The Herd with Colin Cowherd - LeBron James-Michael Jordan, Antonio Brown, and the face of the NBA

Episode Date: March 7, 2019

Colin explains why Los Angeles Lakers F LeBron James beating Michael Jordan's scoring record meant nothing, why Pittsburgh Steelers WR Antonio Brown will soon disappear, and who will be the next face of the NBA. Guests include Doug Gottlieb, Brian Scalabrine, DeAngelo Hall, Peter Schrager, and Enes Kanter.  Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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You just understood. That's how personal it got. Wow. Then after that game seven, Mark keep coming to her. He's like, you know I love you, dog. You know, it's all love. This was just playoffs. This was just basketball.

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This is the herd. Wherever you may be and however you may be listening, live in Los Angeles on IHeart Radio, Fox Sports Radio, and FS1. Great show today. We may have an NFL story, Antonio Brown, breaking during our show today. Joy Taylor is joining me from Pittsburgh. We're all waiting for that to happen. How are you? I'm great. Good morning.

Enis Canner, Doug Gottlie, Brian Scalabrini, a lot of fun today. So last night is one of those moments that should have felt huge. Right? Like LeBron James grew up idolizing Michael Jordan. And last night, this amazing story, the little kid from Akron, whose best friends are still, his business partners from high school, surpasses Michael Jordan in points. MJ, most believed the goat. It was a big moment.

It should have been incredibly special. Here was this guy LeBron James who has built a resume, a portfolio, a legacy on, he's still buddies with his high school guys, community, Akron. He loves players. And Los Angeles loves stars. And last night was a dud. The only people that were less interested than his teammates appeared to be the fans. It was completely underwhelming.

I mean, God, Drew Brees, Monday Night Football, broke the scoring, passing record. You know what? They stopped the game. He gave a speech. This was a dud. Bill Plashky of the LA Times said, it almost felt like fans were applauding an impromptu speech

given by a distant uncle at an acquaintance's wedding. That's what it felt like. This should have been incredibly special. Remember what? Remember when Drew Brees set the record? He was mobbed by teammates, cheered by rivals. They stopped the game. The crowd was crying.

Do you remember how big that was? Because Drew Brees has committed to people, not just himself. He's committed to a city. He's committed to a cause. He committed to rebuilding a place. He's committed to the locker room. He's committed to his coaches, the scouts, the general manager. If he has side projects, I don't hear about him during the season.

He doesn't come into a game or an event with a glass of wine. Look at me. I understand Napa. LeBron, this should have been, you're the unselfish star. You've turned selfish. And last night was a dud. Kobe Bryant always had a reputation as aloof, hard to play with, kind of selfish. Let me show you the video when Kobe Bryant surpassed his idol, Michael Jordan.

Watch the fans. He's on the road. Teammates, other players, hugs, their guy, young team. teammates. Opposition. The late Flip Saunders will come over. Guys on the bench, they stop it. The opposing crowd. They give him the ball. So the selfish guy, Kobe, the aloof player Kobe, Mamba, the assassin, the guy, the lone wolf. But he committed to Los Angeles. He committed to one cause and coaches in the front office and the brand. And people felt it. the opposing players felt it.

The selfish guy Kobe by committing to a cause was loved. The giving guy LeBron, whose turn selfish, last night was an absolute dud. I don't care if LeBron wants to talk politics. I mostly agree with him. I don't care if he wants to do side projects, do hip-hop albums. I don't care. I'm for that stuff. I've always been for player mobility.

But this is the downside. to one-year contracts and being Mr. Mobile and never letting anybody feel like they've got any control over you. It's not all LeBron's fault. I will say this. It's a weird roster. There's a lot of one-year weirdos and young guys he doesn't relate to. This has never been the easiest place and the easiest year for LeBron. I was told in January he told people close to him, this roster is just not good. No shooters. He loves shooters. No veteran-touchers. No veteran-trial. top players, kind of veteran oddballs, a bunch of young kids he can't relate to. I'm not saying it's ever been easy for LeBron. This has never been an easy year.

But you see how people react to Drew Brees. You see how people reacted to Mr. Aloof Kobe Bryant. LeBron. I think Lakers Magic, one sentence. I think MJ Bulls. Dr. J played in two leagues. I still think Dr. J. Sixers. I think Bird Celtics.

I think Steph Warriors. De Wade left. Deweighed heat. You know what I think of LeBron increasingly? Island. By himself. And that's not who LeBron is. It's not who LeBron was in high school.

It's not who LeBron was in Cleveland. That's why a lot of people cried when he went back. Because it felt right. Part of a city, part of a town, part of Akron. LeBron has gone completely off brand this year. He's getting bad advice. Give of yourself to a cause. People will see it.

They'll feel it. And last night wouldn't have been a complete, odd, awkward dud. Let me shift to this. Within 24 hours, it does appear, maybe sooner. The very talented Antonio Brown will be on another football team. according to reports this morning, the leaders are Washington and Tennessee. Hip, hip, hooray. Antonio Brown wants to be loved and wants to be respected and he wants to get paid and he wants to be the man.

I get it. I mean, he's not going about it the way I would do it, but I get it. Does he realize that if he signs with Tennessee or Washington outside of Nashville and the district, of Columbia, he will not be a story by Monday. The two leaders now are Tennessee and Washington. By the way, LeBron doesn't invite tight and wide receivers on the shop. Okay, wide receivers are icing. They're not the cake.

They call it carrot cake, not carrot icing. German chocolate cake, red velvet cake, ice cream cake, bun cake. They don't call it carrot icing. And red velvet icing, receivers are icing. quarterbacks are the cake. Okay. Wide receivers, if they choose the wrong team or quarterback, disappear. Randy Moss is the single greatest wide receiver talent I've ever seen.

Before Tom and after Tom, he was invisible. He was great with those Viking teams, and he was remarkable with Brady. Do you remember those great T. in Cincinnati? Me either. Antonio Brown in the next 24 hours may be teaming up with Colt McCoy. Bye-bye. Take care.

Or Marcus Marriota. Good, not special. Memo to Antonio Brown. Wide receivers do not make the quarterback. Larry Fitzgerald. as classy, as smart, as dependable, as good as almost anybody who's played the position, even he knows it. I love A.B. He's Mr. Big Chess is a good friend of mine,

but I don't think he's going about it the right way personally. You know, to be able to play with an all-time quarterback like he's able to play with, I don't think he understands how good he has it. You know, it's, it could be, it could get tough out there. Antonio Brown, Washington, by Monday, he's disappeared. He just went into the Bermuda Triangle of NFL players. Tennessee, maybe we talk about it until Tuesday. He's not going to stay in Pittsburgh.

I still think it's the best place for him. I really, really do. All right, coming up next, as I'm watching LeBron surpass Michael. I mean, those are big names, right? That's like Brady Manning, you know, it just doesn't get bigger than that. Like LeBron surpassing Michael. It made me think one's retired and one's on the back nine. Who's the next LeBron?

I think you'll be surprised by the answer. That's coming up. Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd, Weekdays and noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific on Fox Sports Radio, FS1, and the IHeard Radio app. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind. Highlights are trending, opinions are flying, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in. I'm Timbo. Every episode, we're cutting through the noise, breaking down the plays, the controversies, and the stories behind the headlines.

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Welcome to my new podcast. Learn the Hardway with me. and your favorite therapist, Care Games. And in recognition of Mental Health Awareness Month, I'm bringing over a decade of my own experience in the mental health field and conversations with so many incredible guests. I'm talking, Tripp Fontaine, Ryan Clark.

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

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

Search Learn the Hardway and listen now. 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 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 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 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 running up the court, licking his fingers why he got the ball. 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. Will Ferrell's Big Money Players and IHeart Podcast presents soccer moms. So I'm Leanne. Yeah. This is my best friend, Janet. Hey.

And we have been joined at the hips since high school. Absolutely. Now a redacted amount of years later, we're still joined at the hip. Just a little bit bigger hips. Wider. This is a podcast. We're recording it as we tailgate our youth soccer games in the back of my Honda Odyssey. With all the snacks and drinks.

Sidebar. Why did you get hard seltzer instead of beer? I would have had a bogo. Well, then you got it. Do you want a white color or something here? Just hit it. Oh, what are y'all doing? Microphones?

Are you making a rap album? Oh, I would. Come on. I would, I would buy it. Cuts through the defense like a hot knife through sponge cake. That sounds delicious. Oh, you're lucky. I'm not a drug addict.

You're lucky I'm not an alcoholic. You are. You are. You're lucky I'm not a killer. I love this team, and I'm really trying to be a figure in their lives that they can rely on. Oh. Oh. Listen to soccer moms on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Welcome back. So I'm watching last night, LeBron, face of the NBA last 10, 12 years, surpass Michael Jordan, face of the NBA, for a long time. And I've said this about the NBA. It's never been a parody league. It's been about dynasties and stars. I started watching the NBA in the 70s. Okay.

And these are the faces of the league in the NBA since I started watching it. Wilts Chamberlain was a Laker. I watched him as he was a very old player. Then Dr. Jay in the late 70s, Magic and Bird were the faces of the league. Michael Jordan, into Shaq and Kobe, into LeBron. Now, Tim Duncan was great, but he had no personality. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is the greatest player ever that's never been.

in the face of the league. He was the most dominant score, but aloof, no great personality. He just wasn't. And you can see in his post career, he doesn't connect with people. Generally, there's two or three qualities you have to have to be the face of the league. First of all, you have to be a remarkable player. You can't even be an A-minus player. You've got to be a remarkable talent. Number two, your game has to have some flare. It's got to be fun. Dr. J was fun. Wilt was fun. Larry Bird was clever and crazy and cocky and magic was smiling. You got to have fun to your game.

And number three is, got to win titles. That's why Charles Barkley's not up there. Personality, Kareem didn't have any. That's why he's not up there. And I'm sitting there watching last night and I'm thinking to myself, who's next? You could say Janus, but I don't buy it. He didn't play in high school or college in America. He was obscure until about year three.

in the NBA? He's already been there six years. We don't talk about him. The debate shows, the talk shows don't talk about him. Lack of playoff success, he'll probably start winning now. He's in Milwaukee, doesn't appear to want to leave Milwaukee. There's a difference between a great player in the face of the league. James Harden, going to be 30, ugly game, not really likable. I also think he's kind of known as a strip club guy. I'm not sure if the NBA would ever just fully embrace that. I don't think Hardin feels like the face of a league. I think he feels like a great talent.

What about Kevin Durant? Durant, like Jabbar's got kind of a prickly odd personality. He's going to be 31 next year. There's never been a sense he carries a team. He couldn't win anything in Oklahoma City. And in Golden State, they won without him. All those guys I showed you carried teams. What about Steph Curry?

I thought he was really close. But then he brought Kevin Durant over. and now he's not the best player on his own team. And the Warriors are so gifted offensively with so many stars, it's hard to sort of be the face of the league when no one player is even the face of that team. Curry's the most likable. There's a kid named Zion Williamson who could be.

He's interesting. He's a phenom on social media. He literally is doubling college basketball ratings in games he plays. His game's got a ton of flair. Big personality, totally passionate. If he goes to the New York Knicks, number one pick, it could be him. But as I'm watching last night, I'm thinking to myself, we tried to push Tom Brady out the door. He's still the face of the NFL.

My guess is, the Fawcett looks like it's been shut off with LeBron. He's still 27, 8, and 8 with a major injury. with a disjointed basketball roster with no shooters that doesn't play to his game. My guess is for the next five years, the face of the league will continue to be. LeBron James. It will be. Never forget this about Kobe Bryant. His career looked like it was over.

But Los Angeles is all about reinventing yourself, sometimes through Botox, teeth caps, and sometimes by throwing somebody on your roster. Kobe Bryant's L.A. career was multiple careers. There was Kid Kobe, Shaq Kobe titles, Shaq leaves. Kobe's pissed. Lakers irrelevant.

Gasol arrives back to titles. Then the last three years were like, final ugly year Kobe where he scored 60 in the last game. Kobe's career was a series of wild swings. Phenom, titles. Dang it! Gassal! A lot of notes to that song.

A lot of melodies. You start looking around the league. I don't buy Hardin. I don't buy Janus. Zion is very, very interesting. I'm just not sure his game will be dominant enough at a pro level. But we keep pushing Brady out

and Tom still the face of the league at 41. My guess is in five years. Lakers going to land a couple of pieces around the king. He'll still be the same. the face of it. Here's Joy Taylor with the news. No. No. No. Turn on the news. This is the Heard Line News.

Well, it's no secret that LeBron and Jordan don't have the closest relationship. True. And after he passed Jordan to move into fourth place in the area's all-time pointless, M.J. put out a short statement. What? He did? He said, I want to congratulate LeBron on achieving another

great milestone during his amazing career. That's it? Yep. Joy, is there's not a comma? No comma. I want to congratulate LeBron on achieving another great milestone during his amazing career. I could have written that.

Yes, that wasn't. But it's straight to the point. No need for any kind of extras on it. And LeBron talked about it after his achievement. He said even with a relationship not being as you would want it as you're growing up, obviously at the end of the day, what he was able to do on the floor and off the floor throughout his playing days inspired a kid from Akron, Ohio. So that is more than enough of a relationship because he helped me feel like I could be something beyond this world as well.

