The Herd with Colin Cowherd - LeBron James, Browns, Magic Johnson, and fan bases

Episode Date: April 11, 2019

Today Colin discusses why Los Angeles Lakers F LeBron James keeps failing as a leader, the Cleveland Browns over compensating, why former Lakers President Magic Johnson may have quit, and who his top fan bases are. Guests include Doug Gottlieb, Chris Broussard, Bill Plaschke, and Ric Bucher. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Another podcast from some SNL late night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smigel 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 I-Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Life is full of hurdles. So how do you keep going? On Hurtle with Emily Abadi, we're talking with the most inspiring women in sports and wellness from professional athletes, coaches, and Olympic champions, about the challenges that shape them and the mindset that keeps them moving forward. At our level, at this scale, being able to fail in front of the entire world. can do anything. I can do anything. 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. I'm Michelle McPhee, and I've been unraveling the strangest criminal alliance I've ever reported on, a Mormon polygamist and an Armenian businessman. Multimillion dollar house, Ferraris and Lamborghinis, private jets, a billion dollar fraud. But how long can this alliance last. Tell me what you know. Is somebody coming after me? Listen to Kingdom of Fraud on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever

you get your podcasts. Thanks for listening to The Heard Podcast. Be sure to catch us live every weekday. From 12 to 3 Eastern, 9 to noon Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and FS1. Find your local station for the herd at Fox Sports Radio.com or stream us live every day on the IHeart Radio app by searching

Heard. You're listening to Fox Sports Radio. Here we go. This is the herd. Wherever you may be and however you may be listening. We are live in Los Angeles. IHeart Radio, Fox Sports Radio, and FS1. Joy Taylor is joining me. One hour from now, NBA playoffs are all set. I'll line up all the first round matchups. I'll put my opinions out there. Tape them, yell at me, scream at me. I'll line up all the first round playoff matchups in the NBA. They're all set. By the way, it took... late into the night on the West Coast to get the Western Conference figured out.

It's a crazy night. Joey, how are you? I'm great. How are you? Good morning. Good morning. Good morning. You know when I was in my 20s, friends meant a lot. And I still have good friends. I have really, really good friends. I've had the same seven, eight people in my life for like 30 years. My parking garage is full. There's no spaces available. I got great friends. But I wouldn't jump in front of a car to save a friend. I would for a family. I'd tell my friend, you're going to get hit by a car. You're stupid. I jump in front of a car for my family

to save my kids' lives. So would you if you have kids. Family over friends. My friends know that. They wouldn't jump in front of a car for me either if they got kids and a wife. Yesterday, LeBron chose friends over family. Three thousand miles. Laker House burning down. And all the young Lakers have to answer questions about LeBron. Magic quit. Jeannie's hiding. Polinka, Luke Walton, who knows there's futures. And I know all you young 20-year-olds were like, no, no, come on, man. He and Dee Wade are tight, yes. And that was a birthday party, not a funeral.

It was a celebration that LeBron could have missed. In fact, he could have done both. He could have held a press conference in L.A. from his private jet. He's made $250 million in NBA salary alone and then flown to Brooklyn or fly to Brooklyn get off a plane and go live all over Los Angeles. But the house was burning last night. fire in the basement flooding one of your kids is sick

and LeBron chose 3,000 miles away in Brooklyn with a friend at a birthday party D-Wade would have understood D-Wade's grown-up D-Wade's an adult Does LeBron get this? Does LeBron's guys Do they get this? The symbolism? The optics? LeBron with a superstar buddy. Hasn't that been the knock

all year on LeBron? Hey dude dude you may want to put one of your teammates in of these 38 projects, these were the superstar buddies, disengaging once again. If I told my wife, if we had a crisis in my house, a crisis in my house, one of the kids was in the hospital, we just had police, we had a break in. And I told my wife, I love you, baby, my friends have a birthday party. We are tight. I'll get back. She would change the locks on the doors and she should. Family over friends. And here's the big problem. problem. LeBron considers D. Wade family, not the Lakers. So in LeBron's mind, he did choose family.

And that's why this year has been an utter disaster. He has never committed to his teammates. He's never committed. And once he got hurt and was no longer playing with them for three hours a night, he had no relationship with any of them. Yesterday, they're all standing up there, the Kyle Kuzmas, the Lonzo Balls, the Josh Harts, the kids, and they're answering questions about LeBron James. Not right. Family over friends. Yesterday was a perfect moment for LeBron to swoop in, put on the Superman cape, and all the critics like me who have questioned his leadership, hold a press conference 20 minutes, at LAX as you're getting on the jet.

Call the local sportscasters. call the local radio, do live for 15 minutes, and say, hey, I didn't come here just for magic. I came here to win championships. I came here for the Laker fans. I came here for the brand. I came here for the community. I'm going to live here the rest of my life. We good here.

Instead, I got a birthday party 3,000 miles away. Which, of course, Dwayne Wade would have totally understood because Dwayne Wade, one of the great things about him, he's always been about family first. Left briefly to Chicago, felt guilty, got right back. Family matters. But in LeBron's world, Chris Paul, Mello, Deweigh, their family. Lakers, these are my friends, kind of, you know. And that's why this has never worked. And that's why it will not work here unless LeBron puts his arms around young guys.

Yesterday was a great example and a great opportunity for LeBron to talk about the future. and instead he's 3,000 miles away celebrating the past. Isn't that been the problem all year? Remarkable. I mean, just, by the way, I love D. Wade. I used to love LeBron every day. You listen to me for nine years. And I think Dwayne Wade's final game is awesome.

It's great and should be celebrated. but yesterday was the biggest Laker crisis in maybe a decade, if for no other reason, the symbolism and the optics were terrible, and it could have easily been saved. Let me shift to this. A lot of good stuff today. Last night was the last game for Dirk and D-Waid. One of the things I love about sports,

I love how it's gotten smarter over the last 10 years. Analytics. Now, I believe in analytics and analytics. I want data. I want to be smarter. That's why Belichick remains the king. Nick Saban remains the king. Belichick's Andy Reid, Sean Payton.

They believe in taking care of the guys. But analytics matter. Analytics are just data that makes it easier to win. Now, people will argue Duane Wade is the better player than Dirk Novitsky. And I'm not interested in that argument. But I will tell you this. If they both entered the league today, you would draft Dirk Nowitzky and he would be the better player. It is a shooter's league. And he is the only person on the planet you can even compare to Kevin Durant. Basketball has changed. It used to be about power. It used to be about intensity.

It used to be about winning the rebounding battle. It used to be about toughness. Now, length and shooting and spacing. And the three greatest big shooters in league history are Larry Bird, Dirk Novitsky, and Kevin Durant. If they came out today, by the way, this is why the process in Philadelphia, six years and one playoff series win, because they drafted a bunch of big guys and Ben Simmons that can't shoot. This is why Golden States rebuild worked. They got Steph Curry, Clay Thompson, then acquired Kevin Durant, all great shooters. It's why the Celtics rebuild has been better than the Sixers rebuild,

because they got enough shooters, one or two. Sixers have really none that they've drafted. There's a college football player coming out in the draft. It works this way in all sports. His name is Noah Fant. He plays for Iowa. He's a tied end. 20 years ago, Noah Fants are third, fourth, fifth round pick because he can't block.

Now, Noah Fant's going to be a top 10, 12 pick. And mark my words, he's going to be an uncoverable monster in the NFL. He's too fast for linebackers and too big for corners and safeties. Noah Fant is going to eat the NFL up. I mean like gronk eat it up. He's going to be unstoppable. Ten years ago, you'd say, skinny, can't block.

Not a good enough blocker. By the way, in Major League Baseball, home runs, strikeouts, that's what it's about. Nobody cares about, like, average. Gary Sanchez is a catcher for the Yankees. Gary Sanchez is a lousy defensive catcher. But Gary Sanchez can hit. He jacks out about 35 a year. And why?

Because analytics have changed. Because it's all about dingers. It's all about jacks. It's all about power. It's all about home runs. It's not about average. It's about knock it out of the park. So Gary Sanchez, 20 years ago,

yeah, 20 years ago, your catcher had to be Johnny Bench. If he could hit it was great. Tight ends had to be blockers first and then pass catchers. Now, forget about blocking. In the NBA today, Dirk Novitsky. in a second over D. Wade. Dirk Novitsky is one of those guys who had a great career. It would have been significantly greater.

And he'd come into the NBA today. You'd have to take him over D. Wade. Now, D. Wade's more lovable and huggable, and he won titles with Shack. We watched his college basketball career. So we loved D. Wade from the very beginning. Then he coupled up with Pat Ryan. He had a lot to love about him.

He's a good guy. He's a good guy. Dirk played in Germany. We didn't watch them in high school. We didn't watch them in college. Dallas had a lot of bad teams invisible. Marcellus Wiley talked about this yesterday on Speak for Yourself. Dirk overweight if they came into the league today.

The thing is that's tough for Dwayne Wade is someone already did what you did, M.J. And someone was doing what you're doing, Kobe. And then it's like it's tougher to just say I'm all in on you, Dwayne Wade, when I saw that. seeing that. We didn't see Dirk before. We've never seen Dirk before. And I think because of that uniqueness, it kind of tilts it towards him. Yeah. Everybody in the world

today is trying to find Dirk Nevitzky. Every scout in the world is anybody got a seven-footer who can hit threes better than our guards and is athletic? Dirk's the only thing on the planet that's ever been close to Kevin Durant. Now, he's not as good as Kevin Durant

because he's not as good a defender or he's not as athletic. But today they came out. It's the same with Noah Fanon, Iowa. It's the same with Gary Sanchez for the Yanks. Analytics has changed how the value of individuals. Dirk today, coming out. My God. I mean, if he was coming out with Zion, ask yourself.

There would be people arguing for Dirk over Zion, and I'm not sure they're wrong. I'm not sure they're wrong. Coming up, you think they hate me in Ohio. Oh, Lord. Oh, Lord. it's going to get really bad. It's not going to be great next if you're from Ohio. But it's only honest.

It's honesty. What do we always say about honesty on this show? It's the best policy. I think we came up with that. Take credit for that. So that's coming up. Doug Gottlieb, Joy, Hurdline News, too. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific.

On Fox Sports Radio, FS1, and the IHeard Radio app. By the- 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,

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Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hardway with me, your host, and your favorite therapist, Kear Games. And in recognition of mental health awareness month, I'm bringing over a decade of my own experience in the mental health field and conversations with so many incredible guests. I'm talking, Tripp Fontaine, Ryan Clark. Sometimes when we're in the pursuit of the thing, we get so wrapped up in the chase

that we don't realize that we are in possession of the thing and we're still chasing it and we don't know when we've done enough because people scoreboard watch. Life becomes about wins and losses. Steve Burns, Dustin Ross, you find it important to be a good person while you hear on earth? Are you a good person because you're afraid?

Because that's two different intentions, bro. Absolutely. And that's two different levels of trust. I want you to just really be a good person. Join me, Kear Gaines, as we have real conversations about healing, growth, fatherhood, pressure, and purpose on my new podcast, Learn the Hardway. Open your free, Our Heart Radio app.

Search Learn the Hardway and listen now. Jacob Kingston grew up in an isolated polygamous sect. We were God's chosen kingdom on earth. He felt destined for greatness. So when a swaggering Armenian businessman catapults Jacob into an extraordinary world, he doesn't look back. Ferraris and Lamborghinis, private jets, meeting the president of Turkey. I'm Michelle McPhee, and this is one of the most shocking criminal conspiracies I've ever come across. When Jacob met Levant this 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 podcasts.

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

Like, it didn't make sense in my brain. It's hard to be in spaces that no one looks like you, but don't ever feel like you don't belong. Don't let that be the reason you don't do it. An Olympic champs Gabby Thomas and Katie Ladecki. 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 IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcast. for wherever you get your podcasts. Presented by Capital One, founding partner of IHeart Women's Sports. Discover alert you if you want to find a social security number on one of those risky websites.

Discover sees your name, your number, your social security number on it. They alert you free for card member. Sign up, Discover.com slash free alerts, limitations apply. I don't like me much in Ohio because I, unlike the rest of the American media and people, you know, with mostly a brain, do not think because Odell Beckham's sign with the Browns, and because they were seven and nine last year, they're going to take the NFL over. Zaney, I think they're just collecting talent. They were seven and nine last year.

I think they'll be about nine and seven this year, as long as O'Dell Beckham stays healthy, but they've got a rookie head coach. And frankly, again, they're really good at skill positions. We'll see how it works out. They're in a division with really well-run organizations, Baltimore and Pittsburgh, who I think have a chance to both finish ahead of them. Baker Mayfield took a shot at me the other day. Very hurtful, very painful for me to endure.

As I came out and said, nobody's going to be honest about Cleveland. This thing could be a dumpster fire. Baker Mayfield fired a shot, said, come to Cleveland and ask, oh, if he actually likes it. Your source is full of BS and while you're at it, come see if I'm a baby. What I said is he's a kid.

He's a baby. Second year in the league. He's very young, not like an infant. Very, very hurtful, very, very painful. And then, you know, Cleveland's so gassed up now. I just can't get over themselves. I mean, they've already scheduled a Super Bowl parade. A couple days ago, there was a Fox Sports had a Twitter poll on the best fan base.

So we put it out there. It's a Twitter poll. And you might as well have called this the most insecure fan base poll. Because the finalists were Tennessee and Cleveland, insecure NFL fan bases who want everybody to think they're great fans. Neither is a top 10 fan base, in my opinion. Let me give you some images, let's say with the Pittsburgh Steelers over the Cleveland Browns in terms of fan participation. The Pittsburgh Steelers lead the NFL in tickets sold for visiting teams.

The terrible tell. Maybe you've seen it at Super Bowls, where they've literally turned Super Bowls, which are supposed to be neutral fields into home field advantages for the Pittsburgh Steelers. No team in the NFL, it's almost collegiate. In fact, it is, travels to as many road games as Steelers. Nobody's close in the NFL. Steeler Nation. Steeler Nation.

