The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Lakers Tonight with Jason Timpf - Lakers beat the Knicks as Westbrook watches from the bench

Episode Date: February 6, 2022

Jason reacts to the Lakers comeback win over the Knicks, Westbrook's benching in overtime, and gives his thoughts on the James Harden/76ers rumors. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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We finally got a Lakers win to talk about it. and a good Lakers win. We had one Lakers win in the previous five tries, and I think I was more irritated after that one than it had been after many of these losses. They played a nearly perfect defensive overtime, at least while the game was in question, and we're fantastic in that entire second half.

Lots to be frustrated about. We're going to get to all of that. These slow starts are a huge problem. This team, Russell Westbrook, continues to be almost a completely nonsensical basketball fit. We're going to get to all of that, but I wanted to start positive because this team gave us something to be positive about tonight. You know, what did I say on Thursday? I said the Lakers need to go all in on this season. And by all in, all I meant was cash in your assets. Don't hang on to that 2027 first round pick. Don't hang on to Tht. Try to bring in other good players. Why? I said

because LeBron and AD are so good. And because they're this good, you have to bet on that. especially in a league like this, in this particular season, where there is no world-beating team out there that LeBron and AD aren't capable of overcoming. But the simple reality is the formula for success for this team, the same formula for success that won them a title in 2020 and gave them a lot of success in the face of horrible injury luck last season was LeBron and AD and three guys who will do the dirty work. three guys that can play off the ball, three guys that can play defense,

three guys that can attack close outs, knock down shots and things along those lines. That's exactly what made the Russell Westbrook fit so nonsensical. And we're going to get to that later. But the point is the reason why they were able to go on a run in that second half, the reason why when they went on that run, Russ seemed not very much involved, the reason why he was off the floor entirely when they built the big lead in the fourth quarter, and the reason why they had so much success in overtime is that formula. You have to surround LeBron and Anthony Davis with guys who are willing to do the dirty work.

And all season long, we've had issues with these slow starts. And when you have these slow starts, they kind of suck the life out of the team. And there's a bunch of different reasons for that. And we can beat around the bush and ask if it's Frank Vogel, and we can ask if it's Russell Westbrook. But for whatever reason, more often than not this season, they've come out to slow starts. And what you saw in that first quarter was 11 consecutive fast break points for the New York Knicks. You saw dribble down the floor, Russell Westbrook,

turnover, run out wide open three. Dribble up the floor, Malik Monk turnover, run down the floor, wide open three. And as you saw in that sequence, it's kind of like a cascading effect because every time they score in transition like that, you have to slowly walk the ball back up floor and attack against their set defense. And it just becomes this, you know, it's just, it's a domino effect that leads to the other team scoring 41 points in the quarter. Then you go into the third quarter after I'm presumably somebody lit a fire under someone's butt in that halftime meeting and you only give up 13 points, which directly leads to someone like Malik Monk being able to go on a run. The reason why is now you are getting

stops. And now that you're getting stops, you are running the floor and you're getting open looks. And now that you are getting open looks for a great shooter like Malik Monk, he can catch literal fire the way that he did in that third quarter. And when a guy like Malik Monk gets hot like that, it's contagious. Now you're setting your defense. Now while you're setting your defense, you're getting more stops. There is a proven formula to winning basketball games. And this team has the pieces in order to execute that formula, but more often than not this year, they've deviated from that for various reasons. But it was really exciting to see in that second half a good stretch of basketball. They're at the start of the third quarter and then at the start of the fourth quarter where the Lakers

erased the big deficit and then built a big lead. And it was built on a very clear, basic formula, the same formula that won them the title in 2020. Get guys who defend next to LeBron and Anthony Davis. And it's so funny, because if you guys remember in 2020, after Kauai Leonard signs with the Clippers, this barrage of signings comes through. It's Avery Bradley, who everybody in Memphis and Clippers fans were telling you that he was horrible. And Danny Green, who was their big money signing, who was, okay, you know, Danny Green was Danny Green. He shot the ball well in Toronto the previous year.

