The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Lakers Chemistry, Anthony Davis's Disappearing Act and Zion Williamson's Minute Restriction

Episode Date: July 31, 2020

On today's episode, Colin seems to really like the Lakers chemistry, but is worried about Anthony Davis seeming to disappear in 4th Quarters. Zion Williamson is on a minutes restriction, and not playing him down the stretch may cost the Pelicans a playoff spot. Tom Brady & Tampa Bay to the Super Bowl isn't as crazy as some would like to make it seem. The show is also joined by a slew of guest such as Ric Bucher, Chris Webber, Sam Amick, Rob Parker and Jason Mcintyre. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed Human. Another podcast from some SNL, late-night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer, Streeter Seidel, help an a cappella band with their between songs banter.

Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and friends on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal, but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque.

Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's Superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the IHard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. On the Look Back at it podcast.

From 1979, that was a big moment for me. 84 was big to me. I'm Sam J. And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick a year, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived it. With our friends, fellow comedians, and favorite authors. Like Mark Lamont Hill on the 80s.

84 was a wild year. It was a wild year. I don't think there's a more important year for black people. Listen to look back at it on the IHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what I'm saying. Yep, that's me, Clifford Taylor the 4th.

You might have seen the skits, my basketball and college football journey, or my career in sports media. Well, now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifers Show. This is a place for raw, unfilled conversations with athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. So let's get to it. Listen to the Clifford show on the IHeard radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes,

follow at Clifford and at TikTok podcast network on TikTok. 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 herd at Fox Sports Radio.com or stream us live every day on the iHeartRadio app by searching Hurd. You're listening to Fox Sports Radio. Ah, here we go on a glorious sports-saturated Friday live in Los Angeles.

This is a happy place. This is the hurt. I'll speak for Joy Taylor today. It is a happy place wherever you may be and however you may be listening. On any device, we're on Fox Sports Radio. We're right here on FS1. I am speaking for Joy Taylor. today, even though I have not spoken yet to Joy Taylor.

Today is a happy day in the show. Oh, wasn't that wonderful yesterday? Oh, my God. I was a little emotional. I ate like a mobster last night. It was. Yeah, you had a good night. Steaks and yelling and screaming.

I had buddies texting me during the game. They're like, this is great. And I'm like, now they're going to come over tonight. We're going to watch NBA, MLS. It was just so great. You know what I ate last night? What? Lemon pepper wings.

Oh, it's your favorite. That is. Not from Magic City, though. They're not the Lou Will. Yeah, well, those are supposed to be good, too. So let's start with this. Lakers beat the Clippers. There's two truths about the Lakers.

One is really good, and one was fine last night, but it's troublesome. Let's start with this. Their chemistry has been great all year. LeBron and AD just work. It just works. Vogel, LeBron. Frank's done a great job. Dionne Waiters doesn't fit anywhere.

He fits there. Dwight Howard's been odd for years. He's kind of important. Javelle McGee is a fascinating place. He's crucial for them on the defensive end. Alex Caruso and his headband work really well with LeBron. Their chemistry is excellent. It was right where they did.

And it was great in the first week. You know, listen, LeBron and D. Wade are best friends. It took a month and a half for him to get it together. And by the end of that first year, they still didn't have it together. This thing works. Okay. And it shouldn't, on paper, it is a reality show. It's the odd balls of the NBA and J.R. Smith.

and Waiters and Javail and Dwight Howard, who's Alex Caruso and his headband? But it works. And when you juxtaposed that against the Clippers last night, their chemistry was not good. They had more turnovers than assists. LeBron really frustrated them defensively in a couple late possessions. Paul George was great last night. He was stupendous, but he kind of felt sometimes he was doing it by himself. I didn't like kind of their offensive situational basketball.

I felt they were off last night. And none of it was pretty early. LeBron really struggled for much of the game. But the Lakers chemistry is, it's really a credit to Vogel and LeBron. It shouldn't be this good. On paper, this roster has so many parts that don't look like they fit, and they do. I mean, Dionne Writers drives me nuts. Last night, it was really important.

And here's the second thing with the Lakers, that's the truth. They got a pattern. They get carried by Anthony Davis. early and then he disappears and LeBron carries him late. And that was good enough last night. LeBron was very good late. Couple of big baskets, a couple of great assist, two great defensive stops. Anthony Davis this year shoots 53% from the field in the first three quarters.

He shoots 40% in the fourth. He just dries up. But he's a monster for the first three quarters. He may be the best player in the NBA quarters one, two, and three. And last night he had 32 in the first three quarters. You know what he had in the fourth? Nothing. So here's my two takeaways.

Their chemistry is great and it matters. And they got to figure out this Anthony Davis thing. Because for years, everybody said he's kind of soft. This is what people complained about. Where is he? Where's the dog? Playoffs are about dog. It's about veteran players getting in your face.

Kevin Garnett, Duane Wade, tough guys, LeBron, Kawhi, getting in your face. A lot of guys get, they just don't have dog in them. They're talented, they don't got dog in them. This league, Pippinette dog, Michael had dog, Bird had it, Magic had it. The late Kobe had it. It matters. Four games against the Clippers this year.

Listen to this. Anthony Davis is fourth quarters. And remember, this is a top five offensive player in the league. This is a great talent. I mean, you watch last night. When he's in his game, it lights out. You can't stop him. Clippers, fourth quarter, four games, Anthony Davis.

us. Zero, four, four, and two points. The hell? That is a problem. This is why I don't consider them a championship team. Now, it worked last night because Lou Williams didn't play. Best six men in the league. Montrez, Harold's size 19 a game. He didn't play. The Lakers bench outscored the Clippers last night. Not the way it's going to work if they keep playing. But I will say this, wildly fun. LeBron, who struggled early, was tremendous late. He had that shot he missed, follow-up shot. He had a couple of huge assists.

LeBron did something last night that was really impressive. 17th year in the NBA, two huge defensive stops. In fact, it's either the last or the second or the last possession, he stopped Kauai and Paul George. 17th year in the NBA. Even great players after about year 12 in the NBA. They stopped playing D. Like D is somebody else's problem.

Once you got like MVP's, a lot of money, it's like, I gave you 12 years of defense. I'm done playing. Even the great guys. I mean, Kobe was a nine-time-all defense. The last four years, he was done with the defense. He had his cash. He had his titles. He had his legacy.

I'm kind of done with the defensive end. LeBron last night was huge late on the defense event. So, and it was a great night of NBA. Now, now I'm frustrated. Now this is getting out of hand. Zion Williamson. was on a minute's restriction. This isn't like he's not a football player on concussion protocol.

He's not a baseball pitcher off Tommy John surgery. Zion was on a minute's restriction. This is bulldozed parenting by the pelicans. We talked about this yesterday. There's a term called helicopter parenting when parents hover over their kids to make sure they're safe. The new term is bulldoze parenting. Will you just clear a path for your kids? Pelicans.

You need to win these games. You're not in the playoffs yet. You've got to win these games. You had the game. Zion wasn't on the floor at the end. Put him in for two minutes. It's not dealing with concussion protocol. He's not a Tommy John surgery case.

Put him in the game. Alvin Gentry, his coach, protecting him, disgusted. We wish we could have played him down the stretch, but, you know, he had used the minutes that was given to us. So, you know, that's just, you know, that's the way it is. I mean, we weren't going to stick him back out there. You know, our medical people said that we played him in the minutes that was allowed us to play him.

Was his conditioning that bad? Because he had, he had, well, let me look this up real quick. Didn't he have like 15 points in 13 minutes? Not that bad of shape. Maybe it was 13 points in 15 minutes. Either way, not that bad of shape. Here's the other thing. Brandon Ingram is the all-star for this team.

Zion's the MVP. When he was on the floor this year, they're plus 11. He's off there, minus 4. That is a monster swing. He's the MVP. He has a physicality that Brandon Ingram does not have. There are just certain people, Joy, talked about it yesterday, walk into the room and kind of own it.

Zion walks into the room. It's like, damn, even in NBA circles, doesn't look like anybody else. There is a physical presence with him that is so crucial, put him back in the game. They need the wins. Here's the other thing. So Zion off a real injury.

Now it's just because he's not in perfect shape. And for the record, I don't think anybody's in great shape yet. So Zion in college, he got hurt. Remember at Duke? He was out of Mug. He came back for the ACC tournament. I looked this up this morning. You know how many minutes he played in the first three games back?

36, 35, and 40, MVP of the ACC turning. You got him stopping him. at 15? Because he's got a little belly. Is anybody in great shape now? I mean, seriously, this isn't Tommy John. This isn't concussion protocol. Just put him in for the

last 90 seconds. You had that game and gave it away to Utah. Utah's in the playoffs. They're going to be fine. Pelicans need those Ws. And again, this is this bulldozing parenting, this protecting Zion. Listen, NBA travel stinks. Oh, wait.

there is no NBA travel. Like I get the NBA travel. Veteran players don't want to play back-to-backs. Totally get it. 82 games, winter, I get it. Guy plays, you know, if you're a star in the NBA and play 72, I'm good with it. People did that forever until they gave it a nickname load management.

But the worst part of the NBA, the travel, there is no travel. You play, go on a stairmaster, go to your room, get a catered meal. This is personal coaching, shooting coaches, personal training. Listen, I'm not asking you to play Zion 39, but 15. How do you get in shape? You play your way into shape. He's good. We can go up to 20 minutes.

We're good. And last night, that was your game, Pelicans. That was your game. This isn't Steven Strassberg. This isn't pitcher limits. I get pitcher limits. I do. I get young pitcher, Strasberg.

Let's watch his arm. Let's not go to 200 innings. I get those. I get people. Concussion protocol. Like, you know, one more week. I get all that stuff. I get if he had an ACL tear.

I get it. This is because, yeah, he needs a few more days on the treadmill. Last night, I'd have said, what's the clock say, 2.15? Boom, back in. Because when he's on the floor, he may not be the all-star yet on this team. He's the MVP. Coming up next.

LeBron said something after the game last night. I thought it was really fitting. And it's something me and my friends thought about last night. I was on Instagram last night with Nick Wright. It was just a circus. I figured out how to do Instagram live. It was not easy. It was just a circus.

We couldn't figure out where to put the camera on the fruit bowl, on the table next to the candles. But we got it done. But I noticed something that LeBron talked about after the game. Both Nick and I did. 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. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal but encouraged.

It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's Superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the I-Hard Radio app, Apple Podcasts,

or wherever you get your podcasts. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what I'm saying. Yep, that's me, Cliver Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, the reactions, my journey from basketball to college football, or my career in sports media.

Well, somewhere along the way, this platform became bigger than I ever imagined. And now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfiltered conversations with some of your favorite athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated.

One week I'll take you behind the scenes of the biggest moments in sports and entertainment and the next we'll talk about life, mental health, purpose, and even music. The Clifford Show isn't just a podcast, it's a space for honest conversations, stories that don't always get told, and for people who are chasing something bigger. So if you've ever supported me or you're just chasing down a dream, this is right where you need to be. Listen to the Clifford Show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and. and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok.

Do you remember when Diana Ross double-tapped Little Kim's boobs at the VMAs? Or when Kanye said that George Bush didn't like black people. I know what you're thinking. What the hell does George Bush got to do with Little Kim? Well, you can find out on the Look Back at it podcast. I'm Sam J. And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick a here, unpack what went down,

and try to make sense of how we survived it. Including a recent episode with Mark Lamont Hill, waxing all about crack in the 80s. To be clear, 84 is big to me, not just because of crack. I'm down to talk about crack all day, but just so y'all know. I mean, at this point, Mark, this is the second episode where we've discussed crack. So I'm starting to see that there's a through line. We also have AIDS on the table right now.

Thank you for finishing that sentence. Yes. I don't think there's a more important year for black people. Really? Yeah. For me, it's one of the most important years for black people in American history. Listen to look back at it on the IHeart Radio app, Apple, podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hardway with me, your host, and your favorite therapist, Keer 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, Tript 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.

We don't know when we've done enough. Because people scoreboard watch. Life becomes about wins and losses. Steve Burns, Dustin Ross, because you find it important to be a good person while you hear on earth? Are you a good person because you're afraid? Because that's two different intentions, bro. Absolutely.

And that's two different levels of trust. I want you to just really be a good person. Join me, Keer Gaines, as we have real conversations about healing, growth, fatherhood, pressure, and purpose. On my new podcast, learn the hard way. Open your free. iHeartRadio app search learn the hard way and listen now last night nick wright was over at my

house for a cocktail lakers clippers a lot of fun by the way loz unexpected choice for my outdoor cocktail bar do-it-yourself projects are fun get into it at loz go to loz dot com show us your transformations hashtag loz goals so uh i thought last night uh i watched the second half of the utah jas pelican game and then i watched the entire every basket lakers clippers game i thought it was fantastic. I thought it was 90% of the real thing, 95%. I thought the intensity was through the roof. NBA had a great night. I'm watching baseball kind of sputter around with cancellations and postponements and, you know, COVID stuff. And I'm watching the NBA last night and two games, lots of stars, both came down to the final shot. The look of it is absolutely fantastic.

I mean, I am shocked how good it is. Every friend I have that already likes the NBA. Don't, don't pretend you like the NBA criticizing it. You were never into it. Go to your last 100 posts on the NBA. It was fantastic. The intensity was, I thought it was, I had to remind myself more than once it was not a playoff game. I mean, the games were intense. Guys were into it. LeBron barking at the reps. I keep forgetting we got eight of these warm up games into the playoffs. I thought it was fantastic. It felt like a playoff game. There's a couple, two or three things. I have watched so far in the pandemic that have felt like the real thing. I think the UFC fights feel like the real thing.

I thought last night felt like the real thing. And let me just say, I think MLS has done a very good job. But UFC and the NBA have an advantage. They're both indoors and they're both loud. UFC is guys on the ground fighting, pushing, pumping. And announcers, there's constant action in UFC. So you have to constantly describe it. Basketball is indoors.

