The Herd with Colin Cowherd - LeBron James, Lakers, Eli Manning, James Harden, and the Warriors

Episode Date: February 26, 2019

Colin discusses the Los Angeles Lakers dysfunction, star players not wanting to play with F LeBron James, why the New York Giants should get rid of QB Eli Manning, why he was happy to see Houston Rockets G James Harden's streak come to an end, and how teams can beat the Golden State Warriors. Guests include Nick Wright, Joel Klatt, Matt Barnes, and Marcedes Lewis.  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 IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. What's up, guys? This is Clever Taylor the 4th. And on my podcast, The Cliverts Show, I'm bringing you conversations about all kinds of stuff. Like being an internet famous referee. We're in the middle of a game. This linebacker, this linebacker walks up to me. He goes, hey, ref, my mom wants you to wave at her.

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

Wow. Then after that game seven, Mark keep coming to. He's like, you know, I love you, dog. You know, it's all love. This was just playoffs. This was just basketball. So listen to Point Game on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Thanks for listening to The Heard podcast.

Be sure to catch us live every weekday from 12 to 3 Eastern, 9 to noon Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and FS1. Find your local station for The Herd at Fox Sports Radio.com or stream us live every day on the iHeart Radio app by searching Herd. Now let's get this party started. You're listening to Fox Sports Radio. This is the Herd on a Tuesday, wherever you may be, and however you may be listening live in Los Angeles, IHeartRadio, Fox Sports Radio, and FS1. Nick Wright today, Joel Clatt, Matt Barnes, Mercedes-Lewis, now a Green Bay Packer with Aaron

Rogers. Great to be enjoyed. Taylor is joining me on a Tuesday where we're actually packed today. Joy. I'm great. Good morning. Good morning. We always knew when LeBron James came to L.A. There was going to be some business. I'm for business. I always say for superstars, soccer, music, entertainment, sports. There's the show off stage. I got to win some ring stage and the mogul stage. We knew LeBrah was moving into the mogul stage, but it's out of balance. I'm getting too much mogul, not enough basketball player. And we always knew, and I'm for it, we always knew that was part of it.

We always knew that. The Lakers lost last night to a really bad team. They're now the 11th seed in the West. That's not the 11th seed in the NBA. There's a lot of good teams out east. They're the 11th seed in the West. And oh, by the way, Lanzo Ball's Lakers last year won 35 games and had major injuries. LeBron's Lakers are on pace to win 39 games.

Not as many maybe injuries. The Lakers are now officially statistically, have a better chance of landing a top three spot in the NBA lottery than making the playoffs. I'm not joking. 3% for the playoffs, according to basketball reference, 6% to get a top three pick in the lottery. It's over. Superman's capes got a tear in it and there's no tailor around to fix it. The balance is out of whack. his teammates can feel it.

It's too much mogul. LeBron and his guys are trying so hard to show us that he's an icon, that he's an entrepreneur, that he's a TV mogul, that he loves wine, and he's sophisticated, a bon vivant. Dude, we like your basketball. Nothing against your pizza chain. I've tried it. It's fine.

Nothing against your TV shows. I've tried them. It's okay. You're not Spielberg. You're not Domino's pizza. You're a basketball star. I get the mogul stage. I appreciate it.

Kevin Durant, by the way, is getting kind of into mogul stage. But I always feel like Kevin, priorities are right. 90% basketball, 10% mogul. With LeBron, it's out of whack. This is something Chris Broussard came on our show the other day. And I thought he really nailed it when he said LeBron sees himself as a corporation. Yeah, but the problem is you're playing with a bunch of one-year contract guys in 23-year-old guys.

They're not corporations. Tom Brady always makes a point to reach down to the scout team, to reach down to rookies, to know their name and their backstory. I'm one of you. LeBron's constantly separating. I'm global. I know Pino Noir. I'm a TV mogul.

I'm a pizza. I get it. You don't need to constantly advertise it. you can't take games off for load management. Because part of that load is a load of bull and it's a load of mogul stuff. You've got a bunch of young guys here. They're moldable. They're looking up at you.

You're the star like they're doing in New England with Brady. You've got to reach down. Like I get the mogul stuff. Hey, have opinions on politics. Own a pizza chain. Be into television. I get it. I'm for it.

I understand it. But the balance is out of. whack. I watched last night. LeBron apparently doesn't think there's videotape because he was blaming his teammates. Well, you know, there's too many distractions here. By the way, Brandon Ingram last night was great and so was Kyle Kuzma. Here's who wasn't great. Here's who was not great last night. LeBron James, he missed 17 shots and played no defense. LeBron, we've got videotape. There's always balances in life. You know, good dad and serious dad. You know, I can be fun, dad.

I can take my kids to Disney, but I can also be serious, dad. No, punished for the weekend, didn't get good grades. There's always a balance. And LeBron's balance is out of whack. He's now into the finger-pointing stage. Distractions, distractions, distractions, he says about his teammates. Are you kidding me? LeBron, you're the one with a pizza chains.

You're the one with television shows and movies and corporations. that Kyle Kuzma didn't have those. Ingram doesn't have those. Josh Hart doesn't have those. Again, leadership is hard to explain. I once asked Jimmy Johnson, former coach of the cowboy, he said, what's a leader? He goes, I can't define it.

Either can I. But I do know this. The NBA of all the professional sports in America has the smallest locker room. Baseball, you got 25 guys. Football, you got 55 guys. hockey you've got a lot of guys, 25 guys. In NBA, you've got about 12, 13 guys, and about six matter. Sometimes three matter.

In Milwaukee, one guy really matters. In L.A., one guy really matters. So the influence of the star in an NBA locker room is profound compared to other sports. It's a really big deal. Tim Duncan bought in, took pay cuts. Everybody buys in. Dirk Novitsky's not the best player in Dallas. but he kind of creates the culture pro team that allows young new mavericks to be part of the club.

What I'm seeing in Los Angeles now is the opposite of New England, where the superstar is pushing away whether he gets it or not. I get, I get mogul. I do. I've said before, the show off stage, give me ring stage, and the mogul stage. but the balance is completely utterly out of whack. I watched every moment of that Laker game last night. LeBron is not engaged. His body language is terrible.

His defense is worse. He's into finger pointing and nobody's buying it. His injury didn't help. The trade rumor certainly didn't help. But at some point, this is not about anybody else except LeBron. I'm showing video right now on FS1. You can't find LeBron in the picture defensively. Guys watch film.

Guys see what's happening. It's out of whack. All right, let me shift to this. Peter King covers football. He's usually very well connected. Here's the five NFL teams, according to Peter King, that could be leading or most interested in getting the Steelers, unbelievably talented wide receiver Antonio Brown.

Carolina, who has a hurt quarterback. Washington, who has no quarterback. Tampa Bay that's got an inconsistent quarterback. The Jets who have a baby quarterback and the Raiders who have a quarterback that I don't think their head coach likes. That's what you're leaving Pittsburgh for. You talk about getting bad advice.

this is like your stockbroker coming up to you and saying put all your money on bitcoin i mean there are places that i think he'd be a decent fit eagles and rams and they don't have the cap space but even the places and i can't believe antonio brown's agent isn't telling him this even the places that sound like they'd be a good fit for him are not kansas city patrick mullams Andy Reed. No, they've got a star here, star there. They have multiple stars, deep threats. They don't need him. Indianaapolis, Andrew Luck. No, they have a deep threat. T. Y. Hilton. San Francisco. No. Kyle Shanahan is rigid. It would not be a good fit. New England. They don't really throw deep. Brady hasn't thrown deep consistently in years.

When you look around at who's a better place for AB than Pittsburgh, the list is tiny. I mean, I'm sorry, but if your stockbroker tells you, put all your money in cryptocurrency, you're getting really bad advice. Here's again, the list of the five teams, according to Peter King, that could be leading to get Antonio Brown. Cam Newton's hurt. Sam Darnold's a baby. Derek Carr isn't loved by his coach. James Winston, it's a maker break year.

And I don't even know who the Redskins quarterback. Colt McCoy is long term. As T.J. Hushman Sada said a couple of days ago on our show, you don't have a quarterback as a wide receiver. You don't have a career. That is just a shocking, shocking. shocking list of teams leading for the services of Antonio Brown. Wow.

Just a massive wow. Coming up next, I'm going out on an island. I'm going to go on an island here, and I'm going to go against what everybody else believes on something, and I'm going to be definitive. It's going to be another one of these where I hope, John, we're rolling back at the radio studio and on TV, Do we have tape?

Because I don't buy what I'm hearing whatsoever, and that's coming up next. Hi, it's the herd. It's a situation nobody wants to experience during tax season. But with the breaches in the last couple of years, your information may have already been exposed. And that could lead to an unfortunate discovery, finding out that a cybercriminals stole your identity and filed for your tax return. Good thing there's life lock with Norton to help you protect your identity and devices. If you become a victim of identity theft, tax-related or not, life-lock will work to fix it with a dedicated identity restoration specialist

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That's heard for 10% off your first year. You know, when you do a show like this, I try to never be terrified or paralyzed by being wrong. I want to be right. But if I believe something absolutely and there's a chance I'm wrong, I'm okay with it. Because, again, you can't be afraid as a stockbroker. You can't be afraid as a sportscaster. You have to go for it. And I'm going to say something now.

And this goes against what a lot of people think. There is no way in the world when I hear a lot of. all these trade rumors about Jason Tatum of the Celtics, a 20-year-old kid that is not even close to his ceiling getting traded for Anthony Davis, pass. I'm not trading Jason Tatum for Anthony Davis. I'm not interested whatsoever. And I'll go on an island saying it. Anthony Davis hurt regularly. Jason Tatum never hurt. It's a shooters league. Tatum's an elite shooter. Anthony Davis is mostly a low post scorer. Anthony Davis has illustrated no great leadership skills.

He's just one of those really talented dudes. Jason Tatum's already exhibited incredible leadership skills as a 20-year-old. Lost Kyrie last year, took him to the Eastern Conference finals. Even Celtics people inside the building were shocked how good he was. One guy's mid-20s, one guy's 20. And if you have kids, let me tell you something. There is a massive difference until people get into their 30s with five years. You know, Jason Tatum is not going to demand a max contract.

The Celtics control his contract for years. I'm not making that deal. You look around the NBA right now. Joe L.M.B. to Anthony Davis are dominating bigs. So is Janus. Yonis has never won a road playoff game. What did M.B. do last year? It's almost like world-class wide receivers. Once it comes to the playoffs, Randy Moss, even Randy Moss when he was setting records with the Patriots,

was never quite the same in playoff games. Weather gets cold, coaching gets better. Same with bigs. Bigs are great in the regular season. But if I get seven games to discover how to marginalize a big and take him out of a game, good coaches do. I'm not trading. Jason Tatum is what you're looking for in the draft. A smart 6-8 willing player who can shoot, drive, slash, defend, and score with the basket. Go look at his draft class. Markle Fultz, bust, Lonzo, hurt again. Josh Jackson, whole bunch of nothing.

Dennis Smith already traded. Lori Marketing. Okay. Jonathan Isaacs. Raw coming in, still raw. I mean, Danny Aange does not like to lose trades. When you buy a stock. It's not about the price the day you buy it.

You buy it believing what it will end up trading for a year from now. Anthony Davis, this is what he is. Super talented. Hurt regularly. Not an elite shooter. Mostly a low point score. That doesn't necessarily want to be the leader. Jason Tatum, 20 cheaper, shoots better.

leadership skills never hurt. I'm not trading them. And by the way, this is one of the reasons I think Anthony Davis will become a Laker. Because once you don't include Jason Tatum in the deal, Boston's package may be better than L.A.'s, but it's not that much better. I mean, I like Al Horford, but I'd give Al Horford away if I got Anthony Davis. I like Gordon Hayward. I'd give him away too.

But once you take out Jason Tatum in the Anthony Davis potential trade deal, Boston offer is picks and guys. Tatum, hard pass, never trading him. This is what you're praying for from a 20-year-old. I don't even think Jason Tatum is close to his ceiling. And I like Anthony Davis. He's at close to his ceiling. I like it. But I'll take Jason Tatum and I'll go against what every NBA expert and analytic whiz tells you, I am never trading that kid. He's what you're praying for when you win ping pong balls in the lottery. Look at his class and look at him. He's miles ahead of it.

Joy with the News. No, no, no, no, no. Turn on the news. This is the herd line news. So despite losing a second straight game, LeBron surpassed Andre Miller to move to number 10 on the NBA's all-time assist list. In the process, he also became the only player in league history. to be in the top 10 of points and assist.

So after the game, LeBron took it to Instagram to share his thoughts on his latest achievement. He wrote, I literally have no words, I guess like Real Cole World said, that's Jay Cole. Even when the dark out, the sun is shining somewhere. Throughout it all, no matter good or bad, appreciate the journey. Thank you to all who continue to take this journey with me

and then a bunch of hashtags and emojis. I have some questions. First of all, you do have words, because you shouldn't use the word literally. You had a lot to say about it. First of all. Second, can anyone let LeBron James know the state of the Lakers right now? Can someone just pull them aside like, hey, awesome accomplishment?

