years, you know, obviously he's angry. to get out of Tampa after this year. But if they add extra years to the contract, then I think that's actually a pretty good sign that the Glazer family said, look, as long as you are going to play, we want it to be in a Buccaneers uniform.

So I don't know if the Dolphins thing is still alive. To me, the contract extension or whatever contract Brady does get from the bucks, that will be very telling. Good stuff. Ben Bowling, Boston Globe. Appreciate you stopping by on a busy Monday for you. Thanks, man. All right.

Thanks a lot, Colin. Yeah, this stuff is far-reaching. Yeah, in his story. Sean Payton, Brady was going to go down in Tampa, to New Orleans. And then Drew Breed, remember Drew Breeze was like either way. Drew said, I'm coming back. So he basically Brady considered the Chargers, but he didn't want to move west. He considered the Saints, but Breeze came back.

He considered the dolphins, Giselle, the supermodel wife. It's an international city. They settled on Tampa. He and Aryans kind of turbulent. It worked. but then he tried to quickly jettison that and go to Miami. Now he's back to, so it shows you, Brady's had a lot of different ideas here. Tamp ended up winning, but with Brady, it's never over.

And I do think what Ben just said is what the Glazers are saying is if you're going to play anymore in this league, it's going to be with us. We can pay you more money and do whatever. Now, you can go own somebody else. You're not going to own us, but if you're going to play, you chose us. We chose you. You got to do it here. Joy with the news. No, no, no, no, no.

Turn on the news. This is the herd line news. It also tells you, no matter what kind of propaganda is out there, the dolphins were never in on Tua. So just stop pitching me that. That's right. This year, yes, they're going to go in as they should, and they should have this entire time. But that is never, ever the case. Yeah.

So just stop it. Last week, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver discussed the fact that the trend of stars so our players not playing full seasons is becoming a big problem. And Steve Kerr offered his opinion on the situation. To me, what makes the most sense is cutting back to maybe a 72 game schedule, you know, take 10 games off, get more time to rest in between games. I think you'll get buy-in from the teams to play their guys more often. Silver did say that he feels shortening the schedule might be the long-term solution to the problem,

and they'll look into it when they sit down for the next CBA. I don't anticipate that happening at all. I mean, you're asking owners and billionaires to give up a whole lot of money, and not all of these organizations are created the same or funded the same. So while the well-run organizations that are making a ton of money and have these, you know, high-end owners, they might buy into that. Everyone probably won't. Like, the gate does matter for some of these teams.

but we know the most of the money comes from TV. I agree with your solution. I don't think cutting games is, I mean, that also changes record books, which is, you know, it has a ripple effect when you change the length of a schedule. It's going to affect records and things like that for the NFL by adding another game for whatever you care about it.

It does affect history. I don't think they're going to do that, but I do think your solution of putting in a minimum requirement for the amount of games for these superlatives will really affect how much guys play. Also, Because this is a problem only for the star players. That's right. This isn't something that affects the bulk of the league.

Right. And so my solution is you have to play 85% of your games to be an All-Star, all-N-B-A, scoring title. That stuff matters to players. MVP. No awards. And that means, what do you mean an All-Star? That means if you don't play 85% of the games on the schedule up to the All-Star game,

you don't get a go. Right. It's off your record. And people say, what if you get hurt? Well, you're allowed to get hurt. 85% of the games would allow you to have a twisted ankle and miss four games first half. It would allow a back problem to miss seven games in the second half. I'm not saying you can't miss games.

In fact, I'll give you a couple injuries during the season. Now, if you get hurt for a month, you shouldn't win the MVP anyway. Well, that's why I agree with this plan, because if you compare it to other leagues, for example, the NFL, I could never see the voters giving. And maybe, you know, I can't say it's never happened. I've done the research on this. but I can't imagine that voters tend to give the MVP to players who have missed more than two games. That's right.

Like the amount of statistics you would have to put up to overcome missing that amount of games in the NFL. Yeah. And we know in baseball you have to have a minimum number of bats to win a batting title. Right. So it's not unprecedented this idea. Yeah, no. So I would just ratchet up the number of. And listen, you can say what you want about money and rings.

Players want to be all NBA. They want to be MVP. Well, it also affects their money. Yeah. So there's incentives in their contracts. say, hey, 85% of the games. And now, now what's interesting is this year, Janus didn't get to 85%. Now, again, they just won a championship.