That's nice. That feels heartfelt. That had a little more juice to it than MJ's statement. I mean, I don't really know what the deal is with MJ and LeBron not being cool. I think it's just probably MJ's personality. He's just never going to submit to LeBron. So maybe this will change after LeBron retires. By the way, LeBron is closer to Westbrook and Kobe because they didn't threaten them.

Anytime you're threatened by somebody, there's always a little pushback in the music world in Hollywood. You know, I mean, I think in the end, LeBron is going to blow past all of Michael's stats. And it was social media. He's so powerful and politically, there are a lot of LeBron over MJ people believers. There are. And then there's still, you know, Jordan Truthers, like myself. Sticking with the Lakers, other than LeBron passing Jordan, it was not a good night for them. They suffered their six loss in seven games.

Frustrations were high, especially veteran Rajan Rondo, who decided to spend the final minute or so of the game, sitting a few feet away from his bench. A few feet is kind of underselling it. He slid all the way down the bench and was sitting next to two chains. Here is what he had to say about it after the game. I've done it like maybe eight, ten times this year.

I don't know why it's a big deal now. Okay, well, we all know why it's a big deal now. Okay, well, we all know why it's a big deal. It's a big deal because... Well, optically, it looks terrible. Now, maybe he has been doing this. Obviously, we hadn't noticed if he was doing this in other games, even he claims he was.

To me, this is more of a reflection on Luke Walton, or an indictment of Luke Walton. Because you just don't do this if you have a relationship with your coach, because this looks bad on him. Like, everything's getting put on LeBron in this spot. And last night, like, you're not. said it kind of felt just not how it should have. I've been banging on LeBron hard for two weeks.

This has always been a process. You know, it's funny. Whenever a football coach takes over a team, you know, we talked about this yesterday, Joy, you kind of give them a year. Like, right, like Pete Carroll at USC in Seattle, kind of a disjoining first year, Sabine at Bama, Belichick, Cleveland, Coughlin. But when a player comes to a team, we expect him to be able to just hit it out. out of the park. It's a weird roster. There's no shooters. LeBron plays great

with shooters. Not all of it's on LeBron. I just don't know if anybody, I mean, this roster is a bunch of kids he doesn't relate to and a bunch of odd one-year quirky personalities. Yeah, but we all know LeBron played a huge role in putting together the team

that wasn't the young core. Oh, he's a bad general manager. Well, I mean, it worked out in Cleveland. They got a championship there. I mean, they're a disaster now, but they were a disaster before. He that there, so can you really put that entirely on LeBron? I mean, I don't know. I just think there's no connection with this team.

Well, God, no. As it's currently assembled. You can even tell optically, like, it's, you go to a party and there's 30 couples, and you can tell the flirty couple, you're like, isn't that amazing that they've been together 15 years and they're still touchy and, and then you see the couple, they're on their phones and you're like, that's not going to end well. Like, optics matter. No, body language matters.

It's, it's. This team's last in the league in optics. They are dead last in optics. It's just not a good look. Finally, the Antonio Brown saga seems to be coming to an end this week. The Raiders have been mentioned as a likely landing spot, partly because they have three first round picks and also because they need a downfield playmaker.

And John Gruden appears to be really fun of Antonio Brown. Let's take a listen. Oh, boy. What's the greatest thing about this, man, is I've told all our receivers, if you get a chance to watch and practice, you'll see what unlocks the greatness in it. He's the hardest working man, I think, in football.

Hardest working player I've ever seen practice. And I've seen Jerry Rice. I've seen a lot of good ones. But I put Antonio Brown at the top. And if there's any young wideouts out there, I'd go watch and practice. And you figure out yourself why he's such a good player. You know, Antonio Brown's taking a lot of heat over the past month or so, two months. And some of it's warranted of your Steelers fan.

You probably are not very happy with him. and maybe you don't like what's going on with him off the field or you don't like how he's talking about his former team or former teammates or coach or GM. But everyone's kind of forgetting. He is actually a really hard worker. You don't become Antonio Brown being a sixth round draft pick to what he is today, not being a hard worker.

So he is an incredible talent. He is a hard worker. He does show up in big spots when he needs to. By the way, it's like we're all kind of forgetting how good he really. I still go back to, I think, the perfect fit in my opinion is Green Bay with Aaron Rogers. Because I think he would be loved. I think he would be the talk of the league.

I think Aaron would be incredibly happy and feel supported, finally getting him a star. Green Bay, everybody says it doesn't fit, and I completely get it. You put him on Green Bay tomorrow, and Aaron is smart enough to say, okay, I'm not going to do what Ben did. I'm not going to call him out. I'm going to put my arms around him. Aaron would finally feel like, oh, God, we paid for a star. We got somebody. If Aaron did that, I would say it's a good fit.

But I also think he will be successful with the Raiders as well. Derek Carr is a good quarterback. He is. That's fair. He's also taking a lot of heat over the past year or so. He is a good quarterback. They're probably going to stick with them. And if he's with the team, which you likely will be, if they're going to make all those trades when they transition to Las Vegas,

he's the perfect star to build a Las Vegas reveal around. I don't know if he's perfect, but he's a star. That's what you need. Can't manufacture those. Yeah. Joy with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The Heard Lye News.

Doug Gottlieb, the Dugger's show after mine on Fox Sports Radio. Let's bring him on today. Of course we bring him on today. All sorts of great stuff. So, you know, I showed a piece of video that Kobe is the loner in the lone wolf and on an island and a bad teammate. When he passed MJ, it was really special. It was really cool.

LeBron is the community guy, all for one. boat, yet he breaks the record, and he's on an island. And I come back to, he's never committed to L.A. He's never committed to anybody, right? Even his hometown of Cleveland, he left twice. So this is what happened. The college basketball comparison is this. And college basketball nowadays, you don't just have transfers. Sometimes you have two-time transfers. Right. And this week, you have senior night, right? And so some of these guys, they've literally been on campus for five minutes, and they come out and they got the roses and their mom. Nobody knows. There's no relationship there. what that was last night, but how weird, as weird as Michael Jordan's statement was, I actually

thought LeBron's that Joy Red was stranger, where he said, and Joy, tell me if I got this wrong, because I was listening to you, where even if the relationship is not what I hoped it would be, like, I don't even know why you would offer that up, but you're just in there going like, look, we're not boys, he doesn't like me, I don't like him, but he was my idol, so I'm glad that I passed him. Yeah. Look, let's just, Colin, I want you to admit something. that we agree it's a flawed roster.

I think Polinka's inexperience has been exposed. I think Magic Johnson's been exposed. I think Luke Walton, it was, Luke Walton was hired for a different team, and Palinka and Magic never openly wrapped their arms around and said, this is our coach.

Magic didn't bring him to the meeting with LeBron James. That was a mistake. There have been a lot of mistakes made. But this thing is a disaster, and LeBron James is the biggest reason why. He got hurt. They were playing well, and he went away from the team.

team and when he showed back up with the team, he was late for games because he wanted his own ovation. He had his wine glass bringing that to an NBA. You can't come to a place of work drinking wine. I had two NBA players text me. One plays, one doesn't on the wine thing. They said, if Tom Brady didn't play for a game, he wouldn't come with a Budweiser. Like, it's not you, when you go into that arena as a player, you are with that team on the bench. You're in the huddle. You're emotionally there. That's just not me as a media guy. Two players texted me on the wine thing.

So when you bring it up, it's a thing that guys talked about. I've been told he was also texting while on the bench, even if trying to do it, it's kind of a sly so. And like, look, you can't fool a saying that I have in sports is you just can't fool players. And it's one of the reasons that I love interviewing players because I think, though they may not articulate the thoughts the way that businessmen do or public speakers do in their own, in their own sport, in what they've done their entire life, and the inner workings and inner relationships

in the locker room, they're brilliant. And you can't fool these guys. It doesn't matter if they're 21 years old like Brandon Ingram or they're 35, 36 years old like Tyson Chandler. You can't fool these guys. And if you show up and you're about winning and you're LeBron and you're going to take the Lakers back to glory, and the second you get hurt and things don't work your way,

you start going off doing your own shows. By the way, there isn't another Laker who has appeared in any of his five shows. I know. Okay, it's five different shows. different networks, never been a current Laker on any of them. Like, they're like, look, he's not with us. And then all of a sudden you hear people have pointed to the trade rumors. Like, yeah, but that's only part and parcel to all of the other issues.

You go back to when there's a fight with Chris Paul to start the year. And he's grabbing Chris Paul. Like, no, dude, you're on our team now. So he's a terrible teammate, whether it's, I heard your rant Monday, which was perfect, which is he's been a bad leader this year. But he's clearly been a bad leader previous to this. This is, it's all embodied in that statement with Michael Jordan and how Laker fans feel about him and the lack of embrace of his teammates. And like, look, Brandon Ingram's got a bad shoulder.

All right, your shoulder hurts. It may be really bad. You're playing for your playoff lives and you've got a chance to pass the ball to a guy who's probably going to go down as the all-time scoring leader. And you, you decide to not play in the game. Like, of course, these guys are like, look, he. He's not with us. Why do I care about him? LeBron James has, has, you know, poured some of the kerosene and lit some of the match.

Let's exploded with the L.A. Lakers. Here's what's interesting, Doug, is that, and I used, even when I didn't live in Los Angeles, you know, if you grow up in the West Coast like we did, you're an L.A. kid. I'm not. But the Lakers are kind of the West Coast team. And I think people forget this. Even with Kobe, his career in Los Angeles was like five chapters. the young phenom who didn't play much.

Shaq Kobe titles. Shaq leaves Kobe's piss. They're irrelevant. Gasol arrives back to being a dominant team, two titles, three years. Want to be traded, by the way, during the time which they were bad. And then the end, a couple ugly years. So there are a lot of stages of Kobe. So there is part of me that says, we're living in the moment here.

This could all change in a year. Could it not, if they're going to have space for two big time players, could I make the argument, Doug, is I'm being a little reactionary. LeBron's going to hear all the criticism from all of us and go, I got to commit more. He's pretty smart dude who watches social media. No question. He'll have his longest offseason ever. You have a chance to get his body right.

Probably lose some weight so that, you know, probably played a thinnest weight. Here's the problem with it. Have you noticed in the buyout market that the Lakers haven't gotten anybody? To explain that to the audience. Okay, so look, this time of year, Andrew Bogut, for example, just signed. Ennis Cantor was a buyout guy signed with the Portland Trailblazers. Said he didn't want to be a Laker. Right.

So now it's a moot point. They're not going to make the playoffs. There's no reason to go spend some money on a player that they don't need. But over the past couple of weeks, when they still had hope, when LeBron was just coming back, they had an open roster spot. They couldn't even get Carmelo Anthony to sign with the Lakers. Look, I think Carmel Anthony would have been even worse for their already depleted chemistry, but they couldn't get Carmelo Anthony to help them get over the hump and get to the playoffs.

The problem with it is the league is sitting there and other agents don't want to do business with them, because they think whether it's real or whether it's a product of assumption made by the media that clutch sports is running things. I don't want to go put my guy on a team run by clutch sports. And if you're not rep by that, why do you want to do business there? So in theory, in theory, you go, all right, we make a move, we get Anthony Davis, we sign a couple free agents, we rework the roster, we put shooters around him, and LeBron James is back in the NBA. Golden State Warriors won't be the same next year. Like that's reasonable. Yeah.

The problem with it is, what do they have to? to give up to get Anthony Davis. Will LeBron James be the same LeBron James a year later next year? Even with the long offseason, he's still a year older. He's not getting younger. And will they get enough players that are quality players to sign

with this team? And by the way, did Palinka and Magic Johnson have the wherewithal to sign the right players who are healthy, who can defend? And then who they hire as a coach? Like the name's Ty Lou, that sounds great, but one, does Tyloo work there? Two, does Tyloo want the job? And even if he

wants the job. If it's not Tailu, Jason Kidd? If it's Mark Jackson, like, oh, oh, these are not guys that other players and other front office people around the NBA respect because of the jobs that they've done previously. Like, I understand what you're thinking. I'm telling you, though, that the league is sitting there going, look at the buyout market. They can't get guys outside of clutch sports to sign with the Lakers. It's going to be a problem this off season. Okay, very interested on your thoughts about one football thing and also the face of the league going forward. Doug Gottlieb, stick around. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific.

All right, welcome back, Doug Gottlieb. So I said this, as I'm watching last night, LeBron surpass MJ. It just shows LeBron's, you know, back nine, clearly, and Michael Jordan is an old guy, you know? And we've, I've been watching the NBA since the 70s, and these have been the faces of the NBA. It's usually an individual with flare style and titles. personality helps. Jabar was never the face of the league because he's aloof and prickly and he's it's been wilt Dr. J, Magic Bird, Michael, Shack, Kobe LeBron. And I'm thinking to myself last night, who's the next face of the league? And I throw some names out there. Zion Williamson's interesting, but I still have to see him play in the league. To you, who is it? I think it's got to be

Steph and maybe Steph and KD together or Steph and KD as a rivalry because Steph plays for joy and KD plays with anger, right? Constantly trying to prove himself. I think those are the only guy. Look, I think it's a problem for the NBA. I mean, look, remember the lake, the NBA's lack of popularity coincided with when Michael Jordan retired, right? Right.