Not the time. Thank you. Just not the time. Let me ask you this. If I set some sort of podcast record, you and I did, but FS1 had let go of 250 people, would it be the day I go to Instagram go hey my podcast is crushing it

be like no no no no let's have sympathy and empathy for our co-workers and the environment and the culture like LeBron just take the temperature of the room thank you it's not the time to do this it's just not especially when you're the same thing on the night of the worst loss of his career when he's sitting at the end of the bench

I mean this is this is just not when you do this it's not and then on top of it to go into what he actually said, even though the dark out of the sun is shining somewhere, no matter good or bad, like you're recognizing this is not the space or time to be celebrating individual accomplishments, however great in all time they are. And while I agree with him that they need to pick it up and they aren't playing with a sense of urgency and they need to start thinking of a mindset of championships and playoffs,

what are you doing? I mean, there are just some things. there is a responsibility of being the CEO, of being the star, of being the big man on campus. There is a responsibility. You will often mostly set the culture and expectations. LeBron, I wouldn't like if a rookie did this, but for the iconic global star of the league, this was not the day to... It's not the day, and I don't like to pick it everything that LeBond does, and I don't think it's fair,

but not today. It's just not. All right. So you know how we like to debate list? So let's do it. ESPN has released their latest top five, top 25. I'm sorry, NBA players under the age of 25. And I have the list here and I have some problems.

First of all, Kyle Kuzm-Lanzibal and Jalen Brown are not 21 through 25. Like they need to move up all the way. Yeah, Marvin Bagley of the Kings, I would put higher for sure. All the way as well. Marvin Bagley, I would move up as well. Luca feels a bit low, but he is a rookie. Yeah, time out. Jason Tatum's better than Donovan Mitchell, and I like Donovan Mitchell.

I get a six-eight guy who's a better shooter. Jason Tatum's better. And I love Donovan Mitchell. No, Donovan Mitchell is a great player. I'm sliding Jason Tatum up as well, yes. We just, you were literally just talking about Jason Tatum and impact the eyes. I think Chris Taps is a bit low as well. I don't know how you rearrange them, but I'm definitely moving Kyle Kuzma a tremendous amount.

But it is a fun list. It is. I would have Jason Tatum hire and Marvin Bagley higher. Everybody else, I'm not going to nitpick, but I think Jason Tatum, I just want to say this. He's 20. Forget under 25. He's 20. He should be a junior in college.

Yeah. And last year he was leading his team to the Eastern Conference finals over, you know, an Eastern Conference where Indiana was better and Toronto went and Milwaukee was better. Like Tatum's not under 25. He's 20. He almost doesn't make the list 15 to 20 year old. I was talking to you about this before. That's why I said if they trade him to the Pelicans, it's going to be his team and they're going to do some winning.

He has incredible potential. Gullay just said, Tatum will be on this list four and a half years from now. Yes. And that's how good he is. Yes. And finally, the NFL's competition committee kicked off the NFL scouting combine week with their annual meeting on Monday. And the biggest attention will be on the discussion of expanding instant replay in the aftermath of the non-call and the Saints' Play. off loss of the Rams.

Yeah. Don't hold your breath on a big, bold move to be declared after the meeting. NFL network, Judy Batista, reported one committee members told her he's not sure anything will be done to instant replay this year. She tweeted a big phrase with the competition committee always unintended consequences. So the real concern that making non-calls reviewable would mean flags thrown on every touchdown run. Yeah.

For example, coach says, hey, look at the guard. He was holding. Listen, it was a bad call. It happened. Let's move on. Happens all the time. Dallas Cowboys of a goofy catch rule, which I still think Des Bryant caught the ball in every single football game of my life. Two hands, two knees. Two steps.

Belly, two steps is a catch. So it happens. The Cowboys should have gotten, you know, to the big game, and the Saints argued they should have. But there was a lot of football played after that moment. Let's move on. Interesting names on the committee list, though. Who? Who?

John Mara, Stephen Jones, Mark Murphy of the Packers, Rich McKay, the Falcons team president, Ozzie Newsom, John Elway, Mike Tomlin, and Sean Payton. By the way, if you picked eight guys in the NFL you kind of wanted to hang out with, that's a pretty cool room. If you say, there's eight guys in the NFL, you can go to the bar, have a bourbon with, and talk shop, and I get Tomlin and Elway and Ozzie and Stephen Jones and Amara and a Sean Peyton. I do wonder what Sean Payton, now that the dust is settled a little bit, I do wonder what Sean Payton's opinion about changing the instant replay rule is.

Like his real opinion, because even though I'm sure you still heard about it, you really feel like we should be able to throw flags on holding penalties. I would love to see the conservative Mara and Mike Tomlin in the same room. Because Tomlin is going to give you an opinion. Tomlin's the greatest NFL coach in league history at the, at the Mike. By far. He's strong. Mike Ditka's second and I'm talking Grand Canyon, the Laurel Canyon.

Like there's a huge drop. Joy with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The Heard Line News. You know what? Honestly, people ask me all the time. Who's never been a guest on your show you want?

Mike Tomlin. Of all the people in the country, people ask me that all the time. All the time at Car Wash's grocery stores. Who's never been on your show you'd love to have in your show? Mike Tomlin. I liked him have him in studio. Oh, God. I think he, there's never been a coach.

Any coach, any sport, any league. More wildly entertaining than Mike Tomlin. He's very good in a press conference, yes. Let's go to Nick Wright, via the Coward Global Satellite Network. Okay, first things first. Back from some global vacation. Okay, you're a LeBron guy. I'm a LeBron guy.

And I knew when he came to Los Angeles, Nick. He had moved into a mogul stage. I'm totally comfortable with that. But life is about a balance. You've got kids and a wife. At some time, she's like, hey, get off the phone, get off your sources. Pay attention to me. That's what life's about.

I do believe LeBron's mogul stage in L.A. feels a little out of whack. It feels unbalanced. I'm watching his body language. I'm watching his defense. He doesn't feel all into me, Nick. How's that land for you? you think that has to do with the off-the-court projects, with the movies,

or him being involved in, what was it, the two-chains song, or these other things, the shop, you think that if those things weren't going on, the Lakers would have a better record, he would be in better shape, he would be better defensively? Because I think none of that. What I think is LeBron James, one of the only athletes of all time who had never been injured, got injured, because he had never been injured, did not have a plan, did not have a routine, did not know how to stay in shape during six weeks with a lower body injury.

Colin, he's 280, 285 pounds. You can see it. He is not in shape. He does not have his stamina. This time last year, he was in the midst of game 63 of what would be 105 consecutive games played, and he got stronger as the year went on. This is all about the groin injury. This is all about the team going 6 and 12 during the groin injury.

LeBron having no stamina after the groin injury. And the team falling apart defensively since he came back, overweight, no stamina, post-injury. This isn't about Spring Hill Entertainment. It's not about Space Jam 2. And it's not about players' feelings being hurt because they were in trade rumors. It's about the injury. To me, everything else is noise. does not make the playoffs and

Kevin Durant wins finals MVP again although I do think Houston's a real challenge I do now that the Manimal is there Chris Paul is healthy I do think Houston's a real challenge physically PJ Tucker all those guys but if Durant went again and LeBron doesn't

miss the playoffs first year in the West you know Nick it's a third year in a row there are going to be people that say that gap that gap is closing fast Are you comfortable saying if Durant wins a third? The gap with KD and LeBron is closed.

Well, to me, if LeBron misses the playoffs, he will no longer be called the consensus best player in the world. But the guy who will be getting it will be Yonis, not Durant. The problem for Durant, and the reason Durant, one of the reasons I believe he's leaving Golden State is, no matter how well Durant plays, and I know that step back last night, had everyone falling all over themselves, I would ask you and I would ask anyone, if you take Durant off the Warriors and you put Janice there,

or Anthony Davis there, or LeBron there, or James Hardin there, or if we want to go down a tier, Paul George there, or let's say Jimmy Butler there, we can just keep going. How many guys also have back-to-back championships? how many guys are on pace to win a third championship? That's the problem for Durant. That's why it's hard for him to jump a level like you're talking about with Golden State. But right now, the best basketball player currently playing is Janice Antenancumpo.

And the problem for LeBron is last year at this time. In fact, we could go year by year by year each of the last five years at this moment on this date. people were writing the columns of, is LeBron still the best basketball player alive? Because for two years, it looked like it was Steph, for a year it looked like it was hardened. Last year, people were saying Durant, and then this year, Janus.

But then what would happen? The playoffs would come around, and for two months, LeBron would so clearly be greater than everyone. Last year, it was laughable the gap. He might not get that opportunity at all, and if he does, it looks like it'll be for two weeks, not two months. Of course that will change people's opinion. And it should.

You know, I'm looking right now, I don't, listen, I watch the NBA, got the league pass, watched the Laker game last night. I picked a game, and I bounce around. But one of the things I used to make fun of Bill Simmons, I'm like, Bill, there's the regular season and there's a playoffs. And once teams are established, LeBron James, Warriors, Rockets, They just don't care as much. Then you get the Denver's and the Toronto's and the Milwaukee's

where they want to show everybody, hey, this is a flex. I don't buy Denver. One player dominates all their stats. I don't buy Toronto where Kauai is great but has never really shown me. I mean, again, I like him. I don't buy the baby dinosaurs. And I do think Milwaukee's the best of those three, but they couldn't win a road playoff game last year.

aren't we all kind of fallen for we know the Boston Celtics can win road playoff games have two stars have the best coach Boston's going to win the East why are we losing sleep over this no no no I was so with you and for everything you said up until Denver I thought this was going to be an anti-denver commentary I was going to join you on that they don't have a go-to guy at the end of the games Nicola Yokic went from the most underrated player in the league to I would swung in the other direction. He's overrated. But everything after that, I fully,

you don't buy into Boston. I think I just do. I just think they- No, I just listen to you, write a love letter to Jason Tatum. Put up Jason Tatum, same draft class next to Laurie Markinen sometime before the show's over.

Laurie Marketing, who couldn't be pointed out of a lineup, except for the fact that he's 6-9 or 6-10, and you tell me who actually appears to be better. Jason Tatum has gotten more run out of a six-week playoff run last year than anyone I can imagine. Jason Tatum has gotten worse this season, playing the same amount of minutes. This is a shocking alert. Jason Tatum, after spending a summer with Kobe Bryant, you know what he learned to do?

Take more bad shots. Exact same number of minutes as last year, 30% more field goal attempts, less efficient, worse from three. All the numbers across the board down still is not a playmaker. You said Boston can win road playoff games. Why? Because they won one last year in overtime in Philadelphia. Boston can't win road playoff games. They're going to be on the road.

The entirety of the playoffs, they've been the fifth seed all year. Maybe they creeped to the foreline. That's where it ends. You have to believe in Milwaukee. Last year, their problem was they had an empty bag coaching them, and he got fired, and then they brought in his assistant empty bag coach. coaching them with respect to Jason Kidd and Joe Pronti, but that was about as disrespectful as I can be. Now they've got a real live NBA coach to go along with a player playing better than anyone else.

Toronto's only problem for the last four years is they had to go through the greatest player of all time en route to the finals. That's now gone. No, you've got to take those two teams seriously. Philly right now is an injury problem and a depth problem. Boston has a we don't like each other problem and they aren't that good. They didn't get two max players back. They got Kyrie back and Gordon Hayward, who's right now a negative. Jalen Brown has gotten worse. Terry Rozier's mad at everyone, and Jason Tatum's a nice player. But let's stop with all this. Oh my God, Jason Tatum's going to be on the under 25 list for the next four and a half years. Yeah, because he's fought four and a half years under 25, not because he's got some magical powers.

Like, calm on the Tatum stuff, I beg of you. I don't know. I like him. By the way, you gave me this week, I got a text from you. And you said, Odell Beckham, Jr. wants your number. And Odell Beckham and I talked for 25 minutes the other night. It was a wonderful conversation. It was private.

It was private. It was fascinating. It was great. And I learned a lot of stuff about him. and I think we really connected, and I loved it, and I thank you for that. Here's what's interesting. Antonio Brown's out there and Odell Beckham's out there. And I said yesterday, Antonio Brown, I'm not interested.

Okay, if you can't make it work in Pittsburgh as a wide receiver, I'm out. Odell Beckham is flourishing in an organization that has become the Cleveland Browns with more history. The Giants are a mess. Give me your prediction in the next year. O'Dell, who you know, and Antonio Brown, who you don't. Listen, I, the end, full disclosure, not only do I know O'Dell, I would consider O'Dell a friend. I really like him as a person, so I'm a little biased here. But O'Dell is younger.

