The Herd with Colin Cowherd - LeBron James, MLB, home runs, and Russell Westbrook

Episode Date: July 9, 2019

Colin explains why LeBron James will be great at PG and other athletes who can adapt. He addresses Justin Verlander's comments on the ball being juiced, analytics in sports, and what comes to mind when he thinks about Russell Westbrook. Guests include Stephen Jackson, John Smoltz, and George Karl. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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You're listening to Fox Sports Radio. Ah, here we go in a Tuesday. Baseball, All-Star game, little NBA news. Grong, Brady, this is the herd. Wherever you may be and however you may be listening. Live in Los Angeles, Iheart Radio, Fox Sports Radio, and FS1. Joy Taylor is joining me after a crazy weekend and a crazy Monday. Everything's coming down a little bit.

There's a lot of sports going on here for the next few days. Joy, how are you? I'm great. It was marvelous Monday. So today's a terrific Tuesday? Yeah, terrific Tuesday. Turn up Tuesday. Turn up Tuesday.

Yeah. Throwback Thursday or something. So yesterday, I want to start your show with this. Yesterday, I had to do an interview after the show. Didn't have to. I was asked to do an interview with Dennis Miller, the comedian. And before I went on the interview, you know, you go and do like a prep room, a makeup room. And the lady was, she put on makeup and I started talking to her.

and she was a military kid. And I always love talking to kids whose parents were in the military because they bounced around the country and they had to go into schools and out of schools. And what I find with kids that go into the military, and maybe the parents feel a little guilt bouncing around the country and stuff. But you know what I find with military kids? They're adaptable. They make friends quickly.

They're not reticent to change. They kind of embrace it. They like new stuff. they don't romanticize the past. They're not traditionalists. They're really good at adapting and moving. And the world's never moved faster because technology and sports and analytics, everything moves fast.

Sports move fast. NBA centers, they've disappeared. Fullbacks in the NFL. Where'd they go? And I was thinking about this. LeBron James, as far as I know, nobody in his family, you know, he didn't bounce around with the military, but LeBron had a different childhood or maybe similar to a lot of people. He didn't go to the perfect prep school.

It wasn't the old, you know, perfect family. He had a lot of change. He moved around a lot. And like a military kid, it's one of the reasons I think maybe LeBron has always been great at adapting. For all Kobe Bryant's gifts, his game was his game. LeBron James is now going to be a point guard for the Lakers. That was announced yesterday.

Chris Haynes is like, yeah, they're going to play him up point guard. And my takeaway is, oh, this is perfect for LeBron. LeBron is a great pivoter. Tom Brady, by the way. great pivoter. Aaron Rogers, little rigid, doesn't want to change. It's amazing when I sat yesterday and talked to the young lady as I was getting ready to go on the Dennis Miller show, right? And she just, oh, I just been here and she'd lived there and she'd had that job and that job. She seemed incredibly carefree and happy, no stress. She's like, I'm a military kid.

We just learned to adapt. LeBron James in the middle of his career, the game changed. It changed. LeBron James in high school, and his first six years was a freight train. Basketball, bully ball, bulldoze, get to the basket. All of a sudden, about six years in, from now on, shoot threes. He's a six, nine and a half forward. And LeBron James goes to Miami and changes the game. And he just keeps working on his game and adapting his game.

Michael Jordan never had to pivot in the middle of his career. Michael Jordan never. Michael Jordan face centers as a rookie and centers when he left. Kobe Bryant faced centers as a rookie. And then at the end of Kobe's career, the game changed. And Kobe was kind of like, my game is my game. LeBron has been a great adapter. I don't know why.

I really don't know why. But he is, if you look at his businesses, if you look at his basketball, he's constantly evolving his game. This is a perfect move for him. Some people, you know, they have a life they grow up in, and they go to the same church, and they go to the same school, and they've got the same set of parents. Oh, I change.

They don't want to move out of their area code. 40% of Americans won't move out of their area code in their life. They like that. By the way, change. My childhood was all sorts of movement. People, dads, stuff. So I'm used to it. Joy's bounced around the country, had a lot of different jobs.

So I find I like people who've moved a lot because they're not rigid. LeBron point guard's perfect. This is what's really made him as a basketball player. and I've said of the many gifts LeBron James has. Chapter one is he may be the best we've ever seen. Chapter two is the dude was almost never hurt. And chapter three is he's an early adapter. By the way, because of technology, everything changes faster.

I mean, just technology plus analytics and sports. And the early adapters win in baseball, the Astros, the Red Sox, the Cubs, the Dodgers, early adapters win. Basketball. LeBron very quickly saw the three-point shot, even as a six-nine guy. I saw it as crucial. Eight, seven years ago, LeBron's like, uh-oh, moved into it. By the way, Golden State Warriors, Houston Rockets,

moved into the three ball. And when I look at LeBron, he doesn't have what I consider to be a dangerous personality trait. And maybe this used to be a great trait, but I think it's a dangerous personality trait now, romanticizing the past, not willing to change. LeBron moving to point guard, I'm like,

oh, this would be great. He's got a big, he's got wings, Lakers signed a bunch of shooters. Now I got Jared Dutley, Avery Bradley, Danny Green, Quinn Cook. I think it'll be easy. And I'll say this. A lot of my favorite athletes, Brett Farve,

not a great adapter. This is my offense. This is why I'm going to run it. Aaron Rogers is great. A little bit stubborn. You know, Peyton Manning had his way to play football. And that was kind of the way Peyton May was going to play football. But I think LeBron will be perfect.

I think he's built for this. I don't know where it comes from. I think it's an amazing quality. And I got to tell you, LeBronite point guard may struggle to stop some of the tiny, small, quick guys. He is going to be a handful to deal with if you have to face him. Speaking of families, let me shift to this. It is very early. Most of us don't have a perfect childhood, right?

Even the people who do, do they really? Some of you, I would call you late developers. And it can be discouraging when you're young, you're in your teens, and you see people flying past you. Schools a little easier for them. You know, they're better athletically, they're better academically. And you're sitting there thinking, man, I'm falling behind. It's discouraging. But I'm here to tell you, don't get discouraged, okay?

This is dad talking. Everybody evolves differently. some people are late groomers. Okay. I was thinking about Kauai Leonard this morning. So LeBron James was a meteor. Cover of Sports Illustrated. All-Star by a second year.

Rookie of the year. The chosen one in his teens. And here's Kauai Leonard. Pack 12 schools didn't recruit him. Largely ignored. traded to Canada, ends up with the underdog shoe brand. And yet, if Kauai Leonard wins a title with the Clippers and they're favored next year, you do get he is moving into MJ and LeBron's class.

Won a title at 22 MVP, youngest besides magic ever, goes to Canada and have we ever had a guy win an NBA championship like this by himself? Tell me the last guy. No. Now he goes to a third team. Michael Jordan couldn't win with a second and wins another title. Folks, he's getting into a very rarefied basketball air in my life. Third team title.

And what I think is encouraging about Kauai Leonard is that when you juxtapose him with Michael Jordan, who went to North Carolina and McDonald's All-American and. Phil Jackson and one team for Sol. And LeBron James is a meteor. He's the number one player. And here's Coiland, moving right into their class. Nobody on the West Coast. Forget the East.

He played in California. Nobody wanted him. It happened in football. Peyton Manning was the number one high school quarterback and the number one college quarterback and the number one pick. And he started as a rookie. And he set the rookie scoring touchdown passing record. And then Tom Brady was actually in high school.

He wanted to go to USC, and they weren't interested. And then he went to Michigan, and he struggled to start. And then he got drafted in the sixth round, and he backed up Drew Bledsoe. He's the classic Kauai Leonard, the slow build. In baseball, there's Bryce Harper. Bryce Harper's on the cover of a magazine at 15, 16. He's the chosen one. He's the phenom.

He gets the shoe deal. Minor League Baseball, Pasha. And then there's Kristen Yelich. Yelich for the Milwaukee Brewers. Didn't make an all-star team until 26. Six years in the minors. It took people in Milwaukee to figure out who he was. Right now, Yelich is a better player than Bryce Harper.

Tiger Woods was a phenom at 15 and 16, winning juniors. 11 years old was represented by IMG. At 3, he was on television with his late father on the Michael Douglas show, putting. And yet here's Brooks Kepka. Didn't get his card until he was 24. Didn't really explode until he was 27. Years of struggle and irrelevance. Kowai Leonard, the slow build.

Tom Brady, the slow build. Christian Yelich, the slow build. Kepka, the slow build. Success doesn't look the same for people. Don't get discouraged. Don't get bummed out. Some people have more support early. Some people take a while to evolve, to connect, to grow up, to mature physically, to mature

emotionally. You look around sports right now. It's a very, very even combination of slow builders. late to star and phenoms at 16. There is no one path to greatness. Maybe in business it's different. Maybe in other fields, politics it's different. But the world I'm watching in sports,

Yelich, Kepka, Kauai, Brady, don't face the early pressure, have that chip on their shoulder because all the doubters, Maybe don't get the support and the relevance early, but the late adapters and the slow builders, you know what? Not everybody evolves at the same speed. They're doing just fine. Remember Steve Fisher?

San Diego State coach that recruited as much as you could recruit Kauai Leonard? They never saw this coming. We talked and said he's a pro. And I don't say that often about guys that we've recruited. Our thought was if he stays healthy and keeps growing his game, which we think he will, he could be a long-time pro, but to say he would be an elite top five player in the world right now, no one, I think, could say that they saw that coming. So by the way, Zion Williamson, he'll be the Meteor.

John Morant just drafted. He may be the meteor. But there's going to be somebody in last year's draft, this year's draft, or next year's draft that will be just as good a player, and you didn't watch them play for a second in high school or a second in college. Or maybe a second in the first three years in the NBA. It took Kauai Leonard four years to pop, and he wasn't as All-Star until year seven.

Coming up next, UFOs until I see a little green man do not exist, and I do not believe baseballs are juiced until you prove it to me. Despite what Justin Berlander says, 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 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. 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 there. 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

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Open your free iHeartRadio app. Search Learn the Hardway and listen now. What's up, guys? This is Clever Taylor the 4th. And on my podcast, The Cliverts Show, I'm bringing you conversations about all kinds of stuff. Like being an internet famous referee. We're in the middle of a game. This linebacker, this linebacker walks up to me. He goes, hey, ref, my mom wants you to. wave at her. What? Come out. Quarterback on office blue with 42. Hey, Rhett, my mama want you to wave at her. What?

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Listen to deeply well with Debbie Brown from the Black Effect Podcast Network on the Iheart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Mike Trout, Cody Bellinger, and the rest of baseball stars shine bright as the best in the majors celebrate the midsummer classic,

the MLB All-Star Game tonight at 730 Eastern 430 Pacific, only on Fox. Saying it for years, the only All-Star game I really truly love watching. Justin Verlander's a great pitcher. But he said something yesterday. Home runs are exploding in baseball. Much like the

three-point shot exploded in basketball over the last seven, eight, nine years. And Justin Verlander's a pitcher doesn't like it. And he ripped the commissioner, and he ripped the sport, and he came out, and Justin Verlander's a first ballot hall of fame. He said baseball is turning this game into a joke. They own Rawlings. They own the effing company.

It's not a guess what happened. Manfred, the first time he came in and said we want more offense. Suddenly the balls are juiced. It's not a coincidence. We're not idiots. No, but you're a stubborn man and you're a pitcher, and I've seen this my entire life in sports. I'll believe there are UFOs. Show me the alien. I don't want to see the fuzzy video.

Show me the alien. All believe balls are juiced. Show me proof. Well, the balls are going out there. Joe Morgan years ago in a broadcast said, balls are juiced. You know what Bob Costa said? Not as much as the players. but juiced is an easy explanation.

You know what's not an easy explanation? Nuance, context, data, launch angle, defensive shift, analytics. That's a hard answer. The easy answer is, hey, I'm great. Guys are whacking it out of here. Ball's juiced. Let me give you four reasons why we're getting more home runs. And let me show you a graph over the last 100 years in baseball.

Home runs have been going up mostly forever. Now they've gotten over the last seven, eight years. They've gone crazy, right? Why would that be? Same reason three-point shooting's gone crazy, because stubborn men in sports don't like to evolve. And you could shoot a three-point shot 30 years ago. But about eight, nine years ago in the NBA, analytics came in and everybody said, shoot threes or else.

Guess what? Two teams bought into it. Five, six, nine. Then suddenly seven years later, the three-point chart looks just like the home run chart. Everybody either shot threes or you got fired unless you were Greg Popovich. same in baseball. Defensive shifts. Joe Badden starts it in Tampa.

People push back on Moneyball, Billy Bean. People push back on the defensive shift. Then six teams buy in. Then eight, then 12. Now you're winning. Now if you don't do it, you're fired. If you're not into analytics, you're a has-been. You're a dinosaur.

