The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Rockets Drama, Lakers Going All In, Don't Bury The Celtics, and Kevin Durant

Episode Date: June 19, 2019

Doug Gottlieb, in for Colin Cowherd, discusses the rumors of dysfunction in the Rockets organization and where the team goes moving forward. Doug says that the Lakers going all in makes sense. He explains why people shouldn't dance on the Celtics grave. And Doug tells you why he isn't buying Kevin Durant to New York.Guests Include: Chris Mannix, Brian Smith and Jason McIntyre 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. And this is the herd, wherever you may be. And however, you may be making this part of your day. Thanks so much. Live from Los Angeles, I'm Doug Gottlieb. Filling in for Colin Cowherd. Man, what a show we got for you today. Chris Mannix from Sports Illustrated will stop by in about 15 minutes.

Brian Smith from the Houston Chronicle. We'll join us next hour in the show. A lot of things going on. Trade in the NBA is a player who not long ago was actually the highest paid player in the NBA has been dealt. More on that to come. There's basically three kind of big emerging stories in the NBA.

There is the somewhat mass exonist, it feels like, from the Boston Celtics, We'll cover that. The reality of what Danny Ainsch has done as well as what he must do as Al Horford opted out of his contract. And apparently it's exploring other options. Most people thought when he'd opt out, it would be for a longer term, less money yearly deal to remain with the Celtics.

That doesn't appear to be at least the immediate case. Maybe this is negotiating. Then you have the Lakers who, shocker here, are trying to get rid of everything on their roster, with exception obviously of Anthony Davis, LeBron James, and Kyle Kuzma, in an effort to clear up cap space, they can go after a third star.

But then you have the story of the Houston Rockets. Now, look, I don't know what to make of the Yahoo story, which came out yesterday in regards to the Rockets. Because in the story, It says that James Hardin told the Rockets, hey, him or me. Basically, one of us has to go, and the hymn is Chris Paul. And that Chris Paul has had it up to here.

No one says that anymore, by the way. I have had it up to here. Did your mother ever say that to you? I've had it up to here with this nonsense. My takeaway from the story is this. Chris Paul, much like the rest of us, can't stand watching James Hardin play basketball. We all respect the points and the assistant and the talent, but, oh boy, if I got to watch him go through his legs 15 times, drive in, throw up his hands in the air like he got crushed and hoped to get a foul. I won't do harm to myself, but I have had it up to here with watching that.

That's the general takeaway. Stop me if you've heard this before, but Chris Paul is not the greatest teammate to get along with. Stop me if you heard this before, but James Hardin likes ISO ball and doesn't like to play defense. And stop, you've heard of this before, but the Rockets lost at home. Mike Dan Tony didn't get to the NBA finals. And James Hardin came up short in a fourth quarter. All of these things have happened before. So to quote, a good friend of mine, Ryan Rusillo, saw him say this on TV, which is,

Chris Paul doesn't have to have said, I want to be traded. without wanting to not play with James Hardin anymore, and James Hardin's not going anywhere. By the way, Chris Paul, to his credit, earlier today, said the news of him wanting a trade was news, quote, news to him. So things are going quite swimmingly in Houston, right? New owner comes in and says, you know, this is unacceptable. We want changes.

They fired the entire assistant coaching staff. Clearly, that message gets through. I am so mad I'm going to fire the assistant coaches. You go ahead. They have the virtually untradable contract of Chris Paul. They have James Hardin who they won't trade. And they have Clint Capella who you might be able to find a home for. And then you have this from Brian Smith is going to join us later on from the Houston Chronicle.

The Rockets are expected to pursue Jimmy Butler and be aggressive in their pursuit, seen as an ideal fit on both sides. of the court in helping push the rockets to the top of the wide open west. On paper, that sounds great. Right? On, and on paper is what the rockets are about. On paper, on paper they got screwed in game seven of not this year, last year's Western Conference Finals, right?

Because on paper is analytics and stats and numbers. They conducted, they had a quest. let's figure out why we lost to the Golden State War. It felt like we got screwed in the officiating. And so, the user analytics department determined that not only should they not have lost, they should have won by like 10 points. It wasn't even close, according to them.

I mean, they did happen to miss, I don't know, 27 straight three-point shots. But we were fouled on a couple of them. that's, you guys don't. We were foul on a couple of them. There's no way we could have just missed all of those on our own. That the old adage, you live and die by the three could actually be accurate. No, no, no, no, no, no.

The rockets are, are, we use the term paper champs wrong, right? They are the on paper champs. On paper, this move makes sense. Right? You just, you're like, wait. we get Chris Paul, we got James Hardin, we got Jimmy Butler. Here's a question. How many teams is, if Jimmy Butler, it changes teams.

I believe that'll be his fourth team in four years, correct? Right? Chicago, Minnesota, he's like a Minnesota for a what, a year and a half? Right? He's in Philadelphia for half a year. My math pretty good. You know, this is like when you're, when you're, anybody can get divorced. man marriage is hard it's not and and you know what you can fall back into it and go you

you got married the second time the rebound person whatever you get married for the wrong reasons or at that time of your life two marriage is okay you start getting married three four times be like you know maybe they're not the problem I'm seeing a trend here but the rockets embody and and look I don't want to make analytics the punching bag for everything that that's wrong with sports. Right? But sports is not just about the numbers. Case in point, the Houston Rockets.

By the numbers, they should have beaten the Warriors going back to last year. By the numbers, Chris Paul and James Hardin are actually way more effective offensively than either of them on the floor without the other. Like, it's not the stats, the analytics will tell you they are far more effective with Chris Paul and James Harden together, as they well should be. But sports isn't about the on-paper champs. It's not about some sort of mathematical calculation. If it was, then why weren't the Warriors better without Kevin Durant?

The numbers told us that they were back. I was 33 and 1 without Kevin Durant. They're better when that Kevin Rand. And I'm sitting here coming in to tell Colin, like, you know, It doesn't actually control who you're playing against because he sits against some of the weaker teams, the regular season games. Collins' best line, I think, in the last couple of years

is that regular season basketball is the practice tee, is the golf range, the driving range of the NBA. Man, I am good off the artificial turf on the driving range. Who is not? I can shape shots. I can just pipe my drive you know, 300 yards? You know what I don't do?

I don't even hit the driver when I get out on real course. Do you know why? Because I can't hit it straight when I need to. But the on-paper champs, this is a classic move of a team that would say like, look, Jimmy Butler to Chris Paul and the James Hardin. Yeah, but Jimmy Butler can't seem to get along with anybody. Chris Paul can't seem to get along with anybody.

And no one likes watching James Hardin dribble 50 times before taking a shot and then jump into people and try and get a call, which he won't get in the playoffs, even though he will get in the regular season, right? I mean, this is much like, are you guys familiar with the transitive property? Transitive property is basic math calculation. If A equals B and B equals C, then A must equal C, right? The transit property doesn't work in sports. Well, we beat them and they beat this other team, so we must be able to beat the other team.