Odell is more physically gifted. Yeah. O'Dell has thrived with far worse quarterback play. And O'Dell's biggest problem, aside from some maybe Karen, a little too much about what the media says about him is he is so emotional when it comes to winning, he cannot always control himself. A.B. has a different set of issues. A.B. Set the blonde mustache Hulk Hogan style aside, he's got real issues. You can't quit on your football team. There's one. You cannot, how about off the field? The allegation that Antonio Brown

through furniture off a 15-story balcony and almost hit a small child. I say that this is apparent. That's horrifying. And it's for a 30-year-old man, it's wildly reckless behavior. And A.B., as he has gotten older, has seemed to increase the volatility. O'Dell had one misstep in the last 12 months. That interview with Josina Anderson in a high out of his mind, Lil Wayne, where Odell simply told the truth. So to me, it's a no question.

I think Odell's stock will go up from here. I don't know that Antonio Brown's stock will ever get higher than it was maybe eight months ago. I cannot wait for Jason Tatum to take Janus to the hoop in the playoffs. And Nick Wright apologized. Oh, my God. I mean, this is, I mean, Yon, you say there's regular season teams, and I get all that. The Tatum stuff, I just want to see, do this real, before the show's over, have Goulet or Tui, and by the way, I left out Tui when I was shouting out people a few weeks ago.

My apologies. Have somebody give you a full list of Jason Tatum 30-point games because it'll be on one sheet of paper and it'll be one line long. Do that for me. All right. Well, I still like him. And by the way, I do think they've got a lot of moving parts, the Gordon Hayward, Jason Tatum, Kyrie Irving. There's a lot of rumors with Boston. I don't think chemistry's been great.

I think that egos dissipate in the playoffs because stars realize games matter now. Let's get over our drama. First things first. Nick Wright, we get a run. Good seeing you, bud. See you, man. Good talk to you. Coming up next, Kyler Murray, first quarterback, first player taken in the draft.

That's what they're saying. I've got a thought on that next. 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. If you haven't tried, the high-quality meat from Butcherbox. It's going to be blown away. Sign up today. Butcherbox.com slash heard. Get a free ground beef for the life of your subscription. 20 bucks off your first box. Butcherbox.com slash heard. By the way, Kyler Murray, Joel Clatinext hour, reportedly in the

mix to be the first quarterback taken in the draft. All right. Okay. It says here, he's bulked up to 206 pounds. That means his resting weight, it's about 195. He's bulked up. Stop comparing him to Russell Wilson. Russell Wilson went to ultra-conservative Wisconsin and put up profound numbers. Kyler Murray is just the last quarterback under Lincoln Riley to post huge numbers. The three previous quarterbacks with Lincoln Riley, Baker Mayfield and two,

guys, you don't know who they are from, like East Carolina, they also put up huge numbers. Kyler Murray is 5-9 and bulked up to 206. I'm sorry. Patrick Mahomes is 6.2.5, 225. Carson Wentz is 6.5-235. Andrew Luck 6-4-240. Deshawn Watson 6-2-220. Jared Goff, 64-22.

Colin, Doug Flutie. What about him? He completed 54% of his throws. ever won a playoff game, had 86 touchdowns and 68 picks. Doug Flutie. Russell Wilson. He's not Russell Wilson. Russell Wilson led the NFL and touchdown passes two years ago with the worst

offensive line in football and no running game. Russell Wilson's a first bout Hall of Famer. He's not Russell Wilson. Listen, Baker Mayfield, I'm 6-2. Ripped, by the way, 194. I stood next to Baker-Mayfield. Baker-Mayfield six feet tall. and he's thick.

And Baker's a great pocket passer. I'm going to go with Dwayne Haskins, 632220. I'm not going to use the exception Russell Wilson and say, yeah, yeah, yeah. Because for every Russell Wilson, I can give you a Johnny Mansell. Remember how small he looked? I can give you Doug Flutie. Remember how small he looked? I can give you Troy Smith.

Remember how small he looked? Okay, I can give you four small guys that didn't work for every Russell Wilson. And I think Kyler Murray is an NFL quarterback. But if you're asking me, Dwayne Haskins or Kyler Murray, I'm not going to go all in on the exception. The Super Bowl, two on athletic guys, both 6'4, Brady Jared Gough. By the way, two other guys, Drew Bree's pocket quarterback, not run around guy.

And one of the reasons he keeps playing, he's not running around getting whacked. I mean, I like Kyleor Murray as a pro. I think he'll become a pro. I'm not saying that. But you can't tell me you're not a little concerned with 5-9 and bulking up to 206. That is tiny. I mean, it's the draft time. Like, we're getting into the combine.

They're going to sell prospects, like, that this is what happens. And whoever has the buzz going into the draft, teams get excited about. Like, this is what it is. And by the way, you're trying to move up in the draft. Let me. Here's a couple other red flags. I don't like about Conno Murray over Dwayne Haskins. Number one, that interview on Dan Patrick was awful.

It had no sense of understanding the room. He wouldn't answer questions. The other thing I don't like is he picked Eric Burkhart as his agent. I would fire my agent if they ever went on a radio show or a podcast and said this. Not some little shrimp they're making enough to be. This kid weighs 205 yesterday. Holy shit. This kid has jacked the F up these days.

days and age of these old NFL dinosaurs and scouts that sit back and talk about what players can't do. Oh, he can't do that. He's not this. He's not that. Those are the losers. You want all your requirements and all of that. That's not what the NFL game is today. It actually is. It's about, you know, a left tackle having a certain reach to get drafted as a left tackle. It's about a guard being your least offensive, athletic, offensive linemen. Like there are requirements. That's not for losers and dinosaurs. By the way, Bill Belichick's almost 70, won another Super Bowl. Who else was great in the Super Bowl as a coach?

Not Sean McVeigh, 71-year-old Wade Phillips. Andy Reid at 66, got to overtime against the Patriots AFC Championship. Old Sean Payton, also in the NFC championship. Yeah, I know everybody's falling for, you know, the young guys, but you did watch the Super Bowl between young coach and old dinosaur. It was a complete, utter mismatch. I think Kinder Murray's an NFL player. I'm not disputing that.

I think in this world we live in now, but if you're looking at 5'9, bulking up to 206, and you don't have a little bit of a reservation, a little bit? I just feel like anything that's a hard sell. That's a good point. I'm a little skeptical.

I know how tall he is and how much he weighs. That's not hard to figure out. Look in the college tape. Sell me on the stuff that matters. like his completion rate and his accuracy and speed, things that you can develop. You're not going to change his body type. That's what it is. I got Joel Klaat's going to be 10 minutes or wrong next hour.

That's just going to be a barnyard musical on this show. We move around Matt Barnes 2, Mercedes-Louis. Hour 2 coming up, hour 1 done in Los Angeles. This is The Herd. Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays in noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific. Ah, hour 2. Here we go. this is The Herd, wherever you may be and however you may be listening.

We're live in Los Angeles, IHeart Radio, Fox Sports Radio, FS1, Joel Clatt yelling at me in 10 minutes. Joy Taylor, hopefully not yelling at me, the rest of the show. It's great to have you enjoy. How are you? Can't make any promises. All right. Yeah, that's the best way to go. What happens a lot in business and basketball is a business is you create this standard and it dominates.

an industry and then 10 years later you end up facing people who have watched you and copied you and duplicated what you do and you end up facing yourself. Whole Foods creates this organic 30-year brand and now their earnings people are nibbling away at their earnings because they figured out organic food and they're offering organic food and you have boutique grocery stores that aren't as busy as Whole Foods, and how Whole Foods is facing itself. Tiger Woods out there, rip, didn't even look like a golfer. Fifteen years later,

tigers on the course with guys that are long off the tee can drive just like he used to. And, oh, by the way, they're in really good shape too. Tiger's facing himself now. Maybe not as good as him, but he's facing somewhat. The image of Tiger, ripped long off the T, in shape, aggressive. LeBron's facing this.

LeBron is Mr. Player Empowerment. Create your own path. Shorter contracts. Be mobile. Be your own man. Individual matters and team. Yes, it does. And Kyrie Irving looked at that and said, yeah, you're right.

You're Batman. I don't want to be your rob. I'm out. Boston, hello. And Paul George said, yeah, yeah, empowerment. The man, I got a better chance to be the man with an aging Westbrook than an aging LeBron. I'm going to stay in Oklahoma City. Kevin Durant's following LeBron's playbook, one-year deals, player controls the team,

join stars, exit at any time. LeBron's now trying to find young players to join him stars, but they don't want to be his robin. They don't want to be a sidekick. They don't want to sign long deals. They want to have mobility. And this is forcing the Lakers to have to trade everybody to get Anthony Davis, which is what happened to this team and ruined the season. LeBron got hurt. Anthony Davis trade rumors came out and out of the last 10 games past that, they're 3 and 7. The last 10 games have ruined their season. Before that, we were like, oh, 8 seed. No, they're not getting in now. all those Anthony Davis

so it's forced the Lakers to engineer a massive trade to get somebody because Paul George isn't interested and Kauai Leonard isn't interested and Kyrie Irving's not interested and Clay Thompson doesn't appear to be interested is that you end up facing yourself and LeBron is Mr. Empowerment,

Mr. Mobility, Mr. Create Your Own Path. That's what Kyrie Irving said. Kyrie's like, I've seen his act. I'm going to use it. use his act and leave. I don't want to be his Robin. If Paul George would have said, think about this. If Paul George would have said five months ago, I'm in.

It'd all be good. Wouldn't have any of these problems. They'd be a two or a three seed. Paul B. Averin 24. You'd have your two stars. You wouldn't have had to trade to get him. And now you'd have Paul George, LeBron, all these young guys, and you could move him for a third guy.

But it didn't happen. Paul George said, I want to be more of the man. And I got a better chance to be the man in OKC with an aging point guard than I do LeBron James. So to some degree, LeBron and Chris Broussard talked about this yesterday in our show, is he's created this kind of global iconic basketball powerhouse and everybody's watching. I just think LeBron is his own corporation. and he looks at this as a business deal. He's always in the partnerships.

You know, with all his endorsements, he doesn't want to just be a client of a company. He wants to be a partner of a company. And I think he looks at it as when I was with Cleveland, I was a partner. When I'm with the Lakers, I'm a partner. And that can be tough to do when you're a player. It can rub some of the other players the wrong way.

Of course it can. It can not only rub some of the lesser players the wrong way, but the players that are close to you in talent, Kawhi Leonard, not you but close to you, start copying your M.O. Kauai Leonard does not want to be LeBron's sidekick. He could go there and they wouldn't have to give anything. He's not going to.

And Paul George didn't. And Janus doesn't want to. And Clay Thompson doesn't want to. They don't. And this is where we stand. The Lakers now statistically a better chance. according to basketball reference to get a top three lottery pick

than to make the playoffs as they currently stand an 11 seed in the West. This story is out. Boy, if you're a Dallas Cowboy fan or if you're a fan of the Philadelphia Eagles, two words you love hearing. Eli Extension.

Yes, The Giants general manager, Dave Gettelman, is speaking with the media tomorrow for the first time since the end of the season. And it looks like the Giants are expected to commit to Eli as the starting quarterback again next year. Oh, the Eagles and the Cowboys, it is a good day. Odell Beckham Jr. and Seekwon Barkley are two stars. And yet you're not putting legit batteries in those sports cars. Eli cannot elevate those two. In 2019,

Eli Manning is Andy Dalton, and O'Dell Beckham wants to be more than A.J. Green. Okay. Remember that O'Dell Beckham one-handed catch? He's the same guy. O'Dell Beckham is the same guy that made this catch. Remember the Eli Manning that won the Super Bowls? He is not the same quarterback.

Okay. The New York Giants have become a second-tier organization. It is remarkable how fear-based they've become. They're Cincinnati. Oh, my bad, they're just not winning as much as Cincinnati the last five years. The Giants roster is eight guys away from being special. I don't blame Odell Beckham, Jr., one iota for wanting out of New York City,

and he's never told me he wanted out. But you can tell if a team is making a good move or a bad move, move by how your rivals react. And the Eagles and the Cowboys today love hearing this headline. The Giants continue to commit to Eli as next year starting quarterback. I like Eli. He's a nice guy. But the downside to being in these big markets like Los Angeles and New York is sometimes

there are components you deal with. deal within Kansas City or Indianapolis. The Lakers signed Kobe because Time Warner said, we're not giving you a massive new TV contract bus family unless Kobe's part of the last two years. And so they signed Kobe to a massive contract. It was a business deal over a let's grow for the future deal. And this Eli Manning thing in New York is it's bad for the Giants brand. The Manning family's American football royalty. We're going to go with Eli. Sorry, but this is one of the reasons I I support Odell Beckham Jr. More than Antonio Brown.

Steelers, Big Ben, is a great asset as a wide receiver. Eli's a shot fighter. He's Andy Dalton. That's what he is. And Odell Beckham's like, I want to be more than AJ Green. I want to be closer to Julio Jones.

I want to be a big deal. I want to be closer to Jerry Rice. I want to be closer to stars. New York Giants, do it again. You think I hate Eli. I really don't. I really like him. But I got to be honest.

