The Herd with Colin Cowherd - HOUR 3 - NBA rumors

Episode Date: June 22, 2022

More on Kyrie Irving and where he could end up Will Russell Westbrook be a Laker next season? Guest: Dan WoikeSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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If you're a valued customer, you deserve a simple gesture of appreciation. Discover matches all the cashback. You earn any of your first year automatically. Discover.com slash match. Dan Wojke, LA Times, been covering the NBA for a decade. He does great stuff. Clippers totally tied in. It's great to have them in studios, back-to-back studio appearances.

Yes, it's, you know, when no Lakers, no clippers in the playoffs, I've been in town. And you've just been hanging out. Now, let me just say this because you're very well tied into this league. I didn't think the Warriors could bridge the gap between Wiseman Kaminga Moody too young and Steph, Draymond, a little too old, and Draymond. They bridged it. They were great. And now I look at Phoenix and I think, God, they're a mile away. Are you surprised at all?

Or is this just like the New England Patriots, just a little smarter with a selfless star? And this is what, you know, Brady and Steph, they're. not that Steph's taking a lot less, but you have this sort of selfless star, and you're not going to beat them if Steph's available to play. Which gives you the cultural advantages. I think they're an outlier, ultimately. I think one of the hardest things to do in all of sport, right,

is to have multiple goals, and that normally you want to have a direction as an organization, and you want it to be clear, and you want everybody to know exactly where you're going, exactly how you're getting there. I think for the last two years in talking to people, you look at Steph Curry, you look at Clay Thompson,

Traymond Green, and starters that are late prime, you know, mid to late prime. You, I think I expected them to, like, go try to get Bradley Beal. You know,

like they had the pieces. Right. You know, they could make that kind of a trade as good as anybody in the NBA. They had the Andrew Wiggins contract. You mentioned it. James Wiseman,

Moses Moody, Jonathan Cominga, they have young players. They have first round picks. They have their first round picks in the future. They could kind of put that package together. And I kind of always expected them to simplify their plan, but they were able to kind of execute this two-timeline thing.

It's crazy. And it does speak ultimately to how good, you know, the Wiggins deal in hindsight is just wonderful and good on ownership there for taking the luxury bill hit, you know, and paying to key players and stuff like that because they were, they're essentially able to have two rosters. They didn't need Jonathan Cominga, Moses Moody, or James Wiseman to beat the Boston Celtics. But, like, those guys are going to be better. Oh, next year, Camilla's going to get big minutes.

Caminga, Moody, who knows on Wiseman, like, that is a total wild card. Like, they have three guys that could be in their rotation in the next one or two seasons, like significantly in their rotation. And this is, you know, you don't want to put this on Camingo, but it's not wildly dissimilar to how the Spurs slowly integrated Quay Leonard and stuff like that. Like that's kind of, and how you're able to bridge between. Too old, too young. Yeah, that kind of, that middle sort of tier.

And I think most teams in the league struggle with that. We saw the Lakers in LeBron James first year really struggle with that, that you had young guys, older guys, couldn't come together, and there wasn't the patience to kind of meld that out. That's the key. And I think with Golden State, they kind of went through like, you know, they went through hell for two years, came out on the other side of it stronger, and with a bunch of new guys that they could trust, like Jordan Poole.

And it's funny when you look back on the season, I don't know why I was surprised. Yeah. With the power of hindsight, I'm like, oh, this makes sense. Yeah. You know, it is, I have Laker friends in town. So L.A. is a Clipper, Laker, or Warrior Town. There's a lot of San Francisco transplants down here.

And I tell the Lakers is great, creates clarity. Look at the Warriors. The Lakers have as rich an owner, as good a GM, as good a coach, as good a bench, as good a young players, as many draft picks, as good as stars. No, no, no, no, no. They have LeBron, who's still great if you can get him to 60, 65 games a year. So, and I look at LeBron, and I've always said there's three stages for great players. There's a showoff stage.

