The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Kyrie Irving, Russell Westbrook, LeBron James, and the Lakers

Episode Date: February 27, 2019

Colin explains why G Kyrie Irving might not be with the Boston Celtics for long, why he feels Oklahoma City Thunder G Russell Westbrook overreacted towards a fan, and the continuing problems with the Los Angeles Lakers and F LeBron James. Guests include Albert Breer, Steve Keim, Chris Haynes, and Alexi Lalas. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and Friends on the I-Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. What's up, guys? This is Clivert Taylor the Fourth. And on my podcast, The Clivert Show, I'm bringing you conversations about all kinds of stuff. Like being an internet famous referee. We're in the middle of a game. This linebacker, this linebacker walks up to me. He goes, hey, ref, my mom wants you to wave at her.

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What's up, fam? It's Isaiah Thomas. And I'm C.J. Toledano. It's our favorite time of the year on our podcast point game, the playoffs. We're digging into the biggest surprises of the season. And I'm looking back on some of my greatest playoff moments. If we didn't talk ever again, I was harmed. You just understood. That's how personal it got.

Wow. Then after that game seven, Markeep coming to him, he's like, you know I love you, dog. You know, it's all love. This was just playoffs. This was just basketball. So listen to Point Game on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Thanks for listening to The Heard podcast. Be sure to catch us live every weekday from 12 to 3 Eastern, 9 to noon Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and FS1.

Find your local station for The Heard at Fox Sports Radio.com or stream us live every day on the IHeart Radio app by searching Herd. Now let's get this party started. You're listening to Fox Sports Radio. Ah, here we go. On a packed Wednesday in Los Angeles, this is The Herd, wherever you may be and however you may be listening.

We're on IHeart Radio, Fox Sports Radio, and right here, FS1. We'll drop by the NFL Combine a couple of times today. The O is interesting, Chris Haynes on the NBA, Chris Sims in the NFL. Joy Taylor is joining me. Joy, how are you? I'm doing great. Good morning. Good morning to everybody. Boston, we have a problem.

This rebuild for the Celtics has gone really, really well. Got the owner of the Celtics and Danny Ains. Gone really well. Got the right coach, got the players, drafted well. Didn't have to pay much for, you know, Gordon Hayward just fell into their lap. It's all worked really well. And now they have a blip. and it's a major blip, and they'll get off the blip really quickly, and it's Kyrie Irving.

Now, I tend to think regular season basketball doesn't mean a lot. It's a lot of flexing. It's a lot of ego. It's a lot of vanity. It's a lot of stat padding. Once you get to the playoffs, the reality becomes guys put their egos aside. They know everybody's watching. You are really defined in the NBA by your playoff stuff.

The egos go away, and the Celtics will be fine. But they're not fine today. They got blown out last night. And after the game, Marcus Smart said, We're not together at all. Last couple of years. We were together becoming stronger. We're not there.

It's just taking time. The potential's there. It's a matter of time. They're now, by the way, after a blowout loss last night, 0 for 5 in their last five games with Kyrie Irving. Six and O in their last six without them. Boston, we got a problem. Do not confuse most talented with most valuable.

It doesn't work that way in a lot of businesses. Kyrie Irving is the most talented Celtic and he's got a ring and a movie and he's the most exciting and he's the best finisher. Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, checks all the boxes. He is not one of their top two assets. The owner of the Boston Celtics and the general manager in this exact order, consider their top three assets. Brad Stevens head coach, Jason Tatum, Rising Star, and number three, Kyrie Irving. that order. That's what the owner and the GMC. And last

night, the number three asset, Kyrie Irving, glibly kind of called out the number one asset. After playing miserably, and this is a guy Kyrie Irving that did not back up his commitment to the Celtics. He's talking about trade stuff all the time.

A reporter said, Brad talked about you guys defensively have been taking shortcuts. And Kyrie response was, I don't know, that's up to Brad. Oh, no, no, it's not. Danny Ains read that too and the owner read that too. Okay. The owner and the GM of this team, Kyrie Irving, flaky Kyrie, won't commit, won't play defense, glib after losses, whining about hallway discussions with KD that a microphone picks up. He is their third asset. And more than ever, I don't think they're backing up the Brinkstruck for Kyrie. and this has a domino effect.

I think this means that Danny Ainsh is not going to go with Anthony Davis either, who's also sort of waffling on his interest in Boston. Does it guarantee that Anthony Davis gets the Lakers? I think it helps that cause. Does it mean Kyrie goes to the next? I think it helps this cause. But right now, Kyrie is an impediment to winning. Last five with him, lost.

Last six without him, won. And last night, he called out the number one asset. It's not a player. It's Brad Stevens. That's their owner and their GM's belief. The culture starts with their version of Belichick. And after that, it's Jason Tatum. 20 years old, never been hurt.

Long shoots, coachable, gets along. Last year, at 19, took the team and put him on their shoulders. But I still contend Boston will figure it out. But Kyrie needs to realize he's the most talented. He's not the most valuable. He is number three on the asset board upstairs. Let me shift to this. You know, last night was one of those moments that a Steph Curry or a LeBron or a James Hardin would have embraced.

They would have made it fun. A little 10-year-old boy sidelines. And I have a 12-year-old son. This is what 9, 10, 11, 12-year-old boys do. he touched Russell Westbrook right next to him. Russell Westbrook said, icon in America, little boy, he touched him. By the way, you can imagine that Steph Curry would have turned around and done something funny. And LeBron would have turned around and done something funny.

I mean, we've had LeBron embrace guys who had half court shots and rolling the floor with him. You know, James Harden, the beard would have done something funny. Most of the stars in the NBA would have... Remember what LeBron James guy had a half court shot? You remember this piece of video? It's one of my favorite LeBron videos ever got a half court shot. And LeBron came over and jumped on him and rolled on the floor. And they're how funny that was, how great that is?

So last night, a little 10-year-old boy, little boy, little boy's a goofy. Little boys, you know, you got to just keep him from running into cars. They're goofy. He touched Westbrook. And here was Westbrook after the game. He hit me. So I told his dad, you know, just be careful, man. You can't have your son just hitting random people.

I don't know him. me so just let him know like you know what I'm saying like just got to control your kids it's that simple for all the fans though you know it's too much leeway man for the fans to be able to touch the players and get away with it and then you can't react you know and do the things that we need to do to protect ourselves they can say what they want as long as it's you know respectful but the touching is to me is awful lepers Lord. Yeah, it's borderline assault. I can't believe Russell's playing tonight. Doesn't have reconstructive surgery. Russell, this is who you become. You can't answer a question at a press

conference. You walk off the floor at Utah and you can't take an iPhone picture. A little 10-year-old boy came up. He's probably too close to the court, but you're like an American superstar. And a little 10-year-old boy touched you. Russell, you've moved into the weird category. Like I've always known you were wired differently. But I read another story yesterday about Westbrook where Stephen Adams, his teammate, talks about the Westbrook rule, the Westbrook rule that you can't talk to any opposing players. Stephen Adams talked about that too. You did not even, not even the nicest look or whatever. So I did learn that. But then spending a lot of time with him, and he's getting to know me, I did, like, say,

Tabo. There's an exception there. Maybe surge. Yeah, there's certain ones that you could kind of go over and like, maybe hug. I'm still feeling this out. So I might be told off here and there. So I'm still feeling the way out. Look them off and then I see where Russ is looking at. Look, we go and put a quick hug. Quick, quick, quick, quick. Yeah, I mean, it's. No, I wasn't doing anything, Russ. Yeah. I mean, Westbrook's gone into the weird category. Like, Michael Jordan was intense. Like, Michael Jordan punched the teammate. But Michael Jordan could shut it all. off. This is why Westbrook, you can't build around him. He's never going to win a title. You can get in his head this easily. The media gets in his head. His shots broken. You know that psychological.

A 10-year-old boy touches him. Stephen Adams, you can't look at players, but there's these weird exceptions. I mean, come on. I mean, and this really is indicative of what his game is. Utah fans got in his head last year. For all the fans in the NBA, watch this tape. No. this is how easy to get into Russell Westbrook's head. Westbrook, Westbrook, that's why he's shooting 64% of the free throw line. It's not because he forgot how to shoot. It's not because his hands became like, you know, like Kareem's hands where they were almost so big. You couldn't get the right grip on the ball or shack.

This was a former elite free throw shooter who can now not shoot a free throw. And this is worthy of the kid. hit me? No, he's a little boy. I mean, I understand security stars. They're drunks. A little boy probably had Kool-Aid, not beers, not bourbon, not wine spritzers. Probably had Kool-Aid. You're a star. He touched you, kind of fascinated. That's it. Go give him a hug. Give him a high-five. Don't lecture his dad on how to parent. This is just Exhibit number 395. Why Westbrook doesn't get it, and I would never in a million years build around him. Just think of how Steph Curry would have handled that.

Or LeBron James would have handled that. Or James Harden would have handled that. Yeah. Borderline assault. So you can't look at opponents. Kids can't touch you. Keep waving the pom-poms for him. But so far I've been right, he has become exactly what?

we said he is and would be. You can't. You can't shut it off. Can't even have a local media question. Blows up. First round, yelling, screaming, swiping at fans. It's embarrassing. I mean, at some point,

this is, Russell Westbrook, this has become your brand. You're kind of weird. You're kind of too, you're too intense guy at work. You can't just go out and have a beer after work. Play a game of pool. Can't.

Sorry if it's personal, You make it personal. You made it personal with a 10-year-old boy last night. You're a little off. A little off. Coming up next, I had a dinner last night in Los Angeles. A little sourcing last night on the situation with the Lakers, which is getting messy and messier in the next 30 days.

I'll tell you about that. Plus, we'll go to the NFL Combine with an NFL GM. It's got a lot of heat on him. Maybe, maybe as a year left. and he also has the number one pick in the NFL draft. 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 IHeard 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 Slic Life 12 in the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hard Way with me, your host, and your favorite therapist,

Kear Games. And in recognition of Mental Health Awareness Month, I'm bringing over a decade of my own experience in the mental health field and conversations with so many incredible guests. I'm talking, Tripp Fontaine, Ryan Clark. Sometimes when we're in the pursuit of the thing, we get so wrapped up in the chase that we don't realize that we are in possession of the thing. and we're still chasing it and we don't know when we've done enough. Because people scoreboard watch. Life becomes about wins and losses.

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This is Clivert Taylor the 4th. And on my podcast, The Cliverts Show, I'm bringing you conversations about all kinds of stuff. Like being an internet famous referee. We're in the middle of a game. This linebacker, this linebacker walks up to me. He goes, hey, ref, my mom wants you to wave at her.

What? Time out. Quarterback on office blue of 42. Hey, ref, Mom, I'm going to want you. you to weigh better. What? Where's she at? Hey, Miss Parker. Listen to the Clippers show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Will Ferrell's Big Money Players and IHeart Podcasts presents soccer moms.

So I'm Leanne. This is my best friend Janet. And we have been joined at the hips since high school. Absolutely. Now a redacted amount of years later, we're still joined at the hip, just a little bit bigger hips, wider. This is a podcast we're recording. as we tailgate our youth soccer games in the back of my Honda Odyssey with all the snacks and drink sidebar why did you get hard

seltzer instead of beer they had a bogo well then you got it do you want a white collar something here just what are y'all doing microphones are you making a rap album oh I would come on I would buy it cuts through the defense like a hot

knife through sponge cake that sounds delicious oh you're lucky I'm not a drug addict you're lucky I'm not an alcohol You're lucky. I'm not a killer. I love this team, and I'm really trying to be a figure in their lives that they can rely on. Listen to soccer moms on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Great to have you.

We're going to the NFL Combine in about eight minutes with a GM and a team on the hot seat right now. They have the number one pick the Arizona Cardinals. Steve Kime, a former all-ACC player, has got the number one pick. A lot of people think Kyler Murray is the best. player for that team. We'll talk about that stuff and other stuff. The NFL combine, by the way, gets bigger by the year. Arizona now has 63 people in the organization at the combine. 63 people for one team. It's a big deal. That's why we send cameras and microphones and producers out there and will happen the next couple of days. So last night I went to dinner in Los

Angeles and did a little sourcing on the Lakers. Here's what is unavoidable and absolutely true. major power struggle within that organization with a lot of big stars. Jeannie Bus is the owner. She's pro-Luc Walton and pro-stability. LeBron James is the star. He's not a Luke guy. Would rather get his own coach. We'll talk about that somewhere down the road.

Magic Johnson's caught in the middle, loves Jeannie and the opportunity she afforded him, and also knows LeBron's happy or this thing doesn't work. You also have Rob Polinka, who was Kobe Bryant's agent. Kobe still has impact and a voice as a legend that just retired in the building. And then there's Clutch Sports who has the player, A.D. Anthony Davis, the Lakers want. It is a big power struggle. But for a long time in LeBron's career, he just barreled through it because he was that talented. But on the basketball court, there are three stages of LeBron.

The first stage was his first five years in the league. It was the freight train stage. That's what I kept calling him when I was at the other place, is that LeBron would just barrel through things. He was not a refined basketball player. His freight train stage was defined by one thing, the chased down block. He would do it about once twice a week where he would run down the floor, block a shot off the backboard.