I calls him as I sees them and it's you got to do better. You look at that giant roster and you look at that cowboy roster and you look at that eagle roster, New York is not even close. Joel Clatt, 10 minutes of wrong. He's going to be yelling at me next. Is he here in studio today? Will you hear the echoes in the building? All right.

Kyler Murray, number one pick. Sorry. Got to bulk up to 206. I am concerned. Building my franchise around you. for 14 years. Want more herd? The herd streams 24 hours a day,

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follow Timbo Slicelife. 12 and the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hardway with me, your host, and your favorite therapist, Keer Games. And in recognition of mental health awareness month, I'm bringing over a decade of my own experience in the mental health field and conversations with so many incredible guests. I'm talking, Tripp Fontaine, Ryan Clark. Sometimes when we're in the pursuit of the thing, we get so wrapped up in the chase

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on my new podcast, learn the hard way. Open your free. iHeartRadio app search learn the hard way and listen now what's up guys this is clivert taylor the fourth and on my podcast the clivert show i'm bringing you conversations about all kinds of stuff like being an internet famous referee we're in the middle of a game this linebacker you know these kids linebacker walks up to me he goes hey ref my mom wants you to wave at her what time out look quarterback on office blue 42

a rep my mama want you to wave at her what Hey, Ms. Parker. Listen to the Cliverts show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. What's up, fam, it's Isaiah Thomas. And I'm C.J. Toledano, and our podcast, Point Game is about defying the odds. Like LeBron heading into the playoffs without Luca and Austin Reed. And finding ways to win no matter what.

He's the smartest player to ever play the game. His IQ is at a level that we've never seen before. And he knows. Without Luca and Austin Reeves, I gather. to manipulate the game. We get a player's perspective on the challenges of the playoffs. I think Joker's going to be exhausted

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

That man, hell get the flying. He run up the court, licking his fingers, why he got the ball like. After you go through a training camp with that, Isaiah, you figure it out real quick. Get your ass up and down the court, and you're going to get the ball. So listen to Point Game on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Great to have you in. Joel Clatt, Fox NFL draft analyst.

Guy watches more film than a movie critic. Great to have you in today, Joel Clatt. How you doing? So I am a believer in Warren Buffett. I invest in rock-solid companies. You're more Bitcoin. Crazy New Idea guy. Don't sign me a position like that. That's crazy.

I want to read this. If I was involved with Bitcoin, I would have sold it 16,000, not held it until it went all the way back down to whatever it is at now. All right. Crazy new idea guy. Here's Joel Clack talking. Is this a Denver Post or the New York Post? New York Post.

Okay, there's a New York Post. I'm going to read this. It's a newspaper out east. A lot of people read it. Quote, I think that teams are starting to get burned by retaining their old school values when it comes to play or evaluation. the clattster. I just think that old school mindset has to adjust because the NFL has adjusted it for them. I understand why somebody would think that way. I disagree with it,

clat on why he loves Kyler Murray, who is 5-9 and has bulked up to 205. Okay, great. Are we rebounding? Are we, what, are you telling me that the game of football right now at the quarterback position is really played in three veins? can you distribute on time and on target. Those are the three things that you've got to do. And Kyler Murray does those better than any other quarterback available in this draft. If he can see over the line. He doesn't need to.

Oh, yeah, that doesn't matter. Those guys are only six, seven. First of all, there's only a very select few, a handful of guys. Listen, you can be six foot, six one. I'm right about six one, six two even and not see. The line are like six five. Okay, so it's a huge myth that it's like, well, if you're six foot, you can see. If you're 6'1, you can see. No, you can't. You throw it a spots. You anticipate

windows. You anticipate windows based on the 22 chest pieces that are on the field. So don't give me this. You got to see. Hey, by the way, you played baseball. You can tell me about your slitty and your split-fingered. If you can throw 97 and the guy can't contact, Kurt Schilling was a, I'm going to throw it by you guy. That's way it was great in the postseason. Tim Wakefield was a, you ever noticed Tim Wakefield in the postseason? Not very good. Greg Maddox threw it so hard. By the way, Braves, one championship,

best staff for 20 years. Maddox is the greatest modern day pitcher in history. Oh, Lord. There were years. I didn't like him as a best pitcher on his staff. Oh, you're so out of touch. You're like the Giants right now.

A segment ago, you're railing on them holding on the E-line. You're like, oh, congratulations, Eagles, congratulations Cowboys. And now you're sitting there, you're like, I'm Dave Gettleman. You've got to be six-five. I don't understand this. Because listen, you understand that the game of football right now is played in those three veins. Can you distribute on time and on target?

There's no one that does that better than Kyler. I'm not saying he's historically great, by the way. He's just the best available quarterback in this draft. This quarterback class is average. Yeah. The Giants made a massive mistake. Last year we had four guys, five guys, and they can all play. I agree with that whole hardener.

This is not a great class. You can disagree with the Giants philosophy a year ago and love Sequam. Barclay, which I do. He's a deserving rookie of the year. He's a phenomenal person player. I think he's a foundational piece, but running backs don't impact your win-loss column like quarterbacks do. Therefore, the Giants made a massive

mistake last year, and I think they're going to make a massive mistake this year by just riding off Kyler Murray based on his height. And you're doing the same thing. I'm not writing him off. I think he's an NFL player. I think in this really weak... I only like two guys in this entire quarterback

class. I'm with you on that. Dwayne has And Haskins and Kyler Murray are my favorite two guys. Yeah. Haskins is a true pocket guy, almost unathletic. In fact, my knock on him is when he moves, his accuracy dips dramatically. Footwork is certainly a question. I think that he's a developmental guy. He needs to go in under a coach and maybe a starter that can allow him to develop a little bit. My thing with that is there's nobody in this draft at that position except for Kyler Murray

that makes your team better the first day he steps on it. Arizona, you have the pick GM, do you take him? Absolutely. What do you do with Josh Rosen? I trade them to New York because they're hung up on height. That's what I would do. And here's why. Because I think quarterbacks in the modern day NFL,

and I think Brady and Belichick, you can say that they're not modern. They're absolutely modern. They're maybe more modern than anybody in the game. Why? Because they are so agile in terms of their schematics. Think of how many different styles. of schematics they've used to win Super Bowls and they continue to morph and adjust based on what the league gives them, based on what their roster gives them, and they go out there and win.

That match is made in heaven not because just Brady is great or just Belichick is great, but they're great for each other. Brady doesn't care the style that he uses to go win. He can throw it to Moss. He can throw it to Welker. He can throw it to Edelman. Belichick, by the way, requires that out of his quarterback. So my whole contention is, if you're Cliff Kingsbury, it's not about you.

it's about the match. You've got to have a guy that's going to take what you believe and go put it out there on the field to the best possible efficiency that he possibly can't. And I think that's Kyler.

I know what Cliff runs. Kyler fits what he does perfectly. That's why he recruited him to Texas A&M before he went to Texas Tech in the first place. But I am saying is we're throwing out size. Again, you're a baseball pitcher. If I said,

I'm going to ask you that you have to be honest with me. None of this just throwing stuff into the ether. Like you're some crazy radio voice. This is real journalism. Big J. Big J journalism. This show is about getting it right all the time. That's right.

So if I said to you, any pitch in baseball. Okay. Any pitch. If I said God gave you one great pitch, what would it be? Slider. Oh, give me a break. How many, you wouldn't take a 98-mile-hour fastball? Do you know how many guys throw 90s?

all of them, all of them. Go to any AA game or high single A game. I have a social life. I don't do that. Every single one of them is Nuclouche, throwing a guy's heads. They're hitting the bull. They all throw 98. Maybe you should go to fewer AA baseball games.

I wish I could have. That was my problem as I was in far too much. What I'm saying is you're just throwing height out. Everybody throws 98. But the ability to control a slider is what gets people out. You have to have an out pitch. Just like as a quarterback, it doesn't matter how tall you are, how hard you throw it.

It matters how you distribute the ball on target and on time. That's how Drew Breed. So are you telling me that you wouldn't have taken Drew Breese? You wouldn't have taken Russell Wilson? Everybody's a genius now with Drew Breeze. Everybody's a genius now with Brady and Russell Wilson. But that's what broke the mold. Why would you stay in some old mold that wouldn't have valued Russell Wilson or Drew

Breeze? Clearly the modern day NFL is different. Patrick Mahomes is not a giant. He's six two and a half, 220 with a cannon. I mean, I think six two and a half is generous, but Kyler Murray is an anticipatory thrower. There has never been a better running quarterback coming to the NFL draft. Is he better than Lamar Jackson? Absolutely.

In every facet, he's a better runner. He's more dynamic and he's a much better thrower of the football. I agree with that. I think he's better on both accounts than Michael Vick, who was a unanimous number one overall pick. Oh, come on. Slow down. Michael Vick had a really strong arm, really strong arm, a howlitz. Okay, Josh Allen-esque.

I mean, this dude could throw it. But as a runner and a passer, Kyler is better than Michael Vick was. There's no question. Go watch. Joe. Joe. What?

Hey, this isn't chapstick and sausage fingers in the morning in Clovis, New Mexico. This show's a big deal. Have you guys watched Kyler run the football? Everybody at Oklahoma, every quarterback Lincoln Riley's hat is amazing. Go to East Carolina. Those guys were great. Lincoln Riley's amazing. I'm not talking about that.

talking about that. And no, those guys did not distribute like Baker. Listen, you fought me a year ago. Baker, Kyler Murray. I would take Baker. I would too. He's more accurate with the football, but that doesn't mean that Kyler is not accurate. And he's bigger and stronger and thicker. That doesn't matter. How many devastating hits are quarterback taking now versus what they did 10 and 15 years ago? I tell you what, you go watch all the tape of Kyler Murray and show me the last time he took a devastating hit. Oh, it doesn't happen because he's quick as a kid. No, it doesn't happen because he's playing Texas Tech.

And the whole Michael Vick thing, joy, it's absolutely true. It only takes one devastating hit in the NFL. It's absolutely true that Kyler is a better runner than Michael Vick was. And he's a better passer than Michael Vick was as well. Vic had a really strong arm. This conversation is giving me anxiety. You guys are so hung up on his height that you're not even seeing the clear things that are sitting in front of you. You know what you remind me of those Michelin Wiper Blades right now, please.

No, because you need them. You remind me of every girl that dumped me. They would always come up to me and say, they were so smart. Look at you. No, they would come up and they would say he has a nice personality. What they wanted was the hunk with cheekbones. It matters. In the end, that guy always comes up and the girl's like, oh, I like the guy with the personality,

and he likes animals and he's so sweet. And then they go off with the hunk. Why? Because it matters. I don't know what's happening here. All I know is Michael Vic transformed the league. And why do we always do this? He's not played one second of NFL football.

If Michael Vic and Kyler Murray. they were coming out. If Kyler Murray and Michael, there was a clear preface to what I was saying. Kyler in college was a better runner than Vic was at Virginia Tech.

It's true. Listen, go watch it. You're so hung up on 5-9, you can't even see anything in front of your face right now. Get out of the fog. Both of you.

I don't even care. I don't care about his height. I was just telling Colin, his height and his weight don't matter to me. You're not going to change his body type. So stop selling me on the fact that it doesn't matter.

It does matter a little bit. He pulled up. what he does other than his height and wait. What is his, how accurate is he? He's very accurate. The running part of it doesn't matter to me either. He's the most accurate quarterback in this draft. He's also with his height that you guys keep knocking.

And I get it. You're not as big of a knock on his height. He's also the guy in this draft of those top quarterbacks that had the least amount of passes batted down to the line of scrimmage. He and the way and Haskins only had five passes that batted down the line of that's your bed. It took us 38 minutes to get to your lead. That's your best one right there.

The first 37. minutes was height doesn't matter in the NFL. And you're over here talking about cheekbones and puppies. I don't understand what's going on. The hell's going on with this show. Goodness gracious. A Clovis, New Mexico's best rock. I'm exhausted from me.

I am exhausted. I feel like I'm playing cards with my brother's kids right now. Okay, get out of here. I'm Joe Clat, Fox. Hey, when's the draft anyway? April 21. Can't wait for it. God, I can't wait for it either.

It's in Nashville, which I'm super excited. Great city that is. Yeah, I can't wait to get down there. All right. Good stuff. Joy Taylor with the news. Kyle and Bird. No.

No. No. No. Turn on the news. This is the herd line news. I have to calm down from that. I know. I third that. You all need to calm down. Open your eyes.

It's Thursday, April 25th is the NFL drop. All right. So LeBron hasn't missed the playoffs since 2005, but the Lakers are heading into the final stretch with a real possibility of missing the postseason. And on Saturday, LeBron called his teammates. out for lack of urgency following the Pelicans' loss and said injuries have hurt the Lakers chemistry. Well, an anonymous league executive took exception to that and told Bleacher Report he killed

the Lakers chemistry. He shouldn't have been so public about it. Even during the All-Star draft, he laughed about wanting Davis to be his teammates. I don't think it helped. I think the executive, I don't know if killed's a little strong, but I don't think he helped it. They're three and seven since all the fun and rumors came out. And by the way, about half those games have been against Memphis and the Pelicans.