If you don't do occasional defensive shifts, you're out of touch. Home runs are the three-point shot. Technology has quickened the pace of change in sports. Analytics are here to stay. and analytics always get pushback. NBA three-point shot got pushback. Look at athletes are bigger. Balls are coming in at mid-90s from everybody on the staff.

Did you watch the home run derby last night? Guys are bigger. Guys are stronger. Pitch is coming in at 95 in baseball games. Defensive shift. Analytics of force big hitters, Cody Bellinger, you don't want line drives. You don't want ground balls.

There's no bunts. Swing for the fence. Strikeouts aren't evil. Again, show me the alien. I don't want to see fuzzy pictures of things that look like frisbys. I don't care if it's an experienced pilot telling me. Show me the little green man. Show me the juice balls.

Joel Morgan was talking about this years ago on baseball, and Bob Costas inserted some nuance. You know, and nuance is hard, and context is hard, and analytics and data and metrics aren't an easy explanation. Bulls juiced. I've been hearing that for 30 years. I've been seeing grainy videos of UFOs for 30 years. Show me the money.

Okay, show me the money. This is what baseball is. It's all home runs now. And finally, everybody is all in on the defensive shifts and the launch angle and the analytics. So you're seeing an explosion of home runs. It's the same chart for NBA three point shots. A bunch of wealthy, older guys, stubborn, don't want to listen,

push back on moneyball, push back defensive. shifts, push back on three ball, then you either embrace it or you get fired. And that's a lot of money you're making in the NBA or baseball. So everybody goes in on it and what happens? The chart goes, whoo-three-point shots, whew-home runs, whoa, show me the alien. I'm tired of the juice ball argument. The rise of home runs has been the rise of embracing analytics.

NBA baseball, same issue. By the way, I don't think three point shots. I like some nuance to my basketball. I like a mid-range jumper. I also like stolen bases, bunts in my baseball. But this is the future of basketball. Shoot at three. And this is the future of baseball.

Launch angle, swing for the fence. That's how home run hitters still get paid. Line drives are outs. Ground balls are outs. Get it in the air, even if your average drops. Joy with the news. No, no, no, no. Turn on the news.

This is the herd line news. Well, I very much agree on the juiced baseball's argument. I do think there's aliens. Do you think they're aliens? Yeah, they're watching right now. They're big fans. You're buying aliens. Have you spent a lot of time, like, just walking around?

Yeah. You don't think there's some aliens amongst us? I think there are people that struggle with day-to-day living. They're definitely aliens. All right, so the NBA Free Agency has shown a public shift in how players are recruited and who actually holds the power in the wake of Kauai. and Paul George and Katie and Kyrie teaming up. Damian Lillard had a great explanation why he believes recruitment by players is more powerful

than pitch meetings by teams. Sometimes the coaches and the front offices, they don't have as much, I guess, power as the players. You know, the players are so friendly now. I think in the past it was like, you know, Jordan probably didn't go out searching and trying to get guys to come join them. You know, it was like they was competing against each other. Now is, well, they got three stars on their team. So I know this guy and that guy.

I'm going to try to get them to come to my team. So I think you see it a lot more now, whereas just players recruiting players is more powerful than a pitch meeting with the team. I think a lot of this is, you know what? It used to be Michael Jordan. The pie was smaller. You were all fighting for a slice of the financial pie. Everybody gets rich now.

I mean, everyone's making money now. So there's no competition when it comes to, well, if this guy comes and he's going to get the contract that I want, everyone makes money. So you don't have to worry about that. Everyone's famous, so you don't have to worry about that. And it doesn't matter what city you're in. You're still going to be just as famous because of the internet. It's a completely different world than when Michael Jordan was playing. So I don't really feel, I get the old school mentality of it.

I can appreciate it. But it's just like you always say, you got to evolve. Like, things have changed. game has changed from grassroots up. It's a different world now. And we're seeing what started in grassroots with the explosion of grassroots basketball now taking effect in the modern NBA,

which he's talking about. Guys are friends now. It's a different world. You move to whatever team wants you the most and you get paid whatever you want and then you team up with whoever you want to win. And the reality is you do need more than one good player. Michael Jordan didn't win all those championships on his own.

By the way, Damien Lillard has a good coach a good GM and good teammates. Damian Liller may want to move if he didn't have C.J. McCullough and Nurkich. I mean, the reality is, ideally, I don't think LeBron would have moved if Cleveland in his first run had Dwayne Wade got drafted. No, I can believe that. I can believe that he would have stayed in Cleveland his whole career if they would have been able to figure it out. What if Westbrook was a little more giving as a teammate, Durant went to title in OKC? What's the point? I mean, the truth, I think most players at their core would prefer staying, but it's just like you and I didn't grow up with a hedge fund dad.

We probably would have stayed in our hometowns if dad said, we got this billion dollar business. But you and I had to move and make our own way. Kobe never had to move. He was a Laker, right? Right. And also, I think, you know, your motivations changed throughout your career, just because you did win a championship in the first place that you are.

Maybe you just want a new experience. So there's all kinds of different reasons why guys move from team to team, but it's just a different world now. We're all kind of catching up with it, but once we accept that that's what the NBA is now, then there won't be so much animosity for guys changing teams. So after a disappointing season, the Lakers front office is now given LeBron a superstar for trading for Anthony Davis. But even more importantly, they've surrounded him with a few capable shooters.

But a key factor to their success, scouts believe, will be health. Obviously, health was a huge issue for them last year. And that makes Kyle Kuzma the X factor. In fact, a scout told Brian. win horse. Kuzma will need to prove that he can be a reliable third scoring option, said at Western Conference Scout, because AD and LeBron will miss games and they will, and they have mostly specialists now. So Kuzma is going to have to carry the load at times.

So he was the second, he had second most points per game for the Lakers last year with 18.7. AD has a long injury history, he did avoid any major injuries over the past three years, but he only played 56 games last season. Some of that was due to his trade demand. We know LeBron played all 82 games his last year in Cleveland, and we all know what happened with his joint injury last year.

So they're absolutely right. Kuzma is the third guy now. And I do think that that's interesting because you're seeing Kuzma all over Summer League with LeBron. And I don't think that that's an accident. I think LeBron knows, like, Kuzma is going to be the Clay Thompson to this Lakers situation. Like he doesn't get all the credit. He kind of gets overlooked. Everyone's going to focus on.

LeBron and AD, but it really is going to be on his shoulders to carry them through the spots where they're not available. It's funny. When the Lakers were talking about getting players, remember Anthony Davis? And I kept saying, you better not just give Kuzma up. This idea that, you know, we're going to flush them all that. It's like, no, no, no, no. Pelicans don't need both your forwards. Keep the one who's healthy.

Isn't it funny now three weeks later how valuable Kuzma is? And his scouts right on the money. I think the Lakers will be good. But it's a roster full of specialists. Danny Green can shoot and Rondo can defend and Boogie Cousin can't defend but gives you offense and Javail McGee and the reality is Kyle Kuzma, all these great teams generally have. Pascal Seaccombe, you know, Clay Thompson. Generally championship teams have always had one really good emerging young player with veterans and stars and Kuzma's that guy. He absolutely is.

Finally, the NBA world was shocked when it was announced that Paul George would be traded to the Clippers and it left Russell Westbrook as the only star left on the Thunder. So it was immediately speculated that Russell went out of the rebuilding franchise. But now a new report from Mark J. Spears suggests that he might have wanted out even before the swap happens. According to sources, since George Westbrook and the Thunder suffered a disappointing first round exit in the playoffs in April, Westbrook has been quietly grumbling about the team's struggles and May went out.

George, meanwhile, beat him to the punch. Oh, Rosie O.K.C. I'm always told how brilliantly running. It is. Everybody's so happy there. Well, yeah, I mean, I think if anyone's been paying attention to what's happened to the Thunder, that really shouldn't be the narrative. They had James Hardin, Kevin Durant, and Russell Westbrook, all league MVP's on the team. I don't think it's been handled well at all. I mean, kudos for, like, great draft picks. But what did you do with them?

Like, I don't think that should be the narrative at all, especially. you just traded away Paul George and I mean kind of had to with that that hall that you were given but you still made that move and now it's apparent that Russell Westbrook isn't happy there so yes you are rebuilding and if I'm Russell Westbrook

I would want out of there too I mean he's given literally everything he can to that franchise he has to wear it every time they lose it's all on his shoulders meanwhile Kevin Durant and James Hardin were there and now they're not I don't think this is all Russell Westbrook's fall I know he gets you have your opinion

about the way that he plays and all that. But I think that the franchise itself hasn't done that good of a job of keeping pieces around him to make them successful. I don't believe anybody's ever a victim of their reputation in any business. Over the course of 10, 15, 20 years, your reputation in my business and your business and I've wrote it, your reputation's fair. Carmelo didn't play defense. That's your right. You're not a victim of it.

I do think, though, I've been lectured for years about how brilliantly run Oklahoma. Mississippi is Sam Presti, they tell me is brilliant. Maybe it's the glasses. And I'm not saying they're poorly run. But I'm sitting here. I mean, glasses do make everybody look smarter. But I do watch that organization and I'm like, I think he embraced the wrong guy. Maybe

Durant is harder, but I've seen a lot of their moves and I don't like their roster. They were late to three point shooting. By the way, everybody in this league moved to three point shooting. They got guards, two of them that couldn't shoot three. So it's not all on Westbrook. I don't think

this has been as brilliantly run as I've been told by all these NBA insiders. Yeah. Well, so he may end up in Houston, the two teams right now that are rumored the most is the Houston or the heat, but clearly he's wanted out for some time now. Good stuff. Joy with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by.

The herd lie news. Stephen Jackson, you know, we're talking about people that are late blooms in life. Don't get discouraged. Not everybody evolves as quickly. Second rounder Stephen Jackson played in the NBA a long, long time. 14 years. I was talking about Kauai this morning, and in our morning, meaning you were kind of top of mind to me, is that when you're a young kid, right, some people have supportive parents, some don't, some have supportive coaches, some don't, is that it can be very discouraging for a little kid when he sees kids are better at sports at 12 than he is.

Some kids get big fast. Wilts Chamberlain was seven feet in the ninth grade, right? Some kids grow differently. You are a classic Kauai Leonard, that you are a late bloomer, that you evolve differently. stack your career up with a lot of guys in the NBA. I love the fact that Brooks Kepka the golfer, late bloomer. Kristen Yellets, the baseball player, late bloomer. Stephen Jackson, Kauai Leonard, late bloomer. Were you ever discouraged in your process thinking, I know I'm good, I'm not getting the love, I'm not getting the offers, I'm not getting the attention?

Yeah, when I went through a situation where after I tried out for like 18 NBA teams and got cut, I was two days from making the Bulls roster. and I broke my other foot the day before it cuts, before final cuts. It was my second time breaking my foot. So I was, I was destroyed. I called home crying. And the only thing that got me out of was my mom saying, so this is what you're going to do?

You all are you going to turn into a cry baby? I stopped crying immediately, went home, healed up, bounced back, went overseas, and got back in the NBA the next year. Isn't that amazing? Right. God will do it. You know, Clyle Leonard, nobody in the West Coast recruited him. Played in San Bernardino,

packed town school is not interested. didn't hit in the NBA till year four. Do you remember young Kauai in San Antonio? Yes, I do. I do. Before I got there, I knew a little bit about him, but I didn't know he was going to be this. And I knew Pop had felt like he found a diamond in the rough like he did with me.

I was second to the last pick in the draft, and Pop saw something in me that I didn't see him myself. So I felt like he felt he did the same thing with Kauai, and it turned out to be true. Yeah. Are you surprised how great he is? No, because after meeting him and being around him for almost two years, all he talked about was being one of the best ever. You know, when he came over to my house, which Pop didn't like, they didn't like him hanging out with me because they thought I was being a negative influence.

But all we talked about was basketball and being great. And that's all he focused on was wanting to be one of the best ever played this game. And that's all he talked about. You know, I got a lot of topics with you, including Russell Westbrook. You're a perfect guest today because your story is the classic. You know, like we look at people in most businesses, you can see the great actor early, the great baseball player early, the Bryce Harper, the LeBron, the Tiger Woods.

But Kauai is unbelievable. Wins a title at 22 MVP. Then he gets traded to Canada, not ideal. Defensive player the year, too. Defensive player of the year. Wins in Canada, that's never happened. And he's the only star. Now he goes to the second big basketball brand in Los Angeles,

where I think they have a better coach, better chemistry, better overall roster than the Lakers. Better owner. I want to talk to you about that. That and what Kevin Durant's business partner is saying about Russ Westbrook. Are you ready? Good guy. You ready?

