The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Kobe Bryant, Lakers, Kyler Murray, and the NFL draft

Episode Date: April 12, 2019

Colin gives his reasons why Kobe Bryant may become the Los Angeles Lakers new President, why Lakers HC Luke Walton may go to the Sacramento Kings, more on QB  Kyler Murray possibly going to the Arizona Cardinals, and more on the NFL draft. Guests include Sam Amick, Chris Broussard, Rob Parker, and Will Blackmon. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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This is the herd. Wherever you may be and however you may be listening. IHeart Radio, Fox Sports Radio, and FS1. Joy Taylor is joining me today. We have had a crazy wild week. Whoa. What do you mean? What happens?

Nuddy. I'm so calm here in Los Angeles. Zany. You know, Joy, I like theories. Yes, you do. And some are right, some are wrong. I'm not paralyzed by being wrong. I like to think about stuff.

Throw it out there, see what you think. Lakers now need somebody to run the franchise. And Rob Polinka is currently in house, but this is a big franchise. And a lot of people wonder, is he big enough to land-free agents, big enough to be seen as the face of the franchise? Jeannie Bus worries about that. A lot of people upstairs worry about that. He's smart enough, but it's more than that to be the president. And Bill Orum, who writes for the Athletic, came on the other day, and he said this about

who could end up leading the franchise. Angst about the way things ended with LeBron. Obviously, left the Lakers in the prime of his career. There are two circles there that I think he could close kind of in this final chapter of his career. If you're Jeannie Bus, he would check two boxes. One, he has seasoned, he has shown he can do the job. He is admired. He's a Hall of Famer.

And he also does check the box of Jeannie Values, which is being a good. a member of the Lakers family. Okay. He's talking about Pat Riley. And I said, Phil Jackson, Jerry West, Pat Riley, let's not live our life through the rear-view mirror.

Those guys are way... I mean, you look in your rear-view mirror with those guys, you can barely make them out. I want to throw out Kobe Bryant. He's not really in the rear-view mirror. If he is, he's in the back seat of the car. He's really close to be in the front seat of the car.

I want to throw a couple things. things at you and I want you to think about. To be a star in the NBA ego matters. Guys keep score. Michael Jordan's Hall of Fame speech. Guys get petty. They keep score. All of them.

The good guys, the bad guys. Dr. Jay, current, they keep score. Kobe keeps score. Magic is the most popular Laker in Los Angeles. Kobe is second. But if Kobe replaces the apparently incompetent face of the franchise Lakers and succeeds. Oh, Kobe's Gravitas grows over Magic in this city.

Mm-hmm. Kobe is uniquely built to run a franchise. Unlike Magic, Kobe's a grinder and always has been. He's not into Hollywood projects. He can do them and succeed, but if he cared about Hollywood like LeBron does, then he'd live up near Hollywood. Kobe lives an hour and a half south.

His entire career, he had no interest in getting all connected to Hollywood. he's not into it that's not who he is he's he can do it but he's not immersed in it magic's done a couple of hollywood things he's not immersed in it he's built for international scouting his coby grew up in italy speaks multiple languages revered in europe also uh turkish airline's been the spokesman he's revered internationally he sold more shoes in china than yow ming i'm not joking Kobe is a global figure. He sold shoes everywhere. Grew up in Italy.

Knows the foreign game. Knows the European game. And whereas Magic is somebody I grew up idolizing, the current free agents, guys available, Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, Kauai Leonard, they didn't grow up idolizing magic. They grew up idolizing Kobe Bryant as Rick Buecker

on the show yesterday, pointed out. You and I remember magic as the legendary player. Players in the league today think of them as a part owner of the Dodgers and movie theaters and business executive and look at what he did post career. He's not beholden to them. And now the big elephant in the room, LeBron James. Jeannie Bus owns the Lakers.

and is concerned this is no great secret of handing the franchise over to Clutch Sports and LeBron James. If they sign Anthony Davis, Anthony Davis, LeBron, two biggest stars, clutch sports, she's handed the franchise to LeBron. What is LeBron James' worst nightmare? Kobe Bryant is his boss with the power to trade LeBron, with the power in Los Angeles, much more popular, to show. shrink LeBron. Kobe Bryant idolized by Kauai Leonard. Jeannie Bus is also deeply concerned about the clippers getting Kauai over the Lakers. Who was Kauai's favorite player growing up? It was not magic. Kobe Bryant takes the job. His best friend, it should be noted. Kobe's best friend is Rob Polinka, who would stick around if Kobe got the job. Think about. Think about.

this. He's built to do this. Kobe's too smart to be hanging around doing silly Hollywood projects for the next 20 years. He's a complete and utter grinder. He's not in the rearview mirror like Riley, Phil Jackson, Jerry West. He's in the back seat. You can see him in the rear view mirror, but he can get right out of the car and take over the wheel. He's smart. He's built for international scouting. This is the best free agent summer or tied for the best in a decade. he'd have his right-hand man Rob Polinka and he's family. And Jeannie Bus is very and should be concerned about handing the franchise over to LeBron Clutch Sports and Anthony Davis. And how do you keep LeBron in line?

Kobe walks in already more powerful with the opportunity to move him. I think it's real. Kyrie Irving and Kobe have a real relationship. Kauai Leonard and Kobe, it's a real thing. I think it's real. I think it needs to be discussed. I don't think this is crazy. I'm not a rear-view mirror guy.

I always say, come on, use the windshield. Kobe, look at him. He looks young. He thinks young. He's a grinder. International connection. By the way, I was told Jerry West, who's now in the clipper team, loved competing against magic. Loved it.

Stole Zubach from him. Kobe Bryant. knows what Jerry West knows what Kobe's about. Kobe's about work. You're not throwing any 78 mile an hour off speed pitches past Kobe Bryant. You think it's nuts, don't you? I know what you do. If Kobe even has an inkling to ever do this,

it is the perfect time. He can replace magic, who was a disaster. He'll have power over LeBron. Don't kid yourself, it matters. It's a great free agent summer and his best friends already in the building. And by the way, Jeannie Bus, it should be noted, already chose Kobe over Magic. Because one of the reasons Magic left is because Jeannie would not let him fire both Luke Walton and Rob Polenka. So Jeannie already chose Kobe's opinion over magics.

I'm going to tell you something. If Kobe took this team over and had power over LeBron, they should create an NBA hard knocks. Lakers should be the first team on it. I want to be in the building. I'm throwing it out there. I'm not saying it's right. You start connecting all these dots.

I mean, Kobe has kind of ascended over the past year. He's now like the golden mamba. He's the untouchable Laker right now. Be a real easy thing. When you enter a job, the entry points really, really important in entering a job. Okay, you don't want to replace Howard Stern or, I mean, you don't want to replace Bill Belichick in New England. You don't want to replace, you know, Joe Torrey with the Yankees. Well, weirdly, it would seem like he is because he would be replacing magic.

Who was a mess. It didn't worry. It was a mess. So it's the perfect entry. I mean, wouldn't you argue that the guy that you trail in Gravitas in the city, magic completely whiffed. I mean, he did get LeBron. Even if LeBron wanted to come here,

he was responsible for putting that together. I'm not saying that, but LeBron is not embraced by Laker Nation right now. They want his autograph and a selfie, but if you moved him and got picks in a player, Land, Kauai and Kyrie, I just would be careful to, obviously this did not end well,

but I would be careful to just write off this entire season as a disaster. To me, the Genesis of all of the Lakers issues, everything that's going on right now was injuries. But Lonzo Ball can't stay healthy. Brandon Ingram now has a blood issue. Those aren't going away. Those guys are not really viable trade assets.

And by the way, LeBron's old had his first injury. I'm not disagreeing. But this idea that next year everybody will just be healthy. No, no, I don't think, no, there's a lot that has to happen next year for this to turn around. I'm just saying entry point being what it is, you all. are replacing a Lakers legend who is still loved, although not in the best state with the team right now considering how things have gone.

We should mention this. But you do have to fix everything, too. Right. And I think Kobe has a much greater chance to land free agents and fix it. As I said, entry point is really important. You don't want to replace Jerry West when he left or Pat Riley when he left. You know, it's like whoever has to replace Pat Riley with a Miami heat, good luck, or Sabin in Alabama.

but replacing somebody that came in and it looks like the job's tougher than they thought and it just happens to be in the city of Los Angeles, the only basketball player that's currently living more popular than you. And let me just throw this out there. This idea that Kobe's, I hear this. Oh, Kobe's not interested. Oh, really? So then why is he constantly in communication with Rob Polinka?

Why isn't he out, you know, playing golf and drinking coronas in Newport and doing hot? because Kobe's still into it. Kobe knows the NBA, loves the NBA, knows personnel. You think I'm crazy. You just write this off. Uncle Crazy Uncle Colin.

I don't think it's nuts. I do think Kobe also has the, what's called edge that you need to make the tough decisions that Magic did not want to do. So just their personalities alone, Kobe is a better fit for this. Wouldn't you, I mean, you and I know this.

If you're thin skin, this is a bad business to be in. Right, right, right. Like, you have to have the right sister would not do this job well. She didn't like all that pushback. You maybe have somebody in your family. There are certain personalities built for certain jobs.

Like, you've got to be a good arguer to be an attorney. If you don't like conflict, don't be an attorney. If you don't like blood, don't be a surgeon. If you don't have a little, you know what in you, don't be an NBA president or a GM because you're going to get ripped by everybody. And you got, and Magic didn't like that. Well, not even getting ripped.

you also have to make tough decisions. You have to cut people. You have to trade people. You have to be able to... A little killer. Right. A little killer. But also, well, you know, it's the Black Mamba.

Like, you have to have that in you while also being able to maintain relationships, which is a very hard, tightrope to walk. All right. So go ahead. Fire away. I'm crazy. I'm nutty. I'm just saying it, I could actually endorse this.

And I'm not for star players. Let's not pretend an all star players are disaster. Isaiah Thomas did some stuff with the Raptors. If you go back and look at his Raptor career, Isaiah Thomas did a lot of smart stuff. Larry Bird had success doing things in Indiana. So don't tell me that players can't succeed. We've had players in front offices and sports that have done a really, really good job.

I don't think him being a player has anything to do with him not being able to be successful in this position. If anything, it makes you more qualified. You've spent your entire life around the game. You have relationships that you could not pay for. I never thought Magic or Barclay or Clyde Drex's. are built for post-basketball front office work. It's not their personality. They'd like to have fun.

They're big personality. Kobe's a grinder. Kobe goes home and he's sitting there. I don't know Kobe that well, but I know enough people that do know him. Kobe's all business. Kobe's too smart to worry about goofy Hollywood projects for the next 30 years.

Really, if they're going to keep Polinka, it's kind of the only thing that makes sense because to me, if you're going to start over and you're going to get an up-and-comer, you really can't have Palinca in that position. You know, I'm going to retract something. This is not even a crazy idea. It's the only reasonable idea.

If you're going to hang on to Palincan and Wallach? Otherwise, what's the alternative? Hire David Griffin, hi, Thai, Lou, get Anthony Davis. Here's LeBron. It's the Cavs West. Do you want to give your franchise? Listen, you can do that. Well, that did work for one year.

You can do it. But I think Jeannie Bus, when I hear, Jeannie's got real reservations about just making it Cleveland West. That's what I hear. All right. Okay. Coming up next, Kyrie Irving, just want you to think about something. Just want you to think about something. Because the playoffs start tomorrow, Kyrie this weekend. I like Boston to win the East. I've told you that.

Nobody else does. They all like Milwaukee. They all like Toronto. They all like Philly. I like Boston to win the East. Kyrie Irving, something to think about that NFL quarterbacks have figured out NBA stars are struggling to. That's coming up. 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. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind. Highlights are trending, opinions are flying, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened.

That's where sports slice comes in. I'm Timbo. Every episode, we're cutting through the noise, breaking down the plays, the controversies, and the stories behind the headlines. We go straight to the source, the athlete themselves. Their locker room stories, their reactions, the stuff nobody gets to hear. The laughs, the drama, the triumphs, the moments that never make the highlight real. From viral moments to historic games, from buzzer beaters to controversial calls, we break it down, give you context, and ask the questions everybody wants answered. Sports Slice brings you closer to the action with stories told by the people who live them.

Listen to Sports Slice on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Slicelife Life 12 in the TikTok podcast. network on TikTok. 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, is 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. Jacob Kingston grew up in an isolated polygamous sect. We were God's chosen kingdom on earth.

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But with two kings from entirely different worlds, just how long can their empire survive? The largest tax investigation in American history. You need to tell me what you know. Is somebody coming after me? Jacob told Levan, you're ruining my life. Listen to Kingdom of Fraud on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you.

you get your podcast. Life throws hurdles big and small. The question is, how do you conquer them? On hurdle with Emily Abadi, we sit down with the most inspiring women in sports and wellness, professional athletes, coaches, and Olympic champions to talk about the challenges that shaped them and the mindset that keeps them going from the WNBA standout Kate Martin and rising hockey star Layla Edwards. If a boy can do it, I don't see why a girl can't.

Like, I've never understood that. Like, it didn't make sense in my brain. It's hard to be in spaces that no one looks like. you, but don't ever feel like you don't belong. Don't let that be the reason you don't do it. An Olympic champs Gabby Thomas and Katie Ladeki. The ability to show a gold medal to someone and have their face light up and smile, that means the world to me. And that's what motivates me to win more gold medals. At our level, at this scale, like being able to fail in front of the entire world, like,

I can do anything. I can do anything. Because resilience isn't just about winning. It's about showing up, even when it's hard. Listen to Hurtle with Emily Abadi on the I-Hart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Presented by Capital One, founding partner of IHart Women's Sports. Might not have the money to buy a new car with your tax refund, but you can get a great paint job. Come to Mako, M-A-A-C-O, get your dream paint job during the tax season sales event.