I mean, it's interesting. It's what I talked about when we came, coming back out of the all-star break. I don't know how you just forget everything that you just went through on a human level. We talk about talent and injuries and all of that. But to me, there is a human element that we ignore when it comes to these situations. Already going into the season, you didn't really have a. a sure idea of what this team was. You knew it was going to be some growing pains,

and you knew they had to get another player. But then this Anthony Davis thing happened, and it was as if, like, if this doesn't happen, there is no other option. And it didn't happen. And in the process of it not happening, your entire young core was served up on a platter as if they did not contribute anything to the team.

Now, whether that's a part of the business or their grown men or not, there is a human element to detaching to something that you feel like is about to be taken away from you. And then all of a sudden you have to reattach to it. And not only reattached to it, you have to completely lock in and get into make it to the playoffs mode. So I don't think that that's an entirely untrue statement.

So Luca Donchich has, without a doubt, been the NBA's top rookie this season. Yes. And despite Dallas's disappointing season, all eyes have been on Luca. And he isn't quite embracing the attention, according to his coach Rick Carlisle. Carlisle said, I haven't seen. And I wasn't with Cleveland when LeBron James was drafted. So I don't know what it was like when the bus would be. blew up at two in the morning.

But this has been a zoo, but he's not looking for the attention. Luca has had an incredible season, though. He is a, just a, I was talking to an NBA scout about a week ago, and I asked him about him. And he said, listen, he was, he is just a score. Yeah. And in Europe, he played with older, more physical players, and it got him ready for the NBA.

He is just one of those guys. You know, I'm not going to compare him to Larry Bird, but I remember when Larry Bird came into the NBA. And it was just left hand, right hand. Larry just scored, and it was just anything that was close dropped in, and Luca's got a beautiful touch. He can shoot at three. He's really fun to watch.

He's going to be a star. And it's, you know what? I've been saying this for years. I've never understood why NBA stars don't go to Dallas. Middle of the country, no state tax, very smart progressive owner, cool city for a young guy. I want to see Dallas be decent again, and they found their star. Yeah.

And if you compare LeBron's rookie season to Luca's rookie season, Luca's actually having a little bit better of a season. His shooting percentage is higher. He has more rebounds. They have the same points, and he's averaging a little bit less assists. The league's gotten much more favorable to offensive players. I don't want to put any kind of extras on it. We're just doing comparisons.

I know. But it is a little easier league to score than it was 16 years ago. I'm excited about it. I'm glad that they have him. He's an exciting player. Finally, with nine seconds to go and his team holding a nine-point lead over the Mavericks, Clippers head coach Doc Rivers called a timeout that confused everyone in the arena. And then instead of bringing his team to the bench, he took out the microphone and started chanting Dirk. And it was a nice tribute to Dirk's career in what's suspected to be his final season and his last appearance in the Staple Center. So here's the video of that.

Doc is on the mic. I've never seen this before. Up first. That is pretty classy stuff by Doc Rivers. Yeah, Dirk's good dude. It's a really nice moment, and you can tell that Dirk's getting really emotional there, you know, kind of trying to hold back losing it. But Dirk hasn't yet announced that he's hanging it up after this season. I mean, everyone's treating it as if it's his last season,

but he hasn't officially said he's retiring after this season. Two of the cool, you know, you never think of Texas as a basketball state. Two of the kind of most gracious, classy stars ever are Tim Duncan and Dirk. Nevetsky. And by the way, Akeem Olajuwon, three. Like, if you just say Akeem, Dirk, and Duncan,

nobody would ever say a bad word about any of those guys. Those are David Robinson to know. Texas does NBA stars well. They're just good dudes. They're like, maybe they know they're in a football state. You know, my... Well, you also just think of, like,

consistency when you think of them. They're just rock-solid guys that everybody in the league love. Akeem, Dirk, Duncan. Who was that? the other one? Who did I leave out? David Robinson. And David Robinson, the Admiral, of course. Yeah. There's a nice moment. Yeah.

Joy with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The Hurd-Ly News. Matt Barnes and Mercedes-Louis. By the way, last night, a bad streak. I'm not a big believer in any sport in regular season streaks, especially baseball winning streaks.

You know, you wear out your bullpen. You're trying to extend the streak. Cleveland Indians had a 22 game winning streak and then don't make the World Series. We've seen it in the NBA where Golden State tried to set the regular season record. They were gassed by the finals. The Rockets about 10 years ago won 22 straight games and then couldn't get out of the first round. I was never a fan of the James Hardin chasing Wilk Chamberlain, most consecutive games with 30 points. Last night that streak ended. Hardin was over 10 on threes.

I think these streaks in January and February and March are playoff killers. I think they're plagues. I think they're obstacles for June success. And last night the streak ended. I think streaks become burdens. I think they're energy sappers. I never bought into this James Hardin thing. And the other thing is that streak in Houston with Hardin was an ISO ball streak.

And what Houston really is, it was a offensive-minded ISO ball streak. It's kind of the opposite of what they are. If you go look at how Houston had Golden State beat last year, it was physicality. The Golden State Warriors are the greatest skinny jeans dynasty ever. They don't like to be pushed around. Steph Curry doesn't want to be pushed around. Durant doesn't like to be pushed around. Draymon does, but he can't shoot, so it doesn't matter.

Houston's got PGA Tucker. He's tough. Chris Paul. He's tough. Clint Capella. He's tough. Farid now, tough. Even hard and offensively, he's kind of a physical bump, lean-in, lean-out player.

is that this streak doesn't define Houston. If they beat Golden State, I don't think they will, but I think they're the only team in the league that can make it really uncomfortable. They're a much more physical team than they get credit for, and it's that physicality that gave the Warriors problem. And I just, I don't think this streak defines who they are. I think they're at their best when they're kind of tied as a unit, when they play physical basketball.

And so I'm glad the streak is over. January-February Streaks are energy sappers complete energy sappers coming up next Matt Barnes on what has been a massively disappointing year for LeBron and the Lakers

Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon eastern 9 a.m. Pacific on Fox Sports Radio FS1 and the iHeart Radio app Sunday the Cup series heats up as NASCAR superstars race for the Las Vegas checkered flag. Energy NASCAR Cup Series Sunday at 3.30 Eastern on Fox and the Fox Sports app.

Cold flu season. Try Vic Synex nasal spray works up 12 hours. Vic's Synex nasal spray. Matt Barnes, decade and a half in the NBA, multiple teams won an NBA championship with the Warriors in 2017 is joining us. So last night was a bad night. There was a lot of video out there. LeBron's not engaged. Nick Wright came on earlier and said this is about a guy that's not in shape. I watch body language. There are body language experts in the world. I think it matters. You can be in conversations with people. You can tell if they're engaged.

You can tell if they're not. I don't think LeBron is. Do you agree or disagree with that? I agree, but I think it's on a situational basis. But I think overall, I think everyone's looking to him for everything. So you almost have to not over-exaggerate, but just make sure you're giving off the right message. I think, you know, LeBron, Rich Paul, and Magic really rattled the cage of the Lakers.

so he has to really sit back and deal with us now and he has to find a way to get those young players back believing in themselves first and foremost, but believing in what he's saying. And you can tell this team right now is on separate islands. That's a good way to put it. I also think, you know, LeBron, for whatever reasons,

and a lot of people are like this, he's pushed back on authority, he pushed back on Riley, push back on Blatt, push back on Gilbert. He, for whatever reasons, guys are different. He pushes back on authority. You know, I watched the Luke LeBron thing, and I don't think it works.

I'm not blaming Luke, but I don't, again, I don't buy LeBron's buy-in on Luke, do you? No, I think Luke would be a casualty of war. I think Luke is a very talented basketball mind. You know him, role. Yeah, played with him. Very high basketball IQ. But I just think the situation, you know, you know, Jeannie standing up for him after Magic said he wasn't his guy. You can kind of tell, like you said, by LeBron's body language and his camp, you know, all these words that they don't really like Luke.

So I think, unfortunately, Luke is going to be a casualty of war. And this is probably his last season. You know, I said when you're a superstar, like Tom Brady, even though Tom Brady's got a 700 million net worth or whatever it is, he's always reaching down to the scout team guys and the rookies. I know your name. I know where you're from. Part of leadership is not separating from the young employee. I would argue LeBron's done the opposite. He is more iconic, more global, more corporate.

I feel disengaged as a 22-year-old. This I blame on LeBron. I am always aware there's a mogul stage. I get it. I'm for it. Michael had it in Washington. I think the balance, it is too much mogul, not enough LeBron basketball dude this year.

I mean, I think everyone knew coming here was a business move overall. You know, he said he wanted to be an older at one point. you know, L.A. is the market off the court, unlike any other. I think one thing he's always done great in the past is he's made his teammates believe. He's always had to do so much for every team he's played on, maybe outside of Miami. He's made those guys, those mid-level guys believe and got a lot of these guys paid and like, hey, you know, I believe in you, let's go do this. I really don't see that this year. Not that I said, excuse me, I don't see that now.

Early in the year, he really had the guys going. before he got hurt there for in the West, and he had the young guys playing better than they possibly were, playing, you know, confidence is everything in the NBA. And I can tell right now, like I said, with, you know, all the mix-up of the trade deadline, those guys are really searching for their self-confidence, searching for, okay, what am I supposed to be doing?

I don't want to mess up. I don't want LeBron to possibly get mad at me. There's just a lot of confusion there, and you can really tell on the court. You played for four different teams. Actually, you've played for several teams, but, I mean, the three or four that I think of, one's the clips, one of them's the Lakers.

I want to talk about the trade rumors. And Joy and I talk about this. One of the places I've always defended players, I cannot imagine my company coming up to me and say, you've been traded to vice. You have to go work now at National Geographic. We'll have to move my family tomorrow. I have to be at work tomorrow.

Yeah, it's in Kansas City. Is that trade rumors. Forget the trade. The rumors of trades. They're a monster. Okay. You were on a team where this happened, where guys got off a plane.

Yeah, no, we had a crazy situation. when I was with the Clippers. I want to say it was 2014, and we were flying to Memphis the day of the trade deadline. I want to say we sat on the runway for over two and a half hours while we were on Twitter at the time. Antoine Jameson got traded. Byron Mullen's got traded. So these guys are getting off the plane on an LAX runway because they had been traded. And then the final trade that was supposed to go down was myself and Darren Collison for

Amon Shumper and Raymond Felton. So we're sitting there just uncomfortable, awkward. The whole plane is silent. everyone's kind of on their phones like bumping each other like oh damn twan just got traded mully got traded oh damn they're talking about you and you and colison now we're going to get traded to the Knicks so for people to say that you know they're professionals you just need a while until you're in that situation you never know how you're going to react and i want to say i was probably 29 or 30 at the time maybe a little bit older

and it still shook me you know what i mean so these kids are in their early 20s playing for the lakers playing with lebron so it's hard to really say you should be a pro and that shouldn't affect you But it's not true. Matt, who were you upset with? Owner, team, player, coach. Well, Doc was everything at the time. You know, that's when Doc was GM, president, and head coach. You know what I mean?

So it's a tough situation. And then after the fact, Doc tried to pull us to the side once we got Memphis and explain the situation, I wasn't buying it. You know what I mean? Like you take it personal as a player. Like I said, because it's more than just you leaving and putting on a different uniform. I have kids. I have a family.

I got to go to a city I don't possibly want to go to. so a lot plays into that. I mean, who would want to go from L.A. to New Orleans, you know, with all due respect, but just who would? You know what I mean? So a lot really comes into that. So like I said, they're going to have to deal with this for a while, and hopefully he can get these guys back on the same page and believing because him

and his agent and Magic really shook the cage. And now you've got a bunch of young guys kind of not really sure of themselves. You know, outside of Kuzman's been playing, you know, terrific and Ingram's been playing well. But everyone else is kind of still, it looks a little lost out there. Matt Barnes, 14 NBA seasons, title with a war. in 2017. When you're, you were with the early version of the Warriors, they'd already won a title, they'd want another.

Now you get, the NBA has a history. After three titles, there's egos, there's complacency, there's lethargy, there's, you become a target. And I'm watching the Warriors play, and I joke now, defense for them, sort of a hobby, not an occupation. They play it when they feel like it. Boogie Cousins, I think, works to mostly a degree. I think Draymond now is a little overvalued around the league as an asset.

set. You've been on a really high functioning team, the Warriors. Take my audience, 22 games left in the regular season around the league. They know they're great. They know they're favored. Is that in itself hard? Or am I overstating that just you have talent, it's all good? I think their most important thing, and they know that in that locker room is just staying healthy right now. Continue to get Boogie acclimated. I think Boogie has to understand, although he's you know his numbers are up and down a little bit he's still for the most part in preseason early season game wise and definitely shape you know what i mean he hasn't played in how

long you know it took almost a year off so um i i think their main focus right now is to to stay healthy and stay on the same page which they always do and i don't put any weight into houston winning three you know the first three games you know in the regular because the regular season And it doesn't matter as much for a team like that. Like I said, you never want to say we're going to turn the switch on in the playoffs. You know what I mean? But I think the Warriors have been there, done that they have the chemistry, they have the personnel, they have the coaching staff, to know when, you know, all right, guys, it's time to go. I get it.