And it's Javille McGee, and it's Ray John Rondo, and it's KCP. And you got all these guys talking trash about, hey, look at all these bad basketball players. that are going to go play with LeBron and Anthony Davis. But it worked because those guys played hard. And the biggest problem this season is similar caliber players, players who are capable of doing that job, just weren't willing to do it for whatever reason. And I think a big part of that is the Russell Westbrook problem.

So, you know, Russell Westbrook makes extremely loud mistakes. You know, he doesn't just miss a jump shot. he'll miss two feet to the left of his target. He'll hit the corner of the backboard. He'll air ball it to the short and to the left. He'll have a wide open fast break and dribble the ball off his foot. You know, he'll have a pass that he throws directly to the other team or off one of his teammates' legs or something like that.

He makes loud mistakes. But, you know, I've never cared about the loud mistakes as long as you do the quiet job. Your responsibilities that you're expected to fulfill. on a possession by possession basis for the team. The problem with Russ is he's not willing to do that job. So you're getting the lack of responsibility fulfillment and you're getting the catastrophic mistakes. It's like the opposite of a Marcus Smart.

Because you guys know Marcus Smart. That dude takes crazy shots sometimes. He has extremely sloppy turnovers. He makes mistakes. But the guy's an absolute bulldog on the defensive end of the floor. The dude dives for every loose ball. The dude takes the most difficult defensive responsibility. The guy crashes the offensive glass relentlessly.

He does all of those things, so Celtics fans do not care that he does some stupid stuff on offense sometimes. In fact, he's celebrated as one of the heroes of the team. He's the heart and soul of the team to many Celtic fans. That because no one cares about the loud mistakes if you do your job. and the problem is, is in that first half, in that second half, critically at the end of the game, pivotal possession, down by three, there's a turnover, or Malik Munk misses a long jump shot, and Russ jogs back on defense and leaves a wide open shooter to tie the game. Russ, I don't care if you miss a layup.

I don't care if you hit the corner of the backboard. Just do your job. and that is why this fundamentally doesn't work with him on the floor, and that's why the team operates at a much higher level when he's off the floor. You know, when he was playing against Charlotte the other night, he looked amazing, right? Because Russ is still one of the best heliocentric type of players that we have in the league. If you put him at the top of the key with shooters and guys that can attack closeouts

and just let him make all the decisions and drive to the basket nonstop, he's going to do a pretty good job because that's pretty much the one thing that he's still okay at. And, you know, after the game, LeBron and Anthony Davis run out on the floor, and they talk to Russ about how can we take this and recreate it when we're playing. And there was all this talk about how maybe we could make this work. But any sort of critical thinking would tell you, hey, actually the job that you need from the third guy is a lot different than the job. from the first guy. Because, you know, LeBron James takes defensive possessions off too. LeBron had a couple of really sloppy defensive possessions early in this game, especially in

transition, where he lost shooters, or was sloppy on a switch or didn't jog, run back in transition. But, you know, even though those plays bother me, because, you know, as a basketball fan, I get, I'm not, I don't like watching guys be lazy or make a mistake. But the reason why we put up with LeBron is because we know in pivotal moments he turns it on in all those areas, and he does so much offensively for the team that you understand the trade-off. Like with LeBron, you're like, he's just saving his legs. He's resting while he's on the floor. He's managing his turbometer, whatever it is that you want to call it, to save his energy for the big moments of the game, or to do what he's doing on the offensive end of the floor.

With Russ, it's the exact opposite. You know, his responsibilities tonight were the lowest that he's had all season, because this is the most healthy the team has been. You know, the Lakers finally started Malik Munk and Stanley Johnson alongside the big three, and I was thrilled about that. That's their best line up. You know, Stanley Johnson does a lot of dirty work, and Malik Munk brings enough shooting that it offsets some of the Russell Westper problem.