You take an extra night off. But I go back to- But that's the point. You're taking nights off. Yes, I go back to being a small town kid in Grayland, Washington. You go to a Sonics game every three years. The idea of going, and Jack Sickman and Gus Williams or Dennis Johnson weren't available, it's crushing. But also, it doesn't apply to injuries because you would know why I bought these tickets.

Okay, well, they're injured. they're not going to play. So maybe I sell these tickets and we go to a game later in the season when we know they are going to play. You can certainly do that now on the internet. You can sell tickets. But the problem with load management is you don't know when they're not going to play because it's not an injury. It's a rest day. So it's very different. And it doesn't just affect the fans, which obviously I think is the most important part. It also affects the partners. Like you have a national television game and the star is not playing. It affects a lot of different things. I do think it is going to be changed in the next CBA. It's going to be a big part. a contentious talk. Now, how many back, because I was going to say, even if you just went to 76 games, which is only taking six off, but would that eliminate all back

to backs? Because I think what play veteran guys who have, you know, you play how many games you play. I think But it's also the travel. Yeah, I mean, it's all these guys travel. I mean, hockey guys. I agree. I think I don't, that's why I think the percentage of games

that you play is the easiest solution. You're not giving up money in the amount of games. You're not changing, you know, history by the amount of games in the league overall. And it's a solution that would apply only to the stars, which is the only thing that this affects anyway. It doesn't affect role players in the bulk of the league. Right. So Frank Vogel is reportedly out as the coach of the Lakers, and he was asked last night about the report that he is going to be dismissed after their win over the Nuggets. My reaction is, I haven't been told.

And I'm going to enjoy tonight's game, celebrate what these young guys did. in terms of scratching the claw and getting back in this game, getting a W. And we'll deal with tomorrow, tomorrow. There was also a story that Vogel had lost his connection with the players, and players were ignoring the coach's instruction. There was also a story about Russell Westbrook having an issue with Vogel from day one. He didn't like that Vogel was okay with anybody bringing the ball up the courts. Look, we've been talking about Vogel possibly moving on from the team since the beginning of the season.

We thought we didn't know if he'd make the All-Star game. Which I think was the right choice to keep him. But a new coach is not going to change anything that's going on with the Lakers. I mean, you've had six coaches in 11 years. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, Lakers fans. It's not a well-run organization. That's nonsense. If it was any other team other than the Lakers, we wouldn't even talk about them.

Well, and what happens right now in Los Angeles, there are so many good teams in front offices. The Clippers' front office is great. The Rams is great. The Chargers are drafting well. LAFC is amazing. The Dodgers front office is the envy of sports. And now Lincoln Riley at USC. So what you're getting in LLA now in a very distracted market that's always had the sun

and the beach and the mountains and there's a lot to do, they're the really poorly run franchise. You can lose relevance, even as a big brand. Yankee Stadium was empty in the 80s. And that's after dominating the sport for decades. like Yankee Stadium was empty in the 80s with what the NBA charges for tickets. This Laker team now, 11 years, six coaches. One really nice year

and they didn't play home playoff games in that year. It was the pandemic bubble year in Orlando. So you're getting to a point now. I got choices in this city. I got a lot of, and everybody else is winning and potentially if USC turns it around, everybody's winning big. I just don't know why everyone thinks the solution is firing

the coach in the situation. Obviously, the ownership is going to be in place. The front office is taking no ownership over this roster or what went wrong this season, at least not publicly, not from what I'm seeing. Vogel didn't have control over the roster. He didn't have control over the lineup. We talked about this year.

He had to ask permission. He had to get it cleared to take Russell Westbrook out of end-of-game lineups. Oh, good Lord. But it's Vogel's fault. And listen, there's plenty of blame to go around. If you want to do a blame pie, you've got to give some blame to LeBron.

You can't force power moves and then take no responsibility for how it went. Despite how he played this season. Westbrook certainly deserves it. AD was not available. Missed 39 and 36 games back to back years. I mean, they played 21 games together. LeBron, AD, and Westbrook. The oldest roster in NBA history.

But not only the oldest roster, the oldest roster by a mile. Yes. You got six coaches in 11 years. Oh, good. I mean, it's like what is, so Joanne Howard's been mentioned as a possible replacement. Nick Nurse has been mentioned as a possible replacements. Rick Bucher mentioned earlier, Mark Jackson. Mark Jackson was able to do that in an organization with two young developing stars. Also a really good front office. In Steph Curry and Clay Thompson.