There is the, I'm great, Anthony Edwards in that. I'll be a little selfish, but I'm going to show you. I'm going to chase guys down. I'm going to have thunderous dunks. Then there's the, okay, I don't win some titles and validate my greatness. And then there is the, at the end, the mogul stage. Michael goes to the Wizards. LeBron goes to L.A.

You'd like to win there. But I do look at LeBron and I'm like, he's really smart. he's got smart representation clutch sports they don't have anything the Warriors have they don't have reliable players and I think don't they wouldn't LeBron initiate this upstairs

and just say take a big swing on something I think you know and as we transition talking maybe about Kyrie or something like that I think what's interesting about LeBron is you know you do get the sense that he wants to sort of age into a more

I'm comfortable with whatever's around me I can go, you know, executive produce hustle and I can go to those premieres and like do my Spring Hill stuff and I can be good with that. He told us at the start of last season, he's like, I'm going to be patient. You know, like, I promise, like it was like he made a vow to us that I will be patient with this process. I know that we're going to take lumps, you know, with Russell and with AD and getting everybody together.

I don't think he handled that very patiently. I think he tried. And I think he found that, no, that is not for him. Well, especially he's still great. Yeah. That, you know, the level he was playing at and then it wasn't resulting in wins and then it wasn't resulting in contention, I think burned. So yeah, I think there is a, and this is what's so interesting about the Lakers and sort of their kind of current real estate in the NBA is that you look at the most important player on the team is LeBron, right? He's getting ready to enter his 20th season, you know, like late career.

So it is like you don't want to be making decisions, generally speaking. and people that are going to be gone moderately soon, right? Like, whether it's two seasons, three seasons, whatever. That being said, he's the most win now player at the most win now time in his career. It's never been more about right now because you have a guy so late. So, yeah, I mean, when it comes to a guy like Kyrie Irving, there's tremendous risk, obviously. But to me, of the options... So you're on board with my AD for Kyrie.

I mean, there could be other parts. So I don't think, I don't, honestly, I still think that the cleanest way to do this is as you package you, you package your two first round picks with Russell Westbrook and you work some sort of three-team deal. I think that is the cleanest way to do. For the Lakers. Yes. And I think that you move forwards with a Anthony Davis, LeBron James, Kyrie Irving, sort of trio. And that all makes basketball sense in as clean a way as any big three, right? Like, I mean, guard, wing.

big. It's not where LeBron and Dwayne Wade had to kind of learn how to play off of each other where James Harden and Kyrie Irving, Kevin Durant all kind of do very similar things like this makes sense. And I think that should be the goal.

To me that's the cleanest way. I think the best version of the Lakers Collins still involves Anthony Davis at 70 games being in the top five of MVP voting. That's what has to happen. And I think, even with LeBron and season 20 alongside Kyrie Irving, I don't think that's a good enough core, to be totally honest.

I think you still need AD. Yeah, I mean, listen, if I could get Westbrook out the door and give up picks, I've never thought picks matter for the Yankees or the Lakers. There are brands that have glamour advantages, coastal advantages, financial advantages, or, I mean, the Lakers have had a history of just guys want to play there. To Devils Advocate that argument, though, the tricky part with the 27 and 29 picks is that it's not so much that there's like a 10-year-old out there right now that you're like, this is going to be our guy.

It's that the next time that there is a disgruntled star that wants to come to L.A., whoever that very well may be. Let's just, let's say L.A. It's going to cost picks to get them. Like you're going to have to have a package and you want to be ready and you want to be nimble enough to kind of pivot to that in 2026. or something like that or whenever that may be. And I think that's the issue is as the Lakers have, you know, kind of dug all in at first with Anthony Davis and now sort of with Russell Westbrook,

how much digging out of that whole, like you've got to make sure you get all the way out. Because if you're still kind of stuck in it, it's going to have reverberations, you know, for six, seven years of basketball. And now it's not just the end of LeBron's prime. It's Anthony Davis is prime, too. You know, we were saying it's hard in sports to tell great from very good, very good from good. You know, Jason Tatum's the example I use. He's something. He's good plus or very good or superstar minus, but he's in that space.