Sam Amick next hour, Chris Broussard, Will Blackman, Rob Parker. It is great to have you in. The two biggest stars in America, right now in America, American sports are NFL quarterbacks and NBA stars. Nothing against baseball, hockey, whatever. I'm not saying Serena, you know, isn't huge. But I'm saying in the galaxy of American sports domestically, kind of the biggest stars are your Durants, your Stephs, your LeBron's,

your NBA guy, and your quarterbacks. Aaron Rogers, Patrick Mahomes, Tom Brady, Breeze. The NFL quarterback seems to understand how, much coaching matters. Tom Brady fights, goes to the owner to get Josh McDaniels raises. Brady gets, it's all about my offensive coordinator. That thing's got to work. It's not that Tom wouldn't be good. Tom's had four different coordinators in New England, maybe five. But quarterbacks, Drew Breeze, Patrick Mahomes with Andy Reed, they absolutely get, they fight to get offensive coaches that elevate their game. NBA stars are different.

And by the way, Kevin Durant would be good with anybody. You don't think coaching no matters. Here's what's interesting. Kyrie Irving reportedly wants to go to New York or move. But if you look at Kyrie Irving's stats, playoffs start tomorrow, Celtics play Sunday, I think they win the east. He's had career highs with everything with Brad Stevens. Do you remember what happened to Isaiah Thomas when he left Brad Stevens? Isaiah Thomas is a B-minus NBA player who is in the MVP running with Brad Stevens.

Tangibly, everything Kyrie's done, all career highs. Assists, rebound, steals, blocks, Vorp. Vorp is the baseball equivalent of war. NBA people really care about Vorp. All career highs. Go down the list. Okay, if you're a guard in the NBA, here's the two coaches you have to think very strongly about ever-leaving. Mike Dantony and Houston, he made Jeremy Linus star.

Every guard, Steve Nash, MVP in the league. James Harden, MVP in the league. Chris Paul. Everybody goes to Mike Tantonia at guard. Everybody's better. That's what he does. And then there's Brad Stevens. Every guard under Brad Stevens excels.

Kyrie's having a great year. I got nothing against David Fisdale. But what is David Fisdale? What's the history of him tangibly making you better? Fisdale's reputation. Great guy can communicate with anybody. He's a great communicator. He deals with stars really well.

That's something, not really tangible. He did get along with Mark Nassau. He also was close with LeBron, but LeBron's not going to be a Knicks, so who cares? Who cares if he gets along with LeBron? But what Fisdale's known for is something that's hard to get your arms around. You know, he's good with stars. Well, it's something. Brad Stevens is great with point guards.

So if I was Kyrie Irving, and there are places you could go to have some success. And this is not a shot at Fisdale. He's a good guy. And, you know, that Memphis was just a mess. It just was a disaster. But if you can tangibly, you don't leave Andy Reid if you're an NFL quarterback. You don't leave him. He makes every quarterback like 18% better than they are.

Everybody. I mean, Michael Vicks career was over. Oh, there's Andy Reid. Michael Vicks' career he got paid again. Everybody. Nick Foles was almost out of the league. Andy Reid props him up. Now Nick Foles making a bunch of money, he's got a Super Bowl.

So, you know, it's funny. NFL quarterbacks seem to get this whole. coaching really matters. Golfers tend to be really good at that. Tennis players really know that. They like, oh, the coach matters. I mean, Serena would win with anybody. But tennis coaches are difference makers.

Golf, swing coaches are difference makers. NBA guys, Kyrie is going to be good anywhere, but just do not deny that basketball coaching to get the very best out of you. Does Kevin Durant know? He may like Fisdale, but does he know that Steve Kerr has the highest winning percentage

in NBA history and is an offensive guy. Now, there's other coaches. Mark Jackson's a defensive guy. If you need defense, Mark Jackson tangibly makes your defense better. I like coaches who give me something I can see data. Oh, this coach comes in, these guys get better. That position gets better.

That's what I like to see. That means Kyle Shanahan, NFL 49ers, everywhere he goes, quarterbacks get better. Everywhere. Matt Ryan, for a year, you kept telling me he was better than Aaron Rogers, because Kyle Shanahan was there left. He was back to being Matt Ryan. Really, really good, not Aaron Rogers.

Here's Joy with the News. No, no, no, no, no. Turn on the news. This is the Herdline News. So, Serge Abaka is a chef. If you didn't know that. I didn't know that. He has his own YouTube show.

How hungry are you? Oh, that's good. And he cooks for, you know, his friends and other, you know, teammates and other players around the league. And he cooks some interesting things. Yeah. And he was cooking for his teammate, Kauai Leonard, who made an appearance on the show. And Kawhi revealed something while he was on the show. Bro, are you coming back?

Next year? What kind of question is that, dude? It's a question. We'll see after the season's up. Are you coming back? I said, I don't know yet. You don't know yet? You could have squashed that thing really quick.

You know what that sounded like to me? I'm not coming back. It sounded like it's exactly what he should say because there's no reason why he should commit to anything at this point in the season. If they, you know, make it to the finals, he might change his opinion about wanting to come back to Toronto. He did average career high this year, 26.6.6.7.3 rebounds and 60 games. He's a very good player. He is a great player, which we kind of tend to forget. A lot of people think he will choose between the clippers and the Raptors.

Although now, obviously, Pueger was talking yesterday about the Lakers making a big push. for Kauai Leonard. He's an A player in the NBA. I wish he was a better passer, and I wish he was more verbal. I like talking and stuff. He's who he is. He's a very unique individual, and there's no changing him. Clearly, he is going to be Kauai.

Although, I didn't see the episode of this yet, so I don't know if he actually tried the pizza, but we got to get you on the show. He made him beef pizza. I'll let you Google what part of the beef it was. All right. So if Luke Walton gets fired, is the next head coach of the Lakers.

He might not have to go too far to find his next job. According to Sam Amick of the athletic, Walton is the clear frontrunner for the King's head coaching job. If the Kings fired their head coach David Yeager's yesterday. So Monty Williams and Spurs' assistant Edder Messina are also candidates for the job. Let me ask you this. Point guards matter in the current NBA.

They really, they're the quarterbacks now. Used to be about centers in this league. Who's got the better point guards? Sacramento or the Lakers? Deeran Fox. By the way, they have a pure shooter on that team buddy healed. Lakers do not have a three-point pure shooter. They have the better young prospect Marvin Begley is better and healthier than Brandon Ingram. It's not a bad situation to walk into. And by the way, Luke Walton has to believe nobody here loves him. Go to Sacramento where they recruit you and give you a four or five-year deal.

I'm Luke Walton today. I'm dead serious when I say this. I would literally call Genie and say I'm out. pay the penalty. I'm leaving. I think Sacramento's a mess. Well, Sacramento's a mess. One of the Lakers. You got one year left before they can fire you. You got the LeBron thing. He didn't appear to like you. I don't know if he's in a position to force his way out. We just quit. Why can't quit? I don't think that Jeannie wants him gone. Jeannie's still the one making the decisions. Have you ever quit a job? Sure, of course. Sure. Okay, yeah. Let's quit. Just say I'm done. Penalize me. I'm going to say.

the head coach of the Lakers. Well, I'm not sure how great a job that is this morning. Better than the jobs that I quit. And finally, Tom Brady has pretty much already defied the odds leading the patients to their sixth title at 41. And he became the oldest starting quarterback to win a Super Bowl. And despite Brady saying he has plans to play until his 45, his trainer, Alex Guerrero, has even bigger expectations. Guerrero recently said, I know how Tom feels every day. He says, I don't have any soreness.

I'm ready to play again. those are things that we thought would happen. Now we're seeing the reality of them happening. Do I think that Tom can play to a high level at 45? Absolutely. Also, so he thinks he can play to 50. Yeah. So the thing about playing until 50 is I really hope that happens.

That would be amazing. Wouldn't it be? Yes, it would because he would be terrible. And Patriots fans would have to suffer with the dilemma of being angry at Tom Brady You're projecting. In his old age. And then all the patients haters will finally have their redemption watching the Patriots crumble into relevance.

That sounds like a dolphin fan projecting. Please let that happen. I think everybody's going to do stuff. I am never speaking at the end of Tom Brady because I think that's silliness. He has proved this wrong every single time. But I'm sorry, you're not going to be performing at the level that we're seeing you play now at 50 in your 28th season. If he goes to 50, then I go to 80 on this network. I'm going to be 80.

You'll be, how much younger are you than me? Like 20 years? You'll be 60. You'll be breaking down curling, and I'll be just mad at everybody and throwing stuff at people. I don't know. Yeah, yeah, I'll have an oxygen canter

in between my rants. Hold on, let me suck on this. If Brady goes to 50, I'm going to 80. That's all I got to say. I'm all for it. I enjoy with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by.

The Hurdline News. Bringing my buddy, part of the odd couple, Fox Sports Radio, which is, by the way, fastest growing show in America on radio, Chris Broussard. Okay. I throw theories out, and I'm not saying I'm always right.

Kobe Bryant running the Lakers, international connection. Stars are not into magic, current ones that are into Kobe. He would have the power over LeBron. And you can't tell me that, I keep hearing this, Chris. You know, LeBron's got no interest in. Really? Why is he on the phone with Polanco all the time? Why is he always on the phone with Jeannie Bus?

Kobe's not going to be doing Hollywood projects when he's 60. If he loved Hollywood, he would have lived it here in not Orange County. Colin, I have to say this. By the way, better lighting on Broussard. It seems dark. There we go. There we go. I want to see your handsome face.

When I first, when they first magic left and I thought Kobe, Rambis, who are, don't bring in a former Laker that is just a former Laker. And then I started thinking about Kobe. And you're right. He is incredibly intelligent. He is a hard worker. He's a grinder. Oh, yeah, Jimrat.

Right. Kobe's not averse to the analytics and the new technology of today. He would obviously know how to get that organization in place. Like, I actually think your theory is a really good one. I really do. And Kobe has said all the right things about LeBron as a Laker. Like, don't blame him. It was injuries.

He's been great in that regard. but he's human and he's Kobe and he's competitive and he's always wanted to be the best player ever he thinks he's better than Michael Jordan and LeBron how do you think he felt I mean Kobe's got three rings in the prime of his career scores 81 points

and everybody's saying LeBron James is better and all of the media including myself have put LeBron James ahead of Kobe Bryant there's got to be a part of him that's enjoying the bronze struggling here. Oh, come on. And his stature, even Kobe's not playing a minute anymore. And his stature keeps rising and rising.

And if your theory were to come to pass and he does do a good job, because again, I do think he is equipped to do a good job. He has the skills and the intelligence. He could become like the next Jerry West maybe. By the way, if you look at Jerry West's history and you look at Kobe's history, I'm not going to do a deep sociological dive. But there are things about both of their childhoods, about the intensity, being doubted by people around them.

Jerry's to this day intense. Jerry's 80, smart, and intense. And Kobe's never going to shut that off. I don't think Hollywood satiates Kobe's intellect or is drive. Well, the only thing I wonder, about because again, I really think your theory is really good. But I do wonder if Kobe really wants to do it full time. Like it's a great thing to be able to give your opinion, to be consulted on things,

but not have to deal with the daily grind and the responsibility of it. Kobe, he's made a transition to life after basketball incredibly well. and I do wonder if he'd be willing to give all that up. He's a worker. If he decides to do it, he's going to work hard. He's going to be smart enough to do it. But that's the one thing I wonder. Does he just want to have Jeannie's ear and be able to say,

oh, I think you should do this, you should look at this guy, whatever. You're not going to get any credit for having somebody's ear. No, you're right. And that's the thing. Kobe's not a half-baked kind of in guy. I thought Kobe would have trouble transitioning to life after. He's been unbelievable. He's been tremendous.

He really seems to be able to just be like, I really don't care. I really, you know, I'm away from it. Now, maybe we're wrong. Maybe I'm wrong about that. But the bottom line is I think your theory is really good. And I don't say that very often to you. No, I like it. Okay.

The Kauai thing. And this is kind of an offshoot of Kobe. Because Kauai had more in common with Kobe than with magic. because he grew up. Kobe was, he grew up with Sam Bernardino. Kobe was his guy. What do you make? Kauai just answered Joy showed that.

And Kauai was not willing to give an answer on Toronto. He bought a house in San Diego that's like 13,000 square feet. He grew up here. He's got an uncle he's very close to. I think, what do you make of Kauai? Now, I just saw a wind share thing the other day. It's Jordan, LeBron, and Kauai all time. I'm concerned that he's not overly verbal.

I'm concerned that he doesn't elevate others. But Kauai is really good. So, yeah, if I had to handicap where I think he's going, right now, I think Klipper's 70%, Toronto 20%, Lakers 10%. Now, that could change. What I've been told for the longest is Kauai just wants to get back to L.A. Okay.

And if Toronto somehow won the championship this year, I think it's easier for him to leave. I leave as a champion. Like, I delivered Canada's first NBA title. I got two rings. I can do whatever I want. You can't say anything. If they get to the finals and lose, that, I think, would be the toughest scenario for him to leave.

But I do think he's going west. Now, do you, the player. Oh, the player, he's great. Like, he goes to the Clippers. That's Toronto West. Like, immediately, I think they're a contender. He's easy to play with because he doesn't dominate. the ball, but he can handle it

and ISO when he needs to. Now, I want to point to the Lakers, I think the Lakers under your scenario, you know, the Kobe, maybe that would give him a shot. Or if, what if one of the names that's been tossed out there, Masayu Jiri,

in Toronto right now with Kauai, has a good relationship with Kauai, even though I don't think it'll keep Kauai in Toronto. What if you bring him in? He revamped your front office. And then you can get Kauai. This is brilliant.