Yeah. You can't have a culture change at the head coaching position if you don't change the internal problems with the organization. Yep. So you can bring in whoever you want to. It's all window dressing. Yes. That's why they've gone through so many coaches. Like at one point or another, you have to look internally and see what the issue is. So speaking of that, as the Warriors wrap up their regular season, the status of Steph Curry is still up in the air. And Steve Kerr said they will keep an eye on his progress. It's really up in the air as far as Steph's participation, the rest of the week.

We'll see how it goes the next couple of days. As a week goes on, we'll see where Steph is. But I imagine this will go right down to the wire with, you know, as far as game one is concerned, whether we know his availability or not. He's working his way back from a left foot sprain. He's scheduled to have his next official reevaluation earlier, early this week. The Warriors are in a very unique situation. Draymond's aging, Clay's aging, Steph's aging, and there's more and more injuries for all of them.

Say this all the time. Don't get too romantic about this. Don't fall in love with history. Jordan Poole is a all-star by next year. Jonathan Cumminga is the twitchiest most athletic guy in the roster. You can keep bringing the band back together, but this is my trade option. The Lakers, you take AD from them. You let Clay go to the Lakers and Wiseman, who's driving you nuts.

Give the Lakers a draft pick, Wiseman, Clay. You get A.D., who, by the way, AD, staff, Jordan, Poole, Cominga, Dremont's championship level team. They're in a really interesting situation, and they're very well run. but I mean you can you can see Steph now you don't get a full season Clay not the same player. AD you don't get a full season. You don't know you don't with AD but you're going to have to I mean there's no

perfect trade everybody's getting somebody's baggage but the Warriors are fascinating because they have there's this dynastic thing is done right so now it's like where do we go from here well where you go is Jordan Poole and Jonathan Cominga because they draft well and develop well I'm going to be fascinated to watch them Do they just keep bringing Steph and Clay? You can't get rid of Steph. No, no, you can't get rid of him. After that, I think you have to have really tough conversations upstairs.

What if they get bounced in the first round of the playoffs? You're going to bring it back again? They're not getting younger. They're not, but we've seen organizations fall into this with what's happened before. I know. And the idea that you can get back to that with aging superstars. I don't know if I completely blow it up just yet, but then you might miss your trade window if you don't. And it's really a well, it's unlike the Lakers, the Warriors are really well run.

But, you know, the Chicago Bulls had the right idea when they said, listen, this is the last year with Phil Michael Scottie, because it was getting older. I would have let it run back because they did win the championship. But their idea was, we've gotten six titles out of this thing. Everybody's getting old and expensive. This is it. It was so, the PR by Jerry Krause was so. Oh, yeah, but to your point, they won a championship. So, like, if you get bounced in the first round, you have some leeway to make those aggressive moves.

But what they were, their basic, their macro theory was, we got a lot of titles, it's very expensive, everybody's getting old, we're wearing each other out, we've got to get close to moving. I would have waited another year. But the bull's premise, Jerry Krause was you sell high. Yeah, the idea was on the right track. It just was terrible PR and probably a year too soon. Yeah, Joy with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by.

The herd. By the way, LeBron's talking about his exit interview today. Be sure to catch live editions of The HARD weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific on Fox Sports Radio, FS1, and the IHeard Radio app. I'm George Reister, host of the Reister or Wrong podcast. This is the intersection where sports, business, society, and pop culture meet the truth. Absolute fire on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. Facts only.

you check your feelings at the door because no BS is allowed. We keep it 100. This is where real conversations happen. Listen to the Rice or Wrong podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. So there was a really interesting article over the weekend at the LA Times from Dan Wojke and Broderick Turner about just how bad the Westbrook situation was. And apparently he didn't get along with Vogel and he towed Vogel. only I bring the ball up the floor, even though LeBron's, frankly, much better hands, much better ball handler. They have Malik Mung, plenty of guys.

Even Anthony Davis can bring the ball up the floor. But Westbrook was like, that's not how the games play. I'm the point guard. I bring the ball up the floor. So, you know, it's, listen, Hardin was his friend. He couldn't play with him. Katie was his friend, couldn't play with him. LeBron's his friend, and Westbrook can't play with him.

Like, he can't play well with others. You know, remember when you were a little kid in school, the teacher? you know, doesn't play well with others. That's like Westbrook. You would think at 32 and 33, he'd have some self-awareness, but it just doesn't work. He's very rigid, very stubborn guy. And, you know, I was saying this morning, go look at the last 10 MVP's of this league. Who doesn't fit?

