The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Lakers, Duke, Josh Rosen, and the Raiders

Episode Date: March 20, 2019

Filling in for Colin, Doug Gottlieb talks about when it was the beginning of the end for the Los Angeles Lakers, why people don't hate Duke right now, the treatment of Arizona Cardinals QB Josh Rosen, and why the Oakland Raiders were smart to trade Khalil Mack. Guests include Mark Schlereth, Evan Daniels, Cuttino Mobley, and Dahntay Jones.  Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Find your local station for the Heard at Fox Sports Radio.com or stream us live every day on the iHeartRadio app by searching Heard. You're listening to Fox Sports Radio. What up? Welcome in. This is The Herd, wherever you may be, and however you may be making this part of your day. Thanks so much. I'm Doug Gottlieb in for Colin Cowherd,

who is away on business, I'm told. I don't know what business that is. This is this business. Joy Taylor alongside. Good morning to you, Joy. Good morning. It's going to be a great day. I can just feel it.

Man, we got a ton of guests. Katino Mobley. Evan Daniels talking some college. Hoop and NBA Hoop, Dante Jones as well. Plus, Stink, three times a football champion. Mark Slayerth will join us on the, it's not the couch anymore. It's the love seat. It's the easy chair.

We'll talk with Stink upcoming in a half hour. I got some thoughts on the Cardinals, who apparently had dinner with Kyler Murray. I don't know if the dinner was a little bit bigger than people thought it would be, or the same size. Of course, he's tried to put on weight. A lot of stuff to get to. Big suspension in UFC. I'm sure that Joy has that as part of this.

We got a lot to get to. Plus, kind of soft launch for the NCAA tournament last night as the first four. Won-wong does begin. It's the tournament, but it's not the tournament because it's not the bracket. And I can actually prove to you the whole value of the tournament is the piece of paper, more so than the teams. I'll tell you what Zion Williamson is going to accomplish that was previously unattainable in college athletics. We'll get to that

upcoming in the show. But let's start with the Lakers. So last night they go into Milwaukee and we didn't see the old version against the new version. Remember, this is a Bucks team that essentially killed

the Lakers playoff hopes going back a couple weeks ago. It was at Staples Center. It was a close game. LeBron was back. LeBron was healthy and they had a big lead and the Bucs went on a run and beat the Lakers. And after that it was reading the last rights. Lakers were bound for the lottery, not for the playoffs. LeBron didn't play last night. And this is part of the issue with the managing LeBron's situation

and the reason that he's really untradable and that it's even more difficult to shut him down is like, look, imagine yourself in Milwaukee. They just built a beautiful, ridiculous arena. That arena, I'm not sure how many people are aware, is among the nicest in the entire world. And oh yeah, by the way, the home team, their seats, their bench, they have heated seats. Seriously, they have heated seats. And they raise and lower. So LeBron couldn't use the excuse if he was on the home team of, hey, I want to sit down that last chair, the throne chair and the bench because it raises up for my bad back, you know. But that wasn't the loss. LeBron didn't play. They lost to the bucks. And it's like their 11th loss and 12 games. Now obviously there is.

in full kind of tank, tank mode. And the ship that had a flimsy rudder has no rudder, and it is clearly run aground. But the L they took was back home because it was a rumor that was spread like wildfire. It had been started by a longtime NBA insider Peter Vessie, who of course used to cover the NBA back when NBC had it. Then it was at the New York Post. Now he has his own subscription-based online service. And his rumor was that, hey, Doc Rivers.

LeBron respects him. Magic Johnson likes him. And he can get out of his deal this year. And so if you're the Lakers who need someone, because this is a difficult hire for the Lakers, and by the way, they still have a coach. How do you like to be Luke Walton? Everyone, including Luke Walton, knows he's dead man walking.

But there's already rumors about who's going to replace him. And the issue with it is really simple. if you hire Tailu if you hire Tailu whether or not LeBron James is in fact running the organization and making

decisions for the organization it's really hard to make any other argument and so if you're not a clutch sports guy or if you're not a team LeBron guy like do I want to go and play for some a player's team and

they're clear is kind of a wrestle for control I don't know how many even read Lord of the Flies when you're a kid. I don't know if it's the conch or the conch, but whoever had it had the power in Lord of the Flies, right? Whoever was in command? And it's like there's a conch or conch. Like magic's got it, then g, conch, right?

I think it's conch. I actually think it's conch. It's conch? Yeah, I think it's conch. I'm with joy. I'm not with Toey. I'm going on Team Joy. They wrestle for it.

Well, that's like LeBron and Rich Paul. They're like, we got it. And then Jeannie Bus is like, no, no, no, no. This is my conk. The Magic and Polinka wrestling for some sort of control. If you hire Ty Lou, that's the LeBron guy. This is Cleveland 2.0. Same thing if you hire Mark Jackson, who's not repped by clutch sports, but same thing, right?

It's the perception even more than the reality that becomes important when you're trying to rebuild this thing for long term. That's the reason. There was a Rick Bucher report a couple weeks ago that Jeannie Bus, thought about it. at least explored the possibility of trading LeBron James. It's not a possibility. I've heard Colin talk. It's just not because he won't go. Where's he going to?

Like, I'm going to trade you in New Orleans. Yes, he's going to get on that plane and go to New Orleans. Things that won't happen for a thousand, Alex. Oh, we'll trade him to the Knicks. Yeah, he's going to go work for Jim Dolan after moving his family to Los Angeles. Not happening. And I'm not even sure the Clippers would want him, let alone what does he want to associate his brand with that of the Clippers.

So it's a very difficult. higher to make. But Doc is the one guy who, in order to win an NBA championship, you have to have the respect of the locker room. In order to have the respect of a locker room, you probably have to have won an NBA championship. And the only guy alive that could potentially be available is that guy, is Doc Rivers, right?

Can't be Phil because Phil doesn't get along with most people in the lakes organization. He broke up with Gene. He doesn't want to coach road games. And, oh yeah, by the way, I do. remember a quote where he called LeBron James fellas a posse. That did not go over so well with Team LeBron. It's not going to be Eric Spolstra. Yeah, you think his contract's up or you think that Pat Riley's letting him go? Plus, Pat Riley, who has an NBA championship or two to his name, he's not coming back to L.A. He runs the ship in Miami, and that ship has sailed in terms of his relationship with LeBron. It's cordial at best. So the only guy who has the chops,

who's not associated with team LeBron and Rich Paul and is not seen as the LeBron guy. Oh, yeah, by the way, he could be the first guy to ever coach the Lakers and the Celtics. I mean, home run. Here's the only problem. He's got to actually want to take the job. Here's Doc Rivers last night.

My job is not done here. I came here for a lot of reasons, and one of them was obviously to win a world championship. And the other one was to make this. place a place that people respect and want to come to. I think we've accomplished or are accomplishing that part. But that's the second part or the first part yet. And so that's my goal. And that's it. So we don't need to go on this anymore. Thank you, please. I'm going to be here and I'm looking forward to the future. Okay, so listen, in fairness, we've heard coaches, Nick Saban, of course,

just said, I'm not going to be the head coach of Alabama. How many more times do you want me to say it? We've heard that before. But this does feel legitimate in terms of Doc Rivers shooting down rumors. Plus, he's got a guy with as big a checkbook as there is in the entire world who goes like, wait, what? They want off for you what? We'll just add a zero to that, and that will be that in Steve Balmer. Plus, like, look, the Clippers do have a better vibe. They trade away their best player and they're still going to make the playoffs. and oh yeah by the way they got the cap space to potentially go out and add not one but two superstars not named LeBron James who seemed to want to not play with LeBron and the Lakers.

In the you could I grew up in the city of Orange in Orange County, which is the county just south of Los Angeles. If you would take post-pubescent me, you would take any sort of from childhood to be to youthhood to young adults. to any time in my life, even six weeks ago. And you said, hey, would anybody in their right mind choose the clippers over the Lakers? I would say, no. No chance. Zero point zero percent chance. And then you add LeBron and Magic to the Lakers.

You're like, well, everybody should, everybody should want to go there, but they don't. Kauai has said it. KD has said it. Karee has said it. And whether or not Karee has made up with LeBron, this is Chironoble. This is a level of toxicity not seen before in the NBA for a guy who is this well-respected.

Now, I think the biggest issue with the Lakers is not just the idea of the ties to LeBron James and their desire to get away from that and to open themselves up to all the other free agents because that is a big issue. The biggest issue is this. Now, I got caught in traffic today because I left my house like 15 minutes later than I probably should have. And in Southern California, if you don't hit the 605 before 545, you're done so.

There's always an accident or a stalled car or something. It's just a mess. but I do have the rare gift of Ninja Dad. You guys aware what Ninja Dad is? Some of you are Ninja Dads out there, which means when you get up in the morning, the ability to go out and get coffee, whether you go to run a couple of errands,

you go to the gym to work out, or you got to get up and go work, can you quietly get dressed, get your keys, get your computer, you know, maybe make something to eat without waking up a soul, the dog, the cat, the kids, the wife. Are you a ninja dad? I am. And most GMs in the NBA operate like ninjas. You don't know any of

this stuff, any of these rumors, and then all of a sudden, Tobias Harris is sent to Detroit, right? Jimmy Butler is traded to the Philadelphia 76ers. That's the way it works in the NBA. You don't see the train coming down the track a million miles away? Because if you do, you do, you do, you do. You don't see the train coming down the track a million miles away? Because if you do, it gives Steve Ballmer a chance to go, hey, Doc, I read this story about Peter Vessie.

Let me just explain something to you. You're not going to the Lakers, and you name the number, and it's going to be done. That's the way these conversations work. Whereas if the Lakers had any ability to be Ninja Dads, they would already have the agreement.

Peter Vessy wouldn't have the story, and it would be done. The same thing happened with the Anthony Davis deal. They're so clumsy. They're the guy who every time they get up, they stub their toe. Or they rattle the keys. Or they start the car too early. Or their alarm goes off and they have it on full blast.

So the entire top floor wakes up. And now your kids are upset. Your wife's ticked off at you. The dog has to go out. All of these things go wrong. The Lakers are the. clumsy dad who can't just be quiet and tiptoe around. Oh, the stairs are creaky. No, dude, put on some socks and you should know the dead spots within the stairs. That's the problem with the Lakers.

If they were going to get Doc Rivers, it should have been done under cover of darkness, and there should have been no rumors. But that's the problem with the Lakers. It's the whole reason that they've gotten caught tampering, because they can't just keep their mouths shut and find a way to get things done before anybody knows that it's coming. But that's what happens when you hire a GM who's never worked in a front office before. You hire a president who's never been a president of a team before. You hire a head coach who's only been a head coach. You don't have an assistant GM. And Jeannie Bus, who runs the business side, not the basketball side, was thought to have some sort of basketball acumen because she used to sleep with the greatest professional coach of all time. Like,

this thing is Chironoble. And Doc Rivers said, yeah, Hey, I'd rather stay with the Clippers, the third tenant at Staples Center, who have exactly zero legitimate banners, who have never been beyond the second round of the playoffs. I'm good where I am instead of coaching the Lakers and becoming the first coach to coach the Celtics and the Lakers potentially win another NBA title and be the last guy to help coach LeBron James to an NBA title.

If that doesn't tell you the state of the Lakers, nothing else does, kids. The Arizona Cardinals did something yesterday that I think was not only risky but telling. I'll explain next in the herd. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific on Fox Sports Radio, FS1 and the IHard Radio app. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind. Highlights are trending, opinions are flying, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened.

That's where Sports Slice comes in. I'm Timbo. Every episode, we're cutting through the noise. Breaking down the plays, the controversies, and the stories behind the headlines. We go straight to the source, the athlete themselves. Their locker room stories, their reactions, the stuff nobody gets to hear. The laughs, the drama, the triumphs, the moments that never make the highlight real. From viral moments to historic games, from buzzer beaters to controversial calls, we break it down,

give you context and ask the questions everybody wants answered. Sports slice brings you closer to the action. with stories told by the people who live them. Listen to SportsSlice on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Slic Life 12 in the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hardway with me, your host, and your favorite therapist, 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. suit 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

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care gains is 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. Jacob Kingston grew up in an isolated polygamous sect. We were God's chosen kingdom on earth. He felt destined for greatness. So when a swaggering Armenian businessman catapults Jacob into an extraordinary world, he doesn't look back. Ferraris and Lamborghinis, private jets, meeting the president of Turkey. I'm Michelle McPhee, and this is one of the most shocking criminal conspiracies I've ever come across. When Jacob met Levant this plant to a billion dollar fraud. But with two kings from entirely different worlds, just how long can their empire survive?

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

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

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

Because resilience isn't just about winning. It's about showing up, even when it's hard. Listen to Hurtle with Emily Abadi on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Presented by Capital One, founding partner of IHeart Women's Sports. Tampa, the Lightning Battle of the Washington Capitals at 7.30 Eastern time in our Discover card key matchup. get your free credit scorecard today, even if you're not a Discover customer. It includes your FICO credit score and checking your scorecard won't hurt your credit.

Learn more at Discover.com slash credit scorecard limitations apply. Doug Gottliebind for Colin. From Joy Taylor in a moment with the news. This is The Hurd on Fox Sports Radio, the IHeart Radio app, and here, of course, on Fox Sports One. Last night, as teams are allowed to do, the Arizona Cardinals, who have the number one overall pick in the draft met with Kyler Murray. Now, Kyler Murray could well be the number one quarterback taken in the draft. Kyler Murray is a Texas high school legend.