Yes, I'm ready. Back in a second. This is The Herd. Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays in noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind. Highlights are trending, opinions are flying, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in. I'm Timbo. Every episode, we're cutting through the noise, breaking down the plays, the controversies, and the stories behind the headlines. We go straight to the source,

the athlete themselves, 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 historic games from buzzer beaters to controversial calls, we break it down, give you context, and ask the questions everybody wants answered. SportsSlice brings you closer to the action with stories told by the people who live them. Listen to SportsSlice on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Sliced Life 12 in the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hardway with me, your host, and your favorite

therapist, Kear Games. And in recognition of mental health awareness month, I'm bringing over a decade of my own experience in the mental health field and conversations with so many incredible guests. I'm talking. Tripp Fontaine, Ryan Clark. Sometimes when we're in the pursuit of the thing,

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

Are you a good person because you're afraid? Because that's two different intentions, bro. Absolutely. And that's two different levels of trust. I want you to just really be a good person. Join me, Kear Gaines, 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. What's up, guys? This is Clifford Taylor the Fourth. And on my podcast, The Cliver Show, I'm bringing you conversations about all kinds of stuff. Like being an internet famous referee. We're in the middle of a game.

This linebacker, this linebacker walks up to me. He goes, hey, ref, my mom wants you to wave at her. What? Quarterback on office blue of 42. Hey, rep, my mama want you to wave at her. What? Where's she at? Hey, Miss Parker.

Listen to the Clippers show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast or wherever you get your podcast. The story I've told myself about love or relationships can then shake my behavior. And that can lead me to sabotage the possibility of connection. This Mental Health Awareness Month, tune into the podcast deeply well with Debbie Brown and explore the journey of healing, self-discovery, and returning to yourself. We explore higher consciousness, emotional well-being, and the practices that help you find clarity, peace, and self-mastery in a world that can feel overwhelming.

The world is becoming lonelier. We're not becoming more social and connected. We're becoming more individualized, but we actually meet people in connection. If you've been searching for a soft place to land while doing the work to become whole, this podcast is for you to hear more. Listen to deeply well with Debbie Brown from the Black Effect Podcast Network on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcast. By the way, I've got baseball people screaming at me

because I don't buy into a juiced baseball, just like I don't buy into aliens unless you give me one. Right. I want one too. Everybody talk about UFOs. Show me the alien. Then I'll believe it. Stephen Jackson joining us 14 years in the NBA.

So, you know, I'm critical. Russell Westbrook. I did say to Joy. I don't think OKC has been as brilliantly run. as I've been lectured for a decade, I think they've missed on some players, and they were late to the three ball. But this is no good.

On Instagram, Randy Williams, a guy you know is KD's buddy and business partner. This has now been up four days. Nobody's taking it down. On Instagram, he said, nobody wants to play with Russ. This is KD's buddy. Everybody blames everybody else except him.

When it comes to the Thunder losing, people have bad basketball mixed up with loyalty. Russ is about Russ. He's more worried about stats versus playing. winning basketball. Everybody can say what they want, but owners in GMs and the NBA know the real about Russell and his style of play. That's Katie's guy. That's Katie's friend. If Katie didn't like that, he'd tell him to take it down, wouldn't he? Right, he would. What do you make of that? Well, Randy's a smart guy. I got a lot of respect for him. He's been around the game. He's been

around OKC. And you have to respect his opinion to a certain extent. But we have to talk about the flip side of it. He was never in the locker room. He was never on that bench. He was never on that court. So he actually never went through raw. A lot of stuff that he's probably saying, some of the stuff he's probably seen from being in OKC, but a lot of stuff he's probably heard from somebody else. You know, me personally, I wouldn't feel that way. And I'm an actual NBA player. I don't, I think a lot of guys look at it like how I look at it. If you have a guy, there's so many guys that don't care about the game, that don't show the passion for the game. if I can get a guy like Russ that can average a triple double and that plays the game,

I've never heard James, KD, or any other teammate, Paul, any of them, say, I can't play with Russ. I've never heard no one say that. Nobody has. And I was on the team when they had all three of those guys. I was on the Spurs team. We was up 2-0. They came back and beat us four games straight to win the Western Conference Finals. Sam Presti did a bad job and not keeping that team together.

They was more worried about keeping Serge up. And Nick Collison. If they would have not been lawyer to those guys, they could have kept James, Russ, and Katie together. They did a bad job at that. That team that came back and beat us four games straight was a special team. And you can't blame

everything on Russ. I don't think it's that, I don't think is that players don't want to play with him. Because you talk to, Kendrick Perkins about him. Kendrick loves him. One of his favorite teammates. When you got a guy like that, like an average a triple double for three years straight, it's hard seeing somebody who wants to win,

said you don't want to play with a guy like that. No, first of all, this is very fair. For all the criticisms, let me say this about Russ Westbrook. He's one of the few guys I'd pay to see. He plays his butt off every night. The other thing is I don't think O.K.C.'s as brilliantly run as we're told. Number four is Kevin Durant's quirky. He just dumped, he just dumped Steph Curry.

Right. So we can't blame KD leaving all on Russ because KD now just left Steph Curry and Clay Thompson, who are supposed to be the best guys in the league. So it's not all on Russ. I don't think he always plays winning basketball, and I think he's kind of rigid. He's got his style. But I think your point's very fair.

I can take an anvil to Russ today. And I do think he's difficult. But it's not all on Russ. It can't be. It can't be. They had a dream team. They had an Olympic team of talent. They were late to the three ball.

They butcher the Hardin move. To your point, they seemed to like players more where the game was moving away. from Biggs. Even now, they went and got a college coach, and I got nothing against Billy Donovan, but that historically is not. It don't fit. Generally in the NBA, it's a slow fit. Tarkhanian was a disaster.

Lon Kruger didn't work. I think he's an okay coach. I think your point's very fair. We can all take it. You play hard in sports. There's a lot of guys in this league that don't. There's a new term in the NBA. It's called load management.

Russ Westbrook doesn't do load management. And then, too, the good thing about Russ is, you don't have to put a battery in his back. Like, you don't have to worry about it if he's showing up. No. You can rely on him. And there's not many guys that you can rely on in this game today. Okay. So I want to talk about yesterday, I listened to L.A. radio a lot because I wanted everybody's local opinion on who was better.

And listen, I think with the Clippers, I have good chemistry, good momentum, good coach, great GM, great front office, good owner. And I just slid in two two-way players. I've seen that work my whole life. Right. A lot of veterans. And on the Lakers, I got a new coach and Jason Kidd looking over his shoulder. LeBron's changing positions. AD's been injured, a lot of specialists and one young guy, Kyle Kuzma.

I look at the Lakers' age. Regular season, Stephen, are about young legs. And then the playoffs start and Pascal Seaccombe take a little back seat to Mark Gassal, right? I look at the Lakers and you got a lot of old guys. And my question becomes, in the West, injury here, injury there. Lakers look up and they're a six-seed to back-to-back road series. I said it yesterday. The Lakers are a great movie poster.

I don't know if they're a great movie. Are they a great team? On paper, they look decent. They look good enough to win a championship, especially with Adam Buggie. but at the end of the day, you have to go out there and win it. You know, you, anytime you win a championship, the basketball guards have to be in your favor. When we wanted in 03, Dirk got hurt in the Western Conference Finals for Dallas.

Last year with Kauai, look how many people, how many wounded teams he ended up playing against. By the way, Chris Paul got hurt, saved the Warriors. See what I'm saying? This year, Durant Clay Looney got hurt, saved the Raptors. You got the basketball guards, when you win the championship, a lot of things go your way. Guys stay healthy.

lot of things go your way to win the championship. And you can look at teams now and you can say what they got the roster and all that, but a lot of things factor into a season, you know, chemistry, injury, a lot of stuff. Guys start to pout on their game time and shots. All kind of stuff happen like that. The Lakers got a lot of guys that are used to playing big minutes. And they got like nine guys now that play. Avery Bradley doesn't want to sit.

Danny Green didn't want to sit. Ronald doesn't want to sit. Javel McGee's a good player, Boogie Cousins. I find the Lakers to be, there's a lot of ifs there. It looks like it. The other thing you point out is, Lakers got a lot of guys who have had injuries. Yes.

Clippers don't. No, they don't. And the Clippers got, probably might be the best defensive team as far as guards in the league. You got Pat Beverly, Paul, and Kauai. It's going to be hard to score on those three guys. That's special. Yeah.

So, interesting. So when I get all the. rumors about Russell Westbrook. A lot of teams that need to sell tickets, you know, like Detroit wants him. And Miami's not a great team. I get most of the teams I hear. The Knicks. And then I hear the Rockets with Westbrook.

And I think to myself, A, it doesn't fit. And B, do the Rockets, are they a little desperate here? Has the window closed for them? Well. Are they selling tickets with Russ or trying to win games? Russ and James look good together when they were together. I'm sorry. They look real together.

I think the worst part of OKC, you tried to bring the Spurs organization to a team that don't have Tim Duncan. You can't do that, okay? It's working in Philadelphia because they have him beat when you want to take the Spurs style and kind of run with it. It didn't work for OKC with San Presby, but I think this thing would work? I like James and Russ. It just, it all matters what you put around them. Same thing with KD and AD. It matters what you put around them.

You know these two guys going to show up and do their job. What can you put around them? And that's been the biggest thing, the biggest problem with the NBA last couple of years. Who has scouting these players? Like, who do you have going to look at players and look at talent? And that's been a lot of stuff that a lot of veteran players and retired players been talking about. Who is scouting these guys these days? Who are picking these players?

You like Westbrook, James Harden, Chris Paul. I like all those guys, period. Together. But I like, no, I like Russ and James together. Chris Paul won't be there if Russ is there. they can't keep both of them. Well, they can't afford both of them. Right.

It'll be a trade. It definitely has to be a trade. All right, Stephen Jackson. By the way, we haven't talked about this. Kevin Durant is not going to play for a year. So Kevin tends to have, and it's okay, he's a little sensitive. So he's not going to play for a year. And he's going to rehab for a year.

You've rehab before. And you just sit around and you watch your phone all day. The next year for Kevin Durant, seriously. And, by the way, the L.A. teams are both good. and there's all these emerging stars. How do you think Kevin Durant handles the next year, staring at his phone not playing? Doing his show, being able to do his little board show.

He got boardroom show. I'm sure he'll be doing that to stay in tune in the game and to speak as a pin in the game. But at the end of the day, I honestly think Katie is going to be working hard to get back on that court to come back and prove everybody wrong again. You know, I don't know why he has to keep a team like he's not one of the best players in the world.

He's continued to feel like he has to prove something to people. But, you know, I don't think it'll be what people think he'll be in the media and stirring of stuff. I think he'll just be focused on getting back and being healthy. Because it's a new situation. And if you don't come out and play well, this thing can go downhill. Oh, no, it can go downhill fast. Kyrie's not the easiest guy in the world to play with.

A lot of expectations. East is good. West is packed. It's funny. But you having Kyrie on your team, you like it. You're confident. All right. Stephen Jackson, good seeing you, George Carl, John Smoltz, all-star games coming up. Yesterday, just down the street here, you could almost throw a football to it. Tom, Brady, and Gronk were playing catch.

What does it mean? I'll tell you next in the herd. One more herd? The herd streams 24 hours a day, seven days a week within the IHard Radio app. Search Herd to listen live or on demand whenever you'd like. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost the time. 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 Slic Life 12 and the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hard Way with me, your host, and your favorite therapist, Kear Games. And in recognition of mental health awareness month, I'm bringing over a decade of my own experience in the mental health field and conversations.

with so many incredible guests. I'm talking. Tripp Fontaine, Ryan Clark. Sometimes when we're in the pursuit of the thing, we get so wrapped up in the chase 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 Hardway. Open your free iHeartRadio app. Search Learn the Hardway and listen now. What's up, guys? This is Clivert Taylor the Fourth. And on my podcast, The Cliverts Show, I'm bringing you conversations about all kinds of stuff. Like being an internet famous referee. We're in the middle of a game. This linebacker 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. What? Hey, Ms. Parker. Listen to the Cliverts show on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. If you're watching the latest season of the Real Housewives of Atlanta, you already know, that's a lot. to break down. Gorsha accusing Kelly of sleeping with a married man. They holding Kay Michelle back from fighting Drew.

Pinky has financial issues. I like the bougie style of Housewives show. I think it looks like it's going to be interesting. On the podcast, Reality with the King, I, Carlos King, recap the biggest moments from your favorite reality shows, including the Real Housewives franchise, the drama, the alliances, and the team everybody's talking about. As an executive producer in reality television,

I'm not just watching it. I understand the game. As somebody who creates shows, I'll even say this. At the end of the day, when people are at home, they want entertainment. To hear this and more, listen to Reality with the King on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Nah, this is The Heard Hour 2. Live in Los Angeles, wherever you may be, and however you may be listening. IHeart Radio, Fox Sports Radio, and FS1, Joy, Joy, George.

Taylor is joining me for hour two. George Carl, former NBA coach, joining us. John Smoltz will be joining us today. Former baseball great. Fox Major League Baseball analyst, home run derby last night. Two things in sports America loves I don't watch. The home run derby and the Pro Bowl. So I'll take your word for it.

It was an amazing thing. I don't want. I refuse. I love the home run derby. You do? Well, I mean, it's my favorite part of baseball is home runs and it's all just condensed. And I think they've done a good job of making it more suspenseful and having like, rules everyone understands.