Octagon and an NBA court. There's a spotlight on it, not the crowd. In the NBA, there's constant action. There's no pauses. So the play-by-play guys never stop. That's the sneakers. There's the arguing. So this visceral connection I have to it,

it's visual, it's audio, UFC and basketball. You're getting constant play-by-play, constant noise, sneakers, punches, octagon banging around. And I'm in. I'm just, I am into it. There's not a lot of pauses in UFC. If it is, if you're pausing, you're getting hit. In basketball, there's not a lot of pauses.

I imagine, you know, hockey may have some of this too. I haven't watched the hockey yet, but I thought overall it was really, really good. I'm kind of blown away by the MLS. I'm kind of blown away by UFC, blown away by NASCAR. I've really been blown away by all of it. I just sit there and I'm like, tip of the cap. I'm seeing people struggle in the airlines. I'm seeing all sorts of industries not get it right.

Sports and tech. are flourishing. Here's LeBron after. We're two teams in the same city. You know, two teams that's fighting for one common goal and that's to win a championship and bring it to the city of Los Angeles

and their respective fan base. So, you know, you have just so many competitors on the floor. You know, so, you know, going out there and representing the Purple and Gold, representing Laker Nation, and those guys doing the same thing for their fan base, no matter what the cause is,

no matter what the bubble is, no fans, more fans. Basketball is basketball and competitive spirit is competitive spirit. So we got right back to, you know, right back to where we left off. And I'll say it again, one of the advantages for the bubble, NBA travel is a schloid. It is hard. There is no travel. I thought the energy of the players last night was spectacular.

I mean, I'm watching Utah. And New Orleans, and I'm sitting there, I have to remind myself, it felt like a playoff game. I mean, New Orleans has to get in. Utah has to save their spot because they don't want to have to open up against, you know, like the Clipper or the Lakers. So, listen, man, a lot of people have impressed me. You can sit around and complain during the pandemic. And the media's got a lot of people that wake up looking for problems. I like people who seek solutions, and I am blown away.

by how many smart men and women in this country are flourishing during this. God, I couldn't believe how good it was last night. I can't believe how good the MLS is. I can't believe UFC went to an island and how many fights I watched. You know, you can wake up unhappy or wake up and marvel at the talent in this country. Joy with the news. No, no, no, no. Turn on the news.

This is the herd line news. Well, it was a good night for the NBA last night. and kind of ironically for Rudy Gobert. He was the first player to test positive back in March. That's right. Which prompted the NBA shutdown, obviously a really unfortunate scene of him, you know, rubbing the microphones. Right, right. You got a lot of heat for that.

Well, yes. I mean, if we can remember back to that time, we were all very uninformed, mostly as a country, about what was going on. Well, last night, he kicked things off by scoring the first points of. of the NBA restart as the Jazz took on the Pelicans. God, he's so good defensively. He continued to have a great game. He put up 14 points, 12 rebounds, and three blocks, including a massive block on Zion Williamson.

And he was clutching the final seconds. He sunk two free throws to clinch the win for Utah. Donovan Mitchell had 20 points, five rebounds and five assists. When I went to a jazz game this year in person, when you go to those games in person, he is so fundamentally important, not just for defense, because he had great defensive players, the best rim protector in the league.

but offensively he is so long and intuitive that if you get down on the shot clock to five, throw it up, he just has a, he has a, he's like Bill Russell, he's got a sense of where everybody is on the floor is the ball's in the air.

He is such a... He's a very fluid player. He's like Javille McGee, but more gifted offensively. He's got a real offensive game. He really, at the end of the game, won the game for him. Yeah, he did.

I mean, those free throws were what clenched the game. It was really, I mean, the Pelicans were leading most of the game. They're up at 16 points. I mean, they, they blew. Had it. Had it. Wouldn't you put Zion in for two and a half?

Of course. I didn't get it. Of course. I don't, look, we're all dealing with a very, a new MBA when it comes to managing these injuries and, you know, Kauai Leonard and load management. And obviously, we don't know what's going on with Zion. But, I mean, this for, while you're saying it's a playoff atmosphere, it is playoffs for the Pelicans. They're trying to get in.

So they need to win that game. It's not a, it's not just a warm-up game like it is for Utah or for the Lakers or the clippers. Like, they needed to win that game. There's a must-win game for them. So I don't know why Zion wasn't out there. I don't like, I'm with you. I don't understand protecting him unless the doctors are specifically saying he cannot do it. I guess you have to, you have to follow that, but they, they blew that game regardless.

So Janus has only one more year on his deal with the Bucks and he could choose to make a big move next summer. But Charles Barkley is hoping that they can win it all this year in an attempt to keep him Milwaukee. Yeah, that concerns me. We'll have another Kevin Durant situation, and we really don't want that. I think it would be great for basketball if the Bucks won because Janice is such a great kid, and Milwaukee is one of the most underrated cities in the NBA. I think it was great that Toronto won the championship. It was great for the NBA, and I think it would be great than Milwaukee won this year. I don't disagree with that, by the way. I'm not rooting for Janus to leave. It is better if you head. Like, listen, the Packers being great in the NFL or the Colts during Peyton Manning,

the middle of the country. Kansas City Chiefs is great for the league. When you can have this heart of the, when the Big Ten has good football and the SEC hates them and the West Coast can acknowledge them. Does that work the same way in the NBA? I think it, I, you know what I think matters in the NBA? I think there's a vibe of feel that everybody counts. And I do think the NBA can be a little glamour coastal. I think one of the reasons the NBA, the NFL is king. New Orleans is great. Baltimore, Kansas City, Green Bay. It doesn't feel like in the NFL,

there's a glamour league and then everybody else. No, there are some glamour teams, like the Cowboys. Yes, yes. But they don't win that much, and a lot of free agents choose other places. Sure, but I just don't know if I, if I think that's the same in the NBA. I think there's a, I don't think it's like on a daily basis.

Like it hasn't really been that way. If you think about it, because we talk about people complaining about dynasties all the time in the NBA. But if you really look, look at who wins NBA championship. It's mostly the same teams. In a weird way, I think I'm rooting for Milwaukee,

because I get so tired of this, the Midwest fans. Nobody talks about us. It's like, oh, victimhood of the Midwest, Packers, MJ's Bulls, Peyton Manning's Colts, the Midwest, Ohio State football, LeBron and Cleveland, like the Midwest isn't represented.

Kansas City just won a championship. They'll probably win nine more. I have no problem with Yonest staying. with the bucks even if they don't win this year, right? Yeah, I don't have a problem. Because I don't think, I think we're being too dramatic about him having to win this year. Yannis is still very young. He's got plenty of time to start winning championships.

Like, before we start putting the real pressure on, no, but he doesn't win a championship this year. It's almost like of all the teams, I think the bucks have the most pressure on them. Like, I don't think there's any pressure on the Clippers or the Lakers. Either team that wins will be like, okay, they got a great run. Clippers have a little heat. The Clippers don't make the finals. It's not great. It's not great, but it's not like all of the pressure is on them.

I feel like all the pressure is on the bucks this year. And if Milwaukee wins, though, I never want to hear another Midwest fan say, nobody talks about us. I've said before, I love the Midwest. I fly over it all the time. They face the Celtics today at 6.30 p.m. Eastern. That'll be a good game. So the Cowboys didn't get a long-term extension done with Zach in time for the season,

as we know, but Stephen Jones is still confident that Dallas will get their quarterback locked in long term. Had a great visit with him at the deadline. We pushed to try to have a few more changes here and there to see if we could get it done. But he's got such a great outlook on the Dallas Cowboys. So we're fired up about it and still have nothing but 100% belief in Dak and his future here with the Dallas Cowboys and that we can ultimately get a deal done. He's special. As Jerry and I have said, we're 110.

percent behind him and ultimately feel like we'll get this done. So I had to spend a year and a half talking about it. Now I have to spend another year talking about it. Can't we just have a year of no DAC contract? I'm over DAC money talk. But they did admit that it was the years that was the major issue. Once four years, they want five so he can hit free agency sooner. And they admitted that COVID did play a role eventually in the negotiations as well because

they don't know what's going to happen with the cap next year. There could be a lot of changes. Yeah, I mean, we know he's going to be playing under the franchise tag this year, a 31.4 million. But apparently we will be back to that contract contract talking sooner than we know it. I mean, you know, Mahomes, we didn't spend one day on it. Not a day. Went.

Like, you would mention it in passing. Like, oh, eventually we'll start talking about Mahomes' contract. Jack has been, seriously, I feel like it's a movie trailer. It's ground a year and a year. a half before the movie comes out. It's Groundhog Day. Tidious. All right, Joy with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The Hurd-Ly News. Is Buker ready?

All right, Rick Buehker. Senior writer, Bleacher Report, Fox NBA, dude. Broad to you by Mercedes Benz, the best or nothing. All right, let's start with Zion. Listen, he's not a pitcher. We don't have a Tommy John surgery. He played 15 minutes. You couldn't have put him in for two minutes. This feels like helicopter parenting. Am I wrong on that? You are dead wrong. And by the way, you should listen to Joy Moore, too, when it comes to Milwaukee and the balance of power in the NBA and Janus. But I'm not going to digress. It's your show. Are we not going to talk about the

fact that Zion's plus minus, and I'm not a total plus minus analytics guy, he was minus 16. That was the worst on the team. Yes, he is unbelievably electric when it comes to his offense and his ability to kind of create something out of nothing. But defensively, he's not just mediocre. He's terrible. He has really bad habits. And if I'm playing in a slowdown at the end of a game situation, as the Pelicans were, I'm sorry, it has nothing to do with hell. I'm not putting him on the floor. I'm not putting him on the floor. because I can't trust that I'm going to get a stop. Okay, but let's be honest. Offense, this league's not about defense. If it was, then Caldwell Jones of the Sixers would be Kareem. It's about scoring. And I'm watching the video last night in the bubble.

He was fantastic. He was. No, he's entertaining. I'm not saying he's not. But you guys are saying, you and Joy are saying, why didn't they play him in the last couple minutes of the game? because he was going to have to score every time because he was going to give something up every time.

I understand ultimately why they didn't do it. They got off to a terrible start when he was in there. Was he scoring? Yes. Were the Utah Jazz scoring? Yes. And there was a connection between those two. So when it comes to trying to execute and finish the game,

scoring is most important the vast majority of the game. But in the last two minutes, you've got to be able to get stops and Zion just isn't there yet. All right. I know you like, you like positive. I wish I, I just heard your speech.

Like, I want to be one of those positive people. Yeah. I'm giving you a solution. Don't put, play Zion 46 minutes. Just don't play him the last two. Yeah,

that's, you and I are not going to agree on that. Okay, so Lakers Clippers, I can take two routes on this. Yeah. Here's one of them. Lou Williams didn't play.

Montres Harold didn't play and Kauai got into foul trouble. this is just not going to be a night. I mean, you can't lose 40 points in two guys and then Kauai gets two fast fouls. The Klippers should look at this and think, hey, we came within a shot of winning this thing. We didn't have 40 normal points. And Kauai, he couldn't play for most of the first quarter. Yeah. That's the problem for me, Colin, is the fact that I feel like the clippers are thinking that way.

They've been thinking that way. And as a result, they're not paying attention. to the details. They could have, should have won that game. They did what we've seen them do multiple times during the season and against the Lakers. We can mess around for a while and then, you know what, we'll turn it on when we need to turn it on and we'll finish this. They did not execute at the end of that game. They didn't really call a play at the end of that game.

And LeBron James came through with what he needed to do to do. LeBron getting the rebound of his own missed shot and putting it back was egregious. Alex Caruso going coast to coast with nobody challenging it with the game on the line was horrific. But that attention to detail, that focus, like that's a muscle. You build that and you build the ability to do that for 48 minutes for multiple games. The Clippers for all their talent have not been doing that. And are they better than the Lakers? Hell yes. They are

talent-wise. It's not close. But their focus and their attention to detail leaves them vulnerable for things that happened like last night. It was right before Anthony Davis, last two weeks before Anthony Davis got traded

to the Lakers. And there was an executive in the NBA I talked to and he said, the problem with Anthony Davis is there's no dog in him. Like he goes, that playoff series they won in New Orleans felt like it was about Rondo and Drew Holiday. It was.

And so here's interesting. Four games against the Clippers. Anthony Davis in the fourth quarter has scored two zero four and four. I mean, I'm sorry. This is the knock I have on him. Talent, abundant. Dog, dog, nada. And last night, he disappears again late.

How can it not be an issue? Well, this is what I really don't understand at this point. and I keep hearing it over and over. The Lakers, if the Lakers are going to win, AD has to be the driving force. AD has to be the go-to guy. By the way, we're seeing him shoot threes. Does that remind you of anybody, Kevin Love, Chris Bosch?

It's not by accident. When you play in the LeBron system and you're a big, you end up having to go out to the perimeter, in part because you need to leave things open for LeBron and in part because AD is very good one-on-one on the black. If you saw early on in that game, anytime the clippers muddied it up and sometimes they'd send a double, sometimes they wouldn't, AD's not a playmaker. He is a phenomenal talent, but he's not a playmaker, which is why you're not going to give the

ball to him on the block and expect him to make plays for himself or somebody else. It just doesn't happen. And when he was in New Orleans, he was there for seven seasons. they made the playoffs twice. That's right. Once it was a tiebreaker with an Oklahoma City team that was missing Kevin Durant for all but 27 games. And I think Russell played 60 plus. They were an injured team.

And the Pelican snuck in promptly swept out, didn't even win a game. The next time was 2018. They got in. They were the sixth seed. They upset Portland. but as you said, that had a lot more to do with Drew Holiday and Rajan Rondo locking up C.J. McCollum and Damian Lillard and Anthony Davis outplayed Yusuf Nurkich. Why do we keep talking about Anthony Davis like he's Kevin Garnett or he's Derek Rose or he's one of these guys that is a superstar that can carry a team? He can.