And of course, Cliff Kingsbury is a Texas quarterback in his own right before being a head coach at Texas Tech. The two know each other. There is an it factor to Kyler in that he has the speed of Mike Vic. And the pocket awareness as a diminutive quarterback of a Doug Flutie. That's the combination. And so the Arizona Cardinals are trying to do their due diligence. This is not anything new. The Giants last night met with Ohio State's quarterback.

Duane Haskins. They had dinner there. That's a lot. Here's the problem. The Arizona Cardinals just drafted a quarterback in the first. round last year and started him this year. Josh Rosen. Now, remember, this was Steve Kime a couple weeks ago,

clarifying Cliff Kingsbury's initial comments about Josh Rosen as a starter. Cliff said was trying to avoid bulletin board material. I think if you're at Texas Tech, I would have said the same thing about an Oklahoma quarterback. But again, it's still early in the process. We haven't even gone through a full evaluation at all the positions. So really, it's, again, too early to say. Is Josh Rosen, our quarterback? Yeah, he is right now for sure.

Yeah, he is right now for sure. That sounds really, really good. I want you to think about this for a second. Like, imagine if you're a woman and you say yes to a man and you have a ring on your finger. And then six months later, you're having a glass of wine with another good-looking man. How do you think the man feels about that? The same can go for a man. And we can go with the Chris Rock line, which is a man is only as faithful as his options,

and that appears to be exactly what the Arizona Cardinals have. They're doing the opposite of what you should do. Even if they want Kyler Murray, every public comment should be Josh Rosen's amazing. He was under duress. We had to change coordinators. mid-season. Then he had Byron left, which had never called plays before. We didn't provide him the best offensive line. The season went to hell in a handbasket. We had to fire our coach. And you know what? Josh Rosen is solid as a day is long. Even if it's a complete lie,

Steve Kheim has shown he has no clue what he's doing. Because he's damaging the reputation of Josh Rosen and damaging the relationship he has at Josh Rosen all at the same time. Again, you're allowed to meet with Kyla Murray. But should you? Should it get out? Of course not. And every public comment should be, we got you. We're good at quarterback.

Everything else? Up for grabs. We're good at quarterback. It shouldn't be, we haven't evaluated all the cup up, all the things. Like, no, no, no. I found, we found our quarterback. Now we've got to work out with the rest. Because who's going to want Josh Rosen if he's been there for nine months?

His coordinator gets fired. His coach gets fired. His GM loves him so much that he's willing to openly interview and discuss the possibility of drafting a 5 foot 10 quarterback to replace him a year later. I'm not saying the reality of football isn't that Kyler Murray is a better fit. a younger option and maybe a better option for what the Cardinals have and they can get some value for Josh Rosen. But if that's the plan, why are you killing the value of Josh Rosen?

You get dopes. And oh yeah, by the way, if you decide Kyler Murray's not your guy, how do you think that goes over with Josh Rosen? Now, you can tell me you love me all you want, but you were just at a wine bar with another woman. Or you can tell me, but you were just at a wine bar with another dude. Let's get to Joy Taylor with the news. No, no, no, no, no. Turn on the news. This is the herd line news.

So weeks after Antonio Brown criticized Big Ben for having a owner's mentality. Another former Steeler has some things to say. New Jet, Levion Bell, had this to say when SITV asked if Ben played a part in his decision to leave Pittsburgh. That was part of it. That's part of it. It wasn't the factor. It was a factor. Yes, it was a factor.

Your relationship with him. Yeah, it was a factor. And you felt like you were a factor. weren't even with Ben. Ben is, you know, Ben has been, he's the quarterback at the time, I'm thinking that's how I'm supposed to be, he's supposed to be like that, like, like, when you know, quarterbacks are leaders and yeah, everybody's going to the quarterback, it is what it is, but it's like, it's still, you're still a teammate at the end of day, you're not, you know what I'm saying, you're not Kevin Colbert. Right. You know what I'm saying? You're not Mr. Rooney.

There seems to be a real disconnect with Ben and his team. teammates. And what's interesting to me is I haven't heard any teammates come out and defend Ben Ralthusberger. Now, the GM did. And that kind of seems to be the problem because the GM's comments were outrageous. I mean, indefensible, the way that he described the rest of the team as 52 kids. But in Kevin Colbert's defense, he did, he, he expounded upon that about a week ago or two weeks ago, where he said, like, look, this is the way I've described it, that even I, you know, because I haven't been under center in the Super Bowl. I'm not just, it didn't.

No, no, I mean, it's just a mentality and a way that you speak in general when you hear, like you would never hear Greg Popovich talk about anyone that way. Like, there's a culture breakdown in Pittsburgh, which is what I've been saying since the beginning of last season. That's very obvious. That's fair. The problem is Levyon Bell, Levyon Bell thought he knew more than everybody else told him. It doesn't seem like Levyon Bell is unhappy with his decision. He's not.

There's a whole, there's a disconnect there in Levyon Bell where he thought, like, he's like, I think he thinks I made more money than I ever thought I was going to make. I'm going to, I'm going to, I'm going to, I'm going to, I'm going to prove a point here. I don't have a problem with Levyon Bell handling it the way that he handled it. He lost a ton of money. Maybe he was unhappy. Okay, now you're with the Jets. They're not good. Like, look, do I think, like, I don't know what he thinks he's walking.

They have no offense line. I love Sam Donald. I do. I do. What did the Steelers do this year? They were better than the Jets. Did they make the playoffs? No, because Antonio Brown was completely off the rails.

Is Antonio Brown's fault that they didn't make the playoffs? At least in some part, yes. Was it Ben Rathesberger's fault at all that they didn't make the playoffs? At least in some part, yes. Okay, so my argument was Levy on Bell and everyone, like, upset that he didn't get the money that he expected to get. Nobody's upset. We're just, let's not act like he's a genius or something. No, I'm not saying Levy on Bell is a genius.

I'm saying he managed his career the way that he wanted to, which seems to be this outrageous notion to everyone. that someone should take control of their life and their happiness. If he didn't want to be in Pittsburgh, which is clear he didn't, why not? Why not handle it the way that you want to handle it? What is he losing money? But no, he could have not been in Pittsburgh and made $14 million this year. My thing with Levy on Bella's side, and I understand and I feel that there is a separation

between quarterbacks and the rest of the team. But it can't be an actual mentality amongst the team. You never hear these stories about Tom Brady. who is, of course, miles ahead of Ben Rothersberger. With Ben Rethersburg. Just so we're aware, there was a time when Tom Brady was catching a helicopter out of Foxborough. There was a time seven, eight years ago when he was helicoptering out after games. And if you've ever been to Foxborough, you know it's because that is literally the only way to get out of Foxborough without spending two hours in traffic.

And guys went to management like, yo, what are we doing here? Like, that's not, there was a disconnect there. and he's since changed some of that. I agree, but here's the one thing. Before we act like Levyon Bell speaks for the entire locker room, had you ever heard offensive linemen, or actually any position player, ever come out speaking against a player who's in a money battle with the team?

Had you ever heard that before? I mean, I'm sure there's examples of it. My thing with this situation with the Steelers is not Antonio Brown and Leveon Bell specifically, because I think there's plenty of. the blame to go around for this entire organization, top to bottom. I just feel like you see this with Aaron Rogers a lot, where you have guys come out and they have stories about not getting along with Aaron Rogers, but then you have teammates of Aaron

Rogers come out and defend him. And I'm not hearing that with Ben Rathosberger. Now I'm not saying this is all Ben Rathesberger's fault. At the end of the day, Levy on Bell is not the leader of your team. Antonio Brown's not the leader of your team. Ben Rathesberger is the leader of your team. And at one point or another, it's on you to make some amends to these situations. Fine, but those guys don't play for the Steelers anymore, right?

It's like these are all ex-stealers. Doesn't mean what they're saying is inaccurate, but these are all ex-dealers. And my guess is the rest of the Steelers have realized that all this drama, all this talking to the media about what's going on, that's not good for business. Right? Just like it doesn't have it. And that's why they're not saying anything positive. They're not saying anything negative because they're over it. Antonio Brown's a raider.

Levyon Bell's a jet. And Ben, the Steelers. So we'll get to see if this is his fault or not next year. Sequin Barkley did not react on social media or anywhere else when the O'Dell Beckham trade news broke last week, but he did reveal recently what the aftermath was like for players in O'Dell's inner circle. Sequin said at Penn State Pro Day, we talked over FaceTime. He had just gotten traded, so I don't think he was really happy about it. He just gave me some advice about how to handle stuff in the league.

He was the same old big brother to me that he's always been. What's going on with O'Dell in this trade is very interesting, because obviously O'Dell's public state. was very positive, which is, of course, going to be. But his initial comments to Kimberly Jones and NFL network were like, it is what it is, and I don't really know what to think right now. And then Sekewon saying he didn't seem too happy about it. Then you had the weird Instagram posts the other day. Which was what?

Because I honestly didn't see it. I mean, you basically just said, like, he needs to take some time off and, like, deco- He just realized he's in Cleveland. He was in New York. Now he's in Cleveland. Well. And I think the Browns have an incredible roster of offensive weaponry and some defensive weapons.

I mean, it just could be possible that we're all more excited about Odell joining Baker Mayfield and playing with that roster than Odell necessarily is. I'm not saying he's not happy to be with Baker Mayfield and Jarvis Landry and with all the pieces they have there. You're not happy to be in Cleveland. I just sympathize with players when they're traded because they're expected to come out and be just excited about joining a new franchise. And there's a lot of personal things that go on with moving.

Not to mention moving from New York City to Cleveland, Ohio. I know. It's a very drastic change. I know. which I don't think that we're accounting for. It's interesting all the comments that are coming out about it. Listen, I think O'Dell's really, really smart. I think he doesn't, I don't think he necessarily understands why he got sent out of New York.

I don't think it just has to do with all they made us a trade we could not refuse. I think they were tired of it. They were tired of some of the other antics. There were still some baggage there. You know, obviously his general manager had traded away, you know, got rid of Steve Smith and still gone to super pulls or some of that. And I think the reality is, like, look, you can be the best receiver on earth in Cleveland. You're still in Cleveland. Whereas if you do everything, he's, I mean, one of the parts that has made O'Dell Beckham Jr., arguably the most popular and famous football player in the league is not just the one hand catches in the hair.

It's the fact he's done it with the New York Giants. It's New York. So this will be an opportunity for him to be good in a smaller market and do the winning that he needed to do while being a star. And New York was a perfect place for him to establish himself being a star. not necessarily having on the field success. Usually the order is the opposite, right? Usually you win and then you come to the big market. So finally, the Celtics have had a lot of highs and lows this season. However, it's been made clear that Kyrie is the emotional leader of that team. And Terry Rozier had this to say on fair game with Christine Leahy.

I learned so much as just about his attitude, how much his attitude can affect how we play. When he's a happy camper, when everything's going good for him, we're rolling. Like, everything else is good. You know, sometimes when he want to apply that pressure, when he wants to get mad or whatever for his reasons being, then it's just like everybody's so uptight. So it's just like we're going to go as far as he takes us. I mean, you're always going to go as far as your best player takes you. So I understand what he's saying, that Kyrie's emotions clearly affect the play of this team,

which is something that Kyrie's got to keep in check going into the playoffs if they're going to have any success this year. But you're always going to go as far as your best player. takes you. Yes, but the fact that, one, you are who your best player is, especially in basketball. But two, the idea that Terry Rozier has pointed out, like, sometimes he's mopee. But he's saying, like, sometimes he's mopee, and that's why we're mopee. So I do think it points to a lack of emotional immaturity from Kyrie, which I think Kyrie actually understands. I think that's, that was kind of what that apology was when he was in L.A. going back to last week, which was he's starting to understand, like, hey, actually

everybody does feed off me. This is a little. bit different than I thought. You can have a, it's one of those you can have a bad day, but you can't have everybody else know you have a bad day because they feed off of that. Right. Exactly. All I know is I'm really excited for the Eastern Conference playoffs for... Totally. There's four really good teams. They're very interesting and we'll see if the Celtics perform better because their roster appears better than last year. That's Christine with the news. Well, that's the news. Joy. And thanks for stopping by. The Her Lie News. I'm sorry, Joy. I just, we just had Christine that she used to

sit right there. I'm looking right at you. And I was just like, man, what did I do? I honestly apologize. It's okay. I honestly apologize. That is a, that was a bit of a, we dropped that on radio, right? We did. We hit the, we hit the dump button. Good. We did not hit the dump button. Awesome. Awesome. Three-time Super Bowl champion, Mark Schler, joins the show upcoming next. We'll find out what he thinks about Levyon Bell's comments in regards to Ben Rathis. and is it me or the Arizona Cardinals doing everything they can to completely crush any of the trade value and relationship with Josh Rosen? Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific. Doug Ghalyman for Colin alongside Joy Taylor.

Welcome into the herd. He's a three-time Super Bowl champion. He's a Fox NFL analyst. He's Stink. He's Mark Slareth. He played in two Pro Bowls and won three Super Bowls. I want to ask you about the Cardinals and there at least some sort of pursuit in the idea of drafting Kyler Murray. Like I get the whole idea he might be a better fit.