I can't name another team that, you know, can beat them in a seven-game series, you know, off the top of my head. So I think we live in a day and age now where there's just so much media and so much news that it has to be a talking point at some point. but I know in that locker room, they're very comfortable where they're at. Not comfortable and complacent, but just understanding the process and knowing that it's still the end of favor. We're going to be playing until June. We've still got a ways to go. Like I said, just stay healthy right now.

By the way, I think Anthony Davis ends up in L.A. because I don't think the Celtics offer Jason Tatum. And if the Celtics don't offer Jason Tatum, then Boston's package isn't nearly as great. What do you make a Jason Tatum? I would not. Love them. So I do too. Love Jason Tatum.

I love the fact, and people realize he's a baby. He's, what, 20 years old? And he's proven, he put a team on his back at 20 and took him to the Eastern Conference finals and lost to LeBron. You know what I mean? So I think there's a lot of uncertainty over Boston. You know, first of all, do you know what Kyrie is going to do? If you trade the world for Anthony Davis, who's going to be there when, you know, the dust settles? You know, so from that standpoint, you know, you hope it never happens, but what if some of the key players get hurt?

You know, there's just so many uncertain pieces. That's why I agree with you. I think that the Laker... I would not trade Jason Tatum. I know this sounds crazy. I wouldn't even trade him for Anthony Davis. He's a franchise player. He's a franchise player.

And to me, Anthony Davis still has to prove he can play a full season in playoffs and lead a team. And he hasn't really been able to do that. There's no knock on his talent. We all know he's one of the most talented players in this game. Most versatile players, when he's healthy, his numbers are incredible. But he still has to prove he can stay healthy first and foremost. You know, I always have a rule. And I used to feel this with like Joe Mondi.

Montana and Michael Jordan and to some degree LeBron. I mean, we all know who's got talent, but for the great players, you could say this for Messi in soccer, it looks easy. You watch Jason Tatum play. Now think about this. One percent of college basketball

ever plays a game in the NBA. He should be a junior in college. Jason just floats for 17. He reminds me of a, you know, a Paul George type game, a Joe Johnson type game, just very very effortless,

effortless skilled, make it look so easy, his moves, his mannerisms, the way he carries himself, his ability to hit big shots. I love Jason Tatum. Totally. Great seeing you. Matt Barnes.

Final hour, Mercedes-Louis, now with the Green Bay Packers coming up tonight. Discover card key matchup. Get your free credit scorecard today, even if you're not a Discover customer. Learn more at Discover.com. Slash credit scorecard limitations apply. It includes your FICA credit score

and checking your scorecard will not hurt your credit. Hour 3 next. Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd, weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific. Ah, we're live in L.A. Here it is our number three. This is The Herd. Wherever you may be, and however you may be listening,

we are on Sirius XM Channel 83. You ever listen to Sirius XM? I do all the time. Sure do. We're on there. Yeah, we're on. A lot of good channels. I got Fox Sports Radio channels.

Very good. Channel 83. Very good. So welcome back, 15 minutes. Mercedes-Louis, 12 years in the NFL. Now a Green Bay Packer with a very polarizing Aaron Rogers. I didn't see anything bad. I say he's polarizing.

That's very fair. By the way, best for last today. I'm going to give you my top 10 power rankings in the NBA, as we get, we get about 20 games out now, 22 games out. We haven't done a good power ranking in a while. No, and I don't ever buy into anything, but I do think you get to the last month and a half, last 45 days of the NBA.

Now you watch teams. Now the games mean something. And so that's our herd hierarchy NBA standings. Well, well, well, well, well, I am looking at the Western Conference standings this morning and LeBron has reached a new low. to a really bad team. They're now the 11th seed in the West.

That's not the 11th seed in the NBA. There's a lot of good teams out east. They're the 11th seed in the West. And oh, by the way, Lanzo Ball's Lakers last year won 35 games and had major injuries. LeBron's Lakers are on pace to win 39 games. Not as many, maybe, injuries. The Lakers are now officially statistically. have a better chance of landing a top three spot in the NBA lottery

than making the playoffs. I'm not joking. 3% for the playoffs, according to basketball reference, 6% to get a top three pick in the lottery. It's over. Superman's capes got a tear in it, and there's no tailor around to fix it. The balance is out of whack. His teammates can feel it. It's too much.

much mogul. LeBron and his guys are trying so hard to show us that he's an icon, that he's an entrepreneur, that he's a TV mogul, that he loves wine, and he's sophisticated, a bon vivant. Dude, we like your basketball. Nothing against your pizza chain. I've tried it. It's fine. Nothing against your TV shows.

I've tried them. It's okay. You're not Spielberg. You know, you're not Domino's pizza. You're a basketball star. I get the mogul stage. I appreciate it. Kevin Durant, by the way, is getting kind of into mogul stage. But I always feel like Kevin, priorities are right.

90% basketball, 10% mogul. With LeBron, it's out of whack. This is something Chris Broussard came on our show the other day. And I thought he really, he really nailed it when he said LeBron sees himself as a corporation. Yeah, but the problem is you're playing with a bunch of one-year contract guys and 23-year-old guys. They're not corporations. Tom Brady always makes a point to reach down to the scout team, to reach down to rookies, to know their name and their backstory.

I'm one of you. LeBron's constantly separating. I'm global. I know Pino Noir. I'm a TV mogul. I'm a pizza. I get it. You don't need to constantly advertise it.

You can't take games off for load management. because part of that load is a load of bull and it's a load of mogul stuff. You've got a bunch of young guys here. They're moldable. They're looking up at you. You're the star like they're doing in New England with Brady. You've got to reach down. Like I get the mogul stuff.

Hey, have opinions on politics. Own a pizza chain. Be into television. I get it. I'm for it. I understand it. But the balance is out of whack. He's now into the finger pointing stage.

distractions, distractions, distractions, he says about his teammates. Are you kidding me? LeBron, you're the one with a pizza chains. You're the one with television shows and movies and corporations. Kyle Kuzma didn't have those. Ingram doesn't have those. Josh Hart doesn't have those. Again, leadership is hard to explain.

I once asked Jimmy Johnson, former coach of the cowboy. He said, what's a leader? He goes, I can't define it. Either can I. but I do know this. The NBA of all the professional sports in America has the smallest locker room. Baseball, you got 25 guys. Football, you got 55 guys.

Hockey, you've got a lot of guys, 25 guys. In NBA, you've got about 12, 13 guys, and about six matter. Sometimes three matter. In Milwaukee, one guy really matters. In L.A., one guy really matters. So the influence of the star in an NBA locker room is pro-year. found compared to other sports. It's a really big deal.

Tim Duncan bought in, took pay cuts, everybody buys in. Dirk Novitsky's not the best player in Dallas, but he kind of creates the culture, pro team that allows young, new mavericks to be part of the club. What I'm seeing in Los Angeles now

is the opposite of New England, where the superstar is pushing away whether he gets it or not. But at some point, this is not about anybody else except LeBron. I'm showing video right now on FS1. You can't find LeBron in the picture defensively. Guys watch film. Guys see what's happening. It's out of whack.

All right, let me shift to this. Peter King covers football. He's usually very well connected. Here's the five NFL teams. according to Peter King, that could be leading or most interested in getting the Steelers unbelievably talented wide receiver Antonio Brown. Carolina, who has a hurt quarterback. Washington, who has no quarterback.

Tampa Bay that's got an inconsistent quarterback. The Jets who have a baby quarterback and the Raiders who have a quarterback that I don't think their head coach likes. that's what you're leaving Pittsburgh for. You talk about getting bad advice. This is like your stockbroker coming up to you and saying, put all your money on Bitcoin. I mean, there are places that I think he'd be a decent fit.

Eagles and Rams, and they don't have the cap space. But even the places, and I can't believe Antonio Brown's agent isn't telling him this, Even the places that sound like they be a good fit for him are not. Kansas City, Patrick Mahomes, Andy Reed. No, they've got a star here, star there. They have multiple stars, deep threats. They don't need him. Indianapolis, Andrew Luck.

No, they have a deep threat. T.Y. Hilton. San Francisco. No. Kyle Shanahan is rigid. It would not be a good fit. New England! They don't really throw deep.

Brady hasn't thrown deep consistently in years. When you look around at who's a better place for A, B, than Pittsburgh, the list is tiny. I mean, I'm sorry, but if your stockbroker tells you, put all your money in cryptocurrency, you're getting really bad advice. Here's again, the list of the five teams, according to Peter King, that could be leading to get Antonio Brown. Cam Newton's hurt. Sam Darnold's a baby. Derek Carr isn't loved by his coach. James Winston, it's a maker break year. And I don't even know who the Redskins quarterback, Colt McCoy, is long term. As T.J. Hushman Sada said a couple of days ago on our show,

you don't have a quarterback as a wide receiver. You don't have a career. That is just a Shocking, shocking list of teams leading for the services of Antonio Brown. Wow. Man. That's why you have an agent, isn't it? Like, I don't need an agent to say, hey, I think you're great. I need an agent to tell me, hey, this would be a big mistake. Like, just make sure I don't step on a landmine.

That's what an agent's for. They negotiate my contract. okay and they're better than me at that but an agent really should be like a year ahead of you if I call my agent and say what about this new platform when I call my agent he's like nah stay away go to this not that like they're they're kind of the captain of the ship I'm a passenger like if you're an agent for Antonio Brown instead of blowing smoke and gassing him up can you just say dude you're the best place grow up well but they don't want to do that because agents want you know bad agents will take any client good agents are

picky. And a good agent would say to Antonio Brown, I don't want to be part of this. I don't want to be, I don't need your 2%. I don't want to be part of this. I'm not putting you in Washington. I mean, I don't think his agent's going to leave Antonio Brown, but it's a little late for him to say stay in Pittsburgh if that was the plan.

I mean, that's why I think you have, you really have agents, not for the stuff I can do. It's for the stuff I can see. It's for the stuff I can see. Everyone doesn't like to have people who tell them no around them. My whole life is no. My wife all day, no. My agent, watch out.

My kids, no. I live in a tunnel of no. And I like all of them. That's probably a good thing. Yeah. By the way, I like that because I'm prone. I'm not, you know, a little crazy town. So I need people.

I mean, you should be able to handle criticism. You don't grow without it. Right. So, I mean, if you have people around you to constantly, telling you that you're always making the right decision. You're probably making the wrong decision. That's a good point. Mercedes-Lewis, haven't seen him in a while.

Now he's a packer. He'll be stopping by. One more herd? The herd streams 24 hours a day, seven days a week within the I-Heart radio app. Search herd to listen 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.

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

I want you to just really be a good person. Join me, Kear Gaines, as we have real conversations about healing, growth, fatherhood, pressure, and purpose on my new podcast, Learn the Hardway. Open your free iHeartRadio app. Search Learn the Hardway and listen now. What's up, guys? This is Clivert Taylor the Fourth. And on my podcast, The Cliverts Show, I'm bringing you conversations about all kinds of stuff. Like being an internet famous referee. We're in the middle of a game. This linebacker, this linebacker walks up to me. He goes, hey, ref, my mom wants you to. wave at her. What? Come out. Quarterback on office blue of 42.

Hey, Rhett, Mom, I want you to wave at her. What? Where's she at? Hey, Miss Parker. Listen to the Clippers show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. What's up, fam, this Isaiah Thomas. And I'm C.J. Toledano, and our podcast Point Game is about defying the odds.

Like LeBron Heading and... to the playoffs without Luca and Austin Reed. And finding ways to win no matter what. He's the smartest player to ever play the game. His IQ is at a level that we've never seen before. And he knows without Luca and Austin Reeves, I got to manipulate the game. We get a player's perspective on the challenges of the playoffs.

I think Joker's going to be exhausted this series because when they don't have Rudy in the lineup, he has to really guard guys like Nas Reid. He has to guard Julius Randall. And then he has to give us everything he gives us on the night to night bases on offense. And when IT's friends stop by, like Quentin Richardson, we dive into some playoff history too.

Steve Nash will get that thing. That man, hell get the flying. He running up the court, licking his fingers why he got the ball. Like, you go through a training camp with that, Isaiah. You figure it out real quick. Get your ass up and down the court, and you're going to get the ball. So listen to Point Game on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Our shopping's confusing. A lot of terms. Dealer price, list price, invoice. Here's what's not. Truecar.com, save three grand off MSRP. He's played 13 NFL seasons. He's been a pro bowler. First round pick, Mercedes-Lewis from UCLA.