They were searching for the next guy. NBA's always been as popular as their most popular star or tandem. Right. Now, one of the issues was that they had guys that, whether there's Rashid Wallace, a super talented player, but an enigmatic personality or Alan Iverson kind of same thing. They were also during that window. And Shaq and Kobe weren't there yet, whereas, you know, Steph Curry is beyond reproach as a human being.

You know, most of these guys, Janus, I don't know if that. I don't think it resonates. It probably doesn't, and he does seem to want to stay in Milwaukee. Hardin's not really, his game is polarizing. Yeah, honestly, it's hard to watch. I think it is. It's hard to watch. It's great to watch him fill up.

fill up the scorebook, but it's dribble, dribble, dribble, dribble, dribble, dribble, dribble, dribble, dribble, dribble, dribble, make a move, dribble, dribble, dribble, dribble, dribble, dribble. Kevin Durant, like Jabbar is a little odd and prickly, and it just doesn't resonate. I think my son, my son bought Steph Curry's shoes

and isn't a huge basketball fan. I think it's Steph, but it's hard to be the face of the league when you're the second best player on your own basketball team. I want to shift to this. Adam Silver's the commissioner said last week in a podcast or an interview with Bill Simmons. all of our players or many of our players are brutally unhappy. Charles Barkley yesterday on a show at the other place.

Rip Kyrie Irving said he's just the most miserable human being on the planet. What do you make of the our stars are unhappy? Kyrie Irving's perpetually unhappy. What do you make of it? I think Adam Silver knows his league very well. First of all, the entirety of that interview was fascinating. That guy is brilliant. The knowledge of the business is amazing.

I think he knows his league. let me start by saying I'm incredibly sensitive to mental health care. Yeah. Right? I don't think, I think there's two different discussions here. I think what Charles Barkley is talking about and saying, hey, get over yourself. You're making a bunch of money and you want all this attention is different than saying you're not sensitive to people with legit mental health care problems.

Sure. I think those two things are actually separate discussions. Right. I think a good portion of this is how we raise basketball players. Like, look, how many different people on this network on other networks have said, Zion doesn't need to play? It's all about money and getting paid and not enjoying yourself at Duke and just go to the NBA. We want so badly guys to be compensated because they're super talented.

We don't care about the general development of them as human beings. By the way, I talked about this the other day with my daughter. My daughter called me she's at college. And she said, oh, I'm struggling with this. And oh, my God, I feel like I have no money in college. And I said, honey, that's part of college. The struggle, being broke, eating ramen. The whole thing works.

I'm just, listen, I understand that colleges make money off of talented athletes. Yes. By the way, colleges make money off of all of their students. And then the second you walk out the door, they ask you for money for the next students. The biggest endowment in college in America is Harvard. A hundred billion, not from their athletes. And they claim even Bill Gates and all these other guys and Mark Zuckerberg, we never graduated from Harvard. They still ask them for money and claim them as alums, even if they don't actually hold degrees from Harvard.

Like, this is the way it works. We make money. Colleges make money off of the name, likeness, and success of their students. But the system actually works. It really does. You need the time between being a kid and being an adult to kind of make some adult mistakes while still being seen as a kid. And we cut that process out. And so now we hand a kid a bunch of money, okay?

And you put a bunch of people around him. And it's a really, really awkward place to be. They come into the league at 19. They can't go to have a cocktail at the bar. the hotel, their kids. This is why I always say about college. We've marginalized college to be terrible. But the bottom line is in football, the culture, in baseball and football is find a talented

kid, develop him. In basketball, the American culture is find a talented kid, get him paid. And I think it creates some unhappiness. I want to move to football. Two things. Number one, Arizona Cardinals moving up or have the number one pick. Do they take Kyler Murray? Yes.

And I think it's pretty obvious where Josh Rosen ends up. Where? Washington, D.C. If you look at the contract they have with Alex Smith, it's guaranteed even through injury. So even if Alex Smith retires, and I've been told from multiple sources that there is a slim, if any, chance that Alex Smith ever plays football again. I told the same thing. So if you have a quarterback who you've got to pay $20 million plus to the next two years, you've got to get somebody who's making a rookie level contract. And everyone knows.

everyone knows who Josh Rosen is, right? There's not one single human being who's ever worked with Josh Rosen who goes, you know who I love, Josh Rosen. No one loves it, but everybody respects the talent. And that's the best the Redskins can do. And it's not that bad. That's the first round pick that they'll get. That's where he ends up.

And Kyler Murray, who all of these things are accurate. Like, look, there's a difference between Kyler and what you had last year coming out of the same program in Baker Mayfield. Right. Baker Mayfield comes into a room, takes over a room. Baker Mayfield picks up the marker. The marker at the whiteboard, and he blows you away. Everybody.

Kyla Murray is not that guy. Now, Kyla Murray is a better athlete. Might even be a better thrower. And he jumps off of the TV screen when you're watching him on film. But you talk about football being a leadership position. There's something to Baker Mayfield. It doesn't mean people don't like Kyler Murray or they don't want to play with Kyle Murray, but there is a big difference between the two.

And Russell Wilson, who can be polarizing, But he's brilliant and he takes over a room and he feels like a general out there. Whereas Kyler's not that guy. But I do think that there's enough smoke here. There's fire. Arizona's like, look, we already hired a guy who couldn't win in college. It's a completely different. We've gone to a completely different track than everybody else.

Why not complete it and go get a dynamic, young, small quarterback who we can hide some of his deficiencies within our system. And he knows our system well. and we'll get the best we can for Josh Rosen. And there's a team out there that desperately needs a quarterback under a rookie contract. It's the Washington Redskins. Finally two minutes. Raiders, Antonio Brown. I told you like it. I don't like it. I love it.

Here's the reason why. In order for Antonio Brown to work, you need a head coach that is going to be there. A head coach who can say, hey, you can push me all you want, but I'm not going anywhere. Who has the longest contract in the NFL as a head coach? John Gruden, nine more years, right? Nine more years. He ain't going anywhere. Secondly, he can make the argument, hey, last time I was here, we had Jerry Rice at the end of his career,

and look what he was able to do in Jerry Rice 2.0. So he's been there with 30-year-old wide receivers and allowing them to have profound success. And if you're a Raider fan, you say, man, we lost to Mari Cooper. Okay, who's better? Marry Cooper or Antonio Brown? A-B. It ain't close. They're not even in the same stratosphere.

Not close. I agree. And, yes, you'll have to give him two or three years, guaranteed, but you're going to have to redo the same contract for Amari Cooper. So you're going to upgrade at wide receiver. You're going to get probably Josh Allen with your first pick, who's the defensive end Kentucky. From Kentucky.

And if you get Levi-on-Bell, you're better at running back, you're better at wide receiver, and you're not Khalil Mack, but you have a talented freak athlete pass rusher under club control with a rookie contract for the next four years. And oh, yeah, by the way, you're still going to have some cap room. You're still going to have a bunch of draft picks. Like, I kind of think you're starting to see what John Gruden's plan was, and it's come to fruition. I don't know, Doug. I will say this.

I love the NFL, so I root for interesting. Kyler Murray to Arizona is interesting. And all those guys going to the Raiders is interesting. If you love, you know. And here's also what's interesting. You know, we've talked about LeBron James and the culture. Ten. Think what happens in Pittsburgh.

You get rid of two-star players. Can they still win with lesser talent? Doug Gottlieb, great stuff. Hour 2 around the corner. Shraig Zinis Kanner, Brian Scalabrini, listen to his show after mine, Fox Sports Radio. It's The Herd. Want more Herd? The Herd streams 24 hours a day, seven days a week within the IHeart Radio app. Search Herd to listen live or on demand whenever you'd like. Ah, this is the Heard Hour 2.

Wherever you may be and however you may be listening. We're live and rainy. Sopping wet Los Angeles, Iheart Radio, Fox Sports Radio, FS1. It is great to have you in. Brian Scalabrini this hour, Peter Schrager, Enos Canter. By the way, the Portland Trailblazers are the opposite of the Lakers.

They seem to like each other. There's no drama. They feel like one unit. Enos Canter, funny guy is going to be on our show before the end of it. Joy Taylor is joining us. By the way, I'm going to say this. And you know today, you know what you look like? You guys, look at this. This is a cool throwback.

Don't you think so? Do I look like old Hollywood glam? Yes. Oh, thank you. You look like old Hollywood glamour today. Look at that. Thanks. With my Dorothy Dandridge look.

You're really hip. Look at you. Star of 1977. Now, if I wore something from 1977, I would look like an old crazy person at a hardware store. Instead, you look like... Do you do well in a hardware store? Oh, yeah, I barked like the best of them.

I'm a disaster. I'm a disaster in the first store. I go straight for someone that works there and asks where to go. Great to have you in. Obviously, this year has not been good for the Lakers. And Joy and I were talking about this last hour. Optically, it's been bad. There was a moment last night that is so bad,

I'm just going to let Mark Jackson, who I really like, and he's a friend, some a while back, really like Mark. He was the announcer last night, and he's going to get pushback from people. you know, they'll push back, but watch this. Look where Rondo is sitting. Unless he's coming in the game, there's no excuse for that. For whatever reason, that can't happen. That's not a winning culture.

Now, he may be doing it for the right reasons. There's no right reason, in my opinion. That's unacceptable. Somebody's got to say to another. Come on down here, man. We're not doing that. We're going to look like the Los Angeles Lakers, even though we don't play like them right now. Is that players, coaches?

That's across the board. That's across the board. Okay. Magic and Polinka created this roster. We can keep saying LeBron did. I'm sure he had a say, but this is Magic and Polinka. You can't fake chemistry. I was told LeBron James started telling people in late January, this roster makes no sense. There's no shooters. It's either too young or too weird. Lance Stevenson, Rondo, Javail, Beasley. These guys aren't part of any unit. I mean, they just travel. salesman, you know, and mercenaries. And then you've got the kids that are too young. I know we're putting it all on LeBron, and he deserves some criticism. But here's the thing that I really thought about this this morning driving in. I know everybody in Los Angeles wants to get rid of all these young players and just get

LeBron a bunch of stars. But you have to do two things with this roster. Number one, get shooters. That's what LeBron plays well. with. He's always played well with Corver and J.R. and Shane Batti and Ray Allen and Kyrie Irving. LeBron doesn't play as well with Biggs. He didn't play great with love or Bosch. I don't think Anthony Davis is a perfect fit. LeBron plays well with shooters. Give him the ball. He creates. There's no shooters on this team. Josh Hart hasn't hit a three in a month. Secondly is you can't trade

everybody. Or you're just going to be a more talented disjointed version of this year. You've got to keep Kozma, Ingram, some of these guys. This idea that next year we're just going to flush all the young guys out and bring a bunch of new guys in, well then you're faking chemistry again. You can't create chemistry in a lab. That Miami Heat team, it was Bosch, Haslam, underrated Haslam, Bosch, Weh,

LeBron, and then they'd add a little piece, piece, piece, piece, piece, but the pieces fit. And they were great pieces. Ray Allen is a pretty good piece. Badier, high IQ they fit. This team's a mess. If you just flush everybody out, the weirdos and the young guys to get Anthony Davis, you're still, you're trying to make up chemistry in a lab. It doesn't work that way.

You've got to let things bake. Now, LeBron may be saying to himself, I don't have time to let things back. But that piece of video in Mark Jackson last night, that is just brutal. All right, I want to shift to this. Kyler Murray is getting a lot of talk. I mean, he's everywhere. His agent yesterday is supporting him. His agent's been kind of loud.

He went on the Dan Patrick's show, and it was awful. And there's a story yesterday that somebody inflated his height at the scouting combine. He's actually 5'9. They bet him at 5'10. I don't know how that's possible. I don't buy the story. He doesn't look 510 to me, but if they say he's 5.10, I'll go with it. He's continually compared to Russell Wilson.

I don't think he's Russell Wilson. And then this morning, Kyler Murray's agent unloads on Charles Casserly, who came out and said he's bad on the whiteboard, bad interview. Let's just be totally honest and transparent about Kyler Murray. He's a good prospect. He's not a great one. There's just too many red flags. Bad interview, I was told the same thing. Bad on the whiteboard, I was told the same thing.

Loudmouth agent, I've seen it twice. Size concern, real. Runs a little too much? Yes. The fewer red flags you have, almost always the greater you are. Andrew Luck had no red flags. Smart, durable, big, mobile arm, book. We started making stuff up with him.

Well, his arm is a, remember that Phil Sims, who I love? Well, his arm is, his arm's fine. That's never been a problem. Carson Wentz, about the only red flag was, well, the competition he faced. Jared Goff, the air raid system. We knew he could play. We knew he had the arm. We knew he was tough.

He got the hell beat out of him at Cal never got hurt. The whole question was, he played that air raid offense. I'm not sure it works. Patrick Mahomes, the big question was, well, from the big 12, I'm not, those aren't real red flags. Daniel Jeremiah is a former NFL scout. He's one of the guys I really respect, move the sticks on Twitter. Guy knows his stuff. He's a film junkie.

He said if you were to rank last year's quarterbacks and this year's quarterbacks, he has Kyler Murray tied for fourth with a kid at Buffalo, Josh Allen. Let's be honest. Kyler Murray is a really, really interesting prospect. He's not a great prospect. There is a difference. He's interesting. I mean, I'll be honest with you.