That's their best line. and Russ came out flat with that lineup. Russ came out flat in the one position role-wise this season where he's had the least to do in terms of offensive responsibilities. Literally, if he just embraced those things that I'm talking about, so many people would let him off the hook. You don't have to get booed for missing a shot. They don't boo-mark as smart when he misses a shot.

You would not get booed if you would. did all of those things that help win basketball games. You, even if you were missing and hitting the corner of the backboard and if you couldn't dribble to save your life, you would be playing in crunch time with this group if they could count on you to do the dirty work. If they could count on you to keep your man in front, if they could count on you to box out, and if they could count on you to sprint back in transition. It's literally that simple. It's not any more complicated than that. And you know, we haven't seen any post-game quotes yet. I'm sure we'll see what comes out. But the last time this happened when Russ was benched in a pivotal moment, we had another issue where, you know,

he ran off the floor, Frank had to say stuff in the post-game presser. You know, at some point, that that's the other side of this that has to be factored in. If you're going to keep him around, then when things go south, you have to deal with all the negative that comes with benching your $44 million player or whatever it is that he does. Now, Russ has been playing better of late. He's been making more of his layups. He's been taking smarter shots. But they were all within the context of the big three not being there. It was all with LeBron out or with Anthony Davis out. The truth of the matter is, is his role when the team is healthy is different than the role it is when people are hurt. And when the people, when the team is healthy, they need a very specific

set of responsibilities to be filled. And Russ is just another redundancy. He's just another guy that the things that LeBron does at a much lower level than the level that LeBron does them. And that's why I advocated for trading him this season. That's why I advocated for trading him even if you don't get better players in return. Because at the end of the day, if the team is better without him and there's attitude at play, then what are you really trying to prove here by keeping him around? And so, again, the options are limited. you know, might have to be John Wall, might have to be, you know, some arsenal of contracts from a team like the New York Knicks or a team like the Oklahoma City Thunder.

But at least guys that come back might be able to be serviceable in this group. You know, before we even saw the game tonight, I'm looking at that starting lineup and I'm like, man, if you could swap out Russ for Austin Reeves, a guy that is killer at those fifth man responsibilities, a guy that literally leaves his heart and soul on the floor for those key responsibilities for the team, that guy slotting into that lineup makes you better. Not because he's a better player than Russ. He's not a better player than Russ. They played one-on-one and probably be embarrassing. But the point is, is basketball is not fantasy. Basketball is not NBA 2K. You're not building an overall rating. What you're doing is you're filling responsibility. on the floor. And LeBron and Anthony Davis fill so many responsibilities and do so much to

help the team that it doesn't actually benefit anybody to have a guy out there who's not interested in doing the other things. At that point, it's that diminishing return. At that point, it's a waste. But LeBron looks fantastic. This is his 19th consecutive game with 25 points. Anthony Davis, he's moving around in a way that I have not seen him move around since the bubble. And Malik Monk, you know, I talked a lot about the shifting offensive identity in the last podcast. If you guys remember, I talked about how the Lakers wanted to go into offense, and they were hopeful that that would open things up for their best, their stars. And the problem was, is health, derailed them, age, derailed them. Frank Vogel's not a great offensive coach, blah, blah, blah, blah,

but what you saw tonight is something that is exciting about that potential formula. I wish they would have just kept the original team and signed Malik Monk because that's when you can have that exciting blend of awesome role players who do the dirty work and these two Super Duper Stars and this flame thrower score. That's kind of like what the Buddy Heald thing would have looked like had they gone for Buddy Healed instead of Russell Westbrook. Malik Monk, as good of a season as he's having, he's not as good as Buddy Healed. That's the reason why us Laker fans were so excited about that potential buddy-heeled trade is this is what we envisioned. We envisioned like, hey, they're switching every LeBron AD pick and roll. And when they switch those pick-and-rolls, it just turns into