Because Kauai doesn't have a problem with LeBron. It's just I don't know that he necessarily wants to. This is brilliant. If Jeannie hires the Raptors general manager, it makes it easy for Kauai to go, I mean, the one guy I loved here. Right. I mean, I would have stayed,

but the guy I love left to go to the Lakers, so I'm just following him. That is an easy out. Yeah. That is the, because Kauai doesn't want to be hated. it anywhere. But if you take the guy that he can claim that's my guy, and then you go, I'm from L.A. They took the GM. That becomes an incredibly easy out for Kauai. Look, Colin, earlier in the season, LeBron James' camp was convinced they were getting Kauai

in L.A. with the Lakers. They were convinced, okay? I don't know exactly why. It didn't tell me why. They said, we're getting it. Not a few months ago, that confidence won. and now I'm not hearing that. I don't think they think they're getting him. But it shows you, like, I don't think he has a problem with LeBron. You know, we saw him playing ball at UCLA last summer. They're friendly. I just don't know if he wants all the, you know,

Kauai just wants to play basketball. Right. And be left alone and be in California in the nice weather. So that's one of the draws that the clippers have. Their front offices run better. But again, whether it's Maasai, whether it's David Griffin, whether it's Jerry West, or to your point, If you bring in a new front office regime and you get things going in the right direction,

maybe that improves your chances of getting it. All right. We're going to let you go. You're awesome. It's been an incredible week to playoff start tomorrow. You've made all your picks. I've got Boston in the finals against Golden State, and you have Golden State over Toronto. I hope Milwaukee gets there, but I'm saying Toronto.

I know you really, you enjoy her on this whole Canada thing. and I've told you how I feel. Canada is a beautiful place. It's a beautiful. They are wonderful neighbors to the north, and they also have a very, very good basketball team, which has a lot of United States of America citizens there. They got a lot of international players, too, though.

They do. They do, but they also have a lot of, I don't like saying American players. Canada is North America. It is. Yes. It is. We don't have a claim to all America. Colin, I will say this.

I would not want any point of Sacramento's front office if I'm Luke. They're a mess. What do you think it's down here? I get that, but there's other Minnesota. What about Minnesota? The Timberwolves. You got Carl Anthony Towns, Andrew Wiggins. I'm over Andrew Wiggins.

What about New Orleans if they get a new gym? Oh, God. I'm just like Sacramento, Mike Malone was the first coach to get through the Boogie Cousins and you fire him. Dave Yeager leads you to your best record in 13 years. You're playing an exciting brand of ball and you fire him. Luke Walton is still the coach of the Wakers. For now. I don't disagree with you with Luke going in there and being like, look, I'm out of here.

If he's got another job, I just don't think as much as I like that roster, you're right about the roster. De Aaron Fox. That front office, I just don't, I wouldn't trust it. All right. Have a good weekend. Thank you. You too. An NFL rumor coming up next that is too good not to be true.

Next, the herd. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific. Last night, a blown call changed the game. This morning, the internet lost. its mind. Highlights are trending, opinions are flying, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where SportsSlice comes in. I'm Timbo. Every episode, we're cutting through the noise, breaking down the plays, the controversies, and the stories behind the headlines. We go straight to the source, the athlete themselves, their locker room stories, their reactions, the stuff

nobody gets to hear. The laughs, the drama, the triumphs, the moments that never make the highlight real. From viral moments to historic games, from buzzer beaters to controversial calls, we break it down, give you context and ask the questions everybody wants answered. Sports Slice brings you closer to the action with stories told by the people who live them. Listen to Sports Slice on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Sliced Life 12 and the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. 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 social.

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, Keer 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 Hardway and listen now. Jacob Kingston grew up in an isolated polygamous sect. We were God's chosen kingdom on earth. He felt destined for greatness. So when a swaggering Armenian businessman catapults Jacob into an extraordinary world, he doesn't look back. Ferraris and Lamborghinis, private jets, meeting the president of Turkey.

I'm Michelle McPhee, and this is one of the most shocking criminal conspiracies I've ever come across. When Jacob met Levant, this went to a billion-dollar fraud. But with two kings from entirely different worlds, just how long can their empire serve? survive. The largest tax investigation in American history. You need to tell me what you know. Is somebody coming after me? Jacob told Levan, you're

ruining my life. Listen to Kingdom of Fraud on the IHeart Radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Life throws hurdles big and small. The question is, how do you conquer them? On hurdle with Emily Abadi,

we sit down with the most inspiring women in sports and wellness. Professional athletes, coaches, and Olympic champions to talk about the challenges that shaped them and the mindset that keeps them going from the WNBA standout Kate Martin and rising hockey star Layla Edwards. If a boy can do it, I don't see why a girl can't. Like, I've never understood that. Like, it didn't make sense in my brain. It's hard to be in spaces that no one looks like you, but don't ever feel like you don't

feel like you don't feel like. Don't let that be the reason you don't do it. An Olympic champs Gabby Thomas and Katie Ladeke. The ability to show a gold medal to someone and have their face light up and smile. That means the world to me. And that's what motivates me to win more gold medals. At our level, at this scale, like being able to fail in front of the entire world. Like, I can do anything. I can, like, I can do anything. Because resilience isn't just about winning. It's about showing up, even when it's hard. Listen to Hurtle with Emily Abadi on the IHeart Radio app,

Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Presented by Capital One, founding partner of IHart women's sports. MDrive. Want to feel stronger, have more energy and drive. Take MDrive. Go to MDrive for men.com. Today, Refind Your Prime with MDrive. By the way, college basketball March Madness isn't the quality of the NBA. You don't have nearly the players, but it gets

huge ratings. Why? Because it creates urgency. The NBA playoffs start tomorrow. Stop with all the greed. Seven round, seven game first round playoff series are idiotic. There's no urgency. The Warriors could play like crap three games. Three of seven games and still win a series. They could play

bad in the fourth game and still win. Urgency is why Masters Sunday gets a bigger rating than Masters today. Make people watch. It's why the baseball ratings are bad until the playoffs. You force people to watch. There's urgency. Somebody could lose, do or die. NBA, first round playoff series.

I'll watch all of them, but seven games? So what if the Sixers lose to the Nets in the first game? I got six games to make it up. It's why March Madness has pretty average quality in terms of players. I mean, you know, I mean, Zion. the best player for like 10 years in the sport. A lot of guys close design in the NBA. College is average in terms of quality,

but they give you absolute must-watch or people go down fast. And the ratings for March Madness last several years have been huge. I want to go to this. Here's an NFL rumor. This Kyler Murray, the latest rumor is the Arizona Cardinals are negotiating a contract right now with Kyler Murray.

Okay, there's too many rumors on this. And by the way, crazy rumors. Or almost always true in sports. LeBron to the Lakers. Oh, come on. There's that. Happened. OBJ is going to get traded.

How? He's the most popular guy by a mile in the city. He got traded. Mayweather and McGregor are going to fight. What? A boxing guy and a UFC guy? That sounds ridiculous. It happened.

Bryce Harper's leaving the Nats. Why? They're going to offer it. He left the Nats. Hey, NFL. It's moving to L.A. Happened twice. Raiders moving to Vegas.

Those were all considered little out there. You could have a lot of skepticism with all those. Kyler-Marie, Arizona, I'm sorry, it makes too much sense. Just like all the other moves, NFL to L.A., Mayweather and McGregor, it was going to make too much money. Rams in L.A. make too much money, not for it to happen. This Arizona thing, Cliff Kingsbury and Kyler Murray, literally that would be his perfect quarterback for his system.

Arizona's offensive line, mass, how do you solve that quickly, an athletic mobile quarterback? Josh Rosen, on the market, you can get a really good pick for him. What I believe is happening is New England has a lot of draft capital but 12 picks. They don't want to give them a one. Arizona is just going to wait and see if they can get the best pick from the Giants, the Chargers, or the Patriots. The three teams I'm told have already made calls. and right now they're all offering twos, second rounders.

Arizona wants to put the pressure on them. We'll accept one of those offers eventually, but wants to see if one of those guys cracks, the Chargers, the Patriots, the Giants, and gives them a one. They're just going to hold off on it until they realize none of those teams are going to give them a one. So too much of this stuff makes sense. I mean, Steve Kime was on my show when he was at the Combine. We asked him about his quarterback position. Here's what he said.

Is there a possibility that you could see yourself picking a quarterback at one? I can't foresee that right now. Right now. You could have just said no, I can't foresee that right now. I mean, it's the same thing with Kauai. What's the benefit of him backing himself into a corner and committing to something when he literally doesn't have the answer? But that answer gives you space.

Kauai's answer. It also gives him space. if something changes. There's a lot of time between that interview in the draft. It's a lot of time between Kauai maybe leaving at the end of the season. Do you think Kauai leaves? I think it depends

entirely on how the playoffs go with the Raptors. Do you think Kyler Murray's number one? Yes. It's just too many connecting dots. There's too much. There's too much smoke. And all these crazy rumors, they all kind of all. We've had like seven or eight crazy rumors in the last like three years in sports.

They've all come true. Well, the thing with with Kyler Murray that's different is that you just took a quarterback in the first round top 10 last year. So if you had any confidence that he was the guy, you would not even be discussing this. He would say, this is the guy. We just took a quarterback. This is our guy. And the fact that you haven't said that, I don't, we've discussed this. I don't even know how you go back to him. Like how do you even, how do you pitch that to the fan base? All this talk. Yeah. That was always your point, which I think is a good one. In Arizona, they don't sell out every game. This is not Green Bay or Chicago. You really undermine the marketing of Josh Rosen, the

hype and the optimism. I mean, again, if you loved your quarterback, if you went to the Jets and said to Kyler Murray, they'd be like, no, we got Sam Darnold. If you went to Cleveland, they'd be like, no, we got Baker Mayfield. Right. Arizona's like, eh, well, think about it. It's like, okay, well, you just told me the answer. Right. And that doesn't work for the quarterback position. It doesn't work for the face of your franchise. And the other thing is, like, Cleveland's all in on Baker. and should be right now. If you already have doubts on Josh Rosen,

there's usually a honeymoon stage when, as a GM, you're just, everybody's in love with the guy. This tells you half the building in Arizona is not in on Rosen. And that just doesn't work. Doesn't work. So that's to me, it's not even about Kyler Murray. It's not even about all the rumors. It's just how you've handled it shows what you're going to do.

All right, some football stuff. John Gruden and the Raiders, the good and the bad of this draft. Gruden talked about his draft yesterday. That's next. 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.

Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind. Highlights are trending, opinions are flying, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in. I'm Timbo. Every episode, we're cutting through the noise, Breaking down the plays, the controversies, and the stories behind the headlines.

We go straight to the source, the athlete themselves. Their locker room stories, their reactions, the stuff nobody gets to hear. The laughs, the drama, the triumphs, the moments that never make the highlight real. From viral moments to historic games, from buzzer beaters to controversial calls, we break it down, give you context, and ask the questions everybody wants answered. Sports Slice brings you closer to the action with stories told by the people who live them. Listen to Sports Slice. radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Sliced Life

12 and the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. 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 really really. 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 hard way. Open your free iHeartRadio app. Search Learn the hard way and listen now.

Jacob Kingston grew up in an isolated polygamous sect. We were God's chosen kingdom on earth. He felt destined for greatness. So when a swaggering Armenian businessman catapults Jacob into an extraordinary world, he doesn't look back. Ferraris and Lamborghinis, private jets, meeting the president of Turkey. I'm Michelle McPhee,

and this is one of the most shocking criminal conspiracies I've ever come across. When Jacob met LeVon this went to a billion dollar fraud. But with two kings from entirely different worlds, just how long can their empire survive? The largest tax investigation in American history. You need to tell me what you know. Is somebody coming after me?

Jacob told Levan, you're ruining my. my life. Listen to Kingdom of Fraud on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Life throws hurdles big and small. The question is, how do you conquer them? On Hurtle with Emily Abadi, we sit down with the most inspiring women in sports and wellness, professional athletes, coaches, and Olympic champions to talk about the challenges

that shaped them and the mindset that keeps them going. From the WNBA standout Kate Martin and rising hockey star, Layla Edwards. If a boy can do it, I don't see why a girl can't. Like, I've never understood that. Like, it didn't make sense in my brain. It's hard to be in spaces that no one looks like you, but don't ever feel like you don't belong. Don't let that be the reason you don't do it.

An Olympic champs Gabby Thomas and Katie Ledecki. The ability to show a gold medal to someone and have their face light up and smile, that means the world to me. And that's what motivates me to win more gold medals. At our level, at this scale, like being able to fail in front of the entire world, Like, I can do anything.

I can do anything. Because resilience isn't just about winning. It's about showing up, even when it's hard. Listen to Hurtle with Emily Abadi on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Presented by Capital One, founding partner of IHart Women's Sports. Ah, this is The Hurt, Hour 2. Wherever you may be and however you may be listening, we are live on a Friday in Los Angeles, IHeart Radio, Fox Sports Radio, and FS1.

It is great to have you here today. NBA playoffs start tomorrow. Masters this weekend. It is a great TV weekend. I like to be outside and moving. I'm watching a lot of TV this weekend. In Los Angeles. I'm going to be watching a lot of TV this weekend.

Joy Tater is joining me. It's really sunny here again, too. Oh, it is? Yeah, I told you there was a roadrunner in my backyard. Yeah, yesterday. Yes. I walk outside of our house. And there's this giant bird.

I'm scared of birds. I don't love them. They just, you know, the thing, they're there and you can't see him, you know. But he didn't even fly. He just jumped. Have you ever seen a roadrunner before? Yeah, I have seen a roadrunner. They're awkward looking.

They are. But they look like dinosaurs. Yeah, a little bit. I was very afraid. Yeah. Well, it's California. You got cougars in your backyard. I'm still adjusting.

It's amazing when you live in California. You know, the animals had this place first, not us. I think the gators were scary in Miami, but you can wake up and there would be a gator in your pool. Yeah. I remember one time I went, what do you call it, water skiing? And I was in Orlando. It was on a lake. A good friend, Trace Gallagher.

And I said, are there any alligators in the lake? And I was hoping the answer was no. And he said, well, they're afraid of the boat motor. And I'm like, that's not the answer I'm looking for. Right. The answer, no. Because what happens when the boat motor stops and you're still sitting in the water? while you're water skiing.

Yeah, I fall down, you're circling to come get me, and the alligator's like, I've got about a minute here. And I'm hungry. Yeah, the answer to that is always, yes. There's generally a gator in every body of water in Florida. All right. So yesterday, this is a very, like a lot of teams are hard to predict for the draft. But there are a lot of teams.