And that like, look, if you're going to go a completely different track than most NFL teams and get Cliff Kingsbury who struggled to win at Texas Tech, buy into his offense, and have somebody else fix the defense, like I get all of that. But why are you not pumping up Josh Roe? Why are you letting it get out that you met with Kyla Murray? Why are you handling it in the fashion in which they're handling it? It's a great question. I mean, I have no idea.

Obviously, they're enamored. But you mentioned it, Cliff Kingsbury. I mean, the NFL MVP was Patrick Mahomes, right? I mean, you couldn't win games with Patrick Mahomes at Texas Tech, right? I mean, and here's the other interesting thing. So Steve Wilkes, and Steve Wilkes is a great guy, who was their head coach last year. He comes in and he has played a series of. or a system of defense, and he played it back to his Chargers days,

back with Ron Rivera to his Carolina Panthers Day. He comes into Arizona. He implements that defense, and it doesn't fit the personnel he has. I mean, it's not a fit, but he's dead set that this is the way we're going to do it. We're going to create, we're going to plug our players into a system. So aren't you really taking a coach and saying, all right, here's the new coach. He just wants to run his system. You know, I get going and getting players to run that system,

but the best coaches to me are coaches to say, what do I have? What's in the cupboard and let me develop a system that fits the guys that I have? You just, you moved up in the draft to get Josh Rosen. You moved up to get him at number nine, and now you'll be lucky to get, what, a third rounder for him? And they spent $20 million in San Bradford. Like we forget how badly.

They remember they spent all that money. San Bradford didn't have a market, and they spent all that money on San Bradford. He lasted all of a couple of games, and then we remembered, oh, yeah, he's Sam Bradford. Right. And then we also fired the offense coordinator. Then they fired the coach. And, yeah, now they're bailing on Josh Rosen's nine months.

Right. And by the way, by the way, Josh Rosen came into a very untenable situation where they couldn't block anybody. They didn't have a tight end. They could block anybody. Their most dynamic receiver is Larry Fitzgerald, year 15. Like, they were, I did five games. Yeah. They were a mess.

Yes. And you're like, all of a sudden, you're like, well, that guy, that guy's a bus. Is he a bus? Like, I don't really know because he didn't have enough people around him to actually have any success as a rookie. So, I mean, he was put in an unbelievably difficult position and you're already bailing on him because you're going to scrap pilot and you're going to go collegiate. It does feel with Fitzmagic signing with Miami. It does feel like either the giants who now have two first round picks or the. the chargers who need an heir apparent and, you know, they passed on Pat Mahomes and they're

kind of probably going to forever live to regret it. Like that feels like the only two possible landing spots for Josh Rosen, who was seen to be one of the two or three best prospects in a quarterback loaded draft last year. It's really remarkable the fall, considering all the other things going on. It is. But here's the thing about the NFL. Remember, Nick Foles walked away from football. He was done.

He was going to go into the ministry. Andy Reid talked him out of it, brought him in for a year of football rehab. And the guy just signed, what, an $84 million contract with Jacksonville. He comes into Philly, gets the backup role. We know what happened over the last two years, Super Bowl MVP. So for Josh Rosen, sometimes the best thing that can happen to you is somebody giving up on you and giving you your freedom to go find a place where you can actually learn the game and be supported by better players.

Like this may be the best thing that's ever happened to Josh Rosen without the pressure of being, hey, the number ninth overall. Now you're just some guy they traded a third round or four. The Cowboys signed a name yesterday, Randall Cobb, obviously injury plagued year last year. Is that a good addition, right? Like you lost your slot-wide receiver. You go and sign Randall Cobb to replace them. Granted, they still have the NFL draft.

You've got some issues. You've got David Irving retiring. You've got another suspension in the defensive line. I'm just wondering your reaction to what the Cowboys have done so far in this offseason. Well, you know, I look at what the Cowboys have done. And I think by standing, Pat, first off, you've got a bunch of really good players that are young players, that you have an opportunity to sign before they hit free agency. And I think that's the best way.

Reward your players, reward your players that have had success, and show that that's the organization that you want to be. We're going to reward and promote from within. We're going to let those guys develop. Randall Cobb's a good football player. Randall Cobb is a professional. Randall Cobb will be a nice addition to the Dallas Cowboys. But I always look at the first wave of free agency.

I mean, to me, you're overpaying for usually damaged goods. Right. There's a reason guys are on the market in the NFL. Right. And so I think that first wave is like you dramatically overpaid. Like, go back to last year's free agency. Remember Nate Solder, and I'm not trying to bash on Nate Solder because Nate Solder is a good football player. But I've never looked at Nate Solder at any time during his career as a top five offensive tackle in the league. Never.

And yet you're paying him $15 million a year. Like you had to pay him this exorbitant fee, even though he's not a top five player, you made him the number one paid guy at his position in the national football league. That's free agency in a nutshell. So I think the real value, after the first wave and the hype is done in the first week, that's where the real value in free agency lies. And so for the Dallas Cowboys, them standing pat and really doing nothing and now signing Randall Cobb to a one year, $5 million deal, you're getting a very professional good football

player that can come in and play multiple positions. He can play in the slot. He can play outside. He can do those things for you. You have versatility there. And come on, $5 million in the NFL now for one year. year. You can flip over the couch cushions in Jerry Jones' office and find five million bucks. It's right there. Okay, let me ask you about the Raiders. You and I had a great discussion. I've always

been pro Raiders trade with Khalil Mack. I thought people said, well, you can't get two first round picks. He did. They didn't want to pay $90 million guaranteed. They didn't have the cash. They weren't that good defensively. I like that trade. The Sloan Sports and Analytics Conference going back, I think a week and a half ago, voted that the number one transaction, the best transaction from the Raiders perspective in the league this year. Okay, they also trade Amari Cooper, whose contract was going to be $14 million this year or it gets reworked. Sure. So now they've traded for and signed Antonio Brown to a bigger contract than that of Amari Cooper. Now they've signed Trent Brown to a huge contract, left tackle free agent for the New England Patriots. Now that we

caught our breath on the first wave of John Gruden, what do you think? Well, I think they, like, I think they were in a position where if they, if they, would have paid Khalil Mack. They have cash flow issues. If they would have paid Kalil Mack, they're going to, I mean, they're basically breaking the bank and saying, you know, we're not winning with him. And if we pay

them, we can't address all the other issues and needs we have on this football team. So from that aspect, you know, they had to kind of strip this thing down to the studs and start this rebuild. And so from that aspect, I think they made a wise decision. It's always funny to me. It's like, you know, the day

after the draft is over, We get all the draft nicks and the gurus, right, that grade the draft. Like, this team got an A, this team got a B minus, you know. And I'm like, how do you know? Like, until the guy comes in and plays or doesn't play, you don't really know if they did a very good job with the draft or not. So same thing when you evaluate, like you can sit there and say they got great value for Khalil Mack. But until they make those picks and have those picks play, you know, until those picks prove that they can play at the NFL level. Like, I don't know the value of that.

trade. I've got to see who they pick, and I've got to see if those guys actually can play in the NFL. And so, you know, I would, I would pump my brakes on saying, man, what a great trade analytics-wise, that was. I got 30 seconds for you. Levyon Bell basically said that Ben Rotsberger thinks he's Kevin Colbert. He thinks he's an owner. Should we believe take at Levyon Bell at face value, considering he's now a former Pittsburgh dealer? Absolutely. I mean, I think there's enough smoke to where there's probably some fire. there. And again, I'll go back to the organization, and I say this

all the time, you're either coaching it or you're allowing it to happen. So if you allow him to go on the radio and bash his teammates, if you allow him to act like that, guess what? He's going to take advantage of that. And so I put that more on the organization than I do the player. Mark Schler

a three-time Super Bowl champion and an NFL analyst on Fox. Great stuff. As always stink. Something's going to happen in the NCAA tournament that's never happened before. And Zion's to blame. what it is next. Want 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. What up? Welcome in. This is The Herd. Whether you're watching on Fox Sports One, listening on Fox Sports Radio, the IHeart Radio app,

thank you so much for making us part of your day wherever or however. However, you're listening to us, along with Joy Taylor. I'm Doug Gottlie, filling in for Colin Goward. Man, we got a big hour for you. I hate long-term deals, but I love the long-term deal that was agreed to in baseball yesterday. We got Catina Mobley's going to join us. Dante Jones going to join us.

My pal Evan Daniels is going to join us. And we will discuss the possibility of a huge, huge move in college basketball. Huge. The UCLA job is still open, and there's a rumor out there. ask Evan about it here at half past the hour. Plus, wait to hear what Kobe Bryant has to say he would do, he would be willing to do in order to get Anthony Davis. We'll get to that in 10 minutes. Joy, do you, what are your, when I say Duke, when I say Duke, okay, what is your immediate reaction? I don't have the deep hatred for Duke that most people do. I do understand it, to the tradition of hating Duke.

Well, explain what you understand the tradition of hating Duke to Duke. I mean, I guess, you know, you've got the history of rooting against Duke in college basketball if you're not from Duke. But why? Well, in general, people like to hate on winners, for one. And there's a bit of an arrogance that comes with being a Duke basketball player. And not that I'm saying there's anything wrong with that, because if you win or you're from a successful program, I think you're entitled to be arrogant if you've had some success there. Sure. But I don't, I don't subscribe to that. that as much as I love antagonists and villains in sports,

because I think that makes for a great conversation and debate. But I'm probably the wrong person to ask because it's not like my first reaction isn't like, I hate Duke. John Goulet, who's a native of Connecticut, he automatically hates Duke, correct? Yeah, it's in contractually obligated too. Like you're born in the nutmeg and you're like, they're like, okay, listen, you got to pick Red Sox or Yankees. That's a choice.

that's a choice. But what you cannot choose is to like Duke, correct? Very right. Okay. So, look, for the record, I grew up a huge Duke fan because of Bobby Hurley. The last time they played a national championship in Minneapolis, Duke won their second, back-to-back titles, and I was court-side, and they dominated the Fab Five as a bunch of freshman by 20 points, ran them off the court. And I don't actually, and we played against Duke in the tournament, and they didn't offer me a scholarship because they had taken Wojo the year before, at least that was the out for Mike Shoshavsky in terms of the discussion. I always, I always like Duke.

I've worked with plenty of Dukies, you know, from Jay Williams to Jay Billis to Grant Hill to Jim Spinnarkle to, to like, you name it. If you're going to work in media and cover basketball, you're going to work with a bunch of Dukies. Adam Silver's a Duky as well. Like they do, in fact, run the universe. I don't think they're helped by having Dick Vital, who, though he loves everybody, oh, it's awesome. He seems to love the Dukies a little bit more.

Oh, and when you talk about greatness, you talk about Chishefsky and Blum, right? But he always seems to lead. It's amazing how many broadcasts have been done with a pom-pom in hand. That's what it feels like. And I think there are things that we collectively celebrate as, fans watching the NCAA tournament on a yearly basis. It's a lot like in college football, for whatever reason, when Notre Dame loses, everybody rejoices. Right?

Like, oh, Notre Dame, cross them out. We don't have to see them in the national planet. We saw them this year. And when they lose, you're like, when Notre Dame loses, people take a special amount of joy. When Duke loses, you take a special amount of joy. I don't know what it is, whether it's the success, whether it's the private school, whether it's the perceived arrogance. because not how old Dukies are arrogant.

I mean, they do seem to be a little confident, but not all Dukies are arrogant. Let me tell you about the Zion Williamson cat. He's accomplishing what had never been accomplished before. And that's, I don't know anybody that doesn't want to see him play six games. Now, you may not want to see him win the sixth game, which is the national championship game. It's on a Monday night.

But just ask yourself, do you have any desire to watch? any other player play in the NCAA tournament. Like, you know, look, you guys know, I'm a basketball guy. I want to see John Morant, who's going to be the first point guard taken for Murray State, play against Marcus Howard, who's 5'10, leads the country in scoring, like, only 19 years old. Like, I want to see that, but it's a hard sale to get anyone who doesn't follow the game like I do to go, oh, I want to watch Murray State take on Marquette. Like, I pick Kentucky to win the damn thing.

I don't know. Their best player is in a walking boot today, so I don't know how healthy they are. I don't have a love or a hatred for anybody. The beauty to how I've done, what I've done is you actually can't tell who I like and who I don't like or what my affiliations are. I just call it like I see it.

But I can feel a sea change. And the change is Zion Williamson. Because whether it's the joy in which he plays, with the energy, the dunks, or even the fact that he's 18 years old from a small town, South Carolina, and dude has handled this thing perfectly, right? He got hurt, his shoe came off. I've never seen, I've blown out a shoe before. I've never seen an entire bottom of a shoe come out ever before.

And he handled that perfectly. Then he comes back in plays, and instead of being defensive about why he's playing, he was like, look, I hear you. I heard all these people speak. I just speaking for me, I want to play with these guys. I want to play for Duke. I want to play for Coach Shashefsky. Like, you know, he's 18 years old.

And whatever negative baggage so many adults carry in regards to the NCAA or Mike Shoshavsky or Duke and this desire we have for everybody to just get paid immediately and fast forward past an experience of a lifetime, this kid's like, he's not defensive. He's not like, you're wrong. He's not me where he's like these. Because I frankly thought the discussion was moronic. Like, why are we trying to speed up the process? Why don't we just let him enjoy playing, let him enjoy growing, play for those guys in the locker room, try and win the thing.