I think he's a better thrower than Dak Prescott. At this point, Dak Prescott is more interesting than he is great. Dak's an interesting dude thrust into an interesting roster, interesting owner, interesting team, interesting environment, interesting division, interesting NFC, interesting games, is that, you know, we're talking a lot about Kyler Murray. He's just not a great prospect. Now, now, for the record, Mitch Trubisky went number two. he was not a great prospect, nor, frankly, was he that interesting?

And there is something to be said about interesting. I do think Kyler Murray going to Arizona is fascinating. It's good for the league. It's probably great for ticket sales. It may galvanize the locker room in Arizona where everybody's kind of into this guy. Michael Vic moved into Atlanta, and he just galvanized the locker room. Dude liked him. But, you know, with all this stuff, what we're getting with Kyler Murray is a bunch of little red flags.

and if you're really great, you don't have a ton of red flags. You don't. I mean, Big Ben had some red flags off the field and his first few years in the league. But, I mean, I remember reading the scouting report. Big, strong, mobile arm. I mean, when you go back, you can Google it, look it up.

There won't a lot of weaknesses with Big Ben. I mean, if you play at Miami of Ohio and you get drafted as high as Big Ben by a team that knows what they're doing, Pittsburgh Steelers, you're really good. So there's just a lot of red flags because he's an interesting prospect. He's not a great prospect. All right, good stuff.

Brian Scalabrini, Peter Schrager, we're loaded today. It's a fun show. You know, the LeBron thing last night, LeBron surpasses MJ. Just run the video again because I want to talk to Brian Scalabrini about this, is that as I'm watching this, it really strikes me. that there is one city in the L.A., in the United States, which if I said to you where stars live, you would say Los Angeles. Right.

There is one team in Los Angeles that is known as the star-studded team. That's the Lakers. This was so flat and so bad. I would get if it was baseball where they don't celebrate the individual or footers. the Rams are new in town or the Chargers, the number two team in L.A. This is Los Angeles. This is the Lakers. And that's how LeBron passing MJ looked.

It was a complete dud. Bill Plashy at the L.A. Times had a great line this morning. He said, LeBron has been embraced by Hollywood. But the Lakers aren't Hollywood. They're Olympic in Figueroa. Hollywood is glitz. Go to a Laker game. It's regular people with regular jobs.

I go to Laker Games. I'm not sitting next to Cindy Crawford. I'm sitting next to an attorney, Larry Crawford, who makes a good living, but has been going to Laker games for 34 years. Don't confuse Hollywood with the Lakers. Magic didn't do a lot of Hollywood stuff until he was done with the Lakers. Then he came back to the Lakers. Just because you're in Los Angeles, Hollywood is Hollywood.

the Lakers like every pro sports franchise in America, including the Cowboys, including the Yankees, are regular people going to games who love sports. That thing last night was a dud. He would have been better doing that in West Hollywood. He would have gotten a better ovation in Hollywood than he did on Olympic in Figueroa. By the way, Brian Scalibriety is going to break news. He's going to tell us who's coming to Los Angeles next year.

That's what it says on my screen right here. I'm like Ron Burgundy. Whatever's on my screen I read. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific. On Fox Sports Radio, FS1 and the IHard Radio app. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind. Highlights are trending, opinions are flying,

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

give you context, and ask the questions everybody wants answered. Sports slice brings you closer to the action with stories told by the people who live them. Listen to Sports Slice on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Sliced Life 12 and the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hardway with me, your host, and your favorite therapist, Kear Games. And in recognition of mental health awareness month, I'm bringing over a decade of my own experience in the mental health field and conversations with so many incredible guests. I'm talking, Tripp Fontaine, Ryan Clark. Sometimes when we're in the pursuit of the thing, we get so wrapped.

up in the chase, that we don't realize that we are in possession of the thing, and we're still chasing it, and we don't know when we've done enough. Because people scoreboard watch. Life becomes about wins and losses. Steve Burns, Dustin Ross, because you find it important to be a good person while you hear on earth, or are you a good person because you're afraid? Because that's two different intentions, bro. Absolutely. And that's two different levels of trust. I want you to just really be a good person. Join me, Kear Gaines, is we have real conversations about healing, growth, fatherhood, pressure, and purpose on my new podcast, Learn the Hard Way. Open your free iHeartRadio app. Search Learn the Hardway and listen now.

Will Ferrell's Big Money Players and IHeart Podcast presents soccer moms. So I'm Leanne. Yeah. This is my best friend Janet. Hey. And we have been joined at the hips since high school. Absolutely. Now a redacted amount of years later.

We're still joined at the hip, just a little bit bigger hips, wider. This is a podcast. We're recording it as we tailgate our youth soccer gate. in the back of my Honda Odyssey with all the snacks and drinks. Sidebar. Why did you get hard seltzer instead of beer? Oh, they had a bogo. Well, then you got it.

Do you want a white collar or something here? Just a again. What are y'all doing? Microphones? Are you making a rap album? Oh, I would. Come on. How did you move? I would buy it. Cuts through the defense like a hot knife through sponge cake. That sounds delicious.

Oh, you're lucky. I'm not a drug addict. You're lucky I'm not an alcoholic. You are. You're lucky I'm not a kill. I love this team, and I'm really trying to be a figure in their lives that they can rely on. Oh. Listen to soccer moms on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. American Soccer is about to explode. The World Cup is coming.

Ramos sending on the Army Stewart. I'm Tom Ramos. I'm Tom Boe. On our podcast, Inside American Soccer, you'll get the real storylines. I'm not worried about Policicic, I'm not worried about Balagan, I'm not worried about McKinney. My only concern is what happens in the back. The biggest decisions. If you're going to look at stats and numbers, he has no shot at making this World Cup team.

And the truth about the U.S. national team. It wouldn't be a huge surprise if our team ends up in the quarterfinals or potentially a great run into the semifinals. The World Cup is almost here. Experience it all with us. Listen, inside American soccer with Tom Bogart and Tab Ramos on the I-Heart radio app, Apple Podcasts, wherever you get your podcast. Saturday, the Big East goes back to back on Fox. First up, number 23, Villanova takes on Seton Hall.

Then Marcus Howard leads number 16 Marquette against Georgetown. A Big East doubleheader tips off Saturday at 1130 Eastern on Fox in the Fox Sports app. By the way, you guys would not believe who I just got a text from on my cell phone. Swear to God, I am becoming a big deal. I'm self-proclaimed. Okay, Brian Scalabrini, former Celtic and now a cell. Are you going to tell us? You can't tease us like that.

I'm not going to, I can't throw my sources under a bus. Hey, big things happen on this iPhone. This iPhone's an iPhone 12. It's double an iPhone 6. Because he does this. And then one day, someone's just going to swipe that thing. And then, you know, the damage is going to be. All your sources are not a parable.

Get this over to, I'll get this over to you see. You just don't trust me. Your screen is open. Let's hear your source. Let's hear your source. Anyway, let's move on. All right. Okay.

Let's, first of all, there's obviously a power struggle with the Lakers right now. Sure. You can see that right. You go to an arena every night. You're hearing things. What did you make of last night? Now, to defend LeBron, he's brand new. What was Kobe's first year like in L.A.?

What was Magics? What was Kareem's? Nobody, this was never going to be perfect, right? Sure. You kind of jammed him into a city. He didn't, you know, he's been playing eight straight finals. but it did feel weird last night. Like no teammates, the crowd,

it should have been bigger, right? No question. Passing MJ should have been a big deal. Unbelievable deal. I just think when you saw LeBron get emotional, was it emotion out of regret for what he's going through right now? And being in L.A. and saying, did I make a mistake coming out here?

Do you think he thinks that? I mean, look at the moment. You pass M.J. Can you imagine if that moment was in Cleveland? Who cares? It would have been a fourth or fifth seat. he looks up at the scoreboard. They're not going to be getting crushed by 20.

That's a totally different moment than being in L.A. People are kind of iffy on you being there. You pass M.J. You're out of the playoffs. You're getting roasted by Denver. So I just think that moment for him, he probably had a sense of regret until he, like, jumped in his car at 75 degrees outside,

and he's heading to shoot another show or do another business venture in Hollywood. So I think at that moment, it was a little too emotional for him because I think he has a little bit of regret for going to L.A. Well, let me throw this at. You believe you know who's going to be a Laker next season, and it should be noted.

On the secondary market, the Enos Canters, Carmelo Anthony's, don't want to be here. Sure. Paul George said no. There's a lot, Kauai reportedly, not interested. So there's about eight guys that are really good players, maybe seven available. You think you know who the two are. Yeah, and I'm just guessing. It's not like I have like.

sources like you with the phone. I just think in Philadelphia, you look at the Jimmy Butler Tobias Harris situation. Are they going to come with a 190 million max contract for Jimmy Butler? I'm not sure. They might. It depends on how Philly plays out in the playoffs. But I kind of look at if it's not Philly, it's probably the Lakers. I could see them saying, you know what, we don't have anybody else. We're going to miss out on KD and Kimber Walker. And why don't we go after Jimmy Butler? And with the amount of money that they have left, I can see. see him going after DeMarcus Cousins as well. Oh, boy. So you act, no, but look at that

roster. LeBron, Butler, Cousins, and you still have Lanzo Ball, Kuzma, Ingram, you still have those guys. So you wouldn't have to give up anything. No, that's the beauty of free agency, right? You don't have to give up assets to get those guys. So instead of giving your whole team and seven picks

to try to get Anthony Davis, you can say, well, why don't we just sign these two guys add him to LeBron? If you're telling me right now Jimmy, Butler, LeBron, and Boogie cousins, that's too much. drama. This year's been too much drama. No, there's never too much drama in L.A. They have a high quota for drama in L.A. By the way, Boogie Cousins, they acquired Andrew Bogot for a reason. They trust Boggut with four minutes to go in a game. They don't trust

Boogie Cousins. But he'll be better next year, and then he'll be better as the season goes along. I mean, that's kind of how the Achilles sings work. Speaking of drama, Mr. Celtic, your team's been a massive disappointment in the very smart and accurate Charles Barkley went on and he talked about Kyrie Irving the other day, and Kyrie Irving, here's Barclay on Kyrie, your guy, Scalabrini. Let me tell you something else. Kyrie Irving, I've never seen a person so miserable. He's got to be one of the most miserable people I've ever seen.

Dude, we're preparing you 40 million dollars years. You ain't never going to get away from it. What do you make of that? Well, I think Charles is looking at the team and seeing how inconsistent the Celtics look and at times Kyrie looks miserable out there when they lose. But I will say from being on the inside and seeing these guys, it's very, some days, for instance, you lose to Houston.

And I thought, oh my gosh, our season's going down the drain. And then they make this flight to Golden State and everything has changed. Now, Kyrie's like super engaging with the guys and the plane is super loud. And at the hotels, guys are talking. There's music being played. It was like 180 degree turn. So you were there. Yeah, it's just like, it's amazing to me how much difference it's been the last two days.

Now, is it because there's less than 20 games to go? Are NBA players in general tired of the regular season, which we're seeing that a lot more now? Oh, yeah. The Golden State Warriors the other night did not want to be out there playing. And they're the team that I think more than any team in the last five years, they're the team to me that seem to enjoy playing more than anything. They did not seem to enjoy playing the other night. I think everyone's just waiting for the playoffs to start.

and whether it's Kyrie and the ups and downs of free agency and all that stuff and dealing with should I stay should I go going here going there when it's just about basketball for him and he has that pure mind and he wants to play he's unbelievable go back I don't even want you to watch the offensive end of the comeback from 3-1 against the warriors just watch Kyrie on the defensive end during that he was so engaged it was unbelievable to watch that run from him LeBron all those guys and just how cohesive they were And I think at times when the stakes are high, he does seem to raise his level. Yes.

But then you have those games like Houston and you're wondering like, do these guys even want to be out here? But from my experience of seeing this team, they're so inconsistent game to game, quarter to quarter. And now it looks like they've like turned a corner. The last two games, they've looked really engaged and looked like all dialed in and locked in. But I will say the practice over the last two games before the Warriors, everyone talked about how we feel so much more connected.

We had sort of a kumbaya moment and everything is going to be. fine. By the way, the face of the NBA. So how old are you? 40. You're but a child. So I've been, I'm mid-50s. I'm mid-50s. And so I've been watching the NBA since the 70s. And there's always been a face of the league. You have to be a great player. Sure. You have to have flair to either your game or your personality, and you've got to win titles.

Kareem was a great player, brittle personality. I say Kevin Durant, a little bit of an odd, quirky personality. These are the faces, I believe, from the 60s on. Wilt, Dr. Jay, then it was Larry and Magic, Michael, Shaq and Kobe, although Shaq was the more intense athlete, Shaq was the more engaging personality than LeBron. And I ask you, the things that you know that you have to be a star, you've got to be great. We've got a bunch of those in the league. You've got to have flair to your game. All these guys had flare.

I mean, even wilt. Wilt was the headband, the jams. And then you got to have a bunch of titles. Who's the face of the NBA? Doesn't it have to be honest? But here's my takeaway. Didn't play high school here, didn't play college here. That's a good thing.

Well, he was obscure for two years. Didn't know who he was. It is Milwaukee. No playoff success. This is sort of dumb, but generally, Madonna, Cher, Hannity, Stern, Imas, one name helps. Bird, Magic, Kobe.