I'll take the New York Jets. They need to upgrade their offensive linemen. They need a pass rusher. I'm going to tell you right now, Jets are going to go get a pass rusher. And they need to upgrade their offensive line. They're going to draft that. And then there's teams. The Raiders are an easy team to predict.

The Raiders need a pass rusher. They need corners because they already spent money on their offense in free agency. They're going to draft defense. They need another linebacker. They need two corners. They need an edge rusher because they let go, Khalil Mack. You can figure out where the Raiders are going to go. So Mike Mayock was talking yesterday.

and, you know, Gruden's already putting pressure on him because Gruden's made all these moves. Amari Cooper, you're out of here, Khalil Mack, to get all these first round picks, here's Mike Mayok. John keeps telling me, don't mess it up, dude. You know, I took a lot of slings to get to get you three first round picks. Four of the first 35 picks gives you an opportunity to consider all those scenarios multiple times. And again, that's why we're open up the line of communications with all the teams around the league. We need to be nimble. And nimble means, depending on what the situation is.

is to be able to react quickly according to the situation and make the right decision. Okay, I think the draft, I think here's the top four picks. Kyler Murray is going to Arizona, the quarterback from Oklahoma. I think San Francisco has the second pick. They're going to take Nick Bosa. They need an edge rusher. I think the Jets are going to take Josh Allen, the pass rusher, because they have Leonard Williams on the defensive front.

He's terrific. The Raiders are going to get Quinn and Williams from Alabama. Now, the good news is he's the best player in the draft. Every executive and scout I talk to, the best player in the draft is Quinn and Williams from Alabama. Pretty much one-on-one unblockable. Now, if you double him, you can move him around. But one-on-one, he's getting to the quarterback. He's stopping the run.

He is really, really good, best player in the draft. Now you say, well, why wouldn't the other teams take him? Because the Jets need a pass rusher when you're in a division with Tom Brady? and play them twice, they need a pass rusher more than Quinn and Williams. And San Francisco, you know, you're in a division with Russell Wilson and Jared Gough. You need the best pass rusher available. Arizona has Chandler Jones, number one pick. They don't, you know, the bottom line here is the Raiders are going to get the best player in the draft.

My gut feeling is, Quinn and Williams, that's the good news for the Raiders. Here's the bad news. This draft, and this is the way most drafts work, just because you get drafted in the the first round does not make you a first round talent. I've been told there's about 15 players in the first round that are first round guys. By about the 17th pick, you're paying first round money for a second round player. So where you'll want to be in this draft is in the top 15. The Raiders are, that's great.

That's why New England, by the way, is trying to trade up. You'll want to be in the top 15. The no man's land in this draft where you're not going to get any valid. you is from pick 16 to the last pick in the first round because you're going to pay a first round draft choice and their second round players there is after about the 15th pick to about the 90th pick in this draft there's a lot of similarity the difference makers are high new england's trying to get in there because they got a lot of draft capital that's what new england's trying to do that's not a that's not a secret new england's looking to move up in this

draft where you don't want to be this is the bad news for the raiders they have have two picks 24 and 27. You don't want to be there. The bottom of the first round, the middle to the bottom of this first round is not a good spot this year. You're paying a first round price for a second round player. It does not mean it's a bad draft.

But you're always looking to get value on every player. There's no value in overpaying for anybody outside of occasionally a quarterback because there's a scarcity and they are the most important player. So good news, Raiders are in that top 15. The bad news,

is they're in no man's land after that. They have the 24th, the 27th, and the 35th. And that's kind of a little bit of a, the first two are kind of no man's land. Houston, by the way, is in a good situation. They got three picks, like second round to fourth round. They got three picks. New England's got five picks in that space.

That's where you want to be in this draft. Really high or second to late third. There you go. Quinn and Williams, best player in the draft, Alabama. Okay, so yesterday Sam Amick joining us in about seven minutes came out and said, if Luke Walton is available, Vladivarch, the Sacramento Kings GM, would hire him. Now, Luke Walton has two years left in his deal, but only one is guaranteed. And I've had to quit jobs in my life.

I'm old enough, I've had like nine jobs, right? Joy said she's quit a job in her career. If I was Luke Walton, I would strongly consider quitting the Lakers and taking the Sacramento job. Because if you look at what you need in the NBA, who's got the better point guard going forward? Deerrin Fox for Lonzo Ball, Kings. Who's got the best young shooter?

Kings, Buddy Healed. Who's got the best young talent? I think Marvin Begley's better than Brandon Ingram or Kyle Kuzma. Luke Walton right now. LeBron and his guys are not India. Magic wasn't India. And by the way, Jeannie was going to allow magic to fire you. Jeannie was not going to allow a magic to fire Rob Polinka.

Because Polinka's Kobe's guy. This is one of these jobs in America right now. The Lakers sounds like a great job as a head coach. But it's not when you have one guaranteed year left and you've got a team in Sacramento that's historically not great, but has all the components you need, a great young point guard, an elite three-point shooter, and a young star in Marvin Bagley,

who's about a year away from being a difference maker. I'd think about it. I don't think it's crazy. I also think Sacramento wants you. Who in Los Angeles today is truly supporting Luke Walton? I mean, really, all in on Luke Walton. Jeannie Bus isn't. She gave Magic the go-ahead to can him.

Rob Polinka, hit and miss on him. I mean, if I was Luke Walton, you know, everybody's in your life has quit a job. I know it sounds crazy. Lakers to Sacramento. Lakers right now, if they hire David Griffin as a GM, this is LeBron's team. This is LeBron's franchise. And he's not into Luke Walton. So you just sometimes you've got to leave before they fire you.

Also, sometimes you have to learn in life that it, growing an attachment to something isn't always the best way to handle things. This is his career. Right. So going attached to the idea of being the Lakers head coach, and I'm not saying that Luke Walton is doing this, but if that's the case and you have an offer from Sacramento that is years and millions and guaranteed, you have to do what's sensible.

By the way, I don't remember this. Did Pat Riley get fired or did Pat Riley just leave the Lakers to go to Miami? If I recall, Pat Rowley's like, I'm out of here. And he went Nix and then he went Miami. People have left the Lakers before. Everyone leaves a situation one way or another. And again, I don't think that Luke Walton's going to be fired. So I don't even see this happening.

This is, you look at the Lakers as this empirical brand. Chris Broussard yesterday, I thought, stated it perfectly. We have the Chris Broussard bite? No, we don't. The Lakers are run like it's nice. 1983. They're a mom and pop operation in a league full of corporations. They're behind in terms of scouting. They're behind in terms of analytics. They're behind in terms of all the technology. You would never think that because they're the glamorous Lakers, but they've been running on talent.

When Shaq and Kobe were there, you know, they ran on the talent of those great players. And that's what they're still doing to this day. For the record, my staff checked it. Pat Riley stepped down from the Lakers to go to NBC. They had the best job in the league and said, I'm done, because Pat Riley could see the riding on the wall. So he went to NBC, then he went to the Knicks, and then he went to the Miami Heat.

You know, Pat Riley is taking control of his career. He's moved before they've moved off of him. He's moved off of them. So if I was Luke, I'd look around at personnel and I'd be like, if I like Vlotti, as long as I trust him, I like what Sacramento's got. Fun, why, and by the way, Luke Walton likes coaching young guys.

He's probably turned on. off from coaching superstar LeBron. Sacramento's got young guys who will listen and they're fun and they can shoot. I think Sacramento's on the come. Pretty interesting team. Sam Amick is joining us next USA today. He's broken a lot of stories in the last couple of weeks

and all this NBA stuff. Playoffs start tomorrow. Sam's here. 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. Last night, a blown call changed the game. This morning, internet lost its mind. Highlights are trending, opinions are flying, and nobody's telling you

exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in. I'm Timbo. Every episode, we're cutting through the noise, breaking down the plays, the controversies, and the stories behind the headlines. We go straight to the source, the athlete themselves, their locker room stories, their reactions, the stuff nobody gets to hear. The laughs, the drama, the triumphs, the moments that never make the highlight real. From viral moments to historic games, from buzzer beaters to controversial calls, we break it down, give you context, and ask the questions everybody wants answered. SportsSlice brings you closer to the action with stories told by the people who live them. Listen to SportsSlice on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.

And for more, follow Timbo Slic Life 12 and the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hardway with me, your host and your favorite therapist, Kier 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 iHeartRadio app. Search, learn the hard way, and listen now.

Jacob Kingston grew up in an isolated polygamous sect. We were God's chosen kingdom on earth. He felt destined for greatness. So when A swaggering Armenian businessman catapults Jacob into an extraordinary world. He doesn't look back. Ferraris and Lamborghinis, private jets, meeting the president of Turkey.

I'm Michelle McPhee, and this is one of the most shocking criminal conspiracies I've ever come across. When Jacob met Levin this went to a billion dollar fraud. But with two kings from entirely different worlds, just how long can their empire survive? The largest tax investigation in American history. You need to tell me what you know. Is somebody coming after me? Jacob told Levan, you're ruining my life. Listen to Kingdom of Fraud on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Life throws hurdles big and small. The question is, how do you conquer them? On Hurtle with Emily Abadi, we sit down with the most inspiring women in sports and wellness. professional athletes, coaches, and Olympic champions to talk about the challenges that shaped them and the mindset that keeps them going. From the WNBA standout Kate Martin and rising hockey star Layla Edwards. If a boy can do it, I don't see why a girl can't. Like, I've never understood that.

Like, it didn't make sense in my brain. It's hard to be in spaces that no one looks like you, but don't ever feel like you don't belong. Don't let that be the reason you don't do it. An Olympic champs Gabby Thomas and Katie Ledecki. The ability to show a gold medal to someone and have their face light. up and smile. That means the world to me. And that's what motivates me to win more gold medals. At our level, at this scale, like being able to fail in front of the entire world. Like, I can do

anything. I can, like, I can do anything. Because resilience isn't just about winning. It's about showing up, even when it's hard. Listen to Hurtle with Emily Abadi on the IHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Presented by Capital One, founding partner of IHeart Women's sports. Good to have you in. Great news. Quick and easy way you could save money. Switch to Geico. 15 minutes, save 15% or more on car insurance. Geico.com. See how much you could save. Baseball this weekend on Fox. FS1, Rockies, Giants, Ments, Braves. Good to have you in. Did I just step on you, Joy? No, you didn't. It's good. You're up. Sometimes I just start getting wound up and I just stepping on it. They call that stepping on people in the business.

That was actually my fault, but it's all good. All right. We're good. All right. A guy that I, leaned on. He did a great job. He writes for the athletic, which by the way, if it cost you $30, 40 bucks a year, it's like a national sports newspaper, subscription service. It's terrific. Their NBA coverage is excellent. The athletic, Sam Amick via the Coward Global Satellite Network. So he spearheaded the anonymous player poll, and I love that. I think those are fantastic. So you have pulled about 25% of the league. There's two things on that poll, Sam. I thought were fascinating. Number one is, I like Anthony Davis, but if I was building a roster, I would not put him ahead of Kevin Durant, James Harden, Steph Curry. I was shocked at that.

I like Anthony Dave. Now, Janus, number one, I get. 100%. Were you shocked that Durant wasn't higher? I was. We have this annual thing, Colin, where we crown that guy. And so you're right. I think the players got it right when it comes to Yonis. From there, it was puzzling. For one, with all due respect to LeBron, even the fact that he got as much love as he did, just because of the age factor, that surprised me a little bit. If I had to pick one guy that I certainly thought would be higher, you know, I'm going to file my MVP vote later in the day. It's probably going to be James Hardin. And you got a guy who's going to be a back-to-back MVP, potentially, who got one vote,

I think out of a grand total of 122 players who actually answered this specific question. Wow. So no love for the idea of building around James Harden. And I think what you're underscoring, too, with guys like Embed and Davis is how the players seem to gloss over the health factor and the idea that AD, I mean, we have health news coming out today about Embed. And Anthony Davis is a guy who's been on the shelf for so much of his career. Yeah. That's what makes that a dicey proposition. So I was definitely a little surprised. Okay.

The other one, best player of all time. Mike, Michael's in a different galaxy. I was shocked that Kobe and LeBron were in a virtual deadlock because the media, media holds LeBron here and Kobe several notches below. Did that surprise you? For sure. It's funny because full disclosure, I was watching your show the other day as you were breaking down the poll. And the little bit of subtext and the backstory that I think because that got your attention, you'll find interesting, is that as I started compiling these results and shout out, to our 30 great beat riders at the athletic.

Every one of them, boots on the ground in the locker room talking to players getting these results. About halfway through the process, Kobe was actually lapping the field on LeBron. He had about twice as many votes. Wow. And then late in the process, LeBron caught up quite a bit. I do think that some of your perspective on LeBron and the simple idea that because of the way the Lakers season went, that people even within the league and his fellow players

aren't buying LeBron stock, so to speak, in the same way that they would have been even a year ago, that's a real thing. Because when you go to the finals eight straight years, you get great reverence from your peers. And then when you see the kind of dumpster fire stuff that we've seen in Lakerland this year and the shocking reality that they're not going to the playoffs,

I just think that players like fans, like media, look at his situation a little bit differently, even in the greater context of history. So let's shift obviously the dumpster fire of the week, Magic step down. I called it embarrassing. It was unprofessional. I like magic, but I just don't think you do that.

I don't think you resign and not tell a boss. But let's shift to this. I am told, and if your sources say something different, call me out. I am told Jeannie Bus, and I don't blame her, is a little reluctant to just make this Cavaliers West. Yeah. Anthony Davis, LeBron James, get Kyrie Irving, David Griffin, Ty Lou. I, my gut is if you hire David Griffin as the next guy and I'm hearing he's the leader, Sam, are you not, is this not the cavaliers with palm trees?