And then he can become a pro. Like, that's the way the deal works. It's a good deal. And by the way, business-wise, it's a smart deal. Because you'll play in front of 20 times the number of people you normally play in front of. If you play in the Sweet 16, then into the Final Four. people have never watched basketball before, watch the NCAA tournament. But people have never cheered for Duke before, find themselves rooting for Duke because of

Zion Williamson. That's amazing! Well, that, I think, is the amazing part. Amazing! But I do think this all changes and everything goes back to normal, all is right in the world once Zion leaves. Agreed. Agreed.

This is not going to be a wave of change. I agree. I'm not disagree. Again, but that is the impact of a guy. You know, I've heard people talk about his value in the NBA. I don't know what he, I know what I think he'll be in the NBA. Like, I think he's going to have to play a Draymond Green-like position where he plays an undersized power forward and small ball center.

I think he's more athletic. I think he has Drayman's type of basketball IQ. Now he won't have developed it as much, only playing one year at Duke as opposed to Draymond playing longer at Michigan State. And like Draymond, I do think he's going to have to lose some weight once he gets the NBA. But I think there's some bark. to him. There's some Roddy Rogers to him. There's some Blake Griffin to him. There's some

Draymond Green. Like you mushed all of them together. That's what he is. And then he plays with the joy and energy frankly of Steph. Right? Of Steph Curry. Like, hey, you know what? It's still supposed to be fun. It's just basketball. And he has that to him. And I agree. The world would be next year they'll have a new group and you'll go back to Hayton Duke again. But it's crazy what an 18-year-old kid can do when he just

has a smile on his face and goes out and plays really, really hard and has a lot of fun. He has a special X factor to him for sure, and he plays bigger than he actually is. Yeah. When it comes to the NBA, I don't know if it's going to be fair, the expectations that are going to come on him, and especially once the rest of the world gets to see him play in this tournament, it's just going to escalate that to another level. So I'm with you. I'm not entirely sure what kind of player he's going to be in the NBA.

He's going to be the number one overall pick, and he's going to sell a lot of tickets because he's an exciting player. Yes. I think he's going to have a great. NBA career, what type of player he will be, I think everyone's still trying to figure out. You and I are completely lockstep. But I also think, and this is important, so when I was at CBS doing the tournament, the two things that are no-nows to talk about are Vegas and NBA. Like they're just, you will have somebody here like, let's not talk about Vegas. Let's not talk about NBA. And I, look, do I think there's a disconnect with reality? Sure. Right.

The reason that the tournament is so popular is not just because of Zion Williamson. Just not. It's because of that bracket sheet. That everybody, it fits perfectly. You know, everyone can fill one out and the person that knows nothing about the sport can somehow beat the person that knows everything about the sport. And usually does. And it, the crazy finishes and whatever.

The more you know, the less you know, et cetera, et cetera. And then there's the gambling element of it. There are people watching us in Las Vegas now, getting ready for tomorrow and Friday. And the lock it in folks, they're doing their show from there. It's just a zoo. Like Vegas is, and the NBA is a big part of it. We promote players for what they might be at the next level. But I do think there is a certain, while I disagreed with not talking about it at all,

I do think we have a tendency to completely diminish what happens these next three weeks. It's not a facade if you stink in the NBA or if you get hurt in the NBA. you're Greg Oden and your body doesn't hold up, right? Like we shouldn't, if Zion Williamson isn't the greatest thing since sliced bread in the NBA, it doesn't, it shouldn't take away from the amazing impact he has had. He's made Duke not just likable, lovable, lovable. You know, I mean, the only greater accomplishment, the only greater accomplishment is if he made the president lovable on Twitter, right?

That would be, that's the only thing that's the only thing that's a greater mountain to climb. That's the only thing. Because ask yourself, you probably remember where you were or you remember, you may not remember anything about previous tournaments. I bet you remember the Mercer dance when they beat Duke. I bet you remember when Lehigh beat Duke. I bet you remember when VCU beat Duke. Like you don't remember anything about other tournaments. you probably remember who won it.

And then, hey, didn't Lehigh beat them? And C.J. McCollum, didn't VCU beat them? And didn't you go, yes, my, how's your bracket? It's a mess. But Duke lost. And now you're sitting there going, man, I sure hope Duke doesn't lose. Because that kid number one, he's awesome. He's awesome. Could I pick apart his jump shot short?

The point you made is a great one. Like Mark Slayers just walked out. he's like, how big is he? Like, six, five and a half, six, six maybe. You know? I mean, he looks physically, like when you're actually watching him play, so I'm playing person against Louisville,

I mean, he looks kind of like a football player and a basketball player's uniform, right? But then all of a sudden he plays, but it's not just how high he jumps and the dunks and the block shots. He plays both ends. He plays hard. He got a smile on his face.

He doesn't have to have the ball. He's not doing the James Hardin thing or the R.J. Barrett thing, shooting 30 times and over-dribbling the basketball. I don't know anyone who's watched him has not come away going like, I find myself rooting for the four-letter word in college basketball that I used to think was a four-letter word in college basketball. John Goulet, who was born in Connecticut and in his baby bottle was Duke Haterade. That actually was Duke Haterade that he was forced to chug down.

for the first eight months of his life. Underneath his chair is a blue and white Duke Pompompom. He has them winning the national championship by 50 points, and the MOP is going to be Zion Williamson. That's how America has reacted because of this one kid. Did you guys hear what Kobe Bryant had to say about the Lakers and their pursuit of Anthony Davis? Wait, wait till you hear it.

Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd, Weekdays, at noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific on Fox Sports Radio, FS1, and the I-Hard Radio app. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind. Highlights are trending, opinions are flying, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in. I'm Timbo. Every episode, we're cutting through the noise, breaking down the plays, the controversies, and the stories behind the headlines. We go straight to the source, the athlete themselves, their locker room stories, their reactions, the stuff nobody gets to The laughs, the drama, the triumphs, the moments that never make the highlight real.

From viral moments to historic games, from buzzer beaters to controversial calls, we break it down, give you context, and ask the questions everybody wants answered. Sports Slice brings you closer to the action with stories told by the people who live them. Listen to Sports Slice on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Slic Life 12 and the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. Welcome to my new podcast. Learn the 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

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growth, fatherhood, pressure, and purpose on my new podcast, Learn the Hardway. Open your free iHeartRadio app. Search Learn the Hardway and listen now. Jacob Kingston grew up in an isolated polygamous sect. We were God's chosen kingdom on earth. He felt destined for greatness. So when a swaggering Armenian businessman catapults Jacob into an extraordinary world,

he doesn't look back. Ferraris and Lamborghinis, private jets, meeting the president of Turkey. I'm Michelle McPhee, and this is one of the most shocking criminal conspiracies I've ever come across. When Jacob met Levan this went to a billion dollar fraud. But with two kings from entirely different worlds, just how long can their empire survive? The largest tax investigation in American history. You need to tell me what you know. Is somebody coming after me?

Jacob told Levan, you're ruining my life. Listen to Kingdom of Fraud on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Life throws hurdles big and small. The question is, how do you conquer them? On hurdle with Emily Abadi, we sit down with the most inspiring women in sports and wellness, professional athletes, coaches, and Olympic champions to talk about the challenges that shaped them and the mindset that keeps them going. From the WNBA standout, Kate Martin and rising hockey star, Layla Edwards.

If a boy can do it, I don't see why a girl can't. Like, I've never understood that. Like, it didn't make sense in my brain. It's hard to be in spaces that no one looks like you, but don't ever feel like you don't belong. Don't let that be the reason you don't do it. An Olympic champs Gabby Thomas and Katie Ladeki. The ability to show gold medal to someone

and have their face light up and smile, that means the world to me. And that's what motivates me to win more gold medals. At our level at this scale, like being able to fail in front of the entire world. Like, I can do anything. I can do anything.

Because resilience isn't just about winning. It's about showing up, even when it's hard. Listen to Hurtle with Emily body on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Presented by Capital One, founding partner of IHeart Women's Sports. As the madness continues, lock it in is live in Las Vegas, giving you the Cinderella's and locks to keep you in the money. Lock it in from Vegas all week long, only on FS1. Great news.

There's a quick and easy way you can save money. Switch to GEICO. It only takes 15 minutes. You can save 15% of more in your car insurance. Go to go to geico.com to see how much you could save. Gottlieb, Joy Taylor, in for Colin. This is the heard. We'll hear from Joy in just a moment with all of the news. Speaking of news, Kobe Bryant's sitting down doing interviews because he's promoting one of his new kind of series having nothing to do with basketball. And he spoke with a, I believe it's a Spanish publication, Spanish publication, as.com.

By the way, Kobe completely fluent in Spanish. And so I, but I believe this was actually conducted. in English because sometimes translation can be, but this is fascinating to me. So Kobe said in regards to trading for Anthony Davis, here's the quote, Kyle Coos Malanzo Ball, Brandon Ingram, are the three of them better than Anthony Davis. No, chow, buy. Anthony Davis is one of the best players in the world, not currently in history. If you can trade for Anthony Davis, you do it. All right, there's a couple things here.

first thing is Kobe Bryant's former agent is Rob Polinka and if Kobe's saying it then he believes that Rob should in fact do it which leads you to believe that's what they're going to try and do trade for Anthony Davis whatever it takes now here's the thing that you can't control

is if the Pelicans will actually trade Anthony Davis to the Lakers like do I think that's a completely one-sided trade absolutely for the the Pelicans. I'm not actually convinced that Anthony Davis and LeBron James fit together all that well. Like I think defensively, they need an Anthony Davis because he can protect the rim. But that means Anthony Davis has to play center. And LeBron James' centers, when he's won an NBA championship, with the exception of having some kind of no-name guys in Miami, he wants

them to shoot threes. And though Anthony Davis can make threes, like that's not really the strength of his game. but Kobe's saying it whether you believe it or not means that's what Polinka's going to try and do. That's their plan, whether that's plan B, C, D, or whether it was plan A and all this thing was a ruse. I don't know. That's what it means.

Now, do I think Anthony Davis is one of the greatest players in the history of the game? Probably not, but again, all of these things are coded in messages. just coded messages. That's all they are. And that's Kobe Bryant saying, you know, to Anthony Davis, hey, refuse to go anywhere else. Force them to trade you to the Lakers. We will open the, we will open the kingdom to you if you make this happen. And that's probably the only way it gets done with the Pelicans. And because I kind of think the Pelicans butcher this thing. They could have had a great deal on whether they liked it or not.

Like, Coosma Ingram and Lanzo, if they can get all three of them, three starters, I do think it's a no-brainer for no-ins. I do not think, like, do I think the Celtics are going to come off of Jason Tatum, maybe, but one player who might be a star for

three, that worst-case scenario, really good players and best-case scenario, one or two of them could be stars the caliber of the exact same player. Look, let me just real quickly. The basketball world is screaming that Magic Johnson's

an idiot for trading DeAngelo Russell, right? For cap relief and a first round pick that I think became Josh Hart. DeAngel Russell had a remarkable game last night in a comeback win over the Sacramento Kings. And he is in fact

he was an all-star early this year. And he's had a tremendous year. But looking at DeAngelo Russell through the lens of today as to whether or not Magic made the right deal back then. Keep in mind, DeAngelo Russell was a bad teammate. He would not only not show up and be attentive and work hard at practice, but he wouldn't play defense. He was a high volume, low percentage shooter. And worst of all, they felt like he and Jordan Clarkson

were taking those guys out and staying. And they were hangout guys. And when you have a young team, you don't need your quote unquote best player who always has the ball. You are who your best player is. And when your best player or your best prospect is hanging out late at night, not bringing it at either end, not seen as a winner, shooting a high volume, not being a high efficiency guy, De Ansel Russell's improved, he's grown, he's matured, he's fit into the perfect style and system in which at times this year he wasn't even their best guard. But I'll defend magic from that deal, from that deal. But it does. That deal is a perfect sign of, hey, you bail on guys in their second and third year when they're 20, 21 years old.

And you better know what you're getting. You better have a locked up short sense plan what you're getting. Because otherwise, you're left watching them be all-stars for other teams while under club control and a rookie contract. Let's get to joy with the news. No, no, no, no. Turn on the news. This is the herd line news. All right, the Cardinals aren't doing anything to quiet the Kyler Murray with the first overall pick in the draft rumors.

He met with GM Steve Kime and coach Cliff Kingsbury on the Oklahoma campus yesterday, according to Aaron Wilson of the Houston Chronicle. So basically, the Cardinals have no quarterback right now, at least publicly. I don't really know what the Cardinals are going to end up doing, but it seems like everything's pointing to them taking him. Number one overall, I personally feel like that's a mistake. I was very interested in seeing if Josh Rosen would end up in Miami slash hoping he would end up in Miami or end up with the Giants. I think what will end up happening is he's going to end up with a team that has a starting quarterback who's aging and he'll sit under them for a few years.