By the way, several years ago, in San Diego, the Chargers hosted the Steelers. Philip Rivers, San Diego's quarterback, had to go to a silent count at home because there were so many Steeler fans in San Diego. There are images of Cleveland Brown fans, too. Empty seats, bags on their head, and a bunch of guys from Lima, Ohio in the end zone wearing masks and barking about nine Budweiser's in. So I don't buy that Cleveland has the best fans. I think Cleveland has low self-esteem with its football franchise. So does Tennessee. So they rush to a Twitter poll and fill it out.

If I had to list a top 10 fan base, and I would use a series of things to determine what it is. I think there are certain things that matter. Loyalty, size, are you willing to sit in crappy weather? Have you been loyal for 20 years? What is your impact? Do you literally change audibles? Do you force teams to play differently?

Things that matter. Loyalty, size, consistent support, impact. Here's the best, to me, the best fan bases in the NFL, number one, Pittsburgh, and I'm not even sure it's close. The size is massive. They're willing to sit in crappy weather. It's one of the loudest stadiums. They've been loyal for 30-plus years. They travel better than anybody and turn Super Bowls into home field advantages.

Steelers, number one. Number two is Green Bay. Now, again, massive national size, one of the louder stadiums. They're loyal for even bad teams. It's a loud stadium, not the loudest, not New Orleans or Seattle, but major impact. I'd say Philadelphia is the most underrated their third. It could be after New Orleans, the loudest stadium in the NFL. The fan base is more regional than national, but, I mean, they had to put a jail in the bottom of their stadium.

They get rowdy, they get loud, and it's an intimidating place to play. I'd put Denver four. Again, because they're in the Rocky Mountains, nobody can even figure out the time zone. They have been filling stadiums forever. I grew up as a kid. The one place you didn't want my Seahawks to go was Denver. You couldn't hear. An unbelievably loyal fan base and a massive regional fan base.

In the Rockies, they are the team of note. The Cowboys would be number five. It's the largest fan base in the country. But they're not that loyal. It's kind of corporate. They go to a stadium and they're not that. loud. When's the last time anybody went to Dallas and said, I can't hear in here. It's just so loud. I've got, it's not that loud. But it's massive in terms of size. I don't think it's loyal either.

If the Cowboys stunk for five years, the crowds would shrink. I'd put Kansas City number six, loud. It's just not a very big fan base. It's in Kansas City. You don't see a lot of Kansas City chiefs hats around the country. That size isn't very big. But it's one of the loudest stadiums. Arrowhead has loyal fan bases. Those people sit through hail. storms. They get the worst winter. Forget snow. They get hail storms. They get lightning strikes and they just sit there. I'd say

the Saints are 7. Again, it's a small fan base. It's mostly regional. It's the loudest stadium in the NFL. It changes the way you have to attack the Saints when you go down in New Orleans. That's why nobody wants to go to New Orleans in play. It changes game plans. Loyal

for the most part. They've had a little Cleveland in them where there were empty seats and bags on the heads. I would put number eight Seattle, second loudest NFL stadium. They have something called the 12th man for a reason. The weather is also a big advantage. People sit through rain. I've been one of them. You don't see a lot of snow, but it's sopping wet for about six of those home games and raining sideways. I'd put Chicago at nine, regional national fan base. Some people will argue it's a little low, but I've seen empty seats through the years. But in terms of pregame,

post-game, celebration, media coverage, intensity and willingness to be in bad weather. Plus, it's soldiers loud. And number 10, I'd say Buffalo. To sit through all that bad football for most of the last 20 years, I just think you owe them the responsibility of being on this list. Maybe they, I mean, the parking lot stuff is legendary on the Internet. Those are the 10 best fan bases in the National Football League. Tennessee's not in the top 20.

And Cleveland, you've got to get. give me a break. I know everybody's telling you, Odell Beckham and seven and nine throw a parade, Marty Grau. Slow down a little Cleveland. Slow down a little Cleveland. We're not, we're not pretending you don't exist. We all just are considering your owner, your coach, we're considering your history, the youth of your quarterback, Odell Beckham's injury history. We're all just like pump the brakes a little. You don't, by the way, have the best team in your own. own division, nor do you have the best fan base. They are very loyal.

I've seen a lot of empty seats. The ones that are there are very loyal. I mean, listen, I'm from Pittsburgh, so I have no reason to say anything nice about Cleveland, as I always tell you. Can you imagine me tell my wife, listen, I cheated on you, but when I'm there, I'm loyal. You know, listen, I'm half the nights I sleep somewhere else. But, you know, when I'm home, you're the only one for me. Who wants to go?

It's Cleveland. Like, there's not that much going on. They're there. they go to games. Not as much as sure. And to their credit, they have not put a good product out there for a very long time.

And they're just excited that they have a quarterback and they have Odo Beckham Jr. and Jarvis Landry. Green Bay had 20 years of nothing. That place is, they're expanding their stadium now. That poll, did the Cowboys get out of the first round of that poll? I mean, I know we're tough on the Cowboys, but the Cowboys have the biggest brand in all of sports. Yeah, they have the biggest fan base,

but it's very corporate. I don't think it's as loyal. and it's never, Dallas is not a loud stadium. It's a cool stadium. Well, I wouldn't say that the environment there is vicious. It's not an intimidating place to play. Not Kansas City. But I would say, I think Cowboys fans probably need to be a little higher up

because it is the biggest brand in all of sports. Like not just the biggest brand in all of sports. You're big. Any league all over the world. Gigantic. No, literally it is. I said that's why I put them in the top five. Their size is great.

But loyalty, passion, intention, Anthony impact. I'm just glad that you recognized that Pittsburgh is the best. That's all. I did. Joy with the news. No.

No. No. This is the herd line news. So the space jam two rumors continue. I'm going to have to, actually, before I continue with the story,

I'm going to have to put it as homework for you that you watch the space jam. Okay. Within the next two years, you have to watch space jam. Oh, okay. Well, that's, I've been one.

I watched three episodes of billions last night. I'll get to it. It's not a rough watch. space jam so you know just take an afternoon you know maybe watch it with your son just for research purposes you need to be able to talk about it so according to the Hollywood reporter some of the league stars won't be joining LeBron in the film they noted under armor athlete Steph Curry and Adidas's James Hardin likely won't

be in because of shoe rivalries that's how deep this goes yeah the Nike is essential to the space jam franchise so yeah Kevin Durant would be an obvious choice but he likely won't be in the movie either because he is pursuing his own Hollywood efforts. Well, yeah, his brand is called something, something, media 35, or something. He's got his own Hollywood deal. So he's likely not going to be in the movie.

So who's going to be on the space jam team then? So there's Kyrie. It's a possibility. Paul George, Westbrook. How about Kyle Kuzma? Kyle Kuzma is with Nike? Well, how about Lonzo Ball? How about a teammate?

I don't think Lonzo signed with Nike yet. Okay. But, but, speaking of teammates, Anthony Davis is with Nike. and he's also with clutch. God. The report also says that LeBron's family life will be a more central focus of the movie

than a large cast of NBA stars. Now, I like that. I like that. So LeBron's family's part of it. Then I'll watch it. I'm very interested to see the... I'm into LeBron's family. I like that. The storyline of this movie is

because it's not really a sequel. I don't know. We'll see. So Kevin Durant gave us lots of content in December when he decided to call the environment around LeBron toxic. Yes. Which fueled some speculation to the Lakers. could miss out on signing some top free agents this summer. Well, during his exit interview with reporters yesterday,

Lonzo Ball pushed back on KD's comments. It was a dream come true with me. Hopefully I couldn't play more games with him. But I was watching him my whole life. It's everything I thought it would be. He's a great, not only great basketball player, but just a person. Looked out him like a big brother. And, you know, obviously, his IQs off the chart,

so he's not hard to play with it at all. Now, I think it's, I go with KD on this. I think it's viewed as toxic to a lot of people in the league, executives, coaches. It's a very strong word. It is. It is. Which I do not like to throw around in the sports atmosphere lightly. Because there are a lot of, there are a lot of very toxic environments.

I don't know that magic quitting had anything specifically to do with LeBron. Although, you know, I guess you could say that the environment as a whole is LeBron. I think the Lakers are dysfunctional, not toxic. Yes. So when you put a little... That is the word I would use. There are some sports franchises out there that I, I would quickly label as a toxic environment,

as not good for anyone that works there. Nix. Nix for years was toxic. Yes, there's several others that you could easily label as that. But Lanzo clearly had a, well, I don't know if it's clearly, but he's saying that he had a good experience. I don't know the reason he has to lie at this point. By the way, I have a good KD scoop next hour.

Got a little info last night on KD. Fascinating info. Big J journalism? Small J. Okay. And finally, Jack Del Rio is making a lot of comments this week. And after talking about Russell, Del Rio was asked about Antonio Brown.

He said, I love the talent that Antonio Brown has clearly shown that he's going to be a pain in the ass. Those aren't the things that are indicative of a good teammate. The working hard of being good player definitely helps the team, which is why I'll continue to get chances to be special until his skills deteriorate. That's when people will get tired of him. It's a bit strong. This is one of these. I would rather be right than first.

I think it could be a problem. Here's the thing. I think that everything that's going on with the Steelers and Antonio Brown and the back and forth, and there's a whole lot more, which we'll get to later. There's more, you know, I wouldn't say bickering, but shots being thrown back and forth between the Steelers and former Steelers and Antonio Brown. And it looks like a mess. But I think that it's just the offseason.

There's still a little bit of emotions going on here. Once the season starts and he is fully invested in the Raiders and the Steelers are doing what they do, all this is going to go away. I don't really see how a talent, like I think we're all forgetting what Antonio Brown's talent level is. No, he's great. And when Derek Carr is healthy,

he is actually also a very talented quarterback. I think they're going to have a good season this year. And I think it was the right move for the Raiders and clearly it was the right move for the Steelers. I'm giving the Steelers the edge right now. Getting him out and getting two draft picks. Oh, no. They did not lose in this situation.

I mean, they lost an incredible talent, obviously, and those draft picks could end up being nothing. But clearly this situation was too top. for both sides to continue. So it was the right mode. Join with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by.

The Hurdline news. Let's bring on the Dougger-Duggettlyb show. Fox Sports Radio right after mine. 3-6 Eastern and noon 2-3 Pacific podcast on the Herd and Podcast Network, all ball with Doug Gottlieb. All right, by the way, the whole toxic thing with LeBron James, what do you make of that? Well, we're to begin here.

Okay. So they go from 17 and 10 on a trajectory to be a, top three seed in the playoffs. And then a litany of injuries. And upon his return, they lose to three or four of the worst teams in the NBA. He doesn't sit with the team. During injury, he didn't work out with the team. The coach, his job is very much up in the air.

The general manager, who is, inarguably, the greatest Laker of all time, walked in and quit the last, before the last game of the season. Free agents apparently don't want to go there, even though it's L.A. and the Lakers, and they have plenty of money to spend. They got a lot of money. And that's not toxic. By definition, what is happening with the Los Angeles Lakers has a high level of toxicity. Like, Kevin Durant could not have nailed it. In addition, what he was actually talking about was how he's covered, which is accurate, where everyone else has gotten the blame.

Everyone else falls on a sword. Rob Polink is probably going to get fired. Magic fired himself. Jeannie Bus, people are like, she doesn't know what he's doing. Luke Walton's going to get fired. All of these players are going to be gone. No one blames LeBron James. Well, LeBron got hurt.

Okay, fine. The point is that when he was back, they lost to Memphis. They lost to Phoenix. Like, he did play in these games. Yeah, they were bad. And receives very little, if any, of the blame. It's toxic. It's a toxic environment.

And it wasn't toxic before LeBron James arrived. They created a space for him to create a new team. So Kevin Grant nailed it. And that's the main reason why players want to stay away. Kyrie Irving didn't dislike playing with LeBron James. Like LeBron would give Kyrie the freedom to take it. It was Kyrie's best basketball. It's all the rest.

It's all the rest of the stuff. It's just not fun to go to work. You know, I had a source within the Miami Heat said this one time. LeBron's made $260 million playing basketball. And one of the Miami, and I heard this before LeBron left Miami, that they said, LeBron's guys are working you for every nickel. They think you're fighting him.

And it's like, bro, we're all family here. You don't argue about nickels and dimes with family. We're all good here. That LeBron's group, sometimes you feel like you're fighting them, not working with them. You're on eggshells. And I like the guys in LeBron's group. I like Rich Paul. You're trying to get into the space jam?

You're trying to be the Jim Rome character. LeBron, what was that? Oh, you haven't seen the movie. space change. You don't know a small cameo. I do believe, like for instance, there's rumors today about Kobe taking over the Lakers. No chance. That's not going to happen, Ryan. No chance.

Kobe is done with basketball. Kobe's brilliant. Like, again, think of how we look at Magic Johnson now. Right? Think of how we look at Magic Johnson now. Almost like a clown-like character, right, where he tries to convince us that his smile, I want to get back to being Magic Johnson like, dude, wait a second. Now

we start to go, wait. Magic failed as a coach. Magic failed as a talk show host. Magic. failed twice as an analyst twice NBC and ESPN. He was awful as analyst. But based upon what happened last, now we almost clown magic. Listen, for people who aren't old enough to remember, Magic Johnson is arguably the greatest player of all time. There is an argument to be made.

He is the greatest player of all time. The gap between Michael and Magic has always been way closer. He got to nine finals. Now, he didn't win them all because there was another dynasty on the other coast. Two on the other coast. he was fighting off the Twin Towers in Houston. Yeah, it was... Clyde Drexler and the Portland Trailblazers.

And, of course, his career was cut short because he contracted the HIV, right? So, look, Matt Johnson is arguably, I don't believe he is, but there's an argument to be made there. He's the greatest player of all time. And he and Larry Bird saved the NBA. Yeah, that's the greatest Laker of all time. Yeah. He had the most dynamic personality we had ever seen on a basketball floor. I can still argue it's the best ever.