That's not actually the way it works. It's just odd. Math makes sense to people who don't get the subtle nuances of life and of sports. Look, in football, the numbers would tell you that you should always go for two. Ask Mark Helfridge how that worked out for him in Oregon. He's a head coach in Oregon. They played at Nebraska, I believe, and I think they went for two and didn't get it four consecutive times. And they had a litany of injuries, but he basically got run out of town.

And one reason was like, well, he keeps going for two. Because even though the math would tell you, you should go for two every time, especially in college football where they make extra points far less readily than they do in the pros. And even now in the pros, obviously, they had to move it back, which is, by my estimation, the greatest rule change in the history of professional sports. when you don't get it and go for two, even though you just scored a touchdown. You just scored a touchdown.

You should be feeling nothing but joy and adulation and success. You feel kind of let down. It's a buzzkill. It's a buzz kill. In baseball, they'll tell you, and you shouldn't bunt. The numbers tell you you shouldn't bunt.

Did anybody watch last night? Dodgers, they beat the Giants 9-0. It's a 2-0 game in the bottom of the 6th inning. Chris Taylor comes up, runners at first and third. And you know what he did? He laid down the absolute perfect punt. Right between the pitcher and the first baseman, essentially where second base should be,

but second base was covering second base on first and third. And so the first baseman had to try and get it for the Giants he could not. Scored a run, made it three-nobes. Clayton Kirshaw was lights out last night and the Dodgers win nine to nothing. The numbers would tell you you should never bunt. Unless you're Chris Carpenter and they put the shift on and you bunt and you get all the way to second base. Matt Carpenter, sorry. Matt Carpenter, you get always a second base.

I'm not completely, I'm not cutting the credibility of numbers as showing us different ways to accomplish. a similar or better success rate. They're valuable. But there's a reason that Chris Paul, whether he wants out or he's just ticked off, or just the reason they don't win is because they don't like each other. And you can't explain that on a spreadsheet. The reason Jimmy Butler is going to probably be on his fourth team is

because either he doesn't like guys or they don't like him or he's a very good player. I mean he does take his own car, does his old Uber Excel to every game which ticks guys off. You know, he has this kind of own thing going on. Numbers can't explain that. Numbers can't explain why at some point in time, bunting is in fact the right thing. At some point in time, you just kick the extra point even though you could go for two. And the rockets are the on-paper champions, but not the real champions for a reason. because games aren't decided on spreadsheets.

Chemistry doesn't sometimes, it always, always, always matters. All right, coming up next, NBA insider Chris Mannix joins the show. What does he think happens with the Rockets? And what about the Celtics? A team that was supposed to have such great chemistry suddenly has fallen apart.

How does Danny Aange fix it? We'll discuss all that next. I'm Doug Gottlieb. This is the herd. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific on Fox Sports Radio, FS1, and the IHeart Radio app. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind. Highlights are trending, opinions are flying, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened.

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on the IHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, wherever you get your podcast. Doug Gottlieb, been in for Colin Coward. This is The Herd on Fox Sports Radio in the IHeart Radio app. Collins back on Monday. As I think he planned out smartly, the idea was, hey, NBA finals are done. There's a bit of a before free agency. But we haven't had that, right? We haven't had it.

Anthony Davis gets traded on Sunday. So Colin's like, all right, I'll push back vacation. then he's gone yesterday and suddenly Houston Rockets have massive chemistry issues the Boston Celtics appear to be not just losing Kyrie Irving but Al Horford

and the ramifications of the Lakers trade as well as a trade of Mike Conley now a member of the Utah Jazz as Ricky Rubio a free agent told the world that he wasn't a priority of the jazz and now we know why Long Rumor Trade has in fact been consummated.

Chris Mannix joins us from Sports Illustrated. Of course, he has a new pod out. I was just looking at his, had his tweet, which talks about many of these topics. So this is not the first time he's discussed. Just the first time he's discussed with us here on Fox Sports Radio. Minix, let me get your thoughts on the Anthony Davis trade.

Obviously, the Lakers finally get their man. But the old question is at what price paradise? They get to hold on to Kuzma, but not a lot, if anything else. what do you think of the deal from the Lakers perspective? Yeah, they gave up the store. There's no question about that, but I thought the Lakers were in the same kind of position that Oklahoma City was in two years ago that Toronto was in last year,

where their need to make a deal trumped kind of any serious concerns about what they were giving up. The second they signed LeBron James last summer, they put themselves on LeBron's timetable. And if you look at LeBron as having three or four years at being somewhere in the neighborhood of the peak of his powers, you've got to add somebody. And they didn't have much chance of landing a big fish in free agency. So they had to acquiesce the demands of the Pelicans with this deal. Now, could they have done a little bit better? Probably, I think if you survey the landscape and if they had held off a little bit, I think the Pelicans would have realized that the Lakers were the only real suitor out there.

but they had to get their guy and they got him. So the latest story out of L.A. is that the Lakers are can continue to try and shed as much salary as possible in order to land a third player, third superstar. Is Kemba Walker their primary target? I think he's somebody they're looking at. I still think Kyrie Irving is somebody they're going to try to to find a way to talk to, though I've been troll told pretty solidly

that he's headed to one of the New York teams, and the Nets believe he's headed their direction. But it's going to be a guard, obviously. And Kemba, I think what it comes down to with Kemba is just how do the negotiations go with Charlotte? I mean, what kind of offer does Charlotte put on the table on July 1st? I don't believe it'll be for Supermax, but I don't think Kemba is necessarily tied to that Supermax. I think he'd like something over the max. But, you know, we kind of get locked in this idea that if a guy's eligible for the Supermax, he has to get it. It's not really the case.

If he gets somewhere in between, I think Kemba stays in Charlotte. He's just got such a strong bond with that community that if he gets the money, I don't think he goes anywhere. So I think the Lakers are going to hope that those negotiations get derailed in some way and Kemba becomes available. What do you make of the Yahoo story about the struggles with chemistry in Houston? I don't really know what I, I don't know what's true, what's not. I've been told pretty strongly that the relationship between Hardin and Paul, while, you know, being damaged somewhat at the end of last year, was not, you know, was unsalvageable, irreconcilable.

I have been told, and you've seen Darry be very strong about this. I've been told privately, too, that he has not requested trade, you know, from them. So I think the relationship is strained, say, the least. based on the end of last season, but I don't think it's irreconcilable. And I don't think the rocket, first of all, the rockets can't move in. Like that that contract is too onerous. But even if they could, I don't know that the Rockets would do it. I still think they believe that this group, you know, can make a run out there.