Giants or Chargers or maybe the Patriots. Maybe. There's a few situations that make sense there. And maybe that's the best situation for him long term, just for Josh Rosen. But with the Cardinals, I just personally feel like you are moving off of a talent too quickly. You saw what happened with Jared Goff. Everyone said that Jared Goff was a bus, and he played the Super Bowl this year. So there were so many pieces missing for the Cardinals last year,

and they had one of the worst offensive lines, if not the worst offensive line in the league. I really don't feel like anything that happened last year was Josh Rosen's fall. It's just like the Lakers stuff we just talked about, right? Like, again, do I think Lonzo Ball? I don't know if Lonzo Ball is going to be better than Deerrin Fox, who was drafted after him. But I think Lonzo Ball is pretty good, and he still hasn't had an offseason to work on his game. Like, I would be really cautious of getting off the Lonzo Ball train. I just have.

I think that he's this close to becoming maybe not an All-Star, but that caliber of player because he helps you at both ends. Yeah, I think that overall people look at Lonzo Ball and they don't understand the importance of his game. value of him being there, especially, as you said on both ends, he's incredibly valuable on defense. So everybody looks at scoring, and obviously he's had a lot of injury issues, which is a major factor. But to me, the injuries with the Lakers were the major factor the entire season. But back to Tyler Murray. My concern with him is that he doesn't have a lot of experience. He's only been a starter for one and a half. He started a little. He's 17 college starts. He's tiny. Well, the size thing to me, again, it doesn't, it's,

doesn't matter to me because it's not like, it's not like he's shrunk. Like, he's always been this size and he's still been a top prospect. So now that everyone's having this conversation about his size, like, when did that become a factor? I understand it is a factor, but it's not news. We always knew he was this tall. No, I understand, but look, here's the thing. Have you ever, you read the book Freakonomics? No. Okay, the idea of Freakonomics is there's different markers in your life, right? Like, if you have two parents in the home, if you go to college. If you don't smoke, like all of these things, you're more likely to have a longer life and more success financially based upon all of these different factors, right? So for Kyla Murray,

it's you're small, you're also a great runner, and while he does throw out of the pocket, he also runs a lot, okay? That has short-term success in the NFL. Right. You're playing for an unproven coach with the Cardinals who fell in and out of love in the, in what, a couple months with Josh Rosen, right? You still don't have a good offensive line. You're in division with the Rams. The Niners are going to be better. The Seahawks, last year was the worst of the Seahawks. That was rebuilt Seahawks, and there was still a playoff caliber team.

Right. So you're talking about all these little markers that show there's a reason there hasn't been a quarterback that's not six feet tall win a Super Bowl. Right. There's a reason. There's a lot of factors working against him. It doesn't mean he can't do it, but it means he'd be the exception to almost every rule. Right. And I'm not rooting against him.

I'm just saying, my opinion, he doesn't have a lot of experience. He is shorter, and the running thing just doesn't matter to me in the NFL that much anymore because at one point or another, you're going to have to stop running and throw in the pocket. And if you're also short, can you get it into those windows and be accurate? Because that's all that matters in the NFL is accuracy. You don't have a lot of time and you've got to get it into small windows. So Steve Kerr revealed some interesting details about his team's mindset this year for the Warriors the last few games of the regular season hold a bit more weights compared to last year.

told ESPN, it's definitely a different mindset. Each game takes on more importance. Last year, I think the final 20 games, we kind of knew we were going to be the two-seat. It's a little different this year, and I think it's going to help us prepare for the playoffs. I think we have kind of just forgotten about the Warriors, the second half of the season. There was a lot of, other than where KD is going to go, and their play in general, we're just kind of assuming that they're going to win another championship, even though the West is pretty close. Does anyone really feel like

the rockets are going to be able to do it this year? To me, it's still the Warriors and everyone else. Well, look, I still think they're learning to play with DeMarcus cousins, how much they can use them. They just added Andrew Bogot, who got out the plane from Australia and then they started him the other night.

They're still kind of working to put some stuff together. But the thing they have going for most is the fact that the West isn't as strong as it used to be. And while the East is much stronger, they only had to play one team from East. They don't have to play the Celtics, the Raptors, the Bucks, and the Sixers. They got to play one of them.

Whereas, I don't think the Warriors are... Well, I mean, I don't think that the West is weak. No, but it's not as strong as it was. Not as strong as it was. In Portland, we don't know about C.J. McCollum's knee. Like, I could kind of go through it, right? Like, the Clippers, where they might play in the first... could play in the first round.

Like, the Clippers trade away Tobias Harris. And we've... So, I don't think... Even if Oklahoma City is better than they were last year, I don't think there's the depth of teams that could take. Last year, the Rockets were legit challenge. Legit. I don't think that there's a full frontal assault.

The only way in which I think they lose is if first series goes to five or six, second series goes to five or six, third series goes to seven. Then they get to the Eastern Conference team and maybe they're down a guy or two. Well, yeah, that's what I'm saying. There's a lot of things that can happen throughout the playoffs. It's a long, you know, there's a lot of series and injuries and all that. but I still feel like the Warriors on top. And finally, it won't be long before LeBron

will have to give up his throne as the face of the NBA. You can see that coming down the road. And many say that Janus is most likely to take over, but there's some things he won't abandon for that title, namely his Greek roots. He recently said, lately people have told me that I cannot be the face of the league because I'm not American.

I don't have the American culture in me. I sat back and thought about that. Should I have a little bit more American swag? Should I come into a suit to the game? Should I be more Americanized? But, man, if I can't be the face of the league being me, I don't want to be the face of the league.

Janus is great, and I totally agree with him. He's a very authentic guy, and he should stay true to himself. My thing about Janus being the face of the league is just that. Janus is so genuine, he's not debatable. Can you say something bad about Janus? You can't. Yeah, but I mean, like,

Steph Curry's same thing. Can you really say something because he threw his mouthpiece once? No, but there are people who don't love Steph Curry because he's a part of the warrior. and there's a hate for dynasties. Janus is not a part of that. To me, and I wouldn't call Steph the face of the league. I don't think that there's a point where Steph will be the next LeBron.

I think KD could step into that. But to me, in order to be the face of the league, there has to be some bit of polarization to you as a star. Like stars are polarizing. Some people love them. Some people hate them. But everybody respects their game. That's kind of a part of the deal. Like Kobe, like Shaq, like LeBron, like George.

Jordan. Everybody didn't love Jordan when Jordan was playing. People hate being beat by him. He's an aggressive player. So I think to me, that's why Janus won't be the face of the league. He'll be a face of the league. But to me, you have to have that factor, which is a good thing. It's not a knock on Janus at all. And in all candor, with the way NBA salaries are going, you don't need to make huge endorsement deals in order to make $50 million a year. Those contracts are coming. They only increase exponentially. And you can only be all the face of the league also. You've got to win a playoffs. series or three or four before we actually legitimately discuss that.

That's Joy Taylor with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The Herd Lie News. How is it possible we all like Duke? I'm going to ask Evan Daniels covers college basketball for Fox. He's going to join us. Plus, John Caliperi to UCLA, how much is it going to take?

We discuss next in The Herd. Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd, weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Doug Gottliebin for Colin. This is The Hurd. Fox Sports One, Fox Sports Radio, the Iheart radio app with Joy Taylor. Evan Daniels joins us. You see him on our coverage of college basketball here on Fox. And Fox Sports One, of course, he's been a recruiting guru for years. You actually, you're the perfect guy to ask on really the Eve.

I know technically the tournament started yesterday, and I've done first four. I don't want to diminish. because I think it's a really interesting game with Arizona State in St. John's tonight. And then last night we saw the last game of Fran Dumfie, the head coach at Temple, so respected in Philadelphia as they lost to Belmont. But you covered Zion in high school. Right. First time you saw Zion Williamson was where?

He was a sophomore. It was in a gym in Sawani, Georgia. Would have never thought this. Like you knew he was athletic. You knew that there was a little feel there, but would never have thought that he would turn into what he had. has. Like, didn't see this coming.

Even when he was a senior in high school, like he was chunky. Like, he was big. He didn't play nearly as hard as he does now. And there was things that I didn't think he had. I didn't know he could pass the way he can. I mean, I knew he was good. I knew he was a freak athlete.

You're bearing the lead a little bit. Swani, Georgia. He's playing with you. Remember the name of the team he was playing? Game Elite. Game Elite. Who are they playing? I don't remember.

Oh, if you had that, that would be great. I remember what court it was on. It was like the far court and the Swanee Complex. eight courts, so it would have been like the back court, so it would have been court eight. So Wani, Georgia in summer AAU hoops, sounds crazy hot. Sounds crazy hot. No cell service. No cell service.

Oh, man. But a great facility. Okay, good facility. You walk in and this, had anybody told you about him or this just like? No, I think maybe a colleague had said you should probably check him out. Yeah. But I didn't know much about him. He's going to be a sophomore or going to be a junior?

He was going to be a sophomore. Okay. And how big was he then? He was probably 6364. And how? Not nearly as thick. as he is now. Okay. And then you see him the next couple summers. And before his senior year, now he had become like a YouTube sensation. But he never played with the big, big, AAU programs,

correct? Correct. He always played with Game Elite? No, before that he was with SC Hornets. And that's where the whole John Morant, Zion thing kind of came from. They didn't really play together that much. I think that's kind of a little overrated in terms of them being teammates. They were both really young. Still, two of the top, maybe the top two picks in the NBA draft. Right. So cool. Huh? So cool. On the other hand, neither am going to like, this is, this is the problem with South Carolina hoops, and this is very far afield. But people forget, like, Kevin Garnett went to high school in South Carolina until he grew up there until his senior year. He went in Chicago. You know, Ray Allen's senior year, he was in South Carolina. Like, just keeping those

kids home. Okay. Felton. Huh? Yeah, Raymond Felton, of course, football, basketball guy played in North Carolina, but it is, it is fascinating. It feels like maybe the missing story is he's been great for Duke, but Duke's really been good for him. Oh, it's been tremendous for him. I mean, I think coming into the year, he wasn't thought of as a number one pick. He was much more thought of as a top five pick. I think Duke's helped him tremendously not only from his game standpoint, but his brand standpoint. Like, everybody knew him as this Dunker, YouTube sensation, you know, Instagram Dunker type thing. I don't think people really. as like the field, the passing, the rebounding.

And I think all that has helped him. I think his game has improved. He's gotten in shape. He's a different player. I agree. He also has this incredible likability factor. He does. Right? Yeah. Did he always have that? I mean, to a degree, like, he always, like, he looked happy on the court and stuff like that.

And, I mean, he's just exciting to watch because of the highlight reel. Like, you're kind of waiting for, you know, what does he do next? You know, what's interesting is his teammate is RJ Barrett, who most people, and you tell him from wrong, I thought he would be the number one pick coming into the season. And he's had some games in which he hasn't shot the ball well, and he can get a little selfish. But I do think getting buried in this is he's always been a huge big game player.

Like he's always, he has this incredible raising his old competitive greatness thing to him. Is that accurate? No, it's very accurate. You know, he had, I mean, RJ, that's who I had number one coming in. I thought he was the favorite to be the number one pick. He won a gold medal with the 19 team. He's always been ultra-competitive, a guy that could really score. He was the guy heading in, I thought. Do you have Duke winning at all? Yes. Who do you have them beating? Kentucky. I think season ends how it starts. Yeah, I have Kentucky beating Duke. So I have, you know, and my logic is they have two guys, Tyler Hero and Kelton Johnson. I think you can shoot the ball better. I think they have, and I think they actually have interior scoring outside

of just Zion, you know, and you have a little bit more age there as well. whereas Duke is really three and a half guys on offense, and that's really about it. Evan Daniels joining us here in the herd. Working rumor, and this is the way in basketball it works, is everybody, nobody wants to talk publicly about jobs, but everyone text everybody else about like, ooh, guess what I heard? The working rumor is there's some huge offer waiting for John Caliperi,

that you can only be at Kentucky and do the one and done, the lottery stuff and the big lunations and stuff so long. There's this huge offer. that Casey Waserman and somebody else going to throw massive money at John Calgary to come to UCLA. Is that what you've heard? Yes. Yeah. I actually had an industry source tell me earlier today that he thinks that they're waiting to make a big play for him. For a guy who makes $9 million in change per year,

and UCLA has never paid any basketball coaches, right? Like they did not want to pay Steve all for $2 million. This guy makes nine and a half. You have to go above and beyond that. like what what what what is like I've heard huge cash money um over 10 million up front yeah it's got to be over 10 million it's got to be over 10 million it's got to be you know he hasn't stepped on a commercial plane since he's lived in lexington so he's going to have to charter everywhere not only the team but recruiting and UCLA doesn't do that yes I don't know if I don't know if Steve alfred ever recruited with a private plane I don't Calipari probably has a casey waserman has a plane so it's clearly could have could use that plane if they wanted to have a plane if they wanted to have a plane Do you think he takes it? I think it's the only job he would take outside of Kentucky. But that doesn't mean I think he'd take it.

I don't think he would take it. I think you'd consider it. The other one that I have heard is, well, there's the bill self to the Bulls thing, which has become public as well. But the idea that the Lakers, now that they've struck out with Doc, would reach out to a college coach. And the obvious ones would be Coach K's coach LeBron. He has the respect of the room.

Or Tom is, of course, the relationship with Magic. Jackson. What's it like, iso was close to taking the Cavs deal, but he didn't know about LeBron. Would those guys leave to take the Lakers job? I don't think Coach K. would. I think he's going to retire at Duke. I would probably say the same thing for Izzo.