So it's like it's a fun thing to watch. It's easy to play along. But I love all the skills competitions that come with All-Star Games. Like those are more fun to me than the game sometimes. Baseball All-Star game is amazing. It's only one I watch. Because it's actually competitive. Yes.

But like NBA All-Star game, you watch the three-point shot, no? Do you have a three-point contest, the dunk contest? No, I think that stuff's fun. Yeah, this year I watched it. But the game isn't competitive. Baseball is the only competitive. All-Star game. Right.

So something yesterday happened, Tom Brady played catch with Gronk. And Gronk retired. And, of course, everybody's freaking out. What does it say about Gronk? And to me, it doesn't say anything about Gronk. What it says is Tom Brady's smart and obsessed with football and loves to have Gronk and Josh Gordon as workout buddies in the offseason just in case. And I think that's what truly separates Tom Brady from anybody that's ever played football.

He is completely addicted to it. He's not embarrassed by it. So many pro athletes today, and you can do this too. This is okay. I want to tell you about their politics and what they're experts at, their wardrobe and their style and their fashion and their politics and I know why. And Brady has no interest in any of it. Tom Brady's into his football and Tom Brady's into his family.

He's not embarrassed about it. He's obsessed by it. It's kind of funny. He's married to a supermodel. He's one of the richest American athletes ever. And remember during his documentary, do you remember watching him do this? I watch tape all day Monday, all day Tuesday, and Saturday before the game I watch film,

and then Sunday morning I watch film. I don't know why I can sit here and watch it and, you know, process information quickly, but I can. Running and lifting has been much harder to develop than this. This has kind of been in me. I mean, I could literally like just watch film all day. Not embarrassed, put it on tape.

Remember, he had ultimate editing control, drink smoothies, watch tape all day long. And what I like about Tom is, it's a very simple life in a world of choices and options. Tom's into family, Tom's into football. He's not here to tell you that he knows wine, politics, fashion. He's not embarrassed about it. Don't be embarrassed about being obsessed about something.

It is okay. Like my son says all the time, Dad, you like sports. I'm into electronics. I'm like, all right, don't be embarrassed about it. And, you know, it's one of those things Bill O'Brien used to coach him, now that coach the Houston Texans. And he talked about this couple years ago, he said, Tom's hard to coach.

Not because he doesn't like coaching, because he's obsessed. And he demands every day you teach him stuff. Tom Brady demands. He said he's a phenomenal guy, but he's obsessed with football. And I like people who are obsessed with things. I think Steve Jobs was obsessed, the late Steve Jobs, with this phone, which now controls my life. And everyone's lives. I like people who are obsessed.

Kobe Bryant was obsessed. Peyton Manning was obsessed. There's this whole thing about having work-life balance. And when you Google happiness, what makes people happy? There's a lot of things that make people happy. Giving to others, social situations, being loved, loving. You know what they never say? Work-life balance.

The ski instructor slash poet slash web designer is way happier than Tom Brady. And my argument is, ah, I don't buy it. Obsession equals great and great is fun. And the other thing is, I think Brady's become the most important person

in NFL history. For my entire life, football's been loved by America. We bet it, we watch it, we talk it. Football, we party to it, we drink to it, we eat to it, we watch it. But over the last five years and every sport has obstacles. Football's dealing with a violence issue.

And it's brutal. And it doesn't last. And it beats up your body and CTE. And there's movies with Will Smith. And there's books about it. And I don't want my kids to play. And Tom Brady is, I feel great. I don't get hurt. I'm 41. I look better than you do at 41. I run faster. I eat better, I never get hurt. Tom Brady is now a symbol for football. What happens? When you take care of yourself, when you take care of your body, when you're disciplined, when you practice falling and getting hit, when you spend some of that money on nutritionists

and discipline and lifestyle and diet. And I think he's the face of football. And I think he's an incredibly powerful face of football. Listen, Michael Jordan was really good. good for basketball for a lot of reasons. He was global and he was great. But Michael had a certain dignity and the way he dressed and the way he looked. He was elegant. Michael Jordan made basketball feel big and corporate and gigantic and cool. Michael Jordan wasn't just a basketball player. Michael Jordan was like the best dressed man in America who played basketball who had great

relationships with business. He made basketball players. He made basketball players. corporations. Michael was bigger than a jump shot. Michael was a great face for the league. When he left, ratings dropped 50%. Brady's a great face for the league. He's not the most talented. He's not the most gifted. But being obsessed with football is good. You can have a great family. You don't have to get hurt. You don't have to be beat up. You don't have to limp out of the game. You don't have to be just be all in on the sport and it pays you back. Jay Glazer always talks about what makes Tom Brady, Tom Brady. Tom Brady works as hard as anybody in this league.

He has the sickness. I call it the sickness, right? If you want to be great, you got to have a sickness. You got to be great. You got to be sick about it. You have to constantly nonstop. Obset. Work, work, work. Absolutely.

It's an obsession. And he does. We just don't know about it because he doesn't talk to anybody. If you're obsessed with it and you put the work in, usually you're going to be, I don't say you're going to be great, but you're certainly on the right path because so many other guys are not willing and put that work in. Let me shift to this.

I just love Brady. Anytime I can get Brady into the show, I will. Joy's over there thinking, what about Ryan Tannahill? No, I am not. When is this segment on Ryan Tannahill? We have moved on from that. He's no longer our problem.

Okay, I got another thing I want to talk about here. So I'm from the Pacific Northwest. And I grew up as a kid, we had the Sonics. We didn't have the Seahawks when I was young. We didn't have the Mariners. We had the University of Washington, and we had the Sonics.

Downtown Freddie Brown, Jack Sigma, Gus Williams, Dennis Johnson, Paul Silas, John Johnson, Lonnie Shelton, Lenny Wilkins was a coach. I don't know who owned it, but I'll tell you this. That was the team I loved. Green, hot, and smoking, they used to say. Sonics were green. And then they left.

A guy that owned Starbucks bought him. He didn't want to spend the money in an arena. And I left. And they went to Oklahoma City. And everybody's been like, oh, Oklahoma City is a great basketball city. I don't believe. Everybody loves basketball. Be very interesting now to see if Oklahoma City, five years from today, is a great basketball city. I know it's a great football state.

I know they love college football. I'm not saying Oklahoma City can't be a sports town, but it's real easy to steal an NBA team and sell out the arena when you have James Hardin, Russell Westbrook, Kevin Durant, winning seasons, all the momentum. Durant gone, Hardin gone, Stephen Adams on the trade block, Westbrook wants out, congratulations on the 10 to 12 draft picks. Hopefully two turn out. Danny Aange is supposed to be a brilliant drafter. One's been a star, Jason Tatum, and he had a plateau year. This league's built on stars at Phil's Arena.

The Warriors were garbage for two decades. They were still top 10 in attendance. Chicago's been a mess for years. Last year, top three in attendance. Philadelphia has had decades where they were irrelevant. Top half of the league in attendance. Philly is a great basketball town. Chicago's a great basketball town.

Oakland. Great basketball town. They've been awful for decades. People show up. Top 10 in attendance. Top two. We'll see now about Oklahoma City. Because you're going to be a, you're going to be younger.

than Atlanta and worse than Sacramento six years ago now for the next six years. Because free agents, they don't really want to go there. So whenever I hear about great basketball city, no, no, you want to know great basketball city, Philadelphia. Dr. Jay to two years ago, they were mostly, you know, little Iverson here and there. Ain't that good. Chicago, unwatchable, sellouts. In Chicago, that arena is hard to get to.

It's not cheap. Chicago's expensive. Sellouts. It's like I got nothing against Vegas, the Golden Knights, they get a hockey team. Everybody's like, oh, Vegas is a hockey city. Really? Why did it take 100 years to get a team? No, you got a team, the arena is awesome, and your team is great. What happens if you finish last place for the next seven years?

Because in Toronto, they'll still sell at the arena. Detroit will still sell it out. Chicago Blackhawks will sell it out. Flyers and the penguins will sell it out. Golden Knights go into the tank for nine years. Is that arena sold out? I'm not bitter about losing my NBA team. I'm not saying I'm bitter.

I'm just saying Seattle was a great NBA city. You sure? Seattle was a great NBA. It is a good basketball city, though. And they ditched it. And it's like, and you know what? Seattle would go to games, and there were a lot of bad teams. I got one title as a kid.

There's a lot of bad teams. It's all I'm saying. I'm not bitter. Maybe a little bit. Tiny. George Carl is coming up. By the way, he coached in Seattle. Yes, he was a sonics coach.

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

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

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

I want you to just really be a good person. Join me, Kear Gaines, as we have real conversations about healing, growth, fatherhood, pressure, and purpose on my new podcast. Learn the hard way. Open your free iHeartRadio app. Search Learn the hard way and listen now. What's up, guys?

This is Clivert Taylor the 4th. And on my podcast, The Cliverts show, I'm bringing you conversations about all kinds of stuff. Like being an internet famous referee. We're in the middle of a game. This linebacker, this linebacker walks up to me. He goes, hey, ref, my mom wants you to wave at her.

What? Time out. Quarterback on office blue 42. Hey, ref, my mom, I'm going to want you. to weigh better. What? Where's she at? Hey, Miss Parker. Listen to the Clipper Show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. The story I've told myself about love or relationships can then shape my behavior,

and that can lead me to sabotage the possibility of connection. This Mental Health Awareness Month, tune into the podcast deeply well with Debbie Brown and explore the journey of healing, self-discovery, and returning to yourself. We explore higher consciousness, emotional well-being, and the practices that help you find clarity, peace, and self-mastery in a world that can feel overwhelming. The world is becoming lonelier. We're not becoming more social and connected. We're becoming more individualized, but we actually meet people in connection.

If you've been searching for a soft place to land while doing the work to become whole. This podcast is for you to hear more. Listen to deeply well with Debbie Brown from the Black Effect Podcast Network on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Great news. Quick and easy way to save money. Go to Geico, 15 minutes. Save 15%. Geico.com. For the record, George Carl is supposed to join us here in a bit. Look at the, I just looking at this. You know, the Lakers obviously made a bunch of moves. LeBron's in his 17th year, Rondo 14th, Jared Dudley 13th, Bruey Cousins 10th, Javelle McGee 12th, AD 8th had injuries, Danny Green 14th.

But AD, I feel best about because he's only in his eighth year. They are old. Everybody in the Lakerland wanted to give away Kyle Kuzman. I kept pumping the break saying, time out. A, you're going to have a new coach. Who's going to be your young legs? The Raptors had a bunch of old guys, but they had Pascal C. Occam's like 22 years old. or 25 years old. They had Fred Van Bleet. They have Norman Powell. They had some young guys.

The Clippers got some old guys. Obviously, Patrick Beverly, Lou Williams. But you got Montrez Harold, Landry Shamet, Zubach is 22. Lakers got no, Kuzma's it. Like, it's just old dudes. And the reason you need young legs is for seeding in the regular season. Like the Dodgers right now are one of the youngest teams in baseball. The question becomes, does that stuff work in October. Because I know what works in October. Verlander, David Price last year in the World Series. Veterans win in the playoffs in all sports. Go look at the Super Bowl. Old offensive line for the Rams. Undama Kinsu, Aaron Donald, Akeeb Talib. Guys have been around the block. Wade Phillips, 70-year-old coordinator, Brady Edelman. I mean, youth. Like the Cleveland Browns and the

Cowboys have a lot of good young players. That is great for the regular season. Because what happens in pro sports is everybody gets dinged up. The older you get, the dings last longer. The dings keep you out longer. You take Coosemout. This is an old Laker team. And we think of LeBron as this incredibly durable player. He's off an injury 17th year. Now, 80s had injuries, but the thing I like is he's only in his eighth year and only played one year of college basketball. So he's really in the middle of his prime. I mean, Kauai Leonard is in his ninth year, but he's really in the middle of a his prime. He's had an injury. I don't worry about

Kauai's injury. I don't worry about A.Ds. I don't even worry about Paul George. He's in his 10th year. When you get guys in their 13th year, 14th year, 15th year, I mean, those are like Boogie Cousins, this is a big year for Boogie. He's in his 10th year. He's had two major injuries.

I would love him to be in his seventh or eighth year with those instead of his 10th. If he gets another one, it's over. Nobody's paying him money. So I just look at the Lakers and I see a bunch of old guys and a bunch of specialists and only one fresh young pair of legs that can depend on to score 18 to 20 a night, Kyle Kuzma. That's it.

Nothing against Danny Green, but Danny Green can't be out there 33 minutes at this point. He just can't. You can't have Lou Williams for the Clippers paying 32 minutes a night. You just can't depend on that. Joy with the News. No, no, no, no. Turn on the news. This is the Herd Line News.