It'd never been seen before. If I say to you, the chase down block, that was the young freight train stage one of LeBron. He did it regularly. Chasing good players down, blocking the ball, swatting it off the backboard, the freight train stage. The second stage was the refined offensively LeBron. That was a lot of Miami in the early days in Cleveland. Okay, that was the figured out a three-point shot, a significantly more efficient player. This was a player who didn't waste a lot of motions.

had a little freight train in him, but didn't waste energy on that. That was stage two. Stage three of LeBron is the one we're living in now, and I believe the last two years in Cleveland. It is the picks his spots, LeBron. He doesn't have the freight train in him at all. He is still refined offensively, but it's pick your spots, LeBron. And there was a story yesterday from a San Francisco columnist that said, why would any warriors want to join LeBron James collapsing kingdom in Los Angeles?

And to that I would say it is not collapsing yet. If Anthony Davis doesn't get delivered, it will be over. Injury, no playoffs, no AD, LeBron's era is over, officially stamped. But you just have to realize that if you do join LeBron, this is now the LeBron you get. pick your spot stage three LeBron. Okay, that's what you get now. Joy Taylor, before we go to Joy, we want to go live to the NFL Combine via the Coward Global Satellite Network. He's entering his seventh season as the Cardinals GM.

Steve Kyn started as a scout, was an all-ACC guard, and Steve is joining us. I said, Steve, about five minutes ago, that I can feel, first of all, I think your division now is the toughest in football. I think you have excellent coaches everywhere. You've got Russell Wilson, Jimmy Garoppolo, Jared Goff, established quarterback talents. Do you feel, Steve, some of the pressure outside that is being pushed on your organization and you specifically? Oh, I mean, I think that no more, Colin, than the pressure that I put on myself every day as a professional. But I mean, I think it comes with the territory. I think it's something that, you know, your fans don't want to hear that you're going through rebuilding phase. Each and every day you've got to continue to put a better product on the field and you're held accountable for it.

And that's what this job's all about. So I'm excited about this opportunity. I'm excited about our new coaching staff. Really excited about some of the pieces we have in place. Some of the acquisitions we've made this offseason. And I think that we'll continue that through free agency in the draft. I've always had a theory on the draft that outside of maybe an Andrew Luck or a John Elway, I would always trade my number one pick to get multiple picks. Generally, a team's at number one because they got a little rebuilding to do, more good players than one maybe star player. Do you share any of that philosophy that if somebody walked up to you today, Steve,

and gave you four picks for your one, would you consider it? Yeah, I mean, I don't think there's any question. And the more picks you can acquire, obviously, the more chance. as you have to hit. We all know this is an inexact science and it really comes down to once you build your board and you feel comfortable with the vertical part of your board being ranked one through 120, it gives you a better visual and an understanding column of where you feel comfortable of trading back to. Where do you still get the right amount of impact with the addition of picks that you've gotten as well? So to me, it's a part of the process. We have 57 days to fix it

to figure it out. And it's extremely exciting because again, There's a number of different ways we can go. And having the first pick in the draft is something that last year, obviously, I didn't want to be a part of. But as we head into the draft this spring, it's extremely exciting. About an hour ago or two hours ago, I was here in Los Angeles. I saw a quote from you, and people ask you about, you know, Kyler Murray and Cliff Kingsbury and number one pick and Josh Rosen. And you said Josh Rosen's our guy for now. Now, of course, the media is going to jump on that and go, oh, oh, for now.

How do you respond to the people who are going to write headlines and say, hey Steve, for now, doesn't sound long-term with Josh. Well, I mean, this is the season for misinformation. It's fun part of the process to go through this spring and to hear all the conversation about the first pick. It certainly shows the level of excitement for the National Football League and for our organization. So to me, you know, there's going to be a number of things written.

Josh Rosen did a fantastic job for the circumstances he was put in last year. And he was really putting a tough spot. And when you look at the first seven offensive linemen that we had, we're all on IR by the end of the season. We didn't have a lot of perimeter talent to throw the football too. And he was going through growing pains. But to me, I thought he did a fantastic job showing me the mental toughness and the physical toughness that it takes to excel at that position.

Could I not, though, Steve, make an argument that the number one issue with your team is probably offensive line. Rosen is not an over, you know, he's not a mover and shaker. athletically is a pocket guy and the way to solve both of those quickly is with a more agile mobile quarterback and kailer murray fits that i could make that argument no well i mean i think that that's certainly something you can argue but again uh the one thing that some of these quarterbacks possessed that maybe josh doesn't would be the ability to extend plays my argument would be let's try to eliminate having to extend those plays to me it's improvising if if we can we can put a

system in place that puts Josh in the right situation to feel comfortable, get the ball out of his hands quickly, guys like Brady and Breeze and the guys who are having success around the NFL, Peyton Manning in the past, those guys get the ball out extremely quick. They know how to process and see the field. And to me, that's where Josh Rosen can really hurt you, spending the football and putting him in an accurate place. Cliff Kingsbury did not have NFL experience. when you made the hire, I said, are we going crazy? Anybody that's ever had a cup of coffee with Sean McVeigh now is a candidate, is take me through the thought process of Cliff Kingsbury of, you know,

the difference between college and the NFL, it maybe isn't the gap of college basketball and the NBA, but it's still a gap in coaching. What was the epiphany or the moment you decided to go with this young coach? Well, you know, I think we went through a long process, and Michael Bidwell and I spent a lot of time on it. We did our research, and, you know, to me, we could have gone for another offensive coach that was already in the National Football League that didn't have a lot of experience calling plays. The one thing you can say about Cliff Kingsbury is he's called plays for eight years, and he's done it at a high level. I think there were only two years of his eight where he was in college football where he had less than 500 yards per game average, which is unbelievable.

Not only that is he's done a fantastic job developing quarterbacks of all kinds. People from Case Keenham to Patrick Mahomes to Johnny football. He has done a lot of good things with different style quarterbacks. To me, he puts guys in a position to succeed and to cater to their strengths. So there were a number of things that really excited us about Cliff, aside from just the swag and the confidence that he has. And we knew that regardless of which coach we put in place, we would have to surround them with a quality coaching staff.

And to me, you start and you look up front with Sean Coo, one of the better offensive line coaches in the National Football League. And Van Joseph, who had a tough stretch at the Denver Broncos as the head coach, but has a great past career as a defensive coach under Wade Phillips and did a nice job in Miami as their defensive coordinator. So we have a lot of guys with experience that he can certainly lean on, but there's no doubt in my mind that Cliff can be very innovative and creative as our offensive play caller. If you made your mind up yet on what you're going to do with the number one pick, Do you know what you're going to do with it?

No. No. I mean, you know, there are 57 days for us to put a plan in place. You know, this part of the process is extremely critical because we have a chance for the first time to get to know these players as people, which I've said many times over and over. It's the most important part of the process.

We come away from Indy with the medical information and we get to know the person, which, again, to me, is all about what makes these guys great pros. We can see the athleticism and the skill-foot, skill set on. what you can't judge is the heart and the mind. And this is an opportunity for us to dig. Have you been called yet about the number one pick by another team or teams?

I have not yet, but I'm sure that will pick up here shortly. Would you call out? Would you initiate the contact eventually? Yes, 100%. Okay. And I have to ask you point blank. Is there a possibility that you could see yourself picking a quarterback at one. I can't foresee that right now. Again, we know that this is a process we have to go through.

And again, I think that what Josh showed us last year on and off the field makes me extremely comfortable that he's our quarterback moving forward. Steve Kime, Cardinal, GM, executive of the year four years ago. This is a tough league. His division now has become rough. Russell Wilson and Pete Carroll, Jared G., and Kyle Shanahan, and Arizona is trying to, a little bit of a rebuild. not completely because there are some parts there we like. And Steve, we appreciate you stopping by. Thanks, Colin. Always great to be on. All right. Yeah, they got real pressure there in Arizona. And that division is now brutal. Like, brutal. Well, at least he was honest about them not knowing what they want to do with their first pick yet.

And they shouldn't. They have enough time to still do some evaluation. They haven't even had the combine yet. So I always talks about Kyler Merr going number one overall. It's a little premature. I know, but it's fun. It is fun, but it's very premature. Okay. All right. I just had a lot of fun there. I like to poke.

No, he should poke. You can make an argument. He has a lot, they have a lot of holes to fill. You can make an argument. How do I solve quarterback production and offensive line woes in one move? Get a guy that can move. I mean, and there's a lot of, that ball, that momentum ball for Kyler Murray, at is rolling.

It may just roll to number one. It is moving now. It was very exciting. Yesterday, Joel Clatt proclaimed him the greatest player of all time. So, I mean, we got... I mean, that's what I heard. Joy with the news. No, no, no, no.

Turn on the news. This is the herd line news. All right, so this is everywhere. There were three minutes left during the third quarter of the Thunder Nuggets game. And there was a young fan sitting courtside, and he reached out and gave Russell Westbrook a little shove, a little tap. And Russ reacted calmly. He stopped and he talked to... to the kid and his father after the incident.

And after the game, Russ had some more thoughts on the situation. All the fans, though, you know, it's too much leeway, man, for the fans to be able to touch the players and get away with it. And then we can't react, you know, and do the things that we need to do to protect ourselves. So it's important, man, that they understand kids, whoever it is, dad, moms, they can say what they want, not long as it's, you know, respectful.

But the touching is, to me, is awfully, this. I got to say, I am just completely on the other side of this from you. I do not like it at all. A 10-year-old boy touching. I don't care if he's 10 years old. Russ didn't freak out. He didn't yell at him. He calmly went over and talked to him.

Everyone around him was laughing afterwards, so he clearly didn't say anything crazy. He has a son and twin daughters. He's a father himself. you can't touch the players. There has to be some boundaries. And where do the boundaries start? At 12 years old, you can no longer touch the players. You have to be this high to touch the basketball players.

Our judicial system separates 10-year-olds from 25-year-olds. Of course, because a 25-year-old is beyond an adult by several years. But a 10-year-old, I'm going to give a lot of leeway when a 10-year-old boy looking at a superstar touches him. But he's not going at the kid. And look, we're showing a video now of him being great with a nice, A little young fan. Now, granted, it is a thunder fan. He's wearing a thunder shirt.

But the point is, is Russ has had a lot of incidents with fans. At Denver, you remember, that's where the guy walked onto the court and got in Russ's face. Which, if Russ would have dropped him, I would have had no problem with it. Because people are insane. Well, when drunk adults come up to a player, it's a whole different ballgame. I just don't like it. They're not there for you to touch. It's one thing to yell.

And then there's boundaries with that, too. It's just, it's personal space. When you go in public, do you like to just be touched? I am constantly touched. Dude, can I get a selfie? It's like my life. I don't like to be touched. All right.

And I don't think that this is fair. I don't, I get it. All right, I'm not yelling at the 10-year-old kid. It's on the parents to tell him you can't, you know, you can't touch him. I'm completely on his side. It's not good optics that it's just okay to be able to touch players. Everybody's watching this thinking, oh, I can really get into Westbrook's head. Like, even if you believed it,

Wouldn't you not talk about it because everybody's going to see this now and say, dude, this guy can't. I mean, I look at it. I wouldn't do it if I'm Russ. How it plays nationally, which is, oh, my God, a little 10-year-old boy touched me, freaked out. I'm just completely 100% on his side. I just don't think it should be able to touch players.

I bet you my prediction is. I don't think a kid should be yelled at or thrown out or anything ridiculous, and he didn't even overreact. He talked to his dad about it. This is like a golfer that struggles with heckling. The heckling gets worse. Like the good, like, like, great play. Like, LeBron, like, laughs.

Michael Jordan, Kobe laughed at heckling. Like, they just turned. They were almost like better with heckling. No, I mean, certain players get affected by what goes on in the stance for sure. Like, other people can tune it out and some can't. I'm totally for that. I just think the incidents with Russ and fans have been people stepping over the line, coming on the court, shoving a phone in your face.

I think it's going to get worse. Well, I would not recommend it getting worse. If he's asking a 10-year-old boy not to touch him if you're an adult, that's probably not the move. you. So it's been getting close to panic time here in L.A. and the once optimistic Lakers now in danger of missing the postseason. And in the middle of all of this turmoil, if you will, LeBron's mural outside of Staples Center was taken down yesterday, kind of inexplicably. So it was the big, the big giant mural that says just a small town kid in a city of dreams.

I've seen this. With big city dreams. Yeah. So it's huge. remember the one in Cleveland was up for four years or whatever it was and then they took it down as soon as he left. What do you make of this? I think we're probably all digging a little too deep into this. I'm sure they're going to replace it with something else or they only had that space for a certain amount of time.

It's Los Angeles. Everything is prime real estate. It's just kind of unfortunate timing optically to be taking that down. But much better if that an eight game winning streak. Yeah. Or you know, just wait till the end of the season. You know? Like you just let's wait until the regular season is ever to do.

that. Finally, Cowboys Executive Stephen Jones added more pressure onto Jason Garrett heading into the 2019 season, which is also the final one of Garrett's contract. Yesterday, he commented on Garrett's future in Dallas ahead of the scouting combine. No one wants Jason to be around here for the long term more than the Jones family. I mean, no one thinks more of him than we do. But at the same time, I know he uses it. Everybody's backs against the wall right now. We've got a really good young team. We've got high expectations for this young team. And everybody from Jason to his staff to our players to ownership to the organization feels the pressure. You know, I kind of gave us a little thought.