an isolation contest. If we can get buddy-heeled in this screen, they can't switch that. It's probably a small guy. We're going to get lots of open stuff. And what you saw nonstop in that second half is Malik Munk, LeBron James, two-man game. Malik Munk, Anthony Davis, two-man game. And they were getting great stuff every single time. And I'm glad that even though the Buddy Healed Opportunity was completely botched and completely missed, that at least we have this Malik Monk fit, which is, you know, call it 80, 85% of what that other fit would have been. And having that high-end shooting is so important when the paint is packed. You know, when you have, when everyone is, you know, what you saw tonight a lot was whenever Stanley Johnson was on the floor in particular, or Russell Westbrook was on the floor, they were kind of just ignoring those guys and sitting in the paint. You even saw it a little bit with Avery Bradley and with Trevor Reza. And when the paint is packed, there's actually more room to operate on the perimeter. And so having a guy like Malik Monk who can succeed from the perimeter consistently, like you actually are hunting opportunities from the perimeter. Guys like anything,

Danny Davis and LeBron James, they kind of use the perimeter as a counter. You know, I'm resting, so I'm going to take a jump shot. Or this guy's playing off me, I'm going to take a jump shot. Guys like Malik Munk, that's when they're at their best. That's their comfort zone. That's where he loves to operate. So it's a great counter to spacing concerns. I think you can compensate for his defensive shortcomings by putting him around all of those

other players that play so hard together that can cover for some of his mistakes. But Malik Munk is a very, very exciting player to have in this mix. He had 29 points again tonight, four of eight from three, 11 for 20 from the field. He was a plus eight. He's had several games like this this year where he got going. And I think you're going to see more games like that where he gets going now that the team is healthy and they can defend better. Because the key to their defense is having LeBron and Anthony Davis healthy in the front court to clean things up and to clean up mistakes and to make them feel more comfortable. you know, there was a lineup that went out in the middle of the second quarter.

It was, I want to say it was Austin Reeves, Russell Westbrook, Trevor Reza, and D'Andre Jordan. And this is exactly why the trade deadline is so important for the Lakers. Because when things go south on, you know, with injuries or COVID or whatever it is that happens, you have to dip deeper into your rotation, right? like Carmelo Anthony pulls a hamstring. So now you have to play Trevor Arisa. Dwight Howard's dealing with whatever it is that he's dealing with.

And so now you have to play D'Andre Jordan. This is why bringing in two or three or four solid role players is so important in this next week so that you don't have to dip into those guys. Because yes, when the team is fully healthy, I think they do have enough. You can play with LeBron and Anthony Davis and Russell Westbrook. and Malik Monk, Austin Reeves, Stanley Johnson, Trevor, Reza, Carmelo Anthony. That's enough to run a playoff series, to be functional in a playoff series, and at least put the outcome in LeBron and Anthony Davis's hands.

But the problem is, is guys get hurt. You know, like Carmelo's hamstring, that some other version of that is going to happen down the line. And what we can't have happen is have to lean heavily on Avery Bradley in a playoff series. We can't lean heavily on, we can't have to play D'Andre Jordan in a pivotal playoff game. Because as I always say, when you get to those moments, in the biggest moments at the end of these playoff series, the margins are so small. It's all about, you know, like you have to beat them by an inch. And so if you gift them an inch in the second quarter with a bad lineup, you can get yourself

knocked out of the playoffs. And so that's why they have to go after that depth. Speaking of those end-of-the-game situations, again, it's like this is the issue with Russell Westbrook. You know, even if he has a great game, he's just as liable to miss two important free throws and jog back in transition and lose a shooter, which is what he did tonight. And look at that. The Lakers controlled that fourth quarter. I think at one point they were up by as much as eight, if I'm remembering correctly, in that fourth quarter. And it went to OT. And the reason why went to OT, it was a handful of mistakes at the end of the game. And two of those mistakes were made by Russell Westbrook. That's how thin these margins are, guys. And if it's not the New York Knicks,

maybe it's a team like Phoenix, and it's a pivotal playoff game, and they push you to overtime when you should have won the game, maybe now you lose in overtime. And maybe that costs you the series. This is why I harp on this stuff so often. You're talking about, only one team gets to win the title, guys. Only one team gets to hoist up the trophy. And all of these extremely like Phoenix is flawless outside of the lack of a superstar. They're not going to make mistakes.