So Kauai Leonard and Paul George teaming up on the Clippers was a free agency, Fourth of Johnson. July surprise and Mark J. Spears has some insight on the decision. He reports Leonard, who just led the Toronto Raptors to their first NBA title, sold George on the idea of winning a championship together. Sources said Leonard and George also wanted to play for Clippers coach Doc Rivers. Yeah, so that's a big deal. Yeah, I find the whole, the whole story very interesting because it makes me happy, I guess is the word I'm looking for, that teams like the Raptors and the Clippers who built good cultures

and didn't just go in the tank and try and get draft picks every single year and created an environment with good executives, good coaching, and good pieces to stay relevant are actually being rewarded. That is refreshing. I don't get what Oklahoma City's doing. They're just going to tank, right?

Okay, so I'm not a genius NBA exec, but we can all see something happening in the basketball culture. kids are coming to the NBA at 18. Now, they're not only physically not quite ready, but a lot of them are emotionally ready. Even a great player like Zion is probably four years away from making an impact in May and June in the playoffs.

You're just overwhelmed by it. These are the world's best basketball players. You're 18 years old. You're at a high school. So this idea of tanking and getting a bunch of 18-year-olds, like Atlanta's got a bunch of draft picks and a lot of good young players, Atlanta's going to be atrocious for the next three years.

Well, I don't have a problem. with getting young players, if you have a plan to develop them into what you see them becoming when you draft them. That's why the Pelicans are so interesting to me because they do have a ton of young players. But they have an all-star guard. They've got an all-star guard. There's a veteran. They do. They have Drew Holiday. Like they have some other, some other veteran pieces, but they also have, they are creating a culture. And I believe in their coach and I believe in their front office. So I can see maybe not this year. They, maybe, this year they miss the playoffs, although they're going to be relevant.

Maybe they do make the playoffs. Who knows? A lot of things can happen. But you have a feeling like they're going to be in the, in championship relevance very soon. Even if they do have young players, it's not going to be a disaster of a season for them. And this is what I'm talking about. Like the Clippers, we all felt were like a fun team, you know, we were kind of rooting for them. They gave, you know, a little pushback in the playoffs.

But they have a good culture now. I mean, they were once a disaster. Like it takes a little time to create it, but don't just go in the tank and continue to put your fans and everyone through this. You only tank, here's the only time you tank in sports. If Andrew Luck is available and you need a quarterback or LeBron James is available, if you see in basketball or football, I wouldn't tank in baseball. I wouldn't tank in hockey.

But if you do see, like this kid at Clemson, the college football player at Clemson, the Trevor Lawrence kid, yes, if I think I can get Trevor Lawrence. If it's a once in a lifetime, once in a, once in a year, universe players. Pittsburgh Steelers, their entire organization have had Big Ben and Terry Bradshaw. Right. It's been a bunch of guys after that. If you can get LeBron or an Andrew Luck, then you tank.

But this idea, Oklahoma City, I'm just going to send everybody out and start over again. The Clippers did it right. You get the coach. You try to win. You create a culture. And then a winning player's like, I can help that team. Right. And that's what you felt all year last year is the Clippers just really need one piece.

And now they have two piece. And the biggest thing you said there is culture. If you're tanking year after year, you have this losing awful environment. You can't then just flip a switch because you got the guy. And now all of a sudden you're going to start winning. It just doesn't work that way. The whole mentality of the whole organization top to bottom has to be a winning mentality. Maybe you don't win every single year, but you're in the conversation.

So sticking with free agency surprises, DeAngelo Russell, making a little move there after making his first all-star team and making significant career steps in Brooklyn. He was traded to the Warriors. But instead of being bitter that they decided to release him, Russell only had praise. for the Nets. He even made an interesting comparison. He told The Athletic, I have nothing but great things to say about Brooklyn. It's almost like going to high school before you go to college. You felt a little bit

better before you got to college. That's how I feel about Brooklyn. I got the complete structure that I needed. I feel totally prepared going into my next chapter. Last season... That's kind of a smart analogy. Yeah. I mean, it's like you're going to go to high school before you get to college. So, you know,

you get it. But he averaged a career high, 21 points, four rebounds, and seven assists. in 81 games all starts. So he took a tremendous step up in his career with Brooklyn. And he's actually made me a fan. I'm rooting for him now. I felt like a lot of people just buried him whenever he left the Lakers

because of everything that happened off the court with that Lakers team. And it was obviously a bad situation. But it kind of felt like, all right, he's a bust and like unnecessary and he's just drama. And he's completely rebooted his career. I think he's going to be huge for the Warriors this year.

Yeah, I don't get this. I really don't understand this. This idea that he's going to go to the Warriors and it's just going to be this awful fit. First of all, if you're an elite score and you play with Steph Curry, show me the example of a guy that doesn't work. Steph works with everybody.

Their culture is so strong. Their system is so strong. You'll be great. I mean, everyone thought Boogie was going to be a disaster. Look how much they need. needed Boogie. Look how straught everyone was when Boogie was when Boogie went down. And DiAngelo's going to be like

Ranny Moss to the Patriots. You're like, how does it fit? It didn't fit forever. It's not Edelman. Right, but I don't, right, but to that point, I also don't think that he is that dysfunctional, immature character anymore. And that's what he's saying. He got the stability that he needed, the consistency that he needed to mentally

be able to focus on basketball and he's taking it to the next level. Finally, Zion Williamson's first game in a New Orleans uniform could sound like a catastrophe. He played nine minutes and struggled on defense, then bonk knees with the next defender and then his night was over. But an earthquake hit and the game was called three minutes into the fourth quarter. So it wasn't a catastrophe. It was the highest rated NBA Summer League game ever, which shouldn't be too surprising considering that Zion is Zion. But he says he's feeling great and his absence from the rest of the Summer League is

nothing to worry about. It was more precautionary. It was a crazy experience because the gym was So I didn't expect that many people to be there. The energy was high. It was my first taste of actually playing as NBA players. So it was great. It was packed. It was standing room only. Everyone was there that has anything to do with basketball.

He's our latest magic. You know what he is? He's the first viral NBA player. He's the first products of that situation coming, like, exploding on the internet and then being the real deal. at all coming to fruition. I mean, that place, it looks like a finals game. I mean, it's crazy.

That's a Summer League game that has exploded that much. That said, he, I would have liked to see him play more, not just for the entertainment factor, but he also probably needs to slim down a little bit. I'm a little concerned about the length of this season. And, you know, this is what, this is what scouts were worried about with him, was the injuries. He plays so much speed and velocity and power and torque. I mean, just, yeah, that, all those things.

He does need to develop a jumper, too. But again, you know, I go back to this ad nauseum. We are asking kids a year out of high school to play NBA basketball. We would not consider, think about how good Christian Yellich is for the Brewers. He was in minor league baseball for six years. It's not even just the physical get bigger and stronger to play with men. The idea at 18 years old, you would have put me on private chats, giving me millions of dollars, and I travel around the country.

It's like summer league is fun. And I love Zion. I think Zion's four years from having playoff impact in the league, as much as I love him. Yeah, but that's the game now. It is. That's part of, you know, leaving college and entering the NBA. It's a whole different world. There's way more games.

The travel is more stressful. I mean, you're flying in, you know, private jets, but you're still flying a lot more. Like, there's a lot more that goes into being a pro, whether you're mentally ready for it or You know, but science is going to be fine. Yeah, he'll be fine. Joy with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by.

The Hurd-Ly News. By the way, Randy Williams, who is a friend of Kevin Durant and a business partner, blasted Russell Westbrook. I mean, just lit him up, blasted him, and it's been out on Instagram for like 45 minutes, or 44 days, excuse me, not 45 minutes. And if you're listening to me on radio, I'm going to read it. It says, nobody wants to play with Russ.

Everybody blames, everybody except him. Russ is about Russ. More worried about stats versus playing winning basketball. GMs in the NBA know the real about Russell and his style. OK, C, we'll have to trade Russ. He will have to become a better player, teammate. Reality has set in, nobody wants to play with him. Well, I do think he's difficult as hell to play with.

I would say this, though, what I find interesting, we tend to think that everybody's trying to win a championship in basketball, and they're not. There are teams trying to sell tickets. Pat Riley generally, we think of as he's trying to win basketball games. But the reality is Miami is active and dynamic and it's got a beach and beautiful people and great restaurants and multiple sports. And Miami would Jimmy Butler and Russell Westbrook would sell tickets. It's not winning you a championship.

And by the way, if you put him in Detroit, it would sell tickets to a dead franchise. And then in Minnesota, it would sell tickets to a franchise. and fan base sort of tired of not competing in the West. The interesting team with Russell Westbrook, when you see all these bad teams, the New York Knicks, Miami, Detroit, you're like, yeah, I get it, Minnesota. And then the Houston Rockets appear. And you're like, what?

You know why? Because my opinion, Houston's windows closed, everybody's better, Denver's better, Utah's better, Portland's better, clippers better, Lakers better, jazz better. And I think Houston is more desperate than anybody thinks. Because analytically, Darryl Morey's a money-money ball guy, right? Like, Mori ball, got to shoot threes.

This is the worst three-point shooter in league history. We don't think of Houston. This shows you how quickly windows close. We get all the Westbrook destinations. It's like he'd sell tickets in Denver or Detroit. The Knicks are a mess. I get, and then all of a sudden, Houston? What?

Three gar. Never forget this about Houston. They've got a new owner. The new owner doesn't love the coach. They made Mike Dan, Tony, fire all of his coaches. Chris Paul is a bad contract. James Hardin's great, but he's in his prime. You better not waste it. I think Houston deep down, in the last week,

with all these stars moving around, Jimmy Butler didn't give the Rockets an interview. He didn't give an interview. That story leaked. Did it leak because they want to be relevant? We don't think of the rockets as desperate or needing relevance. But I say this morning, everybody in the West looks better to me. Everybody except Oklahoma City.

And I deep down wonder, with a new owner, Chris Paul's injury, again, Houston, you got an NFL team. You got one of the best baseball teams. It's one of the great food cities. There's a lot to do in Houston. The economy's good. people have money, people travel, people vacation. Is Houston a little more desperate than we think? Because all the other landing spots make sense.

Houston makes no basketball sense at all. And it tells me there's a little pressure in Houston. There's a pressure from the new owner. There's a pressure on Daryl Morey. There's a pressure on Mike Dantonie. It's heating up because that move doesn't make any sense at all. by the way, updated NBA championship odds. And I think Houston's too high here.

It's Clippers, Bucks, Lakers, Sixers, Warriors, Rockets, Jazz, Denver. I think Portland's a little low. I think Utah. I think the Warriors are a little low. I think Denver's a little low. I think Houston's a little high. I do. That's weird.

George Carl, former NBA coach, Sonics Nuggets, Bucks, Kings. John Smolt stops by. It's the baseball all-star game tonight. we've had an amazing month at Fox from the U.S. Open, United States women's team, the Gold Cup. Here we go into the baseball, all-star game. And by the way, it is, what's the date today? July what? Ninth.

NFL camps open when? Two weeks. I've never wanted football to start more than right now. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific. Last night, a blown call changed the game. This morning, the internet lost its mind. Highlights are trending, opinions are flying, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where SportsClice 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 athletes 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.

SportsSlice brings you closer to the action with stories told by the people who live them. Listen to SportsSlice on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Sliced Life 12 in the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hardway with me, your host, and your favorite therapist, Kier Games. And in recognition of mental health awareness month, I'm bringing over a decade of my own experience in the mental health field and conversations with so many incredible guests.

I'm talking. Tripp Fontaine, Ryan Clark. Sometimes when we're in the pursuit of the thing, we get so wrapped up in the chase that we don't realize that we are in possession of the thing and we're still chasing it and we don't know when we've done enough because people scoreboard watch.

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

I want you to just really be a good person. Join me, Kear Gaines, as we have real conversations about healing, growth, fatherhood, pressure, and purpose on my new podcast, Learn the Hardway. Open your free iHeartRadio app. Search Learn the Hardway and listen now. What's up, guys? This is Clivert Taylor the Fourth. And on my podcast, The Cliverts Show, I'm bringing you conversations about all kinds of stuff. Like being an internet famous referee.

We're in the middle of a game. This linebacker walks up to me, he goes, hey, ref, my mom wants you to wave at her. What? Quarterback on office blue with 42. Hey, ref, my mama want you to wave at her. What? Hey, Ms. Parker.

Listen to the Clifford show on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. The story I've told myself about love, or relationships can then shape my behavior, and that can lead me to sabotage the possibility of connection. This Mental Health Awareness Month, tune into the podcast deeply well with Debbie Brown and explore the journey of healing, self-discovery, and returning to yourself. We explore higher consciousness, emotional well-being, and the practices that help you find

clarity, peace, and self-mastery in a world that can feel overwhelming. The world is becoming lonelier. We're not becoming more social and connected. We're becoming more individualized, but we actually need people in connection. If you've been searching for a soft place to land while doing the work to become whole, this podcast is for you to hear more. Listen to deeply well with Debbie Brown from the Black Effect Podcast Network on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. By the way, Rob Manfred, the commissioner of baseball, has fired back at Justin Verlander, who claims, with a lot of profanity, the baseballs are all juiced.