He had seven seasons to do that in New Orleans and they got there twice. And I can't even say they got there twice all on his back. So the idea that he's now going to carry this team, this Lakers team, to a championship, having never been past the second round in his eighth season, just I don't understand why we keep talking about that. If the Lakers win, it's going to be because of, it's going to be because of what LeBron James did last night, which way two big defensive stops at the end of the game and ended up hitting the winning basket. He's going to have to do that just about every time. Otherwise, I don't see them getting it done.

And it's why I still like the clippers, because I'm just not sure at 35, the LeBron has the energy to be able to do that. Yeah, look at this defensive stop right here. It was really good. Okay. I, Joy and I, I was shocked at the aesthetics, how good it was. I thought, honestly, I watched the end of the Jazz Pelicans game.

I had to remind myself, I thought it was a playoff game. I'm like, oh, it's not a playoff game. And I was saying this to Joy is that, the NBA travel is a schloid. It's really hard. It's winter. It's arriving at a snowy airport at two, a van to the hotel. Some guys get to the hotel.

They can't sleep, right? They slept on a plane. There's no travel, though. Now, the guys, I think the energy was amazing last night. They're not traveling. I get your point, and I agree with you. But you're on a private charter flight. You are staying at the four seasons.

You have a bus waiting for. Like, I just, I can't go so far as to say that their travel is like anybody else's travel. It is, I've made those trips, I've been with teams, it's pretty sweet. But to your point about not having to go anywhere, I agree with you. I think the energy that the players are going to have is, it is going to be a benefit. And I was pleasantly surprised that the games were as fun and attractive. and competitive. My concern was that we were going to see so many missed shots, so many missed

threes that it was going to be disappointing. But I will say this. I think that the NBA did a great job in terms of the teams that they picked to play on opening night. Let me see the rest of the teams before I passed judgment that everybody has come back and is ready to go at the level that we saw the four teams ultimately last night. But yeah, look, I get it. I think the big thing for me was that I really thought that the absence of the crowd was going to affect energy. And I talked to a player last night after the games,

and he said that is the one thing that's going to be a challenge for teams is you have to create your own energy. And that's actually where the Lakers might have an advantage because I look at their bench guys and I look at their chemistry, and they have more of those raw, raw guys than the clippers do. The pelicans have a lot of those guys. I think that's going to, you have to create your own energy and you have to have guys who get excited. If you've got, you know, the Kauai Lenards, you don't say anything, don't do anything, don't emote, you don't have your crowd to fill in for that.

And so that's going to be an interesting dynamic. The bench mobs and the theatrics on the bench are actually going to be a factor, I think, in this bubble. Yeah, that was fun. I'm amazed by what technology does and all those fans and all that. I just, I'm blown away by it. Can we get you, by the way? Can we get you enjoy on the monitors? Can we get you sideline?

Oh, I love it. You have no idea. Wouldn't it be great? For my former network to have me cheering, it would be so great. I would love that. If somebody in Silicon Valley can do that, I'm all for it. Good seeing you, Rick. We'll make it happen.

You got it, Colin. They kneeled and the ratings doubled. Thoughts on that coming up. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential.

Either way, the podcast's Superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days I'd put on 10 pounds, I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the IHard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what you're saying. Yep, that's me, Clipper Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, the reactions, my journey from basketball to college football, or my career in sports media. Well, somewhere along the way, this platform became bigger than I ever imagined.

And now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfiltered conversations with some of your favorite athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. One week, I'll take you behind the scenes of the biggest moments in sports and entertainment, and the next we'll talk about life, mental health, purpose, and even music. The Clifford Show isn't just a podcast. It's a space for honest conversations, stories that don't always get told, and for people who are chasing something bigger.

So if you've ever supported me or you're just chasing down a dream, this is right where you need to be. Listen to the Clifford show on the IHeart radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. Do you remember when Diana Ross

double-tap Little Kim's boobs at the VMAs? Or when Kanye said that George Bush didn't like black people. I know what you're thinking. What the hell does George Bush got to do with Little Kim? Well, you can find out on the Look Back at it podcast. I'm Sam J. And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick it here, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived it.

Including a recent episode with Mark Lamont Hill waxing all about crack in the 80s. To be clear, 84 is big to me, not just because of crack. I'm down to talk about crack on day, but just so y'all know. I mean, at this point, Mark, this is the second episode where we've discussed crack. So I'm starting to see that there's a through line. We also have AIDS on the table right now. Thank you for finishing that sentence. Yes.

I don't think there's a more important year for black people. Really? Yeah. For me, it's one of the most important years for black people in American history. Listen to look back at it on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hard Way with me, your host, and your favorite therapist, Kear Games. And in recognition of mental health awareness month, I'm bringing over a decade of my own experience in the mental health field and conversations with so many incredible guests.

I'm talking. Trip Fontaine, Ryan Clark. Sometimes when we're in the pursuit of the thing, we get so wrapped up in the chase that we don't realize that we are in possession of the thing. And we're still chasing it. And we don't know when we've done enough. Because people

scoreboard watch. Life becomes about wins and losses. Steve Burns, Dustin Ross, because you find it important to be a good person while you hear on earth? Are you a good person because you're afraid? Because that's two different intentions, bro. Absolutely. And that's two different levels of trust. I want you to just really be a good person. Join me, Keer Gaines, as we have real conversations about healing, growth, fatherhood, pressure, and purpose on my new podcast, Learn the Hardway. Open your free,

our Heart Radio app. Search Learn the Hardway and listen now. Great to have you back on a sports saturated Friday. I don't say many clever things ever on this show, but I have a saying I use all the time at home. It's mine. I'm proud of it, so here goes. I tell my kids this all the time, my daughter specifically. Don't allow people with no life to ruin yours. Laugh at their misery. They're miserable people.

Not many in America, but there's too many. If you want to complain about something, you're a farmer, and you don't feel the subsidies are fair. I've got your back. You're a renter, and the landlord suddenly doubles the cost. Damn right, you should be mad. You're in your 70s. You go to the pharmacy one day.

They've jacked the prices 45%. Be pissed, I would be. Be loud, proud, I got your back. But there are people in America that complain about things they don't even care about. Like the NBA, players kneeled last night, and conservatives imploded. let's be honest your last 40 tweets you don't like the league you're just miserable

the NBA is the one league in America just the one you have to tolerate this one where the stars are powerful black voices socially and culturally it's the one and their best player for 15 years much more than MJ

magic or bird is socially deft, socially skilled, and stuff matters to him based on what he's seen and lived. You don't have to watch it. I'm not telling you to love the NBA. I don't watch a lot of college basketball. But if you go to Spokane, Washington, or Lawrence, Kansas, or Syracuse, or Raleigh, North Carolina, people love college basketball.

I'm not going to talk you out of it. You watch what you want to watch. You vote for who you want to vote for. but I don't complain about college basketball because I have no real passion for it other than four or five programs where I have a buddy who coaches. The people complaining about the kneeling last night.

You don't even watch it. You're just miserable. You just want to complain. I hear this all the time. Colin the hypocrisy of the China situation. Really, you stay up at night thinking about that. You're on a Friday night with your wife

having some Mexican food and a couple of margaritas hoping things turn out good. for you. You've been married 27 years. You get very few special nights. You start talking about NBA-China bureaucracy with your wife. Let me just put it this way. Romance killer. They may want to talk about something else. Like the next trip, another honeymoon, getting remarried, buying her a nice bracelet or something. You don't talk about this stuff. You don't care about this stuff. You've never loved the NBA. It's not for you. I get it. I found that out in college. I grew up on the coast of Washington State

next to a cannery. There was a football team we played. It was in Oysterville. That's how I grew up, clams, oysters. I thought everybody liked them. I didn't travel much as a kid. And then I went to Eastern Washington University, which was Cattle Country.

And I went out to a nice dinner once with friends. Eight guys at the table, all from Spokane. I ordered seafood. They all went, ugh, God, yeah. And I like, doesn't everybody like salmon? Oh, the smell of it. And I'm like, oh, wait. Not everybody thinks like me.

My life experience was different than their life experience growing up around cattle farms. And that's okay. Nobody's saying you have to love the NBA, but it's a unique league culturally. It's stylistic. It's culturally relevant. And it stars are black men who have voices in this country. Many of you, no other league do you rush to wear what they wear. It doesn't happen in football.

I've never once said, I've got to get Tom Brady. shoes. These are people that matter. They have voices. They're culturally significant. And the star LeBron James has decided much more than previous stars, more than a Wilter, an MJ or a bird. There are things that matter to him and his community based on what he lived and saw. If you don't want to watch the league, I'm, bro, I got your back. I'm not in the college basketball's regular season. I like the final four. But if you're complaining about a league you don't really watch or care about you fall into the category which I've always told my daughter don't let people with no life ruin yours last night the ratings doubled studies continue to indicate an increasing number of

americans i believe it's now over 50% are comfortable with players kneeling and are comfortable with black lives matter it's not even about being on the right side of history I hear that all the time. You want to be on the right side of history. I want to be on the right side of now. That's what I want to be on the right side. I won't be here for the history. I want to be on the right side of now.

Right side of now is compassion and empathy and enjoying life and being happy and celebrating people outside our little cylinders. I saw the kneeling. All right. And then I watched the game. But I love the NBA. I get it. If you don't, I'm all good. But stop, Guy, that now. guy that never watches it telling me how outraged you are about China. All leagues have a blind eye.

NFL concussions, baseball steroids. 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. Oh, here we go, hour two. Live in Los Angeles. This is the herd.

Do a fastball. We're stuck it in fast. Wherever you may be and however you may be listening, whatever platform. Fox Sports Radio and FS1. Joy and I have been named by many publications as the best hair couple in American television. I don't know what those publications are, but there's many of them. Look at us. I tell you what, we are bringing it today.

We're making it work with no hair and makeup pawn, so. You're making it work. Figuring it out. You had a fun night last night. Oh. You know, first of all, Nick Wright is, it's just he's different than anybody I've ever met. I've never met anybody like him in my life. He's the most unique person in broadcasting I've ever met.

Hysterically funny, maddening. He is, what you see on television is what you get. Yeah, no, he's 100% that all the time. It's incredible. I have, we just sat and talked about our lives and our wives and are fascinating. He is fascinating. You didn't give into the tequila? He brought that over at 515 and he went right at it.

You stuck with vodka? We just had such a great. I'd never done Instagram live. So I'm going to start doing it. You guys, is it okay? Yeah. I'm not going to do it after games. I'm too tired.

But half time, you break it down, have some fun. I'm going to do that from now. You got to get, I'll get one for you because you're not going to order it. But they have these stis and tripods for your phone. You get me one of those? All right. I mean, it's like 10. on Amazon and I'll bring it in.

Let me start with this. Zion Williamson's on a minutes restriction. Lord. He's not in perfect shape. He's good. And he doesn't play good defense. By the way, the people bagging on it, Bukers like he doesn't play good defense.

Find me the rookies that do. LeBron was not a great defender early on. First of all, you go from high school basketball, college basketball to the NBA. Do you know how few guys in college basketball can create their own shot. There's 370 programs, 15, maybe two. You go to the NBA, half the league can create their own shot.

So to trying to defend NBA guys is no day at the beach. But he's on a minute restrictions, restriction because he's not in good shape. Whatevs, he's fine. But here's what's funny. Or interesting to me. I think Zion's going to have a lot more team success than LeBron in his first seven years. Now, I do not think he's LeBron the player.

No, he's not. he's not that good he doesn't see the floor quite like lebron didn't have the handles uh i mean let's just you know he's not lebron but there's a lot there's a there's a lot of blake griffin a a lot of carl malone a lot of charles barclay there's a there's a 15 year all-star if he can stay healthy no doubt i love zion but the difference is is the pelicans had anthony davis and they traded him cleveland didn't have that cleveland just stunk the Anthony Davis trade has given them 22-year-old Brandon Ingram All-Star, 22-year-old Lonzo Ball, 12 points this year.

And they also have Drew Holliday, who's made an All-Star team and is a veteran 20-point guy. So Zion's got two young, one of them's an All-Star players to grow with. LeBron didn't have that early. And he's got a veteran grown-up and Drew Holliday, who plays on both ends as a real player. I mean, LeBron, I mean, do you remember what LeBron's first seven years were like? It was Mo Williams and kind of a disappointing Drew Gooden and ancient shack, Jamario Moon. It was a lot of. LeBron had one reliable guy, a big guy, Zedrunas, Ilgouskas, good energy, good body, smart guy, ran hard, played both ends, limited offensively, but a very nice player, no headcase stuff, like a real player.

And he made one All-Star team, I think. And that was it. And then it was an owner that wasn't ideal, bad GMs, a litany of coaches. coaches. The Pelicans have a real GM that's respected. Alvin Gentry's bounced around, but very respected. They have an owner that's a football owner, but very supportive of the basketball. Brandon Ingram's now an all-star at 22. Lonzo Ball's a nice fit for Zion's game. He's not going to hog up shots. Zion's better than y'all thought, and Drew Halliday can ball. I think this is a real team. I think that I think when I look at the Pelicans, I don't think it's going to be.

I think it's going to be much better than the Anthony Davis Pelicans because I think this kid has a physical dimension to him that elevates everybody. It's almost like you always feel like if you go out with guys and one of the guys you're with is a tough guy, everybody has more confidence. You can be like a smart aleck at a bar if one of the guys is a big tough guy. You go with a football player, an offensive lineman to a bar. You talk a little more smack. Like Zion is the guy that walks in and when he's on the floor, everybody's chest puffs out a little

little more with the pelicans. Brandon Ingram's an All-Star. You don't feel like that way. But Zion gives you a certain confidence. LeBron did that. And I think this roster is really good. I think it's really interesting. They also have most of their good players with the Pelicans.

Shoot well. Brandon Ingram, 38% on threes. JJ Reddick, 45%. Lanzo's gotten better, 38%. Drew Holiday, 36, Josh Hart, 35. And Zion's a way better three-point shooter than anybody thought. And it is now a shooter's league. So I think Zion's going to win a lot of games.