You know, I look at Boston going forward and nobody outside of Boston maybe cares about the Celtics. But if you look at Janus and Middleton and that organization, they're going to just keep getting better, I think. Yeah. I really do. is that it's kind of the age-old question. If do you break up very good, the Celtics are very good, they don't get through Milwaukee with Middleton. Miami-Lands Bradley Beale with that culture and coaching, good luck.

They took them seven without a pure score outside of Jimmy Butler. Boston's fascinating because they're very good. Sacramento Kings were very good for a long time. The Utah Jazz were very good for a decade. Very good doesn't win titles. I do not think the Celtics have an elite. ball handler. I don't think they have the confidence of a champion. I don't trust Robert Williams knee. They don't have an initiator of offense, like a Kemba whose knees

went south. We have a history that very good does not win championships. So I think that if you're Boston, what you're trying to figure out, so I was in Boston for game six and you know, left that game being like, man, they needed more from Jason Tatum, right? But to me, when I was watching was a very tired player. That's what I saw. He played a lot of games. was a guy who was just worn out and was like, you know, to the, to the, to your point as to like, where is he sort of on his career arc? I think the best case scenario is you look back on this, sort of like you look back at LeBron James's first finals, which were rocky with Cleveland. Like, if you look at the stats, they are not good.

I think you saw a player learning the, the mental physical toll of carrying a team, you know, is like if you are going to be the guy in these, you know, playoff minutes, you talk to NBA players, they'll tell you, playoff minutes count like, double or triple. No question. Like the amount of, the amount of like locked in you have to be, you can't,

if you're in a defensive stance, you can't pick up, you've got to stay low. Like you can't blink. And that requires a lot. It requires even more of your best players. And I think we saw a toll of that kind of cumulatively,

I'm sorry, cumulatively over the course of the playoffs with Jason Tatum. So is this, if this was the experience where he learns what it's going to take to be a superstar, great. You know, like, they will learn from this. They're young.

They've got two-way guys everywhere you look. You watch them play in the playoffs. You're like, man, offensive, defensive players. Are they perfect by no stretch? You know, like they don't have a initiate the offense, traditional point card. But they've got guys like Jalen Brown. They've got guys like you would think the turnovers were what they were.

But Jason Tatum's playmaking, I think, has been improving kind of as he's gotten more maturendly. They've got guys. And so to me, I think the safer bet, and most of these organizations are risk-adverse, the safer bet is just to kind of hope that these young players will continue to get better because that's generally what happens. And this group has been through a ton already. And I think they'll come out of this stronger.

One more herd? The herd streams 24 hours a day, seven days a week within the I-Heart 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'll say. Yep, that's me. Cliver Taylor the fourth.

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-tapped 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 Jett. And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we picket 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 y'all know. I mean, at this point, Mark, this is the second episode where we've discussed crack. 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 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 Hard Way 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 hard way. Open your free, our heart radio app. Search learn the hard way and listen now. Search heard to listen live or on demand whenever you'd like. The team I really overvalued, as Joey knows, is the Clippers. I like a lot of their pieces. Kauai, Paul George, Terrence Mant.

Reggie Jackson sometimes thinks he's like the baseball Reggie Jackson. He thinks he's better than probably is, but that's okay. People send him baseballs to get autographed by that. It's a true story. Well, he plays with so much confidence. I'm like, dude, if you could give Jason Tate, I'm like a little bit of that. But there's a lot of things I like about that. And I really do believe they could go into the Kyrie sweepstakes

because he's so poor defensively, they have rim support and wing support. But my dark horse is not Dallas. I think they're Christian Woods a port offender, Luke is a port offender, Jalen Bronson small. I think the clippers between Balmer's passion, Kauai now really an entire year and a half. He's like a red shirt. I thought Paul George was for a month.

year. Awesome. Unbelievable. Top two player in the league for about a month. Terrence, man, I think, Reggie Jackson. What is your projection for the Clippers going forward?