I don't buy any of it. That's like I say, you got to show me the alien. You can't just tell me there's UFOs and aliens. You've got to show me proof. I don't care about your fuzzy, grainy video. Show me the little green men. You keep telling me baseballs are juiced. Cut one open and show me.

Show me proof. I've heard it forever. Joe Morgan talked about this. I remember Keith Oberman talking about this. People talked about this in the 70s and the 80s. No, home runs are going up because players are bigger and pitchers are throwing 90s and guys are all jacked up. And because of analytics in baseball, which were introduced really about 10, 12 years ago, nobody wants to hit the ball on the ground. Nobody wants to hit line drives.

So it's called launch angle because a new analytics on a defensive shift, line drives are bad and ground balls are bad. So everybody, these big strong athletes are all swinging for the fence. analytics also tells you, strikeouts are okay. No bunts, strikeouts are okay, hit home runs. No ground balls, no line drives because they become outs. Bryce Harper's complained about this. He's like, I used to hit the ball through the middle. It was a hit.

Now it's an out. So everybody's strikeouts go up. Everybody's home runs go up. Strikeouts are also way up. So the graph is out right here in baseball that home runs have been going up since 1871. There have been a couple dip years, but they're going up. But they've started going straight up over the last like three years. years. Why? Because now everybody's in on the analytics. Just like the three-point shot in basketball,

there were a handful of early adapters and a bunch of doubters. Remember Byron Scott when he was the coach in the Lakers? He was one of the old school guys about, you know, not sure about three. It was a lot of doubters. And then all of a sudden it went from your doubting analytics to analytics are beating you to, oh crap, I have to embrace them or I'm going to be unemployed. And this happened in basketball over a 10-year period. Warriors, then the Warriors rockets, and there were some doubters, and all of a sudden, everybody now is shooting threes, or you're fired, or you look like a dinosaur. It's the same in baseball. In the last two to three years, every team in the league, a lot of them pushed back on defensive shifts when Joe Madden did it in Tampa. A lot of people pushed back, and a lot of

people push back on all the analytics, the launch angle. But now if you push back on that stuff, You're a dinosaur and you get fired. As it is, even Aaron Boone, a very good manager for the Yankees. The guys upstairs are giving him, you know, all the signals on what to do. Baseball's changed. So I don't buy their... I have heard baseballs are juiced forever and show it to me. I'm tired of the rumors because I can show you the analytics and the nuance and the context.

And I love Justin Burlander. But he's like baseball's turning the game into a joke. They own Rawlings. They own the blank and... company. It's not that hard to guess what happened. See, it's easy to say juice baseballs. It's like a really bad sports radio take. Baseball's are juiced. Let's go to the phone and take your calls on it. That's a dumb radio segment. What is a hard radio segment is nuance and context and data and metrics and culture changes. That's hard and it takes time and you have to look at

things and dive deep into analytics. And I'm not all into analytics. I prefer analytics. I don't want my sports to be slide rulers. But it's just such an easy out. Juiced! Aliens! UFOs! Show me. See it. I'll say I don't believe it.

I mean, you don't ever wonder what the circular disks are flying in the air? You know what I always think that stuff is? First of all, I think a lot of them are reflections. You look in the sky, you see a white thing flying. I think a lot of reflections. The second thing I think is our government

has a right to create new airplanes for our military, and they don't advertise them so other countries know them, so there's experimental aircraft in the air. The other thing is we know there's drones and spy planes everywhere in the world. We're spying on Russia, they're spying on us, we're spying on China,

they're spying on us. Is it that far fetch to believe that sometimes there are spacecraft from other countries developed, maybe they're a little ahead of us? Maybe they've developed something that looks different. You make a compelling argument. I don't think that's crazy.

I mean, I still believe in aliens, but it's as compelling as your argument against the theory of Jews baseballs. So my argument is that could be a Russian plane. That could be a plane from China. It could be military spying on us because we're spying on everybody. So they're spying on us. It could be that. Or it could be alien invaders too. And how are we sure that everybody out there in the alien world is so much smarter than us?

It may be, it may be we're smart and they've been around a lot longer than us. bump into them before they bump into us. It's possible they're not smarter than us. It's possible. I feel like it's a bit arrogant of us as a species to imagine that we're the only ones in the entire universe. Yeah, well, we're arrogant. That we are. There is

quite a possibility that there's another show called The Herd on planet. Yeah, but it's not as good as this one. Not as good as this one. Good to have you in today. George Carl is supposed to show up. Do we know what's going on there? Waiting for them. The two big stories today, Russell Westbrook gets crushed by Kevin Durant's best friend on the internet, on Instagram.

He lights up Russell Westbrook. Nobody wants to play with him. This is Kevin Durant's buddy. It's been on the internet for four days. It would be very easy for me to bring out the anvil today and Hammer Westbrook. I don't think he's a winning basketball player. But I will say this, and I'll say it again, it's not all on Russ. Oklahoma City butchered the hardened trade.

Oklahoma City was late to. a three-point shooting. Oklahoma City, like Philadelphia, drafted a lot of bigs, and it's become a guard wing league. Now, do I think Westbrook is wildly entertaining? Yes, but I do feel there's a Steph Marbury, Alan Iverson component where his game has got incredible, like, what they call like street appeal. Like Iverson was so beloved, but he wasn't always a winning basketball player. Don't get me wrong. Russ is popular. There's a lot of like about Russ. plays hard, Russ is popular, dynamic, fun to watch.

But I think the book, nobody's a victim of their reputation. The book is out on Russ. He's great in January. He looks exhausted by May. He can be really unhinged. He apparently is a very happy person. Once basketball starts, he gets really tight. And people that know him,

he's like he's one of the best guys in the league. Every time I see him in a summer league game, he's smiling, he's stylish, he's funny, He's a great family guy. And then there's something about his basketball that's really intense and rigid and hard to play with. The book is out on Westbrook. He's hard to play with. He's a dynamic ball-centric guard.

But it's not all on him. Listen, we've all watched all these sports for years. Something you figure out, and I'll say this as a broadcaster. There's a lot of broadcasting companies. There's not a lot of good ones. There's not a lot of great management. I always say chase great management, not money. There's a sea of money.

There's not a sea of great management. and you look around all these teams. You know, Danny Aange, everybody thinks Danny Aange is a genius. Well, they're about six years into that rebuild, and I'm not sure in the last six years, are they that much better? Kyrie out, Al Horford out, Gordon Hayward, Maher, Jason Tatum plateaued,

Kimball Walker's Good Not Great. You know, so I'm not just defending players. I'm not going victimhood, you know, radio here, but I am saying, because athletes are front and center on the cereal box, it's their franchise, we tend to blast athletes. Westbrook's a flawed player. But I do believe they could have solved some of these issues

by getting more in the hardened trade, surrounding him with better shooters. It's not a great shooter. Some of this is Russ Westbrook feeling late in games. Hell, if I don't shoot, who's going to? Stephen Adams can't hit a jumper. Roberson can't hit a jumper. Ibaka wasn't going to shoot a jumper.

Some of this is Westbrook feeling. If I don't shoot, who does? I'm the best athlete on the team. So this is the Russ Westbrook story. He does not look great today and he probably will get traded. Miami's probably in a little bit of a rebuild. I think Jimmy Butler and Russell Westbrook sell tickets. Miami's a busy city.

There's a lot of options in good weather and beautiful people. I think it's probably about as good a fit. It would be fun and sometimes fun is the second best option. if it's not winning a championship. And there's also a theory in sports. This is why the Warriors went out and got DeAngelo Russell. There's always been this theory in sports. And I agree with most of it.

Darryl Morey believes this. Just get stars. You can always move a star. It's very hard to move an average player with a fat salary. If Russell Westbrook went to Miami, and let's just say, he scored 27 a game, he and Butler got along, there's going to be a taker on Russell Westbrook. It is hard to move.

Listen, Boogie Cousins has had baggage. All sorts of people want Boogie Cousins. Miami wanted Boogie Cousins. Lakers wanted Boogie Cousins. Warriors wanted Bougaino. DeAngelo Russell had a terrible reputation. Brooklyn wanted him. San Francisco wanted him.

I mean, DeAngelo Russell and Boogie Cousins both ended up with the Warriors. Both had terrible reputations. Randy Moss had a bad reputation. Patriot twin after him. So it's always easier to move great players. And Russell is a great player. As long as he's a winning basketball player, but he's a great player. And there's my soapbox for today.

I covered aliens. I covered baseball. I covered analytics. I covered Russell Westbrook. And as far as the Lakers go with the Clippers, everywhere I go in Los Angeles, this is all anybody wants to talk about who's the better team. I think the better coach, the better chemistry, the better bench, fewer specialists, more two-way players is with the Clippers.

Better momentum, better owner, better front office, better coach, better unity, better chemistry, better defense, more well-rounded players, clippers. Lakers have AD in LeBron. Cross your fingers. Kyle Kuzma keeps getting better. And a bunch of specialists, a lot of injuries, a lot of age. In the end, I think the clippers are better. In fact, I'll say this again, I think the warriors are better than the Lakers.

Because I get Steph, I get Dremont, I get Lundy, I get Clay, I get Russell, I got a coach, I got a GM. Remember this. At the trading deadline, this is one of the things we don't talk about. Don't think the team you see right now is the team you're going to see next May. It's not it. You're going to have multiple injuries. We've got a trading deadline. Some of these guys are not going to fit.

I don't see a single relationship on the clippers that's not going to work. I could very easily see Boogie Cousins having a nice first half and thinking to himself, I'm getting three and that's it. And Danny Green's getting 15. I think the Lakers have a lot of pressure on Frank Vogel and LeBron James to make this puppy work. I think LeBron's got a ton of pressure. He's in his 17th year. Frank Vogel's coming off being fired twice,

and you're asking LeBron to make it all work, and Vogel to make it all work, and Jason, kids looking over the shoulder. I don't see the hierarchy I like with the Lakers. I see a perfect hierarchy with the Clippers. I like the owner. I like the front office. I like the logo.

I like the coach. I like the stars. I like the bench. I like the chemistry. I got like, like, like, like, like, like. Lakers, I love a couple things. And there's a bunch of question marks. I don't like going into season.

like that. Hour three's coming up. John Smoltz, George Carl. All right. I'm done ranting. I had to go about 12 minutes. You did a wonderful job. Aliens, Westbrook. I think you've been very nice to Westbrook today too. I've been very positive.

I've almost marketed him, promoted him. Hour three next. One 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. And with that, we go to the summer league. We go to Las Vegas. George Carl coached in the NBA for 27 years, a former coach of the year.

Six most wins all time. George Carl is joining us. So, you know, we got all this mobility, and it didn't start yesterday. Players have been moving around the league, George, forever. You know that. Are you a fan of this player movement and this wild free agency stuff we just had in the last two weeks? Well, I think I'm old school more. and I'd like to see more organizations

have more loyalty to players, but that's the day of the past. So am I a fan of it? I'm a fan because it's going to be exciting. There's going to be a lot of good basketball teams this year, a lot of changes, and I'm anxious to see where it goes. What's going to happen?

Frank Vogel has got a bunch of new pieces. I mean, there's a lot of situational players. How long is realistic to give a new coach with a bunch of new players before they gel. Is it trading deadline or does it take more than a year? I would say there'll be a lot of answers by trading deadline, but the best is probably a year away. But with LeBron and the talent they have,

they can be a threat this year to win the championship. But the piece has got to fit well. There probably has to be a change. Maybe one more trade, one more tinkering, somewhere around January or February to make the team ready for the playoffs. You know, Doc Rivers has coached big stars. Last year he had a team that was mostly B guys, but they played really hard. And many people thought it was Doc Rivers' best coaching job.

Now he gets Paul George and Kauai Leonard, very good two-way players. This feels like to me it's going to work. The chemistry is going to be good. Are you worried at all that Kauai and Paul George kind of do the same things? a little bit? Just a little bit. I think it's a great, what I see in L.A. Clipperland is an organization that's really together. I think Balmer as an owner wants to win a championship. I think Lawrence Frank is a student of the game, and he's done a nice job transmitting himself into a good general manager. And then you got Doc in a place in his life that he's really energized. He's really into it.

He has the best bench in the NBA, and he's got a lot of good pieces. I think they're going to be a very good team very early in the season. Yeah, I agree with that. Coach, we were just talking about Russell Westbrook, and they're kind of blowing things up in OKC, and I understand that. Westbrook is a dynamic athlete, but I've never felt he always plays winning basketball. In your career, you had a lot of great players. What do you do when you have a unique talent,

but sometimes he's not perfectly suited, maybe for other teammates. You know, what do you make of Westbrook's game? Well, I love how hard he plays. He plays the game with such intensity and enthusiasm. It's contagious. I've always admired him for being one of the hardest working guys in the NBA. But you're right. You know, his numbers don't translate into wins all the time.