I think they're going to win a lot of games. that's why I wouldn't helicopter parent him and not put him in the last two minutes of the game last night. Put him in, let him play. All right. This is a bigger deal than you think. You see what Tom Brady got today? Shady McCoy is it.

I'll play there. Shady McCoy was part of the Kansas City Chiefs kind of Troika running back group. Last year, 500 yards, four touchdowns, average 4.6 yards of carry. Shady can play. You're not going to give him 25 carries, but he can play. very good rotational running back.

Historically, he can catch. He may not be Zeke, but he can catch. He's not Christian McCaffrey, but he had 28 receptions last year. I'm going to say it right now. Tampa Bay to the Super Bowl is not crazy. It's not crazy, and I'll tell you why. Think about the teams that are supposed to block them. Seattle, bad O-line, worse D-line.

Seattle's become Russell Wilson as a life preserver. Philadelphia. Like him, but Carson Wentz, can he stay healthy? Green Bay got out gained last year. Vegas and Foxbat have them winning three less, three fewer games this year. Saints. Drew Brees is 41. They don't throw the ball vertically.

Last year, I want you to think about this. You're not going to believe it when I say this. Do you know only two teams scored more last year than Tampa? Baltimore and San Francisco. That was it. And that was with the interceptions that James. How many points did they give away? just think about who do you think would be in their way.

San Francisco. That's reasonable, right? Like we know Baltimore and Kansas City, they go play a lot in the next 10 years. San Francisco's fair. San Francisco plays in the toughest division in football. There's a real chance. Super Bowl losing teams, a little hangover come down a smidge. We think Arizona's going to be better.

Seattle, got Jamal Adams, could be a little better. Rams, we think, will be better. And they were nine and seven. Tampa Bay's got a team in their division. Carolina's total rebuild. I mean, Atlanta, you can't trust. San Francisco and Tampa meet, and Tampa's got home field advantage.

Just say it out loud. Tom Brady, Jimmy Garoppolo. Brady's got better weapons and is it at home. Really? Is that crazy? Am I crazy on that? Because I just watched the Super Bowl where there was a team with a great offense and a pretty good deal.

defense play a great defense and a pretty good offense and the offense won and more and more and more and more I'm watching football and I'm seeing the great offense score a lot of points on the great defense remember that great new England defense that Philadelphia ate up listen offenses now score you new England kept Kansas City and Mahomes down for about three quarters a couple years ago San Francisco kept them down for offenses score they eventually score Tom Brady The weapons here now, they got three backs, three tight ends, two big time wide receivers. They're going to lead the NFL in offense. Hell, they were third last year as a turnover machine with James Winston. So if you start looking at the roadblocks for Seattle or for Tampa, all right, San Francisco. In a much tougher division, could come in 10 and 6. You know, Tampa goes 11 and 5.

I get Brady at home with the weapons. You get Garoppolo on the road. way, Tom's going to have a lot of motivation to beat the kid who, you know, Belichick wanted to bail on Tom earlier for it. So I look at Shady McCoy and I'm like, this is what the Miami Heat did. Gronk's like, you know, it's funny. I don't know Gronk well, but I know people who know Gronk. Gronk was retired. He was not going to come back. Gronk was done. This was not like a Gronk saw Brady sign and Gronk being Gronk is like Tampa, jet skis. No state tax.

I miss playing. Grasaw kind of like went, yeah, I'll do it. By the way, Shady's looking down there, thinking, no state tax, about done. Why don't I want to play with Tom Brady? This is what LeBron and Dee Wade, Bosch did in Miami.

Guys were like, Miami, it's a winter league. The water's aqua. This would be fun. Your agent's like, yeah, of course I want you to play. Go down there, get on television in May and June. Get your shoe deals and endorsements. You want to be on television,

May and June for the NBA. Believe me, agents want to put their players in places where they're on TV for the shoe deals. You don't think agents look at this and think. In COVID year, Brady, Tampa, highest scoring offense, gronk was done. I'll play. Shady. Other options. I'll play.

I'm just saying it's not the craziest thing in the world. It's not. It's not crazy. I mean, you go look at how much success far have had, a play from the Super Bowl. Joe Montana had. These Peyton Manning, like this, these guys that go, remember, Peyton Manning cherry picked where he wanted to go. Tom Brady looked at all the weapons and said, I like Tampa. We were all like Tampa.

And then you looked at it about a week later, we were all like, oh, yeah, Tampa. Drop back, tight ends, backs. They solved their problem on the right side of the offensive line with Tristan Worf's. I don't know. I don't think it's crazy. I don't. Nick Wright last night was crazy. That's not crazy.

Coming up next, Chris Weber, going to join us. C-Web, five-time All-Star TNT. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific. On Fox Sports Radio, FS1, and the IHeart Radio app. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal, but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential.

Either way, the podcast's Superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the I-Hard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A win is a win. A win is a win.

I don't care what I'm saying. Yep, that's me, Clipper Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, the reactions, my journey from basketball to college football, or my career in sports media. Well, somewhere along the way, this platform became bigger than I ever imagined. And now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfiltered conversations with some of your favorite athletes, creators,

and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. One week, I'll take you behind the scenes of the biggest moments in sports and entertainment, and the next we'll talk about life, mental health, purpose, and even music. The Clifford Show isn't just a podcast. It's a space for honest conversations, stories that don't always get told, and for people who are chasing something bigger. So, if you've ever supported me or you're just chasing down a dream, this is right where you need to be. Listen to The Clifford show on the IHeart radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast.

And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. Do you remember when Diana Ross double-tapped Little Kim's boobs at the VMAs? Or when Kanye said that George Bush didn't like black people. I know what you're thinking. What the hell does George Bush got to? do a little kill. Well, you can find out on the Look Back at it podcast. I'm Sam J. And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick it here,

unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived it. Including a recent episode with Mark Lamont Hill, waxing all about crack in the 80s. To be clear, 84 is big to me, not just because of crack. I'm down to talk about crack on day, but yeah, yeah, literally. But just so y'all know. I mean, at this point, Mark, this is the second episode where we've discussed crack. So I'm starting to see that there's a through line.

We also have AIDS. on the table right now. Thank you for finishing that sentence. Yes. I don't think there's a more important year for black people. Really? Yeah. For me, it's one of the most important years for black people in American history.

Listen to look back at it on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hardway with me, your host, and your favorite therapist, Kear Games. And in recognition of mental health awareness month, I'm bringing over a decade of my own experience in the mental health field and conversations

with so many incredible guests. I'm talking. Tripp Fontaine, Ryan Clark. Sometimes when we're in the pursuit of the thing, we get so wrapped up in the chase that we don't realize that we are in possession of the thing. And we're still chasing it. And we don't know when we've done enough.

Because people scoreboard watch. Life becomes about wins and losses. Steve Burns, Dustin Ross. Because you find it important to be a good person while you hear on earth? Are you a good person because you're afraid? Because that's two different intentions, bro. Absolutely.

And that's two different levels of trust. I want you to just really be a good person. Join me, Kear Gaines, as we have real conversations about healing, growth, fatherhood, pressure, and purpose on my new podcast, Learn the Hardway. Open your free iHeartRadio app. Search Learn the Hardway and listen now. Tonight on FS1, the MLS is back. Tournament moves on to the quarter finals as Orlando City takes on LafC. Catch all the action.

live beginning at 730 Eastern on FS1 and the Fox Sports app. I'll be watching that with my buddy Dan Rodriguez tonight. We'll be watching LF, LFC, because we go to the games. It's the only season ticket I have in Los Angeles. I'm telling you, these MLS stadiums, they're tiny, they're intense, they're really good. LAFC has a great fan experience, too. It's an incredible, have you gone to a game yet? I haven't.

You've not given me one of your season tickets. Okay, I will. It's incredible. I'm definitely going to go when we can go. You can bring one of your friends. You're very social. I'm very social. I used to be very social.

My wife made fun of me last night. She's like, you know, you're, because I told her I had a, she goes, you had a play date last night with Nick. That's what you call kids when they get together. She goes, you're having another play date tonight with Dan. And I said, I don't see them as play dates. I have friends. And she goes, you almost have more fun when I'm gone. And I said, I have different fun when you're gone.

When I, when you're gone, honey, I get to do what I want to do. Would you not be able to hang out with Nick? I could hang out with him, but I have to make more sacrifices. You know, that's the thing about marriage. There's a lot of sacrifices. That's the thing about having a girl, period. We need a lot of time and attention. That's how it goes.

Gosh. You don't have to be married to have that experience. A lot of time, a lot of attention. It's worth it. No, not denying that. It's all wonderful. Guys, you can now use the right tools, revolutionary company called Mandela. The lawnmower 3.0 is geared with skin-safe technology, so the tremor reduces cuts.

That's manscape.com code herd. For the record, the clippers, Rob Parker and Chris Weber coming up. Oh, I want to touch on this. Do I have like two minutes on this before C-Web is ready to go? Okay, because I want to talk about this for a second. Then do herd line, then do C-Web? Can I? Okay, I want to talk about it.

So the SEC is going to play a 10-game conference-only football schedule. They decided this. So Bama USC done, LSU Texas, done, Florida, Florida State done. And, you know, I was thinking about this this morning. The SEC is really its own animal. It's a little bit like the English Premier League. If you eliminated every international soccer league and you just had the EPL, it's so powerful, it's so beloved, it's so intense, they'd be fine with it.

The SEC is so dominant and is such a revenue monster, if the Big 10 ACC, Big 12 and Pact 12, just canceled. They just got rid of football. People in the South wouldn't lose a second of sleep. They've won 10 of the last 14 titles. Of the last, let me look at this, make sure it's right. Of the last 28 programs competing for the national title, over half have been SEC teams.

It's the English Premier League of America. The SEC only truly respects Clemson. Outside of that, they roll over Oklahoma. They've mostly beaten Ohio State. USC's no longer relevant. Oregon's got cool uniforms, but it ends there. The SEC doesn't need the approval of anybody else because they've been so dominant. They don't really care about your conference.

They don't respect it. And frankly, they make so much money. I've gone to about five or, well, I've gone, I've gone to four SEC games live, five. It's not like the other leagues. It is not. They are, you got Winnebago's parked at the stadium by Wednesday night. They are drinking by 7 a.m. on Saturday. And they don't stop.

I'm not sure they do stop. And it is such a revenue monster. They don't care about the rest of the sport. The only program they look at and think they can play with us is Clemson. That's it in the whole country. And so, you know, I look at the SEC and no LSU, Texas, they don't care. No Bama USC. They don't care.

They don't care. Anyway. So I think it's the one sport in America. I mean, the AFC and football needs the NFC. The Western Conference needs the Eastern Conference. SAC doesn't need anybody else. I don't need anybody else. So for them to say they'd announced yesterday, they said, we're going to play 10 conference only, conference only, conference only. They're deliriously happy. They're not paying attention to the rest of the rest of college football anyway. Probably shouldn't. Joy with the news. So since joining the Rockets in 2012, the farthest James Hardin has gotten in the playoffs at the Western Conference Finals, but he still has his sights on bringing a championship to Houston. We're bringing it back to Aitchtown. You know, we've come up short these last few years, but this is another opportunity for us to fight for it and get after it again.

So, you know, we got some grind in and do some work to do, but the goal is to bring it back to Ahtown. So it came out strong and then kind of back to BATO. backed off of it a little bit there. They are the most unique team in the playoffs. No size at all. They are. So they're going small ball.

They face the Mavericks tonight at 9 Eastern, 6 Pacific. They play Portland tonight? Mavs. Very interesting game. Very interesting. Mavs have some size. It's a different style. Very interesting game.

And by the way, the Mavs offensively are really good. Really good. Great. Great. So is Houston. I can't. I agree without Eric Gordon for two weeks, so we'll see how that goes. But look, the thing about Houston is, this is a specific year that even though everyone doesn't necessarily love what Houston has done over the past couple years or necessarily loves their squad right now and there's a lot of things still up in the air, this is a year that Houston, if, you know, depending on how things go, could take advantage of the situation.

Well, the story on Houston, two ball-centric guards who sort of are exhausted, remember when Kobe Bryant told James, told him, told us. Westbrook or Harden, he said, listen, man, you can't play that way and be good in June. You'll, you just get, it's too much energy off your body. Well, they don't have that. They don't have the travel. I thought the energy last night was jump through the television screen. Yeah, last night was great. The players were.

It felt like the playoffs. It really technically was a playoffs. Bubble, no travel, and three months off. So Westbrook and Hardin are not going to. Yeah, they can go full speed ahead for the next three months. And I do think if there was a shocker in the NBA playoffs, like one shocker. And you said, Houston made the Western Conference finals.

be like, no, I get it. I can see that. I can. Yeah. They have, they're tied with the Celtics for the best odds to win the championship. They're the team that could sneak in there. So Zion Williamson was on eight minutes restriction last night. He didn't see the court in the last seven minutes. And New Orleans ended up losing a close one to the Jazz 106 104, a game that they led for most of the game at at one point by 16 points. After the game, head coach Alvin Gentry explained why Zion was held out at the end. We wish we could have played him down with but, you know, he had used the minutes that was, that was given to us. So, you know, that's just, you know, that's the way it is.

I mean, we weren't going to stick him back out there. You know, medical people said that we played him in the minutes that was allowed us to play him. I thought they said that he wasn't going to be on a minutes restriction. Medical people make a lot of mistakes, too. I told you about my, I told you about my issue with a nose doctor in Connecticut. Yeah, I'm on the side of the doctors and stuff at this particular moment. I'm not. There's a lot of people out there are like, doctors don't know everything, but I do.

So I'm going to consult with the doctors on most things. I just, I thought that they said that he was good to go and that he wasn't going to be on a minute's restriction. I just don't, I don't love it. If the doctors are saying he absolutely can't play more than this, okay. And then all of us can really just have to shut up. How about I say? We can't overrule that. Okay.