Dan, do you project a big move? They stay pat. What do you project? So, obviously, I think when a player is as good as Kyrie Irving, if that player is on the market,

if that player expresses some interest in coming to your team, it's on you to do a little diligence, right? Like, he is good enough for you to sort of assess. the situation. Whereas I think for the Lakers, it makes total sense or the Knicks to take on that risk. It makes tremendous sense because those teams aren't on the doorstep. And they need a score. They need a player like that. I don't know that the Clippers do. Actually, I'm pretty sure they

don't. To be totally honest, I think, you know, I look at that team and I see there may be some need for an upgrade of point guard. That's what I think. Is that guy Malcolm Brogden? I don't like when they initiate offense with Kauai. It feels it's unnatural. It is a little unnatural. It is a little unnatural. And they end up putting a lot on Paul George as a playmaker. So I think addressing that somehow would be important.

But I look at an organization that, to your point, right? Like we were talking about the Warriors, you've got an owner who's willing to spend. You have a top-tier head coach in Ty Ronlu. And you have talent. It's just a matter of seeing it, right? Like on the court, a lot of it is imaginary at this point. We've only barely seen the Clippers. We saw them for a blink, it feels like, against the Utah Jazz.

Right. You know, in the playoffs, which feels like an eternity ago. Yeah. But otherwise, it's a lot of this is just projection. And I think, you know, when I talk to my sources with the Clippers, like, I mean, they feel really good about where they're at. Oh, I love their roster. They've got depth. They've got chemistry.

They've got an identity. We started with this, like, knowing who you are. Like, they know who they are. And I don't think that they need to disrupt that. I think what they need to do is august. minute. And I think so maybe a little bit more conservative. They do have the pieces, though, if come the deadline, they need to do something drastic. They're set up to make a move. They've got the right contracts. They've got the right kind of role players and contributors that you could

piece together any number of them and you could be competitive in a lot of trade talks. Okay. We're going to play the game short sentence. I'll ask you a question and you give me a short sentence as a writer. It's one of my wife's favorite games with me. Yeah. Really? She likes this one. All right. I usually lose. Start season is Russell Westbrook a Laker? No. Oh, that's delicious. Start of the season is Kyrie Irving and Nat?

No. Time out. We're going to play a new game. Host gets to deliberate on answers from Ryder. Let's go back to Westbrook. What happens? I think he gets moved with those picks somewhere. Two picks and Russell for.

Something. Whether it is role players, whether it is for Kyrie, I think that there is too much incentive to try and do that now. But I don't feel great about it. All right. Who knows? They're the most who knows team, Colin. Like the Lakers are in such a weird position. It's very hard for me.

LeBron would have led the league in scoring had he played two more games. I saw a stat. It's jumbled up. it was like he led the NBA in two-point attempt field goal percentage. He's still a remarkable player. And unlike other old guys in year 19, maybe Karim's the exception, he can still defend. Adding to his game to the step-back three-pointer and stuff like that for sure. Like LeBron is just too good.

It'd be one thing if he was holding on. It's like Brady at this point is still an MVP candidate. If you have time, Brady, you've got to play around him to win for sure. And so to me, like this idea that LeBron is going to be like, I don't know. I watched LeBron. He breaks down even the best defenders in the league and gets to the basket. In a non-hand check league, there's about, I'm not sure there's a guy in the league, including the Jason Tatum's and Kauai's that can stay in front of him.