Now a free agent, just played with Green Bay last year. You know, I always love seeing you. I see you once or twice a year. You played 13 years in the NFL. Do you still love the game? I love it. I think, you know, it's still a dream that I'm able to live out. the other day somebody asked me

if it was something that you could never stop doing what would it be and I always say balling you know I love it I think you know you want to go into the injurons out you know and I'm living my dream still you know I always I push back on the media when non-athletic media members

are lecturing football players that your sport is bad you wake up in the morning how do you feel 13 years and you can block too you're a blocker yeah I feel amazing I think normal soreness. Your ankles are crack every now and then. But other than that, I mean... So to mine, by the way.

You know what you sign up for. You know, it's all a part of it. So you're in Green Bay. It's very interesting. You know, Green Bay is the most unique organization in sports. It's mostly big cities. I mean, St. Louis is a big city that took Teamway, put it in L.A. Green Bay, what was it like, first of all, being a packer?

I mean, you know, when you think about... football you have to mention the Packers the tradition but you know I came from a small a small city too in Jacksonville right so I went from Jacksonville got to Green Bay and I was like okay it's all about the football the cheese the bars you know what I mean but like it was just a different experience getting used to you know everywhere you went you know it was about the Packers you know and I think we kind of use it to our advantage too because we get discounts say where we go. Homes don't cost as much there, I can guarantee, as they would play in for the Rams.

So, I mean, listen, Aaron Rogers is polarizing. Some guys love him. Other guys have pushed back. So I would say that's his brand. It's like if I said Rush Limbaugh, you think, oh, conservative guy. If I say Whole Foods, you think organic. If I say IKEA, you think cheap furniture. If I say Aaron Rogers, I think talented and polarizing.

Jeff Saturday, a former teammate of him, said this. Let's play the tape Jeff Saturday, talking about the McCarthy, Rogers thing this year. You'd be in the huddle and Mike McCarthy would make a play call and you could see Aaron's frustration, right, whether it would be the eye roll or the, oh, I'm going to go run this play, but he would run it, right? Because he was still fairly new in the game when I was there. And so, but as this thing has strung out, the same play calls, the same frustration.

The problem is, is when you replace it with the pieces and parts that have been replaced and there's guys in the huddle that are young, they take that energy, right? They begin to absorb what that looks like. So then everybody begins to question the calls, question what's going to happen. And then it turns into the situation you have right now. Well, you play with Aaron. He's a rock star. He's an all-time talent.

But when Jeff Saturday says that, you were there for the McCarthy-Rogers thing, I don't think I'm being out of bounds saying it was a little tense. I mean, you were there. Yeah, so when I first got there, you know, it didn't seem like it was that bad when I first got there. but I think, you know, as a season went on and, you know, we lost a string of games. And I think that's going to create some type of pushback as far as like, you know, what Aaron wants to run and what Mike McCarthy runs to run. It was like a marriage day kind of ran his courts at a certain point.

And that's what you got. By the way, they had a quarterback coach Van Pelt in the middle of him. He left. I theorized that Aaron and Mike, needed a go-between and when they lost a go-between there was no cushion there no lubrication in the relationship is that possible well yeah for sure when I when I got there that was a thing like that was Aaron's guy you know and they were really good

friends and Alex Van Pelt what's the name yeah Alex Van Pelt yeah it was Aaron's guy and they had a great relationship and I think once they let him go it was kind of like Aaron didn't take that too well right and so I always tell like young guys coming up too. Like, you're going to have, you know, head coaches. I mean, I have five in Jacksonville, right? You had five?

Five head coaches. Did you get along with all of them? Not all of them. But I have five head coaches, two GMs, two owners, a lot of turnover in Jacksonville, always rebuilding, right? And so, like, I would always say, like, you're going to have, you know, head coaches here and there, but your position coach is the one you see every day, the one that you really need to have a good relationship with because when things

the fan, you need to be able to count on him to go in the room and stand on the table for you. And so I think that was, you know, something that Aaron, when he woke up in the morning, he can hang his hat on that. Like, hey, you know, I'm not going to be able to share everything with everybody, but I know my head coach, we're going to have a good working relationship. Where I have defended Aaron, because I've been critical of Aaron, but where I've defended Aaron is, listen, you just don't get Aaron Rogers much. You've been in the league. You've got a lot of coaches, a lot of quarterbacks. Aaron is a one-to-decade talent. To go from FAR to Aaron is absurd.

It never, that's like going from Michael Jordan and the Bulls drafting Kobe. It doesn't happen. For sure. And I do think sometimes they've taken a little advantage of Aaron, not resigning offensive linemen, not going out. They could have afforded a Khalil Mack. And that's not to say Green Bay doesn't know what they've, what they're doing. But is it fair for me to say Aaron's so gifted that maybe because they went from farve to

Aaron, Green Bay just thinks they have the quarterback thing figured out. And at times they haven't quite. been as supportive as maybe they could be? Well, I think that, you know, obviously I only played there for a year. I was in that locker room for, you know, only a year, but just knowing how Aaron kind of moves and knowing his texture and how he, like, navigates through the locker room. And, you know, he is, you know, the most important, you know,

person in that building. And I just feel like, you know, a lot of his frustration comes to, you know, just what you were speaking on. But it's just one of those things. Yeah. And, you know, who knows? I mean, I don't know if, you know, Aaron is really taking it upon himself to go in the room and be like, hey, I need this, I need that. Right. So you don't know where the pushback is coming from.

Or if Aaron is just like, you know, just doing his job and just chilling and they're just going on about their business. I mean, you'll never know unless you're both of them, you know. Yeah, I mean, Kobe Bryant and MJ would go to the management and yell at him. LeBron wants to be involved. Not every guy wants to. when you say Aaron navigate to locker room, what's he like in the locker room? Well, first, I think it's, like, good to probably know that he's like, he's like quiet. He's not a big rah-rah guy.

He's super quiet and like, confident. Like, his, the way he plays ball is his swag. Like, it's weird. He's like quirky. I don't know. Like, you, to get along with him, you got to be about your business. you know, you got to take football very serious. And if you don't, he's not one of those guys that's going to tell you, like,

yo, I don't, I'm not messing with you. He's just not going to. You know, like he's just, it's just like that, right? So you kind of got to get a feel for it that way. And he's a guy that leads by example. And, you know, it's a lot of personal responsibility that you have to take on. And by the way, I would think he would like you. You're a high functioning veteran player.

I would think guys like Aaron Tom Brady Breeze it could be frustrating bringing in 19 year old 20 year old kids who sometimes are on their device sometimes aren't all in sometimes we're babyed at Alabama or LSU or wherever I would think you and you Jared Cook Mercedes

you would work with Aaron did you feel like he connected with you oh yeah no we uh we have a really good relationship and um you know I take it to story. We had, we were doing like a walkthrough and, you know, we were outside having a walk through and, you know, it was just a lot of chatter going on, you know, while we were trying to install these new plays. And then, like, you know, after I just kind of caught everybody up before

we broke it up and I was like, hey, like the season is right around the corner, you know, and like it's only one vision, only one goal and that's a winning championship. And if we're going to do it the right way, when we're in here doing these walkthroughs, we've got to be paying attention to taking these mental reps. We can't be out here talking and doing that stuff and the only one that should be talking in the huddle is Aaron. And that's just what I know. That's just how I've come up. And, you know, I don't normally talk like that, but, you know, when I feel that it's needed, I'll do that. And after that, Aaron kind of pulled me inside. He was like, yo, I appreciate that. Like, I, you know, I really respect you. You haven't had a guy come in

to do that in a long time. So after that, you know, our relationship just kind of grew from there. And, you know, I just try to echo how he feels to the other. to the young guys, the guys that I can probably bring along a little more than he could. Right. Well, he's got big responsibilities. A big old veteran tied-in Mercedes-Lews can go over and chopping a guy once in a while. By the way, you face the Bears twice a year. You ever get lined up over Khalil Mack?

Yeah. What's that like? It's different. Yeah, I bet. It's different. Like, he's, you know, I'm going in my 14th year. I've seen it all pretty much. I mean, I blocked the Julius Peppers, the Dwight Freeney's,

the, you know, the freak. You know, I blocked everybody, and I think Khalil Mac is like a mixture between like, like, the strength and like grit is like a Julius Peppers in his prime and like, I don't know, like a Dwight Freeney as far as like being able to move laterally and spin. It is, you just better be in balance.

Don't get your head over your toes and make contact with your hands before you face because he could be from the left side and to your right side. the drop of a dime. How much do you weigh? Right now, I'm about $269. And what's he weigh?

I feel like... He can bulrush. Yeah, but he's... I want to say like $2.60... I was going to say... $25, $2.60. Like, he's a load. He'll bulrush.

But his strength is like underrated, I would say. He's low to the ground, great center of gravity, great balance. Is he a trash talker? Not really. We didn't really talk too much trash. And, like, he would line up. up more like on our on our on the left side with with the left tackle but it would be times where he

come over to the right side and I'm like okay like it's like a two chin strap game you know what mean whenever he's over you it's a two chance strap game you know you got a bite down on your mouthpiece and like really you know really get the job done it's going to take everything you got man so you're going back uh you're going to finish your undergraduate degree at UCLA yeah yeah you know it's not easy over there I couldn't get in it is They don't cut you no slack. None. I'll say that.

Don't cut you no slack. And, you know, for me, I didn't wear the team issue backpacks and the sweats. Like, I had my jam sport with my normal. At that time in college, I had my pro club sweats. And I sat in the front because I don't want to be grouped with everybody. And, you know, that kind of helped me a little bit UCLA. But, yeah, I got drafted in 2006. When I declared for the draft, all I did was the fall.

So, you know, now I'm in there doing my winner. spring, and then I'll be walking next year after the winter. That is awesome. Yeah. Are your parents still around? Yeah, so my mom and my stepfather, me, every 27 years, they just got divorced recently. But my mom, you know, it was something that she wanted me to do, but just not, she didn't,

she wouldn't know me about it every year, but, you know, it's really for her. Good for you. You're a good dude. I love having you on. Appreciate it. Thank you. All right. And if there's any big controversy, I'm going to call you on the phone, have to get the real skinny here.

You're a real honesty about it. Yeah. I love that. Yeah, hollet me. All good, Mercedes-Louis. Joy Taylor with the news. No, no, no, no. Turn on the news.

This is the herd line news. So despite losing a second straight game, LeBron surpassed Andre Miller to move to top ten in the NBA's all-time assist list. In the process, he also became the only player in league history to be in the top ten of points and assists. Okay. And he decided to share that on Instagram with everyone. He said, I literally have no words.

I guess like real. Cole World said, that's Jay Cole, even when the dark out, the sun is shining somewhere. Throughout it all, no matter good or bad, appreciate the journey. Thank you to all who continue to take this journey with me. Oh, boy. Not a great night to do that. Not a great night to do that. This is not the first time this year. He has done that because he also had a personal achievement on the night that he had the worst personal loss of his career. I don't like to pick at everything that LeBron does because I think it gets ridiculous. kill us after a while.

Yeah. But in this particular situation, you may want to lay off the personal praise amidst the Lakers possibly missing the playoffs. Like, people know that I like LeBron and I like his guys, but it has reached a point where I'm a little like, dude, I'll say this, get over yourself a little. Like, I know you're LeBron. I know you're great. But even for icons like David Beckham,

You know, like Derek Jeter, A-Rod, it's okay to occasionally laugh at yourself and not be the center of attention. Like, LeBron, you're smarter than putting that out there after that game, which has multiple highlights of you, not guarding anybody. It's a terrible look. You can all just say it. We don't want a Jordan with the wizard's situation. No. I really just don't want that. It's not available.

All right? We can't have it. You got to make the playoffs. And this cannot be a situation where everyone looks back like, wow, what a disaster. LeBron coming to the Lakers. By the way, NBA ratings down, all-star game ratings down. If LeBron doesn't make the playoffs,

not great for the league. It's not an option. Not great. Forget not great for the league. It's not great for LeBron's legacy that his first season in the West, after making all of those consecutive finals in the East, he misses the playoffs.

It's going to be a part of the conversation in his career. And he can complain about the young guys being distracted. Let me just say this. Kuzma is not distracted. And Brandon Ingram, in the last two weeks, has played the best he's ever played. So, you know, now, Rondo was awful last night. KCP didn't come to play.

But you talk about distracted. Brandon Ingram's been great since the All-Star break. I think when he talks about distractions, I think he's been in the league long enough and been around champions and as a champion himself, that he knows what it takes on every detailed level to lock in this time of year

and then to lock in for the playoffs. It's how you are on the bus, how you were training during All-Star break, you know, how you're eating, how you're recovering, what are you actually doing outside of basketball, like how actually focused you are. But when you say stuff like that, which is all true and accurate, and then you post a picture on Instagram about a personal achievement. Yeah.

It's just kind of like, what are you doing? Yeah. All right. So we like to debate lists. ESPN has released their latest top 25 NBA players under the age of 25. Yeah. And, well, I overall agree with the. list. I do not agree with

the... They have Janus number one and Joel M.B. number two. Yeah. I'm okay with that. They have Jason Tatum 8 and right now I would put him ahead of Ben Simmons who I love. I would have him at 3. Yeah, so would I. I think Kyle Kuzman, Lanzo Ball are way too low, and Jalen Brown for that matter

are way too low on the list as well. But it's interesting though and it's a fun future for the NBA especially when we're talking about Jason Tatum. He's only 20 years old. Dallas has Luca Donzic. at 6 and Christop's Porzengis at 11. That's good for Dallas.