Because he came back, and look, this is the job he wanted. Remember, he stabbed Jim Bus in the back on national TV time and again saying he wanted to run the Lakers. And he did, and he's run them off the road. But Kobe's brilliant. Right now, Kobe is viewed as the greatest Laker of all the time. There's still people clamoring for Kobe to come back. Kobe was ever bit the disaster, the PR disaster signing that terrible contract with the late Dr. Jerry Bus, when he was coming off of Achilles tendon surgery.

But because the last time he stepped on the floor in a lake, He scored 60 points and then had a great speech and said, Mamba out. Like, Kobe's brilliant, dude. The Polinka thing's not going to work. He doesn't want to be a part of it. He wants to be a movie and book and digital kind of icon. That's what he wants to be Quincy Jones. He doesn't want any part of this.

Well, that's a good guy to want to be. Yeah, yeah. It's like, look, I've done that. I've moved up. Whether he emotionally has moved on, he's going to lead you to believe, yes, because he looks at Madge Johnson. like, dude, they're killing magic. What would they do to me if it doesn't work with LeBron?

And by the way, every time LeBron fails, Kobe Bryant looks better. All right. Stay here. Doug Gottlie, back in a second. Got a lot of things to ask him about, including who will take over the Lakers. Dirk and Wade, if they were coming out today, more with Doug in a second. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific. Last night, a blown call changed the game.

This morning, the internet lost its mind. Highlights are trending, opinions are flying, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where SportsSlice comes in. I'm Timbo. Every episode, we're cutting through the noise, breaking down the plays, the controversies, and the stories behind the headlines. We go straight to the source, the athlete themselves, their locker room stories, their reactions, the stuff nobody gets to hear.

The laughs, the drama, the triumphs, the moments that never make the highlight real. From viral moments to historic games, from buzzer beaters to controversial calls, we break it down, give you context and ask the questions everybody wants answered. Sports Slice brings you closer to the action with stories told by the people who live them. Listen to Sports Slice on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Slic Life 12 and the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hardway with me, your host, and your favorite therapist, Kier Games.

And in recognition of mental health awareness month, I'm bringing over a decade of my own experience in the mental health field and conversations. with so many incredible guests. I'm talking. Tripp Fontaine, Ryan Clark. Sometimes when we're in the pursuit of the thing, we get so wrapped up in the chase that we don't realize that we are in possession of the thing

and we're still chasing it and we don't know when we've done enough because people scoreboard watch. Life becomes about wins and losses. Steve Burns, Dustin Ross, because you find it important to be a good person while you hear on earth? Are you a good person because you're afraid?

Because that's two different intentions, bro. Absolutely. And that's two different levels of trust. I want you to just really be a good person. Join me, Keir Gaines, is we have real conversations about healing, growth, fatherhood, pressure, and purpose on my new podcast, Learn the Hard Way. Open your free iHeartRadio app. Search Learn the 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 Levin 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 podcasts. Life throws hurdles big and small. The question is, how do you conquer them? On Hurtle with Emily Abadi, we sit down with the most inspiring women in sports and wellness. athletes, coaches, and Olympic champions to talk about the challenges that shaped them and the mindset that keeps them going from the WNBA standout Kate Martin and rising hockey star Layla Edwards.

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

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

I imagine Doug Gottlieb joining us. I did not love LeBron yesterday skipping out. I think he could have literally done a press conference for 15 minutes, gone live on L.A. radio or something, done something, because the franchise was in a free-for-all and nobody showed up. No Polinka, no magic, no genie. What did you make of nobody? I mean, basically, Kyle Coosbe, you're the franchise.

Answer questions. It was remarkable. Optically, I thought it was a disaster. It's one of the more, if not the most embarrassing. part of this season for LeBron because the Lakers are yearning for leadership. Oh, God, they're dying for it. They're dying for leadership. And he offers no clear desire to be a leader, right?

He just doesn't. Now, look, I understand this is classic LeBron James, where he'll never get a coach or general manager fired, but he could get them not fired, right? Like, sure. Whatever happened with David Griffin in Cleveland, and he leaks out that he was unhappy. with it. Like, look, if you walk in and you go like, hey, guess what? You fire David Griffin. I'm not playing. Guess who's not getting fired? Right. Correct? Yeah. So, uh, this was his opportunity and he chose, and I think he believes Dwayne Wade's family. Like they, he is,

their family. And he chose family over the place of work, which I understand. Okay. But when, you know, when the house is on fire, grab a bucket or you can go running down the street. He was, he was more like, do you remember the Kastanza scene when people are running out with the fire? And, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, there's video of it. And so instead of helping the women and children, he's running over them, that's essentially what LeBron James did. He was George Costanza when somebody yelled fire running out of the building,

pushing people out of the way, instead of helping. All he had to do was show up and be a good soldier. By the way, he still probably could have made the game. Like, that's the truth. He could have shown up early, answered questions, been a leader, gone out to private airport or to L-A-X and

flowing on a G-5, and made it there in time for the conclusion of the game. He could have. Even if he didn't want to, I think if you look at this year, you would have just done it saying, like his guys would have called him and said, listen, this is a great opportunity. Like just, correct. Sometimes.

Be an opportunist. Yeah. Like even if you were a phony. Yes. If you were just fake and inauthentic, you'd be like, you know, I'm just going to do this. It's going to save me some heat for the next eight days on my brand. Sometimes, and by the way, you know how I am with authenticity, be who you are. there are times you say certain things to certain people because it's not mean it's the right thing it makes people feel good there are times i've said things to people that i'm like this is a moment where this person needs support they need a hug they need a love it's not i'm not being totally honest of what i think but there are moments when you jump in with a life preserver and save people i thought the lakers should have been saved yesterday okay by the way we're talking about this uh i think historically people will say wade's career is better than dirk's career is that fair i think wade's career will be

seen as bigger. Yes. Obviously, it's helped out greatly by LeBron. Yeah, and in Shaq. And Shaq. And, and... And Shaq. But, yes. Today they're on the market. Both enter the league today. I'm taking Dirk Novitsky. I'm taking Dwayne Wade. Oh!

And I'll tell you why. I want to hear this. Well, look, there's a reason that Dirk, who is a great player, and one of the top two or three foreign-born players, maybe the best ever European-born player to ever play in the NBA. I think so, yeah.

Would not be ahead of Dwayne Wade. He's never been a great defensive player. No. And who does he guard now in the NBA? Remember, like, look, Tim Duncan, I don't know what Tim Duncan is now in the NBA as opposed to what he used to be, right? Nobody posts up anymore. He was really a center

back then. It's funny. That people will they'll sling arrows at you saying that. But the reality is Carl Anthony Towns is so great, but he was born in the wrong decade. Carl Anthony Towns in the 80s would be an our center. Now sometimes I think he gets lost. Anthony Davis. I don't know if Carl Anthony

Towns is, I think Anthony Davis and Carl Anthony Towns, they are versatile enough that they can't, because they can shoot, they can face the basket, they can't, and they have great feet. They are really good in this era. I think Carl Anthony Towns's reason he wouldn't be great in a previous era is everybody doesn't think he's tough. Everybody thinks he's not about winning and he's about all the other things. So Dirk, you don't think would be the bigger? No, look, there's a reason they've lost seven times in the first round. in the playoffs because he's not a great passer and he's not a great defender. He's an incredible shooter, an incredible shotmaker, and a great dude.

But in this day and age in the NBA, if you're not a shot blocking big guy, you've got to be able to guard one through four. Dwayne Wade can. Dwayne Wade's more, he's the Derek Jeter of basketball. Was Derek Jeter the best player in baseball? Maybe one year. He didn't have the best range. Okay.

But when the game is on the line, there's only one guy you wanted that ball hit too. There was only one guy you wanted at bat. When the game is on the line, I would, Dwayne Wade, I would take Dwayne Wade over most anybody in the NBA. He was more clutch than good. Like he was always, Derek Jeter was always really, really good. But he had this seeming ability to dial up his greatness when greatness was called upon, competitive greatness. And Dwayne Wade had that. And Dwayne Wade was a versatile defender.

Was he ever a good shooter? No. But even though the NBA does value shooting, because you now can put shooting all over the floor, it allows for great. And you've got to be great at drivers, getting by your man, guys that can get to the cup. And he could get by seemingly everybody. And then he had the ability to be a big shot maker. I would take Dwayne Wade. And I would take Dwayne Wade because of his defensive versatility, his toughness, and his competitive greatness.

By the way, I heard a little thing yesterday. So there's a sense that Kevin Durant's. Leaving. Small J. Small J journalism. But I trust the person. Yes. So leaving Kevin Durant, leaving to New York, and somebody said, be careful. When Kevin came to Golden State, the pitch by Joe Lacob, who is a venture capitalist with a lot of money in tech, was a young man I'm going to open doors, no other owner will open. And a friend yesterday told me, he said, he's in the venture capital space.

He goes, Kevin is in on all the right companies up there. James Dolan's not getting them in those companies. That Joe Lacob has gotten Steph and Kevin Durant, the kind of opportunities in tech where they'll be billionaires potentially. And that was the sales pitch that nobody talked about. And we all think Kevin Durant wants to go to Hollywood, and he's got a Hollywood company. But he's going to make a billion dollars in his tech investments because Lakeb.

And James Dolan is more into his own band. And this is the hidden secret sauce in him staying in Golden State. Okay, can I give you my own small, Jay? All right. Okay, I've been told that this is big for the league to fix the Knicks. What do you mean? The league, the NBA needs Kevin Durant with the New York Knicks. Remember, his business partner who's gotten him in all those business deals,

is Rich Climond, who's based in New York City. And remember, the New York Knicks have black president, black general manager, black head coach, and even though James Dolan is roundly despised in the business, he really has nothing to do with the basketball business. And the guys that do are all really well respected within NBA circles. And in Mills, Fisdale. Yes, okay, and in with the head of the NBA. And so while all of that makes sense and being in the tech center of the world does all make sense.

And they're moving to San Francisco. All that's great. The fact is the NBA needs the New York Knicks to be fixed. the NBA needs. Yeah, but Adam Silver can't have his hands on that. He doesn't have to have his hands on it, right? He doesn't, no one has to have their hands on it. It's just a general sense of like, look, we want this to work.

We need this to work. It all makes sense that it works. And the guy who fixed the New York Knicks, the guy who takes them back to the promise language, they haven't been since the early 1970s. We'll think about Linsanity. Two weeks. That's all was. Two weeks.

And he was a legend. Imagine Kevin Durant. I think the sales pitch is even greater. and he still has those business ties with Rich Climman, who's his partner in crime. He has the TV show with him, and he's based in New York City. Kevin, it's very nice weather in the Bay Area.

There's just that. It's not nice weather. What is the nice weather? What was the same? The coldest summer I remember was the summer spent, coldest winter I remember is the summer in San Francisco? All right, got to get out of here. Gottlie show after us, The Herd.

One more Herd? The Herd streams 24 hours a day, seven days a week within the I-Hart Radio app. Search Herd to live. in live or on demand whenever you'd like. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind. Highlights are trending, opinions are flying,

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

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

everybody wants answered. SportsLice brings you closer to the action with stories told by the people who live them. Listen to SportsSlice on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Sliced Life 12 in the TikTok podcast network on TikTok.

Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hardway with me, your host, and your favorite therapist. Kier Games. And in recognition of mental health awareness month, I'm bringing over a decade of my own experience in the mental health field and conversations with so many incredible guests. I'm talking. Trip Fontaine, Ryan Clark. Sometimes when we're in the pursuit of the thing, we get so wrapped up in the chase that we don't realize that we are in possession of the thing. And we're still chasing it. And we don't know when we've done enough. Because people scoreboard watch.

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

pressure, and purpose on my new podcast, Learn the Hard Way. Open your free iHeartRadio app. Search Learn the Hardway and listen now. Jacob Kingston grew up in an isolated polygamous sex. 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 podcasts. Life throws hurdles big and small. The question is, how do you conquer them? On Hurtle with Emily Abadi, we sit down with the most inspiring women in sports and wellness, professional athletes, coaches, and Olympic champions to talk about the challenges that shaped them and the mindset that keeps them going. From the WNBA standout Kate Martin and rising hockey star Layla Edwards.

If a boy can do it, I don't see why a girl can't. Like, I've never understood that. Like, it didn't make sense in my brain. It's hard to be in spaces that no one looks like you, but don't ever feel like you don't belong. Don't let that be the reason you don't do it. An Olympic champs Gabby Thomas and Katie Ladecki. 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 IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts for wherever you get your podcasts. Presented by Capital One, founding partner of IHeart Women's Sports.

Hour 2 live in L.A. Here we go. This is The Heard. Wherever you may be and however you may be listening. Again, live in Los Angeles, IHeart Radio, Fox Sports Radio, and FS1. Joy Taylor is joining me for Hour 2. Rick Buecker, Bill Plashke, the L.A. Times will join us. It's great to have you. It was a wild day yesterday on the show. I mean, magic night before, step down, mayhem, circus. last night still repercussions in LA it's all anybody's talking about it's wild and crazy but also last night Joy the last night of the NBA regular season and if you live out east there's a lot of stuff that happened late last night

so now Oklahoma City ends up finishing with a sixth not an eighth seed very close I don't have to face the Warriors good for OKC Portland won they were trying to lose they weren't playing anybody but they won they went from a four seed to a three seed I'm not sure that's good for Portland. Houston Rockets, two seed to a four seed, not good for Houston because they have a tough opening draw. So I thought I would go west to east, and I would give you my belief, kind of my opinion. I watch a lot of NBA. I got my season pass on what I think's going to transpire in the first round of the NBA playoffs. Little music maestro, and here we go. Let's start

in the West. The Warriors, the number one seed, take on the Clippers, the number eight C. The Warriors have won 16 of the last 18 games against the Clippers. They absolutely own them. psychologically. This is also a game in which you've got two teams that can hit threes. The Warriors are the best three-ball shooting team in league history and number one in three percentage this year. Guess who's number two? The Clippers. The Clippers mostly played their butts off, had great chemistry, and I think that matters a lot in the regular season. You know, let's be honest, a lot of the star-driven teams kind of mailed in parts of the regular season. But once you get to the playoffs, and I get the Warriors talent and their urgency, they'll get rid of the Clippers,

probably in four games. The Clippers are a great story. I think they're going to be better next year, but their big advantage this year was effort, and that dies in the playoffs. Warriors win easily. Next up, Rockets Jazz, best first round playoff series. Not that they'll be an upset, but I think Utah is going to win some games here. Utah is the best defensive team in the West. Quinn Snyder is arguably the best coach in the West. They have the best rim protector, Rudy Gobert in the West. What Houston doesn't have, many shooters. And that's their undoing. Houston has played very well. They split their four games this year, 2-2, and they both have the two best records in the NBA since the All-Star break. These are the most efficient teams playing

in the league right now. But the Rockets have more talent. They're 20 and 4 in their last 24. But I'll tell you, I feel bad for Utah because I really like Utah. I think you can make an argument. The best team in this league's the Warriors. The second best team is Houston. And the third best team is Milwaukee or Utah. But I just don't think they've got the ammo from the perimeter to beat the rockets. Blazers Thunder is a third seed, Oklahoma City of 6.