His attitude sometimes turns the team off. and you can almost see their team's body language go out the window. I really would like to see Westbrook play off the ball a little bit more. I've said this for about four or five years, and maybe that'll happen if he stays in O'KC, but it looks like he's going someplace else. You know, Coach, when I look at the Lakers roster, KCP, Rondo, and Boogie Cousins have not always been the easiest guys to get along with,

but I do believe that LeBron has some really good leadership skills and may be able to put his arms around him. You know, when you get a roster, how big is chemistry? I think it's huge, and I like the Clippers chemistry. I'm not sure if this Laker team will have chemistry. Is it up to a coach or a star player to develop it? Well, it helps when your star player is good at it. It hurts when your star player might be a little jealous of it. And you're right, chemistry.

that there's a lot of teams in the league that have enough talent to win a championship. But they don't have a connection. They don't have a togetherness. They don't have a belief in each other. And that's what you're talking about in chemistry. And LeBron has been great at making average players good,

good players really good, and really good players special. Anthony Davis, obviously really talented. Do you think he'll play well with LeBron, coach? I think he's the key to the Lakers. I think he's got to break out. He's got to have a breakout season. He's had a lot of great years where his numbers say a lot of good stuff,

but he's never led a team to winning big games or winning in the playoffs. And I think, I know we're all looking at LeBron, but I really think it's Anthony Davis's year to break out and show the world that he is one of the best players in the world by winning in the playoffs. Finally, you know the Pacific Northwest well. Damian Lillard is one of my favorite athletes in America. And Damien has said, listen, I don't want to leave. And Yonis in Milwaukee has said, I don't want to leave.

Joey and I were just talking about this. I think most players don't want to leave, but they get mad at the coach, mad at the GM, they listen to their agent. Did you find in your NBA career that if most players were reluctant to leave, but sometimes circumstances take over? What I found is they usually are talked into it. It takes a process of, as you said, his agent, his girlfriend, his wife, that they see the other side of the fence being better. And I think in general you're right in your analysis.

But in the same sense, the history tells us that these guys leave most of the time. Yeah, no, they do. What did you make a Kevin Durant going to Brooklyn and leaving the Warriors? Did that catch off base a little bit? I don't understand it. I think it's kind of crazy. I have no idea. I don't think they're a championship team,

even though I love what Brooklyn did this year. I think they're going to be better next year. I think they're going to be an interesting team to follow. But I look at Kevin Durantz. He should be searching for championships. And I don't think he's going to have one in Brooklyn and what the team he has right now. Yeah.

Coach, it's great seeing you. Congrats to your son, Kobe Carl, like her associate head coach at Summer League. if you're in LA, give us a call, stop by. I love to take you out for dinner. Good enough, Colin. Thank you, man. George Carl.

John Smolts around the corner at the All-Star Games. He feels what I think in Brooklyn. I think they're going to be fascinating to watch. There are teams, by the way, the Durant-Westbrook team I always thought was fascinating to watch. I just didn't feel they were a championship team. But I loved watching Durant and Westbrook play. I mean, a lot can happen,

but I just feel like Brooklyn is going to be what the Raptors were this year. Nobody remembered that Kauai was one of the best two-way players in the game before he got injured. We forgot about him. Uh-huh. Katie is going to get counted out. Everyone's going to forget about him. The whole season's going to play out. And then he's going to come back and they're going to be really good.

Dominate the world. Yeah. Joy Taylor with the news. Nope. Oh, I got to take a break. Yeah. Sorry. Yeah, I do that about once a month.

Oh, my God. Between earthquakes and that, it's just the fear meter. I'm not sure what we're going to talk about. Joy's like, I'm not, don't have my notes quite ready. See, I'm just testing my staff. It's not my old age. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific on Fox Sports Radio, FS1 and the I-Hard Radio app.

By the way, Hall of Famer, eight-time All-Star, Saw Young winner in about 10 minutes, John Smolz. The All-Star game tonight in baseball, when you watch the All-Star game, the first thing you're going to pick up on is, man, most of the good players are young. There are a ton. I live in Los Angeles. The Dodgers are one of the youngest teams in baseball. The Yankees, even though they have some veterans, have a ton of young talent. There is a wave.

And who knows why? Is it because moms 10 years ago started moving off football? I mean, who knows why? But it comes in waves. There is a wave of new baseball talent. And there are 25, 26-year-old kids everywhere that can really play. We'll talk to that with Smolten coming up. World Series champ, eight-time All-Star.

and a Sall Young winner and a Hall of Famer. First, though, Joy Taylor with the news. No, no, no, no. Turn on the news. This is the herd line news. So there's been talk about this for a while, you know, the tampering thing, and how do you really regulate that when players are mainly the ones communicating and recruiting? And we pretty much saw that in wake of Kauai, Paul George, and Katie Kairi,

teaming up. And Damien Lillard had an explanation for why he thinks the recruitment by players is now more powerful than pitch meetings by teams. The coaches and the front offices, they don't have as much, I guess, power as the players. You know, the players are so friendly now. I think in the past it was like, you know, Jordan probably didn't go out searching

and trying to get guys to come join them. You know, it was like they was competing against each other. Now is, well, they got three stars on their team, so I know this guy and that guy. I'm going to try to get them to come to my team, so I think you see it a lot. more now, whereas just players recruiting players is more powerful than a pitch meeting with the team. You know, if you really just think about it, it makes perfect sense.

If you're happy at a company and you know that bringing someone that you trust to that company is going to make not only you better, but the company that you're comfortable with and other people there that you're comfortable with better, why wouldn't you have a conversation with them? And if you're going to move somewhere, why wouldn't you want to talk to somebody who's already there to find out what's really going on, to find out how things really work or what the plan is? Like a pitch meeting is cool, but everyone's always going to put their best foot forward in a pitch meeting. You're going to hear all wonderful things. When I was, when I came to Fox Sports, we didn't have many people. It was like our show and that was it.

I got on the phone with Skip Bayliss and Chris Carter and Jason McIntyre. and I was calling people and saying, listen, I do what you do for a living. They treat you really well here. There's nothing against the bosses, but I'm like, I knew that my former employer wanted them and we wanted them and I said, listen, I've worked at both. They treat you way better.

I mean, you want to have a communication with people that you trust. And people you do the same thing as. Right. And you don't do the same thing as the executives do. That's right. Like, they're going to tell you something different than someone who is your peer is going to tell you. So really all this makes perfect sense.

Now, I mean, Damien Lillard's made it very clear that he doesn't want to take that direction, and that's fine. But he also is in a great situation where he feels like he can possibly win a championship, and he very well might. Good GM, good coach, good teammates. Not every player lands in that spot, and people do things for different reasons. So after disappointing season, the Lakers' front office is now given LeBron a superstar partner. They have Anthony Davis, and they've also surrounded him with some capable shooters.

And now our own Chris Haynes reports that the Lakers intend to start LeBron at point guard next. season. Yeah. Meaning Danny Green will likely start at the two and Rondo will come off the bench. But that will also mean probably many lineup changes and assignments for Frank Vogel, especially early in the season. Well, why does that matter? LeBron's first seasons with new coaches haven't exactly gone that well over the past decade.

Remember, he and Eric Spolstra had some issues there in Miami. Everyone knows what happened with David Blatt in Cleveland's. Last year, obviously, Luke Walton didn't end so well. And even had issues with Coach K during their first summer together with Team USA back in 2006 before they, you know, obviously developed a bond at this point. But all that's happening while Jason Kidd is on the bench who he has a previous relationship with. So this could be kind of an interesting thing to watch the season. Now, we've all had the conversations when the coaching search was going on about how is the relationship with the new coach and LeBron going to work because, I mean, he has a reputation of this being an issue.

Now, I think LeBron may realize he's in a different phase in his career than he has in these past situations. So you've got to make things work quickly. But that was a big issue for the Celtics this year. What is everyone's role? And how is all this going to work? And it's not just chemistry and wanting to play together. You have to actually translate it onto the court as well. And, you know, LeBron and AD have had situations in the past, especially this last season, of missing games.

That's going to fall on Kuzma. There's a lot of moving parts here with the lake. that should make people a little nervous. Yeah. It's a lot of question. I will say this, though. They got LeBron shooters. Yeah.

I mean, that was the thing that they needed to do. KCP, Danny Green, Dudley can hit a shot. That's the one thing I know. LeBron drives and dishes really well. Yep. Finally, the NBA world was shocked when it was announced that Paul George would be traded to the Clippers, and it left Russell Westbrook as the only true star on the Thunder.

And then it was immediately speculated. that Russell would want out of this rebuilding franchise. Well, now a new report from Mark J. Spears suggests that he might have wanted out even before that swap happens. According to sources, since George Westbrook and the Thunder suffered a disappointing first round exit in the playoffs in April, Westbrook has been quietly grumbling about the team's struggles and may want out. George, meanwhile, beat him to the punch.

Now, we talk a little bit about Russell Westbrook possibly going to Houston or Miami. There are other few teams floating out there. But, Detroit. Yeah, Detroit, the Wizards possibly. But to me, the most interesting situation would be him with Houston because Houston is still considered to be a contender. And they've been right there, just right there for so many years. And they feel like they need to make a dramatic move and be aggressive. But is that the right move to be aggressive for?

If Chris Paul wasn't there and you just said Hardin Westbrook, I don't think it'd be great. But I'd be like, watch that. It means two dynamic scores. But when you have Chris Paul Harden and Westbrook, to me, it's like, oh, that's dynamite. That's explosion. TNT. That's a lot in the room. I mean, Hardin and Westbrook is interesting because, I mean, we saw last year, you never know.

We never account for injuries, right, when we're doing all these preseason predictions. And even at the All-Star break, we have this idea of who we think is going to end up there. One injury, as we saw with the Warriors can change everything. And then, who knows, it ends up being two injuries or things happen along the way, especially in the playoffs. It's a long playoff run. So I actually don't know that I would count Westbrook and Harden out if they were able to keep some of their ex-doctor pieces that they have in Houston in place. I'm personally rooting for Miami, though. I'm rooting for interesting.

Miami and Houston are more interesting. I wouldn't watch him in Detroit. Nothing against Detroit, but I just. It doesn't have the same pop. Yeah. Joy with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by.

The Hurd Lie News. He's not only a great analyst, played 21 years all in the same place. a Syong winner, a Hall of Famer, an eight-time All-Star, and tonight the coverage begins at 7 Eastern on FS1, the Major League Baseball All-Star Game. Frankly, as I've said for many years, the only watchable All-Star Game, worthwhile All-Star Game in sports.

I don't know how anybody sits through the Pro Bowl. The NBA All-Star Games nonsense. Nobody plays defense. I love tonight. John Smolts is joining us via the Coward Global Satellite Network. First of all, I want to touch on something. I touched on about five minutes ago. It goes in waves.

There are a ton of young baseball stars. And I don't know why. I do know, John, over the last seven, eight years, baseball participation in America is sharply increasing, meaning moms and dads are pushing their kids into baseball more than ever. What do you see? Because it seems like to me there's a wave of 12 to 15 really good young players. Yeah, we have, I would call it a little bit of an epidemic.

sports where we're getting sports specific too young, too early. So there are decisions being made at 7, 8, 9 years old that you would never make 20 years ago about what sport you're going to choose. So they're playing the sport more often, which comes with a little bit of risk of injury and burnout, but they're more prepared. They're in showcase games. They're in all kinds of big moments so that when these big moments happen here on the field, which I was scared to death my first year, they're not. They're making huge impacts. And some of them are being forced a little bit unprepared, but their talent's so good that the team can do away with what they're not capable of as far as the fundamental completion of a player. And I think you're seeing about

transformation of players who are making adjustments on the fly, which I think is unbelievable for a young player, which speaks to their mindset and their ability to adjust and learn because it's not an easy game. It's a game of failure. And I'm in awe of the young youth in our game that has made major impacts. And it's a loud close. to go in directions where maybe they couldn't have gone before, they would have allowed that seasoning in the minor leagues to happen a little longer. Veteran guy stays in there, plugs up the spot, and then here comes the young promising future star.

So it's pretty amazing, and I agree with you in this game, from the All-Star standpoint, so much closer to a regular-style game, and I think you're going to see a good one tonight. You know, you talk about the wave of young players. Christian Yelch is a guy that was a late bloomer a little bit. He's six years in the minors. It does feel like, as you said, players are more prepared to go to the big leagues and perform. But you still get some slow growth, guys.

I mean, Tom Brady struggled in college at Michigan, and Brooks Kepka didn't get his card until he was 24 as a golfer and didn't win a big one until he was 27. You got your tigers and your Bryce Harper's. But I do find, like, let's take Bryce Harper. When you come in like Tiger and LeBron and Bryce Harper, the expectations, John, are ridiculous. and where do you think Bryce Harper is today as a star? Most strikeouts I've ever seen. Defensive shifts have not been his friends. Where is his game today, in your opinion?