I don't see it happening. Yeah, it'd be kind of fascinating. It'd be weird seeing either of those guys on an NBA sideline. It would, and it wouldn't. It would be a lot like LeBron, right? Like you've accomplished everything. Like, hey, let's one last go together and come out to L.A. you know, the weather's great.

You got great players. See how it works in the NBA. If it doesn't, people thought it wasn't going to work anyway. There's kind of a no-lose. And, by the way, you'd pocket, you know, $20 million or so over four years. So it's not crazy. Well, like what college coach has gone to the NBA? You know, Brad Stevens has done it.

He's gone from college NBA had a lot of success. Billy Donovan. Not as much. Larry Brown, he was a pro coach, then a college coach than a college coach. He's the only one to win both titles. But no. But college coaches will tell you, hey, you don't get a good job.

Like, it's all completely different if you have LeBron and Anthony Davis than if you're going to your Lon Kruger and the Atlanta Hawks. Right. I think one thing that, like, would be appealing to a college guy is I think a lot of them are kind of getting over recruiting. Yes. I mean, it's just draining. Yes. They're playing a game on Monday and Tuesday morning they're on a plane to go recruit and got to come back Thursday to coach a game. Well, not just that, but now you're losing players after, you know, six months to the pros, you know, and then you got to go and do the whole thing again.

And now you got wiretaps and FBI investigation. Like, look, I just really kind of want to coach basketball. Like that's Brad Stevens, when you talk to him, he's like, look, I love my time at Butler, but this is just coaching basketball, which is what I like to do. I really like basketball. That's why I got into coaching basketball. For sure. It's going to be going to be fasting.

You mentioned John Morant. For people who haven't seen him, we're going to see him against Marcus Howard, and they're kind of polar opposites, right? They are. One guy is the picture of an NBA caliber athlete. The other guy is kind of an understanding. size combo guard that can score. But for people who haven't seen John Morant, what is he? Well, I think he's going to be the number two pick in the draft. But this is a guy that has the size, the length, the athletic ability. But I think everyone sees the dunks and the athleticism. But this dude is

so much more than that. He's amazing off the live dribble. He can pass. His vision. I think sometimes, like when you watch Murray State play, like he sees stuff that his teammates don't see. And when he comes off a ball screen, he's really, really dangerous. Now, you know, I think there's an area that he's going to have to get better at that shooting, but everything else is there. I mean, I think he's continued to get better. Like I had him, I think 13 entering the season on my big board. And I had the only point guard I had ahead of him was Darius Garland. And we haven't seen Garland during the season. Garland Vanderbilt got hurt at a menisical tear and a sad out, but he'll be a top five, top ten pick in the upcoming NBA draft.

We're on in Vegas. Lock It In is coming up live from Vegas. I want you to look into that camera number two right there and give me an upset pick that you just know is going to happen. I like Belmont to win another game. I think this is a team with not only Dylan Winler, who I think is going to be a second round pick at 6-7. He can shoot it and is a terrific rebounder. But they've got two guards that I think can really play. Kevin McLean has continued to get better. He's athletic.

He's fast. And then they've got a point guard in Grayson Murphy that can really pass. And big moose inside. He can score it. can pass it. I like Belmont. I also like Oregon. You like Oregon? Look back in that Cameron and say, I like Oregon against Wisconsin. I like Oregon against Wisconsin. Here's

why. Kenny Wooten, I think he's an athletic, rim protector, rebounder. I think he could even Ethan Hapson problems. And then Peyton Pritchard, this is a dynamic point guard. He can pass it, he can score it. Play in the final four before. Yeah, and they've won. They're on a nice streak right now. No, I know.

They were not play. He was not playing well. They were not playing well. They've gotten healthy. They've started to play some defense, started to play together. And I think Wisconsin sometimes struggles to score. And I do think Kenny Wooten is the one guy who can defend Ethan Hap because he's such an adept shot blocker. He's Evan Daniels.

Follow him on Twitter. He's great. He does an awesome job covering college hoops. Thanks so much. Thanks for having it. Ketino Mowgli once part of an upset squad with Rhode Island. Plus we'll get his thoughts on the Lakers plans. Now the doc seems to be out. Next in the Hurt. One more HARD? The HARD streams 24 hours a day, seven days a week

within the I-Hart Radio app. Search Heard to listen live or on demand. whenever you'd like. What up? Welcome in, wherever you may be, and however you may be making as part of your day. I'm Doug Gottlieb. In for Colin Cowherd,

along with the lovely and talented Joy Taylor on Fox Sports Radio, Fox Sports One, the IHeart Radio app. This is, in fact, the herd. Ketino Mobley will join us in mere moments. I'll get his take on what Doc Rivers said, if we believe it and if so, where then,

who then to lead the Lakers out of the abyss of this first season with LeBron James. I want to quickly touch on a story which yesterday dominated the news and we continue to react to today which is Mike Trout signed the biggest contract in the history

of American professional sports or he agreed to an extension. 400, I can't even say it, how much money? I remember. remember my, yesterday was my son's 10th birthday. Happy birthday, Hayes, once again to you. He is a huge Mike Trout fan. I completely disagree with Collins. Mike Trout walks into a bar, nobody,

everyone who knows who Mike Trout is. Now, it doesn't mean that Mike Trout is a star on the level of Steph Curry, but in Southern California, in the places that he hangs, people do. And one of the things is he doesn't he doesn't carry himself as anybody greater than anybody else which makes him even more enjoyable likable it's a 430 million dollar deal which is a 12 year extension what now most of these deals don't seem to make sense right they just don't um but in this particular case if you know all of the other factors it makes complete sense the angels are the other team in Angeles. I grew up an Angels fan. I'm not going to argue with that. In baseball season, it's a Dodgers town 10 times over. The Dodgers have a stadium. It's been redone. They're not moving.

The Angels want and need a new one, whether it's in Anaheim or Tustin or Long Beach or whatever. They need a new one. The Dodgers have a TV network. The Angels do not. They partner with a TV network that, by the way, is up for sale. The Nationals have a stadium and a TV network. The Phillies have a stadium and a TV network. The Yankees have a new stadium and their own network. The Reds, et cetera. And oh, yeah, by the way, they all were positioning themselves to go after this guy in two years when he would become a free agent or even at the end of this season, which is not going

to be a good one for the Angels because they have all kinds of, they're just plugging leaks. Their starting pitcher was supposed to be Andrew Haney on opening day, and he's got elbow soreness. He may be on the DL. It's a tale as old as time with the Angels. They're not even the Padres who have the best farm system in all of baseball that can preach hope to Manny Machado. Mike Trout has been the best player in the sport by a long, by a good margin. He plays both sides of the ball.

He's a five-tool guy, defense and offense. He carries himself with no ego. And though he has had injuries with the exception of two years ago, he generally plays about 150 games. And they're in the American League. which doesn't have to adopt the DH. They already have it, which can extend his career by three, four, maybe even five years. Of course, the back end of the deal is going to be a bad one. They're never good.

But if there's a guy who's earned it and a guy who the angels had to keep, had to overpay, had to keep away from the suitors that had legit money, legit interest, and don't need to sell their franchise to get, sell the idea of the franchise, to get a new stadium and to get a TV network started? Angels had to do it. It was a blank check. Please don't hurt us. Could you start it with a four, not a five?

If anything, he's a bargain. It's not because I'm an angel fan, the only angel fan, the history of national sports radio. I don't care about spending other people's money. But I can tell you that this guy is worth every single penny and then some. And oh yeah, by the way,

it should be pointed out to football guy who says, see football guys get a bad end of the deal. and see basketball guys get a bad end of the deal. He's going to make per year what the top-level basketball guys make like a James Hardin because James Hardin was the MVP and Mike Trout is essentially could be the MVP any of these years. But if you don't like the salary cap, that's fair. The NFL didn't have a salary cap in 2010. And do you know what happened?

Dudes got low-balled. Because the salary cap doesn't just have a ceiling. It has a floor. Whereas the non-sense. salary cap luxury tax of Major League Baseball. You think it's great? Aaron Judge is going to get a couple hundred million dollars.

But Aaron Judge has been a professional baseball player for five years after going to college. Made $600,000 last year from his salary. Let's not even begin to talk about the lack of middle class. Major League baseball is like capitalism. If you don't have the protections that our

government has in it, you eliminate the middle class. I play basketball. I lived in Russia. That's what it's like. You have rich, you have poor, you have nobody in the middle. And that's what baseball is quickly becoming. So if you want to sit here today and say, hey, baseball system is better. One, it's 162 days. There's 25 guys on a team. For the most part, all these guys are actually getting lowballed because it's all about how much bullpen depth you have. Minor leaders make nothing. And even once you get to the majors, your first four years, you make at max a million dollars.

So you can tell me it's the greatest system ever. I will give you numbers that prove overall. Football's actually got a good deal. Basketball's got a great deal. Longevity of sport helps baseball players, but so due to the fact that they don't have a salary cap, so the rich get richer, poor, not so much. All right, let's welcome in Cotino Mobley, of course,

longtime NBA star, college star at Rhode Island. And let's get to the story. Hey, him. God, he's good. Dougie. What's up, buddy? good looking dude with all his hair. I'm going, man, I got to think of my parents for that.

What's up? What's up? I want to ask you about this Doc River story. So Peter Vessie, who he used to... Peter Vessie. Peter Vessie was Woage before Woge, right? Yeah. He's the original Woj. So Peter Vessie came out and said, hey, Magic loves Doc. Doc can get out of his deal into this year. And you know what? The Lakers, they don't want anybody with ties to LeBron to make it look like LeBron's running the joint.

the only guy with the cred to stand up to LeBron and a guy who can coach and a guy who could attract free agents, a guy who's won a title before. He's in the same building. He's Doc Rivers. This was Doc last night asked about the story. My job is not done here. I came here for a lot of reasons. And one of them was obviously to win a world championship.

And the other one was to make this place a place that people respect and want to come to. I think we've accomplished or are accomplishing that part. but that's the second part, or the first part, yeah. And so that's my go. And that's it. So we don't need to go on this anymore. Thank you, please. I'm going to be here, and I'm looking forward to the future.

He said, I'm going to be here. Now, look, coaches have contradicted themselves in the past. But we also know he's got an owner who's got a huge checkbook, and he wants a legit rivalry with the Lakers. I don't see him going anywhere. I have a job and the Lakers have a coach. I'm going nowhere. That's what he said.

You take him in his word. No, I do. I do. Doc's amazing. And I like him better with the Clippers than if he was going to the Liggers. Now, as far as LeBron respecting a coach to come in, Doc would be one of those guys. Doc's a player's coach.

He's a great motivator. And he's won a championship. So, you know, but again, I like how Doc just like nip. it right in the bud, right? I'm staying here and that's it. You know, it would be better if Kevin and Kyrie did that early on and stuck with it

than wanting the narrative to expand and be creative. Right, I mean, just, you just shut it down. Okay, so then who now? Right? Like, I like Tyloo. I do too. I do too. The problem, though, is the perception becomes the bronze running the joint. Right, right, right.

And, you know, people in the NBA have told me like, hey, that means All right, so LeBron's running the joint. That means you have no power when you go there. And that if you're not a clutch sports guy, you're not going to get a deal there. It doesn't mean it's a reality, but that's a perception. Does that matter to you if you're hiring in your place?

Let me ask you this. What's the difference, right? It's like, Doug, your son, how old's your son? Ten. Okay, 10. So your son, he plays baseball, right? So he's 21 years old. He's trout, you know?

He's Harper, right? And then, would you mind if the organization comes to you because he's the star, right? He's a trout. He's a James. He's a, you know, Harper. Would you want the franchise coming to your son to ask your son? This is different. Well, it's kind of the same thing because he's the best.

And when you're the best, this is what I want with me because I know how to win. You can say whatever you want as far as organization or whatever, but the most important person to people that are playing. No, no, no. I understand that. different one basketball is, and he plays hoop, basketball is different than baseball, as you know, in terms of, in terms of manager. Right, right, right.

There's also the, like, look, the Rich Paul thing was, it's been a disaster. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And you have a, you have a, you have a GM who is a former agent himself, and he's basically shown in a ridiculous amount of love for Rich Paul. I mean, like, look, when they

got Contavius Caldwell Pope, he said it was like bred from heaven. I don't think Rich Paul's no different than David Falk. David Falk was like, he was very powerful, and he was maybe more behind the scenes, you know, like a Shepetto, Pinocchio Chippo thing. Well, just because you're behind the scenes,

you're quiet doesn't mean you're still disturbing things. Because David Falk, and I love David Falk. Great, amazing agent. For people know, Michael Jordan's agent, right? But Michael Jordan didn't pick Phil Jackson. He didn't. Michael Jordan didn't like a lot of the moves that they made. Right, but then he loved Phil, right?

Jerry Krause. He came to love Phil. He did not like, he never liked Jerry Kraus. Jerry Kraus, right. Did build the team, did build a team. the team around him, right? If that's the, and, and, and though, and though, look, Kobe got coaches fired. There was, Kobe and Phil Jackson was the one guy that would stand up.

Right. To Kobe wrote, wrote negative things about him in his book. Like, there was a, there was a love, hate there thing. And it was different. And Phil had leverage because he won three before. And, and there's also, right. And so I'm, I guess I'm asking, like, is the Thai Liu because he was the guy one time that won, and, and LeBron is different than a couple of years ago.