You tried spelling Janice's last name? So it's a little bit of a thing. You're telling me that he should be the face of the franchise. I don't think. Based on how good he is, but because his name is Antitacompo? No, I'm not saying that's like 2%. But I'm not saying it's not everything.

Milwaukee, no playoff success. Didn't play high school. Well, that's just now, like LeBron is still going to control this narrative for the next two years. He's going to be the face of the NBA for two years. Yeah. And then the torch will pass. So why not jump on Steph Curry? All-American family.

It's the second best player in his own team. How do you have a face of the league? Well, he might, but he won a championship without Durant. Listen, I think you're right. That's how I feel, Steph. But it's really hard when you're perceived as you're not the finals MVP. Sure. Your teammate is.

And the NBA has been as strong as the face of the league is likable. Shack and Kobe, LeBron, Michael, Bird. Dr. J. Wilt. There was a real relatability, a flare. I got your answer. Yonis should be. He should be. But I don't know.

The superstars today are weird. Duran is weird. Kyrie. Westbrook. Quay Leonard. Westbrook. They're all sort of like a little bit odd. Yeah.

So if you, like to me, Janus is not odd. He's from. So you think he's the guy? Well, I just think he's not, he's not a weird guy. No, no, no, no. He's a great kid. Yeah. And he's like, I feel like,

He's going to stay in Milwaukee. He's like what we want our superstar to be. But maybe that's us because I'm 40 or 50 and we want him to be all about basketball. Didn't grow up in the AAU culture. Has a totally different mindset. Well, he didn't come. He came into this league. I didn't know who he was until year three.

Sure. So general, I knew about Kobe in high school, LeBron in high school, Jordan in college, Shaq in college. Generally, I'm introduced to you before you even get.

I think Zion Williamson could be it if he goes to the Knicks. if his game trend then you got to win that might that might not but but it is interesting i i agree with you i think next half decade it's still mostly lebron no that's five years i'm just throwing it out there come on calling everybody's trying everybody's pushing brady out the door you know what the face of the league is today brady tom brady yeah but he's still winning like clearly you're watching the lakers i don't is this thing going to change well they get jimmy bothered cousins different conversation yonis should be yes and because of it's you're not and because of of that, I'm sticking with Yon. I can't go on what people think about high school one because

they can't say his name. I can only go on if I'm a father, I want to sit down and watch a game with my son, this is a guy I want you to be like. No, I'm not denying any of that. By the way, Shawshank Redemption is a great movie. It's a bad name for a movie. This is America. We like simple stuff. That's why I change my name from the Colin Coward Show to Hurd. Sure. Rome, Hannity, Imus, Paley, Cher. I'm just going to be honest. I'm not. I'm not. I'm That's why I'm saying. Joy. Yonis.

Give Janus Antita Kumpo. Just go Yonis. Freak or just say Yonis. Yonis. I just call him Yonis. I like Yonis. Pretty much everyone calls him Yonis. All right.

Yonis. That's only like, that's only a fun nickname, but it's, it's, it's really too long. I know it sounds dumb. That's only like 2% of the argument. No playoff success. Milwaukee. Well, that's just now. They're going to be fine this year.

Yeah. And I'm telling you, he's not weird. No, no. He's just not weird. So because he's not weird, we can, like, us, middle-aged men can rally around the guys who aren't weird. No, I have him on the show. He's a great kid.

He's great. And he's all about winning. And the rumors about him leaving in free agency. He just seems to love Milwaukee. All he does is work out and stays in Milwaukee. He doesn't work out with, you know, Instagram and all this other stuff. He's great. I just like, that's a layup to me.

He's got to be the face of me. All right. Because I don't feel it's Kevin Durant. I think he's too prickly. I think he's just a little too quirky. I don't think he's as embraceable. He's weird. He's weird.

These guys are weird. Brian Scalabrini, Joy, the news. No. No. No. No. Turn on the news. This is the herd line news. My only issue is that really to be a star, star, you kind of have to be a little polarizing. You got to be debatable in today's society.

And Janus is just super likable. No. You can't say anything bad about it. Good point. crazy as that sounds. No, no, no, I also think... You've got to be able to debate him and saying that he hasn't had success in the playoffs.

Like, we don't think that that's going to be forever. No, I also think flare to your game. I mean, let's be honest. Dr. Jay, you could never hit a jumper consistently. I didn't trust him at the line. Wasn't a great passer. But Dr. Jay's game had so much drama and flare. He was...

Dr. Jay played in another league came to the NBA and took it over. Colin, do you know, Janus Dunks more than Shack? Dunks more than Shack. I know. That's amazing. But Shack had a human. Amongous personality.

Sure, I'm just saying, like the polarizing thing. Who's ever going to debate against Janus? Everyone loves Janus. No, and you sound like a crazy person if you do. You absolutely sound crazy. Right. All right, so buried in last night's Laker News was a quote that LeBron made during shoot-arounds. He referred to the younger players on the team and how relying on them heavily has been so tough.

Let's take a listen. We have four guys in our top eight rotation that we have to really rely on. on and it's unfair to them to ask for so much when they're in their second and third year. We want them to learn. We want them to learn. I want them to learn. But also I have to understand that they're young as well and they're going to have mistakes and they're going to make mistakes.

If you look at all the 16 teams right now or the best teams in our league right now, just look at the guys that they rely on every single night to be able to come through for them. And if they have a young guy, at least it's probably one or two of them. We know LeBron, while he's had moments throughout his career where he's been a great leader, and by a lot of former teammates' testimonies, he is a great teammate. He's not ever been so fond of younger players. So maybe he's not the best one-on-one mentor, and that's kind of what this team needed. The development around the Lakers is a bit odd, right?

Like if you're looking at DeAngelo Russell now, it's like, what happens here? What's going on here with the development of the young players? And this year, particularly, I think this year, they really needed LeBron to come in. And it's LeBron. And now we have all the spotlight and expectations. And he really needed to become that guy that brought them along. I understand what he's saying. Mistakes are frustrating, for sure.

But they also need to learn how to win. And that's what's the most frustrating. thing about this year for me because and what, and with what everything happened with Anthony Davis and the trade rumors, you have to teach young players a winning environment, a winning mentality. Like, it's, it's a psychology. It's the reason why the Patriots have been so successful. It's the reason why the Spurs are so successful.

When you look at dynasties, and you look at the warriors, they have a system, they have a mantra, everyone's on the same page. They cater to young players to develop them. And it's a march. Like, we will be great. Not this is okay or this is okay. We're going to ship you all off and everybody's got to get over it. That doesn't work.

It's just not the mentality that works. So I understand what he's saying. And it's kind of always been LeBron's brands of not wanting young players. He wants veterans around him, shooters, as you said earlier. So this year was kind of the year he kind of had to morph into that. And just another storyline thread in this year's Lakers team. So we were just talking about it last night, the Celtics beat the Kings on a Gordon Hayward Go Ahead Bucketts, despite Carrie Irving sitting out.

But even more importantly, this game made Boston's drive. record in their last seven games without Kyrie, a perfect 7-0. They're also scoring an average of 11.0. Point four points more on offense without Kyrie. That's an, that is an massive indictment. They're scoring 11 points more a game without Kyrie. That's just a lack of ball movement. When he's on the floor, they don't move the ball as well. That's all that is. By the way, Joyce, that's a lot of points. Eleven points in an NBA game more without your star player. That's, It definitely seems to be that the ball sort of stops with Kyrie. Yes, he's a ball stopper.

That seems to be the situation with that. Wow. I'm with you. I don't think that Kyrie is going to be with Boston next year. It's kind of all sign points. This is also a very analytic-driven franchise. They're going to sit down and look at numbers and go, it doesn't work analytically. And by the way, this is something I've thought a lot about. That, you know, I think O'Dell Beckham is a really good player.

But the downside to having the superstar-wide receipts, We saw this with DAC, is that the quarterback goes into the huddle or the line of scrimmage and feels a burden to get the ball to him. So often the quarterback doesn't make the young quarterback doesn't make the throw to the open receiver. He feels early in the game. I got to get it to Des. I got it to get it to Odell. I want him to be happy. So you're not making the best read.

You're making the read that creates the most comfort for you in the star receiver. Similarly with Kyrie, sometimes you stand around in basketball. ball and watch the greatest player maneuver hardened Kyrie. When you watch the Celtics without Kyrie, they don't move the ball. And it's not, it's really not necessarily a knock on Kyrie because we've seen Kyrie be successful in other situations. So it's really not that. It's just maybe just the system in Boston doesn't work for Kyrie.

Kyri is still a great player and he's going to have success wherever he goes after Boston. It's just, maybe this just isn't the right fit. Finally, when Kyler Murray sprouted from under 510 in. August to over 510 last month. Some eyebrows were raised. We're at 510 and 1-8 now from the Combine. Well, an unnamed scout told Dan Patrick on Tuesday.

I think that his height was inflated. Maybe it's the tinfoil hat theory. I just don't see it. If he refuses to be measured at the Pro Day, that will be telling. Oh, that's interesting. So, oh, that is interesting. So now there's a theory being floated that they somehow

gave him a little extra height at the Combine. Yeah, I don't understand that because I think you measure that in your bare feet, don't you? Here's the thing. Is he like David Blaine? Did he elevate? I just, I can't take any more. I can't take any more of it. I don't understand what's happened with Kyler Murray. Did no one watch him play in college? How is this news that he's not that tall? I don't get it. Why are we even talking about it? Like, he's been a prospect

this entire time and now all of a sudden his height is a conversation as if this is something that can change. It doesn't make sense to me. Well, there is, there is a difference. I know it sounds ridiculous. There is a difference between 5-9 and 5-10. I'll give you an example. Have you ever noticed with prices? Everything's always $9.99. Not $10. One penny, psychologically, that one penny makes it feel

more comfortable buying it. Right, right. That's why hotel rooms are 179, not 180. I understand that this inch and height matters to everyone. Otherwise, we wouldn't be discussing it. What I don't understand is, we know he's either 5-9 or 5-10. or 5-10 and 1-8s, whatever you feel comfortable with, right?

He's not going to grow. This is how tall he is, right? Stop comparing him to Russell Wilson and Baker-Mayfield. They're both much bigger than him, considerably bigger, and they had 46 starts each in college compared to his 17. It's a lazy comparison. It's just like, oh, those guys are on the shorter side, so let's just compare them to Kyla Murray.

It's not comparable. They had an incredible amount more experience in college, and they're bigger. They're bigger quarterbacks. So we know he's a runner. The thing you have to develop in the NFL, is pocket presence with him. We already know he's a runner, right?

But if you look at the four quarterbacks that were in the championship games this year, right? You have Breeze, Gough, Mahomes, and Brady. Three of them are pocket presence quarterbacks. Tom Brady hates being moved off of his spot at all. And Mahomes is an incredible thrower who can run, but he's 6.3.2.30. So what kind of quarterback are you actually looking for?

Do you think that at that height he can sit in the pocket in the NFL with Lyman breathing down his back? If he comes in an inch shorter at the pro day, it's not good for him. Stupid, but it's not. There's a lot of things that are dumb, but they're not good for you. So then he shouldn't get measured at the pro day. Well, then that's what he probably,

if he doesn't get measured, that's why he's doing it. Guys, he's 5'9. He's somewhere between 5'9 and 5'10 and 1 8th. When you say 5'9, though, I feel like you're talking about Doug Flutty. When you say 510 and a half, I think you're talking about Baker Mayfield. I'm much more comfortable with Baker than Doug. Baker Mayfield had 46 starts in college. I know. I know.

I'm a crazy person. I am a crazy person. Joy with a news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The Herd Lye News. A guy who played with the Raiders joining us next, DeAngelo Hall, fought on Antonio Brown to the Raiders,

gaining steam as we speak. That's coming up to herd. Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd, weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific. Decade and a half in the NFL, one of the great corners for his 15 years in the NFL, 14 actually, DeAngelo Hall. All right, so Kyler Murray,

there's a story out today. Two days ago, he was a bad interview. Two days ago, he was terrible at the whiteboard. The story now this morning is he was faking his height. He's got something in his shoes, which I don't believe. But there's a bunch of rumors going on. Charlie Castlety was the guy that came out two days ago. What do you make of suddenly all these anonymous sources hit in the air?

I mean, it's so weird because, I mean, at some point, the truth is going to come out about Kalamari, how good a player he is or how bad a player he is. And so for anyone to try to just pile on for the sake of piling on or come up with their own theories as to how he is or why he's, you know, doing certain things, to me it's just mind boggling. You know, I can remember going through this whole draft process. And, you know, a lot of the reasons, even to this day that I necessarily don't agree with a lot of the things Charlie Cashley says is at some point through my draft process, I can remember him. And he probably won't remember me at all or this story at all because he's been doing it for so long. And I'm like a mere little speck in his grand scheme of things that he's been doing this whole scouting thing for as many years as he's been doing it. And I can remember them saying just, and at the time, I thought, you know, he was in Houston with the Texans.