I don't think I like it. You can always fire Jason Garrett if you give him another year or two on his contract. It's not like they're hurting for money. Yeah. Having someone on a lame duck year is not the best mentality to have. I know the idea is added. pressure and you got to make things happen. But when people are coaching for their job as opposed to coaching for what's actually best for the organization and the team moving forward, I feel like

it puts you in a different state of mind. Generally, I think lame duck coaches have less power because players are aware of it. Right. But Jerry so controls the cowboys. I don't think players would get out of line because Jerry's so pro player and so liked by players, it would be disrespectful to Jerry. Like I do believe lame duck coaches. It's really bad in the NBA and really bad in baseball. In football, there's always film. Like the film doesn't like, if you're a dog, everybody sees the film.

Other teams see it. Your coaches see it. I think Jerry is so respected that he can play the lame duck coach with Garrett and get away with it a little more organizationally, a little more. I see what you're saying, and he is very loyal as well. Players love Jerry. And Garrett can, you know, if they make the postseason again and make it to the NFT championship game or whatever, it likely won't matter. But I just, I don't like the mentality of putting someone, like I get it.

There's some pressure. You do need to win. You have a team assembled that should be winning. But having someone's back against the wall, they're going to make decisions that aren't the best for right now instead of the best in a macro level. Yeah. Gary, you know, like if I say who's your best high school teacher, generally one comes to mind. Garrett is not your best high school teacher, but you liked him. And you played hard for him.

And that's a hard thing with Jason Garrett. If I said to you, who is your favorite teacher in high school? We've all got a picture of her or him. But Jason Garrett's right behind that group, and you're like, oh, but I always love Mr. Garrett in geography. It's hard to fire that guy because nobody dislikes Jason Garrett. Like he's good enough that you kind of like him, and people play hard for him. And he's won the division in playoff games, but you don't think he's the best teacher you ever had.

Yeah, but that teacher didn't really help you write your college essay or, you know, get job placement. Joy Taylor with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The Heard Lie News. Yesterday, there was a list of 25 best players in the NBA under 25. And the list is really one guy and the other 24. And I want to talk about that coming up next.

Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific. If you got the dreaded stuffy cold and flu season coming on, Vic Synex nasal spray, 12 hours when congestion strikes. Try Vick's sinex nasal spray. Use as directed. Good stuff. We'll go back to the NFL Combine.

Very smart Chris Sims, former Patriot, former NFLer, Patriot employee. He'll join us from the NFL Combine. We got our mics there today and tomorrow and Friday. So yesterday, ESPN released. They used some former general managers, some NBA people, and they listed, they do it every year. It's kind of fun.

The 25 best players in the NBA under 25. And, you know, most of these guys I really like. Luca Donchitz for Dallas is going to be around for 15 years and is going to score 20,000 points. I like Donovan Mitchell. I like Ben Simmons. I'm a little out on Carl Anthony Towns. They have number four.

Devin, De Aaron Fox at Sacramento is fantastic. Sacramento's got two great players. Dearen Fox is a top 10 young guy and Marvin Begley, a big from Duke, who I loved in that draft. I think he's better than 21. But it's a nice list. But you know when I look at this list? I really see one guy and then 24 other guys. And the one guy is Janus. In my lifetime of watching the NBA since 1970, that's how long I've been watching the NBA. First NBA game I ever saw had the Lakers, Gail Goodrich, Jerry West, Wilk Chamberlain, against the Portland Trailblazers. Okay, that's the first game I ever watched.

It's a little kid in a black and white TV. There's been four or five guys in the history of the league that are all physically different, and they've all got titles. Wilk Chamberlain. He was just different. He was just bigger, stronger, faster. Shack.

There was nothing pre-Shack that looked like Shaq. Magic Johnson was a six, nine and a half point guard. Point guards were six-one. Six-three tops. Magic was six-nine. LeBron. a six-nine positionless player. There never been anything that looks like LeBron.

And then I would say Kevin Durant, a 7-foot-1 super-athletic best shooter in the league outside of Steph Curry. They don't make a lot of that. All five of those guys are different. Wilt, Shaq, Magic, LeBron, Kevin Durant. I'm not saying Michael isn't great, but I've seen something like Michael. It's called Kobe Bryant. But all five guys have title.

Yonis is number six. the Greek freak. I mean, he's just different. He is unbelievable defensively. He's the best finisher at the rim. You know, he's played point for moments, but that's not what he is. He can handle the ball a little bit, you know? It's fine doing that.

He's different. And so my guess is this list is Janus and then a bunch of really, really good players. He's the one special guy. He is the one special guy. Length, size, personality, mindset. He's just everything. Now, people in Milwaukee, I mean, this is just, you know, flyover country. Everybody thinks in the Midwest, everybody that lives in L.A., New York hates them.

We don't. Why am I not fully embracing Yonnas yet? Oh, I don't know, six years in the league in the crappy East and he's never won a playoff series. Sorry, I'm crazy. LeBron James and seven valets who parked your car won the East. Yonis couldn't win a playoff series. Yes, I don't put him like as an all-timer yet.

But I do think of this list, it's him and everybody else. And I love Jason Tatum. And I think Joel M.B. Ben Simmons, you know, Dearon Fox, Devin Booker, they're all terrific. They're all-star-level guys. But Janus is different. He is like the sixth guy. I could go down to like, what was the guy for the Minneapolis Lakers, the first seven-footer in the league? I didn't see him play.

I'm talking about guys I've seen play. George Miken, like literally I watched a documentary on him. Like he was so much bigger than everybody else, but I didn't see him play. The guys I've seen play that are just physically different, they've all got titles. Wilt, Shaq, Magic, LeBron, Kevin Durant, all got rings. Janus is going to get a ring. And he's the only guy on this list where I feel like it could be him and he wouldn't have to have another superstar with him. I kind of think he could do it with a bunch of Chris Middleton's.

I don't think he'll do it this year. I think Golden States do good. I think Houston's too deep and too good and too experienced. And I think Boston's going to get their act together. Although right now I'm not totally sure, but I do think over time they will with Kyrie Irving for the playoffs. But, yes, there is a reason Milwaukee the rest of the world doesn't buy into him. The Eastern Conference has been mostly garbage for the last six years. The Honest has never won a playoff series.

Okay. So we're not calling him Brett Farve yet. We're not annoying him Aaron Rogers yet or John Elway yet. The East has been dreadful, unwatchable, embarrassing. We're Boston without Kyrie Irving, led by Al Horford and a 19-year-old got to game seven to the Eastern Conference Finals. But I do think this guy is different than everybody else on that list. He came on our show, and this is a real thing too, by the way.

You know, I'm not into Westbrook above the shoulders. I think he's too rigid, too intense. I wouldn't build around him. We had on Janus last year, and this is a big component to it. Most of the great players in NBA history, your birds, your magics, your Michaels, your cobies, your shacks, they're get-it guys. There's a certain get-it quality, and when he came on our show last summer, it kind of blew us away.

I'm not out here playing basketball for attention. I play basketball because I love basketball. I'm playing basketball because I want to be the best. I play basketball because I want to help my team be better. By asking for attention, I don't think that helps my team. It doesn't help my situation and doesn't make me better. That's not who I am. That's why I love Milwaukee.

It's a low-profile city. I'm a low-profile guy. We fit together. Impossible not to like. And I did. I looked at that list yesterday, and I like some guys more than others, but I kind of feel like Janus shouldn't even kind of be on that list. Like I don't, I just, Janice is now in the Durant, LeBron, Steph, you know, he's kind of like in a different class than all those guys.

Even Embed, who's really good and they have number two. Car shopping's confusing, a lot of terms, dealer price, list price, invoice. Here's what's not, save three grand on average off MSRP. Okay, this news in, a little breaking, I guess, Howie Roseman of the Philadelphia Eagles, a very good general manager. One of the top four or five GMs in this league says the Philadelphia Eagles have decided to allow Nick Foles to become. I'm a free agent. There is no franchise tag. So he's a free agent.

Nick Foll's on the market. There you go. Go get him. If I was Jacksonville, I would strongly consider it. I'll tell you another one. If I was Cincinnati, you know, there's a lot of teams out there. Again, I don't think. Miami?

Miami, I think you have to be cautious with Nick. I think the Eagles have really good personnel. And he has been able, as a very coachable quarterback, to move the chains with a lot of talent. whatever team gets Nick, you're not going to have Philadelphia's coach. You're not going to have Philadelphia's offensive line. Philadelphia is really good, really deep, really well run, really good lines, really good organization. But I do think Nick is better than about seven guys starting in this league right now. So Nick Foles, Eagles, he is now a free agent hour.

Two, back to the combine 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. Ah, here we go, hour two. Back to the combine in 15 minutes. This in Los Angeles is the herd, wherever you may be and however you may be listening. We're on IHeart Radio, Fox Sports Radio, and FS1.

Good to have you in today. Joy Taylor is joining me for our number two. Chris Haynes last hour, one of our really great NBA insiders with Yahoo Sports, senior Yahoo Sports Guy. How are you joined? Doing good. I had a big dinner last night. It's what we do in this business.

We got our sources. Big J. journalism. Big J. journalism over a steak with horseradish, which by the way is my new thing. It's fantastic. Horse radish. Oh, steak and a horseradish. Oh, Lord. It's the best.

Steak, dipping in horseradish. The best. Cleans out the pipes. Yeah. I mean, I can do like a dab. I put a little dab of horse radish on an oyster. Oh, no. I go all in.

Yeah. Almost everything's shy of cereal. Big horseradish guy. almost everything shy of oatmeal. And so I'm talking last night. And there is an NBA executive, and let's be honest, the average person watching or listening knows about eight of them, six of them. I mean, there's about six NBA executives in this league.

You know, Pat Riley is the most noteworthy. But, you know, you've got your, you know, you've got your, you know, Jeannie Bus and Jerry West in Los Angeles. And Mark Cuban in Dallas is very well known. Paxson in Chicago. There's a handful of them, R.C. Buford, San Antonio, Sam Presti, Oklahoma City. There's some, you know, Danny Aange in Boston. There's some, there are about six, seven guys you know. And one of the guys I just mentioned, I'm not going to give you away, but one of them

strongly believes that Anthony Davis does not solve LeBron's problems. As that executive told my source is in the current NBA ecosystem, centers don't solve, they're not the solution to the problem entirely. You'd have to bring Anthony Davis and somebody else. LeBron has gone to eight straight finals without a dominant center. The last two dynasties in the NBA, Golden State and the Miami Heat, did not have dominating centers. In fact, the heat had Joel Anthony at 6.8.5 and Udana's Haslam,

who's one of the greatest guys in NBA history as a dude, but it's not a dominating center. Either's Javelle McGee. And watch Boogie Cousins not play a ton down the stretch for Golden State. they'll get them off the floor. If you look at the dominating centers in the NBA, Boogie Cousins, Sacramento, didn't do squat. Joel M. Bede, Philadelphia, great player, one playoff series win.

Anthony Davis, Pelicans, never done squat. Carl Anthony Towns, never done squat. So Anthony Davis alone isn't solving the 2019 NBA problems. He is not the solution. But, as the executive was saying, there is now because of the Boston mess with Kyrie a solution. LeBron, Kyrie, and Anthony Davis. And the story last night again, Boston now has lost five straight games with Kyrie.

They've won six straight without him. And can LeBron go to Kyrie and say, dude, you don't want to be the face of the franchise. Okay? You don't want to have to go to the arena answering all the questions. LeBron says, come out to Los Angeles. We got a title. We work well together. Anthony Davis,

Kyrie and LeBron. And this was not a shot on Anthony Davis. This executive likes him. Thinks he's a little soft, but likes him. Thinks he's a really good player. But if you were able to get Kyrie who can walk out at any time with LeBron, then you can give up the house to get Anthony Davis, and it simply doesn't matter.

Now, I don't think the Pelicans are ever going to get the deal they were offered this summer. I think they blew it. I think Del Dems got fired because he blew it. In fact, the executive said, that he would have taken the offers. Five draft picks, five players. You kidding me for Anthony Davis? Would have taken it.

It'll never get better than that. But you've got a combination of things. Big executives in this league do not think Anthony Davis solves all of your problems. Look around the league. Centers don't. They really, look at Janus. Never want a playoff series. Many believe he's the best player in the league.

All right, let me ship gears to this. So I tend to be a theory guy, parenting I got theories, sports I got theories, marriage I got theories, which is mostly just agree all the time on everything. Just works. Just yes, and let me take out the trash. So sometimes I'm the trash. You know, I just take myself out of the house. So, but in the NFL, I love the NFL draft. And I've always loved the NFL draft.

In fact, there are people that have said they first listen to my show, 15. years ago and they're like, you like the draft oddly more than sports, like more than other leagues. And I'm like, I love the draft. But I can love something and have limitations with it. I love ice cream. But, you know, I get a little sick when I eat it. Don't eat it much. I've always had two theories about the NFL draft.

Number one, outside of John Elway and Andrew Luck, you always trade the number one pick. Always. Secondly is, if you can get a really productive current NFL player, trade it for a pick, even if it's a first round pick, like what the Dallas Cowboys did last year with Amari Cooper. I could not believe the blowback and the pushback the Cowboys got for that. I set it on the air. Joy was here.