He gets to play 15 minutes. I'm playing them six minutes at the end of the half and nine in the fourth. Yeah, I mean, I'm going to have him on the floor at the end of a close game. If this was a blowout, okay, if it was a little bit out of reach, they needed this game. Like, this was a playoff game for the Pelicans. They're trying to get into the playoffs. This is what these seating games are for. Utah obviously didn't look good for most of the game, but they showed what they do.

Like, they showed why they're a playoff team in that game last night. So it just felt like a, it felt like a bad loss for the Pelicans. Finally, Carson Wentz has dealt with a lot of injuries in his NFL career in this offseason. He was happy to finally focus on something other than getting through rehab. The last couple off seasons, I was dealing with injuries and trying to bounce back from injuries. So this off season, I was really able to get after it and work out a little harder in the gym and all of those things. So, you know, I haven't gained anything, you know, insane for weight, but I've definitely gained some weight. And I feel really good with where I'm at.

Didn't make the NFL top 100. I mean, seriously, I need to be a GM in the league. He tore his ACL in the 2017 season and fractured a bone in his back during the 2018 season. So it has been nice for him, like he said, to just have a regular offseason to work out and get in shape and not necessarily rehab, which is exhausting, obviously, not just physically, but mentally and emotionally to have to constantly come back from injuries. I kind of lean towards the side with Wence that he has a lot of injuries so far in his career and I think that part of the reason why he gets what you deem as disrespect

when it comes to these rankings and how people look at him slander is because of the Super Bowl. Now while he did put them in the position to get to the Super Bowl, he wasn't the one that won it and he's had a lot of injuries. That's my magic city. Wendt throwing darts. You go there for wings. That is my magic city. Carson Wentz darts. I don't have anything for that.

I love watching him throw. I really do. All right, that's Joy with the news. Well, that's the news. I love that term, slander. I feel like it makes me hip. Slander? I feel a little hipper.

Speaking of hip, Chris Weber. One of the top three college basketball players, I think I've ever seen. Rookie of the year, a bunch of NBA All-Star teams, 15 years. C-Web. NT analyst. What are you doing, Zweb? How are things? Hey, everything is great, man. How are you doing? Thanks for having me on. You bet. I was saying last night, the Lakers chemistry surprises me. AD and LeBron work. Caruso works. Dion Waders drives me nuts, but it kind of works.

Why do you think LeBron and AD's chemistry so good so fast? What explain that to me? Well, you're a historian. You know the game and you talk about it in different ways. And if you think about back to, remember in Cleveland, everybody thought getting, I'm not talking about J.R. Smith today. But everybody thought, you know, J.R. Smith and those guys wasn't going to help him. And myself and other people thought you needed a couple crazy guys around you because really all you want to do is manage. You just want to manage the personality. But you want guys to get a tech when you can. You know, he's the ambassador. You want guys to file. And so the pick and roll game, the fact that they've been courting each other, LeBron and AD for a year, the fact that, you know,

if you really look at that game, LeBron was 16 points. I mean, AD really held them. And LeBron could do his thing at the end, especially on the defensive end. So one, I think it's because you have two top five players in this league. And then two, you know, when you have guys, everybody sleeps on where Shack calls the others, your teammates, role players. And when you have guys like that, just think about who the Lakers have had. I mean, to the bane of my existence, whether it's Horry, Fisher, Grant, guys that come in and know their roles and they're experts at it.

And I think that when you come into L.A. as a role player, you better have your focus up because more is expected of you as a role player there than any other franchise. Are you worried, Chris, that Anthony Davis in four games against the Clippers has virtually disappeared in all four quarters? And you know this, Chris. Some guys get tight late. Some guys are talented. They don't have a lot of dog.

He has just dried up four times against the Clippers in the fourth quarter he did last night. Concerned it all about that. You know, well, first I have to full disclosure. the clip is going to win the championship. So that's who I picked. And the fact that they didn't have the number one scoring tandem, maybe the first teammates to get six men of the year together, co-six men of the year, really got to think about that.

That's at least, you know, at least low side seven boards. You know, that's at least a couple of files there. So what I think is that LeBron and AD are going to have to do everything to win. Everybody's going to criticize LeBron. every middle of the game because he can't take any plays off. And the same with AD. And when you really think about it, when you have Harold in, and you have one more big body and it's not Noah,

a guy trying to get in shape of the season, and then you cause problems on the pick and roll on the other end. So that's what Noah didn't do. He wasn't, you know, causing any problems on the other end defensively. And when you have those two guys, it's going to be tough. So Caruso, those guys are playing great, but I don't see how they're going to keep that up. A lot of that's going to be on Dwight Howard and Javelle McGee defensively

because if not, I don't know how they're going to be able to keep pace. So Zion's on a minute restriction thing, and I was like, man, it feels like a helicopter parent. It's not like he's coming off Tommy John or concussion protocol. I mean, even in college, after he got hurt, he came back and played 37 minutes in three straight games and won the MVP in the ACC tournament. What do you make of the minute restrictions on Zion?

I agree with the expert on the show. I agree with Joy, when she said earlier. because it feels kind of weird to me. And I had some players. I had some ex-players call me. And don't get me wrong, ex-players call all the time for different reasons, to vent, to relive,

just because they ticked off. But more than a few called me last night, and two of the comments, two of the main topics were you guys are letting them off the hook. If this was anyone else that wasn't so caught in shape. And then the next one was, you know, if I'm a player, you know, come hell of high water, I'm a player, especially in the last minutes where all we're playing for, you know, is a playoff spot. Right.

Those are the kind of two things that I kept, you know, defending because I'm like, he must be hurt. Because in my point of view, it's no way, like you talked about dogs earlier, the ones like AI, the ones that play and get criticized for going three for 25, they're the only ones that will do it, 25, because he thinks. he's going to make the next one. So you need those personalities. And I think it must be something serious because, like you're saying, it's a helicopter parent, but you know they want to make the playoffs. I mean, it seems like that's why we have this good, tight

race right now is to see if the pelicans can make it. So in my heart, I know he wants to play, but I don't understand that. So I have this theory. I told Joy and Rick Buecker, and Buecher thinks I'm nuts, but I said, the NBA travel is a schloid. I mean, baseball, you go into a city for four days,

NFL, eight road games, NBA's winter, cold, turbulence, late night, van to the hotel. And now we don't have that. I thought the energy last night from the players was unbelievable. So everybody's going to tell me they're not going to be very good. They're going to be rusty. I don't know, Chris, if you would have never had to travel, only play home games in the NBA, I wonder if some of these guys, some of these old guys are like, they're going to start,

they're going to like the bubble, that they're going to not be like, I don't have to be in vans and road trips. And your take on the bubble experience. Yeah, and at least the next year, well, to tell the truth, we were always, when I played, was a little jealous of the baseball schedule. Because the baseball schedule, you're in town for a week. Now, it's no way you really can do that in basketball, but we just meant the way that you could move about.

And so you're right. That's why I do think LeBron with his experience, how great he plays, all that are all the things you can talk about LeBron has an advantage. And so I wouldn't be surprised, even though I didn't pick him if they won, because there is no travel and everybody out there, you know this. I mean, the travel and come back and do a show, and it takes, travel takes more out of you than a tough practice a lot of times, especially after a loss, especially when think about

if you have any injuries. And so if your leg is swollen, if you go on the plane, that's more pain. That's an ice machine. Just the inconvenience of it getting into a hotel room, unpacking, ordering your food at two in the morning. So I do think the bubble is better for wild personalities, better for the introvert, better for guys that really want to win, better for guys that don't want to be there because if you're not focused now, when are you going to be?

So I'm going to ask you a Yonis question, and I've said this. Janus is great. But if Chris Middleton, who I think is a good player being paid great money, I have no bitterness, I hope you guys all make a fortune. But if Middleton struggles like he did last year against Toronto, and Yonis can't get to the finals, and you know how the media is, like, come on, man, where's hardware? You're just sitting there in Milwaukee.

It's not even a free agent market. Do you think there's a possibility that if, that Chris Middleton holds the key for Janus and his free agency going forward? I would like to say Chris Middleton could be the key, but it's the GM's fault if they let that happen and don't stay there, you know, and don't make a move. So I agree. That's why as great as LeBron has done,

I feel that Yonis is the NBC with the dust, record, maybe defensive player of the year. AD's the leading score on the Lakers. And so look at what he's done without, you know, and I don't consider Millington, in my opinion, the true number two. I just don't. And that's not his fault. He could be a great number three somewhere.

Yeah. He's not a number two. I agree. And I think that Bud does a great job coaching. Their system and their team is one of the deepest, and I think that's why them and Denver should have an advantage. But, yeah, I mean, if Yonnas called, you know, would call me, I would just say, you're going to want to play.

Today, you have to play with the best teammates you can because at the end of the day, they're going to look back. They're not going to care that it was a super team over here. They aren't going to care that a guy traded a player to his best friend or they used to be teammates. And they're not going to care about that. They don't care that you win one. And so it's really about does he trust its ownership and GM

to make that happen because from my experience, not in Sacramento, but from my experience, the frustration with small market teams, the players there is that those teams don't have enough balls to go get someone else big. And that's the only reason why you stay small in a lot of players' eyes. That's why OKC wasn't a small market, even though it was. They didn't play like that when they drafted those great players. So I would be worried about that if I was on a shoot.

You got to make it a point. You can't act cool. You can't say, oh, we don't discuss it with our players. Not when people are discussing with LeBron or asking Kauai, who you want to play with. You see what the Clippers did? Yeah. You know, so, no, I agree 100%. But it wouldn't be on Middleton.

It would be on his play. But it would be on management because they're the ones that are in total control of who stays ago. Good stuff, Chris Weber today. So you just, so now you just, what are you doing today? You just kind of hanging, waiting for games? Waiting for the playoffs. I was just watching the old game the other night. I'm trying to grow a beer since my beer never connects.

I'm looking crazy and just working out, man. trying to stay busy in the meantime, trying to keep a good schedule, so I don't go crazy or lose anything. NBA on TNT, our friend, Chris. I love talking to you, man. Thanks for coming by. Hey, same here.

Thanks, having. You bet. Coming up, Rob Parker. C-Web may have a crazy beard. We got a crazy guy next, Rob Parker. The Herd. One more Herd? The Herd streams 24 hours a day,

seven days a week within the IHeard radio app. Search Herd to listen live or on demand whenever you'd like. Imagine an Olympics. where doping is not only legal, but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's Superhuman documented it all,

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Search learn the hard way and listen now. Let's not waste any time live from a hotel that he's spending $104 a night at. Rob Parker, FS1 Instigator, is joining me with a new sports coat that probably cost him 38 cents. How are you? Close. I'm doing great, Colin. It costs about $48 in Detroit. So, look at you.

All right. night. Aesthetically, optically, I thought it looked good, didn't it, Rob? It did. It was like a TV show. That's what these sports have turned into, right? Where, you know, like they're overproduced because

you have to, to make up for not having the crowd. But I agree. I thought it was a very good look by the NBA. Should Zion have played at the end of the game? I think he should have, for this reason, Colin. I think last night's loss cost him.

the playoffs. How are you going to be four and a half games out with eight to play and you lose the first game? Seriously, it puts you in a bad spot. You're trying to overtake two other teams and now the margin for error is slim to none. I think they lost the spot in the playoffs last night. I don't think that's a bad argument. You're probably right. Mathematically, it's a tough spot. Now, you've been very critical of LeBron. He was unbelievable last night. assists defense. Can you acknowledge it was a huge Laker win last night? No, I can't. And this, I'm not going to be a prisoner of the moment. They won the game, but Colin, I would be very, very worried if I was a Laker fan hoping that

they're going to get past the Clippers to win a championship. The Clippers, without Lou Will, right? They didn't have Montres Harold as well. And the Lakers, like by the skin of their teeth are able to win this game where they're missing two big pieces? I mean, seriously, the clippers had a chance to win the game and they have more turnovers than a bakery.

Add it all up, Colin. I mean, they gave away the basketball. They didn't have two big pieces and they fell into a big hole to start the game and they still had a chance to win. I think the clippers have to feel good. I know it's not about, you know,

some feeling good about losses, but they were right where they needed to be, and they'll have more firepower. That team is so deep. So I'm not going to buy into this idea that the Clippers showed you that they're going to win the NBA championship last night. Well, yeah, Clippers are not playing for home court advantage, so we know that. Basically, they want two things. They want to be healthy. They don't want any injuries. That's really it. And they want to have some chemistry rotational stuff solved. Let me ask you about Anthony Davis. So this has been my take on Anthony Davis forever, and it goes against most NBA insiders. I think he's talented, but he's not a leader. He's got no dog late in games. This year he shot 53% first three quarters

and 40% in the fourth, and I think this is who he is. I think he's talented. But I don't think he's a true number one, like LeBron, Michael, Magic, Bert. I don't. I just see him as a wildly talented guy. Last night, he disappears again in the fourth. Do you trust him in a big spot? I in the playoffs. Absolutely not. I think, Colin, you had just about as many points as he had in the fourth quarter, and you weren't even in the game. I mean, he had two points.

You can't play that well in the first three quarters and then wilt and disappear when it matters. This year, he has a total of 10, right, 10 fourth quarter points against the Clippers? Yeah. 10? It makes no sense. That has something to do with him. I totally agree.

He's a talented guy. but there's something extra that you have to have in order to win big games. Maybe this is why the Pelicans were never able to really set for that one time when they got out of the first round. They weren't able to make any runs. And he's going to be the reason why the Lakers win or not. Not LeBron. We know what to expect from LeBron.