So, like, LeBron's sitting there, he can, I think I would map out 66 games. I'd say, I want you to play 66, no back-to-backs. That's the thing, right? I think that's the thing, right? He needs to embrace load management in a way that he's never embraced it. But I think ultimately, and this is true for the Lakers today, it was true, honestly, for them three years ago. If Anthony Davis and LeBron James are both healthy

and are both productive, they're going to be really good. Like, those guys are really, really good. Like, top seven players, like, really good. And what around them now is kind of, is it enough to put the thumb on the scale? And that's, I think, you know, the Westbrook situation, we've seen that, I think, enough, that what Russell does well doesn't add

to what LeBron and AD do. So moving him for guys that do and sacrificing 27-29 would be worth it, but getting healthy LeBron and healthy Anthony Davis, especially after the last two years, is a risk and it's a gamble. And when you start trading picks that are five, seven years out, like, that's a gamble. So here's my, you know, so Joy is not a believer in picks. She's like, don't hoard picks. I like NFL picks, but I'll say this about NBA picks.

This is a great example. Chet Holmgren for Gonzaga. Yeah. He's four years away. If he works, he's four years away from being an all-star. That's Ingram. That's Janus. That's what young guys are.

They're four years because they come out at 19 years old. He's 19. So it's not a 27 pick. He won't hit till 2031 if he's a hit. That is a century in Los Angeles. I mean, you have 10 new industries. So to me, in the NBA with the Lakers, it's not giving away a 27 pick.

It's giving away a 2031. productive NBA All-Star potentially. But had, I mean, we can look to recent history at the Lakers, but had the Lakers looked at Lake Career Kobe Bryant and said, we want to augment you with Lamarcus Aldridge, with, you know, kind of, and I don't mean to catch strays for Lamarcus Aldridge,

like kind of all NBA third team type players, right? Like those kinds of guys. And they had forfeited future draft picks for it. They wouldn't have had the ammunition to get Anthony Davis. Because that's Lonzo Ball, Brandon Ingram, Josh Hart. Like those are all. And so to me, that's the tricky part.

Back to this Warriors thing is, like, are the Lakers thinking about the next five months, or are they thinking about the next five years? And that's a really, really hard decision to make, not only in this town, just in general, but when you have maybe the greatest player ever, and he's late in his career. You could just go to LeBron. It's hard. It's tough. You could go to LeBron and say, we're going to move Westbrook at the All-Star break, stomach it,

then we'll have salary. You could do that as well and not have to give up picks. Okay, do I go to a break or do you guys, let me take a break here. And Herdline News is next. Dan Wojke, L.A. Times, great stuff. Commercial time. It's The Herd. 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. 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 Alibe on the I heart radio app Apple podcast 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'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 what I'll say. Yep, that's me. Clipper Taylor, the podcast. forth. 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-tapped 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. 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 on day, but just so y'all know. I mean, at this point, Mark, this is the second episode where we've discussed crack. 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 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 Hard Way 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 hard way. Open your free, our heart radio app. Search learn the hard way and listen now. Dollar Shave Club Six Blade Razor. Get it at Dollar Shaveclub.com or in stores. Swift hair removal, six blades, stainless steel. Joy Taylor with the news.

No, no, no, no, no. Turn on the news. This is the herd line news. This NBA offseason is already getting interesting. Well, I mean, he's not hyperbolic on this stuff. He thinks Westbrook's gone, which it just doesn't work. It doesn't work. Kyrie thing. I don't think they need more scoring. I think they need size and defense.

And there's a lot of players out there, a lot of Malcolm Brogden's. Like, you know he would make a team better. There's a lot of guys in this league. When you watch the role players join the finals, and you're like, you got to have role players. Like, they're really, really important. You could argue was the difference. The bench and the turnovers for the Celtics. In the last two games in the finals was all Warriors. Yes. So Kyrie Irving has one year left on his contract and can opt out. It's been reported that he and the Nets are an impasse over his contract extension. And the Lakers appeared to be one of the big suitors for Kyrie if he were asked to be traded in the coming weeks. According to Brian Winhorse of ESPN, the Nets would only send

Kyrie to L.A. if they got Anthony Davis in return, which makes sense. Why wouldn't you want Anthony Davis? You'd have to give them something. However, Winhorst said that he doesn't see this happening for the Lakers this offseason. New Lakers head coach Darwin Ham said he sees AD as being the key to the Lakers success next season. And it would certainly be a downgrade for them on the defensive end to swap for Kyrie. If you could give up Westbrook and two firsts for Kyrie, it's hard to say no to that. I don't know why the Nets would do that. Why would the Nets do that? Well, because they're just going to eat the Westbrook deal, get rid of them at the trade deadline, and they have another piece.