Now, the Thunder dominated this series. I saw a couple of games. They won four out of four games. This is all about Westbrook. if I get the efficient Westbrook, shoot 17 times, distribute to Paul George. Paul George's never been a great playoff player so far in his career. It's been a great regular season guy.

The Blazers have played very well, but they lost Nurchage to an injury. They've still gone 14 and 3 in their last 17, and C.J. McCullough is back after a knee injury. But the Thunder are a very, very, very good home team. I thought they played very well. Last four or five games down the stretch. They're healthy, they're ready to go. A lot of it's Westbrook.

I think if the Thunder win the first game or two of the series, they feel good about themselves, they go on the road, then Westbrook is not going to unravel, and I think this will be a fairly quick series. Thunder win it in five. Westbrook finally gets out of the first round. There I said it. Finally, Nugget Spurs, I think the Nuggets are a bad matchup for San Antonio.

Nuggets got nothing but guys who can hit threes. San Antonio is well coached, but mostly shoots mid-range. jumpers. The Spurs are a terrible road team. The Nuggets are a great home team without altitude. In fact, the Nuggets were 34 and 7 at home. Now, I will say this. The Nuggets great strength is their depth, but the Nuggets top three scores have never been in the playoffs. So there's a chance here where you're going to get a veteran coach against the young coach and a veteran squad against the young squad, and this gets a little uncomfortable. I think game one in the series is big. I think

the Nuggets need to win game one in this series at home feel good about themselves because I think it's going to be a little tight. I think San Antonio's got a great coach, a great staff, and they have been through these battles before. If San Antonio pulls off an upset in game one, watch out. Grab your buckets

in Denver and Bailwater because it could be a scary series, but I'll take the Spurs winning a couple, but Denver winning the series. Let's go to the east. Bucks Pistons. Wouldn't watch it if it was in my backyard. It will be a four-game sweep, It won't be close. On both ends of the floor, Milwaukee is significantly better.

The best rebounding team in the league is arguably Milwaukee. Best defensive team in the league is arguably Milwaukee. The buck swept the series. The Pistons are okay at home, dreadful on the road. They have the worst road record of any playoff team. You know, you can make an argument if you live in Michigan. You would have been better served having Detroit tank at the end of the year and get a lottery pick. They got no chance to win this series.

Blake Griffin, by the way, has had a good year. Blake's had a good year. I'm not a huge Blake Griffin fan, but he's played a lot of games. He plays a lot of minutes, but they are completely outmatched in this series. Celtics Pacers. Indiana is a great story. But once they lost Victorolo Depot, we talked about this, their ceiling got way low. They're another team like the Clippers.

They got here on effort. They bust their tail. They're well-coached. But effort is not going to win it for you in the playoffs. Because those effort nights you win 10, 12 games in the NBA. because you just work harder. In the playoffs, everybody's working hard. Celtics have won six of their last eight,

including two against Indianapolis, and the Pacers did not play well down the stretch. Listen, people figured them out. After Victor got hurt, they played well for about a month. People have figured out. They struggled to get buckets. Indiana is all about defense. So some of these games will be ugly,

but the Boston Celtics will win probably in five. All right, this one is interesting. I think we could have a potential upset here. The third-seated sixers against the six-seated nets. Here's my problem with Philadelphia. They have way better talent. But here's a problem. Tobias Harris was added in the season.

M. B. may not play this weekend. Simmons and Jimmy Butler, they haven't played enough together. They haven't played enough together. This reminds me of Duke at the end of the college basketball season. They had all these kids. They all got separately hurt. Duke just didn't have any experience playing together. Philadelphia.

split the season series with Brooklyn. Brooklyn's playing with house money. DeAngelo Russell. These guys, there's no pressure on them. The pressure is all on Philadelphia. And Philadelphia has got one playoff series win with all these guys. M. B. may not play. I don't want to call an upset because Philadelphia's talent disparity is so great in this series.

If I said take the five best players, you go M.B., Jimmy Butler, Simmons. Then you probably go DeAngelo to me. by his hairs for the five best players are with Philadelphia. But I think the Nets push back, win some games early, pressures on the Sixers. Finally, Raptors Magic. Kauai Leonard sat 22 games. There's a reason. They didn't want to get swept in the first round.

Raptors are, their best player is rested, ready to go. They're a deeper team. I don't, you know, I'll give Orlando credit. They got into the playoffs. I mean, to east, but they got into the playoffs. playoffs. They call something in the NBA win shares. Kawhi's number three in the NBA. Jordan won, LeBron, two, Kauai third. So he's on a lot of winning team. Some of that's just San Antonio, though. I think the Raptors, much like Virginia basketball off being

humiliated last year in the playoffs, will come hard. They'll be aggressive. They've got their star rested. And I think Toronto, and I think Orlando knows it. It's a two versus seven. The bottom of the east is really bad. It's really bad. Whereas the bottom of the West, San Antonio, Clippers, interesting. Clippers can hit threes. San Antonio's well coached. DeRosen and Lamarcus Alridge are stars. So there you go. I don't have any upsets. I do think Utah will make Houston uncomfortable. I think the Nets will make the Sixers very uncomfortable. Milwaukee, their biggest issue is awake. They may doze off from time to time against the Pistons in that series. That is a complete and utter mismatch. You know, I was thinking of something, you know, I'm going to save

it. Rick Bueger's up next. I saved this gym. I thought about something driving in today. Ah, heck, I'm going to do it. So I was thinking about this. I'm a big believer that if you struggle in life, it better prepares you for later in life. Failure, obst, failure, obstin. I mean, both of us, we haven't discussed this a lot, but I know enough about you and your life wasn't perfect. You've had battles, and it's made you tough. You're tough. Somebody asked me about a couple years ago what I thought of joy, and I said, joy's tough.

No, thank you. Joy's tough. She can handle herself. She's tough. And that's a big thing for me because life's about, and I didn't have a perfect childhood, blah, blah, blah. It's interesting. Magic got a lot of heat, right, this year in basketball.

He quit. I want you to think about this. Magic's basketball life. I don't want to talk about his personal life. I'm just talking basketball. High school, All-American, goes to Michigan State wins a title, number one pick, joins Kareem and the Lakers win the title. It's been a lot of success.

Not a lot of basketball court failures for Magic. LeBron got cut by his high school team. Last two years in college didn't win. win, got the you-know-what kicked out of him for six years in this league before he won, had to make his way through two dynasties, one, went to baseball, failed, came back, won, then went to Washington failed, and has struggled for Michael Jordan, Michael Jordan, despite all the six-for-six, has had nothing but obstacles to overcome. Michael gets laughed, mocked, We roll our eyes at his GM moves, at his ownership stuff.

Magic's basketball life has been virtually a book. High school, All-American, college title, number one pick, join Kareem, best brand. Not a lot of basketball court struggles. As great as Michael is, cut, two years in college didn't win. wasn't the number one pick, had that chip on his shoulder. Third pick. Beat up, physically, mentally beat up. Coaches fired.

Celtics beat him up. Pistons beat him up. Then he wins. Coach tries baseball. Sports Illustrated media laughs at him. Is that Magics had such a great basketball success story. This failure, as a coach and as a president, it's hard for him. I think it's hard.

Basketball and magic's just success, success, success, success. Michael Jordan, despite his basketball success, man, there's a lot of failures in there. There's a lot of you're not good enough. You can't beat them. You get knocked to the ground. You get drafted third. And it's just funny. I was driving to work today and I was thinking, man, if you wrote a book about just basketball,

I'm not talking about personal life, just basketball. Magic's a story. Michael's career is a road. and there were a lot of potholes and he overcame a lot of him and was told no, a lot and lost a lot and beaten up a lot. And I think it's created this thing with Michael

Jordan where he's got a real resilience running Charlotte. Michael's road is way tougher than you think in basketball. It's been way tougher than people think. And it's created a little bit of a nastiness with Michael, a toughness. I mean, I've known enough people,

and I would tell Michael to this to his face. His Hall of Fame speech was petty. It was like... I told you. Sometimes you got to wait all the way to the end to get him. It's that Andy Dufrain line? Remember that Andy Dufrain line when he had to go through the tunnel to get out? Michael's...

That tunnel for Michael was a real thing. Here's Michael Jordan's Hall of Fame speech. Do you remember this? And then there's Lerawr Smith. Now, you got to think that's a myth. Lerer Smith was a guy when I got cut. He made the team on the varsity team. And he's here tonight.

He's still the same. six, seven guy. He's not any bigger. He's probably, his game is about the same. But he started the whole process for me because when he made the team and I didn't, I wanted to prove not just to Leroy Smith, not just to myself, but to the coach who actually

picked Leroyer over me. I wanted to make sure you understood, you made a mistake, dude. And it's still part of Michael, all those failures. It's so good. I mean, it's, but it's, I mean, I'm telling you. I mean, I think sometimes we forget, A, how great magic was and how perfect it

was. His nickname is magic. He literally entered the NBA and they're like, who's your center? Kareem. I mean, Kareem was like the unstoppable force of the league. Jamal Wilkes.

Then pretty soon, it's the Lakers. The Bulls were terrible when Jordan got there. They were terrible. They were laughing stock. Did Jeannie Bus secretly want Magic out? Rick Buecker, live next. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd.

Weekdays and noon. Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific on Fox Sports Radio, FS1, and the IHeart Radio app. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind. Highlights are trending, opinions are flying, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in. I'm Timbo. Every episode, we're cutting through the noise, breaking down the plays, the controversies, and the stories behind the headlines. We go straight to the source, the athlete themselves, their locker room stories, their reactions, the stuff nobody gets to hear.

The laughs, the drama, the triumphs, the moments that never make the highlight real. From viral moments to historic games, from buzzer beaters to controversial calls, we break it down, give you context, and ask the questions everybody wants answered. Sports Slice brings you closer to the action with stories told by the people who live them.

Listen to Sports Slice on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Slices Life 12 and the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hardway with me, your host, and your favorite therapist, Kear Games. And in recognition of Mental Health Awareness Month, I'm bringing over a decade of my own experience in the mental health field and conversations with so many incredible guests.

I'm talking, Tripp Fontaine, Ryan Clark. Sometimes when we're in the pursuit of the thing, we get so wrapped up in the chase that we don't realize that we are in possession of the thing. And we're still chasing it. And we don't know when we've done enough. Because people scoreboard watch. Life becomes about wins and losses. Steve Burns, Dustin Ross,

because you find it important to be a good person while you hear on Earth? Are you a good person because you're afraid? Because that's two different intentions, bro. Absolutely. And that's two different levels of trust. I want you to just really be a good person. Join me, Kear Gaines, as we have real conversations about healing,

growth, fatherhood, pressure, and purpose on my new podcast, learn the hard way. Open your free, our heart radio app. Search Learn the Hard Way and listen now. Jacob Kingston grew up in an isolated polygamous sect. We were God's chosen kingdom on earth. 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'm ever come across. When Jacob met Levan 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 hurdle with Emily Abadi, we sit down with the most inspiring women in sports and wellness, professional athletes, coaches, and Olympic champions to talk about the challenges that shaped them and the mindset that keeps them going. From the WNBA standout, Kate Martin and rising hockey star Layla Edwards. If a boy can do it, I don't see why a girl can't. Like, I've never understood that. Like, it didn't make sense in my brain.

It's hard to be in spaces that no one looks like you, but don't ever feel like you don't feel like you don't feel on. 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 IHart Women's Sports. This weekend, we're under the lights under on Saturday night as Kyle Bush looks for his third

consecutive win at Richmond Raceway. It all starts at 7.30 Eastern, Saturday on Fox and the Fox Sports app. By the way, might not be able to afford a new car with your tax refund, but what about a paint job. M-A-A-A-C-O, get your dream paint job during the tax season sales event. Okay, Rick Buehker is live again. We flew you up a couple days ago or yesterday, and you're just doing nothing but working for us. So you've got, you've got, first of all, LeBron not there for the exit interviews. I would have liked something on camera, some connection as his house was on fire, not using smoke inhalation as an excuse to go to Brooklyn with D. Wade. He just disappeared.

I didn't like that. That it'd bother you that he wasn't there for exit. views. No, because he's closer and has done more with Dwayne than he has with the Lakers. What about the current team? There will be an opportunity for him to take the stage and lead them out of the burning fire. The fact of the matter is there's only one time that his good friend, the guy that he's won championships with, the guy that he's ridden banana boats with, is going to play his last game in the NBA. So I fully understand.

A birthday party. Nonetheless, it's a priority, and I don't fault him for that. There's going to be plenty of time this summer if LeBron wants to take that mantle that he can. I don't think he will. I don't see him stepping up and saying, follow me. I'm going to lead you out of this. But nonetheless, the fact that he didn't choose to do it now and he chose Dwayne Wade's last game, I'm not going to fault him for that.

Okay, there was this sense. Jeannie Bus was not around when Magic stepped to the mic and kind of rambled for an hour. You have some interesting thoughts or information on that it did not break Jeannie Bus's heart to see Magic step down. I firmly believe that this is what she anticipated happening. Now, the timing that he would do it impromptu and that he would do it without a press conference probably caught her a little off. But the fact of the matter is they were not attracting free agents. They had nobody coming. And that was the one reason that Magic Johnson was in the position that he was in.