Everybody was here. It's archived. It's a great move. Folks, I love the draft, but 25% of the first round, historically, is a whiff. Can't play. Another 25% of the first round isn't as good as you thought, but they can play. That's half the first round. Amari Cooper can play.

So the Cowboys, Stephen Jones, son of Jerry was asked the other day about, hey, drafts coming up. You guys don't have a number one pick. He gave it up for Amari Cooper. And here was his response. And the Raiders pick our pick. We'll be watching Amari Highlight takes. It's funny. But he did the right thing.

It's as much as I love the draft, I would. would always trade the first pick, always. There's a reason you have the first pick. You need about six guys, not one. And the second thing is, I would trade any pick, even a first round pick, for a highly productive, proven NFL commodity. Folks, it's different. The NBA draft only has two rounds.

And historically, after about the 13th pick, you're run out of talent, mostly. They don't even have a third round. They used to have seven, then five, then two. The NFL has seven rounds and still half the league is undrafted. Julian Edelman just dominated the Super Bowl was not invited to the Combine. Malcolm Butler won a Super Bowl was not invited to the Combine. Doug Baldwin, Pro Bowl wide receiver, was not invited to the Combine. Half the league is undrafted. Antonyo Gates. Second, third, best tight end ever. Undrafted. Stephen Goscowski. Undrafted. Chris Harris, Philip Lindsay, Adam Thielen. These guys don't even get invited

to the Combine. And we're not even talking about some of the all-time grates that were found in the late, late rounds. Antonio Brown was a six-round pick. Tom Brady was a six-round pick. It's amazing. Shannon was, what, seventh-th round pick? I mean, people I respected. Push-pest-pest. back so hard on the Cowboys. He saved the season. Amari saved the season. I mean, their offense was a mess. He saved the season. Malcolm Gladwell came on our show a couple years ago, and this is another guy that's in theories and analytics, and I thought he said better than I could what it's all about in terms of first-round picks. In a salary cap environment, the issue is not whether a first-round player is better than a second-round player. The issue is, is he better for the

money than a second round player. And the evidence is really overwhelming that second and third round players are massively undervalued. So you should always trade down. Yeah. Arizona's got the number one pick. We just talked to their general manager, Steve Kime. We'll go back to the NFL Combine with a former NFL quarterback who's become an excellent

broadcaster, did spend a year with the New England Patriots. Chris Sims is around the corner for us. Plus buy, sell, and hold, and Chris Haynes last hour. Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd. Weekdays in noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific on Fox Sports Radio, FS1, and the I-Hard 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 Slice Life

12 and the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. Welcome to my new podcast. Learn hard way with me, your host, and your favorite therapist, Kear Games. And in recognition of Mental Health Awareness Month, I'm bringing over a decade of my own experience in the mental health field and conversations with so many incredible guests. I'm talking, Tripp Fontaine, Ryan Clark. Sometimes when we're in the pursuit of the thing, we get so wrapped up in the chase that we don't realize that we are in possession of the thing. And we're still chasing it.

And we don't know when we've done enough. Because people scoreboard watch. Life becomes about wins and losses. Steve Burns, Dustin Ross, because you find it important to be a good person while you hear on earth, 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, our heart radio app. Search Learn the Hardway and listen now. What's up, guys?

This is Clever Taylor the 4th. And on my podcast, The Cliverts Show, I'm bringing you conversations about all kinds of stuff, like being an internet famous referee. We're in the middle of a game. This linebacker walks up to me, he goes, A, ref, my mom wants you to wave at her. What?

Time out. Quarterback on office blue 42. Hey, rec, my mama want you to wave at her. What? Hey, Miss Parker. Listen to the Cliffer Show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. What's up, fam? It's Isaiah Thomas.

And I'm C.J. Toledano, and our podcast, Point Game is about defying the odds. Like LeBron heading into the playoffs without Luca and Austin Reed. And finding ways to win no matter what. He's the smartest player to ever play the game. His IQ is at a level that we've never seen before. And he knows. Without Luca and Austin Reeves, I got to manipulate the game. We get a player's perspective on the challenges.

of the playoffs. I think Joker's going to be exhausted this series because when they don't have Rudy in the lineup, he has to really guard guys like Nas Reid. He has to guard Julius Randall. And then he has to give us everything he gives us on the night-to-night basis on offense. And when IT's friends stop by, like Quentin Richardson, we dive into some playoff history too. Steve Nass would get that thing. That man, hell get the flying.

He running up the court licking his fingers while he got the bar like, after you go through a training camp with that, Isaiah, you feel. figure it out real quick. Get your ass up and down the court, and you're going to get the ball. So listen to Point Game on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Discover card key matchup tonight. New York Rangers, Tampa Bay Lightning, get your free credit scorecard today.

Won't affect your FICA score. Learn more. Discover.com slash credit scorecard. Limitations apply. By the way, Joel Clatt was on the show yesterday, yelling, screaming, arguing. He came out and talked about Kyler Murray being significantly better than Michael. It made a lot of news yesterday. Here it was if you missed it.

He's a better runner. He's more dynamic and he's a much better throw of the football. I think he's better on both accounts than Michael Vick, who was a unanimous number one overall pick. Michael Vick had a really strong arm, really strong arm, a halitzer. Josh Allen-esque. I mean, this dude could throw it. But as a runner and a passer, Kyler is better than Michael Vick was.

Listen, it is a weak quarterback class. If you took last year's class and this year's quarterback class, I would rank it Darnold Baker, Josh Rosen, then Kyler Murray in terms of dynamic playmakers. Now, I like Dwayne Haskins is the guy I'd build around. I don't think he's nearly as athletic or dynamic as Kyler Murray. I think you can make an argument. NFL people, I think if you pinned NFL people down, they'd go, everybody now is on the Baker train.

He did finish third with a loaded roster. Cleveland's got a lot of players. Jets have none. Donald, Baker, Rosen, Kyler, Murray. You get a lot of arguments with that. I'm more of a Dwayne Haskins guy who I think needs work and needs to sit for a year and is not very athletic and doesn't have great feet, but as 6-3-2-20, I think size matters. But exciting is a really powerful thing with a combine in the draft

because exciting gives you hope. Johnny Mansell, little tiny Johnny Mansell, was exciting, ended up going in the first round. And the momentum ball is now rolling downhill, and it may just roll the number one. Again, I think he's an NFL quarterback. I'll take the bigger guy because I think size does matter. You know, we always go with the exception,

but when you start hearing Michael Vic and Russell Wilson in the same breath with Kyler Murray, that's how drafts work. That is how drafts work. Listen, drafts are in exact sciences. That's just the way it works. I just finished up the Ian O'Connor book on Bill Belichick. They've whiffed on a lot of draft picks.

A lot of them. And they're not all Belichick because he's not the scout. He relies on certain scouts and certain executives. But you start getting Joel Clatt come out and say he's Michael Vic. And then I hear people say Russell Wilson, who I think both those guys are exceptions. They're not the rule. My guess is Kyler Murray is Giants have a six pick. Jacksonville 7, Miami 13, Arizona.

on a one, I think it's a real possibility. I think the momentum is totally on his side. I don't think he's as good as Baker Mayfield. I don't think he's as good as Sam Darnal. I don't think he's as good as Josh Rosen. And I think long term, he's more dynamic, but I would take Dwayne Haskins at Ohio State. But you can sense it now.

You can just sense the momentum and Michael Vick and Russell Wilson and Kyle Murray, same sentence. Watch out. Here's Joy with the News. Turn on the news. This is the herd line news. So everyone in the Celtics locker room appeared to be frustrated after last night's loss

and it showed in the post-game comments. First Brad Stevens said he thinks the Celtics aren't committing to defense and are taking shortcuts. And Kyrie didn't seem to be in the mood to discuss the loss at length when he was told about Stevens' comments. He was quite brief.

Brad talked about just defensively guys been taking shortcuts. So do you see that and how do you guys fix things like that at this point of the season you feel like. I don't know. That's up to Brad. That's up to Brad. I guess. You could say that, but it's not a great quote. I mean, not to just pick one tiny example, but this is why yesterday I said I liked Toronto

a little more than where you had them. Yes. People now this morning are all like Colin. Toronto crushed them. It's February. Last year, Toronto was crushing everybody in February 2. Toronto is traditionally a great regular season team. That shrinks. Cincinnati. Cincinnati Bengals shrink. Toronto shrink.

Some organizations shrink in the heat. But they do have Kauai. Yeah, he's better than Derozen. See, Ackham is playing great. Yes, he is. They add a Gasol. They still have Kyle Lowry. Don't have the coach of the year, though.

Okay, well, apparently the coach of the year has some adjustments to make, according to Kyrie Irving. I don't know. The Celtics just, they have a lot. going on right now. I feel like the Celtics should not be having these problems at this point in the season. That's what's troublesome to me. Now, I still, obviously, they have an incredible amount of talent. Yeah. We got two months left. They run last year and there's some time left. But I do think that they need to sort this out.

They don't want to be going into the postseason with this kind of energy, if you will. And they've got to figure out how to get Kyrie Irving in the mix with this. You know, something that's been thrown out there that's a pretty fascinating belief. And Chris Brouss talked about this and other NBA guys is Brad Stevens. This sounds counterintuitive. Brad Stevens works better when he's got B players. He struggles with stars. His offense is not built for a ball dominant star and it doesn't sound right. Like you put Kyrie on the team, they'll be way better. But we now have this year and last year where Kyrie left and they're actually a more efficient basketball team without Kyrie. So I know fans hear that,

and I've said this for years about John Wall. John Wall's talent. Joe Mall gets hurt every year and they win more without him. Like some guys are not, they're not winning players. They're just great. Carmelo, it's not a winning player. He's just a great talent.

Well, if I was a Celtics fan, I would not be excited to hear that because the NBA, it's about talent. And you can have a system and that's all fun and adorable, but if you should build your system around the talent and stars that you have, you have to make adjustments too.

This is in college where you have some rigid thing. And even in college, you make adjustments for the personnel that you have. That's not a recipe for success in the end. Maybe you'll have a great regular season. Maybe you'll make a nice run in the playoffs. Well, Kyrie is, historically, he is a score first point guard and take out Steph Curry, who's the greatest shooter in the history of the world.

Score first point guards don't have a lot of titles. Marbury, Iverson, Stevie Francis, Kyrie Irving's got one thanks to LeBron. Score first point guards historically don't win titles. Some would argue that Kyrie played a pretty crucial role in the end of that series. I think that you have to make adjustments around the personnel that you have. A great system is nice to have, and it'll sustain you in the years that you don't have great talent. But you have to figure that out.

You've got to work with what you have. So Howie Roseman announced today that the Eagles will not place the franchise tag on quarterback Nick Foles. So this allows Foles to become an unrestricted free agent on March 13th when the new league year opens. Awesome. It also obviously ends the speculation of what the Eagles next step would be with Foles and Carson Wants. I love what Philadelphia is doing here. So often, teams, like Pittsburgh with Antonio Brown. Okay, six round, we got 75 touchdowns with him.

Just get a pick and move on. The Eagles are saying, listen, Nick Foles is a career backup. He's a Super Bowl MVP beats Brady. That is a crescendo. That is the top of Nick Foles. Don't lose a lot of sleep. Like pigs get fed, hogs get slaughter. Move off Nick Foles.

Howie Roseman's like, listen, we got to get him out of the building because there are our players in that locker room that like him more than wins? Yeah, who are loyal to. Yeah, yeah. So let's go with a guy that we gave up picks for who's super talented with a better arm. But Howie's basically saying, I got about 20 guys in the locker room that like Nick, let's move him on. I'm kind of with you on that.

I liked what the Ravens did with Lamar Jackson and Joe Flacco. That's right. And you might be right about that with the Steelers. It might be just, it's time. You want to kind of hold out and see if you can get a little. little bit more, but eventually you need to make a decision because it's this constant story that's just going and going and going and going and you can just end it and move forward. And there is something to just clearing the air and starting to heal and move forward. And this was a conversation about what

they were going to do with him. And the Steelers and the Eagles have proven they draft really well. What do you think about the Giants? No, I don't, if I'm the Giants, I want to go bigger than Nick Foles. I want to find the next Carson Wentz. So I think, you know what I think this kind of works for? kind of works for Jacksonville. You know what you do is Jacksonville? You go by Nick Foles, then you draft Haskins, and you just take care of the quarterback situation. Because Haskins is a guy that needs footwork upgrades,

and you sit him for a year, which I think you should sit, you know, outside of your Andrew Luck and Elway, I'd sit all these guys. If I was Jacksonville, I'd get Nick, then draft a quarterback, say, Nick, you're starting for two years. Nick's not a big money guy. And Nick, if you said, Nick, you're our starter for two years, Jacksonville's low pressure, low expectations.

Yeah, I think Nick just wants to play at this point. So finally, tonight at 8 p.m. 7 Central on Fox. It's the season finale of the masked singer. This is a massive hit, like a massive hit. We're finally going to learn the identities of the three remaining contestants, the peacock, the bee, and the monster. Spoiler alert, I'm not one of them. Oh.