Because Westbrook doesn't give them what they want either. What they need is size. Karee fits basketball wise. Like, LeBron, AD, and Kyrie are interesting. I think it works. It's an elite team if they're healthy.

Yes, there's enough defense in other places. LeBron will still play defense when he needs to. Anthony Davis is obviously an elite defensive player. But when we talk about AD and Kyrie for different reasons, some overlap with the health factor, but you speak about them in the abstracts. Like we were assuming they're going to be available in there. You have to consider that.

You just have to consider Andy Davis probably won't be healthy. Right. And Kyrie at some point will decide he doesn't want to play basketball. I know. It's crazy. Like you have, you just, there's too much evidence at this point if you ignore that, just going off of what you saw from Kyrie this year, which was spectacular, but it was 29 games. He had plenty of rest.

He didn't play in most of the season by choice. And the by choice part is what's important because it's not like he's coming off of an injury. Yeah. KD and LeBron. the end of their careers are now surrounded by guys who have marginal interest in the sport and are never there. Simmons, Kyrie, Anthony Davis. It's just like as passionate as LeBron and KD have been, what they should never be surrounded by is guys who like basketball or are sometimes available. Like that's what, like Brady went to Tampa and Brady knew it's a young team. Young players get hurt

less. Like those guys, Chris Godwin got banged up, but like Brady knew, I'm aging. This is a young football team. Young teams stay healthier. I feel like AD and Kyrie both rely on their talent. They rely on their talent. They're not completely dedicated to the sport, which everyone doesn't have to be. That's not a requirement.

But I agree with you when you're in a situation like LeBron James, which is absolutely when now and Kevin Durant, who we want to see be able to be at the top of the NBA for a long time still, it's frustrating. So the Hornets have narrowed down their search to two candidates. They offered the job that Kenny Atkinson, who turned it down, and now they've turned their attention to Mike Dantonie. Always up for a job. Well, yes.

Now, I mean, he's been coaching for 16 years as a head coach, overall record of 672 and 527, so 56% winning percentage. His last coaching position was with the Rockets, and he was assistant coach with the Nets in 2021, and obviously known for getting the most out of Steve Nash and Phoenix and James Harden in Houston, but he's never won an NBA title, though he's had 10 total playoff appearance in three finals, three conference finals births. But if you're going to not get Kenny Atkinson, this does kind of make sense. You have lamello ball there as a young team. He is

capable of getting the most out of your offense. Now they're not going to play any defense, but, you know, that is Dan Tony's style to play that fast three-point shooting, you know, high-volume offense type of play. And look, they got turned down by Atkinson. It's obviously the negotiations didn't go well. So I don't hate Dan Tony for this situation. I don't want to see Lamar Ball's, that Lamello Ball's future gets squandered in any way, but I don't know that he would hurt the development of Lamello in this situation.

So the Steelers drafted Kenny Pickett with the 20th overall pick, and Chase Claypool, on top of saying that he is a top three-wide receiver in the league, also gave his opinion of their rookie quarterback on the I. I am athlete podcast. He looks good. He's mobile. He's faster than people think. So that's going to be new for us.

And I think it's going to create plays. You see, like, so many of Jamar's plays and T's plays are from Joe leaving the pocket making plays happen. And, you know, we're young. We're versatile. We're dynamic. So he's going to add to that. He's talking about Joe Burrow. Hmm.

I am. LaShawn McCoy also said he didn't see a difference between Joe Burrow and Kenny Pickett. Oh, boy. That's not true. Yeah, that's just not. I love it. It's not true. Is Lechon over there?