He wasn't expected to do the day to day. He wasn't expected to run the office. He wasn't expected to grind things out. He was expected to be the guy who could bring in the second big name. And that wasn't happening. Paul George didn't give him an interview. And the one big name. And it goes back to what Magic said about DeAngelo Russell.

I mean, he basically kicked him in the teeth on the way out. I need leaders and he's not a leader. The players in the league today, you and I remember Magic as the legendary player. Players in the league today think of them as a part owner of the Dodgers and movie theaters and business executive, and look at what he did post career, he's not beholden to them. So when he said that about DeAngelo Russell, they're like, who is this guy saying that about Russell, 19 years old,

and you're going to do a guy like that? Like, there's no connection there. Jeannie knew that. Look, keep in mind. Jeannie, she was not seeded this franchise. It was given to her brother. She ended up knocking her brother out of, that seat and taking over the franchise. The idea that she would tell magic, you can't do this

and she wouldn't know what the reaction would be, I'm not buying that. She's Calisi to me. Game of Thrones. She's the mother of all dragons. She's, she has this image of being this nice, sweet woman. She's a great business woman. I have no doubt that you talked about it, I believe yesterday. She needed to put her big girl pants on. I believe that she did. That's why the tweet and the emojis, it was, I'm not going to have this blood on my hands. Magic, thank you so much. I love you, but she got exactly what she wanted, which was magic out the door. So who's next? Who gets this job? Who turns this franchise around? It's going, the big determination is going to be this summer. if Rob Polinka can get Kauai Leonard into a Lakers uniform, then he's the guy.

If not, then I would expect that they will be looking to see who else can run this. But that is the big fish because, in part, because everybody knows Kevin Durant's not coming to the Lakers. Kauai Leonard's the only other free agent star on that level. She wants Kauai Leonard. And she wants him as much, I believe, because if he doesn't come to the Lakers, he's going to to the Clippers. And this is what I love about this situation is that we have a Steve Balmer Jeannie Bus battle going on in L.A. for the big star. And for the first time, possibly, the Los Angeles Clippers will have the biggest star in this market. And I don't know that

Jeannie Bus wants to see that turn. I've always said no matter what happens, the Lakers will always be the franchise in this market. But they have not been to the playoffs for six years. years. The Clippers have been on a run. If they get Kauai Leonard and LeBron James is fading, things could change. Wow. Coach will be who next year? As of right now, it's Luke Walton. I mean, I don't see any change happening in the present until there's a decision made on Rob Polinkan. If they have to go in a completely different direction, then they would have that opportunity. But as of right now, everything that I'm hearing is its status quo with Luke Walton. Okay. One more thing. We've used you a lot this week, so we want to give you a break here.

Good source yesterday, venture capitalist. I don't know a lot of them. But I occasionally work out at a place that has a few of them. And when Joe Lacob recruited Durant to the Warriors, one of his promises is, I'm going to get you indoors in Silicon Valley and make you bloody rich. He has. I was told yesterday by a venture capitalist that Kevin's in on some unbelievable Silicon Valley investment opportunities. He's on all the right ones. New York Knicks can't offer that. Is that Lakeb's going to do something here, Silicon Valley with Durant. Durant's got a Hollywood connection to keep him for at least another year.

He's already has those connections. He's already been building those connections. And those connections will not be. It's not as if Joe Lakub is the gatekeeper to all. all those venture capitalists. Does he have connections? Yes. Could he prevent KD from still maintaining the ones that he has

or building additional ones? I don't believe so. So I don't see that as the caveat for KD. Here's the other part is that KD is in competition with LeBron. Let's face it. Yes. On and off the court. Agree.

And as long he's in Golden State, You and I have talked about this before. It's always going to be Steph's team. He's always going to be part of the gang. For him to create the brand that he wants and the business presence that he wants, he needs to have his own city. And there's a big one waiting for him. All right.

Hey, good job this week. Hey, thank you. When are you flying back? What time is it? This afternoon. You came down here and just delivered. The other place was the car wash, so I've seen this before. I'm glad to be here.

Good stuff. He earned every bit of that pay. Oh, by the way, I just read a story yesterday. You're more part of the family now. Yeah, that's what I hear. Let's hear it for Rick Buecker, part of the family. Yeah, Rick Buechers, part of the FS1 family. Way to go, Amy upstairs.

He makes all those big decisions. Awesome, dude. Cotino Mowgli, you. Somebody else, I forget. I'll get to it. All right, Rick Bueker, good. Chris Haynes. Our guy, Chris Haynes.

He's part of the family, too. Joy with the news. Thank you. No, no, no, no. Turn on the news. This is the herd line news. Well, you should know, Rick, since you're part of the family now, Colin does not watch Game of Thrones, and he thinks it's for, what do you say? Sorcercerceres and nerves and running. It's more specific.

You're more insulting about it. What do I say? We won't repeat it because it's nonsense. But clearly, you're excited for Sunday then. I can tell his reaction to Mother of All Dragons was not what I expected. I don't like escapism. I like real. I like billions.

That stuff's happening. He thinks that Mission Impossible 17 is the best movie ever made. Which one is it? Hey, if you don't get the greatness of Tom Cruise, that's the U problem. Next time I'm going to hear John Wick is one of the all-time grades too. But we're not into escapism, though. All right. So LeBron, Mello, and Chris Paul were in attendance at Berkeley Center last night

to give their banana boat teammate a personal send-off. By the way, everyone thinks Mello was on that banana boat. It was actually Gabby. Oh, is that right? Yeah. But he's part of the crew anyway. So given how great Wade played during his send-off, they were not disappointed. There go, there's a picture of it.

What a picture, man. Wade, Gabby. That is such a funny picture. Have you ever been on one of those before? Oh, yeah. My family likes that kind of stuff. It's very hard to stay on. Anyway, Wade posted a triple double to finish his career on a great note.

Obviously, again, that passed to, you know, as Haslam sealed that triple double for him, 25 points, 11 rebounds, and 10 assists. So great night for Dwayne Wade. I know you were very critical earlier of LeBron going. Don't love it, but I just thought any other day of the year that his franchise wasn't burning to the ground, I think it would have been fine. It's not his franchise, though. Should be. That's why he came here.

I agree with you. He should have done some sort of. Something. Then if he had done a separate press conference, it would have been that. I think you could have figured out a way to make it work. Maybe you do it super early in the morning so you can fly out. I don't know. But anyway, he was there for his.

his family, his brother, Dwayne Wade, and it was a very nice watch. It was, it was, everyone did a good job. Like the Spurs did a good job with Dirk in his last game, and so did Brooklyn. It was a nice way to send off those grades. So Vegas has released their updated Western Conference odds. Not surprising, the Warriors are favored to win,

but the rest of the field is pretty interesting. Let me see. Rockets are four to one. See, they like Utah, too. The Spurs at 100 to 1. They have Oklahoma City? at 15 to 1? Well, that's because they're matched up with Portland, so they're going to get to the second round.

I think they're a little in love with OK. That's going to be a better series than you think. And I don't know about the Spurs. The Spurs could make it to the Western Conference Finals. Now, are they going to... Yeah, I don't... I don't know. I feel like those odds are stressed. Basically, they have the jazz and the nuggets, essentially

25, 30 to 1, same team. What they're telling you right there is, they do not respect Denver. Vegas does not respect Denver. That's what it's telling you. No. So finally, sticking with last night, something that got buried under the Wade and Dirk News, you will love this. Russell Westbrook tied Magic Johnson for the second most triple doubles in NBA history, with 138. He also finished the season with his 34th triple double of the season.

This is the third season in a row now that he has averaged a triple double. A lot easier to get today than years ago. Magic is universally recognized as pretty much is the best point guard in NBA history. You're not a stat monster. Well, I mean, seriously. Hey, come on over here, buddy, and grab the rebound. I mean, can you just acknowledge that if this was that easy, that this would not be so rare?

Well, it's not easy. I'll give him that. It's not easy. Sometimes I think they go to a few stats. Still, it's a little. Okay, listen, there are other people on the court trying to get rebounds. Stephen Adams is like, here, little buddy. Why don't you have that one?

He can't just move every time. It's not like Stephen Adams hoop. Like, I will, I'll know when to come. him in here except for Russell. Hit that rebound. Let's go back to the other. Even Carmelo Anthony admitted, we do a little stat stuff in here.

Everyone does. That's how you get paid. Hey, not on this show. It's a non-stat stuff and show on the show. We do whatever it takes to get ratings around here, first of all. Anything it takes. And obviously, Oscar Robertson still has the most triple doubles in NBA history with 181,

which I imagine that Russell will eventually pass. But you have to recognize this is an incredible. Yes, it's an incredible statistical feat. It's an incredible statistical feat. I'd rather have your feet in the second round of the playoffs, not the first. Well, I think we'll see that this year. We will. Enjoy with the news.

Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The Heard Lai News. You know, we haven't done it in a while, and we got some football stuff, too. I'm your stockbroker. You have questions. What do you do with your money? We call it buy, sell, and hold.

And here we go. Time to buy. I'd buy that for a dollar. Colin will decide if he'll buy it. Sell. Roger. Or hold. All right.

Aaron Rogers will lead the Packers back to the playoffs following a tumultuous offseason. Buy seller hold. By seller hold. Aaron Rogers gets the Packers back into the playoffs. I've told you, between last year and this year's free agency, Green Bay has significantly upgraded their defensive personnel. I believe Aaron, if they draft a little more defense this year, It's going to have a top 10 defense.

Now, it won't be the Bears, but it'll be a top 10 defense. And Green Bay hasn't missed the playoffs three straight years since the early 90s. So Aaron will lead the Packers back to the playoffs, yes. Okay. By Seller Hold, the Browns will not finish with a better record than 2018, when they were 7, 8, and 1. First of all, they got a little bit of a scheduling break. Vegas considers it the first or second weakest schedule in the NFL. They get Miami, they get Buffalo, they get the Jets, they get Tennessee.

they get San Francisco. Denver doesn't have a quarterback. Now they have to face New England. Here's the other thing. Vegas has them at over, under, on nine, and I think they're a nine-win football team. If O'Dell Beckham's healthy for 16 games, I think they could possibly win 10.

I think their division's a little tougher than they think. I think Baltimore's, Lamar Jackson's a difficult team to face, and I think Pittsburgh's going to win the division, but sell, sell, sell. The Browns will finish. They will with a better record than last year. All right.

seller hold, Juju Smith's Schuster will score more touchdowns than Antonio Brown this season. By the way, the Steelers passed the ball. In fact, they were second in the NFL last year, passing it over 67% of the time. The Raiders were not even in the top 10.

They were 12. Second thing, Derek Carr is only thrown for more touchdown passes once in his career than Big Ben. So I know that we're all thinking the Steelers are going to erode into some deep, dark abyss.

But, Buy, bye, bye! Juju's going to have more touchdowns than Antonio Brown. They won't have to force him the ball. Pittsburgh runs the ball better. More play action pass. More gap between backers and

safeties. Juju's going to have a big year. All right, buy seller hold. The Patriots will not win 10 games for the first time since 2002. Again, their schedule works to their favor. They get to face Cleveland. They get to face Cincinnati.

They get to face Lamar Jackson. they get to face the New York Giants. They get to face Washington. They face a lot of teams last couple that do not have an elite quarterback, and they have one. It's also with 12 draft picks. One of their deeper, younger, more athletic teams, Belichick is telling people. Vegas has them 11.

So, sell, sell, sell. Patriots will win more than 10. So the dynasty continues. All right, buy seller hold. Russell Westbrook will lose in the first round. for the third straight season. All right, thunder swept the Blazers, and that's who they face. Portland played well at the end of the year, but OKC is healthy.

They played well in the last half dozen games. This comes down to Westbrook. This is what this series comes down to. If Oklahoma City, a very good home team wins the first game of this series, they get emotionally settled, they don't feel tight or anxious, that Westbrook, 17 to 18 shots, could sweep this series.

They lose that first game, get tight. That's when he historically has unraveled in the playoffs when he does more than he needs to do. So I believe he's going to win a first round series. All right. And finally, Kobe Bryant will be hired in the Lakers front office. All right. He's won an Oscar.

As Doug Gottlieb said earlier, it doesn't appear he has any interest to run a team. He has watched Magic doing. it and struggle. And frankly, he has no front office experience. He's got, according to report, a $500 million net worth. So, sell, sell. Covey's not running the Lakers.

He's not a grinder at this point. It's silk sheets, good living, private jet, doing his own thing, not watching tape for nine hours. By the way, story Mark Stein just tweeted, Sacramento Kings are interested in hiring Luke Walton of the Lakers. if the Lakers firing Bill Plashky, L.A. Times around the corner is next. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific. 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. locker room stories, their reactions, the stuff nobody gets to hear. The laughs, the drama, the triumphs, the moments that never make the highlight real. From viral moments to historic games, from buzzer beaters to controversial calls, we break it down, give you context, and ask the questions everybody wants answered. Sports Slice brings you closer to the action with stories told by the people who live them.

Listen to Sports Slice on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Slic Life 12 and the TikTok Podcast Network. work on TikTok. Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hardway with me, your host, and your favorite therapist, Kear Games. And in recognition of Mental Health Awareness Month, I'm bringing over a decade of my own experience in the mental health field and conversations with so many incredible guests. I'm talking, Tripp Fontaine, Ryan Clark. Sometimes when we're in the pursuit of the thing, we get so wrapped up in the chase that we don't realize that we are in possession of the thing. And we're still chasing it. And we don't know when we've done enough.

people scoreboard watch. Life becomes about wins and losses. Steve Burns, Dustin Ross, because you find it important to be a good person while you hear on earth, or are you a good person because you're afraid? Because that's two different intentions, bro. Absolutely. And that's two different levels of trust. I want you to just really be a good person.

Join me, Kear Gaines, as we have real conversations about healing, growth, fatherhood, pressure, and purpose. On my new podcast, Learn the Hardway. Open your free, our heart radio app. Search Learn the hard way and listen now. Jacob Kingston grew up in an isolated polygamous sect. We were God's chosen kingdom on earth.