This has been the surprise hit in TV. You know the other one? Remember the show Biggest Loser? Yeah. I remember hearing about that show before it went on the air and I said, that's mean. You're taking heavy set people and calling them losers and everybody's like, no, it's going to be the biggest hit ever. And for like 12 years it was. Yeah, it was a good show.

I heard about this show before it went on the air and I thought, that's odd. It's a massive hit. That's why I should never be a TV executive. I love it because I've always wanted to be a mascot. So it's like, it would be like a dream. I can't sing. So it would be very obvious to pick me out. You know, you and I should do an album.

I can't think of a worse idea. Because I can't sing either. I cannot sing. I used to sing when I was younger in church, and then as soon as I hit puberty, Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga did their thing. Right. In celebration of that, because we can't sing,

we should do an album called We Can't Sing. I think it'll be a hit. I mean, who wouldn't want to listen to people who can't sing. You should do that same song as they did. Well, I just say the MASS singer. I'm shallow. I sing shallow in my car, and I am convinced that I sound exactly the same. I think I sound like Brian Adams.

You remember Brian Adams? I think it sounds like a knife. I think I sound just like him. Be honest with you. Oh, anyway, it's tonight at 8pm 7 Central on Fox, the finale of the Masked Singer. Yes. Massive hit.

Yes. Joy with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The Hurd-Lie News. Albert Breers around the corner at the NFL Combine. By the way, um,

I love Charles Barkley and I love Shaq. And they're on TV and they're often better than the game that they appear before. There are nights when I want to watch Barkley and Shaq and Kenny and Ernie more than the game. But I will say this about Shaq and Charles Barkley. Sometimes they forget there's Google and I can Google stuff and they try to rewrite history a little bit. So Shaq was talking about LeBron's teammates who have not liked all these rumors about trades. Here he was. There's no time to sit and sulk.

If you don't want to be traded or you don't want to be talked about, step up. Like, you know, LeBron is used to playing with guys that hit shots and make him look good. He's not having that right now. Look, I was traded six times. I never cried about it. You move on. Okay, I love Shaq. But he got traded by the Lakers and he's pissed for years and held grudges.

you can Google it. Charles Barkley demanded a trade. You can Google it. I love them both. They're amazing. I will never blame an NBA player. Old or young, star or reserved, for being bothered, getting traded and having your name in the paper.

It hurts. It's no fun. Nobody wants to read their expendable. Especially now in the culture of basketball where it's like, you know, 19, 20-year-old, 17-year-old. are being pampered a little bit. That's the new culture. It's tough. Nobody wants to, no, nobody, I wouldn't want to read my name in the paper.

Collins being traded by a reporter and a hoche to be named later. Nobody wants that. It's not a new thing to not want to be traded. It's awful. It's the worst part of the NBA. They can trade in other sports too. I know, but it's not a pleasant experience. Yeah, I mean, I don't, I get trades. But in the NBA, you got guys playing for 10 teams.

I mean, you've got guys who are good guys who are just bouncing around like furniture. So Barclay didn't, he engineered a trade and Shaq didn't love being traded and he held a garage with Kobe for a long time and he was mad at the Lakers for a long time. We tend to do this though. Like as we age, we tend to kind of remember things differently. Like we never had a problem with anything and we just tough through it and never complained. Have you ever gone to therapy?

Yes. And when I went to therapy one time and he said, when you go to therapy, therapists will at least minded, said, we tend to take little tiny moments in our childhood and amplify them. And it was just like you got into an argument at a merry-go-round when you were seven and it stuck with you forever. And like nobody else thought it was a big deal. We tend to amplify moments and forget moments. Sometimes it's a protective mechanism. You know, something bad. We buried deep within our, you know, psyche. Barkley and Shaq had big egos, got ticked off all the time, didn't want to be traded and wanted things their way. And that's what young guys want today. And I love Berkeley and I love

Shaq and I love Kenny and I love Ernie. And they're amazing. They're better than the games most of the time. All right. Combin, Albert Brewer around the corner. Now, I'm your stockbroker. Time to play buy. Colin will decide if he'll buy it. Sell. Buy sell or hold. By sell or hold, Tom Brady will pass Michael Jordan in championship. Mike went six for six. Tom's been to nine and has six. One of my best sources close to Belichick told me about 10 days ago, I told you on the air,

Belichick strongly believes that next year will be one of his most athletic teams in a decade. They have 12 draft picks, and they drafted three kids last year who they loved and could have started but got hurt. This is going to be a new look Patriots. They're going to be young and significantly more athletic. They're already one of the favorites in Las Vegas. I said, I thought this year was the year to beat him. So, John, I think Tom's got one more, and I think this year is the year. Buy seller hold, Kyler Murray will be the number one overall pick.

Vegas has the dolphins getting him at 13, but I think they'll move that. I think that Steve Kime, who was on our show earlier, will not draft Kyler Murray. And this is why, because it would be acknowledging that last year's pick, number 10, Josh Rosen, didn't pan out. And I think there's real pressure in Arizona. Steve Kime's got to deliver. I also think Steve Kime would, you know, like to have Nick Bosa. They need an edge rusher. So, John, sell, sell.

I think the Giants are Jacksonville may move up, but I doubt it. I don't think Kyler at this point goes number one. By Siller-Hold, LeBron will miss the playoffs for the first time since his second season in the NBA. Well, John, according to basketball reference, which I trust, he has 3.5% chance to make the playoffs, meaning they have a better chance to be a top three lottery pick. Is that good? Not great. They're in 10th in the West, and they're three back of the number eight spot.

And one of those teams is Sacramento, and Sacramento is better than the Lakers and has a better locker room. I was also told this last night. Luke and LeBron's not good. It just doesn't. There's not a lot of trust. Luke Walton doesn't think LeBron has his back, and LeBron, frankly, doesn't have his back. And barring a miraculous run here, Luke Walton, there's a very high. probability. He may be a college basketball coach somewhere. Don't kid yourself in the

pack 12. A couple of places he's familiar with. But John, I think this morning it does not feel like the Lakers and LeBron. The chemistry with Luke and LeBron, I'm not pointing fingers here. It ain't great. And if it's not between your star and your coach, Kyrie and Brad Stevens, you got a problem. Bicillard, the Thunder will reach the Western Conference finals. Well, last two years, Oklahoma City is three and eight in the playoffs, but they have Paul George. The problem being is Paul George is their best shooter. And as much as I like Paul George, I think you could name him MVP or if at worst, after Yonis' second best, Paul doesn't have a history of being a great deliverer in the playoffs.

And I like Paul George a lot. I think right now he's the best available two-way player in the league. CoI Leonard misses too many games. So I'm a huge Paul George fan. But he's not been great in the playoffs. Westbrook, by the way, now a poor free throw shooter, is not trustable late in games at the free throw line. And by the way, they're all in three against the nuggets this year.

It's not the end of the world, but they don't necessarily match up with some of the top teams. So, John, sell, sell, sell! I don't think the Thunder make the Western Conference Finals. Last one, by Seller Hold. Kyrie Irving will stay with the Celtics. Well, they're nine and two without him. And I always feel like when you're making a decision on people, you take that yellow pad and you write down pros and cons.

Here are the cons. Kyrie gets hurt a lot. Kyrie won't commit. Kyrie's going to flaky. And we're not better with him than without him. That is a lot of checks not for Kyrie Irving. He's a free agent at the end of the season. And listen, you can generally tell.

Like Kauai Leonard right now. He said it's cold in Toronto, but he seems to be liking it. Kyrie Irving doesn't appear to be liking Boston. So John? Sell, sell, sell! I don't think he's with a Celtics next year. For the record, I think Boston's going to be okay without him. They'll be fine.

They'll find a point guard. They have Tatum. They have Horford. They have the coach. They have a bench. They have the arena. They have the fans. They have the draft picks.

I just don't feel there's too much smoke here. Too much flirting here. I don't think he'll be a Celtic next year. And Boston will be okay. Albert Breer is at the NFL Combine. That's great. That's coming up around the corner, so don't go anywhere. We love Albert and we love the NFL Combine. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific. The 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup kicks off in just 100 days.

And all eyes will be on Alex Morgan and Carly Lloyd and the U.S. women's national team as the defending champions head to France looking to win a historic fourth World Cup. All the matches will be live on Fox and Fox. FS1. Two most underrated sporting events in America. The Little League World Series, which I watch every year, and I find it fascinating. I don't know why I care about some baseball team from Everett, Washington. Everyone loves the Little League World Series. And the Women's World Cup. And the Women's World Cup. It's fantastic. I cannot wait for the Women's World Cup. It's great. Little League World Series every year gets me. And the Women's World Cup every time gets me. Yes. And we dominate. That helps. I love dominating. in life. The new Casper Wave mattress ergonomically aligns, 33 points in your body. Terms and conditions apply. Go to casper.com slash wave code heard. Casper.com slash wave code heard. But the Kyrie Irving situation, you know, there's a lot of things that are happening. Let me just say this one more time about LeBron because I think LeBron and Kyrie could play together.

Don't think they will, but I think they could. And Kyrie's not working in Boston. The bottom line for the Lakers right now, and this is why the season's done. It's over. said it two days ago, is if your star player and your coach are not connecting and there's not respect, it doesn't work. If you watch a Laker game, watch the timeouts. Look at the body language. Like Luke and LeBron, like they do not work. They just don't work.

And by the way, Luke Walton's not Magic's guy. It's not LeBron's guy. He's not Rob Polenka's guy. He's not clutch sports guy. Luke's done. Love him, but he's gone. He'll probably be coaching college in a year, but it's not going to work. And so we got this Laker thing.

If they got to get Anthony Davis, injury, no play. playoffs, gets Luke fired. LeBron's got to hit one of these. AD needs him badly. Now let's go to the Combine in Indianapolis via the Coward Global Satellite Network. Albert Breer, Monday morning quarterback league content guy.

All right, Nick Foles, free agent. That tells me, Philadelphia is kind of doing him a solid here, right? They're just letting him go and pick his spot, right? I don't think that there was that much of a trade market for him. They know they get a comp three if they just let him go in free agency and I'm not sure that based on the logistics of it, it's tough to tag and trade a player, that they were going to be able to make it happen. The other factor here, Colin, the Jaguars were

the team that the Eagles were looking at as a potential partner here. I think the Jaguars knew that they were really the only horse in that race. And so they weren't overly eager to work at a trade when they know they're going to be able to get him in a couple weeks in the free agent market. And so I think the Jaguars knowledge of the market, the fact that the Giants and Redskins were maybe loosely involved, I know that the Foles's camp was waiting to. I know that the Foleson camp was waiting to see what happened with those two teams, but the Eagles weren't going to trade them in division. You add all of that up,

and I think it just made sense for the Eagles to do a solid to Nick Foles, let them go to the free agent market and collect their comp pick in 2020. By the way, the Combine gets bigger every year. Steve Kime was on earlier. They have 63 employees there. They're sponsorships everywhere. Shows like mine send people to the Combine to do live reports. It's a big deal now.

And momentum is a real thing. I can remember Mike Mamoula years ago, like a linebacker, nobody watched, played. Vernon Davis took his shirt off from Maryland, and the world went, uh-oh, we got to get this guy. I feel Kyler Murray as a little momentum here at the combine that, I mean, you're talking to NFL execs. Number one pick, you think it's a shot. I'm not ruling it out, Colin, and I'm not ruling out the fit in Arizona. I'm not ruling anything out with the Cardinals right now. I don't have any reason not to take Cliff Kingsbury and Steve Kime at their word.

that Josh Rosen is their guy. But I'll just tell you this. I talked to Lincoln Riley last week. Lincoln Riley played with Cliff Kingsbury at Texas Tech. He's coached against Cliff Kingsbury the last four years. And, of course, he had Kyler Murray on his roster over the last three years. And Lincoln told me that Kyler is a perfect fit for what Cliff Kingsbury wants to do. He wasn't saying they're going to trade Josh Rosen and take Kyler number one overall.

But he said the fit there is absolutely perfect. There have been enough rumblings that Arizona would consider it, would look at it hard, and if Cliff really wants it, I think that the Cardinals would listen to Cliff on that. So I'm not saying that that's going to happen. I'm just telling you right now that there are a lot of people in the league who think that that possibility isn't exactly dead right now. You know, it's funny. I had a couple days ago, I had a 20-minute conversation with Odell Beckham Jr. And I was really impressed. I came away from a kid who wants to prove everybody wrong that is totally committed, that is a good teammate. but he has struggled somewhat. I think I can say this and not break our confidentiality.

He has struggled with a little bit of chaos of the Giants last couple of years, three coaches, four years. He struggled with that, okay? He likes stability. I am surprised there's not more takers for him. Antonio Brown, I get. I mean, if you can't fit with Big Ben and Pittsburgh, and they're pretty pro player, I don't get it.