You could make that argument. I just think that we have seen in recent past. Jeannie takes so much pride in the Laker history and with good reason. And I understand that. But in today's MBA, you have absolutely got to broaden the scope of any search for any influential position within your organization. And if that list is shortened to any great extent because every person on it has to have a six degrees of Lakers component,

I think that's a mistake. So you don't necessarily need to do Cavs West. Another similar type strategy would be, do you do kind of Warrior South, meaning leave Luke Walden there, try to go get a guy like Bob Myers away from Golden State. I can see Jeannie looking at that and saying, I don't want to sit here and replicate anybody's blueprint.

wanted to be, have a Lakers tent to it. So I don't know what direction she's going to go. My opinion in this, I don't know what way they're leaning if at all. But Dave Griffin's very, very good at his job. He is an extremely coveted executive who in the last couple of years has turned down good jobs because he wanted it to be on his terms. He wanted to have the right people around him. He's cream of the crop. And it's not just a case of grabbing the guy who has history with LeBron. It's grabbing a guy who's really good. But the other element here is, Colin, can you imagine how many people right now are in Jeannie's ear. Because even for me, on the media reporter side of things, it's like, man, everybody's

got the best idea. Everybody has the plan, the strategy, the thing that she should do. I can't imagine being in her seat right now. I threw a theory out to start my show. And I have the space to do that, right? I can throw out theories and sometimes are ridiculous. But Kobe Bryant is not magic. Kobe's a grinder.

Kobe is built for international scouting. Speaks multiple languages. I do not believe Kobe's intellect will be, I think it would be compromised to just do Hollywood projects. If he loved Hollywood, why do he live in Orange County for 20 years? He's not, he'll take bits and pieces. But I look at Kobe running the Lakers. His best friend is Rob Polenka.

I can argue that Jeannie Bus already chose Kobe over Magic because Jeannie would not let Magic fire Rob Polinka and Luke, and that was because Kobe's best friends with Rob Polinka. Is it out of the possibility? For the record, Sam, they got Space to Land Stars. Well, these current guys out there, Kyrie and Kauai, they idolize Kobe. Is that crazy to think Kobe, who I think's personalities kind of built for the grind, to be a Laker CEO?

I don't think it'll happen. I like the way you're thinking. I don't disagree with you about his work ethic, his fabric. Do I think Kobe could do a good job at the job and not do it? I mean, so many former players fall into that trap of not being willing to not only be the guy with the great instincts because of your experience playing the game, but the guy who knows that you need a large staff on the scouting side. You need to embrace analytics. You need to do the kind of work that leads to greatness.

Kobe could do both those things. I just happen to know that unless things have changed, that his hard stance on this situation is that he has no interest in working within the NBA. Now, that being said, if you hit the rewind button, you go back to about two years ago when Janie decided to fire Jim Bus and Mitch Cupcheck, if you remember, Kobe played a pretty influential part back then. Jeannie gets in the car, drives down to Newport Beach to have lunch with him and didn't know what to do with her front office. and Kobe was absolutely pushing her over the edge to make that move, fire Jim, fire Mitch. So Kobe played a big part in this play to get us to this point. But, you know, I don't think he wants any official capacity. I definitely, I mean, I have been told that, you know, there had been conversations between Gene and Kobe where that unofficial, call it an offer, call it an idea, was put on the table.

And, you know, my knowledge at this point is that he has not ever shown any willingness to pick that up. Good stuff. Sam Amick. The Athletic. Covered the association last decade and a half of the USA today. Sports Illustrated. Great having you on. Sam, have a great weekend. Playoffs start tomorrow. I think it's going to be mostly chocked. Do you see any upsets? I don't know. Brooklyn, Philadelphia. Thank you. The one that jumps out to. Yeah. Yes. I mean, the Nets have nothing to lose. Those young guys, you know, D'Angelo gets as hot as anybody in the league.

Sixers have a little bit of health stuff going on. So if I had the handicap one, probably that one. Sam, good seeing you. All right. Thanks, Colin. Appreciate it. You bet. By the way, may not be able to afford a car with your new tax refund. You could afford a paint job. M-A-A-A-C-O. Get your dream paint job during the tax season sales event. Joy Taylor with the news. No, no, no, no. Turn on the news. This is the herd line news.

So, LeBron was reportedly shocked when he got the news that Magic had abruptly resigned as the Lakers president of basketball operations. Shocked? Shocked when hers also reported, normally LeBron is very up-to-date on what happened. in an organization. He doesn't always get to make the calls, but he always knows first. This has never happened to him before. Now, this isn't too surprising considering the fact that, at least according to magic, Jeannie didn't even know that he was quitting. But...

It has to be a little unnerving, a little? I do have sympathy for LeBron in this spot. LeBron took a big risk coming to Los Angeles. And most people don't really have any sympathy for LeBron because they feel like he kind of brought all this on himself. He could have stayed in Cleveland, and even if he didn't win another championship, he could have rode on it into the sunset, mostly with the normal level of criticism that he gets. But coming to L.A., taking on all the projects that he did, coming to the Los Angeles Lakers, being LeBron, I mean, we kind of all felt initially that this was going to be kind of a wash of a year, but immediately the expectations kind of blew up. And now magic's gone.

I do have something for LeBron in this spot. It's got to be a very, like you said, unnerving feeling to have. It's also interesting because, you know, the downside to come into the Lakers. In Cleveland, LeBron's the only player of note ever that anybody cares about. Right. Even if they lose, he's beloved. In Los Angeles, Kareem, Wilt, West, Magic, Kobe, Shaq, even the announcer, the late Chick-Hern. There's just a lot of stars in L.A.

this is the first time in LeBron's career. He's always been seen as the savior. He was the savior when he was drafted to Cleveland. They went to Miami. He was going to get him back to the promised land. Then he goes back to Cleveland. It's a weird spot for LeBron. And I think he's really struggled with this.

LeBron, people have bowed down to him. This is the first time people would be like, dude, it's L.A. There's a million guys in this market. Stars everywhere. NFL franchises. People aren't sucking up to LeBron like they've done and seen him as a savior. The bottom line now he's getting older, he's hurt. He doesn't have the pull to bring players in like we thought.

The franchise is a mess. And Kobe Bryant, if he wanted to, if he truly wanted to, could be his boss in 24 hours. I'm 100% with you. I mean, he's never been anywhere except for Cleveland where he's been bigger than the franchise. Because even in Miami, even though it was temporarily turned over to him, you had Wade. And a lot of Miami fans had more faith than Pat Riley in what he was going to do than what LeBron's plans for the franchise was. So it's got to be unnerving also to deal with that because you're going from Cleveland where you run everything and get to make all the decisions and calls for seemingly to L.A. where, like you said, I mean, you didn't even know magic was going to quit. And now you're in a spot where you don't know what the direction of the franchise is going to go.

Kobe could end up being your boss and trading you next week. Who knows? Well, not next week. But so, Ramon Foster, who was the most vocal of the Steelers locker room during the Levy on Bell saga, would now like ex-Stealers players to handle their issues privately instead of Aaron Foster. who was the most vocal of the Steelers' locker room during the Leveon Bell saga would now like ex-Steeler's players to handle their issues privately instead of airing out their frustrations on social media. He wrote on Twitter,

these media takes might give y'all good traffic on your social media outlets, but the guys still in the locker room who y'all still know personally have to answer for those comments. Enough, chill. Business is one thing, but let's keep it at a minimum

for the guys who have to answer for these comments. Now, Foster also had this to say about Levyon, on when all that was going on. Here's a guy who doesn't give a damn, I guess, so we'll treat it as such. I just hate it when it comes to this. He's making seven times what I made twice as much as Villanueva is making, and we're the guys who do it for him. Well, there was a lot of comments. A former stealer came out, said Ben was racist this week, and there is some, you know, some racial strife in former Steelers, now taking shots at Ben.

It's not great, but, you know, in the end, it's like Aaron Rogers. You've got to You've got to create some inertia going forward. So Aaron Rogers came out, defended himself, and creates momentum going forward. Big Ben's got to do the same. That's why. I don't know. I disagree. Like, I understand what Ramon Foster is saying here.

Like, there are still guys in the locker room we have to answer for what you're throwing out there. So just chill. Like, if you have a problem with someone, just pick up the phone and call. But what I thought that Rogers should have done is the same thing that I think that Rathesberger should do going into next season. Just take responsibility for everything. Nobody on earth believes that it's all your fault. So what does it hurt to just say, hey, I'm the quarterback of the franchise. I'm the one with the credentials.

I am responsible for some of these relationships deteriorating. It's on me at the end of the day. It never hurts to just take responsibility for it. Nobody's going to blame you. Everyone's still going to be able to see. We're all adults. We all know that there's responsibility on everyone. But it just deads the story.

It just shows some humility. And it clears the air. Like just stop. You can't. Every time you defunds, defend yourself in these situations, it just continues to snowball. I felt like that's what Rogers did. The bigger the claim you make against somebody, the more proof I demand.

If you tell me somebody's racist, I want video proof, I want document. You can say something stupid like, you know, he's grumpy and I'll take your word for it. But when you make these massive claims on people that stick forever, I want a little documentation because there are a lot of teammates in that locker room that do like, African Americans that do like him and support him. I'm very, just to throw the stuff out like they're, wow. That's a big thing that sticks. I don't require proof.

I'm not necessarily saying that that is who he is. Someone can have one experience with someone and have a different experience with the other. I'm not even getting into that specific comment. I'm saying that in general, the way to stop this story from continuing on and on and on and the same with Rogers. Just own it. Just say I messed up. Like, I didn't handle this all properly. Because the truth is he didn't.

And just take responsibility for it. And then it dies. Because what else can you say after that? No, you're still more wrong. Like, there's nothing else you can say. And it stops. Finally, time to see who's going places. Sponsored by Toyota.

Let's go places. 16-year-old phenom named John Luca Bousseoia. Just made MLS history as the youngest player to score in back-to-back games. Yeah, he's supposed to be a great young player. He plays for sporting Kansas City. Shout out to Wyndott County. He turned pro at age 15, and he was the youngest MLS signing since Freddie Adieu. 16-year-old kid is scoring in the American.

And I'm a season ticket holder. I have L-A-F-C. The idea that a 16-year-old kid can score in a professional league in America. In back-to-back games. It's like, come on. We got some good young soccer talent in this country. We really do. My entire life, we had posers.

We got real players now. Well, they play the New York Rebels on Sunday at 7 p.m. Eastern on FS1 if you want to check him out. That's exciting. Bright future. Cool, that's only like 18, and he's in Germany scoring goals. Now he's going to be in England. Joy with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by.

The Heard Lye News. By the way, Brett Farv said something yesterday that I thought was something that we used to absolutely believe nobody ever denied it. Brett Farv said this about Aaron Rogers yesterday, and I no longer believe this is true. Go ahead and roll the tape. absolutely no doubt that he's probably the most dynamic player in the game right now, maybe ever. You know, what a playmaker.

And any coach that will attempt to coach him has a tread lightly because you don't want to take away what he does so well, which is a lot of good thing and handcuff him and say, okay, well, I'm a raining man and I'm going to do this. And I'm not saying Mike did that. I'm not saying that the new coach will do that. But I'm just saying you've got to let him play. They really should have won more for whatever reason. and they didn't. They were that good and they had the best player in the game. I just felt like they

should have won more. I don't believe he's the most dynamic player. I think Patrick Mahomes now going forward is the most dynamic player. I don't think you can say that anymore. I think Russell Wilson, who doesn't get hurt, who is easier to coach, is the most dynamic player. I think that used to be true for years. I've always thought Aaron Rogers had two careers. 2008 comes in rookie, gets batted around. Then 2009, Super Bowl, 2011, 15, and won, 2012, really good. good. He was elite. He was special. He was the golden child. He was compared to Brady. And then 2013 to 2018 and now is his second career. 2013 broken collarbone. 2014 late in the year torn calf. 2015, 2016, good, not great. Two thousand 17, 18, hurt, hurt. And now going into the season with a lot

new rookie coach, baggage, increasingly brittle. I think Aaron's had two careers. But I don't buy into this. He's just, oh, he's the best. He has not aged well. Tom Brady, as he's aged, is healthier, more efficient, and smarter at the line of scrimmage. Aaron Rogers has aged. He's less durable and more difficult. And that's not disputable. That does not mean he's not talented. But I think Patrick Mahomes going forward is the most dynamic player in the league. And he's also got better weapons, a better head coach, a stronger arm he does. And he's got, you know, I think he's more talented. I think he's a little bigger, a little stronger, a little better athlete, Patrick Mahomes than Aaron Rogers.

I don't buy that anymore. I did. There was a time. But, you know, there's a reason why people in my business in radio. Some people don't age as well. Some people age really well. They take care of themselves. Some people don't. They get lazy. They don't take care of their body. They don't take care of their mind. They're not overly intellectually curious. I just don't think Aaron Rogers has aged particularly well. I think increasingly he's a little harder to coach. He's a little more brittle. And I think, I think, I don't think he is the most dynamic player in the league.

I think he's really, really good. Rob Parker around the corner, he'll yell at me. He always does. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific. Last night, a blown call changed the game. This morning, the internet lost its mind. Highlights are trending. Opinions are flying.

and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in. I'm Timbo. Every episode, we're cutting through the noise. Breaking down the plays, the controversies, and the stories behind the headlines. We go straight to the source, the athlete themselves, their locker room stories, their reactions,

the stuff nobody gets to hear. The laughs, the drama, the triumphs, the moments that never make the highlight real. From viral moments to historic games, from buzzer beaters to controversial calls, we break it down, give you context, and ask the questions everybody wants answered.

Sports Slice brings you closer to the action with stories told by the people who live them. Listen to Sports Slice on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Sliced Life 12 and the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. 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. Trip 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, Keer Gaines, as we have real conversations about healing, growth, fatherhood, pressure,

and purpose on my new podcast, learn the hard way. Open your free iHeartRadio app. Search Learn the hard way and listen now. Jacob Kingston grew up in an isolated polygamous sect. We were God's chosen kingdom on earth. He felt destined for greatness. So when a swaggering our meaning,

businessman, catapults Jacob into an extraordinary world. He doesn't look back. Ferraris and Lamborghinis, private jets, meeting the president of Turkey. I'm Michelle McPhee, and this is one of the most shocking criminal conspiracies I've ever come across. When Jacob met Levant, this went to a billion dollar fraud. But with two kings from entirely different worlds, just how long can their empire survive? The largest tax investigation in American history.