They are not going to throw a lineup at you in a second quarter that's going to give you a huge advantage. So I'm hopeful that the Lakers will go out of their way to try to remedy that situation here in this next week. We had a quote from Anthony Davis on Laker fans booing Russell Westbrook, quote, the fans obviously want to see him play better. He's got to stay out of his own head, continue to play, and do the little things. You know, and it's funny because I don't think it's Anthony Davis and LeBron's responsibility to cater to Russ's emotions. This is professional sports,

and if you do that kind of thing, it can cost your team. But the reality is, is that's some harsh, there's some harsh honesty from Anthony Davis there. You know, It's funny because I played basketball in college, just like so many of you guys out there did. And, you know, I went through slumps. I had stretches where I wasn't making shots. I had stretches where I was in my head. And, you know, every coach I ever had would always tell me the same thing. You build your confidence through things you can control.

You can't control making a jump shot. You can't control, you know, how many bodies a defense throws at you. You can't control if you accidentally dribble the ball off your foot. you did that on purpose, you made a mistake. But what you can control is a box out. What you can control is sitting in a defensive stance and holding your man in front of you. What you can control is sprinting back on defense. There were a bunch of plays tonight where Russ missed around the rim and took a second to just feel bad about himself. You can't do that. When you take a second to feel bad about yourself, you compound the mistake.

Now you didn't just miss a layup, you blew a defensive responsibility. There was a play in the second half where he missed a left-handed layup right at the front of the rim, and then he took a second, dejected around the rim, and then jogged back, Stanley Johnson was guarding Evan Fornier, and Russell Westbrook ran into Stanley Johnson, basically screening for his own man. Evan Fornia gets into the lane, Russ turns around and just watches him shoot a floater. I'm like, you just made three mistakes when it could have been one. You miss a layup, dude, you did your job, you put your head down, you went to the rim. You tried to make a play. It didn't work out. That happens. But you pouted, gave up a transition opportunity,

then false hustled your way into the lane, screened your own teammate, and gave up a wide open shot in the lane. This is where that opportunity is lost. Russell Westbrook had a quote about spending overtime on the bench. Quote, the best part about this game is you win. Guys competed, we won the game. That's all that matters.

It's not about me. It's not about what I'm doing. And, you know, that's the right thing to say. I don't have any issue per se with the attitude. As I've said often on the show, the Laker players this season, in a catastrophe of a season, have said all the right things. And in addition to that,

I don't think there's chemistry problems with guys disliking each other. We get reports from like Washington, and it's like the guys don't like Spencer Dinwiddie. We get, you know, reports from Boston that, you know, the star players are selfish. We get reports from Brooklyn that James Hardin is unhappy with this situation. You're not getting any of that stuff with the Lakers. This is a strictly basketball chemistry problem.

The guys like each other. It's just not working. The problem I have with it, Russ, is you're right, the team won. But what are you doing as a player to address the situation? Because the situation here is the team is not. achieving at the level they want, and you are a part of that problem. What are you doing to address it? Guys, can you imagine if Russ came out gangbusters tonight on both ends of the floor,

just flying around trying to make plays with his athleticism? Do you think we'd be talking about him right now? Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal, but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast, Superhuman, documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds.

I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the I-Hard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what you're saying. Yep, that's me, Cliver Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, the reactions, my journey from Bats, basketball to college football or my career in sports media.

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

and for people who are chasing something bigger. So, if you've ever supported me or you're just chasing down a dream, this is right where you need to be. Listen to The Clifford Show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. Do you remember when Diana Ross double-tap Little Kim's boobs at the VMAs? Or when Kanye said that George Bush didn't like black people. I know what you're thinking.