And so I thought Houston was a place that I was potentially going to get drafted to. I kind of thought that was my ceiling, 10 to the Houston Texans. I had met with a lot of people in their organization throughout the whole process. And, you know, I just was hearing reports from him that, you know, I was a me guy. I was a selfish guy. Even right after they called my name at the draft, doing the, like, broadcast, they, you know, the nickname of Meangelo and then kind of, bam, that's when that kind of started, the whole Meangelo thing. You were a selfish guy.

Yeah, and it kind of came out of nowhere because I was always a guy in college who was, fight for my teammates. Like we see a guy get something happened to him in practice and I'm the first one running up to try to stand up for him or in a game. You know, if someone else was, you know, abusing one of my other corners. Now, I'm going to go over there. Let me check him, you know, to kind of take the pressure off of that guy. And so it was totally not who I was, but the perception became reality and I became, you know,

this meangelo kind of character. And I guess it didn't help the fact that I was, you know, kind of loud and obnoxious and a little arrogant from time to time. But, man, those stigmas, man, when these scouts and these front office execs give you the quote unquote stigma of who they perceive you to be, you know, it takes a lot of work to get it off you. And I hate to see a kid like Kyle O'Mary who I've seen nothing but good things about kind of get labeled this way as a guy who doesn't, you know, isn't smart, that wasn't the best interview or can't get on a blackboard and, you know, draw up plays and things like that.

I'm excited to see him play, though, because I think he absolutely can play. You know, when people see some of those things as a negative, I see him as, hey, he doesn't have a lot of bad habits. I can't wait as a coach to really get my hands on the guy and mold him into what I think he can be. I don't see it as a negative saying, oh, man, you know, he got on the blackboard and he didn't do very well. Well, that means now I can teach him how I want him to learn the position. Cool. Antonio Brown, I always call wide receivers icing, quarterback.

the cake. And nothing wrong with icing. Cake's better with icing, but you build around the cake. You kind of got to. Antonio Brown goes to Tennessee or Washington by Monday. He's invisible, isn't he? Isn't he invisible? I tell you what, he won't get as many targets. Life won't be as easy

for him if he ends up in any of those places, obviously. You know, we've all heard Larry Fisherell say, man, you don't know how good you got it. because partly that's true. You don't know how good you got it. You know, you're playing with the guy who, you know, and me having not played on any really, really great teams, I always felt like, man, if I was able to be a part of a great team,

man, I could put my ego aside because I feel like winning cures everything. No matter what's going on in that locker room, if you're coming in that locker room talking about things that have happened good or bad after a win, it's a lot easier to take in stomach. If you're coming in there after being blown out or winning three, four, five, six games a season, that's tough. That, that wears you down.

And so for Pittsburgh to have the kind of success they've had over these years with those guys there. And those guys still not find a way. And I can't solely put the blame on him because I know Ben as well. And, you know, it takes two to tango. And those guys definitely probably have something going on to where the success of that team should have been

the bigger prize for those two guys to kind of put their issues aside and work together. But it is funny. Nobody remembers T.O. in Cincinnati or Buffalo. Randy Moss disappeared after Brady. And that's what's going to be interesting.

And that's why I feel so bad for A.B. Because, I mean, as of this point, he's had a Hall of Fame career. But the difference between a really, really great player and a Hall of Famer is the wins. Is the wins and how you finish it. It's that full length of your work.

And so, you know, A.B. had another two, three, four years to kind of put himself right in that category of without a doubt he's got a gold jacket. And so it's going to be interesting to see where he lands, what that quarterback situation looks like, that offense. Because when you're a receiver, it's more than just you out there running routes. It takes that quarterback, that line protecting. It takes a little bit of run game, some defense. So it's going to be interesting to see where he winds up at. A couple of minutes left before the end of the hour. You played with the Raiders.

They've been kind of one of the league's dysfunctional teams for a decade. Antonio Brown rumored to go there. Your Raider experience wasn't great. It's still a little off. Yeah, yeah. I mean, that place is a little off still. You know, I tell people all the time, not all money is good money. You know, I kind of backed myself into a corner in Atlanta to the point that I was like,

look, I'm not playing here, trade me, no matter what. and after we kind of had talked to a couple other teams, the only team that was left was the Raiders. And Al Davis had loved me for a long time. And, you know, I was a fan of his. And so, you know, I always say I would never change anything because it ultimately made me the person I am. And I wouldn't change going out to Oakland for those eight games

that I got to go there and play. But it did alert you to the dysfunction around the league. Oh, absolutely. You probably appreciated it. Atlanta a lot more. And I appreciate it going to Washington, which people labeled dysfunctional. It was not Oakland. Oakland was a different beast.

You were Jamarcus Russell Raiders. I was a Jamarcus Russell Raider where he was a quarterback. And I tell you what, when you got a guy who just mentally wasn't ready to be an NFL quarterback, it weighed on the whole team. Listen, I have been all over the country in my career. I've worked for seven places. I was in Tampa. Very dysfunctional management.

It has made me appreciate all the other stops so much more. DeAngelo Hall. Great seeing you. Thank you. Cold flu season. Try Vix Synex nasal spray. Little squirt up there. Conderson works for 12 hours.

Peter Schrager, Enos Canter, hour three. Be our best hour perhaps next. One more herd? The herd streams 24 hours a day, seven days a week, within the IHeart radio app. Search Heard to listen live or on demand whenever you'd like. Ah, here we are. We're in L.A.

Hour number three, this is the Heard. Wherever you may be, however you may be listening. We're on IHeart Radio. We're on Fox Sports Radio right here on FS1. The phone is blown up today. I'll tell you something. From now, I'm going to put a big J on the back of this phone for Journal. listen. Are you going to share anything?

How about? Are you just going to wait until it comes out and then say I knew that the whole time? No, no, I have it on my phone from a big source. Are you going to say what's about? LeBron. Okay, Sirius XM Channel 83. We're also on that. By the way, this is not E. Hollywood, if you're turning and looking at Joy Taylor today, who's got this 1970, like 1965 movie star in Hollywood looked.

Look at her. I mean, we're in L.A. Yeah, we are. Also, N.S. Canter, the new Blazer, who's a very funny guy. Portland's actually the number of three seed in the West. Peter Schrager's going to stop by in about 12 minutes. Schreger has the Antonio Brown fit where he makes the most sense. All right.

Last night's milestone night. Last night, it was a milestone for LeBron at the Staples Center. So I'm starting there. LeBron James grew up idolizing Michael Jordan. And last night, this amazing story, the little kid from Akron, whose best friends are still his business partners from high school, surpasses Michael Jordan and points. MJ most believed the goat.

It was a big moment. It should have been incredibly special. Here was this guy, LeBron James, who has built a resume, a portfolio, a legacy on, he's still buddies with his high school guys, community, Akron. He loves players. And Los Angeles loves stars.

And last night was a dud. The only people that were less interested than his teammates appear to be the fans. It was completely underwhelming. I mean, God, Drew Breeze, Monday night football, broke the scoring, passing record. You know, they stopped the game. He gave a speech. This was a dud. Plashky of the LA Times said it almost felt like fans were applauding an impromptu speech

given by a distant uncle at an acquaintance's wedding. That's what it felt like. This should have been incredibly special. Remember when Drew Brees set the record? He was mobbed by teammates, cheered by rivals. They stopped the game. The crowd was crying. Do you remember how big that was?

was because Drew Breeze has committed to people, not just himself. He's committed to a city. He's committed to a cause. He committed to rebuilding a place. He's committed to the locker room. He's committed to his coaches, the scouts, the general manager. If he has side projects, I don't hear about him during the season. He doesn't come into a game.

Or an event with a glass of wine. Look at me. I understand Napa. LeBron, this should have been, you're the unselfish star. You've turned selfish. And last night was a dud. Kobe Bryant always had a reputation. As aloof, hard to play with, kind of selfish.

Let me show you the video when, Kobe Bryant surpassed his idol, Michael Jordan. Watch the fans. He's on the road. Teammates, other players, hugs, their guy, young teammates, opposition. The late Flip Saunders will come over. Guys on the bench, they stop it. The opposing crowd, they give him the ball.

So the selfish guy, Kobe, The aloof player Kobe, Mamba, the assassin, the guy, the lone wolf. But he committed to Los Angeles. He committed to one cause and coaches in the front office and the brand. And people felt it. The opposing players felt it. The selfish guy, Kobe, by committing to a cause, was loved. The giving guy, LeBron, whose turn selfish.

Last night was an absolute dud. I don't care if LeBron wants to talk politics. I mostly agree with him. I don't care if he wants to do side projects, do hip-hop albums. I don't care. I'm for that stuff. I've always been for player mobility. But this is the downside to one-year contracts and being Mr. Mobile

and never letting anybody feel like they've got any control over you. It's not all LeBron's fault. I will say this. It's a weird roster. There's a lot of one-year weirdos and young guys he doesn't relate to. This has never been the easiest place and the easiest year for LeBron. I was told in January he told people close to him, this roster is just not good. No shooters, he loves shooters, no veteran top players, kind of veteran oddballs,

a bunch of young kids he can't relate to. I'm not saying it's ever been easy for LeBron. This has never been an easy year. But you see how people reacted. Drew Brees. You see how people reacted to Mr. Aloof Kobe Bryant. LeBron. I think Lakers magic. One sentence. I think MJ Bulls. Dr. J played in two leagues. I still think Dr. J. Sixers. I think Byrd Celtics. I think Steph Warriors. D. Wade left. De Wade heat. You know what I think of LeBron increasingly? Island. By himself. And that's not who.

LeBron is. It's not who LeBron was in high school. It's not who LeBron was in Cleveland. That's why a lot of people cried when he went back, because it felt right. Part of a city, part of a town, part of Akron. LeBron has gone completely off brand this year. He's getting bad advice. Give of yourself to a cause. People will see it. They'll feel it. and last night wouldn't have been a complete odd, awkward dud. Let me shift to this. Within 24 hours, it does appear maybe sooner. The very talented Antonio Brown will be on another football team.

According to reports this morning, the leaders are Washington and Tennessee. Hip, hip, hooray. Antonio Brown wants to be loved. and wants to be respected and he wants to get paid and he wants to be the man. I get it. I mean, he's not going about it the way I would do it, but I get it. Does he realize that if he signs with Tennessee or Washington, outside of Nashville and the District of Columbia,

he will not be a story by Monday. Wide receivers, if they choose the wrong team or quarterback, disappear. Randy Moss is the single greatest wide receiver talent I've ever seen. Before Tom and after Tom, he was invisible. He was great with those Viking teams, and he was remarkable with Brady. Do you remember those great T.O. years in Cincinnati? Me either. Antonio Brown, in the next 24 hours, may be teaming up with Colt McCoy.

Bye-bye. Take care. Or Marcus Marietta. Good, not special. Memo to Antonio Brown. Wide receivers do not make the quarterback. Larry Fitzgerald, as classy, as smart, as dependable, as good as almost anybody who's played the position, even he knows it. I love AB.

Mr. Big Chess is a good friend of mine. But I don't think he's going about it the right way personally. You know, to be able to play with an all-time quarterback like he's able to play with, I don't think he understands how good he has it. You know, it's, it could be, it could get tough out there. Antonio Brown, Washington, by Monday, he's disappeared. He just, he went into the Bermuda. triangle of NFL players.

Tennessee, maybe we talk about it till Tuesday. He's not going to stay in Pittsburgh. I still think it's the best place for him. I really, really do. Coming up next, Peter Schrager, ear to the ground in the NFL. Antonio Brown, by the end of this hour, we could have a trade with Antonio Brown. People are looking for a first round pick. I think Pittsburgh would take a second or a third.

They may want a one. think they'll get it. That's coming up. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific on Fox Sports Radio, FS1 and the IHeart Radio app. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind. Highlights are trending, opinions are flying, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in. I'm Timbo. Every episode, we're cutting through the noise, breaking down the plays, the controversies, and the stories behind the headlines. We go straight to the source, the athlete themselves, their locker room stories,

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And in recognition of mental health awareness month, I'm bringing over a decade of my own experience in the mental health field and conversations with so many incredible guests. I'm talking. Tripp Fontaine, Ryan Clark. Sometimes when we're in the pursuit of the thing, we get so wrapped up in the chase that we don't realize that we are in possession of the thing. And we're still chasing it. And we don't know when we've done enough. Because people scoreboard watch. Life becomes about wins and losses.

Steve Burns, Dustin Ross, because you find it important to be a good person while you hear on earth? Are you a good person because you're afraid? Because that's two different intentions, bro. Absolutely. And that's two different levels of trust. I want you to just really be a good person. Join me, Kear Gaines,

is we have real conversations about healing, growth, fatherhood, pressure, and purpose on my new podcast, Learn the hard way. Open your free iHeartRadio app. Search Learn the hard way and listen now. 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 got to manipulate the game. We get a player's perspective on the challenge. 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 Reed.

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 to fly. He running up the court licking his fingers while he got the ball. Like, you go through a training camp with that, Isaiah. 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. Will Ferrell's Big Money Players and IHeart Podcast presents soccer moms. So I'm Leanne. Yeah. This is my best friend Janet. Hey.

And we have been joined at the hips since high school. Absolutely. Now a redacted amount of years later, we're still joined at the hip, just a little bit bigger hips, wider. This is a podcast. We're recording it as we tailgate our youth soccer games in the back of My Honda Odyssey with all the snacks and drinks. Sidebar.