Now, what they've been doing with Mike Dantone is strange. I mean, they have to figure that out. And I put some of that on ownership and what Tillman-Pretta is doing as the new owner in Houston. but if they can figure out the Dantonie stuff and get him signed to some kind of extension, you have to look at the landscape, Doug, and say the rockets are at the worst, the co-favorants to come out of the West with the group they currently have. You would think, right, you would think they look around and go, wait a second, wait a second. The Lakers have three players.

We've been at the doorstep, and now the Warriors are maybe not dead, but they're going to have to regroup for at least a year. and I mean, Oklahoma City still trying to find a way to get rid of Stephen Adams. They have their playoff limitations. No one believes that Portland can be any better than they were. Maybe Utah is slightly better. But yeah, I'm with you. But there is something to the fact that how much of it is they can't move Chris Paul even if they wanted to.

So they might as well make Chris Paul not available via trade as of now. I mean, I think both things can be true. they can't move Chris Paul if they want to. I mean, I guess they never say can't because it all takes us one team to think that Chris Paul is the missing link to what they're doing. You get creative, and that's about it's creative of front office in Houston, as you'll see in the NBA. But I don't know that it's just about not being able to trade him. I do think that there's some in the organization that believe they can put this together, and that Hardman Paul, as the foundation, are better with the guys they have around him.

than anything else right now in the Western Conference. I mean, look at the teams you named. I mean, I think Portland, depending on what Nerkich does when he comes back and how he comes back, they might be able to take another small step forward. But Oklahoma City is vulnerable. I think the Warriors are going to take a massive step back, obviously. It's just there, Doug. It's there for them to take if they can find a way to make all this work.

What do the Warriors do? Well, let's start with this. What does Kevin Durant do? I still think Kevin Durant is going to one, the New York teams. You know, that's been the prevailing sense I've gotten, you know, from people that know him for a while now. And I don't know.

I mean, a lot clearly changed in Kevin Durant's life with this injury. But does this injury make him think that a five-year contract for the Warriors is the way to go? Or does he have enough confidence in himself that at 32 years old, he can still piece together a great career and maybe get another contract on the back end of it? These are questions that only Kevin Durank can answer in the aftermath of that injury. But everything I was told before the injury was that one of the New York teams was where he's going to wind up. And I just, I have not heard anything to indicate that change. Chris Mannix, joining us from Sports Illustrated.

Doug Gottlieb, been for calling this to Hurt on Fox Sports Radio app. Okay, so let's say he goes to New York. We assume they resign Clay Thompson and they just kind of sit tight and start to re-revees. build their bench? Is that their plan B? I think it has to be at this point because there really aren't a lot of attractive alternatives. I mean, if you bring back Clay Thompson, it's going to be on a max deal. You've already got Steph Curry on a max deal. You've got Draymond Green making real money. You're very limited in terms of your flexibility and what you can do. I mean, I think the biggest question that Golden State has to answer next season is what do you do with Draymond Green? I mean,

Draymond's going to be a free agent in 2020. You assume next year, maybe it's a playoff season, but it's not going to end in a championship. It's not going to end in a trip to the finals. So you go into the summer of 2020, and Draymond's going to be looking for real money. This is probably going to be his last significant deal as he hits 30 on this new contract. If you're the Warriors and you see what Draymond is right now and you sort of play out what he's going to be in 2020, Do you want to be the team that gives him that? Or do you turn around and look for maybe 75 cents on the dollar

or with players and draft picks that could benefit you with how you build around Curry and Thompson? I mean, those two guys are going to be the next five years of this Warriors team. If you don't believe and you don't want to pay Draymond, who is, let's be real, he is kind of a depreciating asset to that team. Still a great player, but the shooting has slipped and defensively, he's great against Fours now. If we talk to scouts, he's not great.

against five's anymore, and he's not as great against threes anymore. So if you want to pay him, or do you want to try to get pieces that make more sense around Curry and Thompson, I think that's going to be a big decision for Bob Myers and that staff, either this summer or into next season. What's your take on what's going on in Boston, where

Al Horford opted out? Most people thought he'd stay at a reduced rate, but a long-term contract. Now it looks like he's looking elsewhere. I have my own thoughts, but I'm curious of yours. Look, I think Al Horford wants to stay. If all things were equal, I think he'd want to be there.

He's got a tremendous relationship with Brad Stevens, with Danny Ains, with that entire organization, with the city of Boston, frankly, he's developed a pretty strong bond with. But Al Horford and his agent aren't idiots. I mean, they know that this summer has a summer of 2016 field to it, where there are going to be teams with this max and double max cap space that don't get the guys that they want. and we'll turn around and have a four-year, close to or full max-level offer, ready for Al Horford. So if you're Horford, you're not going to take like a three-year, $60-ish-million-dollar deal from the Celtics if there's a much bigger contract that's out there for you to take.

So that's kind of my big takeaway from. It's not that Al Horford wants out of Boston the same way that Kyrie Irving wants out of Boston. He just wants to get paid, and I don't think the Celtics are willing to give him that four-year high-level contract to do it. I have heard almost the exact same thing, that it's not that the Celtics don't like him, they do, but the Celtics, they can't sit there and go like, hey, we're going to, we're going to shout everything for Al Horford. We're not that close. We lost Kyrie. Gordon Hayward's not where he, we thought he would be before he joined the Celtics. We're like, we're not that close. He's not the icing on top of the cake. So it's not that we don't want him. We're just not going to give him some huge contract to this point in his career because it doesn't make sense for us.

Right. And it's, look, it's crushing for bar. Austin. I mean, you lose Kyrie, and it creates a lot of questions, right? Like, maybe you bring back Terra Rozier and see if you can rehabilitate him into the player we saw in the 2018 playoffs. I don't know if that would work. But even if he's something close to that, second year post-injury Gordon Hayward's going to be better. And this guy's a great ball handler, great playmaker. There wasn't a window for the Celtics to really surprise people next year to win more than 50 games. And depending on what happens with the teams above them, with the Toronto's, Milwaukee's, Philadelphia,

maybe even put themselves in the mix to be a conference threat. But without Al Horford, I just don't know how they'll do it. I don't think they'll be terrible, but I think they'll take a pretty significant step back. Kauai stay in Toronto, go to the Clippers. Man, your guess is good as mine at this point. I mean, all I know from talking to Raptors people is that they feel they've done everything. And, you know, the obvious things, which is winning a championship, but also behind the scenes, treating him like a franchise.

player, the load management stuff, the medical staff, they feel like they've done everything there. One thing Raptors people tell me often is that they hope that these playoff moments resonate with Kauai Leder, not just winning the championship, but the Game 7 ball bouncing winner against Philadelphia, winning the conference finals in Toronto's home floor, the parade and being part of a crowd of 2 million people winning a championship. I don't think there's there's illusions in Toronto that they're going to be able to get Kauai to sign a five-year deal. They'd love to have it happen. But I don't think they believe it.