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now. Do you think I'd be talking about it right now? Do you think they'd be questioning them in the postgame presser about him getting benched? If he just came out and played hard tonight, he didn't play hard. He also missed a bunch of shots. He also had four turnovers in the first half. He also smoked a bunch of layups at the rim. He also missed two clutch free throws.

He also failed to run back on defense and left open a shooter, but you also just didn't play hard from the start of the game. That's 1,000% in your control. And, you know, sometimes, you know, it's not about you and your individual success statistically with the team, but it is about you. you fulfilling your responsibilities. You do need to devote effort and focus in that area. But yeah, I'm glad the Lakers got to win. You know, there is a lot to build on here. Like I said, LeBron and AD, role players that play hard, get yourself a perimeter score that can score around them.

That's what Malik Monk has shown he can be. All the fundamental pieces are here. They just need a little more depth so that they don't have to dip in D'Andre Dord. D'Andre Jordan so that they don't have to play Avery Bradley and Trevor Rees at Big Minutes, and they'll be cooking with gas. Because LeBron literally just took two weeks off with a swollen knee and came out looking fantastic. And Anthony Davis looks as close to bubble AD as we've seen. So all of that stuff is there. They just have to figure out this Russ piece.

And again, if you think that he can figure that stuff out, then keep him. because Russ figuring things out is a better option than anything they can get in return. I'm just saying, I don't think he can figure it out. I've seen too much. I've seen too many examples of it this season. We've had too many rock bottoms, so to speak, for him to not get the message at this point. But that's all I had for the Lakers. I wanted to really quickly just take about five minutes to talk about this James Hardin and Ben Simmons switch,

a switch because I think it's very interesting. So James Hardin has mentally checked out on this season. I think we can all agree on that. If you dig into his scoring rate and his scoring efficiency, it's basically the worst season of his career outside of his rookie year. And while he's had some defensive success in recent seasons, namely like 2018, 2019 in Houston, he's regressed massively on the defensive end of the floor this year. He's giving up straight line drives.

He's just swiping at guys. He's not hustling for anything. He's mentally checked out on the team. And then we get a report today basically confirming that, saying that he's not happy with the situation because he came here to be part of a three-headed monster, and now he's got a part-time co-star and a guy who's hurt, and now he's carrying the load again.

So that was a somewhat predictable outcome on that front. And usually for a deal like this to make sense, you need two unhappy parties, and we have the complete disaster of a situation in Philly with everything going on with Ben Simmons, and I do not need to get into that. But I actually love this trade for both teams. You know, there is a redundancy in the Kyrie, James Hardin, Kevin Durant thing. Now, it worked.

I think that formula worked, and injuries derailed it, to be clear. I think even if just James Hardin had stayed healthy, or just Kyrie Irving at State Healthy, I think they would have won the title last year. So I believe in the formula. However, there are lots of ways to win with Kevin Durant. He's one of the best basketball players of all time. And the Ben Simmons angle is actually super interesting to me. Because Kevin Durant, even though he's never focused on the defensive end for an extended stretch of his career,

there's a little bit in 2016 in the playoffs and a little bit when he was with the Warriors in 2017. but a lot of him not caring too much about that end for the rest of his career. But when he turns it on, the dude's got Anthony Davis's physical tools. So, of course, he's capable of all of that. Ben Simmons is very much in the case for being the best defensive player in basketball. Ben Simmons was second a defensive player of the year voting last year. Ben Simmons, I've seen the guy give major problems to LeBron James and completely shut down Damien Lillard.

completely different archetypes of players. He can guard every position. He's kind of like, you know, a lot of these bigger wing defenders are more like Kauai Leonard, where they're strong and they're athletic, but they're not really all that tall. You know, that's that PJ Tucker, that Jay Crowder type of vibe that you get from those big stocky, strong perimeter defenders. Ben Simmons is huge.