If AD is AOL missing in action, MIA, put it that way, in the fourth quarter, then the Lakers aren't going to win anything. So little football news, Shady McCoy is like, you know what, I want to play with Tom Brady. Gronk was retired. I want to play with Tom Brady. I think it's time to acknowledge the magic potion of Tom Brady. People now, nice rotational players,

all play for less in Tampa and Tom Brady. Are you getting nervous? They're going to be better than people project. No. What is this old-timers day? Was Larry Zonka not available, Colin? I mean, come on with this, Shady McCoy. I don't want to say that the Tampa Bay Bucks are old,

but I heard they're moving their practice facility to the cemetery. I mean, you keep digging up people and bringing them to come play. I'm telling you, you know what's going to happen, Colin? You ready? And I'm not wishing this on anybody. Injuries when guys haven't played, and then they try to get back. Gronk, Shady McCoy, Tom Brady is 40, going on 90.

You got an old bunch of guys there and watch. Those guys will wind up getting hurt. I keep telling you, Tampa Bay is going to be the Browns of last year. Everybody was on the bandwagon. Everybody, the Browns went from a million to one to 14 to one to get to the Super Bowl when they traded for OBJ and what happened. They didn't make the playoffs. Colin, I'll bet you 20 wings in the Diet Coke right now

that the Bucks will not and O-T make the playoffs. You want to take me up on it? Absolutely. Absolutely. I feel strongly about it. I think they're offensively gifted, and I think a lot of the teams at the top of the NFC have holes. I think Green Bay is going to regress.

Seattle's got bad lines. Carson Wentz struggles to stay healthy, and the Niners are in a great division. I think they're going to get home field advantage in the playoffs, potentially. I don't think so. I still have, I'm going to take, in that division, I'm going to take New Orleans,

and I'm going to take Atlanta to, bounce back and make the playoffs. And it'll be 13 years in a row that the Bucks will have not made the playoffs, even with Tom Brady. So there's your baker's dozen of not making it. By the way, college football, the SEC said yesterday, we're just going to do conference games. They remind me of the English Premier League in soccer where they're so insulated.

They're such a revenue monster. They don't need anybody else and they don't care about anybody else. It doesn't bother me at all. I wouldn't have a problem if college football became conference-only scheduling. Seriously, the games I look forward to are Ohio State, Michigan, Wisconsin, Michigan, Penn State, Ohio State. I don't care about these out-of-conference games. What do you make of the SEC saying, hey, just us, don't care about any other games? No, I get that.

And this is all different. We're on uncharted waters and people are trying to make two. Colin, my only issue is asking these kids to play when the kids. kids can't come to campus, the regular student body. That's my only argument. If the kids aren't in classes and can't come to campus, no way should you ask college football players who aren't getting paid to do that. I understand the pros.

These are guys. This is their living. And this is what they have to do. But these college kids don't have to do it. That's my only argument for this. How much, you know, summer in New York, rooms can be very expensive. How much did you pay for your room? So normally a room like this might be $350, $3.99.

I paid $107 a night. I'm staying on like 28th and 6th Avenue. You know, Times Square is a stones throw away. I've been doing a little shopping. You know, there's no taxes on clothes in New York. So it's a good trip. Look at him. He is America's most frugal sportscaster.

How much your jacket cost? $48, this one. This is Ralph Lauren. Can you see? Very nice. Joy, what do you think? It's very nice. You look great, Rob. You're very professional, Rob. He's a columnist for the shadowleague.com, odd couple with... Deadspin.

Yes. Remember, I moved to Deadspin. Oh, okay. Sorry about that. It's hard to keep track of your career. You're just got so many gigs. Good seeing you, buddy. I only had like 35 jobs in my 35 years, Colin. Good seeing you. Folks, I got NBA last night. Nick Wright had a couple of cocktails with my new Lowe's outdoor cocktail stand.

It's very nice. Go to Lowe's.com. By the way, build yours. Show us your transformation. Hashtag Lowe's goals. Lowe's got good accessories. Hour three. Good stuff, Nick.

One more herd? The herd streams 24 hours a day, seven days a week, within the IHeart Radio app. Search HARD to listen live or on demand whenever. you'd like. Show is flying by. We are already moving into our third hour. This is the herd.

Wherever you may be, however you may be listening, iHeart Radio, Fox Sports Radio, FS1. I got to tell you, I got good news from salespeople. Our show is doing very well, Joy. People really seem to enjoy it. That's good to hear, Colin. It's going very well. I had a man at the grocery store yesterday.

He's very pleased with our show. He said, you had a good show yesterday. It's just the way he said he paused. I was like, it wasn't good the day before. He said, he had a really good show yesterday. I didn't know what to make of it. Maybe we just were on fire yesterday. There's a pause that worried me a little bit.

That's happened yesterday, so it was the day before he was talking about. That's right. He was talking about he loved Wednesday's show. Not too keen on Tuesdays. I think we've had a really strong week. I can't believe we've made it. We made it. The bubble, folks, the bubbles.

UFC's working. bubble basically. MLS is working bubble. NBA is working bubble. Nobody's testing. NHL. Sports is showing you what happens. Wear a mask, socially distant. The sport that's kind of scrapping right now is baseball because a bunch of Marlins went out on the town

in Atlanta and had a good time. It's like, okay, you can't, can't do that. It's not what you can do. You got to be smart. Sports is telling us what works. I'm so thoroughly impressed with these leagues. I was not sure how it was going to look, how it was going to work. It looked great. It looked, like you said, 90% of what it normally is.

And tonight, I'm having friends over. Another play date. Did a whole day of basketball today. It's going to be great. Or baseball. 15 minutes. That's Joy Taylor. Of course, Sam Amick will be joining us in 15 minutes, long time NBA writer,

senior writer at the athletic. Jason McIntyre on Fridays. He predicts headlines. So tomorrow's headlines today. But today I woke up excited. The NBA officially returned last night. Both games were great, but I really enjoyed the ending of the Lakers Clippers. Kawhi's got it. You see the clock? LeBron on Kawhi. Down before. Here's George. He's way outside.

A lunging free. No, rebound. Caruso. That's it. Lakers of one. There's two truths about the Lakers. One is really good, and one was fine last night, but it's troublesome. Let's start with this. Their chemistry has been great all year. LeBron and AD just work. It just works. Vogel, LeBron. Frank's done a great job. Dion Waiters doesn't fit anywhere.

He fits there. Dwight Howard's been odd for years. He's kind of important. Javelle McGee is a fascinating player. He's crucial for them on the defensive end. Alex Caruso and his headband. Work really well with LeBron. Their chemistry is excellent.

It was right where they did. And it was great in the first week. You know, listen, LeBron and D. Waiter best friends. It took a month and a half for them to get it together. And by the end of that first year, they still didn't have it together. This thing works. Okay. And it shouldn't, on paper, it is a reality show.

It's the odd balls of the NBA and J.R. Smith and Waiters and Javail and Dwight Howard, who's Alex Caruso and his headband? But it works. And when you juxtaposed that against the Clippers last night, their chemistry was not good. They had more turnovers than assists. LeBron really frustrated them defensively in a couple of late possessions. Paul George was great last night. He was stupendous, but he kind of felt sometimes he was doing it by himself.

I didn't like kind of their offensive situational basketball. I felt they were off last night. And none of it was pretty early. LeBron really struggled for much of the game. But the Lakers chemistry is, it's really a credit to Vogel and LeBron. It shouldn't be this good. On paper, this roster has so many parts that don't look like they fit, and they do. I mean, Dion Waiters drives me nuts.

Last night, it was really important. And here's the second thing with the Lakers, that's a truth. They got a pattern. They get carried by Anthony Davis early, and then he disappears, and LeBron carries him late. And that was good enough last night. LeBron was very good late. A couple of big baskets, couple of great assists, two great defensive stops. Anthony Davis this year shoots 53% from the field in the first three quarters.

He shoots 40% in the fourth. He just dries up. But he's a monster for the first three quarters. He may be the best player in the NBA quarters, one, two, and three. And last night he had 32 in the first three quarters. You know what he had in the fourth? Nothing. So here's my two takeaways.

Their chemistry is great and it matters. and they got to figure out this Anthony Davis thing, because for years everybody said he's kind of soft. This is what people complained about. Where is he? Where's the dog? Playoffs are about dog. It's about veteran players getting in your face.

Kevin Garnett, Dwayne Wade, tough guys, LeBron, Kauai, getting in your face. A lot of guys get, they just don't have dog in them. They're talented, they don't got dog in them. This league, Pippinette dog, Michael had dog, bird had it, magic had it. The late Kobe had it. It matters. Four games against the Clippers this year. Listen to this.

Anthony Davis is fourth quarters. And remember, this is a top five offensive player in the league. This is a great talent. I mean, you watch last night. When he's in his game, it lights out. You can't stop him. Clippers, fourth quarter, four games, Anthony Davis, 0-4-4 and two points.

The hell? That is a problem. This is why I don't consider him a chance. championship team. Now, it worked last night because Lou Williams didn't play. Best six man in the league. Montrez, Harold's size, 19 a game. He didn't play. The Lakers bench out scored the clippers last night. It's not the way it's going to work if they keep playing. But I will say this, wildly fun. LeBron, who struggled early, was tremendous late. He had that shot he missed, follow-up shot. He had a couple of huge assists. LeBron did something last night that was really

impressive. 17th year in the NBA, two huge defensive stops. In fact, it's either the last or the second or last possession, he stopped Kauai and Paul George. 17th year in the NBA. Even great players, after about year 12 in the NBA, they stopped playing D. Like D is somebody else's problem. Once you got like MVP's, a lot of money, it's like, I gave you 12 years of defense. I'm done play, even the great guys. I mean, Kobe was a nine-time-all defense. Last four years, he was done with the defense. He had his cash. He had his titles. He had his legacy. I'm kind of done with the defensive end. LeBron last night was huge late on the defense event. So, and it was a great night of NBA. Now, now I'm frustrated. Now this is getting out of hand. Zion Williamson

was on a minute's restriction. This isn't like, he's not a foot. football player on concussion protocol. He's not a baseball pitcher off Tommy John surgery. Zion was on a minute restriction. This is bulldozed parenting by the Pelicans. We talked about this yesterday. There's a term called helicopter parenting when parents hover over their kids to make sure they're safe.

The new term is bulldoze parenting. Where you just clear a path for your kids, Pelicans. You need to win these games. You're not in the playoffs yet. You've got to win these games. You had the game. Zion wasn't on the floor at the end. Put him in for two minutes.

He's not dealing with concussion protocol. He's not a Tommy John surgery case. Put him in the game. Alvin Gentry, his coach, protecting him, disgusted. We wish we could have played him down the stretch, but, you know, it used the minutes that was given to us. So, you know, that's just, you know, that's the way it is. I mean, we weren't going to stick him back out there.

You know, how medical people said that we played him in the minutes that was allowed us to play him. Was his conditioning that bad? Because he had, he had, well, let me look this up real quick. Didn't he have like 15 points and 13 minutes? Not that bad of shape. Maybe it was 13 points in 15 minutes. Either way, not that bad of shape. Here's the other thing.

Brandon Ingram is the all-star for this team. Zion's the MVP. When he was on the floor this year, there are plus. 11. He's off there, minus 4. That is a monster swing. He's the MVP. He has a physicality that Brandon Ingram does not have. They're just certain people, Joy talked about it yesterday, walk into the room and kind of own it. Zion walks into the room. It's like, damn, even in NBA circles, it doesn't look like anybody else. There is a physical presence with him that is so crucial, put him back in the game. They need the wins. Here's the other thing.

So Zion off a real injury. Now it's just because he's not in perfect shape. And for the record, I don't think anybody's in great shape yet. So Zion in college, he got hurt. Remember at Duke? He was out of Monk. He came back for the ACC tournament. I looked this up this morning. You know how many minutes he played in the first three games back?

36, 35, and 40, MVP of the ACC turning. You got him stopping at 15? Because he's got a little belly. Is anybody in great shape now? I mean, seriously. This isn't Tommy John. This isn't concussion protocol. Just put him in for the last 90 seconds.

You had that game and gave it away to Utah. You know, Utah's in the playoffs. They're going to be fine. Pelicans need those Ws. And again, this is this bulldozing parenting, this protecting Zion. Listen, NBA travel stinks. Oh, wait. There is no NBA travel.

Like I get the NBA travel. Veteran players don't want to play back-to-backs. totally get it. 82 games, winter, I get it. If you're a star in the NBA and play 72, I'm good with it. People did that forever until they gave it a nickname Load Management.

But the worst part of the NBA, the travel, there is no travel. You play, go on a stairmaster, go to your room, get a catered meal. This is personal coaching, shooting coaches, personal training. Listen, I'm not asking you to play Zion, 39, but 15, how do you get in shape? You play your way into shape. He's good. We can go up to 20 minutes.

We're good. And last night, that was your game, Pelicans. That was your game. This isn't Steven Strasbourg. This isn't pitcher limits. I get pitcher limits. I do. I get young pitcher, Strasberg. Let's watch his arm. Let's not go to 200 innings. I get those. I get people. Concussion protocol. Like, you know, one more week. I get all that stuff. I get if he had an ACL tear. I get it. This is because, yeah, he needs a few more days on the treadmill. Last night, I'd have said, what's the clock say, 2.15?

Boom, back in. Because when he's on the floor, he may not be the all-star yet on this team. He's the MVP. Sam Amick, long-time NBA guy, thoughts on what he watched last night and what's going to happen going forward. Going forward, a lot of games scheduled starting about now. A lot of people playing NBA basketball. It's back.

It looked great. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd. weekdays in noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific on Fox Sports Radio, FS1 and the IHeart Radio app. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the IHard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what you're saying. Yep, that's me, Cliford Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, the reactions, my journey from basketball to college football, or my career in sports media. Well, somewhere along the way, this platform became bigger than I ever imagined. And now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfiltered conversations with some of your favorite athletes,

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Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. Do you remember when Diana Ross double-tap Little Kim's boobs at the VMAs? Or when Kanye said that George Bush didn't like black people. I know what you're thinking. What the hell does George Bush got to do with Little Kim?

Well, you can find out on the Look Back at it podcast. I'm Sam J. And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick it here, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived it. Including a recent episode with Mark Lamont Hill waxing all about crack in the 80s. To be clear, 84 is big to me, not just because of crack. I'm down to talk about crack on day, but just so y'all know. I mean, at this point, Mark, this is the second episode where we've discussed crack.