You need to tell me what you know. Is somebody coming after me? Jacob told, Levan, you're ruining my life. Listen to Kingdom of Fraud on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Life throws hurdles big and small. The question is, how do you conquer them? On Hurtle with Emily Abadi, we sit down with the most inspiring women in sports and wellness. professional athletes, coaches, and Olympic champions to talk about the challenges that shaped them

and the mindset that keeps them going. From the WNBA standout Kate Martin and rising hockey star Layla Edwards. If a boy can do it, I don't see why a girl can't. Like, I've never understood that. Like, it didn't make sense in my brain. It's hard to be in spaces that no one looks like you, but don't ever feel like you don't feel on. Don't let that be the reason you don't do it.

An Olympic champs Gabby Thomas and Katie Ledecki. The ability to show a gold medal to someone and have their face, light up and smile. That means the world to me. And that's what motivates me to win more gold medals. At our level, at this scale, like being able to fail in front of the entire world. Like, I can do anything. I can, like, I can do anything. Because resilience isn't just about winning. It's about showing up, even when it's hard. Listen to Hurtle with Emily Abadi on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Presented by Capital One, founding partner of IHeart Women's Sports. Tomorrow on FS1, we've got the Rockies and Giants at 4 Eastern,

followed by Robinson Canoe and the Mets taking on Freddie Freeman and the Braves. It's an MLB double-header tomorrow on FS1 and the Fox Sports app. Yeah, that freed kid's from L.A. Braves pitcher. Very good. Baseball Hall of Fame voter, by the way, Rob Parker's here to yell at me. Now, what is this nonsense, I hear? You're blaming Jeannie Bus for all the Lakers problems? Absolutely.

I don't blame Magic Johnson for people to really believe that Magic quit because he was afraid to fire Luke Walton. You don't buy into that at all. That goes with the business. We've all seen it happen. This was the same guy who wanted his coach fired his first year in the NBA, and now all of a sudden he's afraid to fire Luke Walton. Jeannie Bus basically said publicly that she was against it.

So once she zaps or takes away your power as an executive, what are you? She neutralized him. And he probably felt like he was betrayed. from the standpoint that you gave me the job to run basketball operations. I want to get rid of Rob Polinka. I want to get rid of Luke Walton. And boom, she's against it. So he quit.

That's what I would have done. And I don't care about that. That's why it seemed so abrupt. And, you know, like she had. Yeah, but he didn't even give her a heads up. I just think he was so mad that he was brought here to do this. And she wouldn't allow him. When you go against your, it's supposed to, an organization is supposed to have one voice.

So when the owner comes out and says she's not with this, what does that do to magic? It neutralizes them against not only the people outside of the NBA who knows that he's not running this, but people in the building who are now going to second-guess Magic's moves. So I get it. I got a new name for Jeannie Bus. It's Jeannie Bust with a TFD. Because her reign has been a bust. Here we are, six years, the last six years, the Knicks and the Lakers have the worst record in the NBA.

It's outrageous. Outrageous. And she runs the Lakers, Colin, like a mom and pop store. Everybody she hires has some connection or relationship. Rob Polinka was Kobe's agent, right? Kurt Ramis' wife is in the organization. You know, Magic was her dad's best friend. And part of it.

And this is what I'm trying to sue. Luke Walton is Phil Jackson's guy. They're all connected. You can't run an operation like that. So that's the problem. You don't fire people because you're connected to them. So you don't like my idea of Kobe taking over the Lakers? No way, no how.

Why? Look, what experience does he have? We just went through this. Kobe Bryant couldn't even get free ages to come its last three or four years. Nobody wanted to play. Do you remember when Dwight Howard gave up $30 million? rather than play with Kobe, I think it's a mistake. Go get you a real basketball executive who knows how to put together a team who's not

attached to all these people and run it like a business. This is a multi-million dollar business. Oh, it's a billion dollar business, all right? Run it like a business. You know that. You can't just have friends, Colin, friends and family members. This isn't Uncle Leo putting up stock of the shelves with cans. It's just not.

That's funny. Well, the whole thing is, I think, I said this. I think if I was Luke Walton and I looked at Sacramento's personnel and mine, I'd go be the Kings coach. Listen, you quit a job before. I've quit a job before. Yes. I used to work for the Washington State Park system.

I just quit. Just walked out. I just, I didn't like my boss. I said, I'm tired of scrubbing toilets. I quit. You quit a job before? Sure. Just quit.

Just quit. Decided that I didn't want to do it. And if I'm Luke, I look at Deerrin Fox, Marvin Bagley, Buddy Healed. But here's the only thing is, why would he quit when you have an owner? You just failed to make the playoffs with LeBron James, the best player on the planet. And she has your back. She just ran Magic Johnson, one of the most famous Lakers, out of the building for you.

Where are you going? He's golden. Would you really leave her? I don't like the situation they're in. I think the Lakers don't have any shooters in a shooters league. I think LeBron's one injury away from you've got a really bad contract on your hands. And you're not going to be able to get anybody to come join them. I think it's unlikely they land the top four players.

I don't think they're getting Kyrie, Clay, Kevin Durant, and Kauai. I don't. Brett Farve said Aaron Rogers is still the most dynamic player in the year. Apparently he didn't watch Chiefs games. Listen, Aaron's had two careers. The Super Bowl, the 15 and 1, everybody, you had to get through Aaron to get the Super Bowl in the NFC. The last six years, I got a collarbone, I got a torn calf, I got two. It's not the same Aaron Rogers.

I don't think he's as dynamic as Patrick Holmes. If Carson Wentz was healthy, I don't think he's as talented as him or Deshaun Watson. I think you've got to be real careful because when you're ready to crown Mahomes. Mahomes already, it was one year. Let's see after they're making a job. Let's see after they make an adjustment before you're ready to crown him. And in Seattle, I get Russell Wilson. People like him.

I love him. But he also threw a big pick in a tough situation that cost him a Super Bowl. He's won one Super Bowl, and I'm not knocking him. He's a really good quarterback. Aaron Rogers has the all-time quarterback rating in the history of anybody who ever played football. And he also has the best touchdown to interception ratio of anybody who's ever played the game. and he has had some bad breaks. Tom Brady went 10 years without winning.

10, 2004 to 2014. He's had some bad luck with injuries. If you told me he was completely healthy and he was in this situation, and I'm not even, also, he's had an awful defense so many times in those big games. And you just can't. That's fair. I've always thought that's Aaron often has to be the life preserve of the franchise. Yes.

because they give up 40 points or more in playoff games. I don't care who's the quarterback. You can't win when a team gives up that kind of. Brady's lost in the Super Bowl when he lost. Philadelphia scored, right? Then they score 40 points? Yeah. No, no, no.

The one argument for Aaron Rogers is, and I do think they've solved some of their defensive woes last year's draft and this year's free agency class, they gave him one or two great defenses, and he went 15 and one with one of them and won a Super Bowl. with another one. But there is a part of him, though. He's a little tougher to coach than he was seven years ago, and he's a little more brittle. Those are fair, aren't they? No, those had injury. He's not a big guy. He has been hers. And that's, I think that, but they're always in the mix

because even with their poor defenses and their teams not being that great, you remember a couple years ago, everybody on the roster was drafted, I think everybody but two players were drafted by the Packers. They didn't bring anybody from anywhere else. So he had to basically work with whatever he had, but Colin, he is the X factor. If he can stay healthy and they give him a decent defense, they're always in the mix for something to happen. I'm not writing them off. I'm telling you, Brady went those 10 years. Aaron Rogers is a young 35. Remember, he sat his first three or four years for Brett Farth, so he's not as old football years-wise.

By the way, I only have 30 seconds. Alex Guerrero, Brady's trainer, said he's going to play until he's 50. Please, stop it. Is Guerrero giving him something that we don't know? I mean, I'm 50. Did you watch him in the Super Bowl? Tom Brady looked every bit like 40. No touchdowns.

One pick, one fumble. He was awful in the Super Bowl. He was so bad, Colin, that they gave a wide receiver the MVP who didn't even score a touchdown. Brady was bad. That was a parting gift he got at age 40, that Super Bowl. Have a good weekend, buddy. Rob Parker, the FS1 Instigator, hour three next. One more heard.

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. Ah, on a Friday live in L.A., here we go. This is The Herd, wherever you may be and however you may be listening. IHeart Radio, Fox Sports Radio and FS1. I had a great night last night. Gonzaga basketball coach Mark Few hung out with him last night. Had so much fun.

So knowledgeable. AAU, college basketball, NBA, he coached USA Basketball. I love sitting down and picking the brain of somebody that knows a lot about something. Go to dinner with like an NFL GM or a top basketball coach. You just pick their brain. Ever steak and beer? Pork chop. Pork chop.

And beer. Interesting. You know, it's hard to beat that. In fact, we both had pork chops. That was great. A good pork chop is hard to find, but it's great. Okay. By the way, MDrive supplement. Use it every day. Stronger, more energy drive. Go to mDrive for men.com. Refine your prime with MDrive, 20% off.

Yeah. So that was part of my night last night. Big weekend. If you're into golf, Bickleson, Tiger, this weekend, Masters, and also obviously NBA playoffs. Then next week, the NFL unveils its schedule, which I love next week. And then I would say late next week, we start moving in to the NFL draft. I have Will Blackman coming up in 15 minutes. NFL player. One of my guys stops by the show is we got all sorts of rumors about players moving around now. So that's 15 minutes. And best for last. Remember I did quarterback face? It was kind of a disaster. Where I picked the NFL playoffs just based on the best quarterback. Nothing else. We called it quarterback face. How'd you do on that? Not great. My staff believes we're going to try it one more time. We've done it twice. It's been a disaster When so well the first time. The first time, it was the worst.

Second time it was slightly better than awful. Oh, well, third times of time. Staff says we've never tried it with basketball in the NBA. So we're going to do our NBA face bracket. Playoff, face off. You pick the best player slash face. And that's just go over there. So that's coming up.

All right. Magic Johnson, big story, stepped down earlier this week. You know that. It was crazy for about 36 hours in Los Angeles. And I've been thinking a lot about who would replace him. And it started with something Lakers reporter Bill Orem, Athletic, told me on yesterday's show. There's always been an angst about the way things ended with LeBron. Obviously, left the Lakers in the prime of his career.

There are two circles there that I think he could close kind of in this final chapter of his career. If you're Jeannie Bus, he would check two boxes. One, he has seasoned, he has shown he can do the job. He is admired. He's a Hall of Famer. and he also does check the box of Jeannie values, which is being a member of the Lakers family. Okay.

He's talking about Pat Riley. And I said, Phil Jackson, Jerry West, Pat Riley, let's not live our life through the rear view mirror. Those guys are way, I mean, you look in your rear view mirror with those guys, you can barely make them out. I want to throw out Kobe Bryant. He's not really in the rear view mirror. If he is, he's in the backseat of the car.

He's really close to be in the front seat of the car. I'm going to throw a couple things at you, and I want you to think about. To be a star in the NBA ego matters, guys keep score. Michael Jordan's Hall of Fame speech. Guys get petty. They keep score. All of them. The good guys, the bad guys.

Dr. Jay, current, they keep score. Kobe keeps score. Magic is the most popular Laker in Los Angeles. Kobe is second. But if Kobe replaces the apparently. incompetent face of the franchise Lakers and succeeds, oh, Kobe's Gravitas grows over Magic in this city. Kobe is uniquely built to run a franchise.

Unlike Magic, Kobe's a grinder and always has been. He's not into Hollywood projects. He can do them and succeed, but if he cared about Hollywood like LeBron does, then he'd live up near Hollywood. Kobe lives an hour and a half south. his entire career. He had no interest in getting all connected to Hollywood. He's not into it. That's not who he is. He can do it, but he's not immersed in it. Magic's done a couple of Hollywood things. He's not immersed in it. He's built for

international scouting his Kobe. Grew up in Italy, speaks multiple languages, revered in Europe. Also, Turkish airline's been the spokesman. He's revered internationally. He sold more shoes in China than Yao Ming. I'm not joking. Kobe is a global figure. He sold shoes everywhere. Grew up in Italy. Knows the foreign game.

Knows the European game. And whereas magic is somebody I grew up idolizing, the current free agents, guys available, Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, Kauai Leonard,

they didn't grow up idolizing magic. They grew up idolizing Kobe Bryant, as Rick Buecker on the show yesterday pointed out. You and I remember Magic as the legendary player. Players in the league today think of them as a part owner of the Dodgers and movie theaters and business executive and look at what he did post career. He's not beholden to them. And now the big elephant in the room, LeBron James.

Jeannie Bus owns the Lakers and is concerned this is no great secret of handing the franchise over to Clutch Sports and LeBron James. If they sign Anthony Davis, Anthony Davis, LeBron, two biggest stars, clutch sports, she's handed the franchise to LeBron. What is LeBron James' worst nightmare? Kobe Bryant is his boss with the power to trade LeBron. with the power in Los Angeles, much more popular, to shrink LeBron. Kobe Bryant idolized by Kauai Leonard. Jeannie Bus is also deeply concerned about the clippers getting Kauai over the Lakers. Who was Kauai's favorite player growing up?

It was not magic. Kobe Bryant takes the job. His best friend, it should be noted. Kobe's best friend is Rob Polinka. who would stick around if Kobe got the job. Think about this. He's built to do this. Kobe's too smart to be hanging around doing silly Hollywood projects for the next 20 years.

He's a complete and utter grinder. He's not in the rear view mirror like Riley, Phil Jackson, Jerry West. He's in the back seat. You can see him in the rear view mirror, but he can get right out of the car and take over the wheel. He's smart. He's built for international scouting. this is the best free agent summer or tied for the best in a decade. He'd have his right-hand man Rob Polinka and he's family.

And Jeannie Bus is very and should be concerned about handing the franchise over to LeBron, Clutch Sports and Anthony Davis. And how do you keep LeBron in line? Kobe walks in already more powerful with the opportunity to move him. I think it's real. Kyrie Irving and Kobe have a real relationship. Kauai Leonard and Kobe, it's a real thing. I think it's real. I think it needs to be discussed.