Yeah, I think you're right. We put so much on everybody regardless of whatever that person puts on himself. So it's added expectation and pressure. I think Bryce Harper handles it from a star standpoint of this is what he was made to do from youth till he got to the big leagues. And he's had a couple big breakout seasons. but I think in fairness to him, it's hard to think that we're passing the mantle on to the next Mike Trout or the next this guy. We're always looking for the next. And Bryce Harper's going to need a year of transition and a new team to reset his roots so that it doesn't fall all on him.

He takes the pressure off the rest of his players. Analytics is one thing, and it certainly has its place with the numbers that tell you what you need to know. But what it won't tell you is what he does for the rest of that ball club taking the pressure off the rest of those players. answering all the questions by dealing with the media, by putting all the attention on them. So I think there's value on that, and not to mention the franchise value, went through the roof for Philadelphia. But the actual question comes down to, is the contract worth and value going to be able to deliver championships? And will it be able to do what Philadelphia wants to do when they signed them? You know, when you look at the Yankees and the Dodgers, there are no perfect

teams. Now, in baseball, it's possible to have a perfect team because you have no salary cap. So if you have the Yankees revenue, you could feasibly, you know, fill your spots, whereas in other sports salary caps, you have some holes you can't solve financially. Is there a team? Like, I look at the Dodgers and I see youth, but is the bullpen good enough? I look at the Yankees. The Yankees records remarkable. They've won despite injuries. Where is the hole in the Yankees? Where do you think October may not be perfect for them, or do they have one? Well, yeah, then the glass half full, half empty.

I love the conversations when we look at teams because everyone can look at it a little bit half empty and then they could find the glass half full. With the Yankees, they've done it without a consistent roster of health. And they've changed their lineup in a way whereby some of those injuries, you found out the ability to contact. They contact the baseball more. They don't strike out quite as much. Where they're weak a little bit is in their starting rotation, where they're strong,

it's in their bullpen. And so when they look at basically putting this team together and when Cashman made the moves he did for depth, and that has played out huge, he's looking, I would think indirectly at the Houston Astros because they're going to have two big right-handed donkeys that they're going to have to face if they're going to go to the World Series in theory in Cole and Verlander. And is there enough strikeouts in that lineup? I think he shured that up. They can shorten the game in the bullpen and lights out in the sixth inning on.

So if they add a starter that can kind of come close to a frontline guy that would help them, they are very dangerous offensively. The question with the Yankees still is 162 games, they're going to bludger in the ball, they're going to embarrass pitchers, but in a series, can they make enough contact? And as far as the Dodgers go, you're right about the bullpen.

Their ability to add a piece in the bullpen would go a long way with the quality team that they have. They're not going to be challenged in their division. They're certainly going to get into the postseason and make that third run at a World Series and try. The pressure's on them, but I think the most complete team when healthy is still the Houston Astros. For all the areas that they have to complement one another,

I still think they're a team that when healthy is got the most weapons. Okay, so I said this earlier. I've been hearing balls juice forever. And my takeaway is it's easy to say that, right? Like I could just be a sportscaster and say balls juiced, but there's no nuance. There's no context with that. I think, and I compared it, John, to the three-point shot in basketball.

When the defensive shifts came out, a lot of people pushed back when Joe Madden started it in Tampa. And then everybody's like, that kind of works. Oh, it's beating me. And now if you don't do some defensive shift and if you don't embrace analytics and launch angle, you're a dinosaur. And so I think like the three-point shot, there was pushback about eight years ago. Now everybody's in on the three-point shot and everybody's in on launch angle. And that's why we're seeing the home runs. The whole sport now, you can't bunt.

strikeouts are okay, no ground balls. I don't buy juice baseballs. But maybe I'm completely wrong. What are people sent inside the sport? Well, the biggest thing is where I would trust, and I haven't held a baseball in 11 years, but when I did, you could blindfold me and I could tell you 10 different baseballs if you put in my hand what was different about them. So I'm going to trust the pitchers that they have the ball on their hand

have thrown over 2 million pitches, that they have an understanding that the ball feels different, it's reacting different, and that might be an unintended consequences of just manufacturing a baseball and things change. Content changes. The weather changes. So there is some validity to the ball being different and adding to the distance and less drag and where the ball stays in the air more. But you're 100% right in your analogy. Because we see more three-point shots and because there's more three-pointers in the game,

it's not necessarily because there's better shooters. It's just a philosophy to shoot the ball more, therefore you're going to have more three-pointers. Same thing with baseball. The philosophy is, beat the shot. shift, swing, don't have a two-strike approach. Get the ball in the air. Do not hit the ball on the ground. So that's going to add to the more volume in home runs. The distance and the far and the way it's traveling, that's a different issue. Because velocity is in and guys are stronger and their launch angle and the way they swing the bat's different, that is going to contribute to more home runs.

But when a guy hits a ball, the other way on a kind of an off-balance swing and the ball's launching itself out of the stadium, you start questioning, why is that ball staying in the in the air that long. We're not in Colorado. So there is some validity. I don't believe it's intentional. I don't believe this was set out to go and make more offense. Offense is now being the same philosophy in basketball is the quickest way to get a run is hit the ball over the fence. That is contributing to it. The inability to locate pitches worldwide in our game, league wide is also contributing to it and the approach of the hitter. So you're right on, but there is something different when a majority of the pitchers,

complain about being able to spin the baseball or the feel of the baseball. And I'm going to trust them because they got it in their hand just like I did for 21 years. And that's why I threw back a lot of baseballs that didn't feel right. That's fascinating. That's when you really know your sport that you could grab a baseball and know that it was different from other baseballs. That's fascinating. John Smoltz, good luck.

And we'll be watching you tonight. Thank you. You bet. He could grab any baseball and he can tell it was different. that's when you know your business. Like I grab a microphone, they all feel the same. I have no idea. I have no idea.

I cannot tell this microphone. I mean, that's not fair. You don't have to hold the microphone the whole show. If you came up to the microphone and you had headphones on and you sounded different, then I would say that. So Tom Brady grabs a football and he can immediately tell. More inflation, less. Yes. You think he could.

I think we established that he likes football specifically. That sounds like a dolphin fan talking there. We moved past that. But, I mean, yeah, I mean, he's got a baseball on his hand. I think of how much time a day he spends with a baseball on his hand. But it's also why he can speak to both sides of it. Yeah. Coming up with reports that Russell Westbrook might be traded away,

I'll take a fond look back at Westbrook's career with the Thunder. And kind of one of the most memorable moments. And when you shape them, what does it say about his career? That's coming up. If you own a sports team, you need to be informed to make smart decisions to build a champion. We know that. No different. comes to selling or trading your car, you need to make good choices, newer used, and

true car, you've got a star in your roster. When you're ready to sell a newer used car, trade in, check out true car, true cash offerer not available in all states. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific. Nice to have you in. Speak for yourself after us. Best for last. Russell Westbrook, according to stories, is interested in moving on. I think what he's given to the franchise. He's been kind of the bedrock of the franchise.

And though he's flawed, if a player like Westbrook had sold as many tickets as he had and sold out as many games and he wanted to be traded, I run the team, I own the team, I'd trade him. I also think it's time for a reboot for Oklahoma City, a reboot for Westbrook.

And I said, you know, if you look in totality of Westbrook and the things that come to mind, it paints a picture a little bit of a roller coaster. And that's what I started. I've called Cam Newton at before.

He's like, he's a roller coaster. I get good, bad. You know, generally with Peyton Manning, you'd have a couple of hiccups. It wasn't completely linear. But it was mostly going up. I think that's what you'll see with Sam Darnold. I think it's mostly what you've seen with great quarterbacks.

I did this on Odell Beckham about a month ago. I did this list. And what it painted the picture was a lot of Odell's brand is non-football. That's maybe why he's a global star. but it's also kind of bad when it doesn't connect a lot of times with what we watch, which is football. Brady's, by the way, Brady's brand is almost all football. Good, bad, and controversial, it's all football.

So family feud style, when I say Russell Westbrook in Oklahoma City, let's go to the board, the biggest, most clear-cut memories. Number one. What's number one? number one is triple doubles. That's the first thing I think of when I think of Oklahoma City. Listen, Russell Westbrook and Oscar Robertson, and in the history of the NBA are the triple double guys.

He's had the most in a season, 42, that's virtually half the games. He had 10 straight triple doubles. That's never been done. When I think of Oklahoma City in Westbrook, the first thing I think of is triple doubles. That's very positive, mostly. number two number two in the board

I can't get overfewed with Durant they didn't speak for a long time listen Durant's a superstar Westbrook's a superstar and in the end he was flirting with another superstar Steph Curry and bailed

and I don't think Oklahoma City has ever had the breadth the momentum I just don't think of the same franchise it just feels like they've never recovered all right now what's number three actually first round exits Here's the thing.

Playoffs are hard. The West is deep. But Oklahoma City has only won four playoff games in the last three series. That is not good enough. For the talent they have, that's not good enough. Between the Rockets, the Jazz, and the Blazers, that to me is the third brand. Number four, you want an MVP? Okay.

Listen, it wouldn't have been who I would have voted for. but he did beat that year Kauai. He beat Hardin, he beat LeBron. And to be honest with you, he had such a dynamic statistical year. And I also felt like there was a little sympathy. Durant had bailed on him. And there was kind of a sense, let's give the loyal guy who's having the greatest statistical year ever. Give him a little love.

So that would be number four. Number five, his brand in Oklahoma City. Unfortunately, the fan interaction thing, I can't get past. the kid, the slapping the fan, the wife, the phone. It always appeared to be in big games and big moments. Now, fans can be awful and vulgar and at times racist. I'm not denying that, but there was a lot of occasions where he and the road fans did not click. Number six, beef of the media.

I asked Stephen a question. It's a legitimate question. It's a legitimate question. Next question. Next question. Next question. Next question. Are you upset with something?

I just don't like you. No. Listen, it's part of his brand. When you're testy to the local media, you're officially testy. All right, let's go down to number seven. The three-point shooting became an issue. Listen, lowest three-point shooter in the last two years, Last two seasons, he's the worst three-point shooter in the league, and he takes a lot of them.

And we know the culture of basketball has changed the three-point shooting. Russell scores at the basket. He's pretty good mid-range. But this is the game, and he's not great at the element. Smaller guys need to be at the game. And number eight, let's see number eight. He's stylish. He's unique.

He's his own, like, spirit animal. I think the wardrobe makes him also, again, a little bit of a Cam Newton. that he kind of has his own style, his own sense of style. He's a very independent, unique personality. So when you now, when you put the board up of all the things Oklahoma City is, I still think two of the top four are very great basketball accomplishments, triple double one of the MVP. But if you notice this, feud with KD, beef with media, fan interaction,

that does give me a sense. I got three different feuds on there, in my opinion, the eight biggest kind of brands with him. I think it's fair to say he is a unique and sometimes difficult person to get along with. Cam Newton is a very interesting comparison to Westbrook. Although, I mean, they did make the finals. I mean, they didn't do well in that finals.

I mean, I know it was quite a few years ago, but they were in the finals against the heat. And Cam made the Super Bowl. There's no question. There is a comparison. I mean, I don't think that people really think about those finals when they think of Westbrook, which is a little unfair. I mean, they were babies in that 2012 finals, but they were there.

Yes. No, it's interesting. I think when we do these like family feud style and then you look in totality, holistically at all the big brands. O'Dell, it was shocking how little football was on it. Well, yeah, there's more basketball on that board. But here's what I think that board shows. He's an intense, often a little bit rigid personality, and it can be more difficult.

Not impossible, by the way. Not impossible. Because by the way, he and Billy Donovan seem to get along pretty well. They haven't had any feuds. So he can get along with this. Coach, fine. But he can. Fans, media, KD.

He can be rigid. He's an intense personality, at least on the court. I would be interesting to see, though, if he leaves. I mean, I'm a Westbrook fan. But I would love to see him win a championship because it would change a lot of the narrative about his career if he was able to do that. Listen, it's hard as you, you know, when you're super athletic in today's game, when you're super athletic and not an elite shooter, the game's cruel to you. You age really fast. Like I think Steph Curry, Clay Thompson could honestly play through his 40.

I mean, Clay Thompson shoots. Right. And by the way, he's a catch and shoot guy. So Clay didn't even have to create his own shot. Clay just can stand around the court move, get it. Clay Thompson's going to age really well. I don't think Russell's going to age particularly well. You know, John Walls this.

John's not a great shooter, but he's super athletic. Well, John's now had another surgery on another knee. John's not a guy that can sit out in the outside and crank up shots. So the downside, we fall in love with these hyper-athletic, dynamic, rim-attaining. Who's their energetic? They're fun to watch. They're fun to watch.

But those players don't protect it. Kevin Durant can play until he's 40 because he can shoot. And by the way, he's another guy. He can catch and shoot. Dirk Novitsky played forever because he could just shoot. And he didn't have to even create a shot. He could catch and shoot. All right.

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