But are you surprised Odell Beckham? The market's not hotter. I think a lot of it has to do. the Giants, you know, and the Giants approach here is going to be, we're not going to shop him, and we're not going to go out there and we're not going to put them on the block. But if you want to call us, you can feel free to call us. And I think part of this, Colin, is the effect of what the Rams and the Eagles have done the last couple of years, and they've done it successfully. They've been aggressive in bringing in guys via trade. And if you want to look at the way the offseason sets up,

the free agent market, the draft class, not very strong at receiver. And so I think that there's more than just the Giants that are going to be getting calls on big-time receivers because teams that need guys like that are going to say to themselves, we need to think creatively here. So doesn't mean these guys are available, but I expect the Giants to get calls on Odell Beckham, I expect the Falcons to get calls on Julio Jones, I expect the Bengals to get calls on AJ Green. Again, I think it would cost a lot to get any of those guys out of their current places, but I certainly think that teams, the younger GMs, are going to be a lot more aggressive about those sorts of things over the course of the next two months should make for a very,

very interesting offseason. By the way, Levy and Bell, story the Jets were concerned about his weight, C.J. Anderson came on my show and said, listen, I put on 25 pounds in the offseason. You take a beating as a running back, and he goes, I got no problem with running backs doing it. He said, maybe, you know, I'd be concerned about a corner, a receiver, but he goes, running back sometimes, we have a real offseason. Like, we don't touch the weights. You know, we eat our baked potatoes and our cookies for a month to kind of heal up.

What do you make about the Levian bell market? Because I think we're all forgetting here. Maybe not you, but this was an 85-catch, 250 carry guy. This is a superstar at running back in this league. What's the market for him? I don't think it's great. I mean, I don't think it's what everybody expected it to be. I'm not sure that he's going to be able to match the offer the Steelers gave him in July.

That's just my personal feeling. It only takes one to go to $15, $16, $17 million a year. But right now as it stands, I don't think he's getting there because there aren't a lot of natural suitors out there who are going to say we want to pick up a running back who's got that kind of mileage on his body who's been suspended, who has rumors swirling around about him

what happened in the year that he spent off, like the weight stuff and everything else. There's just a lot there that you've got to wrap your arms around. I just think teams look at this guy and say to themselves, we can find an answer at running back. Maybe it won't be Levy on Bell, but a Tevin Coleman can be a guy who can be an answer for, us at a fraction of the price with less mileage on his legs.

So I think teams are being very, very careful about Levi-on-Bell. And part of it's not Bell's fault. Part of it's just the way that position works. It's not that these guys aren't great players, Colin. You know, Sequin Barclay going second overall, a Zeke Elliott going forth overall, those guys are great players, right? The thing is, most teams look at it and they say, what we can find if we don't go that route isn't so bad.

It's not like with a pass rush or a quarterback where if you don't have a good, you one you're falling off a cliff. At running back, there are usually an abundance of answers out there. We saw it with the Rams in the playoffs. They did just fine for the most part, at least in the NFC playoffs with C.J. Anderson as the lead dog. I think that that sort of thing happening tells you where a lot of teams are at that position. About a minute and a half left, Albert, Patriots, you know that organization well, 12 draft picks. What do you think they go? What do you think is their first couple of picks. They have to be, they have to get younger. There's no question about that. They do have some flexibility on their roster. I don't know that there's a pressing need right now.

They could lose Trent Brown. That would create a need to tackle. They could lose Trey Flowers. That'll create a need for a pass rusher. The biggest issue the Patriots have right now, there aren't a lot of guys who are under 25 and are cornerstones on that roster. Most of the key players in the roster, your Grankowski's, your McCordy's, your Gilmores, are either at 30 or approaching 30. So they just need to get younger talent on the roster. And that's why I think this probably isn't the year. They move aggressively up to go and get Tom Brady's successor.

I think for them it's about filling out the meat and potatoes of the roster. And I could certainly see them taking a tight end in the first round, given what they've gone through with Grankowski's last couple of years. D-line tight-end. Iowa's got a couple of good ones. It's a great, great D-line class. maybe the best I ever remember. There's about 12 guys who will go in the first round that I have.

Albert Breer, Money Morning quarterback. Good talking to Albert. All right, thanks, Colin. Yeah, I love drafts and I love mock drafts. I don't remember a draft. Now, I know last year's draft was so much fun because you had all these quarterbacks. And Kyler Murray is going to get a lot of love. And Dwayne Haskins, Ohio State, is going to get drafted top six or seven.

It is the greatest defensive line draft I've ever seen. And I'm not joking. They're like 15 defensive linemen may go in the first round. Most of them, Alabama, Clemson, you know, Ole Miss, lost southern defensive linemen. It's incredible. Like there's just a conveyor belt of Kentucky's got a kid, an edge rusher who is out of this world,

world-class kid, stayed in college one more year. Listen, if you need defensive linemen, and a lot of people in the NFL do, this is a great draft to get them. Okay, final hour. Chris Haynes, money, Yahoo Insider, the growing chasm between LeBron and Luke Walton. If you own a sports team, you want to be informed to make smart decisions. Same when you're buying a car, new or you.

Go to truecar.com, and they will give you fees and accessories before you get there. Hour 3 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. Hour three, we're live, baby. It's the herd. Wherever you may be and however you may be listening, we're on IHeart Radio, Fox Sports Radio, and FS1. By the way, NFL Combine, we had Steve Kime, GM of the Arizona Cardinals and Albert Breer.

I got to say this about the NFL Combine. I love it. You know, I'm always, I get tired of people saying, you know, SEC is overrated. Alabama is all you have to talk about. The NFL invited 90 SEC players to the Combine. that's almost 40 more than the next conference. They've got more good football players. Deal with it.

The NFL is inviting guys they think look like NFL players. They almost invited double the players from the SEC than from any other conference. Almost 40 more people. They had 38 players, something like that, more than the next conference. You take out Ohio State, and there's no northern team that's got like NFL bodies like the SEC, so let's slow down. By the way, Eagles won't be taxed. Nick Foles. That story broke today.

So he is a free agent. Albert Bruges told us Jacksonville, the team that really likes him. By the way, Jacksonville's new coordinator is a guy that had Nick Foles a couple years ago, John D. Filippo, in Philadelphia. So Nick Foles, Jacksonville makes a lot of sense to me. You can also listen to The Hurt on Sirius XM Channel 83. Coming up in 15 minutes, one of my favorite guys, NBA insider Chris Haynes,

Yahoo Insider, veteran NBA reporter on the Laker mess. And suddenly after last night, the Celtics mess, yeah, last night the Celtics played in Toronto, and it didn't go very well. After the game, Marcus Smart said, we're not together at all. Last couple of years, we were together becoming stronger. We're not there. It's just taking time. The potential's there to a matter of time.

They're now, by the way, after a blowout loss last night, 0 for 5 in their last five games with Kyrie Irving, six and all in their last six without them. Boston, we got a problem. Do not confuse most talented with most valuable. It doesn't work that way in a lot of businesses. Kyrie Irving is the most talented Celtic, and he's got a ring and a movie, and he's the most exciting, and he's the best finisher.

Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, checks all the boxes. He is not one of their top two assets. the owner of the Boston Celtics and the general manager in this exact order, consider their top three assets, Brad Stevens head coach, Jason Tatum, Rising Star, and number three, Kyrie Irving. And it's in that order. That's what the owner and the GMC. And last night, the number three asset, Kyrie Irving, glibly kind of called out the number one asset.

after playing miserably, and this is a guy Kyrie Irving, that did not back up his commitment to the Celtics. He's talking about trade stuff all the time. A reporter said, Brad talked about you guys defensively, have been taking shortcuts. And Kyrie's response was, I don't know, that's up to Brad. Oh, no, it's not. Danny Ains read that too, and the owner read that too.

Okay, the owner and the GM of this team, Kyrie Irving, flaky Kyrie, won't commit, won't play defense, glib after losses, whining about hallway discussions with KD that a microphone picks up, he is their third asset. And more than ever, I don't think they're backing up the Brinkstruck for Kyrie. And this has a domino effect. I think this means that Danny Aange is not going to go with Anthony Davis either, who is also sort of waffling on his interest in Boston? Does it guarantee that Anthony Davis gets to the Lakers?

I think it helps that cause. Does it mean Kyrie goes to the Knicks? I think it helps this cause. But right now, Kyrie is an impediment to winning. Last five with him, lost. Last six without him, won. And last night, he called out the number one asset. It's not a player.

It's Brad Stevens. That's their owner and their GM's belief. The culture starts with, their version of Belichick. And after that, it's Jason Tatum. 20 years old, never been hurt, long shoots, coachable, gets along. Last year, at 19, took the team and put him on their shoulders. But I still contend Boston will figure it out.

But Kyrie needs to realize he's the most talented. He's not the most valuable. He is number three on the asset board upstairs. Let me shift to this. You know, last night was one of those moments that a Steph Curry or a LeBron or James Hardin would have embraced. They would have been at fun. A little 10-year-old boy sidelines, and I have a 12-year-old son. This is what 9, 10, 11, 12-year-old boys do.

He touched Russell Westbrook right next to him. Russell Westbrook said, icon in America, a little boy. He touched him. By the way, you can imagine that Steph Curry would have turned around. and done something funny. And LeBron would have turned around and done something funny. I mean, we've had LeBron embrace guys who had half court shots and rolling the floor with him. You know, James Harden, the beard would have done something funny.

Most of the stars in the NBA would have... Remember what LeBron James guy had a half court shot? You remember this piece of video? It's one of my favorite LeBron videos ever got a half court shot. And LeBron came over and jumped on him and rolled on the floor. And they're how funny that was, how great that is? So last night, a little 10-year-old boy, little boy. little boys are goofy

little boys you know you gotta just keep him from running into cars they're goofy he touched westbrook and here was Westbrook after the game he hit me so I told his dad you know just be careful man

you can't have your son just hitting random people I don't know him he don't know me so just let him know like you know what I'm saying I just got to control your kids it's that simple for all the fans though you know it's too much leadway man for the fans to be able to touch the players and get away with it and then

can't react you know and do the things that we need to do to protect ourselves they can say what they want as long as it's you know respectful but the touching is to me is off lepers oh lord yeah yeah it's borderline assault i can't believe russell's playing tonight doesn't have reconstructive surgery russell this is who you become You can't answer a question at a press conference. You walk off the floor at Utah and you can't take an iPhone picture. A little 10-year-old boy came up. He's probably too close to the court, but you're like an American superstar,

and a little 10-year-old boy touched you. Russell, you've moved into the weird category. Like, I've always known you were wired differently. But I read another story yesterday about Westbrook, where Stephen Adams' teammate talks about the Westbrook rule. The Westbrook rule that you can't talk to any opposing players. Stephen Adams talked about that too. You did not even, not even the nicest look or whatever.

So it's like, so I did learn that. But then spending a lot of time with him and he's getting to know me, I did, like say, Tarbo. There's an exception there. Maybe surge. Yeah, there's certain ones that you could kind of go over and like, maybe hug. I'm still feeling this out. So I might be told off here and there, so I'm still feeling the way out.

Look him off and then I see where Russ is looking at. Look, we go and put a quick hug. Quick, quick, quick. Yeah, I mean, it's... No, I wasn't doing anything, Russ. Yeah. I mean, Westbrook's gone into the weird category. Like, Michael Jordan was intense.

Like, Michael Jordan punched the teammate. But Michael Jordan could shut it off. This is why Westbrook, you can't build around him. He's never going to win a title. You can get in his head this easily? The media gets in his head. his shots broken, you know that psychological. A 10-year-old boy touches him.

Stephen Adams, you can't look at players, but there's these weird exceptions. I mean, come on. I mean, and this really is indicative of what his game is. Utah fans got in his head last year. For all the fans in the NBA, watch this tape. No, this is how easy to get into Russell Westbrook's head. Westbrook, Westbrook, Westbrook, that's why you. shooting 64% of the free throw line.

It's not because he forgot how to shoot. It's not because his hands became like, you know, like Kareem's hands where they were almost so big. You couldn't get the right grip on the ball or shack. This isn't a former elite free throw shooter who can now not shoot a free throw. And this is worthy of the kid hit me? No, he's a little boy. I mean, I understand security stars.

They're drunks. A little boy probably had Kool-Aid. not beers, not bourbon, not wine spritzers. I probably had Kool-Aid. You're a star. He touched you, kind of fascinated. That's it. Go give him a hug.

Give him a high-five. Don't lecture his dad on how to parent. This is just exhibit number 395, why Westbrook doesn't get it. And I would never in a million years build around him. Just think of how Steph Curry would have handled that. or LeBron James would have handled that, or James Hardin would have handled that.

Coming up next, Chris Haynes stops by on The Mess in Los Angeles. Has LeBron watch his body language? Mailed it in. A lot of people think so. 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, 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. 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 in 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

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Search Learn the Hardway and listen now. What's up, guys? This is Cliver Taylor the Fourth. And on my podcast, The Cliverts Show, I'm bringing you conversations about all kinds of stuff, like being an internet famous referee. We're in the middle of a guy. game. This linebacker, this linebacker walks up to me, he goes, hey, ref, my mom wants you to wave at her. What?

Time out. Quarterback on office blue of 42. Hey, rec, my mama want you to wave at her. What? Where's she at? Hey, Miss Parker. Listen to the Clifford show on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. American soccer is about to explode.

The World Cup is coming. Ramos sending on to Ernie Stewart. I'm Tab Ramos. I'm Tom Boe. On our podcast, inside American soccer, you'll get the real storylines. I'm not worried about Policic. I'm not worried about Balagan. I'm not worried about McKinney.

My only concern is what happens in the back. The biggest decisions. If you're going to look at stats and numbers, he has no shot at making this World Cup team. and the truth about the U.S. national team. It wouldn't be a huge surprise if our team ends up in the quarterfinals or potentially a great run into the semifinals. The World Cup is almost here.