It's about time they kind of reworked, rebooted. Dallas has a lot to be excited about. Yeah, they do. And Luca's going to be a rookie of the year. All right, and finally, the NFL has gone a long way from shedding its reputation for being a no-fun league. Relaxed its restrictions on the players' celebrations, but they may make a few changes with that.

According to the Washington Post, the league will consider barring players from leaving the sidelines to join on-field celebrations. The quote is, if you are on the field, fine, said one person familiar with the NFL's inner workings, there would be no changes there. But there are some coaches and some clubs who don't want to have players leaving the bench area to participate. I get it. Overall, I get it.

But is this really even a problem? No, but what they're doing is they probably saw it once or twice on film and they said, let's make sure. Like I, yeah, I get it. They're saying basically, if you weren't involved in the play, we're not interested in the celebration. Same in soccer. You don't have guys from the bench running on the field after. after a goal. No.

I mean, and you're not allowed to leave the bench area in the NBA either. I get the point of the rule,

but it's also kind of like, all right, we fix the celebration rules. Like, everyone's happy. Maybe just, it's all just relax.

You don't have players running off of the, off of the bench to go and participate. So I just don't want it to become a slippery slope. That's all. It's all good.

Sometimes you just let it be. Yeah. Good stuff. Joy Taylor with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The Hurd Lie News.

Nick Wright, Joel Clap, Matt Barnes, Mercedes-Lewis, all money today. I do believe the NBA has a regular season, and it's much different than the postseason. I do think the last month of the regular season, you get a more consistent effort from the very good teams. I think up until the All-Star break, I don't really talk NBA much until you get NFL seasons over. But I do think over the next month in the regular season, teams get a little careful about seating. So all finally, in our herd hierarchy, I haven't done one for basketball, but I'll do a couple before the end of the regular season. My NBA power rankings, what I see is the top 10 teams in the league.

And I can tell you, I like Boston, a lot more than everybody else does. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific on Fox Sports Radio, FS1, and the IHeart Radio app. Well, to wait world champion showtime, Sean Porter defends his belt for the first time as he battles top-rated. contender. You're Dennis Ugas live in primetime March 9th only on Fox. Boxing making a comeback. Get your free credit scorecard today, even if you're not a Discover customer. Learn more at Discover.com slash credit scorecard. Limitations apply. You know, we do herd hierarchy during the NFL season on Tuesday after Monday night

football and we rank the 10 NFL teams because there's urgency in the NFL. NBA, I don't really do it. And then at the end of the regular season on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, we'll put it up there. So here's our first NBA, best for last, herd hierarchy. After almost three hours, Colin apparently hasn't gotten to the point yet. Quit holding out on us, cowherd. It's the best for last. All right, number 10, 10 best team in the NBA, Portland Trailblazers from the Rose City. They've always had a good back court with Damian Lillard. He's obviously a go-to, late game star, but you've always had questions about their front cart, full court. But they added Enos Canter, a good big, with Nurkich.

So now they're one of the best rebounding teams in the league. They added Rodney Hood, who's a talented wing. But as you saw with LeBron last year, he's kind of inconsistent. That's why Utah and Cleveland got frustrated with him. Certainly good enough to win a playoff series. Doubt they're good enough or deep enough to win two. I'd have the Blazers at 10. Number nine.

Utah Jazz. Watch them a lot, actually. whenever I'm in Utah, which is often in the ski season, and they do a lot of things well except shoot. That has really been their problem, why they brought Kyle Corver over. They're 21st in three-point percentage. They're 26th in free-throw percentage.

They don't even shoot well when nobody's guarding them at the free-throw line. Not very good, by the way, in close games. They've got a premier shot blocker in Rudy Gaubert. Joe Ingalls can light you up from the outside. Donovan Mitchell is really fun to watch. Again, I think a team good enough to win a playoff series. Can they win those big road games? We'll see. I have the Jazz at 9.

Number 8. I'd say the Denver Nuggets. I'm not as high in the Nuggets as everybody else. Their top three scores have never played in the playoffs. Okay, so they're a very inexperienced team. When Paul Millsap plays, they don't lose much. They're very, very physical. They're also a great home team.

Some of that's the altitude. It's just different playing in the mountains. Utah historically has been a very big. Up in the altitude, it's been a very good home team. Teams get gassed, and they have been unbelievable at home and very good against the West. But I do think they're the classic young team that hasn't done anything in the playoffs that wants to flex in November, December, January, February. I think Denver wins a playoff series max and then gets bounced. Number seven.

Raptors. Again, like them, don't trust them. Kauai Leonard's better than Demar DeRosen. I don't doubt that. Again, a team that can struggle shooting the basketball, they're only 18th in the NBA and three-point shooting. They are 2-0 against the Warriors this year. And again, when they play the Warriors, the game means a ton for the Raptors, and it means nothing for the Warriors. So I don't buy into that having any resonance.

They are a good team. They're 17 and 6 against the Western Conference. But again, this is a team. This is the Derek Rose Bulls that because they haven't achieved in the Post. season, they've put a lot of intensity and focus on the regular season. And I think the baby dinosaurs are a little bit of fools gold. I got him at seven. Number six.

I like the Philadelphia 76ers talent. They're not the most mature team in the league. You know, if Jimmy Butler's not hitting, you've got to pray J.J. Redick is. This is a sloppy team. 27th in the league in turnovers. They're young. They're sloppy. their chemistries a work in progress.

Embed is great, but again, this team does not match up with the Celtics, and to win the East, I think you have to match up with the Celtics. Milwaukee matches up better with Boston than Philadelphia does. Number five. Oklahoma City. I know you think I'm a hater, Oklahoma, but I'm a hater when Russell Westbrook shoots too much. When Russell Westbrook takes fewer than 20 shots, which is what

this team should be when he turns the governor down a little bit, they're 20 and 4. When he goes crazy person, last few games, they don't win. They're a very good defensive team. First in the NBA and steals. They're excellent at home. Again, shooting's a problem. They don't even shoot free throws well. If Westbrook doesn't get better than 65% from the line, it is a problem because he has

the ball in his hands late in games. And you get into a series, and I can foul Russell Westbrook. This has been one of my knocks on LeBron, is that sometimes he is wildly inconsistent at the free throw line. Jordan and Kobe, I always trusted late in free throw situations. Westbrook's now in the 60s, and he's going to have the ball in his hands all playoff long. You can't be a 65% free throw shooter and a guard. That's going to be problematic in the postseason, but I have him at five.

Number four. I like Milwaukee, not as much as everybody else. Yonis has never won a playoff series. Yonis is unbelievable, but I think in a seven-game series, you could take the ball out of his hands. Now, they are a great defensive team, and Yonis is a big part of that. They're a great rebounding team. They've won 11 of their last 12.

They have great chemistry because Yonis is a very giving star. And unlike the last couple of years, they've got a big-time coach. Chris Middleton can play. He's good. He's not Clay Thompson, but he's good. Good basketball team with the potential to get to the Eastern Conference finals. I think that's fair. I've got Milwaukee at four.

Number three. I like the Celtics. I think they're incredibly smart. They never turn the ball over, exceptionally coached. I have a team with playoff experience. I think Kyrie Irving is an A player in the playoffs. I think Jason Tatum has moments when he's an A player. Then they have smart veterans like Al Horford and Gordon Hayward and Marcus Smart,

guys I trust. They're a very good free-throw shooting team. They can get hot from the perimeter with Kyrie Hayward and Jason Tatum. well-coached, excellent at home, playoff experience, I think they're the third best team, and we'll win the East. Number two.

I mean, the Rockets are, a lot of people seem as a poor man's version of Golden State. I think they're a more physical version of Golden State. I think PJ Tucker, Chris Paul, Eric Gordon gave the Warriors trouble last year. I don't think James Harden going ISO. I think the media loves that. I don't think that makes a better team.

I think they're weaker when they do that. I think they're much better when Harden like Westbrook shoots less, passes more, and occasionally is even a decoy. By the way, just to show you how valuable Chris Paul is, this team has not lost a single game this season when Chris Paul has had 10 or more assists, meaning get the ball in the hands of your best decision maker, Chris Paul. They are 10 and 0 when Chris has had. 10 plus assists. That's the team that can win the championship, not Harden, scoring 39 points.

Number one. Well, the Warriors, they added boogie cousins, didn't play for a while. He's now played in 14 games in their 12 and 2. First in the NBA in scoring, best offensive team I've ever seen, first in the NBA in scoring, first in the NBA in field goal percentage, first in the NBA and assists. They're also incredibly long. They're first in the NBA in blocks. It's our a reigning dynasty. I do think they win it again. I think Houston makes it uncomfortable for them, but I think they'll also take the Rockets more seriously this year. Here's all you need to know. They've played 38 playoff games over the last couple years. They've won 32. Yeah. So this is what Dynasty looks like. Even MJ's Bulls had a little more trouble than the Golden State Warriors.

Warriors 1, Rockets 2, Celtics, 3, bucks for Thunder, Sixers, Raptors, Nuggets, Jazz, Blazers. You gotta give the Raptors a little more credit. I mean, just a little bit. They're Canada soft. You ever met a Canadian? Nicest people you ever meet, kind of soft. But they're nicest people you've ever met. They're well-read.

They're nice. They open doors. They're pleasant. They'll pick up the check. Very nice. A little soft. I like my teams to be... I would not describe

Kauai Leonard as a soft player. You think I was crazy on what I just said there? I mean, it's crazy strong, but I would move the Raptors above the Sixers and the Thunders. So what would your list be? Let me see what would your... I'm uncomfortable with all this

except for I feel like the Raptors are above the Sixers and the Thunder. No, that's not a big disagreement. That's what I said. It's not crazy. I'll have a bigger disagreement by 2 o'clock with my wife today than that. That's nothing. If that's nothing. Yeah, I mean, I think it's strong.

Do you an Earl ever fight? Oh, you're not in the fighting stage yet. We have disagreements. Like Raptors should be moved up in his playoff standing? I think he would agree with me on this. All right. I don't like him as much as you. By the way, people think I hate Milwaukee.

No. I always said, when I do my football hurt hierarchy, top four teams can win a Super Bowl. By five, you're not a Super Bowl winning team. Milwaukee would need a break. Kyrie gets hurt. Then Milwaukee can get to the finals. I mean, I'm not in love with Milwaukee either, but I can't just credit Yannis having a MVP caliber season and then being number one in the east.

He's also the easiest guy in the world to root for. That helps a lot. He's like the nicest guy. The Raptors do have the second record. Yeah, and they've won more games by, in fact, there's a stat here about Milwaukee that's good news for them. 34 of their 46 wins have come by 10 points or more. That generally means you're getting to at least a conference final. They're blowing people out.

That's strong. Yeah. Steve Kime, Arizona Cardinals, GM is a big, big draft for him. He's going to join us tomorrow from the NFL Combine. It's a massive draft for the Arizona Cardinals. That division is no bull. Russell Wilson, Jimmy G., Jared Goff. That is a rough division.

Also, Chris Haynes, my buddy from Yahoo Sports, good show tomorrow. Nice work, fellas. Nice work, everybody. Car shopping's confusing. of terms, dealer price, invoice, list price. Here's what's not. True car. Go to Truecar.com. New or used. Go check it out. Truecar.com. Check out

the true price from Truecar. Speak for yourself next. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind. And nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in. I'm Timbo. In every episode, we're cutting through the noise, breaking down the biggest moments in sports

and giving you the real story behind the headline. And we're going straight to the, source the athletes themselves. Their locker room stories, their reactions in the moment, and the stuff nobody gets to hear. Listen to SportsSlice on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more,

follow Timbo Sliced Life 12 in the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. Another podcast from some SNL late night comedy guy, not quite on humor 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. What's up guys? This is Cliverts Taylor the 4th. And on my podcast, the Cliverts show, I'm bringing you conversations about all kinds of stuff. Like being an internet famous referee. We're in the middle of a game. This linebacker, this linebacker,

this linebacker walks up to me, he goes, hey, ref, my mom wants you to wave at her. What? Time out. Quarterback on office blue with 42. Hey, ref, my mama want you to wave at her. What? Hey, Ms. Parker.

Listen to the Clifford show on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. What's up, fam? It's Isaiah Thomas. And I'm C.J. Toledano. It's our favorite time of the year on our podcast point game, the playoffs. We're digging into the biggest. surprises of the season. And I'm looking back on some of my greatest playoff moments.

If we didn't talk ever again, I was part of you. You just understood. That's how personal it got. Wow. Then after that game seven, Marquis come until he's like, you know I love you, dog. You know, it's all love. This was just playoffs. This was just basketball. So listen to Point Game on the Iheart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed human.