Why did you get hard seltzer instead of beer? Oh, they had a bogo. Well, then you got it. Do you want a white color or something here? Just hit it. What are y'all doing? Microphones? Are you making a rap album?

Oh, I would. Come on. Could you believe? I would buy it. Cuts through the defense like a hot knife through sponge cake. That sounds delicious. Oh, you're lucky. I'm not a drug addict.

You're lucky I'm not an alcoholic. You are. You are. You're lucky I'm not a killer. I love this team, and I'm really trying to be a figure in their lives that they can rely on. Oh. Listen to soccer moms on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. He's a Fox NFL reporter, co-host of Good Morning Football on the NFL Network, co-author with the New York Times bestseller, out of the blue.

And we need some Shrager. Saturday Night Live said at one point they need more. cowbell. We need more Shreger. Let's go to New York via the Coward Global Satellite Network. All right, what am I supposed to make, Shregs? I depend on you all the time. What am I supposed to make about all these Kyler Murray bombing interviews? I had a source tell me the Arizona stuff was fine. What do you make of it? I make of it that this is the stuff, this is silly season. This is when this stuff comes out. I've got a few thoughts on it. I'll give you first the insight and the reality of this. I talk to every team just about, and I know two teams for sure that have top 15 picks

that spoke with Kyler Murray in their 15-minute interviews with the Combine and absolutely love the kid. Came out saying this kid was lights out. He was awesome. They put the film on. He was able to dissect what was going on in the film. It was tremendous. Now, all it takes is one team and one bad interview to leak that information.

And let me explain why that would possibly happen. Let's first give Kyler Murray the benefit of the doubt here. If you're the first overall pick or the likely first overall pick in the NFL draft, the top prospect at the very least, and you know you have a baseball contract in your back pocket and you were to go interview with a team that you didn't want to play for, would you necessarily ace the interview? This is a very rare prospect. He has a fallback plan.

A, he knows that multiple teams want him and have him number one on his board. And B, if this doesn't work out, he doesn't need to go play somewhere. He doesn't want to play. He can go back to baseball. And number two, every offseason of Kyler Murray's life, he has been playing baseball, every single offseason. So the criticism was that he was poorly prepared for the interview, which is a 15-minute meet-and-grreet session.

So maybe he didn't go through the rigorous pre-draft training of, this is how you do it as a robot to be the first overall pick. He did it on his terms. This is a kid who's been a leader. He was the best player in high school football. He was the best player in college football, and he will be the top draft pick if all of the rumors that we are hearing are true and all the insight that I have is true.

I believe Kyle and Marie aced his combine experience. The next step is the pro day. I wouldn't acknowledge any of those ridiculous stories. Okay, if Arizona likes them as much as everybody says, a lot of smoke, then they'd have to move Josh Rosen, who I think can play. I think it was just a, you know, I mean, Jared Goff and Mitch Tribesky were lost with a defensive coach there first year. Then they got offensive coaches and both made the playoffs.

One made the Super Bowl now in his third year, Gough. So what do you make of Josh Rosen if he's available? I think there's got to be a handful of teams that want him. Absolutely. I'll make the case for Josh Rosen last year that no quarterback had a worse situation. He came in there with already Sam Bradford being the quarterback, so he was behind the eight ball. he wasn't going to get the first team snaps. They fired his offensive coordinator,

made way through the season. They fired his head coach at the end of the season. He had the worst offensive line in football. So there he's behind the eight ball. Now let's look at his contract. The Cardinals have already paid him $10 million, meaning that is his. That is all his, his signing bonus.

Over the next three years, Josh Rosen will average $2 million per year as his salary. $2 million for a guy who is a very sought-after quarterback coming out of the draft. Just to give you some perspective, Andy Dalton makes something like 23 months. million. Kirk Cousins makes $28 million, $2 million, and you get him for three more years, and if you wanted to franchise him, you can franchise him two more years after that. So just on the

economics alone, and I know the Arizona guys from last year, I know Wilkes, I know McCoy, I know all those guys. No one has a bad word to say about Josh Rosen. He was a good teammate. He came in, did the job. It was an unfortunate situation. I think he'll be great with Kingsbury, but if they are trading him, this might be the greatest bargain in the history of football as far as salaries go because he's making next to nothing and the Cardinals have already paid the bulk of it. Antonio Brown, I'm seeing a lot of different names. I theorized yesterday. Carolina could be interesting. They've got their Levian Bell and Christian McCaffrey. You know, they've got a defensive coach. What they don't have with Cam, who's not a great precision thrower, but he does throw a great deep ball is get him a

big time home run threat. Do you think there's a place and it could happen very quickly where Antonio Brown lands. I want to make your podcast, which is on overnight or whatever, and I'm worried that we're going to say something now, and he's going to be traded in the next two minutes. So I'm going to try to give this a vague enough answer so we can live online. Colin, I would say this, don't just believe all the teams that are reported. That's not how this works. There's going to be a surprise team.

I love the Carolina fit. I actually think that's a really good one. He's out of the conference. Another team I would give you the New Orleans Saints, and you might be saying, oh, come on, the Saints have no money to spend. They've got all these guys. They've got to take care of Mike Thomas. there are ways to make it work.

And if you think about what Sean Payton has been about the last few years, it's making a splash, going and getting the guy, trading a first round pick for next year to go get Marcus Davenport, signing Des Bryant. He denied it at the Columbine because his name was linked to it a little bit. Sean said that. I wouldn't be shocked at the Saints are making some phone calls right now. The question is, can they get Antonio Brown for a second or third round pick?

They don't have a first round pick. Okay, the Patriots have 12 picks. I think Josh Rosen, frankly, for $2 million bucks, that is so Belichick. It just screams Belichick. You know, the Super Bowl champs to Patriots. We've got Andy Reid and the Chiefs. You know, my feeling on them is they got close. They're not slowing down.

Is there a team or two that you think will make noise here in the next week or two? I was just going to say the Chiefs. They've got a guy named Dave Ford, who obviously had the off-sides penalty in the AFC championship game. Talented player. franchise tag so they're keeping him, but don't sleep on the Chiefs. Look, Brett Veach, that guy is a riverboat gambler. He's the one who drafted and really traded away Alex Smith when John Dorsey was with him for the draft, but this is the deal. They are going for it. They're going to build that defense up. So look for Kansas City. Seattle, they just put the franchise tag on Frank Clark.

Let's see what they're going to do. Are they going to work out a long-term deal? Are they going to try to make a big splash? And the wildcar team for me, a team that I think no one is talking about who could try to make some moves are the L.A. Rams. What happened this past year with L.A. was they went and got a bunch of guys to come in for maybe a one-year rental, whether it be in Dama Kinsu or Dante Fowler, and everyone had an awesome experience. If you're Eric Weddell, if you're Earl Thomas, if you're Clay Matthews, and you want to get back to those important games, is there not a better place for a one-year deal or a two-year deal than the L.A. Rams? I don't think the L.A. Rams are going to take their foot off the pedal. They feel like they got really close. They want to get back

over the top. When do you think the A.B. Story breaks. I would think today or tomorrow. I'm going to say Thursday or Friday, because I don't think the Steelers, knowing the Steelers pretty well, want this to bleed into the free agency window. They want to know what they've got. And really, Colin, everyone's talking about how next week free agency starts. Sunday, 1 p.m. Eastern, teams can start calling agents,

and it's all legal. They can't sign on the bottom line. I promise you there will be news Sunday 101 p.m. Eastern. You might as well just stay tuned. Wow, how about that? All right, Peter Schrager in New York. by the way, a city that's got some fairly dysfunctional NFL as well. Can I just throw this?

I like the New York Giants this year finally to draft a quarterback. Landon Collins isn't going to be around. They're clearing money up. Kyler Murray's the talk of the draft. Kyler Murray's going number one. What do you think the Giants do? Do they get Dwayne Haskins, the quarterback from Ohio State? I think it makes sense if they like him.

I don't think Haskins blew away the combine like everyone. everyone was hoping for. The problem with the Giants is, and this is not something that, you know, it's very easy to say, we've got to find Eli's replacement. Their defense is atrocious, and this NFL draft is loaded with premier defensive talent. I wouldn't be shocked if they went defense also. I will say this, though, Colin, the Jets, they better pull the trigger on something, and they haven't in the past couple years. And the Giants, they better give these fans some idea that they know what they're doing. These are two franchises that both fan bases right here in New York are very down on. All right, Peter Schreger, information dude. Good

seeing you, bud. Love you, Colin. You're the best. Thank you. All right. That face of the NBA topic was interesting. A lot of feedback on that. I've been watching the NBA for 40 years. Will Dr. Jay, Magic Kobe, Jordan, no, Magic Bird, Jordan, Shack Kobe, LeBron, who's the next face of the NBA? Most people say Yonis. It's not, I mean, I'm not going to say it's not Yonis, but. Wouldn't I feel it, though? He's...

Wouldn't I feel it? He's not polarizing. He's not polarizing. So I'm watching MJ left. He's from all accounts, a great guy. Great guy. A great teammate. No playoff success.

Didn't play college or high school here. Not polarizing. Unfortunately, our society, we just... We need a little drama. Yeah. We do. I'm dead. But, you know, listen, personality matters.

Kareem, NBA's leading score, never the face of the league. He had a prickly personality. He was aloof. Kevin Durant to me I actually think Durant is a better prospect for that. You do? Yes, because he's discussable. He's debatable. You either love or

you hate him. You have opinions about all of the decisions that he's made. He always has an interesting thing to say. We are in a place in media where we are, we rely a lot on opinion. How old is Kevin Durant? What is the negative opinion about Janus?

And not that it has to be negative, but what's just, what's the other side? Well, if it goes back to the face of the NBA is that if Kevin Durant is 30, if he wins again this year and for the third straight year is the finals MVP, he's as close to LeBron as anybody else, right? Right, yes. I do think LeBron is going to be the face for as long as he's in the NBA. But, yeah, I mean, it's going to be Durant's, and then it's going to transition to the next winner.

or guy with expectations. So maybe it's Zion. But it's, it's personality. It's, are you polarizing? If Yonis can't get out of the east and Durant wins another title and his finals MVP,

Durant's got such a lead on Yonis for the next four to five years of marketing, there's nothing you can do. I mean, Durant is going to have his third straight championship, third straight finals MVP, and Yonis is losing in the Eastern Conference finals. Well, also when you look at these, when you look at these guys that we're talking about as the faces of the NBA,

there's a conversation that started about them several years before they got to the NBA. Like they were interesting players who were interested in what they were doing and their personalities before that. So I think that's why Zion is the most logical answer for that. Well, Charles, it's funny because Charles Barkley was ripping Kyrie Irving. I want to play this bite again. It made me think of something. Speaking of Durant, is that, Charles Barkley was talking about Kyrie Irving, always being unhappy, even though he's with the Celtics and was with LeBron.

And here's Charles Barkley talking about that. And let me tell you something else. Kyrie Irving, I've never seen a person so miserable. He's got to be one of the most miserable people I've ever seen. Dude, we're preparing you 40 million dollars years. You ain't never going to get away from this. And then I saw a story this morning that Kevin Durant takes a shot at Steve Kerr. He appears annoyed at Steve Kerr.

and to your point, I'm thinking about this. Kevin Durant and Kyrie, there's a lot of rumors. Aren't they perfect for each other? They're going to be those old two grumpy Muppets in the theater. Remember that when you saw that a couple of years? This thing was on for like 10 years. Those old grumpy Muppets? I'm starting to think grumpy Kyrie and grumpy Kevin Durant together could be faces of the NBA.

The grumpy Muppets in the theater. I mean, there's a chance Kyrie might team back up with LeBron. If Durant goes with Kyrie, though. Now, again, they wouldn't be always the most likable and they're prickly, but couldn't you argue in this millennial generation,

that's what the stars of the league should be two grumpy Muppets. That's what I'm saying, is that Yonis is a great player, and he's electric to watch, and he seems like he's all in on Milwaukee, and you can't say anything bad, about him, but that's what I'm saying. LeBron is controversial.

Yeah, these guys would be controversial. He's polarizing. Both of them are. You can discuss them. They give you sound bites. Like, there's something to that to being the face of something where you are discussable. That's part of being a star. Good stuff. Joy Taylor with the news. No, no, no, no. Turn on the news.

This is the herd line news. We have two of those stars that we just head up. LeBron and Jordan don't have the closest relationship. No. But after. He passed Jordan to move into the fourth place on the NBA's all-time points list. MJ did put out a short statement that said, I want to congratulate LeBron on achieving another great milestone

during his amazing career. That's all he said. Yes. Couldn't he put his arms around LeBron a little more? Just a little, Michael? You have to be petty. I mean, he has to until this point. I don't know that it's petty.

I think it's just Michael. LeBron did say he talked about it after his achievement. He said even with the relationship not being as you would want it to as you're growing up, obviously at the end of the day what he was able to do on the floor and off the floor throughout his playing days, inspired a kid from Macron, Ohio. So that is more than enough of a relationship because he helped me feel like I could be something beyond this world as well. So, you know, LeBron is doing the thing where he says the right thing, which is nice. And there's nothing wrong with what MJ said either.