Experience it all with us. Listen, inside American soccer with Tom Bogart and Tabramos on the iHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, wherever you get your podcast. Well, the second best dress guy ever on our show to Catino Mobley is Chris Haynes. I mean, he brought out, he brought out, you're like, Oscar red carpet. You're bringing your hate game today. Look at, between you and joy,

I look like the service guy that comes up and, you know, I should have a platter and just give you like, you know, champagne. You guys are all decked out. We should have some champagne during the show. I'm for it. I got some of my cup right here.

There you go. You're always better, Chris, after a senior NBA insider for Yahoo! Somebody for years covered Cleveland playing dealer LeBron and others, former Warriors reporter, very well-sourced. Listen, here, you know, it's funny about how generally stars like a Tim Duncan or a Brady, they age pretty gracefully. And I still think LeBron's aging very incredibly gracefully. But LeBron's run the league for 12 years.

He's run the league. He's been the guy. Not always on the best team, but he's been the guy. But we have a series of things that are adding up quickly. LeBron hurt. LeBron now statistically, not a playoff team. Luke is not lasting. And if they don't land AD,

I think it's reasonable, Chris, to say is LeBron's still remarkable, but it's not LeBron's league. That's what it feels like. That's why I think the injury happened. I don't think they make the playoffs. I think Luke's done. I'm hearing that from people I trust. If they don't land AD, that's 0 for 4.

Like this is a must land, right? It is a must land. If not must landing AD, you have to must land some other superstar out there. Have to. And if they don't, then I can see a scenario where this will be the year where there's a change in the regard when you're talking about who's the face of the league. And the narrative just, he's not the lead story in the league. Well, look, I would say this, Colin.

I would say this. If they don't make the playoffs, which I think all hell will break loose, if that's the case, you still, throughout the duration of the postseason, every day, I still think LeBron will lead all the headlines. because we know the teams that he's on face high scrutiny, and the Lakers will be under that scrutiny throughout the postseason, throughout the off season. I still think a situation where he's out, where he doesn't make the playoffs, I still think the Lakers and LeBron will dominate the headlines even throughout the place. I don't think they make the playoffs.

And I think they battle. I think Sacramento is ahead of them and better and has a better locker room. I can't see that right now, Carla. It's hard to envision LeBron not being here. I'm not saying I don't disagree with it. you. But it's hard seeing LeBron not being able to will his team to a top eight team in the conference. You know what a scout told me two nights ago? He goes, they miss Lonzo more than people

think. That, you know, we all talk LeBron. They're like, you know what? Go look at their record with Lonzo and without. Like, Lonzo is better than people think. Yeah. He's more, you know, he's a real traditional point guard, obviously. LeBron James requires to, he's a player who requires to have the ball in his hands for majority of time. The youngsters still haven't quite been able to fit into his scheme and how he plays. It's been a problem, man.

But that's why they wanted to make a move at the trade-de-line to bring in somebody else. They tried to, and they couldn't. But they still have to heal from that. I still think some of those youngsters are not quite healed over the whole. Scala, I've come to this league for a while. What happened in Indiana I've never seen before? Where they were just the fans in Indiana, during near the trade-de-line,

where they were just all on one accord chanting, LeBron's going to trade you to Brandon Ingram. Like, that was brutal. I felt sorry for the kid. I know Magic Johnson said we shouldn't be treating them like kids, but these are young players who haven't experienced anything like that before. So you were there for the Indiana game. I wasn't there, but it felt like I was there.

I hurt for them. I've never seen the whole arena on one of court chanting something like that. And if you're LeBron, what do you do in that situation? Like, do you go over to Brandon and say, hey, but that's not true. Don't listen to that. Like, that's a tough position for him to be in as well. Yeah. We also have another story in the league where I like Kyrie, and I think Boston will generally

figure it out. But their 0 and 5 last 5 with him and 6 and 0, 0, 0 and 5 with him, 6 and 0 without him, is that Brad Stevens, and I think this is a really fair kind of belief. He's not built as a coach for a superstar score first point guard. That's not his offense. And that Kyrie and Brad's offense, no jive. They don't work. I mean, you're watching it.

They weren't competitive last night. Is it possible that Brad Stevens and Kyrie, this player doesn't match this coach's system? For the record, Mike Dan Tony forever, you could give him All-Star Biggs. His offense didn't work. He didn't want Dwight Howard in L.A. He didn't want Paul Gasol. He wanted a guard.

I watched Kyrie and Brad Stevens, and I think this coach and this point guard, it doesn't really work. Look, I will say this. I will say that the last year's team, talking about the Boston Celtics, there were no stars on that team. It was like a college system. Brad Stevens was able to just get everybody to buy into it.

There were no egos. And so now you're dealing with a team that you bring in Kyrie Irvin, one of the top superstars in his lead. You're bringing Gordon Hayward. But also, Colin, you're bringing in two egos. And I'm not saying necessarily that egos are a negative thing, but that's something he didn't have to manage.

when I'm talking about, he's talking about Brad Stevens. He didn't have to manage that last year. And you know as good as well as anybody in the NBA, it's a lot of years about managing Eagles. There's no quite, Eric Spolstra wasn't winning with LeBron and Wade and Bosch on X's and O's. No, no doubt. He brought him all in. It took about a year for everybody to buy him.

No doubt. And I don't know if the Celtics are better off without him because Kyrie is still one of the top closers have not the best closer in the lead. So I think you always want to have that player on your team in the last two minutes, but there's definitely a familiarity of playing without him in which the Celtics are comfortable doing. You know, it's funny about the NBA. The NFL's mostly been about system. That outside of a – I mean, even Jimmy Garoppolo, I'm just finishing up the Ian O'Connor book on Belichick.

I mean, Brady, four years ago was telling people Garoppolo's replacing me. Tom had come off kind of a rough four or five game stretch. But by and large, the NFL is a system league. The NBA is a Star League and a Players League. Do you think, though, that Adam Silver watches some of this stuff? And there is a little regret that it feels like now the players have almost, the balance has swung so heavily player that it's disruptive to teams. Some of the owners are complaining.

I mean, what do you make of the star mobility? Are you always for it? I'm always for it. Look, I think, if asked you your first question, Adam Silver, I think there's a little bit of giving tape because obviously I think Adam Silver, likes that the NBA just dominates all the headlines. I mean, the Super Bowl, you know, media week, you know, it was NBA heavy that whole week leading up to the Super Bowl.

And so I think Adam Silver does like that. But I do think he's probably, you know, general managers, of course, but the league is getting a little bit exhausted with players requesting trades and then getting what they want. By the way, think of this. So Adam Silver was very pro player. LeBron goes, give us a longer All-Star break. And he does. and LeBron says fewer back-to-backs.

And I agree with that, and he does. And the players have responded by James Harden, LeBron James, Saturday night ABC games, I'm going to take it off. It's like, time out. We gave you fewer back-to-backs. That low management. We gave you a longer All-Star break. You got on Saturday night in the big game of the week.

You can't take it off. I do feel there is a tipping point. And I don't know. I mean, again, I talk a lot of NBA. So outside of the NFL, it's my number two topic all the time. I find, do you buy into the Durant-Kirley land in New York thing? I buy into it that it's a real possibility. I do.

You know, I believe I came on this platform earlier in the year and first talked about New York Knicks and the Kevin Durant link. But, you know, Kyrie, look, he came in, beginning the season, said, you know, he vowed to be a Boston self that he's going to resign and kind of went back on that right now. And we've always heard Kyrie and New York, you know, we're always going to be a link. So, no, I think they're going to be real players. I think what New York is doing, they're positioned themselves to be able to get two max players. And depending on what they do with that, if they are able to get the number one picking the upcoming draft, that's big implications.

So, no, I think New York is going to be real players, seriously. By the way, I'll just ask you some direct questions. Luke Walton, coaching the Lakers next year, yes, no. It's hard to see that. It's hard to see that happening. Yeah, that's a no. Anthony Davis-Laker, yes or no? Next year?

Yeah. I'm going to say no as right now. Wow. I'm going to say no. Wow. Okay, that's not great. I'm telling you, if you are right. It's because, Colin, look,

is New Orleans, are they going to make a deal with the Lakers? Are they going to do that? Like, they didn't do it obviously at the deadline. Was that because of pride? Was that because they do want to see what? Boston has to offer. Well, they fired their GM. They did fire him, but the ownership has the final say.

If they wanted that deal done, it would have gotten done. And so that's why, like, this ownership, are they adamant that they're not trading him to the Lakers as long as he's under contract? That's what I don't know. So that's why I lean towards saying. I want to throw one other team at you that I think is, to me, the most interesting team in the playoffs, mostly because, you know, Westbrook's just polar. and Paul George is having an incredible... You like Westbrook, Colin? I think he did something last night that wears me out.

Joy disagrees, but when a little 10-year-old boys act like 10-year-old boys, I don't think it's a big deal. What do you make of Oklahoma City? When Russell shoots less than 18, they win. When he shoots over 18, they lose. It's like real simple. It's not a triple-double-win loss. It's like, shoot less win.

Can Russell Westbrook go into the playoffs? No last six minutes? It's Paul's team. Can he emotionally, psychologically come to terms with that? Because I saw just a three-game stretch. He went crazy Westbrook and shot 30 times a game. They went one and two. Yeah.

And I think if you're OKC Thunder fan, you're saying, you know, thank God for Paul George. Because without him and his play. He's been amazing. Hey, he's right now, he's top two on my MVP ballot right now, man. Yonis and him, he's ridiculous. But I don't know, Colin, to ask you a question, because we haven't seen him tone it down. That's why the thunder to me are fascinating.

I kind of feel I know what I'm getting with everybody in the playoffs. I have no idea. Paul George, love him, never been great in the postseason. He has never quite been dependable. And Westbrook, he has the last two years gotten a little unhinged in the playoffs. And now you have pressure on Billy Donovan. Adam's not a score. You have a bunch of non-scores, two scores,

one's more efficient. Like I can see a complete burnout, or I can see a Western Conference Finals. I think of all the interesting teams in the playoffs, OKC's easily number one. Yeah, no, for real. And I think if there are going to be that team that gets to the conference finals, I think it's going to be Paul George who leaves him that way. It has to be. It has to be.

Like you said, he talked about his efficiency. He's doing it on both ends. I think Russ, look, I get Russ credit in that he's shooting, he's shooting poorly this season, but he still, he is deferring a little bit more offensive. to Paul George. More than I ever seen him do even when Kevin Durant was over there. Oh, no question. So I give him props for adjusting his game and modifying it for the best of this ability.

By the way, I'm looking at these highlights. God, Paul George is... Can you imagine him doing this right now? At this stage of his career coming off of the injury, I'd never thought he had this next level. He is the best available two-way player in the league. Janus or him? Janus is great... Yeah, I would still give it to Paul just because I think Paul has a more.

well-rounded offensive game. So do I. But no doubt, no doubt. Just these highlights of Paul. It's ridiculous. And he feels like, I mean, this is weird to say, but it's almost like he's more athletic post-surgery. Whatever game that was, I believe was double overtime, when they had.

Utah. He pulled a 360 dunk in double O-T. Who does that in double overtime? Your leg's supposed to be fatigued. That's a layup right there at that juncture. But he's, man, I've never seen it before. Yeah, he literally looks better post-surgery. Chris Haynes, good to seeing you.

Always, my guy, thank you. You bet. Joy, with the news. No, no, no, no, no. Turn on the news. This is the herd line news. All right, so just mentioned it a second ago. There were three minutes left in the third quarter of the Thunder Nuggets game, and a young fan that was sitting courtside reached out and gave Westbrook a little tap.

Ficious. A little tap there. Russ reacted calmly, and he did stop and talk to the young fan and his father after the incident. and after the game he had a little bit more to say about it. For all the fans, though, you know, there's too much leeway, man, for the fans to be able to touch the players and get away with it and then we can't react. We don't do the thing that we need to do to protect ourselves.

So it's important, man, that they understand kids, whoever it is, dad, moms, they can say what they want, no long as it's, you know, respectful. But the touching is, to me, is often. That's funny. He does say this. He says they can say what they want as long as they're respectful. So what's, now you, I'll ask you, what's the line on that? Like, what could I say? I think calling someone out of their name is disrespectful.

So West Brick? No, that's fine. That's not very respectful. Hopefully no one says that. You know they will. I mean, that's just, if somebody yelled Westbrook, would he have the right to go over and confront them? Westbrook? Yeah. No, I feel like that's being a little overly sensitive. I think it's within reason. Whatever any reasonable person would consider disrespect. Don't call someone outside of their name.

What does that mean? I mean, don't use any racial slurs. I mean, like, calling something, someone you wouldn't feel calling someone on the street who might punch you in the face. I mean, we all know what that is. Like, don't curse it someone. Don't call them out of their name. Yeah, don't call them out of their name.

So Westbrook. So if you call a player a B word for any of those other things, well, God, no. then that's disrespectful. Who would call a player that? Have you been around people at, like, intoxicated at games? People feel like they can say anything. And for the most part, I get it.