So I'm starting to see that there's a through line. We also have AIDS on the table right now. Thank you for finishing that sentence. Yes. I don't think there's a more important year for black people. Really? Yeah. For me, it's one of the most important years for black people in American history.

Listen to look back at it on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hard Way with me, your host, and your favorite therapist, Kear Games. And in recognition of mental health awareness month, I'm bringing over a decade of my own experience in the mental health field and conversations with so many incredible guests. I'm talking, Tripp Fontaine, Ryan Clark. Sometimes when we're in the pursuit of the thing, we get so wrapped up in the chase that we don't realize that we are in possession of the thing. And we're still chasing it. And we don't know when we've done enough. Because people scoreboard watch.

Life becomes about wins and losses. Steve Burns, Dustin Ross, because you find it important to be a good person while you hear on Earth. Are you a good person because you're afraid? Because that's two different intentions, bro. Absolutely. And that's two different levels of trust. I want you to just really be a good person. person. Join me, Keir Gaines, as we have real conversations about healing, growth, fatherhood,

pressure, and purpose on my new podcast, Learn the Hardway. Open your free, Our Heart Radio app, search Learn the Hardway, and listen now. Summer is here in full swing. Perfect time for a do-it-yourself project. Thanks to Lowe's. They're helping spruce up my house with a cocktail bar outside. Love a little vodka soda in the evenings. Check it out. Lowe's.com. Show us your transformations. Hashtag Lowe's Gold. Sam Amick has been covering the NBA for a long time. Senior NBA writer for the Athletic.

And he is now joining us via the Coward Global Satellite Network. So overall, last night, Joey and I were talking about this. You don't have the NBA, the daunting NBA travel. So players were not, players looked fresh. I thought the energy was fantastic. The television production was good. but I will say this. In the NBA, you often hear players like on back-to-backs, they're shot.

I mean, I'm tired when I fly cross-country once I'm shot for four days. I thought the energy last night. I thought the energy was really good, Sam. I agree, Colin. It was good energy. I mean, listen, look at the logistics of their lifestyles right now. And while I know the guys are certainly, certainly the family guys are missing kids and wives and all those things, their daily life is pretty straightforward right now.

You hoop, you might fish, you play some golf, you relax, you're getting your rest, you're not jumping on a plane, and I think it is going to have a ripple effect on the quality of play. And I'm with you. It did not look like four months of rust in the kind of way that we thought we might see. Yeah, yeah. You know, the Clippers have been, how can I say this, less than urgent with their regular season sensibilities.

Do you worry about them now having to flip it? a switch? For sure. I mean, now the compound effect, I think, of that approach, and it's tough to draw a through line between the way they handled things months ago and now. But now there are things that are outside of their control, right? So Lou Williams has his excused absence and then his infamous Magic City Trip that creates a setback when it comes to his involvement, Montrez-Herald, things of that nature.

And they've had, you know, Zubots, a lot of guys on that squad not available. still, I don't think, are planning on having Lou and Trez for Saturday's game against the Pelicans. So now, whether it's the Clippers or any of these other teams, we're going to start to see how quickly these types of things can impact

what happens in the standings, what happens on the court, because everything is coming at you so fast and furious. If I, Anthony Davis shoots something like 53% for the Lakers in the first three quarters. 40% in the fourth. He disappeared again last

against the Clippers in the fourth. He's had zero points, two points, four points, four points. I think he's a huge talent. They're not winning a championship. Our whole lives watching the NBA, the finals are about the fourth quarter. You can stink for long stretches. If I'm the Lakers, how am I not concerned with that? I'm not seeing enough of a trend here to worry. I hear you for sure. He's got to be strong in the fourth. And with LeBron in particular, I wonder where that chemistry is going to go. We saw in the Miami chapter, right, how he had to go through that relationship stuff with D. Wade in terms of, you know, who's going to get the torch at what time. And Chris Bosch also. And these guys,

all in all, Colin, I think have melded incredibly well considering they haven't been together that long. And AD was dominant early. LeBron had an off night, but he closed pretty damn strong. And he talked afterwards with, you know, our buddy Chris Haynes about switching his shoes. And maybe that helped. But I think that stuff gets worked out. And for them, that was a big W. Even though it comes with an underman clip squad, they get the evening of the season series. And now, you know, certainly they're not going to lose that number one spot. And all in all, I mean, AD, man, on both ends of the floor, he's dominant. You know, I was saying it's not, I get baseball pitchers on innings limits. I get it. I think everybody does. Strasbourg, that was a little

contentious years ago. But I do. Zion got hurt in college, took a month off, came back and played 36, 38, and 40 minutes, and was the MVP of the ACC tourney. His body's pretty darn durable. 15-minute limit. Man, that seems rigid.

Like last night, I thought they outplayed Utah for most of the game. I really thought they were going to win. And then they went dry offensively late. Were you shocked that didn't put him back in for 90 seconds to two minutes offensively? I was. Now, full disclosure, I was shocked. I then tried to do what we do and pursue some of the intel, the information, ended up writing about it today. And I wonder for you, real quick, if it changes your view at all, if you take into account, this is what I'm told is the Pelicans reasoning for the choice that they made. This was his first five-on-five action with contacts since he left for a family situation, 13 days off of work. The thing that shocked me, apparently he's only played five-on-five four times. since the March 11th shutdown.

On top of that, I think big picture, Colin, I am sensing the level of concern about his body combined with the torque and how athletic he is and the idea generally that the Pelicans appear to be, you know, edgy and skittish about just anything like the meniscus tear happening again and having too much too fast after that kind of a layoff. That's what drove the decision. But on the flip side, did I watch the game and think, man, just give me two or three more minutes.

Of course, that is what I thought. The last final thought, real quick, he was a minus 16. So while he was super efficient offensively, you know, some other folks who I talked to were checking me on the defensive side and saying, you know, he was getting a lot of blowbys that weren't helping them. Yeah. He looked sad on the bench. He did.

Sad, man. He was not. And then he says the right things. And I do wonder, you remember back in the last dance chronicled this with Michael Jordan in the early years, you know, when he wanted to, to go, you know, just full tilt as a rookie, the dynamic between Zion and the Pelicans, I think it's worth watching. How patient is he going to be with this level of prudence on behalf of the organization?

Yeah, no, I mean, we saw the Strasbourg situation. It's like, I get it, big picture, macro stuff, understandable. You know, I was saying that as I watched it last night, it's fairly clear between the MLS, the UFC, NBA, that bubbles work. You know, they do. This is what is working. Are you surprised? I was, I was, I don't know if remarkable is the word.

The quality of play, the aesthetics. I was kind of blown away by it. I really, I really was blown away last night. Joey and I both were like, that was way better than I thought it would be. Your thoughts. Right. I'm with you. I wondered about the players' mentality in competing after months of being told to stay

six feet away from other people. Does that change your level of intensity? I wondered about the no fans component. Now, is it a little corny to have the Zoom fans up on the screen? You know, it is, but it's something and there is an energy. And I also think the commentating crew, Ion Eagle and Stan Van Gundy in particular, did a nice job taking the air out of that bubble because on television, when you tell the audience, yeah, this is weird, but try to rock with us,

try to have fun. I think that helped. All in all, it was very well done. And Adam Silver and his crew do deserve praise. Now, they'd be the first ones to tell you, this is a long ways from doing a victory lap. They've got a very long ways to go, but certainly so far so good. Yeah, I'm just watching it now again. Really impressed.

All these leagues, by the way. I mean, you're living in it. I'm living in it. Everybody's got the mass, the bubble, the distancing to pull off a pro sports league like the MLS. UFC goes to an island. At times, you know, nobody likes presidents, prime ministers anymore in America. you know, the social media would criticize everybody. I think our commissioners are better than we think.

I think they're pretty good. Yeah, I hear you. I mean, baseball is in a tough spot. That one I don't envy Manfred when it comes to the length of time that they are trying to pull off with their season. That makes it apples and oranges when you compare it to basketball and hockey. You know, I hope the training camp goes well in the NFL. And, you know, I hear you. I know Adam Silver more than the others, certainly.

And I think the thing to drill down on with him that I will say every day of the week is that his very genuine connection with the player community and the fact that he does when he goes to bed and I care about them as humans sounds corny. But it's real. And I think that he legislates within the league. And we're seeing the product of that in a good way right now. Yeah. And I think also that it's a two-way street. The players know he cares. They can feel he cares.

And so you don't want to let down people that you think have your back. And I think players will mostly stay in the bubble and be good bubble citizens for a while because I think they know how hard it's been for Adam Silver and there's a certain responsibility for people that defend you to defend them and make their life easier. So Sam, Amick, great stuff. Good luck when you take off of the bubble here in about two weeks.

Thank you, Colin. Be good, brother. Yeah. It's, yeah, I mean, Adam Silver cares about it. This is why you got to care. When Roger Goodell came out and said, you know what, I'm no longer going to worry about what the president tweets. I care about you.

The value in that is, of course, the more I care about my friends or my bosses or my children, they feel it and they wouldn't want to disappoint me. And so Adam Silver's like, this has been really hard and I've got your back. And I think players are policing other players, Sanbrough. This is, he's got our back. He wants us to have a season because if the NBA doesn't work, all the leverage goes back to the owners. They can rip up the CBA and start over.

You do not want that. So Silver's got the players back. I think it's very important for veteran NBA players to be like, guys, I've been in this league a long time. Not every commissioners like this. Not every commissioner's got our back. When somebody has yours, you don't want to disappoint them. And I think that's powerful.

Say hello to Casper, the sleep company, outrageously comfortable, not outrageously priced. Casper.com code herd $100 off mattresses. Here's Joy Taylor with the news. Turn on the news. This is the herd line news. Well, it's go time for Cam Newton and the Patriots. He posted a picture this morning as he drove up to Gillette Stadium to begin training camp with his new team.

It's very, uh... Is he in the passenger side? What is that? Well, someone's taking a picture of him, I think. It would be kind of hard to get like that selfie angle. So they don't practice inside the stadium. They've got facilities right around the corner, right? I've not been there, so I'm not sure.

But this is clearly where he was headed. With the caption, what's popping? Now, what does that mean? Like, what's up? So when did that get trendy? What's popping? It's been around for a while. So if I walked up to you on the street and I was like, hey, I'm popping.

You'd be, you'd totally get it. I mean, I would get what you were trying to say. But what would I be saying? You'd be saying You'd be saying what you want to say Well, actually, no, that's kind of different So if you say, like, what's popping? It's like, what's that?

Do you think my friends would respect me more if I use that term? I don't know your friends to know if they would know what that is. But if you were to walk up to me and say, I'm popping, that would mean like... Things are good. Yes.

All right. So you got it. I'm going to put that one away. I'm going to put that one in the need to be cool for a moment. What did you, you wore out? Oh, it's something that was lit. You wore that out pretty quickly. I used lit.

I mean breakfast, lunch and dinner. I lit the place up with lit. And then my daughter finally said, dad, overlit. Yeah, well, I mean, we have a collective that have moved on from lit. All right. But you haven't used lit in a long time. So let's no longer poppin. Very good.

Yeah, what we're talking about right there. Three days go, Grunk tweeted it's go time. And Brady responded, indeed it is Robert. So all the guys are getting ready for training camp and are very excited. So Joe Burrow officially signed his rookie contract with the Bengals today. It's reportedly a four-year $36 million deal, including a $23.9 million signing bonus. Good for Joe Burrow. And now that Burrow has put pen to paper, I love these pictures, by the way.

I feel like this is like, those are the pictures like your mom gets framed, like you got to put that up in the house. She's got to be proud. How proud would you be of your kid if that's it? A very proud of. Oh, my gosh. It's an incredible accomplishment. And his father, Jimmy, had a little joke and said, we finally got him out of our basement. Which is kind of funny because he literally has been living in his parents.

basement, not because he had to, obviously, but like, he had to because we're in a pandemic. Okay, so from this point forward, nice stuff about Joe Burrow. I'm rooting for him. I want to see him do well. I don't want to see him get his butt kicked. What's the change to now? Well, I mean, I always want to see these kids win, but I, what happens is the media is ridiculous and starts comparing him to Tom Brady and LeBron. And I, that's true. I don't think you're rooting against Joe Burrow. You're just trying to keep some perspective on his career. I think Joe Burrow is much better than you think. I think he's a B-plus. quarterback prospect. If I said, you know, Joy is smart. She was a B plus student. I'm not saying

you're a D student. B plus student gets you into college. I mean, you know what? No, I was a really good student actually in high school. So he's a B plus prospect. Everybody's got him as Andrew Luck the second. I'm like, no, he's not that. You have a particular affinity to Andrew Luck. So that's obviously. I'm wishing him well. I think he's better than you think he is. I do think he's going to struggle this year, as I think that most rookies in bad situations, which he is in, obviously because he went number one overall to the worst team in the league are going to come into. And then they're up against it from not being able to be in the city where he's going to play. They're just now reporting the training camp.

I agree with you. That throw was popping. It's going to make me regret this already. The NBA returned last night with two exciting games, virtual fans, cheered from the screen surrounding the courts. I wasn't sure how I was going to feel about it. When I first saw it, I was like, ugh. After watching it last night, I think I love it. I think it's cute.

I think it's great. It's not distracting. How do you do it? How would I get up there? What do you do? I think you just, I'm sure there's just a way that you go sign up. I would do it. I want to do this so badly.

I'm pretty sure we could probably make that happen. Could I get on there? I mean, I don't know. I don't make those decisions, but I'm... Charles Barclay is a friend of mine. You are calling Cowherd. I think we could probably make some false. No, but I used to work at a company and I get very...

Well, that was on TNT. Oh, no, TNT likes me. I promote them all. The TNT does excellent work. So I'm sure you can get on the TNT broadcast. Can Charles... And I don't know Ernie very well. I think I've met him.