It's a lot of selfless guys. Guys are good at both ends of the floor. Guys that aged well. It's Yokitz and Yannis twice and Hardin and Curry twice and Durant and Jay. And then Westbrook. And selfish, rigid, stubborn, can't shoot, will not age well. I mean, he's 33 years old and he's a shot fighter. Nobody wants his contract, but somebody will take it because it will expire and then open up cap space.

But LeBron James this morning was, you know, they called it exit interview. He was asked about if he could envision playing with Westbrook one more year. I'm not going to see here and make decisions for the front office and things of that nature. but I love being a team member of wrestling. You know, that's just the way it is. Okay. He was also asked why this season did not work out. At the end of the day,

the reason why we were not very good together because we weren't on the damn floor together. That is the number one thing. I don't know. You guys, how many games do we play together? 21 games. That's a fourth of a season. And went 11 and 10.

it doesn't work. Everybody knows it doesn't work. The fact that LeBron struggles with this, it doesn't matter how many games you play together. Like, it just, Westbrook is not a player who can play off the ball. LeBron's a player that needs the ball. So if Westbrook and LeBron play together, Westbrook cannot have the ball in his hands,

and LeBron's not going to sit and watch him maneuver. That's not their games. Your game is your game in basketball. So it's just the fact that they're using this excuse, it's like, no, you play together. A.D. Westbrook, LeBron, played together 21 times. You were 500. Yeah, I just feel like that is, that just kind of sums up the Lakers season. Like, if I was a Lakers fan, that would drive me crazy.

They can't even identify the obvious problems. But just say it. Like, just have some accountability. There's been no accountability from anyone all season long. Whose feelings are you trying to protect? Yeah, I know, no kidding, right? You know, it's, we as fans pay attention to the. athletes. But if you look at the teams in the NFL that are drafting at the top of the draft every year, it's Cleveland, it's increasingly the jets, the Jags, the Lions, it's the same teams.

Now the Giants are one of those. Now the Seahawks are one of those. If you look at the teams drafting at the top with very few exceptions, it's all the worst front offices. It's not always the worst defenses. It's not always the worst coaches. It's not always the worst quarterbacks. It's not always the, it's the worst owners and front offices. Or you have like in Seattle an ownership of some turbulence because Paul Allen passed away a couple years ago. It's not hard to figure this out. You can overcome a lot in the NFL. You cannot overcome a bad front office. You can overcome average quarterback play because if you have a good coach, I mean, listen, Jared Goff's pretty average. They got him to a Super Bowl.

Jimmy Garoppolo, slightly better than average, 33 and like 10 as a quarterback. Like, you can overcome not a great Hall of Fame coach. If the front office is a mess, you're a mess. If ownership is weak, you're in big trouble. Detroit has had Matt Stafford. They've had good coaches. But this is why you always say chase good management. Not money.

Because everything starts at the top. People think, like, oh, go to the bottom, go to the players, go to the coaches, It's all upstairs. It's all upstairs because they set the tone for the rest of the building, no matter what kind of business you're in. This is why Russell Wilson, remember, he had a no trade clause. He chose Denver. Why?

Because, and I know this, I know Russell Wilson well enough. George Payton has a great reputation as a GM. They had drafted and constructed over the last two to three years. A bunch of really good players. They are the Tampa. The Broncos are the Tampa pre-Tom. They're just, they're just, ready for a quarterback.

So, yeah, by the way, Wosje and Chris Haynes are now saying Frank Vogel has officially been fired. Of course, we learned that on the Internet yesterday. Frank Vogel had no idea of it yesterday. Hour three next. Another podcast from some SNL late-night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smigel and friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier.

This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and headwriter, Streeter Seidel, help an a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and friends on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal, but encouraged.

It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's Superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the 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, my basketball and college football, or my career in sports media. Well, now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw,

unfilled conversations with athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. So let's get to it. Listen to The Clifford show on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok podcast network

on TikTok. On the Look Back at a podcast. From 1979, that was a big moment for me. 84 was big to me. I'm Sam Jay And I'm Alex English Each episode We pick a year

unpack what went down And try to make sense of how we survived it With our friends fellow comedians And favorite authors Like Mark Lamont Hill On the 80s

84 was a wild year I don't think There's a more important year for black people Listen to look back at it On the IHeart radio app Apple Podcasts Or wherever you get your podcasts

This is an IHeart podcast Guaranteed Human Thank you.