He does all of that at like 610. And his biggest issue throughout his career has been he can't score the basketball, so you need to really spread things out for him so that he can get driving lanes to get into the lane. So it's imperative that he's around a lot of shooting. Well, I can think of no better option than having Ben Simmons grabbing the ball and running down the floor with Kyrie Irving running one wing and Kevin Durant running the other wing. And hopefully if Joe Harris can get healthy, you got another great option there. Ben Simmons is one of the best drive-and-kick-to-open three-point shooter type of players that we have in the league.

So that's a great fit in Brooklyn. Yes, it sucks to lose James Hardin. James Hardin, if he's mentally engaged, absolutely gives you a good chance to win the title, but he's mentally checked out. His heart is down in Philly. He wants to be down there. Send him down there. You get a player in Ben Simmons coming back that still gives you a legitimate chance to win the championship.

Then for Philly, you know, as we've seen so many times in playoff series, just look at last year when Anthony Davis went down, how hard it became for LeBron. when Phoenix really started packing the paint and keying in on what LeBron was doing. It rendered him nearly ineffective because that's just the way modern basketball is when you can really pack the paint and throw multiple bodies at a guy,

especially when guys can't make people pay. That's very much a threat to Joel Embed this year. They have one of the best records in the league. They have overachieved. They're a good basketball team. Tyrese Maxie looks great. Patis Thiebill is an awesome defensive player. you know, Tobias Harris is overpaid, but he's a good wing.

They just don't have that other guy that can help you make things a lot more difficult for teams to defensively game plan for you in a series. James Hardin immediately solves that. Now, a lot of people have been pointing out, including myself, that he's having one of the worst seasons of his career. Now, I do not think that he's this bad. I think a good chunk of how bad he has looked is directly tied to, his mental state and the fact that his heart's not in it. Just like when he was in Houston last year, I think that when he gets down to Philly, he will re-engage mentally and you'll immediately see

a massive improvement in the way he's playing. There are a couple of things that got to work out, right? Like, Joel Embed is not a great screen and roll big. He likes to do dribble handoffs and things like that, and he's not, with exception of post-ups, he doesn't really like operating around the basket. So you're not going to get him to beat Clint Capella for you. you're not going to get him to be Nick Claxton for you, like the last two lob throwing bigs that James Harden played with. So there's going to be adjustments for them to figure out, but this legitimately is something that could work. Imagine Seth Curry on the right wing. Imagine Tobias Harris on the left wing, James Harden dribbling down, going to work.

There's a lot to be excited there. And I just think it makes sense for both sides. And I think it's going to happen because both sides have basically already come to terms with accepted the fact that this is probably going to happen, and there's no point in going back at this point. There's no point in trying to finish this season when all of the parties involved already have kind of mentally come to terms with the fact that a trade is happening. So I think the trade will happen pretty quick. I think it's good for both teams. I think it's good for both players. Ben Simmons needs to get back out on the basketball court. James Harden needs to be engaged and actually trying.

It'll make sense for both teams. I'm excited. I think it'll happen here in the next couple of days. All right, that is all I have for tonight. Thank you guys so much for coming to hang out. This will be on our podcast feed, first thing in the morning, and we will be back for a show on Monday night. Thank you so much. Have a good rest of your weekend. I'll see you guys on Monday. The volume. Another podcast from some SNL late night comedy guy, not quite.

Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer Streeter Seidel, help an a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and Friends on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

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I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the I-Hard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, this is Robert from the Stuff to Blow Your Mind podcast. Joe and I are both lifelong Star Wars fan, so we're celebrating May the 4th with a brand new week of fun, thought-provoking Star Wars-related episodes.

Join us as we tackle science and culture topics from a galaxy far, far away, such as the biology of Tontons and Wampas on the Ice Planet Hot, or the practicality and corporate business sense of the Sith rule of two. Listen to stuff to bowl your mind on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. On the Look Back at it podcast. From 1979, that was a big moment for me. 84's big to me.

I'm Sam J. And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick a here, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived it. With our friends, fellow comedians, and favorite authors. Like Mark Lamont Hill on the 80s. 84 was a wild year. I don't think there's a more important year for black people. Listen to look back at it on the IHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed human.