Well, you think about it like this. right, when you're young, right? When you're young, it's different than when you're older because you start getting older and you become more grumpy. And I think you need someone that knows how you work. You know, because LeBron can be grumpy, right? He can be a grumpy player, his body language. I don't like.

I love him as a person, but I seriously despise his body language when things go wrong. So Tailu understands that the older you get, because I'm a grumpy person when I'm playing ball too because it's like you expect certain things right from certain guys and when they don't show you that you become a little impatient and when you get older you become more impatient that's why grandma grandparents are so amazing because they can give the kids back like if i have to keep watching them forever like i don't know what i'll do with these guys you know what i mean so yeah um i don't know i think tie lu can take him because he understands lebron he knows lebron's moose swings okay let's get to something Kobe brian had to say he said anthony davis is one of the

great players in the history of the NBA and that he doesn't care how good, basically say he didn't care how good the young guys are. Trade him all to get Anthony Day. Right, right, right, right, right. Kyle Kuzma, Alonzo Ball, Branderingham, are three of them better than Anthony Davis. I would say no one would argue with him, but

the three of them are the three of them combined under rookie deals better than Anthony Davis. Then he's one of the best players in the history of the NBA. Right. Do you agree with what Kobe has to say? I do agree with Kobe. Now, this is the funny thing. if LeBron would have said that, right? If LeBron wasn't there and Kobe was there and they can get a chance

and Kobe was in his 15th year or whatever it was and he still has some gas in the tank and Kobe would have said that? Do you think the Laker fans would have bashed Kobe like they bashed LeBron about getting rid of these young guys so we can hurry up and win? Do you think that would happen? You can't say it when you're still a player with the Lakers.

Why can't you say? Because you can't say that when they're on your team One thing is he didn't say it outright. That's what he didn't do. But my point I'm trying to make is, if Kobe's thinking it, if Kobe's thinking it, that means Kobe would have did it too. So that's what I'm saying. People need to lay off for LeBron because it's not just LeBron.

It's Rob Polinka. I agree. It's Magic Johnson. Look, if Kobe's saying it, whether Rob Polinka thinks or not, Rob will go with... Who's one of Kobe's best friends? Rob Plinkinca, right? No, I'm getting like, right?

Either he's telling Rob this or he and Rob think the exact same thing. Right. But I guarantee Rob Plink is going like, yeah, he's right. Yeah. Whatever it takes, you can take all of them. I mean, is Kobe really running that show, too, with Rob behind seats? I don't know. I actually don't think that he is, but I do think that he's an advisor.

He's an advisor. I like that. I like that. I like that. Okay. Last thing. The Warriors, I'm not concerned at, well, a little concerned only in that. I don't think they're better with DeMarcus Cussons.

I think they're different. When they've won NBA championships, it's Draymond Green at Center, death lineup and they can switch everything and just hide stuff defensively. Now, Draymond's not the same right now for whatever reason. And DeMarcus Cousins makes them worse defensively. And I don't know if he helps them enough offensively to hide it. I'm not sure it matters because the West doesn't appear to be as strong as it's been. But do you think it's ultimately going to matter?

It will matter. And I agree with you. I don't really care for DeMarcus with them because they've done so well in the past years of switching all ball screens and hiding Steph. And again, you're hiding Steph, but guess what? Steph is top five in Steele's every year also. So it's not like he's that much of a vulnerability. The ISO part, especially when they play Houston, they expose Steph. And I saw when Draymond twisted his ankle, he was rushing over there to, you know, cover for Demarcus cousins because Chris Paul had him on an island, was about to put him on an island. And that's when Draybem

felt like somebody shot him and rolled over to Steve Kerr, who was like oblivious at the point in time. But again, I don't like them with, I don't like DeMarcus cousins with them because of the mobile part of everything. And that's what they were so good at at one point in time. And I think Draymond, his body's taking a toll on him because so many years of him sacrificing his body for the team. And, you know, it's just his personal life, right? His personal life. And, you know, it's taking a toll.

Now, if he, you know, I love Draymond Green with Golden State Warriors before I love DeMarcus cousins. I agree. It's going to be fascinating to see. Last thing, I've tried to put Zion Williamson, I said like, okay, you take some Barclay, some Dramon, some Blake Griffin. People forget what a freak athlete, Blake Griffin. I said this the other day. What, did you? I said, I heard you're here. I didn't, I apologize. I was on the phone driving in, listening to you. And I said, and a little bit of Rodney Rogers. This is what I loved. Oh, Rodney Rogers was great. But who I loved was all thick and everything. He was. amazing. I love Rodney. I love him so much. Bad situation to happen to him. Rodney's

was the paraplegion. Yeah. Yeah. I feel bad for him. But I go Larry Johnson and Blake Griffin mixed into one with a little bit of Barclay. That's what I am going right now. What I see right now. Can he get better? Yes, he can. Because Blake didn't have a jump shot in college. Right. I would say, yes, but he actually has a better jump shot than Blake had in college. I would say, but the difference is

that some people are missing is, whereas in the You go back 10 years ago, and he's kind of got to be a small forward, right? Maybe play some power forward. Right. Now he can play Draymond Green's position, which is small ball center. Yeah. And he can score in there. And if he continues to. I just haven't seen him with the Draymond Green's IQ, that IQ.

Julius Randall, he reminds me that Julius Randall would have more athletic at the moment. With the Blake Griffin athletic ability and the Larry Johnsonish kind of body. but Draymond Green's IQ is Woo! Yes, I agree. I think his is not Draymond Greens but it's much better

than Julius Randall and he's a much better athlete than Julius Randall but I get, I know I get what you're saying. Julius Randall could never really move in the post. Right, right, right. You know, he had a one dribble spin. Yeah, yeah.

You know, that was his deal. But yeah, but I think it's the whole idea the NBA has changed. Whereas he doesn't have to switch position. If anything, he can actually play center now. Right, exactly. Because of Draymond Gras. And he's 285 pounds too.

Yeah, I don't know if you carry that in the NBA. That's crazy, huh? It is crazy. Not as crazy as the green suit. It takes a man with a lot of lower intestinal fortitude to wear a green suit. But you pull it off quite nicely. He's the one and only Catino Moble. You know, great stuff.

Thanks for having. Appreciate it. Coming up next. The Arizona Cardinals are married and dating. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd. Weekdays at noon Eastern 9 a.m. On Fox Sports Radio, FS1, and the IHeart Radio app. Last night, a blown call changed a game.

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I shouldn't do this, but I will. This is from Twitter. Tyler Willis 21. Here's his tweet. You ready, Joy? Here's his tweet. Gottlieb Show, that's my Twitter handle, Gottlieb Show.

Give me a follow. Are you actually saying baseball players who make 600,000 a year in baseball aren't considered middle class? There's no poor players in baseball. 200 to 600,000 a year puts you as rich in any state or country in the world.

What a dumb argument you just made on radio. Tyler, context is everything. And in the context of baseball, when some people are making $40 million year, and some people are making $300, $400,000, $500,000 a year, that is rich and that is poor in the context of baseball. Right? So look, when we're talking dollar figures in the real world, you're right. A couple hundred grand is doing quite well.

for yourself. But the fact is that one, minor leaguers don't make a couple hundred grand. Even ones that are drafted at a college or drafted at a high school, they get a signing bonus and then usually get a minimum amount until they make it to the big leagues and then they make a minimum salary. But

you're comparing my salary, your salary, with that of professional athletes. And when you have guys making 40s and guys doing the same job making 40 million and you have guys doing the same job or making Mike Trott makes $32 million this year.

And you have other guys performing the same task and doing well and only getting $600,000 a year. That's where the no middle class thing is. So I'm sorry you don't understand that. Maybe you should step aside and have somebody explained to you economics and the context of professional sports, the context of television. Stop reading your mentions. Sorry. Sorry. I did. I fell into the trap. I did. It's the trap door.

the vortex of succotitude that's like sucking me down bail me out here's Joy Taylor with the news turn on the news this is the herd line news it's the first day of spring it's international day of happiness

I'm happy you have you have right yes so just just in general is it the international day of happiness really? Yeah you know there's like an international day I know there is I don't know maybe it should go to international house of pancakes Oh yeah it's pancakes or waffles Um, pancakes for sure.

Okay. Yeah. I have pancakes once a week. Good call. Yeah. They're kind of the same thing. In general, if you want to celebrate International Day of Happiness, start with not reading your mentions.

Good call. I like it. It's a great way to start. So the combination of rookie breakout Michael Gallup, along with Amari Cooper, gives us Cowboys a solid one-two punch for Dak Prescott this year. They needed to find a slot receiver. Yesterday, they signed Pro Bowl slot receiver Randall Cobb to a one-year contract. Now, he did have a hamstring injury and missed the game with a concussion last year,

but he did have eight productive years with Green Bay and was one of Aaron Rogers' most trusted targets. I like this move for the Cowboys. I don't know that it necessarily changes things, changes life for them. It's a one-year deal, and he's pretty equivalent. While he's more dynamic after the catch than I think Cole Beasley was, he's pretty much a replacement for Cole Beasley. Their numbers are very similar. Yes.

Randall Cobb is better than Cole Beasley. Colbyzley obviously got a great contract, good for him. They needed a good solid target for DAC, and now they have one. But I don't think this really necessarily changes life in Dallas. But what this does show me is that this continuing trend of the NFL of NFL teams who are trying to win now, signing veterans to these one or two-year contracts is going to continue sort of the Rams model. So I do like that. Yeah, look, and I think it's a prove-a-deal for a guy who's been injury-played.

And he'll have a great opportunity because if he puts up Cole Beasley's numbers during good years. Or better, then it's a word for dollars. Right. So weeks after Antonio Brown criticized Big Ben for having an owner's mentality, another former had something to say. Levy on Bell, New Jets, said this on SITV when he was asked if Ben played a part in his decision to leave Pittsburgh. That was a factor. Yes, it was a factor. Your relationship with him.

Yeah, it was a factor. And you felt like you weren't even with Ben. Ben is, you know, Ben is Ben, he's the quarterback. At the time, I'm thinking that's how it's supposed to be. He's supposed to be like that. Like, we're on quarterbacks are leaders. And, yeah, everybody's going to quarterback. It is what it is.

But it's like, it's still, you're still a teammate. At the end of the day, you're not, you know what I'm saying? You're not Kevin Colbert. Right. You know what I'm saying? You're not Mr. Rooney. Since this article's come out. This is a phenomenal.

Is that one necklace or two necklaces? Um, I'm not sure. That was amazing. I couldn't even listen to a word he said because the... It was so bright. He was so bright. Since this has come out, several members of the offensive line have come to Big Ben's defense. In general, the situation in Pittsburgh is a disaster to me. If you don't know this, I'm from Pittsburgh, so I'm very highly critical of the Steelers. Because the Steelers are not an organization that's just happy to be in the playoffs.

The expectations every single year are Super Bowl. And if it's not that... The standard is the standard. I love that that's their saying. The standard is the standard. That is what it is. That is what it is. You're supposed to win championships.

They were up until this year had the most Lombardis of any team or any organization in the league. Now they're tied with the Patriots. But that's what I'm saying. You're tied with the Patriots. Like there is a standard of excellence in Pittsburgh that's not being maintained right now. There's a culture breakdown there. And for me it starts at the top as everything in any organization does when something is a failure. I don't look at the weakest link.

I look at the strongest link. because you're the one who's supposed to notice when things like this are deteriorating. So from the GM to Mike Tomlin to Ben on down, you are the quarterback. Ben is the quarterback. He's held to a different standard than the rest of his teammates. And if he wants to be in that leadership position, sometimes you have to work out situations that are starting to go sour. I don't think that you can't not blame Antonio Brown. Levy and Bell may have had something to do with the drama there.

But at the end of the day, those are stars that you lost. that are no longer there. And this year is a prove-a-year to me with the Steelers. Like, you had Levion Bell, Antonio Brown, and Ben Rothesberger, and you didn't win a Super Bowl. No. That's an incredible underachievement. In fairness, in fairness, when your Levion was hurt.

Last year, not this year, last year they had Levian Bell. Ryan C. Zier had a terrible injury. And even with that, if the catch rule was different, they do get home field. I know they lost it home anyway to Jacksonville. But it's a different season if that play is different. Right. But I mean, you can do that with every single team, right? There's injuries on every single team.

There's major injuries to every single team. When your leader defensively is paralyzed, temporarily paralyzed towards the end of the season. No, it was huge. I'm not saying it wasn't a reason. I'm just saying that every team deals with ups and downs throughout the season. Some get breaks at the beginning of the season. Later in the season, it happens. But at the end of the day, I just want to see what happens this year with the Steelers

because they don't have them there, and everyone that's in Pittsburgh claims that they were the problem. So we're going to get a chance to see. We will see. Finally, Sequin Barclay did not react on social media or anywhere else when the O'Dall Beckham trade rumors broke last week. But he did have this to say at Penn State Pro Day. He said we talked over FaceTime. He had just gotten traded, so I don't think he was really happy about it. He just gave me some advice on how to handle stuff in the league.

He was the same old big brother to me that he's always been. I think a lot of the initial reaction from O'Dell was very soon. Like, he had just gotten the news. And I think NFL networks, Kimberly Jones reported that he wasn't even in the country when this had happened. So I'm sympathetic to guys who don't react with the perfect statement or, you know, reaction when they find out they're traded. Because it is a complete uprooting of your life. And even if O'Dell doesn't have children and a whole family and businesses to move, he is a young guy in his life was in New York. he's moving to Cleveland.