But I think that their only sliver of optimism here is that Kauai wants to come back on a two-year deal or maybe one plus one to maximize what's left of Conley, Gasol, and the veterans on that team. But even that, it still feels like the clippers of the leader in the clubhouse. Tyree, any chance of the Knicks or is it all Nets? I think there's a chance, but I think there's probably going to be, if there hasn't already, been conversations between Kyrie and Kevin Durant about what they're going to do, because Kyrie to the Nets alone makes zero sense. The Nets are Boston life.

They're coached by a reasonable facsimile to Brad Stevens, who believes in all the same things that Brad Stevens believed in, which is all the things that Kyrie Irving kind of chafed at over the course of the season. It isn't built to care as much about the regular. the season, as Brad Stephen and Kenny Atkinson are. So I think it's got to be Kyrie and somebody else. Cairo, I'm sure, would love to play with

Kevin Durant in Brooklyn, but if it's not Durant, it's got to be a Tobias Harris. It's got to be a Jimmy Butler. If you just bring Kyrie in, and we all know that DeAngelo Russell's not going to be there if Kyrie's there, but if you just bring in Kyrie alone, I don't know how that makes sense for the long-term interest of the net.

I'm with you. I'm with you. They had such great chemistry. You do run, on the other hand, they probably think, hey, we fix DeAngelo Russell, we can fix Kyrie Irving, but it's a completely, there's got to be somebody we're not talking about, right? Like, we keep talking, everybody's talking about the same teams.

L.A., two L.A. teams, two New York teams, Toronto, Milwaukee, like, Dallas, the heat. There's somebody out there who's going to make a big splash. Who is it? Well, I mean, Dallas is the one you'd point to just because of their

cap flexibility and their history of chasing free agents. And I've heard Al Horford's name connected to the Mavericks as one of the potential suitors, which again makes some sense. Frank Porzing is back. You have Horford in the front court with him alongside Luca Donchik has a tremendously skilled three-person combination there. So Dallas, I think, would be the one team that's lurking out there that could be a factor with all these top-tier free agents. Awesome stuff. Chris Manix, download his podcast. It's a very good one. Draft Night is tomorrow night. I know he'll be covering it. Follow him on

social media as well. You can see him on Fox Sports One's TV shows. Manix, thanks so much for joining us. You got it. All right, let's get to our newsman Ryan Music. No, no, no, no. Turn on the news. This is the Heard Line News. Ryan Music, what do you got, bud?

Well, Doug, in a not-so-surprising move that you briefly mentioned earlier, the Memphis Grisleys have traded their veteran guard, Mike Connolly, to the Utah Jazz in exchange for Grayson Allen, Kyle Corver, J Crowder and some draft compensation. So this move by the Grizzlies was expected. They were actually expected to move on from Connolly going back to almost about a year ago.

But once Memphis landed the number two overall pick and they're expected to take guard John Morant, it was basically a matter of win, not if. Conley, one of those guys that, uh, how old do you think he is? I'm going to go 31. Dude, nicely done. Boom. Right there. 31 years old on the nose. Of course, had the injury going back two years ago. Google's very helpful. I'm kidding. Oh, you look? No, I didn't. I mean, look, he's been a super productive player.

And before the injury, when he was the highest paid player in the NBA, he was averaging, you know, 20 a game, six assists a game, an efficient three-point shooter at 40% from the field, an 86% three-point shooter. He's good. Do I think he makes the jazz better? Yes, he's better than Ricky Rubio. Rigurva is just not consistent enough shooter never has been. Incredible human being, Mike, not that Rubio's not. Like I can tell you, like zero flaws as a human being. But he makes a lot of money, and he's an old 31, right? Like he's played, I think, 11 years in the NBA. And, you know, a lot, you know, only a couple of, I think only one 82 game season. He's always been banged up.

He's also played playoffs as well. Like there's some tread off of those tires. But if you look at what they have, you have Gobert who has to have somebody who's pick and roll because he can only catch it and finish at the rim. You know, you have an elite young score who's not a point guard, needs somebody to create for him. I like it for the jazz. They didn't give up that much to get a point guard. The question becomes now, what can they do with the rest of the roster? They lost a Jay Crowder, who's a versatile player, Kyle Corver, who's a great shooter.

But Grace Allen, who I like, and I think he'll be a pretty good pro as time goes on. It's just a good deal from the Jazz. You got Donovan Mitchell, you got Jay Crowder, you still have favors. And, I mean, excuse me, you got Gobert, favors, Donovan Mitchell, and Joe Ingalls. So I think it's a good team. Is that a championship team? No. But we operate under this idea that either it's a championship or bust.

You're in Utah. You keep making the playoffs. You keep getting slightly better. and you keep, Donovan Mitchell keeps improving, you got a chance as teams age and fall by the wayside to be like Denver, one of those chase horses that in the right circumstances, or like Portland, where you can creep into the Western Conference Finals

and who knows what happens. Another interesting note here was there was also a report from the New York Post about the Pelicans potentially trying to trade up up to number two in an attempt to grab R.J. Barrett and reunite him with former Duke teammate R.J. Barrett seems unlikely since the Grizz have gone With Zion Williamson, me. Reunited with Zion Williams.

Reunited with Zion, taking RJ Barrett. Seems unlikely that the Grizzlies would be willing to sort of move off that number two pick and risk missing out on Moran. No, now they've made it like it's John Moran's team. Right. You know, unless they want to trade and get a Drew Holiday, who's a very good player. But yeah, I would say this is a move that clears out, so it's John Moran's team. And you got Jaron Jackson from last year who they really like.

Memphis is going the young route. Yeah. They basically went full tank mode. They went full tank mode two years ago and then fired their coach because he couldn't because he couldn't get along with Gasol. And then they tanked. And then this year they tanked again and traded Gasol away. So they're full tank.

Well, what we thought could be huge news in the NFL actually turned out to be fake news. I don't know if you saw this, Doug, from Brett Farve's official Instagram. He posted an old picture of him holding up. the Lombardi Trophy with the caption, quote, a true champion sticks to his or her calling. I will be coming out of retirement and making my return to play in the NFL for the 2020 season. Stay tuned for more. Hashtag news.

Obviously, people on social media freaked out once they saw this. Doug, what do you think happened after this happened? What was Brett Farv's response to this post? He said it was hacked. That's right. The most obvious thing ever, whenever social media posts happened, Never hey, I was just, you know, bored. I think he was hacked.

Seems very random. Which means... What's more plausible? He got hacked or Brett Farr was a little bored? Can he answer me both? Can he be bored but not so bored that he's going to troll people and make him think he's coming back? I guess it's one of those things that seems so obvious. He's like 49 years old.