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. 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 podcast. Life throws hurdles big and small. The question is, how do you conquer them? On hurdle with Emily Abadi, we sit down with the most inspiring women in sports and wellness, professional athletes, coaches, and Olympic champions to talk about the challenges that shaped them and the mindset that keeps them going. From the WNBA standout, Kate Martin, and rising hockey star, Layla Edwards.

If a boy can do it, I don't see why a girl can't. Like, I've never understood that. Like, it didn't make sense in my brain. It's hard to be in spaces that no one looks like you, but don't ever feel like you don't feel on. 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 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. Don't want to waste any time. Bill Plashkin, award-winning columnist for the L.A. Times at that press conference yesterday, new radio show. Catch Bill Plashky Sundays on Fox Sports Radio 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Eastern. Let's have Bill Plashke join us via his phone. We don't do a lot of phone interviews, but Plashke's always got good stuff. Billy, how are you? And what did you make a yesterday's press conference? It was the most shocking thing I've seen in this town, I think, ever, as far as that, back to that, Mr. and Colin. I've never seen such an impromptu. One minute magic is joking with me. He's got to have a press conference. And the next minute he's walking, putting his back to the wall and say, I quit. It was absolutely stunning the way he did it.

Disappointing the way he did it. Very disappointing. We all discussed this, I'm sure. Very disappointing. But you know, at the end of the day, not surprising. That's kind of how magic rolls. That's what we all talked about. I talked about the only show with you before, Colin. You know, he doesn't stay with one thing very long. He gets distracted easily. He got mad that he wanted to fire Luke. He wanted to fire Polinka. Jeannie wouldn't let him do either one.

He got mad and said, you know what? It's pre-agent season. It's draft season. It's, you know, changing the team season. I don't want any part of that work. Forget it. I'm out. By the way, should they go outside the Laker family?

Oh, yes. Oh, please. Oh, my goodness. And that's a scary thing now. I'm moving forward, Colin. I think Laker fans are kind of on the edge of a seat. because right now there's a chance. Jeannie doesn't do anything.

She leaves Rob Plinkett in charge, gives him more power. That would be the absolute worst thing she could do. She needs a fresh look on this. No more family, no more friends of family, no more Laker connection. Get a young, sharp outside mine. And I believe we said it on your show yesterday, and I wrote it in my column today. I know they need an Andrew Friedman. They need what the Dodgers got in Friedman.

They need a new look on this team. But it's scary, Colin. Right now I'm hearing that she may not do anything. anything. And that would be, that would be dereliction of duty, if you ask me. Magic and Rob Polinka, nice pictures. We thought they liked each other. No, we did. Colin, you knew

they didn't, Colin. We all knew they didn't. And the magic just came out and said it, whispers and backstabbing. Oh, my goodness. Yeah, and you know, and Jeannie needs Gene, I love his path of aggressiveness when he says, well, now the bad thing is, Gene doesn't have anybody she can trust in there anymore.

What does that say about Palinca? Wow. I think we do this, right, Colin, we just didn't realize it was so, you know, we didn't think magic would actually admit to it. Okay, Mark Stein just tweeted, Sacramento would be interested in Luke Walton. I think he'd be a great coach, like in an Arizona, if they had an opening college. What do you make a Luke's future? Well, I think if he stays at the Laker, he's going to need to upgrade his coaching staff.

I think that's what they're going to want to do. And I know you don't agree with me, but I do think he, I do think he can be a good coach. I think he couldn't be the right coach He can't be the right coach He can connect with the young players He just needs help on the bench If they give to him But I think more than anything

They need an adult in the room To make that decision They need to get somebody in here quick To make that decision To decide on Luke To decide what moving forward I can't imagine If Luke were to leave

Rob Plinkets is going to hire the next coach Are you kidding me? I mean I don't think I don't think anybody has any faith In anything that's going on in the front office right now It's just on Jeannie We all love Jeannie She's great

But she has to show She can run it better than her than their brother that she overthrew, and she hasn't shown that yet. So this is on her. Monty Williams, Ty Lou. I mean, there's a lot of names out there. I guess the LeBron trade thing, that's not really on the table, right? Not yet, but I do think that if they don't get anyone this summer.

And remember, this is where Magic's lost hurt them, that he's the voice, the face in the room. He's the giant presence that can recruit. Obviously, as we know now, he didn't really. recruit LeBron. LeBron just kind of came there, fell in his lap. But he's going to have to do whoever recruits this next three agent without magic, how do they get somebody here? If they're sitting there July 15th and they get no big pre-agent and they can't trade for Anthony Davis and LeBron's sitting there and Laker people tell me they believe he's got one more year left of a championship caliber season in him, why not trade them? But I don't think you talk about that yet.

But I do think that can be on the table down the road. It depends on what happens this summer. Absolutely. Were you bothered that no central figure commented, no leader stepped up to say anything yesterday? How can they do that? And, you know, everybody in town loves the Lakers and you love the family business and they love the buses. But at some point, you've got to be accountable. You've got to be transparent. You just lost your most visible icon of the franchise, just walked out of the front office,

and yet who talks yesterday? Brandon Ingram talks yesterday. Kyle Kuzma talks. All the 20-something young kids have to face the music. Palinca doesn't talk. Jeannie doesn't talk. You know, both were requested to talk. Very disappointing.

It leads into the dysfunction. And at some point, it's going to hurt the brand. And I know everybody says nobody's ever going to topple them, but the Dodgers are much more stable than them right now. Oh, yeah. Yeah, much more stable. At some point, it's got to hurt the brand. It has to hurt the brand.

These people have paid all these big money with for LeBron James and Magic Johnson, and have gotten neither one of them. Yes, I'm very disappointed. Again, this is on Jeannie Butt. show us. She needs to show us. She had this big deal when she got rid of her brothers and the power coup and the power struggling she wins and we're all cheering

for her. Well, show us you can do the job. Malo you got the job. Do it. Do the job, Jeannie. Do your job. Bill Plashky, New Fox Radio show. A couple minutes with us, which I always appreciate. Bill love your stuff, L.A. Time. See everywhere. Thanks, buddy. Thanks, Colin. See you, man. Yeah, so an update on that stuff. Yeah, it's just a weird

press conference. Holy, holy lord. So Sam Amick, our friend, says, can confirm with Woj reports King's GM, Vladivots, will fire his coach today. Laker coach Luke Walton, if available, is the clear frontrunner. Former New Orleans coach Monty Williams, also a candidate. Monty Williams' name came up here in Los Angeles. It's supposed to be a great dude.

I don't think Luke is going to be fired. I don't think so either. That's crazy. Yesterday I hosted a Lakers show. I didn't even do a national show. I just did a Laker show. In the last couple days, that's just the story. in the country. I mean, I don't talk

golf. It's not our fault we're in the center of the sports universe. I can't help it. Big things are happening. I thought he made an interesting point, though. That, you know, we've had an eight, 10-year run in this country, a pretty good economy, good corporate America economy. So people have a lot of money, flush. Rams are rolling.

You've got the chargers in town. You've got two soccer teams. The Dodgers are an incredibly well-born organization. You've got mountains, the beach, shopping. A lot of things to do in L.A. Clippers now viable at some point, doesn't it hurt Lake or business. It's just a mess. I mean, listen, people have to make choices.

Everybody in L.A. is not rich. I got news for you. That's nice. It's just like there's a lot of regular people going to Laker games. At some point, this thing, they got to get this thing straight. It's a mess. Hour three coming up. 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.

This is the herd. wherever you may be and however you may be listening I art radio Fox Sports Radio FS1 Sorry You're right You know well hold on

Never never eat an apple In between hours I get you know Our show's long enough We don't get to eat during the show You are a big snacker And so I grabbed an apple And it just powered through it

You kind of graze I'm oh that's how I eat I'm a grazer I don't I have little this little day I don't eat a meal all day until dinner and even then I eat half of that. I'm a grazer. Why is that?

I don't know. Are you a big meal person? Yeah, I don't really like to snack. Although lately I've been eating a lot of chocolate. Admittedly. Why is that? I don't know. I just like...

Milk or dark? Both. You know what I have? I have those little hard Cadbury eggs. I bought like the jumbo because they always sell them during Easter. And man, those are the best. I crush those. So good.

Like 20 or 30 a day? I want to go 20. or 30. I would say it's been a steady 10 for like three weeks. Because they're so little. So you just go, you know, they're like guilt-free because they're so little. Can't bury eggs a day?

I mean, I work out. That is, that you're talking about revealing. They're like this big. Not the, not the big ones with like the stuff inside. I just don't hope not. Yeah, that'd be diabetic by the end of the segment. If you're knocking down 10 of those a day. We're also on serious

XM Channel 83. 15 minutes, Doug Gottlie and, you know, it's obviously us Laker things crazy. Best for last, we found an amazing correlation between the NBA and Game of Thrones. I do not know what's going to happen at the end of the show.

The staff is completely fired up about it. This is a big week for Game of Throne nerds. Why is that? Because the final season premieres on Sunday. Oh. People having parties. Oh, really?

All the sorcerers and wizards and stuff. All the sorcerers, all the wizards, all the dragons. Really? And this is the last season of the world blows up. I don't know. We'll see. There's betting odds, actually, on who is going to take over the Iron Throne. My money's on Circe.

Yeah, I like her, too. Yeah. She's terrific. I like her. Everyone hates her, actually. But that's why I think she's going to win. I'm lucky I guessed her. I was going to say him.

I'll give you some, you know what, I'll give you some talking points so you can sound like you are in the know. All right. Well, the NBA season wrapped up last night. Good stuff out west late into the night. And it reminded me of something that I'm. I've always sort of believed in, which is you're always supposed to pick family over friends. Yesterday, LeBron chose friends over family.

3,000 miles. Laker House burning down. And all the young Lakers have to answer questions about LeBron. Magic quit, genies hiding, Polenka, Luke Walton, who knows their futures. And I know all you young 20-year-olds are like, no, no, come on, man. He and Dee Waiter tight. Yes. And that was a birthday party, not a few.

It was a celebration that LeBron could have missed. In fact, he could have done both. He could have held a press conference in L.A. from his private jet. He's made $250 million in NBA salary alone and then flown to Brooklyn or fly to Brooklyn get off a plane and go live all over Los Angeles. But the house was burning last night. Fire in the basement. Flooding.

One of your kids is sick. And LeBron chose 3,000 miles away in Brooklyn with a friend at a birthday party. D. Wade would have understood. D. Wade's grown up. D. Wade's an adult. Does LeBron get this? Does LeBron's guys? Do they get this?

The symbolism? The optics? LeBron with a superstar buddy. Hasn't that been the knock all year on LeBron? Hey, dude, you may want to put one of your teammates in one of these 38 projects? He's with a superstar buddies, disengaging once again. If I told my wife, if we had a crisis in my house, a crisis in my house, a crisis in my house. One of the kids was in the hospital.

We just had police. We had a break in. And I told my wife, I love you, baby. My friend's having a birthday party. We are tight. I'll get back. She would change the locks on the doors. And she should. Family over friends. And here's the big problem.

LeBron considers D. Wade family. Not the Lakers. So in LeBron's mind, he did choose family. And that's why this year, has been an utter disaster. He has never committed to his teammates. He's never committed.

And once he got hurt and was no longer playing with them for three hours a night, he had no relationship with any of them. Yesterday, they're all standing up there, the Kyle Kuzmahs, the Lonzo balls, the Josh Hartz, the kids, and they're answering questions about LeBron James. Not right, family over friends. yesterday was a perfect moment for LeBron to swoop in, put on the Superman cape, and all the critics like me who have questioned his leadership, hold a press conference 20 minutes.

At LAX as you're getting on the jet, call the local sportscasters, call the local radio, do live for 15 minutes and say, hey, I didn't come here just for magic. I came here to win championships. I came here for the Laker fans. I came here for the brand. I came here for the community. I'm going to live here the rest of my life. We good here.

Instead, I got birthday party 3,000 miles away. Which, of course, Dwayne Wade would have totally understood because Dwayne Wade, one of the great things about him, he's always been about family first. Left briefly to Chicago, felt guilty, got right back. Family matters. But in LeBron's world, Chris Paul, Mello, D. Wade, their family. Lakers, these are my friends, kind of, you know.

And that's why this has never worked. And that's why it will not work here unless LeBron puts his arms around young guys. Yesterday was a great example and a great opportunity for LeBron to talk about the future. And instead, he's 3,000 miles away celebrating the past. Isn't that been the problem all year? remarkable. I mean, just, just, by the way, I love D-Waid. I used to love LeBron every day.

You'd listen to me for nine years. And I think Dwayne Wade's final game is awesome. It's great and should be celebrated. But yesterday was the biggest Laker crisis in maybe a decade, if for no other reason, the symbolism and the optics were terrible. and they could have easily been saved. Let me shift to this. A lot of good stuff today.

Last night was the last game for Dirk and D-Waid. One of the things I love about sports, I love how it's gotten smarter over the last 10 years. Analytics. Now, I believe in man analytics and analytics. I want data. I want to be smarter. That's why Belichick remains the king.

Nick Sabin remains the king. Belichick's Andy Reed, Sean Payton. They believe in taking care of the guys, but analytics matter. Analytics are just data that makes it easier to win. Now, people will argue Duane Wade is the better player than Dirk Novitsky. And I'm not interested in that argument. But I will tell you this. If they both entered the league today, you would draft Dirk Nowitzky and he would be the better player.

It is a shooters league. And he is the only person on the planet you can even compare to Kevin Durant. Basketball has changed. It used to be about power. It used to be about intensity. It used to be about winning the rebounding battle. It used to be about toughness. Now length and shooting and spacing.

And the three greatest big shooters in league history are Larry Bird, Dirk Novitsky, and Kevin Durant. If they came out today, by the way, this is why the process in Philadelphia, six years and one playoff series win? Because they drafted a bunch of big guys and Ben Simmons that can't shoot. This is why Golden States Rebuild worked. They got Steph Curry, Clay Thompson, then acquired Kevin Durant, all great shooters. It's why the Celtics rebuild has been better than the Sixers rebuild, because they got enough shooters, one or two.