I don't think this is crazy. I'm not a rear-view mirror guy. I always say, come on, use the windshield. Kobe, look at him. He looks young. He thinks young. He's a grinder. International connection.

By the way, I was told Jerry West, who's now in the Clipper team loved competing against Magic. Loved it. Stole Zubach from him. Kobe Bryant knows what Jerry West knows what Kobe's about. Kobe's about work.

You're not throwing any 78 mile an hour off-speed pitches past Kobe Bryant. You think it's nuts, don't you? I know what you do. If Kobe even has an inkling to ever do this, it is the perfect time.

He can replace Magic, who was a disaster. He'll have power over LeBron. Don't kid yourself, it matters. It's a great free agent summer and his best friends already in the building. And by the way, Jeannie Bus, it should be noted, already chose Kobe over Magic. Because one of the reasons Magic left is because Jeannie would not let him fire both Luke Walton and Rob Polenka. so Jeannie already chose Kobe's opinion over magics. I'm going to tell you something.

If Kobe took this team over and had power over LeBron, they should create an NBA hard knocks. Flaker should be the first team on it. I want to be in the building. I hear this. Oh, Kobe's not interested. Oh, really? So then why is he constantly in communication with Rob Polinka?

Why isn't he out, you know, playing golf and driving? drinking coronas in Newport and doing hot. Because Kobe's still into it. Kobe knows the NBA, loves the NBA, knows personnel. You think I'm crazy. You just write this off. Uncle Crazy Uncle Colin. I don't think it's nuts.

I do think Kobe also has the, what's called edge that you need to make the tough decisions that magic did not want to do. All right. So go ahead. Fire away. I'm crazy. I'm nutty. I'm just saying I could actually endorse this.

Kobe's a grinder. Kobe goes home and he's sitting there. I don't know Kobe that well, but I know enough people that do know him. Kobe's all business. Kobe's too smart to worry about goofy Hollywood projects for the next 30 years. You know, I'm going to retract something.

This is not even a crazy idea. It's the only reasonable idea. I just had to throw that out there. It is kind of a crazy idea. Will Blackman, former Packer, is going to stop by. Also, former Giant. I heard something last night about the New York Giants. NFL draft is in about two weeks.

What's the date today, Joy? Today's April 12th. Oh, okay, so two weeks out. And I heard something about the Giants, not into Dwayne Haskins as much as the media thinks they're into Dwayne Haskins, the quarterback at Ohio State. Dwayne Haskins seems like he's slipping a little bit. It's interesting how the perception from the media doesn't align with what a lot of people

are saying in the NFL. I was told by somebody a couple weeks ago in the NFL, he makes enough throws at Ohio State that he's an NFL quarterback, but he doesn't make a ton, three or four a game, five, because all the routes, the drag routes, a lot of those yards are puffed off by great receivers at Ohio State. So we'll talk to Will, former giant, former Packer. 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. Discover card alert you if they find your social security number on some of those risky websites out there. It's free for card members. Sign up. Discover.com slash free alerts. Limitations apply. He played for a decade in the NFL,

won a Super Bowl with a Giants in 20, 11, initially drafted by Green Bay. By the way, I want to show our audience something. You and I have a lot in common. So come over here briefly. So he came over before and he said, hey, what up? And here's what up? And here's what we do? Oh, that's it.

Keep it simple, right? In L.A., there's a lot of that. Keep it simple. But what did people in L.A. do? It's the pound and then all that stuff. You and I are not into that. It's impossible to say hello to anyone in Los Angeles. It's very impossible.

Because everyone is from a different place and everyone. has a different way of saying hello. Miami is the easiest place to say hello to anyone because everyone says the same thing. The professional athletes who are germaphoves, they just pound. Yeah, I'm about to start doing that. Yeah. Because it's just, it's too complicated.

In Miami, everyone says hello, the air kiss. Is it what they do in Miami? Is it the first time meeting someone or if it's family? I lived there. You're right, yeah. Everyone, there's no question about it. It's one side. It's not both sides.

All right. Literally everyone. Anyhow, anyhow, let me shift to this. So you were drafted initially by Green Bay out of Boston College. McCarthy's first year. So you got the end of Brett and the beginning of errand. You were there five years? I was there.

Yeah, well, four and I got released in 10, technically. So, you know, I didn't think Brett aged great. I thought he got a little stubborn. Whereas Brady's like, I always feel Brady and Breeze are kind of constantly reinventing themselves a little. Well, when you draft your replacement, yeah. So you thought you could sense the. little bit of animosity with Farvin Rogers. I didn't sense any animosity.

Not so much with Farvin Rogers. It was more so far than probably Ted Thompson, maybe Farvin McCarthy. Because they're the guys who want to get him out. Oh, they try to jazzy Jeff him. Fresh Prince, throw them out the front door. Really? Possibly, yeah.

Now, I have... Which was surprising because we literally just went to the NACC championship game, which was a difficult loss. When Farve left the building and Aaron came in... Yeah. What was it like? You know what, though? We honestly, we didn't blink because what we saw in practice, with Aaron, we knew what was up.

It was really cool because in practice, with the ones, you went against Favre. The two, you went against Aaron Rogers. So we went out there in Game Day. It was like, you're not better at our number two. No one is. So good luck. Aaron just got kind of whacked in an article by Tyler Dunn. I mean, he had a lot of people.

people come out and whack him and say, listen, he's part of this McCarthy thing. He's hard to coach. He froze receivers. How did that all land for you? For me, it was, it was just crazy because it's almost like you have people who have a dry sense of humor, you know? I like shows like Kirby enthusiasm. Right. I like, I have dry humor. So sometimes people don't get me. I have a lot of people say, hey, well, you have a really good poker face. We don't know if you're serious or not. We don't know if you're mad at us or not. We don't know. And with Rogers, yeah, he could be sarcastic, but in a fun way. Some people may not like the joking. He and I, we always, you know, mess with each other and would always tease each other and have that kind of humor. Yeah, but you're a

Boston college guy. He's a cow guy. You're a couple of brain dudes. We're brain dudes. That's why? Boston College, like a brain school, so it's Berkeley. So the smart guys got each other. Because I've talked to guys, Aaron can be quick. And sometimes, by the way, sometimes Fav didn't like it. Yeah. Now, we heard, we heard stuff about Rogers the whole time. What really called me off guard was Coach McCarthy getting massages. Like, what, like, what is this? So that in the article surprised you. Yeah, because Coach McCarthy, when he got there, especially his personality, he's all about like integrity. And I remember his very first meeting, he told everyone, he said, conflict is good. He said, if we have conflict in the building, it's good because we're

trying to understand each other. You know, so he promoted like, hey, let's figure it out. Because we're a team, we're a family. Let's figure it out to get on the same page. And he was always disciplined in terms of what he wanted as a team. So in terms of him leaving meetings to get massages. First of all, there's only like three massage problems in Green Bay, first of all, unless it changed. I haven't been there in a while. Yeah.

So that's surprising me. And I guess to his defense, I know on Fridays, every team I've been on, the days are ended early. And sometimes coaches will turn it over to the players to have a player's meeting and, you know, go over some stuff. and there are massage tables available in the training room. Sometimes, yeah, coaches will go down there. But that's... That in the story was the crazy part to you. It was.

Because it seemed like he didn't care. And that's so far from who he was as a coach. And for him to have that personality, they're not going to be that successful if that was the case. I want to talk about... There's been a lot of criticism of Ben this offseason. Now, you never played for the Steelers. You played for the Packers, the Giants, the Jags, and the Redskins.

some racial comments about Ben is not. I saw that. Those are big comments. Anytime you drop the R word, it's a massive deal. It's a big thing. What do you make of it? Ramon Foster came out and said, like, you guys, a lot of this stuff is great for you, radio talk show hosts, but there's a lot of people in the building that like him.

Just what do you make of all that? Is it possible? You know, I mean, Antonio Brown's hard for me to figure out. I think he just wants the football, and Juju Smith-Schuster was a little bit of a threat. And that happens in all workplaces. It just happened everywhere. Levian Bell, I know a little bit about Avian. I still can't quite get my arms around what happened to him.

The tweet I saw was, was Shaw Mendenhall, the former runnerback of the Steelers. That's where I initially saw that. What do you make of those comments? I think it's unnecessary. Like, what is it going to do? Like, what are you trying to say? What is it? I don't know.

That doesn't make any sense to me in that regards. You know, only thing I can make sense of it is maybe they just didn't have a relationship with that player, a good relationship. with that person. Did you ever play with a player that did divide a locker room? I mean, you said you and Aaron clicked. Aaron's got a little bit of big band where maybe there's some guys in the locker room that aren't the biggest fans.

Michael Finley did not get along with Aaron from the 18 times he's called him out. Now, on a small scale, this was, there was no rivalry at all. But I know when we had Donald Driver, who was our guy, and then Greg Jennings emerged, you know, I can tell like, hey, Donald, Donald had to stay on his game. He said, I need to stay in my game to be successful because, you know, some of my passes are going over here to this guy. I had a great relationship with Favre and Favreth throwing, you know, hell, merry overtime touchdowns to Greg.

How about this with the Steelers and the Packers? How about this? Not everybody in the locker room gets along. Not everyone in the locker room gets along. But at the end of the day, when we line up on Sundays, we figure out and get it done. I mean, there were so much things, there were so many things going on in the Redskins locker room, you know, with everyone with like a sware-indro or whatever was going on. But they were still a good team.

When you were with the Giants and won your Super Bowl, was it a tight locker room? Our locker room was solid. We had leaders all over. Best locker room you were ever in? Best locker room by far. Why? Because we had leaders in every single room. Give me him.

Well, in the offense, we had, you know, obviously Eli was one of our leaders. We had David Deal, Sean O'Neher, we had Chris Ney on defense. We had Tuck, O.C.U. Minerrae. Boy, those are good dudes. Those are good dudes. Yeah, Chase Blackburn. I mean, we just had solid guys. And Coach Coughlin, he had a leadership committee where he would meet with those guys.

And he's like, hey, whatever you guys can't handle, sure, bring it to me. But you guys let me know what's going on. We want me to change. And you guys handle it. And literally, if you slipped up, everybody held you accountable. Like, you might get beat up if you, you know, disobey or don't follow our rules. You know, so that's what kept our locker room extremely tight because we had guys who truly held each other accountable. And nothing really got to Coughlin unless it got out of our control.

I want to go to Arizona. There's a story out today. They're already negotiating with Kyler Murray. I think Joy brought this up a month ago. I thought it was a really good point where she said, part of having a young quarterback is building an optimism from your fan base, your advertisers, your locker room. If you don't make the move now with Kyler, I mean, it's almost like,

oh, we got Josh Rosen going into the season. It almost feels like Arizona has to make a move, right? They have to. I feel like last year they were in position where we have to get a. quarterback, especially when he's there. He was there. Josh was there. We have to go get him. They didn't know they were going to pick number one this year. They didn't know that, you know, this guy was going to light it up. Kyle Murray's going to light up and be available. So, I mean, they're doing all their due diligence. I mean, something great. Like a few years ago,

the Patriots, they brought in Mansell for a visit just to do their due diligence on him. I wouldn't be surprised if they took him and held on to two quarterbacks. Really? And figure out what's going to happen. Yeah, I wouldn't be surprised. You know, I've seen Seattle when they signed Matt Flynn to a deal, they drafted Russell and had them duked it out. And then they traded Matt Flynn to the Raiders. You know, I look at the Redskins, they got Robert first round and they got Kirk in the fourth. Yeah. But it usually means really bad news for somebody.

No, it does, but it's still, I mean, it's on a different skill because you're looking at two first round quarterbacks back to back. I understand that. But nothing surprised me anymore. Nothing at all. It's really interesting. RG3 was the runner. Kirk Cousins was the quarter was that. But the pocket guy won.

In this one, you've got, I mean, Josh and Kyler are completely different quarterbacks. Completely different. Matt Flynn and Russell were completely different. So Seattle chose the athletic guy. Yep. Washington chose the pocket guy. So you can go either way on this. But Russell can stand in the pocket.

Oh, no, he can. Yeah, yeah. But they made that decision early in his career where he's a much better pocket guy now than six years ago. I mean, he was moving around a lot. He was a young kid. He was learning the offense. Well, the cool thing about Russell is that he asked a lot of questions early. He asked a lot of questions, like, to me in terms of like, what do I got to do to take care of?

How did you know him? Well, I was there during training camp, just training camp. I didn't play a full season, but I was there in training camp in like 13. For Seattle. For Seattle. Yeah, and he always asked questions to all the veterans. Like, how do I take care of my body? He would, you know, he idolized guys like Drew Blee.

Like, how do I stay healthy? How do I do this? He's always trying to get better and improve himself. He's never satisfied. And I think that's why he's able to be durable and last along and be successful. successful. Finally, Alex Guerrero says Tom Brady would play until he's 50. Now, let's take away, because you're different, because when you're a corner, you're a secondary guide, it really comes down to speed. Can you cover? So guys just get slower as they get older. Quarterbacks different. Physically, how long could you have played? Again, if your speed was the same, let's say you just, you were the, like Daryl Green played forever because he was still fast. Because he ran a four, three at 50. Yeah. Like for you, but the time you were done with football, were you done with football? I'm still not done with football.

Honestly, someone asked me the other day, they said, if somebody called you right now, would you go? I said, I'd probably entertain it. I could go right now. I'm still good. You played two years ago with Redskins, six a bunch of games. Yeah. So you'd go today? I could go right now, no question. So you miss football? Oh, I would always miss football. I would always miss football because it was my childhood dream to play it.

I'm not that guy like, oh, I don't need it anymore. I don't like it. That drives me crazy, by the way, when people say that. Because there are guys like me who, like, that's what I wanted to do. That's what I love. So, yeah, I will always miss football. But I feel like Tom can because I'm a huge boxing fan, right? And I love like Bernard Hopkins. Bernard Hopkins fought at 52 years old.

God. Okay. That's incredible. Right? So I look at that. I'm like, sure, Tom, especially nowadays, first of what, Tom protects himself. You know, I think between him and Rogers, he played a hundred more games in Aaron. It was only sacked probably 60 more times.