He looks like Grizzly Adams. Like, I don't... Or John Denver or Kenny Rogers now, right? Like, and I love Brett Farr. love love not sure the brett farv thing works nowadays as much as it used to because he was a high turnover guy I mean he always went for it but yeah I mean that when I saw it I was like that's got to be a fake or that's got to be hacked and sure enough it was yeah TMZ reached out to farv and he said in fact he is not returning to the NFL uh last one here Doug sticking with the NFL we had a Josh Gordon sighting hold on wait so TMZ's like hey brett

Brett Brett Brett Brett and they like did they interview him on his on his lawn track that would be sell Brett Farr. I think they just reached out for comment. There wasn't an actual video there. But last one, we'll wrap it up here in the NFL. We had a Josh Gordon siding, Doug. The troubled wide receiver was seen catching a pass from Tom Brady. Tom Brady actually posted the video of it on his official Twitter page earlier today.

The caption saying, practice makes perfect. We know how much Gordon has struggled with substance abuse without his entire NFL career. He's actually still under NFL suspension, which occurred in December while he was a member of the Patriots. he remains suspended indefinitely. Just checking in with Tom Brady, or do you think they're actually working towards hope that they'll at some point get him back on the field? I mean, I think Tom Brady's pretty good dude.

I think he doesn't want to bail on the kid, you know, give him nothing. But, I mean, how many, what's the most lengthy suspensions a guy has ever had? He missed like, what was a year and a half? Yeah. It was like two years, really. And then came back, I guess. We never really got... He's only like 25 years old.

Which is crazy. Crazy. Incredibly productive on the field, but... No, he had that one productive year. He was okay this year. It was okay. For the amount of time that he missed and just stepping into a team like the Patriots?

I know. Kind of fascinating. That's Ryan Music with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The Hurd-Lie News. The Lakers have two of the top players in the entire NBA. Now they're looking to add a third,

but is that the right move? We discuss next in the Hurdline. 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. 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 in 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 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? Time out. Quarterback on office blue of 42. Hey, rep, my mama want you to wave at her. What? Hey, Miss Parker. Listen to the Clifference.

for show on the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. American Soccer is about to explode. The World Cup is coming. Ramers sending on to Ernie Stewart the chip. I'm Tad Ramos. I'm Tom Bo. On our podcast, inside American soccer, you'll get the real storylines. I'm not worried about Policic.

I'm not worried about Balagan. I'm not worried about McKinney. My only concern is what happens in the back. The biggest decisions. You're going to look at stats and numbers. He has no shot at making this World Cup team. And the truth about the U.S. national team. It wouldn't be a huge surprise if our team ends up in the quarterfinals

or potentially a great run into the semifinals. The World Cup is almost here. Experience it all with us. Listen, Inside American Soccer with Tom Bogart and Tab Ramos on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, wherever you get your podcast. Doug Gottliebin for Colin, this is the herd. I saw this story earlier today. It was a good one.

I think it's Howard Beck that said the Lakers won the trade but lost the negotiation. I think that's a perfect way of putting it, right? It's like no one's saying they didn't get the best player and one of the best players. But, dude, dude, what are you doing there? You know, what are you doing? Now, the reason they had to part with the number four overall pick, is, and again, these are little things within the salary cap, which are really important. You're not going to win an NBA championship, likely, with the number four pick the first

couple of years. Maybe, maybe as an ancillary piece. The problem with the number four pick is, problem with the number four pick is that it counts against the salary cap, unlike if you have a second round pick. You have the main second round picks do you want, and there's a little. limit to how much you can spend to buy those second round picks. But those don't count, those salaries don't count against your cap because they're non-guaranteed salaries.

So even though technically you're not going to win with younger players, second round picks also, by the way, are generally four-year college players. Three, four-year, sometimes five-year college players, guys that transferred. I threw out of Jordan Caroline, for example. It's Simeon Rice's son. His name is Jordan Caroline played in Nevada. He was a transfer, one of the many transfers to Nevada. So he's a great second round pick.

And at 22, 23, he's 23 years old, you're much more likely to get an immediate contribution. Maybe not the ceiling of a Darius Garland at number four. So what the Lakers' newest plan is, maybe this is plan A, maybe this is plan C. Maybe this is plan Z. I don't know. but the plan is, all right, we got Anthony Davis, we got LeBron James. Now let's try and go get another superstar. Get rid of every other piece of salary that we have.

They're still playing Lualdang's stretched provision contract. It's like $5 million for the next couple of years, the next three years, counting next year. And they have like two other Mo Wagner last year's first round pick. Again, if you are going to trade Mo Wagner, it's not because they don't like Mo Wagner. It's because it's a first round pick. He's got guaranteed money that's on the books, and he might or might not play. Why do you want that?

I mean, they're going to need any name tags. They're getting any name tags for the first month with the LA Lakers. Wait, wait, wait, wait. Who are you? Like a completely new team. It's fascinating. So should they go after a third star? Yeah.

Yeah. I mean look what the hell you're already in go all in do I think it works I have no idea because I don't know what LeBron has left I have no idea there were times last year

even before injury that he was not moving the way that he used to move now he could make up for it offensively because he's got more more shooting skill than he used to have when he was in Cleveland and definitely used to have when he was in Miami

but but he could also make up for other people's weaknesses defensively because he was so crazy athletic back before he was a knockdown three-point shoot he had this weird step back that he shoots down. But there's a term, it's a gambling term, it's called pot committed. Right? Pot committed. And that's what the Lakers are.

They're pot committed. Could they have played out the strategy of, hey, look, all right, we're not going to get Anthony Davis. let's try and go get another free agent. We got these young guys. We got depth. They're going to continue to improve. We got LeBron. Let's figure it out.

But once they made the Anthony Davis move, they are pot committed. They are. They're in on this hand. They pushed them all to the table. They got three more years of LeBron. We'll figure out year four in year four. We have no idea what the landscape of the NBA will look like.

No idea. But should they go for a third stupor star? Hell yeah, why not? You got two. I think you're already a top heavy team. Make yourself Morgana. Morgana was the woman with the big hands. They used to run around to baseball stadiums and kiss people on the baseball field. Stop the game. That was before they used to just tackle and pummel people that came on to the field.

All right, coming up next. Everyone is dog piling. Remember, dog pile! They are dog piling on the, Boston Celtics. They are spitting on the grave of the Boston Celtics. Why the Celtics are smarter than the average bear. Next in the herd.

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. What up? Welcome in wherever you may be. And however you may be making it as part of your day. Thanks so much. I'm Doug Gottlie, filling in for Colin Cowherd.