Like, it's an arena. People are drinking. There's a lot going on. People step over the line when it comes to what they say that's disrespectful. But this particular situation, people are making a big deal about it because it's a kid. To me, that doesn't matter. Like, you're in your, yes, it's for children. It's a kid's environment.

You should be able to bring kids to games and sit on the sideline and not be a big deal. But you can't touch you. players. They're not there for you to touch. I understand there's different ways to handle this, but he's a father. It's not like he doesn't have children, doesn't understand what having kids outside is. There's

boundaries that have to be set with fans. And that's all he's saying, and he's had incidents with fans before. In Utah, they shut the... Couldn't I argue he's in the kid's space? He's literally on their lap. That's what happens when you sit side on. Well, this guy's a jerk. Yeah, this guy is lucky he didn't punch him in the face, and that wouldn't have

like, you can't come on the court. I support Westbrook. He's lucky that's all that went down in the situation. And that's in Denver also. That's a guy being in. Nobody is saying that that's what this kid did, and he's 10. We get it. The point is it's not a good look.

The optics are not good, that you're able to just reach out and touch players like that. You can't do it. There's got to be some boundaries. There's no the sense of entitlements that fans have with players. It just gets out of control. That's all Russ is saying. And he was clearly, he clearly didn't say anything crazy because everyone there on the sideline next to the kid was laughing and he walked away.

Okay, so I'm going to say something as I'm a fan. And you tell me if this is out of bounds. You're Westbrook. Hey, pass the ball, ball hog. I feel like that's okay. That's okay. Yeah. All right.

You're the second best player on the floor right now to Paul George, maybe third to Stephen Adams. What's that like you? I mean, I don't, I can't tell if you're being serious or not. Although I'm sure that people do try and yell bad. I really feel like that might be effective in making him laugh. How about this one? Kevin Durant left you because you're not nice.

Strong. All three very strong. All right. So Pat Sturmur had some notable and kind of inexplicable things to say this morning. He expects Eli Manning to be back with the team in 2019. Cicillus him. Eli can help us win games. And he proved when we started, the players around him started playing better that he can play

a very high level and help this win games. At this point, I want Eli back. He's back. Stop it. God, you're 5 and 11 every year. Give me a break. What are they watching? What are the Giants' front office watching? Don't try to sell me

that, you know, he's playing. He's Andy Dalton. That's what he is. He has a cap hit for next season of $23.2 million. Oh, God. He will enter the final season of his contract in 2019 this year, and he's scheduled to earn a salary at 11.5. They would save 17 million on their salary cap if they were to release him.

Yeah, get some players. You know, I think last year it was a little bit of a hangover of the benching of Eli Manning and that whole disaster, which I completely disagreed with how they handled that. So I feel like last year was sort of a band-aid to that situation. Let's just like let him play with some respect. At this point, it's getting a little bit ridiculous. Now, that's not to say that they're not going to draft a quarterback, but they They clearly plan on having Eli there this year. Finally, Cowboys executive, Stephen Jones, added more pressure onto Jason Garrett heading into the 2019 season, which is also the final of his contract.

Yesterday, he commented on Garrett's future in Dallas ahead of the scouting combine. Let's Jason be around here for the long term more than the Jones family. No one thinks more of him than we do. But at the same time, I know he uses it. Everybody's backs against the wall right now. We've got a really good young team. We've got high expectations for this young team. And everybody, from Jason to his staff, to our players, to ownership, to the organization, feels the pressure.

He's two and three in the playoffs and has never advanced beyond the division. Okay. He's won the division two of the last three years. So either Dak Prescott's amazing or Jason Garrett can coach. Don't think he's great. Don't think he's Belichick. Don't think he's Andy Reid. I don't.

But if I said to you, Joy, Name the top five coaches in the NFL. So you go ahead. Belichick, Sean Payton, Pete Carroll, that's time. Mike Tomlin,

I still think is up there. I would not put Jason Garrett in there. But, okay, so you name your top four. Mine would be close. Doug Peterson. Doug Peterson, good. After that, isn't he in the next six or seven?

Isn't he? I think that Jason Garrett doesn't get a lot of credit because everyone knows that Jerry Jones is involved in every single aspect of everything with this entire team top to bottom. So it feels like Jason Garrett gets all of his calls from Jerry Jones. So does everyone else. Like that's how ownership works.

Now, I think Jerry's on a different level than some owners who like to kind of stay in the background, but they still have influence. I just don't like putting coaches in a lame duck situation because I think it changes the mentality on how you coach a team when you don't have at least some security for the future. You coach for right now as opposed to coaching on a macawre. level and I think that changes your decision making in a lot of cases. No, I can.

It's not smart. Yeah. No, I can. Certainly does. The Cowboys can't afford to give him a couple extra years and then fire him if they want to. Yeah. Good stuff. Joy with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The Hurd-Ly News. By the way, doesn't Stephen Jones sound a little bit like

Jerry Jones? A little bit? He's got, it sounds a little bit like him. Coming up next, LeBron now, a three-stage player, and he's in that third stage plus a hundred days out from one of the great sporting events in America. Best for Last is coming up. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific. By the way, reading an article from a San Francisco sports writer,

why would the Warrior stars join LeBron James collapsing kingdom in Los Angeles? I was having dinner last night with a source, and we talked about this, that if you join LeBron, you just have to understand what you're getting. To me, there's been three stages of LeBron. The first stage was freight train LeBron. That was the first five, six years in the NBA. It was hallmarked by his ability to chase down NBA players. I'd never seen this before and not only block their shot, but block it off the backboard. It was the chase down block. It became his signature move. He'd do it about twice a week. I can remember running highlights and thinking, I've never seen that before. The second stage of LeBron was the offensively LeBron refined LeBron.

That's the Miami LeBron. Shot a three. Developed a low post game. Became remarkably efficient, LeBron. The third stage, because he's no longer in one, been out of that for a long time, no longer in two is the picks his spots, LeBron. He just can't give you a great defensive effort every time down the floor. He disappears.

He gives you four and five minute moments. He's a little out of shape now because of the injury, which only elevates it. But as long as you realize you're getting stage three picks his spots, LeBron, it's all good. And with that, we are a hundred days out from the Women's World Cup of which the United States crushes people. And that is always wonderful. Alexei Lollis now joining us in the herd on a Wednesday. Former U.S. men's national team member, New England Revolution, L.A. Galaxy. I don't mean to be jingoistic and patriotic, but I love the fact that we are dominant.

Tonight they play Japan in kind of a set-up match, right? Why are we so dominant in the Women's World Cup and often so dysfunctional and disappointing in the men's? Well, we have a head start. Oh, by the way, I bring you greetings and praise from the great state of Michigan. I was back there this weekend. My friend John will want me to tell you when I saw you next how much he loves watching and listening to you. So I passed that along. Was that Jim Harbaugh said that?

No, no, no, no. This is much more important than Jim Harbour. Okay. This is Jono out there in Michigan. Okay, so obviously we have a head start. We have put incredible amount of time and resource and money into our women's soccer, into our female sports in general. Yes. As a country, we value female athletes in a way that other countries and cultures don't. So we have a head start. We have professional leagues. All of that kind of stuff meant that we were able to be very good from the start when a lot of the rest of the world wasn't.

But is it shrinking? It is shrinking. That's a good thing. That's a good thing. It makes us more competitive. It makes us not stand on our laurels. And I think it's wonderful for the game of soccer. And we're going to see it again this summer.

As you said, 100 days out from the World Cup this summer in France. And we will see teams that are the usual suspects. We're going to see a lot of teams and players that we are going to be introduced to us. Japan's generally pretty competitive. Australia, aren't they pretty competitive? Yeah. So you know, you have your usual suspects, as I said, like your Germany's. and you're Brazils.

And I think right now, the team that the U.S. has to fear the most is the host nation, is France right now. This is a very, very good team. But I'm also saying that the United States Women's National Team, this is the best United States Women's National Team we have ever brought. I think in terms of depth, I think in terms of balance, I think in terms of competition, obviously they are the defending World Cup champions. It's not easy to defend a World Cup, no matter who. We don't have, you know, Mia's long gone.

Abby now is gone. So that's the Clint Dempsey. That's the kind of prototype. Whereas the star, the centerpiece, is gone. It's gone. I mean, we still have Alex Morgan, obviously, and I would look at someone like Becky Sabrin as a star. We're going to have other stars emerging.

But I just think from top to bottom in the 11, also in terms of the bench, I think that this is an incredibly potent, if they all stay healthy, an incredibly potent World Cup team that we are bringing. We're going to blow it out, man. We're going to throw the whole kitchen. sync edit 800 hours of coverage. Two standalone shows a day. Our set's going to be right down there

with the Eiffel Tower behind us. So it's going to be a wonderful summer of soccer. I can't wait to get there. The great legends when it comes to J.P. Delacama and Ali Wagner leading our broadcast. So we're going to have a good time. So it starts tonight, by the way, because we have the USA Japan. She Believes Cup Match at 7 Eastern on FS1, 100 nights out more than 800 hours of live coverage. And I said this earlier. There's two events that deserve more. love. We pay attention to the World Series. The Little League World Series always gets me. Sure. I start carrying about 11-year-old kids from Kansas. And the men's World Cup, we know about Messi and Ronaldo. The Women's World Cup gets me every time. In fact, I've told the story

to executives here. One of the reasons I came here is watching the Women's World Cup and how Fox and FS1 handled it. And I said, this company's cool. Now, you know I was with you the night in Manhattan Beach. That's right. Drinking a cold one. Well, that narrows it down. Hold on. Okay. Yeah. that the men's dysfunctional national team broke my heart and was knocked out of the World Cup. Can I speak briefly? I have had, I try not to be a fan, but I am a fan of the United States men's national team. I'm not rooting for anybody other than that. Is the dysfunction been tempered?

We have a GM. Where are we going? Who is our coach? I need to know. I love about seven of our young players. But USA soccer's wearing me out. I am bullish about the future of the men's team with the new coach Greg Burhalter,

with this core of young players that are going to own the fact that this is a new era and say, what's not going to happen on my watch? We're not going to have another day in Manhattan Beach. As a matter of fact, we'll have another day in Manhattan Beach drinking, but it'll be celebratory. And this summer, unlike last summer, you get to watch a World Cup.

And look, I don't care if it's a men's, women's, or co-ed naked World Cup. As long as there's a World Cup, that is my wheelhouse. I love these summers where I get to do this Groundhog Day of talking about the game that I love each and every day, obviously from France, it's going to be wonderful. But when you look at this World Cup this summer, if you are an American soccer fan, nay, if you are a fan of America, you watch this World Cup. Because for one reason only, we love winners. Well, you got yourself a winner, defending World Cup champions.

We didn't even have a team in the World Cup last summer. Not only do you have a team, but you have a team that you can be proud of. It's not going to be easy, but a team that you can stand up each and every day and say, I know that this team has a chance of winning the World Cup, not just showing up. I also think the men's national team has arrogance, sometimes palpable, yet no results. The women have virtually no arrogance and great results. I've always felt like the women's national team is a community, and the men's national team has too much dysfunction and feels like disparate parts too often.

Yeah, but you're using arrogance as a pejorative. And, you know, the people that you talk about that I see you talk about on a daily basis. It's one thing to have, I think that arrogance actually can be an incredible positive if you harness it, this beautiful arrogance that the best players in the world have, and there's plenty of arrogance on the women's team, and they have earned the right to be arrogant. The humility right now when it comes to the men's side, I think, is appropriate, and it better be there, because this team right now, from a men's perspective, they got a long way to go to win back the hearts and minds of American soccer fans, and I think that they will do it. But as far as this summer right now,

you've got a team that you can be proud of, a team that is bold, that does have a swagger. And yes, I will call it a beautiful arrogance that's going to be on display this summer. All right. Here's the FIFA Women's World Cup. Odds, United States. I won't get too much on the odds, but these are the favorites. United States, host France. France will do a great job on this.

Germany, England, Japan, Netherlands, Spain, Brazil, Sweden, Australia. There's Australia, Japan are the two I've watched the most. So, all right, there we go. It'll be fun. 100. Let me see. 100 days. 800 hours of coverage across linear and digital.

I would be involved in 797 of it. You were a soccer star. Whoa. That is a... If he says it on television, it's true. I played soccer and I tore my ACL playing soccer. Were you a midi? Were you an attacker?

I was a striker. Oh, you were... I was just fast than everybody. Not very skill. You went the glory. I ran past everyone. That was my skill. I heard about fast people.

You were a defensive guy. I was a lumbering old. I just... You were physically. I was very physical. You were a physical, annoying player. And arrogant, yes. Likeably arrogant.

I don't know about that. Depends who you ask. Tom Telesco, one of the best GMs in the National Football League for the Chargers, we'll be joining us tomorrow from the NFL Combine. John Lynch, my friend, 49er, former player, GM of the San Francisco 49ers. We'll be joining us from the Combine tomorrow. By the way, cold and flu season, try Vic Cinex nasal spray. Alexi Lawless.

Tonight's the beginning USA Japan She Believes Cup match at 7 Eastern on FS1. We'll see you tomorrow. 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 Sports Slice comes in.

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We're in the middle of a game. This linebacker, this linebacker walks up to me, he goes, hey, ref, my mom wants you to wave at her. What? Time out. Quarterback on office blue with 42. Hey, Rhett. My mama want you to weigh better.

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