You know, and that just shows to him. He knows how to protect himself, get rid of the football. And also his diet, you know, being to stay healthy, and he's figured that out. You know, NBA guys are now going to this no meat diet thing. That's not happening. I can't do it. I love Brazilian steakhouses. I had a pork shop last night.

Why not? My favorite thing in the world to eat. Was it shake and bake? No, but I've done that a lot. It was a restaurant, pork shop. I'll tell you, my favorite thing in the world to eat is a hamburger. No doubt. A great grilled burger.

Fries and milkshake all day. The American meal. It's the best thing in the world. What are you doing after this? No kidding. I think you owe me a few meals. I actually do all your couple. I do all your burger.

I'm serious. You look tight today, by the way. Appreciate it. You know what? I was going to dress casual like you and just be chill, but, yeah, Marcus Smith are seeing direct the talent relations. He doesn't like that. He was like, listen.

Well, you better come in a tuxedo today, at least a tuxedo. And I was like, you know what, I'll wear a tie. I like how you, Marcus. You look tight. Yeah, people upstairs, they like everybody. I'm like the only guy in the company allowed to look like a slob. You got the FAR rule. This is a little more casual than he usually.

You have the FAR rule. You had to wear a suit on the plane, and Farv showed up with his wranglers and a button up. And so McCarthy was like, listen, all right, guys, you guys can wear wranglers and button ups. There's a FAR rule. It was a FAR rule. So you get the FAR rule. I'm FARV. Little uncoachable.

A little grumpy at the age. There you go again. Uncoachable. What is this? Brad was a little uncoachable at the end. A little uncoachable. No, he wasn't. What are you going to say to a guy who's been there for 365 years?

Do some jumping jacks to win football games. And he did. He showed up. He never missed a game. You don't think he was a little uncoachable? A little bit of an ego? Rightfully so. When you drive down 41 and you have your own street, you have your number,

on the biggest barn in Green Bay. Yeah. You're going to have a little ego. You get to park under the stadium next to Ted Thompson. Yeah, he didn't park with us. Really? Oh, yeah, Barb. Yeah, you didn't park with us.

He parked underneath the stadium. Under the stadium, yep. He was football Lord, man. That's pretty cool. Good to see anybody. You too, man. Have a great weekend. Joy with the news.

There we go. I forget where I am half the time. This is the herd line news. All right, this is like a quick update before we get to the news. news. Paul George is day to day, according to Billy Donovan with his shoulder. Time out. Can't just throw that out there like nothing.

Breaking news. This has just come out. So he's they did not say if he's going to play game one. Is he out of the series? But he's day to day. He said he participated mentally in practice. That doesn't mean anything to me. I participate mentally all day on this show. I'm not on the air.

He did not do much contact and practice and they wouldn't speculate either way if he will be available for game one. He better be available. He better be available. Holy me. That's a big old thing. So we will watch that and keep that updated. But as right now he just didn't he at the game when he shot against the rockets? His shoulder. God, that would be a terrible break. Yes, it would be awful. Yes. So we're hoping that he gets right before the playoffs start. So Serge Abaka also moonlights as a chef. He has a YouTube show, How Hungry Are You? And his teammate, Kauai Leonard, recently made an appearance and

had a little reveal. Okay. Bro, are you coming back? Next year? What type of question is that, dude? It's a question. We'll see after the seasons up. Are you coming back?

I said I don't know yet. You don't know yet? He's very- Calli is so great. If you just appreciate what he is, he's so great. Yes, if you just... And he has no reason to answer that question. No reason at all.

There's no reason to paint himself in a corner, and then he says he's staying. and he ends up leaving. Whatever happens with the Raptors in the playoffs, I think will determine whether he stays or not. I don't think any guys who are entering the free agent market have made any decisions about what they're doing. Except for maybe Clay Thompson is probably saying.

First round of the east is garbage, but second round of the Eastern Conference is going to be great. First round is going to be, I got to watch it, but it's going to be tedious. I had a career high this year too, so it wouldn't be a bad situation for him to stay in Toronto if that's what he decides to do. So if Luke Walton gets fired as the head coach of the Lakers, he may stay in Cali, according to Sam Amique of the athletic.

Wallen is clearly the frontrunner for the King's head coaching job. They fired their coach David Yeager yesterday. So Monty Williams and Spurs' assistant Edra Messina are also candidates. I don't think that Luke Walton is going to be fired from the Los Angeles Lakers. You think he should just go and quit. I think if I was Luke Walton, I would strongly consider going to a franchise where I have support and that's Sacramento. I think you should go in your life, in your professional career.

I don't give advice. Here's my opinion. Go to places that want you. I mean, hasn't Jeannie shown that she wants him? Apparently, she gave Magic the go ahead to whack him. There's a lot of different versions of the story about what happened with magic, which I'm sure we will find out eventually, maybe in like a 30 for 30 one day. Why can't a coach leave before he gets fired in this league?

I'm not saying he shouldn't leave. I'm just saying that I don't think he's completely unsupported. reported there. In my opinion, I think Jeannie should just completely clean house. And I'm not against the whole calves of the West thing either because LeBron was a temporary fix to begin with. You didn't bring LeBron in

to build for the future. So why wouldn't you do what you need to do now to put the pieces around LeBron to make him successful? And Luke, by the way, is the opposite personality of Dave Jorger, who's more intense. He's kind of an smart, intense guy. Luke's kind of chill. I'm telling you.

I don't think it would be a bad fit in Sacramento. I think he would be a good fit in Sacramento. I'm saying for the Lakers, you still have Polinka there who has a lot of power and influence. So I just think that just put the pieces in place and make LeBron work and then build for the future after LeBron leaves because you didn't bring LeBron here to build a 10-year dynasty to begin with. Finally, we talked about this just a few minutes ago. Tom Brady has defied the odds leading the pages to their sixth title during his season at the age of 41. He became the oldest starting quarterback to win a Super Bowl. And despite he saying he has has plans to play until his 45.

His trainer, Alex Guerrero, recently said he doesn't dismiss the idea of Brady playing until he's 50. Guerrero said, I mean, why not? I'm a big believer that everything is learned behavior. I don't think the brain understands the concept of time. It doesn't understand age. How would your brain know your whatever age you are? I always tell Tom, we're going to tell our body what we want it to do.

I know how Tom feels every day. He says, I don't have any soreness. I'm ready to play again. This sounds a lot like when I was little and I would have my brother and sister stretch me so that I would grow. in my mind, I'm going to be taller. Oh, you were a small kid? Yeah, I was always on the run of my family, for sure.

Yeah. Well, I think what he's saying is you tell your mind can tell your body what to do. There are limitations. My mind tells me to do a 360 dunk, and I couldn't. I do believe that you have the ability to create your own reality, and having control over your mind is very, very important. And you can manifest things within your own body. Like, you can make yourself sick.

So also thinking healthy while also doing things that make you healthy, in turn, will make you more healthy. Like, that's just, that's really not that crazy of a concept. Positive, optimistic people tend to live longer and are healthier. Sure. Yeah. However, I think this is a great idea, and I fully encourage it. I think Tom Brady should play until he's 60, actually.

I think the Patriots should keep Tom Brady as a starting quarterback until he is 60 years old. I'm here for it. I think he'll be wonderful. And I'm really just saying this because the Patriots have. have ruined the dreams of every team in the AFC East for the past 20 years, and the AFC for that matter. So I think for any Patriots haters, this is the best case scenario. He's not going to play until he's 50.

It's just not going to happen. God. And I never call the end of Tom Brady's career because I think that's silly when people have been doing it for the past like eight years and he keeps coming back and winning. But 50 is a lot. That's nine years from now. I know.

It's not going to happen. I wish, but it's not. Joy with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The Hurd Lye News. Okay, we're going to do our playoff face-off in Best for Last. I pick faces.

I go to every series and pick the face. It was a disaster in football. But I think it works in basketball. I'm going to make every pick in the NBA playoffs all the way to the championship. That is 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.

Will Blackman, Rob Parker, Sam Amick, and Chris Broussard today, it's great. Now, in the past, I did this thing called the face bracket with the NFL. It's a disaster that I picked who I thought was the best quarterback to win all the NFL playoffs the last two years. First year, it was a disaster. Last year, it was not great. And then I was thinking the staff said, we like your face bracket. Even though it was a complete dumpster fire, we like it where you just pick the best play. of every team.

And in basketball, the best player generally, I thought it mattered with quarterbacks, but in the NBA, it's mostly a star-driven league. So we're going to do playoff face-off, where I pick each series based on who I believe the best player is, and I think it gives you exactly what I've been predicting all year. It just happened to work. Little NBA music, let's start.

First round, Janice of the Bucks, best player for them, against Blake Griffin for the Pistons, best player for them. Blake has had an exceptional year, maybe the third or fourth best player in the east. I would take Yonnas. More dominant player at the rim, better defensive player, so I'll go with Yonis in the first round winning, my first face pick. And then Kyrie against Demontas, Sabonis, Celtics, and Pacers. In that, I would pick Kyrie.

Sabonis is actually an underrated player, but I'd take Kyrie and the Celtics. then Joel M. Bede and the Sixers, DeAngelo Russell Nett, two best players. Mbid may not play game one, but he's a better player, absolutely more dominant than DeAngelo Russell. I'll take the Sixers. And then Kauai against a Nikola Vucevic of the Magic, Raptors Magic, Kauai is a better player. So I've got Yonis, Karee, and Kauai. Those are my picks in the Eastern Conference. Second round, Janus against Kairi.

Now, I know what you're thinking. Well, Janice is the MVP. But you're talking about playoff basketball here. Playoff, Kyrie. Big shots in playoff game, Kyrie. Ball in your hands, two minutes to go, Kyrie. I take Kyrie over Janus. I'm not talking 82 games regular season.

I'm talking late game. Games are close on the road at home. Who hits the shot? Kyrie over Janus. And then I'm going to take Kauai Leonard over Mbed. Because again, late in game. three-point shots, health. Now I have in the Eastern Conference,

Kauai Leonard Raptors, and Kyrie Irving Celtics. And my pick is, the winner is Kyrie Irving. I believe the Celtics, in my face bracket, Kyrie goes to the finals. Let's go to the West. Kevin Durant against Lou Williams,

Warriors Clippers, obviously taking KD. Good year for the Clippers and Lou Williams, though. James Hardin against Donovan Mitchell, Rockets Jazz. Taking James Hardin. Damian Lillard Blazers against Paul George Thunder. I'm taking Paul George.

Love Damian Lillard, but Paul George, he had for about 60 games in MVP season. And Nicola Yokic of the Nuggets against Demar Derozen, I'll take Yokic. Does more things well than Dermar Derozen, so I'm going to take the Nuggets over the Spurs. That leaves me with Durant against Hardin. I take Kevin Durant. That leaves me Paul George. O KC against the Nuggets. Yokic, I'm going to take Paul George.

And then Warrior Stunder, Durant, Paul George, I take Durant. That leaves me with Kevin Durant against Kyrie Irving in my playoff face-off bracket. And I will take the multiple-time NBA finals MVP, Kevin Durant. So look at the bracket. Any disruptions there? Now, I know what you're going to say. You took Kyrie over Yanis. I'm talking.

This is a playoff bracket. I like the guy who's hit big shots, who's won a title, who's got playoff experience, who's one of the best free throw shooters, maybe the best two-hand clothes are in the league, left or right. That's what I have.

I have the Celtics, and I have Kevin Durant. And I think Kevin Durant's the best player. I was talking, I can't even tell that story. It's so good. I think, I mean, this works better for NBA

because the NBA is a star-driven league. So the best player on any team is going to have a lot more impact than a quarterback will. So this is a safer way to do it, I think. Because Warrior Celtics Finals is not that edgy. I think that's what you predicted in the beginning of the season. Yeah, I predicted the Celtics. But you did pick the Celtics to win.

I picked the Celtics to beat the Warriors. I thought situationally, and I also said caveat. Steph Curry and Kevin Durant have had their injury issues. Draymond Green is dissolving a little bit. deteriorating a little bit as a player. You had some chemistry stuff. But they did a really good job. They barely played Kevin Durant in the last 10 games.

He's rested, ready to go. Durant is so good. Two weeks ago, I talked to somebody in the NBA who coached for, you know, like USA basketball. He was just saying, he goes, like, people understand. Like, he watched Kevin Durant at a USA basketball thing. He said, Kevin Durant's so much better than even other all-stars in the NBA. He's like, he's so much.

better. Kevin Durant is, I don't even know why anybody would get pushback. Kevin's the best player in the NBA right now. That's that. I don't think that there's too much pushback on that right now, especially after LeBron's season. Like, who are you saying is better? Well, I think people, there's a lot of Janus. There's a lot of Hardin. I think Hardin's become actually overvalued initially in his career. I think he's undervalued now. It's amazing how many players don't think he's any better or worse than Russell Westbrook. It's like, timeout, time out, time out. Hardin is absolutely separated from Westbrook. He's the best one-on-one player in the league. He's best score. He's a great shooter, great free throw shooter. You can't stop him.

He can shoot. Yonnes and Hardin are incredible players. Yonahs has an MVP season. Hardin was MVP last year. There's no arguing that. But again, once you start comparing skill levels, it's the amount of winning at the highest level that you've done that I think separates you when you have the conversation about the best player in the league. How about if I said to you eight second rule, eight seconds, game seven of the NBA, tie game eight seconds. Name the players in order you want to have the ball. I would go. KD. Hardin, Steph.

I don't even know if I would go Hardin. Not with some of the things that we've seen go on in the playoffs with Hardin. I would go Katie, Steph, Kauai. Eight second rule. Eight seconds, game seven, tied. Who do you want the ball? It's Kevin Durand. It's not Yonet.

Yonis is not one of the top five there. I take LeBron over Yonis. I've seen LeBron. Yeah. Good stuff. Nice week. Crazy week. Crazy week.

Crazy week. See you Monday. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind. And nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where SportsSlice comes in. I'm Timbo. And every episode, we're cutting through the noise,

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