This is The Herd, live from Los Angeles, and the IHeart Radio app. Fox Sports Radio, day away from the NBA draft. We got great draft coverage. Upcoming tomorrow night on Fox Sports Radio, no need to change your dial. Brian Smith's going to join us from the Houston Chronicle. He'll try and figure out exactly what is going on with the Rockets,

where it feels like Chris Paul is, though he, it says news to him that he wants to be traded, I'm sure it's not news to him that he's like, he like the rest of us watching James Harden dribble the basketball. Like, I get it, you're good. Just shoot or pass, do something. It feels like the can't stand you. Can't stand you.

Of the NBA. More on that to come. There are people, some in my industry, many are just fans, that are gleeful gleeful, that is full of glee at the thought that the Boston Celtics

and their championship aspirations are no more. And some of this comes from the fact that the city of Boston, though the Bruins lost in game seven of the Stanley Cup finals, because the Red Sox are defending World Series champions,

because the Patriots are defending Super Bowl champions, because the Bruins are defending, do they call it Eastern Conference? What is the, I have no idea in hockey. I swear to God I have, is when the, I know the cons smite the war. That's about, I know the Stanley Cup. I don't even know the breakdown divisions anymore. But, I mean, like, look, Boston, professional sports wise has been killing it, right?

So, I think some of it comes from an anti-Boston sentiment. Some of it comes from the fact that the Celtics are run by Danny Aange and when Danny Ains was a player, he was pretty much the least likable dude of anybody who's a Celtic hater out there. He's like, well, he was, he was that guy. I'm trying to think if there is that guy in the NBA now. right like like if grace and Allen who was just traded from Utah

to to Memphis if grace and out had massive massive game because Danny Angel is a good player then you would say all right all right that's Danny Aange I'm trying to figure out

there's the way you hate Draymond Green is the way people hated Danny Aange he's just one of those guys that would say whatever, do whatever. Like, I hate that guy. But if you're a self-infair, you're like, dude, Danny Angel is awesome.

Yeah. So, I think some of it, some of it comes from, the fact is Danny Aange. Some of it comes from some of it comes from the fact that it's Boston.

And I think some of it comes from the fact that they seemed so close and were able to remake themselves after winning a championship and people have thought they've gotten a pass for flaws. Maybe there's this thought that they made Isaiah Thomas play when he's hurt, right? There's a lot of anti-Seltics sentiment out there. One of it is, well, they made Isaiah Thomas play when he was hurt like, okay, maybe.

Maybe that's what happened. or maybe Isaiah Thomas was in a contract year, thought he had a chance to make $100 million in an upcoming off season, was an MVP candidate within their system, and he wanted to get back out and play and prove to people that he was healthy enough to play so that it wouldn't hurt him when his contract came up, and he ultimately cost himself, I don't know, $100 million or so.

So whatever it is, I do think that it's okay to point out that there's some anti-Seltics sentiment. But what I've heard over the last 24 to 48 hours is, well, the Celtics, I mean, what has Danny Yange really done with that trade? What is he? What has he possibly done with that trade? And, congrats on all the draft picks. You won the off-season.

You won the draft. You didn't win any real games. And you're never going to get any free agents, nobody wants to go to Boston. Hmm. Now, I'm young, but I wasn't born yesterday. And I seem to remember in 2016, Al Horford was available.

He was a member of the Atlanta Hawks. He was an unrestricted free agent. And a lot of people thought he would go to the Oklahoma City Thunder. Why? Thunder were close. Thunder were coached by Billy Donovan. Right? The Thunder were trying to hold on to Kevin Durant.

remember that they're trying to hold on to KD at the time the thought was well maybe you get Al Horford brings you more shooting at the center position steadiness professionalism Oklahoma City didn't even get a meeting they went out and traded for Victorola

Depot that's what happened and Al Horford signed with the Boston Celtics as a free agent and people thought you paid too much why Because they're Boston, because Danny Ains, because Brad Stevens, the college coach. I don't know.

The very next year, the Boston Celtics, the same Celtics who, they don't get free agents. Do you guys remember who the prize was of the 2017 free agent class? Anyone? Anyone? Yeah, that was Gordon Hayward. They got him to go along with a wealth of draft picks. Young players, talent. They were returning Isaiah Thomas from the year before,

who was going to come off of a hip injury. That was before they traded for Kyrie Irving. And when they traded for Kyrie Irving, the logic behind the trade was he fits in with our timeline, with our plan, with the age of our players. Like, it was a great plan. Do you guys remember what happened? Yeah, Gordon Hayward broke his leg in half in the first two minutes of his game with the first game with the Celtics against the Cleveland Cavaliers and National TV.

So did the plan end up in a championship? No. Did the plan end up in an NBA finals appearance? No. But if even if you want to say that, look, when you traded for Kyrie Irving, you could have known something would go wrong with his knee. Okay. Like, I have never heard of a player in the NBA having metal that holds together their kneecap that had to be removed. That's the initial, that was initially what he had done. It was, it was bothering him when he was playing. He had metal taken out because they was holding the screws kind of together as the kneecap, which had broken in pieces in game one of the NBA finals back when he played with the Cleveland Cavaliers in the first NBA finals. That was what he had taken out. And then when they did, that, then he still had some, he had an infection in one of the screws. So they'd take that out, clean that out. But even if you said like, look, Kyrie, he had the

toe in college, he had a litany of injuries when he was with the calves, you had to know that Kyrie Irving would break down. Okay. I'll go, I'll go okay. But if any of you armchair quarterbacks, if any of you Twitter gangsters saw Gordon Hayward as possibly who had never had an injury breaking his leg in half in the first two minutes of his first game at the Celtics dude you need to go to Vegas Nostradamus has nothing on you

and you read now articles where they're like well the reason that he lost Brad Stevens lost the team was he kept playing Gordon Hayward early in the year when he wasn't ready like yeah okay look I understand the Gordon Hayward thing one Gordon Hayward is a former player for Brad Stevens at Butler. So even though he's not the son of the coach,

there are going to be guys who are like, yo, they're boys from way back. There is the white guy element to it as well. That's the reality of not just Boston, the NBA, but anywhere in the NBA, well, you know, he's a white guy in Boston, he's going to play. There's also the reality of how much money he makes and jealousy. And guys are like, look, I'm better than him.

He's making a bunch of money. He's only making money. and playing because he's making a bunch of money, which is real. Even if you took the actual reality to how anybody who runs any NBA team was probably thinking, which is like, look, we know Gordon Hayward's not good now. We know that Jalen Brown and Jason Tatum may be better than him now. But we've seen Gordon Hayward be an all-star before he got hurt. He was an all-star in the West before he got hurt.

We saw that. So we know what his, we think Jason Tatum can ultimately get to that, but we know what Gordon Hayward has been in the NBA. So if we bite the bullet now, maybe by the end of the year, he'll be back to the Gordon Hayward of old. And there were some signs, but it wasn't meant to be. Look, the truly what's happening with Al Horford in Boston is this. Danny Aange is not an idiot. He has won similarly every one of these trades.