I know we want a little more, but... It's not... It's not warm and fuzzy. It's not warm and fuzzy. It could be a little more gracious. MJ is the ultimate competitor even well, well, well, well into retirement. Kobe and LeBron

are not tight, despite Kobe being a nice guy in the press. Michael and LeBron are not tight. Durant and LeBron apparently have their issues. Kyrie left him. Is it because LeBron threatens people? There's a jealousy thing or is it? I don't know. I mean, all I know is

MJ's not tight, Kobe's not tight. I don't know that Durant and LeBron have issues. I think that's because Durant said that he there's a lot of drama around LeBron that's factual. Like that doesn't mean that they're not friends off the court. And Kyrie just wanted to be on his own.

So that may very well change. I don't know what to make of this really, but it's just, it's very it's what they do. So sticking with the Lakers, other than LeBron passing Jordan, it was not a good night for them and they suffered their six loss in seven games. So frustrations were high

and Rajan Rondo decided to spend the final minute or so of the game sitting a few feet away from the bench in the spectator's seat. Here's what you had to say about it after the game. I've done it like maybe eight, ten times this year. I don't know why it's a big deal now. Well, it's not the biggest deal, but it optically looks terrible. Come on.

It doesn't look good. And really, more than it just not looking good, which Rondo knows why people are asking him this. That may very well be what he does, but sometimes the things that you do in these times, moments are things you shouldn't do because it just makes it worse. And that's kind of what's happening here. Optics matter. Yes. I mean, there's a reason with the president of the United States even has a wardrobe consultant, how you look in big moments, cameras on. I mean,

stuff matters. It's stupid. But I mean, there's, there's a reason that there's, you know. I don't know that it is that stupid. I think sometimes we get a little on the deep end of, well, I didn't like his body language in this moment. And, you know, he kind of walked away or sulked here. and we're kind of reading too much into it, but it's been pretty obvious that the Lakers are disconnected. I think we're making that up at this point. So this is just, it's not a good book. Finally, we've discussed Antonio Brown a lot today,

and it seems like the saga is going to be coming to an end any minute now. We're waiting to find out where he ends up, and the Raiders have been mentioned as a likely landing spot because they have three first round picks, but also because they need a downfield playmaker, and Gruden appears to be very fond of Antonio Brown. Take listen. What's the greatest thing about this man is I've told all our receivers.

If you get a chance to watch and practice, you'll see what unlocks the greatness in him. He's the hardest working man, I think, in football. Hardest working player I've ever seen practice. And I've seen Jerry Rice. I've seen a lot of good ones. But I put Antonio Brown at the top. And if there's any young wideouts out there, I'd go watch and practice. And you figure out yourself why he's such a good player.

Yeah, his reputation as a worker is non-remont. Paralleled. I don't think it can be questioned. He was a sixth round draft pick. It's not an accident that you become what Antonio Brown is today being drafted in the sixth round. He obviously worked very, very hard. I've been a big defender of Antonio Brown throughout this whole saga because, I mean, for lots of different reasons because I think there's plenty of blame to go around.

I mean, we did a what would you call it the blame pie for the Lakers? We can make a blame pie for the Steelers. There's enough of it to go around for them. And we're going to see next year how they do without Levion Bell and Antonio Brown and see what the real problem is or if they were right. And they really didn't need these two top talents in the league and they couldn't figure it out with them. Antonio Brown is going to be fine wherever he ends up.

Now, obviously, I mean, personally, I'm hoping he ends up with a good quarterback than get him the ball because he's fun to watch. But there's no question that he's a hard worker. Of all the things that you can say about him, that should not be one of the critiques that you have. And that's, by the way, that's a big thing. And he's going to have a chip on his shoulder

wherever he ends up next year. Joy with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The Heard Line News. By the way, and this phone has a lot of juicy information. I have a somebody supporting LeBron on my phone. Okay.

An executive who's not a Laker executive saying, weren't the Lakers dysfunctional for the four previous years before LeBron got there? isn't it possible this isn't all on LeBron that's just what... Of course it's not all on LeBron. They have no shooters. This team has no shooters.

LeBron works with shooters. It's absolutely not all on LeBron. Two things LeBron works with. You've got to get him shooters. Second thing, high IQ players. LeBron's not a dope. No, he's not. He's very smart. Which is why when he got here, he already knew

the situation that the Lakers were in. Were the Cavaliers not dysfunctional before he came back? Yes. How many first-round draft picks did they get? Or number one overall draft picks did they get? They were dysfunctional before he came back. When you come back or where you go somewhere when you're LeBron James, you have to wrap your arms around the team,

create an environment and a culture. There's no culture with the Lakers right now. What are they? And by the way, Kobe's career in Los Angeles, don't forget this, was all full of wild swings. There was young Kobe. There were titles with Shaq Kobe. There were Shaq Leaves Kobe's Piss.

there was winning titles with Powell and the final ugly years. Yeah, but through all that, Kobe was always a Laker. Yes, I think LeBron did a very poor job this year, optically in being part of L.A. I think he was part of Hollywood more than L.A. I think that's been my harshest criticism. L.A. is not easy. This has been a dysfunctional organization. Nobody got LeBron any shooters.

I mean, if you look at Dwayne Wade's career in Miami, won titles with Shaq, Then there was the couldn't get out of the first round. Then comes LeBron. They reinvent themselves. And then they're bad again. I mean, D. Wade and Kobe had wild swings. And they're considered like Laker Heat for Life. Let's not bail on LeBron's entire Laker career based on this year.

This is a dysfunctional organization. Maybe a hell of a brand, but it's dysfunctional to Lakers. And you've got a former player running it. And Jeannie and Jim Boss didn't get along. And this is, can you get? Get him shooters. Let's get him shooters. That's what he needs.

Smart guys. The Miami roster. Batier, Mike Miller, Ray Allen, Bosch, smart guys who can shoot. That's what LeBron does. Okay. Ennis Canter's coming up next. He's with Portland.

Totally functional. Not dysfunctional at all. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd. Weekdays in noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific. Get your free credit score card today. Even if you're not a Discover customer, learn more. Discover.com slash credit score.

card limitations apply. One of my favorite guys, Ennis Canner could have chosen any team in the NBA. He's been there for almost a decade in the league, played with Durant for a couple years, Westbrook for three years, and he chose the Portland Trailblazers. He's joining us now.

View the Coward Global Satellite Network. First of all, Ennis, I love you, and I'm happy for you. You joined a team that's the opposite of the Lakers. There's no drama. Everybody likes everybody. It's a totally unified team. You're playing great basketball.

I mean, it feels like you chose the right place for you. Does it feel like it to you? Oh, my gosh. It's been an amazing experience, man. Because, I mean, the culture they have, how they treat people players. And then, you know, the winning culture, that was the most important thing I was looking for. You know, I talked to my agent after I get, you know, released by Nix. And then I was like, it doesn't matter how many minutes I play.

You know, of course, everybody wants to play big minutes, get big numbers and stuff. I said, I want to win. I want to go to a team that has a winning culture. And so that's why I picked Portland. That was the biggest, you know, the reason because of their culture. And I knew that there was a team that gave me my contract four years ago. And, you know, OKCC matched it. And then I went back to Oaks.

I was like, I felt like I had to own something. You know, so that's why when I got released, when Neil, the GM, Neil texts me, I was like, man, you know what? I think it's time for me to join the Blazers finally. By the way, you came out and said, you didn't want to join the Lakers and LeBron, you said it would be weird.

You were right, by the way. It's been kind of a... Well, you were. The chemistry's not good there. What did you see that you made the right call? I mean, obviously, of course, everybody, I mean, a lot of not, I don't want to say everybody, but a lot of places would love to play with LeBron. I just want to congratulate me just pass Jordan and scoring.

But, you know, I was like, I look at the chemistry they have. And I saw the, you know, all the drama is going on. I was like, you know what? I just want to be drama free. Finish the season, drama free. Go to a good team, good culture, good coaching staff, good players. Just want to go to just enjoy basketball finally. And so that's why I was like, you know what?

of course, L.A. is big, big names, big city, but I think I just want to focus on basketball the rest of the season. Well, you're at the right place. You got the coach, the culture. I lived in Portland for seven or eight years. I know, yes. Yeah, they love their basketball. It's actually a very, very good team. You're near the top of the West right now. I think the three best teams in the West are Golden State, you in Houston. OKC. I'm not quite sure about though. Paul George is amazing. By the way, you played with Durant for two years. He's unbelievable. I like Kevin. There's a lot of stories out there. If he wins another title, he would leave. You know, it's funny with Kevin. I can't imagine leaving Golden State. That's the kind of team you'd want to be part of.

But Kevin's a different personality, Ennis. You know Kevin. Do you think it's possible he would leave a great three straight championship team? I mean, first of all, you know, I've been criticized KD a lot, but I think, I mean, either you love it or you hate it. He's been, you know, playing unbelievable and really good for him. two title and two MVPs. But I think I've been here on lots of talks that he's going to go to like this place, that place. But I think right now,

I think the only thing you should be worried about trying to just help his team. But like I said, man, I have no idea what Kevin Drown would do. He's a little different guy. He is. We've been talking about he's a little different personality. By the way, you played with Westbrook speaking a different personality, and I've been critical of him.

But Russell Westbrook this year, Ennis, he's been a very good teammate with Paul George. Are you surprised Westbrook, taking fewer shots, being kind of giving the baton to Paul Leighton games? Is that surprise you a little bit? I mean, like, that was like the thing I was trying to tell people, you know, people say like, oh, he's so hard to play with Westbrook. I mean, Paul George shows that, no, he's not really difficult to play with a guy. Because, I mean, like I said, he makes himself better. And at the same time, he's making everybody else better around. And that's why I think make him really special.

And then there's lots of, you know, people out there just saying, oh, it's just so difficult to play with Ross and this and that. But I think that the Paul George thing just shows that, you know, it's really not difficult to play with that guy. And I think, like, he's taking fewer shots, you know, last shot this year, giving Paul George more shots and his teammates more shots. So I think he's definitely making everybody else better on him. By the way, the other day, the commissioner, Adam Silver, the NBA, said,

too many of my players are unhappy. They're on social media. And Adam said a bunch of my guys are unhappy. You're one of the happiest guys in the league. For the guys that are unhappy, why are you on a daily base? joyful, fun. Do you see a lot of unhappy NBA stars? You know, some of the teams, yes. Some of the teams I see it. But I think, you know, you're only going to play this sport so long, man.

You have a career. If you're lucky, 14, 15 years, I think you need to enjoy it every moment, every second of it. Not just the, not just the game, just the practice is being around your teammates, on the court stuff, off the court stuff. Because I feel like all the kids that everybody is idolizing you because NBA gives you a platform to tell your story, to tell your feelings to the whole world. So I think, you know, just, of course, I think like that the playing times, you know, just more minutes or just, you know, playing or not playing or if you're happy in a team or not.

I think, of course, all that matters. But I think in the end, man, you got to feel so blessed and lucky that you're doing the best job in the world. Well, and you're playing one of the best players, Damien Lillard. The other day, I saw some video online where a bunch of trailblazers. got stuck in an elevator. And that's one of the greatest fears in my life. And I watched that video.

I'm like, okay, I'm freaking out. I was struggling to watch the video. What happened? So when we get an elevator, it says, literally says 18 people max. I was like, okay, we count it was like only 10 people. But, I mean, we're a little larger than the regular people. So we just get in there, we push the button. So we're going up, and then elevator just stopped.

And then everybody was like, uh-oh, what's going on? And then we tried to hit the way. We try to try to let just push the button to just get some help. He said, okay, it might take a while. The guy just said, it might take a while. I said, okay. So we were just sitting there. Me, Dane, was Myers-Lennard, and just some really, really large players.

So we're just sitting there. We just waited 15 minutes, 20 minutes, 25 minutes, and it started to get hotter and hotter. And then, you know, and then Evan Turner was like, okay, we might be in a survival mode now. I only have two granola bars. I'm going to give you all one. And I got one. And then Dave just took the hell of it and was like, you know what?

I'm just eating the whole. And then he said, you know, we got some ice packs on our knees. Just make sure you save him for water if you need it and stuff. But it was actually very scary because I look back to Rodney Hood. and you know he looked he did look like worried it's like and we try to like to keep it light Evan was at Evin Turner was making like draw a lot of jokes and stuff and um but you know just you got to a point I'm like okay this is getting more you know hotter and hotter and just getting just getting worse and then uh and then I'm glad that after 25 minutes that just we got

we got we got out and we're like so happy yeah yeah those those knee those packs literally they got into survival mode. It was like they were... It is terrifying. I know, it is terrifying. It freaks me. I was watching the video. It's giving me anxiety watching it.

Yes. Ennis, you're a great dude. I could not be happier. You are a perfect fit. You and Rodney Hood arrived for the Blazers. Hopefully, if you play well down the stretch, you'll get a home court advantage in the opening round.

Congrats to you, my friend. You're a great asset for the league. Thank you. Thank you, my man. I was always nice talking to. Ennis Canter. Now, that video freaks me out. I watched it online.

I was like, okay, I can't. That is seriously one of my worst fears. Yes, mine too. I'm getting trapped in an elevator. It's so scary. Freaking me out. I don't like that video at all. I would go in straight panic mode.

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. And every episode, we're cutting through. the noise, breaking down the biggest moments in sports and giving you the real story behind

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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? Time out. Quarterback on office blue of 42. Hey, rep, my mama want you to wave at her.

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