Sixers have really none that they've drafted. There's a college football player coming out in the draft. It works this way in all sports. His name is Noah Fant. He plays for Iowa. He's a tied end. 20 years ago, Noah Fants are third, fourth, fifth round pick because he can't block. Now, Noah Fant's going to be a top 10, 12 pick, and mark my words, he's going to be an uncoverable monster in the NFL.

He's too fast for linebackers and too big for corners and safeties. Noah Fant is going to eat the NFL up. I mean, like, gronk, eat it up. He's going to be unstoppable. Ten years ago, you'd say, skinny, can't block. Not a good enough blocker. By the way, in Major League Baseball, home runs, strikeouts, that's what it's about. Nobody cares about, like, average.

Gary Sanchez is a catcher for the Yankees. Gary Sanchez is a lousy defensive catcher. But Gary Sanchez can hit. He jacks out about 35 a year. And why? Because analytics have changed. Because it's all about dingers. It's all about jacks.

It's all about power. It's all about home runs. It's not about average. It's about knock it out of the park. So Gary Sanchez, 20 years ago, yeah, 20. years ago, your catcher had to be Johnny Bench. If he could hit it, was great. Tight ends had to be blockers first

and then pass catchers. Now, forget about blocking. In the NBA today, Dirk Novitsky in a second over D. Wade. Dirk, Dukovitsky is one of those guys who had a great career. It would have been significantly greater. And he'd come into

the NBA today. You'd have to take him over D. Wade. Now, D. Wade's more lovable and huggable, and he won titles. Well, LeBron. He won on tiles was Shaq. We watched his college basketball career. So we love D. Wade from the very beginning. Then he coupled up with Pat Ryan.

They had a lot to love about him. He's a good guy. He's a good guy. Dirk played in Germany. We didn't watch him in high school. We didn't watch him in college. Dallas had a lot of bad teams invisible. Marcellus Wiley talked about this yesterday on Speak for Yourself.

Dirk overweight if they came into the league today. The thing is that's tough for Dwayne Wade is. Someone already did what you did. MJ, and someone was doing what you're doing, Kobe. And then it's like, it's tougher to just say, I'm all in on you, Dway, when I saw that and I'm seeing that. We didn't see Dirk before. We've never seen Dirk before.

And I think because of that uniqueness, it kind of tilts it towards him. Yeah. Everybody in the world today is trying to find Dirk Nevitzky. Every scout in the world is, anybody got a seven-footer? who can hit threes better than our guards. Dirk today coming out. My God. I mean, if he was coming out with Zion, ask yourself.

There would be people arguing for Dirk over Zion, and I'm not sure they're wrong. I'm not sure they're wrong. I like Dirk Novitsky much more than Doug Gottlieb, who said he doesn't pass and can't defend. I like seven-footers who are in their prime, the best shooter in the league. I love guys that can shoot today in the NBA.

James Harden, there's a lot I don't like about him. He dribbles too much. He doesn't play great defense. He's not that athletic. He can shoot. I'll look almost. It's almost like in a relationship. There's one or two things that are deal breakers and one or two things.

I always thought the underrated thing in a relationship is, if your life went to hell with this person, are they nice? Do they have an anger with them, run for your life? Like in the end, are you in a relationship with a nice person? A good, hearted, nice person. Now, chain smoker, you're out for me. But there's a couple out things, right? So you're comparing being nice as a human to being a shooter in basketball?

In basketball, if you can shoot in your seven feet, I'll overlook everything. Well, I don't think that's the same qual. That's two qualifiers. What do you mean? Like, are you considering human to be a qualifier? Like, seven foot is a qualifier and can shoot. You cannot be seven foot and can shoot. I like seven foot and can shoot.

The bigger you are. So there's two qualifiers. Well, no, I'm saying Dirk Novitsky's tall and can shoot and can run floor like that. Like, I just think the whole world, that's what basketball is. That's my, if, if, if you told me today that Zion, 285 bench presses Delaware, but Zion never develops an outside shot. I'm like, okay, then he's not a superstar.

He's just a great, he's just a really good player. I mean, he is going to have to develop his skill. Oh, I mean. As we speak, that has to happen. Ben Simmons does virtually everything right except shoot. But I would still consider him a star. I wouldn't consider him a superstar. And I don't think he'll ever become one if he can't shoot.

But Wade is a superstar. He's an all-time great player. Some of that is Miami and LeBron and Shaq. I mean, if LeBron didn't show up to Miami, his last eight years would have been a nothingburger. So would have a LeBron's. Well, no, LeBron's career was always going to be a Suffinberger. Somethingberger with no championships. He'd won one in Cleveland.

Woody? That's why he left. I feel like LeBron's just bigger, iconic. Bigger than Wade? Yeah. Well, I mean, I would say in the grand scheme of things, yes. But LeBron, it's facts only that LeBron did not have a championship before he came to Miami. And Wade did.

Listen, I'm not knocking Wade, but I will say this about Wade. A lot of things worked in his favor. He got the best GM president in the league history, Pat Riley, arguably. LeBron, he lives in Miami. No state tax, aqua water in the winter. Shaq, Gary Payton, LeBron. A lot of people were funneled to him. happen on his own and Dirk is not,

it doesn't have the same accolades that Wade does either. I mean, it's a team game at the end of the day. I were arguing like, what are we arguing here? They're both all-time grades. I see your point, but I would take Wade for the same reasons that Godley have mentioned. I like tall people who can shoot. Because I'm

tall and I can shoot. I see myself and Dirk. That was just dumb. All right, Chris Broussard. We've got to wrap this whole LeBron mess up. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd. Weekdays in noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific on Fox Sports Radio, FS1, and the IHard Radio app. MDrive's a supplement. Use it every day. It makes you feel stronger. Energy, drive. Start taking it. Learn more. Visit mDrive for men.com. Refine your prime with MDrive. Chris Brousard's upset with me because I'd said earlier today there was a Twitter poll that had the Cleveland Brown fans as the number one fans in the NFL. And I said it was a Twitter poll. So what it really was is most insecure fan base.

rushing to Twitter to say, we're the best, whereas Steeler fans are like, we're the best, we don't need to rush to a Twitter poll. You know I represent the land. The land. I represent the land. And I grew up an avid Steelers fan. Loved them.

Steel Curtin, Lynn Swan, Frank O'Harris, all that. But Cleveland fans are terrific. Cleveland Browns fans are the best. The dog pound is out of this world. And here's the difference. You mentioned the Steelers. You mentioned Green Bay. Being a Steelers or a Packers fan is like dating the homecoming queen.

Everybody wants to date her. She's beautiful. So, of course, you're there. You're loyal. You'll sit through the bad weather, wait for her outside while she's getting her makeup on and to take her out on a date. But being a Browns fan, that's like dating the ugliest girl on campus. And you sport her like a champ.

You walk into the cafeteria arm and arm like. you got the best-looking girl in the world. Who's more loyal in that scenario? The guy with the ugly girl. He doesn't care. He just loves her for who she is. That's the difference. We love the Browns for who they are in the land.

Can you get over the land thing? I like the land. I think that's one of the freshest city names out there. My whole life, it was never called the land. Like an hour ago, it's like suddenly it's the land. Who came up with that? You know I got you. My scenario was great.

You had to agree with that. Well, I do, I think there's something to be said about fans. That's why I put Buffalo on the list. Because I do think there's something about sitting in lousy weather when your team's not very good. And Buffalo outside of the Jim Kelly era has not been very good. We didn't have a Jim Kelly era. Cleveland didn't have a Jim Ceyer era. I remember Brian Seid and a kid.

He's pretty good. They're pretty good. Yeah, we got close. Ernest Binder to fumble and all that. Yeah, the Jim Brown era. I wasn't around them. But he wasn't. Yeah.

has. All right, let's go. Before we get to the Laker stuff, I want to break down, I'm going to go playoffs. Wait a non on, let me do the Laker thing first. Let me do the Laker thing first, because I want to get to something. I want you to offer clarity to the audience. Yesterday, I mean, I think LeBron should have said something. I think somebody should have said something. Nobody said anything. Nobody. That doesn't feel like a grown-up business. No, look, LeBron, you're right. He should have spoken either after the game, Tuesday night, or early Wednesday morning being gone to Brooklyn. I agree.

However, what's worse is that Jeannie Bus and Rob Polinka didn't say anything. Who's running the organization? I've been talking to people around the league. When they showed up, what was it, Wednesday morning after this, nobody knew what to do. Nobody knew what to do. The Lakers are run like it's 1983. They're a mom and pop operation in a league full of corporations. They're behind in terms of scouting.

They're behind in terms of analytics. They're behind in terms of all the technology. You would never think that because they're the glamorous Lakers, but they've been running on talent. When Shaq and Kobe were there, you know, they ran on the talent of those great players. And that's what they're still doing to this day. And here's, look, there are people that feel like Rob Polenko

orchestrated a coup to get magic out of there. Okay? Because now obviously he couldn't force Magic to resign, But magic referred to all the backbiting, the backstabbing. That was clearly, clearly a shot at Polinka. No question. And throughout the organization, Rob would go all over. Where's magic?

Have you seen magic? Magic's not here. And letting people know magic's never around. Okay, so people, and that got to magic. When you're Magic Johnson, you don't have to put up with backbiting and all that stuff. So magic's out. The feeling is that Rob knows the Lakers are way behind the times. And so now that we'll see if he ends up with the power.

But now that he has the power, his plan is to get them back up to speed, like a 2019 organization should be run, bring in a GM under him, probably a young, hot GM, because a lot of the older guys don't really like Rob and trust him and may not want to work for him. But bringing a young hot GM, build up the infrastructure of the front office, just like all the other hot teams are. and then Rob will look like the genius.

And that would work out for the Lakers because that's what they need. They could go other routes. We've all heard David Griffin. I think they got to sit down with David Griffin. But David Griffin would probably have to be the president and be able to do whatever he wants. He has LeBron's trust.

He knows how to work with Rich Paul. And I'm not saying you don't turn the organization over to LeBron and Rich, but you do have to have their trust. So I think they should look at him. You know, obviously we threw out Jerry West and, you know, Masay, you Jerry and Toronto, guys like that. But that is what a lot of people are thinking now. Rob, if he stays, he's going to build up this infrastructure the way it needs to be for modern day NBA basketball.

Here's the other thing. Kobe Bryant is not, he doesn't want to be the president or the GM or anything like that, okay? But Kobe Bryant has Jeannie Buses ear. unlike very few people have I mean she essentially chose Kobe over Magic which is incredible being how close her and Magic were magic I believe when Magic and LeBron sat down for that three hour meeting a few days ago Magic was like I want to get rid of Luke

and I want to get rid of Rob Polinka and then he went to Jeannie to talk about it and Jeannie as much as she wanted Luke she would have let him do that She was not going to let him get rid of Rob Polinka. Why? Because of Kobe. So Kobe will always be behind the scenes. Not that he's trying necessarily to manipulate the situation,

but she trusts Kobe, she loves Kobe. She's going to go to Kobe. What do you think about this trade? What do you think about hiring so-and-so? What do you think? And Kobe's going to have a say. The thing is he's going to have a say removed from the day-to-day operations of what's going on in the league and the NBA.

So he won't have the context to know all the other things going on, but he's just going to share his opinion. I don't know that anything's going to get done with the Lakers without Kobe kind of signing off on it and Jenny thinking Kobe's with it. So they need, look, they need to upgrade. They need to... The mom and pop in a corporate world. That's what they are.

That's what they are. All right, let's go through the playoffs real quick here. Let's start with the Western Conference. Warriors, one seed against the Clippers, eight seed. upset, right? Both shoot threes well. No, Golden State. Okay. Rockets, Jazz. Jazz are very efficient. Maybe the Boston of the West, well coach, rim protector, can't shoot much. Rockets win? The Jazz are scary because, as you say, a rim protector. So what does Houston do? Threes or at the rim? Right. The stuff at the rim is going to be tough. If they run Houston off the

three point line, like San Antonio's done in the past, run them off the three point line and make them drive. They're not going to stop at 15 feet and pull up. They're going to go all the way to the rim, and then you got Rudy Gobert, the best rim protecting the league right there. So they can be tough, but I'm going with Houston. I just don't think the Jazz have enough shoes. They're not ready, right. Thunder blazers. Thunder dominated the series. Westbrook get out of the first round. I think he does. Yeah, I like the thunder in this one. Just partly because I think the thunder do have a lot of talent, obviously, even though they kind of ended the season in a spiral. And Portland's just banged, you know, obviously.

CJ McCullough had a knee injuries back, not 100. Nurtures not there. So, yeah, they're going out again in the first round. Okay. Nuggets can shoot and they're deep, but their three best players have never been in the playoffs. Chance the Spurs upset the Nuggets? I got the Spurs. I got the Spurs pulling off the upset. And probably in six, because it's going to be tough to go there in a game seven and win in Denver. but I think the sport, look, Yolkech is probably is the best player on the floor.

But the next three. Right, are Lamarcus and Aldridge and DeMarco Rosen. They obviously, as great as Mike Malone is as a coach, and he's second on my coach of the year ballot behind Mike Bootenhoser. Obviously, Pops got the edge. And the big thing is, as you said, experience. And in the playoffs, you need a guy that when all else fails can just break down the defense and get his offense off.

Denver doesn't really have that type of guy as good as Yokech is. So I like the spurs for the upset. Okay, so you got Warriors, Rockets, Thunder, Spurs over the Nuggets. All right, let's go to the East. I'm going to tell you quickly. I got the Thunder upsetting San Antonio, well, I don't know it would be an upset, but beating San Antonio in the next round and Golden State OKC in the conference finals, Golden State winning.

OKC in the Western Conference Finals. Yes. be ashamed to see them upset by Portland. Westbrook is awesome. Say it. Let's go to the East. He's very talented. Let's go to the East.

Buck's Pistons, they could, apathy is the only roadblock for Milwaukee. This is a massive. Blake Griffin, credit to Blake Griffin. I watched the Pistons play about two weeks ago. Blake's had a great year. He's maybe the third best player in the East, fourth best player in the East. He's had a great year.