He's a gracious person. I don't know Shaq, but I know his agent Perry Rogers very well. Perry, call Shaq. I want to be on TNT's. I don't think Shaq sets us up, but I think I'm pretty sure someone here listening can figure out

how to get you on that. Kenny, Kenny, you're the grown-up on that set. You make things happen. I thought it was cool, though. And Chris Bosch even joined the virtual crowd for the Lakers Clippers game. He was in the virtual crowd, yeah. Chris Bosch was.

Yes, I love Chris Bosch. It's amazing. Is it, do we show it here? Yeah, there you. Hold on. It's so great. How do you do that? It's so great.

There were other NBA stars in the bubble that were able to tend and get a front row seat to the action as well. So if you're not playing, you can go socially distance, watch the game. So it's something extra to do, which I'm sure they like doing as well. I want to be a virtual fan. We'll make that happen. Well, you were a virtual fan with Nick Wright last night. You guys went on Instagram Live. Look at that.

And you tweeted out a little picture. I mean, those are just two guys. having a great night. We had so much fun last night. He is the most unique broadcaster I've ever met. I watched your Instagram lives. You guys did a good job. He was smoking cigars by the end of it. I saw. I saw. And we also had

a, well, Nick actually sent this to me this morning and he said I should use this. You know, those face swaps. Oh, God. One of our fans, Jack, shared this. And it's nightmare fuel. So I thought since I had to see it, you guys should have to see it too. You know what he looks like a little bit? One of our great presidents.

Nick or you well okay yeah so Nick is actually one of the you think he looks like Abraham Lincoln Nick looks like Abraham Lincoln he does I can't deal with this doesn't he look like Abraham Lincoln I don't know but this this picture is just it's you know what I look like right there Nick is the guy in the gray shirt okay do you know what I look like right there and and Colin is call okay so the hairs have stayed the same so the faces have swapped the hairs the same so Nick is on the left in the gray shirt and Colin is on the right who is his hair that he has now and in the black shirt.

Who do you look like? A ventriloquist. I just look like somebody who is a performer. That is freaky how people do that. It's really disturbing, yeah. But I thought we should share it. Tell me I'm wrong on that. He looks like Abe Lincoln.

He does look like Abe Lincoln. He's honest. He's honest. And I'm not quite sure what I would place your profession as in that picture. But it's something. But you guys had a good time last night, and it was a great night for the NBA. It really was. Joy Taylor with the news.

Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The Heard Lye News. Hey, I forgot. I can't keep up with all these spots. Did I read Manscaped yet? I thought I already read Manscaped. Yeah, I read the 60th.

And I read that one, too. Listen, this show, we got so many ads because we're so unbelievable. We got Abe Lincoln on the show. When you never bring Abe Lincoln on the show, people want to be in your show. All right, coming up next. Tomorrow's headlines today with JMAQ. I love that segment. All right, NBA last night at my house.

Cocktails. Have a bar made by Lowe's transforming my house. They got all the accessories. The glasses are really nice. The bar cart, very nice. Go to Lowe's.com, check it out. Show us your transformations. Hashtag Lowe's Goals.

It's the Hurt. Be sure to catch live editions of the HARD. Weekdays at noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific. Great to have you in the show is flown by. Rick Buecker, Chris Weber, Rob Parker, Sam Amick of the Athletic, and my buddy Jason McIntyre joins us every Friday at this time. He's a former newspaper guy who is in the headline business, and he has these bizarre predictions on headlines,

and they are accurate beyond any reasonable prediction. And look, he's got a haircut. He looks very profound. I did, yeah. My wife gave me the haircut. She's very proud of her work. They're very thankful, Colin, that I got a haircut. How much fun was the NBA?

last night. Oh, my God. Oh, amazing. So I watched the second game with a former Division 1 basketball player, socially distance, of course. And he was going on about how Anthony Davis should be getting talked about more. Like Anthony Davis was incredible last night, 32 points. Colin, I don't see how people are still picking the clippers after watching that. We'll get into it, but go ahead. All right. We call it tomorrow's headlines today. What's the headline going to be after? The Celtics' bucks tonight. A lot of great games this weekend, starting with Celtics bucks. Now, you know I've picked the Celtics earlier this year to get to the finals. The headline will be Celtics get bucked up.

Colin, I got some bad news for Boston fans. Kemble Walker is going to be on a minutes restriction. Dude, Colin, the guy sat out for four months and he comes back in his knees not healthy. That's a bad sign. And I don't know if you followed the Gordon Hayward situation. He and his wife are having a kid. He eventually will be leaving the bubble. We don't know if that's in the first round, the second round of the playoffs. So I'm off the Celtics bandwagon, and I don't feel great about them tonight against the Bucks. Quick word on Milwaukee. We've talked about the pressure on this Janus squad.

They will be without Eric Bledsoe and Pat Connett, two of their rotational guys who had COVID, and they're still recuperating. But there's a lot of pressure on this Bucks team, and I think Janus comes out to make a statement tonight. Good stuff. All right. tomorrow's headlines today. What's it going to be after the Pelicans Clippers Saturday? Boy, I was shocked the Pelicans blew that game last night.

Obviously a devastating loss if they want to make the playoffs, but the focus is the Clippers and the headline will be bubble trouble. Colin, listen, you cannot have watched that game last night and thought, oh, everything's fine. They didn't have Lou Williams. They didn't have Montrez-Harrow. The Clippers look so disjointed. Okay, they're playing guys.

Yo Kim Noah had not played an NBA game in 15 months. I saw that. He looked lost on the court. And guys like Landry Shamit are getting passes. Somebody joked to me over text message. The third best Lakers player last night was Landry Shammit. He was like negative 19. I mean, he was so bad.

And the Clippers, Reggie Jackson, he just got there like a couple months before the COVID hit. He played 34 minutes. That's the most he'd ever play with the Clippers. Like, this is not going to work. Doc Rivers has a lot of work. work to do with this team. All he can hope is that Alvin Gentry bungles the Zion situation again. I mean, come on. We can do 10 minutes on what on earth Alvin Gentry was doing sitting Zion at the end there. Just a brutal loss for the Pelicans. They need it bad. I think the pelicans get the win over

the clippers. By the way, Reggie Jackson was ninth on the Clippers in minutes. He led the clippers last night. So that's that was the difference in the game. Lou Williams is a dead-eye shooter. He didn't play. Tomorrow's headlines today. What's the headline going to be after Raptors, Lakers Saturday? Oh, boy. So the last time the Lakers beat the Clippers, they came out and lost. It was to the Brooklyn Nets. Don't have a great feeling about this one.

The headline will be saved from extinction. Now, I've been public enemy number one in Toronto because I bashed the Raptors in the offseason. This video from the radio show went viral. And these guys have been killing me on my Instagram account. I'm all in on the Raptors right now, Colin. telling you, plus 700, Toronto to win the East. It's worth a couple shepherds. If you want to throw some pizza money, Toronto, Colin, second best record in the East, we know Boston has the Kemba situation in Gordon Hayward. Seventy-sixers, I like what they're doing, but it remains to be

seen if it'll work. And Toronto did beat the Bucks last year. Now, they had Kauai Leonard, obviously, but this is a frisky Raptors team. Nick Nurse, one of the best coaches in the league. And now you're going to yell at me for talking about Toronto. No, no, I think they have a... First of all, they have a ton of length. Second of all, they've got a nice mix. They've got a couple young players, Van Bleet and Seyakum. And to your point, I think they play really hard and well together.

Now, they've beaten up mostly. They've been great against crappy Eastern teams. They've been really average against better teams. And I think that's because when you play the better teams, the get-a-bucket guy, Kauai is gone. It's just those are close games you need to start. But I do think they're a really well-rored. franchise right now, and I totally respect that. Yeah. And last

word on the Raptors real quick. This is a team that did a box in one on Steph Curry in the finals, and they went a full court press earlier this year and came back from down 30 to win a game. I just love that creativity. Shout out to the Raptors. Tomorrow's headlines today. Headline

after the Bucks Rockets Sunday. I know you love to bash the Houston Rockets. Your buddy, Russell Westbrook, I can't wait until he visits us out in Manhattan Beach. However, the headline will be, dear, fear the beard. I'm all in, shockingly, on James Harden. Colin, we've seen him wear down the last three seasons, right? This is a guy who annually leads the NBA in dribbles, right? Time of possession. He just holds the

ball, and then comes the playoffs. He's tired and worn down and he can't do it. He just had four months off. James Harden, Colin, amazing stat, leads the NBA in 30-point games, 40-point games, 40-point and 50 point games this season. He's really an awesome guy, super talented, and with this rest, I think the Rockets could be, could be, the most dangerous team in the bubble. I like them to take down the bucks this weekend. Yeah, no, I do think the bubble has benefits for one or two teams,

and I think Houston's probably the single biggest beneficiary of the bubble, that they're not going to, they have ball-centric guard play, and they're just not going to have to travel. They don't play back-to-backs, not going to have to travel. and I think they're so uniquely built. I was telling Nick Wright and I were talking about this last night in Instagram. They're almost like Georgia Tech football. Not that Georgia Tech has the best players, but they play such an unconventional style

that if you have to play Georgia Tech in the middle of your football schedule, you can't practice what they do. You don't have anybody in your, you don't have a quarterback who runs their offense. So I do think they're just so unconventional they could knock people off. It's like teams facing Lamar Jackson for the first time. That's right. Whoa. You can't simulate this speed. in practice. But once you've seen him two and three times, as we saw with the Cleveland

Browns last year, you kind of get his number. You can slow him down a little bit. Yeah. So I got to ask you this, because the Jets and Jamal Adams trade happened Saturday. And you are somebody that has great affection and great emotional support. They're your emotional support underdog, the New York Jets. So what did you make of the Jamal Adams trade? Well, I went with on Joy's podcast, and we talked about this at length. Listen, this was a great move for the Jets. If I had told you, Colin, two weeks ago that the Jets are going to get two first round picks and a third round pick for Jamal Adams and Bradley McDougal, a pretty good player, you'd have been like, done deal. Like, where do I sign up for that? And then they do it and all

these people are like, oh, the Jets, what are you doing? Like, it's just so weird the hate for the Jets there is out there. But I will just end with this. I just, I can't be on board with somebody who doesn't want to be there. If you're going to bash the coach and bash the team and say you want to be traded. Just get out of town. We don't need you on the team. You're with us or you're against us. And Jamal Adams clearly didn't want to be there. And the Jets shipped him out of town. And I think it's for the better. Yeah, McDougal's actually legitimate safety. He'll come in, he'll start. Yeah, he's a nice player. Yeah, he's a nice player. He'll come in and start for a year. Maybe they move off him, but they got something in return. So the jets are going to have

huge wins. Yeah, they're going to have two first next year and two first the next two years. Four first round picks. Listen, I know Russell Wilson's your guy. He has two new. starting offensive linemen on the right side. If some reason Russell Wilson gets hurt, I know he never does, that pick that the Jets have that's going to be 20 or whatever, it could suddenly vault up into the top 10. We don't know about

quarterback injuries. Russell Wilson has avoided it, but he's got two new offensive linemen starters. Just keep an eye on the Seahawks. By the way, what do you make as some of the NFL players left tackle for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers may have opted out? What do you make of all that stuff? That's huge for Tom Brady. So my favorite NFL stat, and I'm writing

this for Fox Sports.com, when you look at 43-year-old quarterbacks in the NFL, which Tom Brady will be, none of them have ever played more than six games. And now Brady could be having a left tackle who's a rookie from Iowa, who's played four career games at left tackle. That's it. I mean, listen, you're going to have to have Gronk over there helping to block on every possession. There are some concerns with Tampa Bay for sure, Colin.

That's a big story. Yeah. So far, a handful of NFL players have opted out. I do expect more to, you know. Oh, yeah. Well, I mean, let's be honest. What if you have guaranteed money? You got that guaranteed money.

What do you, what's the, why would you risk it? And if you're playing in the trenches, column, we know the offensive linemen, 330 pounds. They're more at risk if they're, you know, overweight and obese. And I know they're in shape, but technically they are obese. It can be a little risky for the offensive and defensive linemen. But like you said, look at the players that got guaranteed money this year. Yeah, it's something. We could see some opt-outs.

Yeah. Jason McIntyre. Good seeing you, buddy. Have a nice weekend. All right, you too. Lives right down the street from me. We just go jogging in Manhattan Beach, just, you know, popping. Just looking. You're just popping.

Looking really cool. Hey, Manuel, suit is popping. There you go. I apologize. This is my, I'm responsible for this. See, I am better off not being cool and acknowledging that and embracing it. The minute I try to be a little cool, it's off-putting for you. Not for me.

But you like me better when almost... I like anyone being their authentic self. Not that you're not cool. You just have your own version of cool. Yeah, I shouldn't be... I'm not really that cool. Way cooler than me. Yeah, I'm not.

I say something. Not being cool is not the worst thing in the world. It's not. Having bad hygiene is worse. Definitely. Way worse. Yeah, that's way worse. Yeah, there's a lot of things way worse.

Way worse. They're not being cool. They're not being cool. Summer's in full swing. Perfect time. Join me for a perfect do-it-yourself project. Go to Loz.com. The bar cart.

Really nice. Accessories. Put it together quickly. Show us your transformations. Hashtag it, Lowe's goals. We'll see you Monday. Another podcast from some SNL late-night comedy guy. Not quite.

Unhumor me with. Robert Smygel and Friends, me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, S&L's Mikey Day and head writer, Streeter Seidel, help an a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter.

Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and Friends on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal, but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's Superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year.

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You might have seen the skits, my basketball and college football journey, or my career in sports media. Well, now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfilled conversations with athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. So let's get to it. Listen to The Clifford Show on the IHeard Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast.

And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok. Podcast Network on TikTok. On The Look Back at it podcast. From 1979, that was a big moment for me. 84 was big to me. I'm Sam Jay. And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick a year, unpack what went down,

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