And the, well, he didn't go and get Anthony Davis. Yeah, because you know what he's not willing to do? he's not willing to do what the Lakers were willing to do, which is sell the farm for one player because he's seen that not work in New York. He's seen it not work elsewhere in the NBA. He didn't have to do it in order to build the big three in Boston. He didn't have to do that.

And so instead of selling the farm to get Anthony Davis, they're sitting there reasonably going, well, Al Horford is 33 years old. why would we give him four years max money? One, he's probably not worth it. Two, that's the act of either desperation, which we're not, or aspiration to win a championship, and we're just not there. We lose Kyrie Irving.

We're not a championship team. He's got great character. He's a very good player. He's solid. But you know what he's not worth? Just like Anthony Davis isn't worth trading off all of your primary. assets for one guy when you have a good, strong, young nucleus that you can build around. Al Horford is not worth giving a max contract to because you're not one player, you're not

one player away from winning a championship. You're just not. Tell me the trade that Danny Ains has lost. How'd they get Jason Tatum? They had the number one overall pick. They traded back to the number three pick. The number one pick didn't play in the NBA last year. And maybe you could say, well, no one could have seen the Markle Foltz thing coming.

That's fair. But they seem to do pretty well with that one. They trade away nothing to get Isaiah Thomas and then trade away a broken down Isaiah Thomas to get Kiberi Irving. Go through it. He's been so good that no one wants to pick up the phone because you feel like did whatever Danny Aange does, he's going to try and win this trade, which he should do. Danny Aange is a GM, is Danny Aange as a player.

if he's your GM, you're like, you know what? He doesn't waste money on a team that's not going to win a championship. He pockets resources. He recruits good players. He's got a really good coach. He gets more out of his team than he could. Like, dude, they were good. Then they tanked.

Then they got good again. What am I missing here? You don't like him because what? He boondoggled your team in a trade? And you can say to me, well, They haven't won a championship. And you're right. You're right.

They haven't won an NBA championship since 2010. But they've been to the conference finals three other times. During the last five years, they've been to the playoffs all five years. And if you want to compare them to all the other franchises, the bulls have been to the playoffs once, the historically good franchises. The Lakers have gone through these six worst years as a franchise. franchise. The Knicks, do you want me to start? Any punchline, any joke can end up with the New York Knicks and you're like, ha ha ha ha, right? So if he was your GM, you'd be like, all right, I'm in. Whatever he does, seems to have a plan. And when it doesn't go right, like Gordon Hayward

breaking his leg, he seems to try and figure out the problem with a reasonable solution. So, instead of wasting money on a player that's not going to get you closer to a championship, he's going to rethink things and let somebody else get a really good player. Be very careful of dancing on the grave of the Boston Celtics and Danny Aange. It's been done before. People have thought they've gotten over on him before. Go through his trades. Tell me when he's lost. When you're consistently in the playoffs, when you manage your money well, when you have good young talent, even when the chemistry goes awry, you stop, you take a breath, you figure it out,

and you don't have a Chris Paul contract or a Joe Johnson contract that you cannot trade, that you cannot move. And that's why they're swallowing hard and letting somebody else, like the Dallas Mavericks, overpay for Al Horford, because either desperation or aspiration, and they are neither. All right, coming up next. Brian Smith's going to join us from the Houston Chronicle. What's really going on with the Houston Rockets? Do they all hate each other?

Or are they just like the Toronto Raptors of last offseason? I'll explain and welcome in Brian next. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays at noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific on Fox Sports Radio, FS1 and the IHeart Radio app. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind. Highlights are trending, opinions are flying, and nobody's telling you, what happened. That's where SportsSlice comes in. I'm Timbo. Every episode, we're cutting through

the noise, breaking down the plays, the controversies, and the stories behind the headlines. We go straight to the source, the athlete themselves, their locker room stories, their reactions, the stuff nobody gets to hear. The laughs, the drama, the triumphs, the moments that never make the highlight real. From viral moments to historic games, from buzzer beaters to controversial calls, we break it down, give you context, and ask the questions everybody wants answered. Sports slice brings you. closer to the action with stories told by the people who live them. Listen to SportsSlice on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.

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

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

or are you a good person because you're afraid? Because that's two different intentions, bro. Absolutely. And that's two different levels of trust. I want you to just really be a good person. a good person. Join me, Keir 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 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. want you to wave at her. What? Come out. Quarterback on office blue of 42.

Hey, Wreck, my mama want you to wave at her. What? Hey, Miss Parker. Listen to the Cliverts show on the IHart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. Will Ferrell's Big Money Players and IHart Podcasts presents soccer moms. So I'm Leanne. Yeah. This is my best friend, Janet.

Hey. And we have been joined at the Hipsons High School. Absolutely. a redacted amount of years later. We're still joined at the hip. Just a little bit bigger hips, wider. This is a podcast. We're recording it as we tailgate our youth soccer games in the back of my Honda Odyssey.

With all the snacks and drink. Sidebar. Why did you get hard seltzer instead of beer? They had a bogo. Well, then you got it. Do you want a white collar or something here? Just take it. What are y'all doing?

Microphones? Are you making a rap album? Oh, I would. Come on. Can you imagine? I would buy it. Cuts through the defense like a hot night. through sponge cake.

That sounds delicious. Oh, you're lucky. I'm not a drug addict. You're lucky I'm not an alcoholic. You are. I'm lucky I'm not a killer. I love this team and I'm really trying to be a figure in their lives that they can rely on. Oh. Listen to soccer moms on the

IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. As the NBA world turns continues on, Doug Gottliebin for Colin. This is the hurt. I mean, it's kind of crazy when you think about it. I understand that there are disgruntled players in the National Football League. I mean, we spent, in my radio show follows this one,

three to six Eastern Time, 12 to 3 Pacific, the Doug Gottlieb show on Fox Sports Radio, the IHeart Radio app. We're on a series XM, what, 203 and 217? We're on the same channel as the Dan Patrick show if you're a satellite listener. But look, I understand that like the Antonio Brown thing captivated us. And there are other, you know, disgrunt. I mean, like we talked yesterday about Aaron Rogers who broke out the, you know, I got 11 years of doing this and reading defenses. And I'm not saying, you know, there's out of arrogance, which is, which is the, there's no disrespect, but something disrespectful is going to come out.

I'm not saying this to be a jerk, but something that's going to make you sound like a jerk comes out. So I understand that other leagues have their own issues and guys that don't like each other. But man, the NBA's got some whiny dudes, doesn't it? Like, crazy. NFL guys are just like, hey, we just want fully guaranteed contracts. There's never been a, there's never been,

ever, ever, ever. An easier way to show human beings that money isn't everything than the NBA. Because anybody goes like, man, NFL guys like, man, I'd just be happy if I had fully guaranteed contracts. And the truth is that most NFL contracts are guaranteed. They're just not guaranteed to the point where they want that NFL players want dollar for dollar, which it'd be stupid to do. But, I mean, we're talking about Kauai Leonard turning down a max deal to stay in San Antonio because they basically said he was faking an injury.