He has had a very good year. Blake is a great player. Blake should be a Hall of Famer. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Blake is a great player. But I think we're overstating it. He's in the east. They're the eighth seed.

If you're that great in the east, you shouldn't be the ace seat. That's all I'm saying. I think we're, he's playing more, he's handling the ball, he's shooting threes more. It's nice, but, you know. Celtics Pacers, I think the Pacers, when they lost Victor Oladipo, played with a great deal of heart for about six weeks. And I think they've been sort of unveiled. They don't have enough shot makers.

No, no, it's Boston. But it'll be tough, but Boston. Okay. Raptors over the magic. Not close, right? Raptors. Sixers players, Tobias, Simmons, Butler, Embedde. M. Bede's hurt.

Their best four players haven't played that many games together. I think the Sixers are vulnerable. In the first round? Do you know what you're going to get from Tobias Harris and Ben Simmons? Are you sure M. Bede's not going to play this weekend? They're beating Brooklyn. Now, I agree. The fact that M. Bid is questionable.

That bothers you. but they'll beat Brooklyn. It might go six. And Brooklyn is well coached obviously and they're a little house money. Little house money. I get it. But none of them have been there either.

And there's got to be, I don't care what they say, there's got to be a sense of, we had a great, we made it. You know, like, they're satisfied. I get it. And DeAngel Russell is your leader. And he's at a great year,

but I'll take Philly over. I will too, but I think it's uncomfortable. Yeah, if NB, If Embed doesn't play. Yeah, if this goes further. They don't have a lot of shot makers. No. If Reddick's not hitting.

The only thing, if Embed's not there, and obviously they're not better without him, but you put Ben in the post even more, and Ben can score down there in the post. Oh, yeah, yeah. And then it's probably a little better floor space and everybody's more comfortable with Ben down there low and you don't have to worry about Embed on the three. So they'll get by them. But I'm picking Toronto over Milwaukee in the conference final. Because of experience.

Look, I hope I'm wrong. I'm pulling for Milwaukee. My two favorite teams in the East are Milwaukee and Philly. So I would love to see either of them. Talent-wise, yes. I don't trust. Those are my, like I would love to see Milwaukee get to the finals because I think their length could really give Golden State some problems.

Well, they're a great rebounding and great defensive team with a star offensive player. Exactly. And I think they, and they shoot the three really well. They could give Golden State some problems. So I hope Milwaukee gets there. but they just have no experience at this level. And Toronto obviously has got great experience with Kauai and Danny Green. So I'm going with Toronto to win the East.

Hope I'm wrong. Chris Broussard. Good stuff, buddy. Good talking to you. Thank you. All right. Joy with the news. No, no, no, no. Turn on the news. This is the Herdline News.

I've been telling you about the Raptors all year. Hey, can I read this real quick? Yes, you may. You might not be able to get a new car with your tax refund, but you get a new paint job, M-A-A-C-O-M-A-A-M-A-O-M-M-A-M-T-D, dream paint job during the tax season. and sales event. I had to get that in. Of course.

There's emergency. Perfect. All right. I also think that Toronto is going to win these. Come on. Are you loyal to America or what? Yes. But I'm pretty sure that team is made up of mostly Americans.

And I really shouldn't even say Americans. Canada is in North America. Yes. I just wanted to be a jerk. I've been talking about Toronto all year. I know you have. I don't. I'll believe it when I'm.

I see it. All right. Well, Vegas has released their updated Eastern Conference odds. Oh, they have the Eastern. Let me see them. And unlike the West, the Warriors are clarified. Favits to win, the top half of the East has much closer odds. Look at that.

You know what? I don't have a problem with Milwaukee getting to the finals. If you gave me Milwaukee or Toronto, I think Milwaukee's fun. I like Yonis. Yonis is fun. I think Milwaukee's a neat story. Plus, I think they have a really good coach. I think it's a great story.

It would be great to see Yonis compete on that level. And they, and they, they're at T-U-U-up. They're a team. Listen, they play real defense and they're well-rested. The last month, their coaching staff's been really smart. They've given Janus and guys rest minutes. They've skipped some games, minutes. They've been real smart about that.

I agree, although I do think it's going to end up being the Raptors. All right, so Space Jam 2 rumors are continuing. According to the Hollywood reporter, some of the league stars won't be joining LeBron in the film, mainly because of shoe loyalties. Steph Curry is with Under Armour, James Hardin is with Adidas, and Nike is essential to the Space Jam franchise. That's a real thing. Yeah, some of the names that are out there that could be involved in it.

Or Kyrie, Paul George, Westbrook, obviously Anthony Davis. KD. likely won't be in the movie because he has his own Hollywood interests or he's pursuing his own Hollywood efforts. Okay. But it's also reported that LeBron's family life will be more central to the focus of the movie than a large cast of NBA characters. How come I never see LeBron's wife? like to see her in there. She's all around all the time. I would like to see her in a movie.

Yeah, Savannah, they also have three children. I know. I'd like to see the whole family. That's a lot. Well, according to this report, they're going to be in there. So we'll see. I'm very interested to see what the storyline is of the movie. Obviously, we're not going to see for until 2021 when it comes out. So you have until then to watch the first one. So we can discuss it. I still can't believe it. You haven't seen. But it's all right. I don't think it's too long. It's a nice little post-nap afternoon watch. A post-nap? Yeah, if you do it pre-nap, you'll probably fall asleep because you're clearly not that interested.

All right, so finally, Kevin Durant gave us a lot of content in December. He said the environment around LeBron was toxic, which fueled some speculation that the Lakers would miss out signing top-free agents this summer. And during his exit interview with reporters yesterday, Lonzo Ball pushed back on Katie's comments. It was a dream come true for me. Hopefully I couldn't play more games with him. But I was watching him my whole life. It's everything I thought it would be

He's a great, not only great basketball player But just a person Looked out him like a big brother And obviously it's high IQs off the chart So he's not hard to play with it all Yeah I like Lonzo talking more and LeVar talking less So I just like that he talked

Lonzo's coming to his own Into his own a lot He obviously has had some major issues With injuries as his entire Laker team This year But I don't doubt the sincerity of anything that Lonzo said. And I hope that moving forward, the Lakers do kind of embrace

their young core a bit more. Obviously you know it was a disaster with the Anthony Davis situation. But again, I point to the injuries as being the biggest part of the issues this year. And as far as Lonzo goes, you know, people are very critical of Lanzo in his shooting and kind of disregard the other elements of his game that he

brings to the Lakers. How about just be healthy? I'd be good with that. Right. Well, I mean, just as far as his numbers go, you know, he was compared a lot to Jason kid when he first came in the league. in his first two years, Lanzas averaged 10 points, six rebounds, and six assists on 38% shooting. Jason Kidd averaged 14 points, six boards, and nine assists

during his first two years on 38% shooting. Gary Payton averaged eight points, three boards, and six assists on 45% shooting. So he still has Hall of Fame potential if you're looking at the grand scheme of things. The first two years on top of the injuries that he's had, in which you would all agree now is a dysfunctional situation, and we have seen that the Lakers have had some issues developing players. I think everyone just needs to calm down and put a pause on this whole roster in general.

There are some bright spots and some room for development. You don't have to clean everything out to move forward. But it's all going to depend on who Jeannie puts in place to do that. Enjoy with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The Heard Lye News. Okay, coming up. Game of Thrones is taking over the NBA.

It's already taken over the NBA. Everybody watches that except me. So the staff is going to try to fool me on Game of Thrones. and NBA stuff. I have no idea what this is. So we'll see it coming up. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific. Well, the NBA regular season ended last night. And most teams were playing players in the last couple of days.

I've never even heard of. And I'm not joking. There were guys that are scrub scoring 35 points. So the NBA sat their stars. Teams tried to lose lottery projections, resting them for the playoffs. And also the final season of Game of Fame. Thrones is Sunday and I've never watched the show and I don't watch sorcerers and wizards and that kind of escapism stuff. It's not my, it's not my bag. So for best of last, Joy will be asking if the name of a person is an NBA player or a Game of Thrones character, I'm ready to go.

Okay. Just to be clear, I do watch Game of Thrones. You know all the characters. Excellent. And I will be watching on Sunday. All right. First up, John Snow. That's John Snow is a character on Game of Thrones. Correct. Do I get a ding ding? Yeah, I've heard of that. You get a dragon sound. He's a dragon? John Snow is arguably, no, he's not a dragon.

I just said you get a dragon sound when you get it right, when Game of Thrones is mentioned. So that's how you know. You don't get a ding. Right there is he a... That's John Snow. Is he a wolf? He's got a wolf on.

Maybe. Okay. Maybe he has some wolf relations. Okay. All right. Torian Prince. All right, all time out. There was a Tachon Prince.

That could be a cousin or brother. I'm going to say NBA guy. Correct. He plays with the Hawks. He's in his third season. I love his game. Average 13.5 points per game this season. Is he related to Tashon Prince, maybe?

I do not. I don't know that. Tashon Prince was that skinny guy for the Pistons. Really clever game. I love Tashon Prince. All right. Next up, Langston Galloway. Oh, Lord, that's a tough one.

Lankston Galloway. NBA or Game of Thrones? I always told you I wish my name was Sky Bannister. I always wanted my name to be. You weirdly look like a Sky. Bannister. No, no kidding. In radio.

Good morning. Sky Bannister. Although I feel like you would have gone more newsy with the name like Sky. My hair's made of wood. Okay, what's this guy's name? Say it again. Langston Galloway.

NBA guy. Correct. Pistons fifth season in the NBA. I don't watch Pistons games much. I watched one about a month ago. Well, you're going to be watching some in the playoffs. Congratulations, young man. All right.

Ray Spalding. NBA. Correct. Phoenix Suns. Start the last three games, scored 21 points. You're trying to throw a Phoenix Sun pass me. Joy, forget it. You're on your game today.

I'll give it to you. All right, Rob Stark. Say it again. Rob Stark. Would this be the name of the person in the show, or the actor name or the character name? Rob Stark. Rob Stark is Game of Thrones.

Correct. I'm not doing any actor names. Oh, there he is. Yes. He looks brooding and handsome. That's generally how they cast those guys. How come, how come, how come everybody's wearing a wolf on their shoulders? Well, certain people have to wear wolves.

It's part of their thing. Is the whole, is Game of Thrones about wolves? Somewhat, yes, there's a lot of wolfness in it. Wolves are cool. All right, Jamie Lannister. Say it again. Jamie Lannister. NBA or Game of Thrones character.

God, this music is so good. Get me hype. Lannister sounds like Game of Thrones. Lannister. I'm going to say Game of Thrones. Lannisters always pay their debts, correct. Oh, look at him, he is. Very important character in Game of Thrones.

He doesn't have a wolf on. He's got a lion on. Yes, that's their, that's like their family crest thing. What do you mean? So there's a... Like, different families, different houses. So they call them houses. So the Wolf family?

House of Stark. And then their house... So Stark family crest is a wolf. And what's the wolf family? The Starks. And what's the lion family? The Lannisters. And how many other families?

There's a raccoon? There's lots of other families. Is there a raccoon family? I don't think there's any raccoon families. Is there an otter family? No otters. No. Dragan Bender. Oh, Dragan Bender's an NBA guy. Yeah, that's easy. Yes.

Yes. Drog and Benner. Phoenix Suns in the 2016. Dragan Bender, yeah. All right. Ramsey Bolton. You're really testing my NBA League pass knowledge. Okay, what's his name one more time? Ramsey Bolton.

That's Game of Thrones. Correct. I am nailing it. Hated character. Why is he hated? Most hated character in Game of Thrones. Why? Why? Because he's awful. He doesn't have an awful game of Thrones character.

No wolves or lions on that guy. No, he's just evil. What do you mean he's evil? Like he's he a... Like everyone hates him. Why? Because he's mean, he's evil and he kills people. He's very cruel. Does he kill wolves? Yeah, I think he does actually.

All right. Sam Tarley. Sam Tarley. NBA. He knows. That's a character? Yes. That's him in his His uniform for the wall

Sam Twinkie What was That's a That's a Thrones character Yes Walter Lemon Game of Thrones No

Place with the Bull scored 20 points last night Oh come on he didn't When's the last time he scored 20 points I don't know But he scored 20 points last night Jora Mormon Or Mormon

Sorry Jora Mormon NBA Game of Thrones. Let me see him. Oh. Looks like Kurt Schilling when he was thin. Look at that.

What's that guy do? He was a protector of the mother of dragons. No, time out. And then he got cast aside, and then he touched a stone person. So now he slowly turning a stone. God, this series sounds so complicated. It's very complicated. I watch billions.

There's a rich guy, and then there's Chuck Rhodes. I think you would like it. It's very intellectual. I'm not that intellectual. Right. Kenrich Williams. Oh, that's NBA. Yes, plays for the Pelicans. So 29 games this season.

Yeah, I know. All right. And finally, Edmund Summer. Oh, curveball. Game of Thrones. Wrong. Pacers. 22 points.

Is it possible that one of these Game of Thrones person people could have played in the NBA briefly? Strowing curveball. That is a good question. I would have to think that one over. So first of all, there's family crests, there's a wolf family, a lion family, a guy who... The Mount could play football for sure. Who? The Mount.

What's the Mount? He's just this giant human thing. Are there any women in the character thing? Yes. What do you mean? Well, you didn't show me a... Circe. There's no women in the NBA if we were doing WMBA or Game of Thrones, and that's what we would do.

I would do the female characters. I'm very progressive thinker. Women run everything in Game of Thrones. All right. I wasn't bad early. I got in a little tail spin toward the end of that game, but I was pretty good early.

I think you were solid. I think you're ready for it. Good before the All-Star break. Joy and I return Friday. Good stuff. S-FY around the corner. M-Drives, a supplement you should use. More energy and drive.

Visit m-drive for men.com. Refind your prime with M-Drive. See you tomorrow. Friday. It's the hurt. Last night, a blown call changed the game. This morning, the internet lost its mind, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where

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