Yeah. I love it. Keep speaking that into existence, Lechon. Love that. Joe Burrow and Kenny Pickett, the same. I got my doubts on that. I will say this about Kenny Pickett. They're both athletic.

They both move pretty well. Here's what gives me optimism about Kenny Pickett. The Steelers drafted him. What does that mean? No team in the league knows more about Kenny Pickett than the Steelers. So if they were willing to make that move this year, because they didn't have to, they had Mitchell Trubisky, was a perfectly capable bridge quarterback. then they must see the potential in him to be able to compete at a high level in this league.

That's what I believe. If another team had taken Kenny Pickett other than the Steelers, I don't know that I would be so optimistic about him. He played for Pitt. He played in that building. No one knows more about him than the Pittsburgh Steelers. Now, I like Mitchell Chubisky. I don't know who's going to win the starting job.

I would go with Pickett if it's even, just because he's younger and I'd rather him get reps. But this division is going to be very interesting this year. I don't think the Browns are going to be competitive. at all. I'm with you. I think the Deshaun Watson situation has completely eliminated them from any type of contention. I think the Ravens are going to be a big problem. Everyone forgot about the Ravens last year because they had so many injuries. They're going to be back healthy. There's no telling if Lamar Jackson's going to have his deal done. So he's going to be playing with something to

prove. And the Bengals are coming back improved off of a Super Bowl loss. So Steelers are always competitive. Mike Tomlin's never out of losing season. They have a great defense. I think it'll be something there. Very optimistic about the Steelers. Joe Burrow, can he pick it the same. Well, I think I'm not as optimistic. I've really fallen into this thing is I, outside of Sean McDermott, I don't trust these defensive head coach teams. I just don't.

I really, it's not that. And I love Mike Vrable, but I'm taking Frank Wright and Matt Ryan this year to win the division. I don't know. Yeah. I mean, well, we were wrong about the Titans taking a step back. Were we wrong? Because they got smoked. So were we wrong about the Titans?

No, they were a number one seed, so I was wrong. But I will say. I feel like we get an out because they got smoked. Outside of Sean McDermott, I have an offensive coach. No, now because Bowles coach is Tom Brady. But that was a Bruce Ariens offense and a Brady offense, so I feel like it's almost an offensive team. But I am literally best quarterback offensive coach is winning every division I've picked so far

and most of my wild card picks. Yeah. Like my shock of the year is going to be the Vikings. They have a new offensive coach. I mean, that's my kind of like... Do you think the Chargers make the playoffs this year? I don't know. And that's my question. A defensive young coach.

It's outside of McDermott, and I think I like Sean, but let's be honest. It's about Josh Allen. You don't win in anything if he's got Ryan Fitzpatrick there. So that's kind of my question on all that. Joy with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The Herd Live News.

The other thing is usually if you lose the Super Bowl, NFL history tells you, you go into a little bit of an abyss, like Atlanta, Seattle, you know, you kind of trend down. I don't feel that with Cincinnati because Cleveland's a mess in their division. Pittsburgh doesn't have what they want. And Baltimore is like receiver deprived. And I think they're just going to, as this game changes between T. Higgins, Jamar Chase, Joe Burrow, Joe Mixing, their tight ends. I just think they're going to just outscore people. And I think you can win divisions now outscoring people.

Well, they also improve their offensive line. Significantly. So I think Cincinnati is going to be the rare. Lost to Super Bowl gets better. And it doesn't happen. We know half the teams that made the playoffs won't. We know that. We know seven, eight coaches will get fired. And the Super Bowl loser erodes.

I think Cincinnati is a total outlier based largely on how the game is pivoting significantly to an offensive side. All right, Nick Wright, Dan Wojke, Bruce Pearl was fantastic as well today. So great to have him. on the show NBA draft tomorrow cannot wait for that Chet Holmgren somebody's getting them speak for yourself around the corner on a Wednesday live in Los Angeles it's the hurt

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Clifford Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, my basketball and college football journey, or my career in sports media. Well, now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifers Show. This is a place for raw,

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