And his entire world is going to be different. Aside from the normal things that go into a trade, which is you've got to learn a new system, and you're dealing with a new quarterback, and you have new teammates, and you have a new routine. So I'm very sympathetic to trades in general. Like, it's a big move, and it comes as a shock no matter what. Even if O'Dell did feel like there was a possibility he could be moved.

I just think fans are more excited about this trade than O'Dell might be, because we're excited to see what can happen with him in Baker. It's fair. There is a little of Chris Weber to Sacramento. in it though, right? Might actually be the best thing that ever happens to him because now he's got, you know, Jarvis Landry with him, who he's lifelong friends with. He's got a quarterback who's willing to be the brunt of any sort of negativity. They have enough talent around him. But I do think there's also the reality of however he thought he was perceived. He probably thought he was above

it. Like, yeah, all this trade talk, no way. No way. No way. I signed a long-term deal. No way. and then, you know, the NFL stands for not for long. I do think that's a shot at his eagle. Because I think he's smart enough to understand all that New York had to offer off the football field. I'm not just talking about nightlife. I'm not just about, you know, financial gains and relevance. And he lost that. It's New York City.

There's just a different level of stardom that you can achieve there. And the giants are different than the Jets also in terms of that level of startup. It's a reputation. But I think that what will happen with Cleveland this year, especially this year, the way that their team is assembled will be crucial for the rest of his career. And I think everyone's really just excited to see him play with a dynamic quarterback while he's still in his prime. That's Joy Taylor with the news.

Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The herd lie news. If you've got the dreaded stuffy nose this cold and flu season, try VIX Cinex nasal spray. A couple of Cinex nasal sprays, and it works in seconds. To clear your nose lasts up to 12 hours. Be ready when congestion strikes. Sinex nasal spray use as directed.

Doug Gottlieman for Colin. This is the herd. You know, it's interesting. I was the, I believe the only guy when the Raiders traded Khalil Mack to say, that is a hell of a trade for the Raiders. Well, now I'm no longer that guy. There was a, there was a symposium going back to last week, right? There was, it's an analytics conference in Boston. It's the same one that Adam.

Silver had that long-form interview with Bill Simmons. And at the Analytics Conference, they voted the best transaction for the entire year. And I believe it wasn't just football. The Sports Analytics Conference, the best transaction for the entire year was the Raiders trade of Kille Mac. Remember, they trade away Kille Mack and a second rounder and a fifth rounder for two first rounders and a bunch of other stuff. and it is interesting on how the analytics world sits there and goes like,

hey, you had to pay him two first rounders for a defensive player. This makes complete sense to us in the analytics world. The problem is sports fans with emotions sit there and we see 52 play in a bear's uniform and be awesome this year. We're like, the Raiders are dopes. No, the Raiders are not dopes. They knew he was good. they knew they didn't want to pay him because they had already had

Mari Cooper with a bunch of money coming and and Derek Carr with a bunch of money coming and they had to give him $90 million guaranteed. So they get out from under the potential for that contract and get two first round picks. They weren't going to be good anyway. I do think, you know, the hindsight on that trade, even though Kaleel Mack has been amazing, is a hell of a trade for the Raiders. It doesn't matter if they get the draft picks screwed up.

I mean, it matters a little bit. But for analytics people, it's, hey, look, you got rid of the big contract. Would you not rid of having to sign a big contract? Didn't want to play for less. And you get two potential prospects who'll play under rookie deals. And you can get a similar, albeit lesser and inexperienced, but younger player to fill in for Cleo Mac. It makes a ton of sense.

which is the exact same way you should look at the DiAngelo Russell deal if you're the Lakers. DeAngelo Russell was amazing last night. He had something like 26 and 9 in the fourth quarter. They come back and beat the Sacramento Kings. He'd been an all-star this year. And I can tell you that the Lakers,

if you go back in time and say, would you still make that move, they would say yes. Yes, because he wasn't on this path. He hadn't yet woken up or we'll see if if OBJ, the other things that had to have driven the Giants crazy, that they would trade such a profound and impactful talent that they had under contract, if you kind of figure it out.

That's what's happened with DeAzel Russell. But like you have to remember that they got out from under Timothy Mosgov's contract that they didn't like. Mosgov is barely in the league anymore. And DiAngelo Russell was the, you know, Eric Vanjini says guys are forced multipliers, right? that's when they walk into a room or walk into a team and they make everybody better. DeAngelo Russell was the opposite. He was a forced subtractor because he wasn't great.

You had to play him because he's the number two pick. He went out at night. He didn't work hard at practice. He wasn't a good teammate. So instead of making everybody better, it made everybody worse. And they got rid of that. And that allowed that put them in position to get LeBron and to get guys in the future. Even if they screw it up, it put them in.

in position to make legitimate changes, much like the Raiders were put in position to draft guys to replace Khalil Mack while getting out from under that contract. I'll bet the analytics people, if they would look back, would like the De Anzlo Russell deal as well. Coming up, there's one stat that says Duke won't even make it to the Sweet 16, but should I buy that stat? Former Duke star, another Duky on television. Oh, God. Dante Jones joins us.

That's next and the best for last here in the herd. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific. Car shopping can be confusing with terms like dealer price, list price, invoice price. True car shows you what other people pay for the car that you want. You can recognize a good price when you're ready to buy a new used car. Visit True car.

You'll enjoy a more confident car buying experience. All right, Dante Jones alongside. Time for the best for last. Let's welcome in Joy Taylor. All right, we're going to play bull stat. I'll give you a stat that is 100% true. And if you think a stat matters, you call it a real stat. If you think it doesn't matter, you call it bull stat.

All right. So the last two number one overall seeds haven't made it past the first weekend. Last year, Virginia lost in the first round. Two years ago, Villanova lost in the first round. So does this mean the number one overall seed, Duke won't make it past the weekend, Dante? Bull stat, I think Duke won't make it. They better expect. Second weekend, second round?

Of course they will do. I think we're going to win a national championship this year. He can't drop a week because he did play for Duke. Right. He did play for Duke. I'm just to believe a period. No, I understand, but I don't like when fans drop a week. Oh, man.

Or media. I got you. Right? Like if a Duke alum was like, man, I love when you were there, we beat Carolina. And when you dunked that dude at Virginia, you did the pushups. Like, you didn't do that? I did that. Were you practiced every day?

I think that's a bull stat as well. Do I think VCU? if fully healthy could give them problems, a little bit, right? But VCU doesn't have, might not have their best player. Right. And then Central Florida, coached by former Duky, Johnny Dawkins. Nice team. But I don't know who Taco Fall guards, although I do want to see Zion Dunk on Taco Fall.

I think Taco Fall will fell. I think UCF beats them. Yeah, I like UCF to beat VCU. I do. But it's a bull stat. I think Duke's fine. I also agree it's Bullstat. I think Duke's going to win.

So the Future Number 1 NBA pick has won the tournament once in the last 30 years. years Anthony Davis with Kentucky in 2012. So does this mean that near lock number one pick Zion Williamson won't lead Duke to a title this year, Dante? Bullstat. Again, I have Duke winning a national championship. So I have to go with that. You're making this out to be a Duke PSA for me. So go ahead.

It's okay. It's going to be it up to. It's okay. I'm going to go real stat. I'll get him to real step. But it's not because he's the future number one overall pick. And RJ Barrow will be number two or number three. I just don't love their depth or lack their up.

depth of scoring, shooting. You know, they also, there's some stats that work against Duke in terms of three-point shooting. Because you have Kentucky winning. I have Kentucky winning. So I'll go real stuff. But I haven't beaten Duke in the championship game. So it's not like I have them losing to, you know, flaming out and losing in their first-round game. That doesn't sit well with you, Dundee.

No, not really, but hey, hey, it's his opinion. Everybody's entitled to their own opinion, and I respect it, Doug. I appreciate that. All right. Duke and UNC have never met in the tournament. Does that mean there's no shot of them meeting in this year's championship game, Once again, that's a bull stat. I think those are two great teams in college basketball right now. I have a lot of respect for that UNC team.

I think they have as good as a chance to get to the finals to the championship game as anyone in the tournament. I'm going to go real stat, but it's not because I don't like Carolina. I do. I think Cam Johnson has been awesome. I love Kobe White Kid. The freshman point guard can really score. I do think, I don't know if I like the hair. It's a lot.

But whatever. But I like Kentucky to beat them. I have Kentucky and Carolina. I think that'll be a great game. And frankly, when Kentucky last won a national title with Anthony Davis, they didn't face Carolina. It wasn't healthy. They didn't face Carolina who they played once in the regular season.

So I'm going to say it's a, what is it, real stat. But it's only because I have Kentucky beating them, but it's not because I don't think Carolina is good. Can we have another segment where we come back and rewind this once it's over? Yeah, let's do it. And see how good he really was at this. Let's fine. Let's do it.

All right. A seven-seater lower has made the final four in each of the, the last six years. So does that mean there will be another Cinderella story this year, Dante? That's a real stat. I think that there's a possibility of so many good teams in those slots. And there's a chance for a team to reach the Final Four. I think that is real.

Are you going to give me one? You're going to give me a – Nah, I'm not going to do that on top of my head right now, but I think it is possible. But the two I would say would be – You're more prepared than me. No, no. I mean, like, you know, I've seen Nevada. I know they seem a little disconnected, but they went to Sweet 16 last year.

You got a super old team. There's seven seed. They could be one. Buffalo. I think Buffalo is a sixth, though. It's not a seven. I don't think it's crazy there. But I'm going to say that's a bull stat only because I feel like Carolina, Kentucky, Duke, Virginia.

Maybe I'm wrong and I'm falling in love with, I just, I do feel like there's a distinct drop off after you get to those top six, seven teams or so. Colin I know has six. I put Gonzag in there as well. I just, I don't think there's, I think everyone's missing something, but I think once you get past the top six, seven, now they're missing a lot. All right. Finally, Duke has won the two previous Final Four is hosted by Minnesota, 1992 and 2001. So since the Final Four is in Minnesota this year, as crazy as it sounds,

does that mean that Duke is going to win, Dante? That is a real stat. I think that there's an affinity between the Duke Blue Devils and Minnesota. I was there for the last one. I think that that's going to be a place where we get a chance to win another national championship. It's only fitting for the storyline. It is fitting for the storyline.

What's interesting is, in 93 when they won, it was the back-to-back year, they beat the Fab 5 by 20, whereas this would be kind of like a Fab 5-E sort of team. So I have them losing in the finals. I'm going to go, that's a bull stat, bull stat, even though it says real stat in my paper, but it's actually, it's actually.

So you're going against you. Okay. Your head versus your heart here, there we go. Give me your NCAA. tournament memory. It doesn't that be yours? Give me one NCAA term memory. Man.

Can I hit you with one? You hit me with one. Okay. 1990, Long Beach Arena. This is the first game that Loyola Marymount had played after Hank Gathers died. And I became a Hank Gathers fan watching LMU play and I was watching the game where he died.

And I remember I was in my brother's room and I was saying to the TV, get up, Hank. Get up. And he never got up. Wow. And they came into the arena and the whole place was adorn with 44s. and maroon and blue. And Bo Kimball, of course, his high school teammate played with him at USC before Loyola Merrimount.

He gets fouled and takes three dribbles to his right hand, stops, shoots with his left hand. Because Hank Gathers had started shooting free throws with his left hand. He was such a bad free throw shooter. And he made it. And there wasn't a dry eye in the place. And he looks up to the sky and holds up 44. That was the moment. Like I had been around college basketball my whole life.

My dad was a coach. My brother is a coach. That was the moment I said, I love this. This is what I want to do, what I want to be around. That's my moment. My best moment is Minnesota, obviously, when we won a national championship. I was redshirting that year, but I was a part of the whole experience. I was there.

And the stint that Mike Dunleavy went on when he caught fire. The game plan was to let Mike because Mike wasn't shooting well in the tournament that year. And they were going to let him just figure it out. And then Mike caught fire. We ended up winning it. And just the whole experience at that point in time was amazing. Coach K was awesome, but so too was Jay Williams, Mike Dunleavy, Carlos Boozer, Elton Brand. No, well, Elbrose was on that team.

No, no, no. Chris Duhon was on that team. Duhan. Who else? Who was the starting? Nate James. But wasn't the starting five all pros? No.

Nate James was our starting two guard. Nate James was? Mm-hmm. Who's now he would. So it was, it was Jason Williams, Nate James, Mike Dunleave, Shane Bade. Shane Badee. Shane Badee. Shane Bajer.

Wait, so who came out of the bench? Chris. Chris Duhon came out the bench. Uh-huh. Quite sure. So five end. NBA starters. So that a long time ago.

You were there. You're just like I was there. You know any basketball memories I have of that? Because then the next year, when we come back and Shane leaves and then we lose to Indiana when we're supposed to, when we were favored to win at that point in. So we had an amazing game there. He's Dante Jones. I'm Doug Gottlie.

My thanks to Joy Taylor and Colin for let me fill in. Collins back tomorrow. Matt Barnes. I will join him. And we'll get his thoughts on what Kobe had to say about Anthony Davis. This is The Hurt. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind,

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