Kemba Walker would have to turn down millions of dollars. Kauai would actually lose a year of guaranteed money, $40 million off of a contract. Obviously, he could make some of that back on the back end if he leaves Toronto this time around. Chris Paul has the most ridiculous contract that Houston, when they traded for and promised him and then followed through on their promise,

and he's obviously not happy. The NBA is the embodiment of the statement money isn't everything, because all of these guys are crazy rich, money that their kids, grandkids can't spend, and enough of them are unhappy where stories like the Rocket Story comes out. The Rocket story, really,

there was an ESPN story last week, there was a Yahoo story yesterday, man who covers the team on a daily basis. He's a columnist in Houston, but he knows everything going on within the Rockets organization is Brian Smith. You can follow him on Twitter, covers for the Houston Chronicle, at Cron, that's C-H-R-O-N, Brian Smith. He joins us in the herd. I'm Doug Gottliebilling in for Colin.

Okay, so let's start with when they lost in game six. The point I made on my radio show is, to anybody who thought they could beat the Warriors in years to come, like there is a snapshot. No Kevin Durant, and the Warriors still came in and beat the Rockets on their home floor, which I think is the fourth straight year they've lost on their home floor their last game.

And then Tillman Fertito, you know, he wanted to throw his new ownership, you know, wait around. How much of all of this bad press and all of the changes within the coaching staff is not just because they lost to the Warriors, but because of how they lost to the Warriors. It's a huge part of it, and you're exactly right about that.

Small picture, all of this started, right? We can trace a lot of this back to the fallout from Game 6, and the organization recognizing that, hey, after everything we've done and coming out publicly, I mean, Darryl Morey has never backed down from this. We are built to take down the Warriors. They are our obsession, right? So a lot of this current drama, you can trace back to that.

Teltman Tritia speaking out, I think if he had to do it now, he would not do that. He's obviously a second-year owner. He has pushed the University of Houston to its highest height in many ways. He's not afraid of change. He is not afraid to call it like he sees it. Maybe it doesn't work that well at times in the NBA. That's a learning process from him. He'll be the first to admit that.

Mike Dan Tony and the organization, Chris Paul and James Hardin, they had one of their many confrontations after game six. So you can trace it back to there, Doug, but a lot of this goes back much farther, right? And some of these are issues with James Hardin that have been lingering there since the Dwight Howard years. A lot of this, if you listen to the other side, this is Chris Paul. This is Chris Paul, and he is incredibly talented. He will be in the Hall of Fame one day. his game is also declining. His contract is insane.

He's ahead of the players union. And Chris Paul has never been known as being incredibly easy to work with. There are some who question whether Dan Tony can truly take this team to the top, right? Even without Kevin Durant, even with the West being wide open. There are some that the question whether James Hardin and Paul, Chris Paul can work together. There are a lot of questions right now. And it's on the rocket. If they're going to take advantage of this wide open West, so all they're going to.

this back together, to go after someone like Jimmy Butler, who they are very interested in, to try and find a way to maximize all this and not waste years, really of Daryl Mory, building this all together. They were very close, and it's going to be fascinating if all this breaks apart. Yeah, it does feel like if you went back to before Kevin Durant got hurt or maybe before Clay Thompson got hurt, you're sitting there going like, all right, we got to rethink things with the Rockets. now no KD, no clay.

So their obsession of taking down the Warriors, it happened, they didn't get the chance to take them down and play for a championship. Is that the reason that they may be rethinking, completely shuffling the deck? They are. And part of this is, right, this is how news works, especially in the NBA,

and you set this all up very well, and I've been covering this league for more than a decade now. It is the drama league. I mean, as every year goes by, it is reality TV, It's agents and super agents and super teams and superstars and everybody talks and media information. That is really what moves this league more than ever. Well, here's the thing. A lot of what's come out recently about the Rockets, I'm not saying that it's fake.

I'm not saying there is, without question, without question, there is truth that James Hardin and Chris Paul have had issues. I will say that. Hand on the Bible. That is official. And if you're denying it, you're taking the team side on this and trying to smooth everything out, PR-wise. They had issues. Do the Rockets believe that they cannot make it work? No. Has James Hardin had issues with guys before? Do the Warriors have serious issues? And Kevin Durant, Draymond Green, and they reached the finals? Yes. So a lot of this information that's come out recently, and a lot of ways,

this is old news, right? It's not like James Harden and Chris Paul been fighting in the last week. It's not like, you know, the Rockets don't know that they have to tweak things, but post-Cevon Grant and post Clay Thompson going down and the West being wide open, Anthony Davis to the Lakers, Mike Connolly, just to the Utah Jazz, the Rockets do believe firmly that they've got to find a way to get this all back together, make some changes, tweak some things, but they'd be idiots if they want to break it all up right now. And while everyone might be available for trade, it's also the idea that with a couple moves, they could still be the best team in the Western Conference of season. Are they not, you know,

Mary Mori has said that Chris Paul didn't ask to be traded. You can not ask to be traded and still not want to play with James Harden. But are they not trying to trade Chris Paul because nobody wants to take that contract? I believe it's a very, very fine line, right? Ultimately, if the Rockets had a deal to trade Chris Paul tomorrow and it was a favorable deal and it didn't set the team back on the court and they believe they can make it work and Paul's happy and let's just say, for conversation's sake, he gets to go to Los Angeles or whatever,

whatever it is, they would take that deal. Right? I mean, they're very smart. They know that that deal is not team-friendly, that Paul is on some level in decline. He has to recognize that, too. I mean, part of this is Chris Paul's pride. And, you know, I don't think any team in the NBA takes that contract right now

because nobody else is stupid in the NBA. I mean, you might have poorly run teams. Nobody wants that contract, three years left, 120-months. million dollars. So it's on Mike Antonio, if he's going to coach the team this year, Toment Fratita, Darry, James Hardin, they're together.

They still have enough talent. They have enough movable pieces. I mean, I mentioned Jimmy Butler, potentially the Rocket last night, idiot fans, how in the world because you make that happen? There's a thing called a sign and trade in the NBA. Darrell Mori has pulled this stuff off before. But no, there is serious

truth to the Chris Paul James Hardin situation, but James Hardin's also dealt with this before, right? So it's on Harden, it's on Paul, it's on this organization to try and find a way out of this. Okay, but we mentioned that, look, Mike, what's the MO of all these guys? Like Mike Dan Tony, great offensively,

can't get to the NBA finals and win a championship. Chris Paul can't get along with people, body always breaks down, right? James Harden, hard to play with because he dominates the ball, doesn't play defense, and doesn't show up in elimination games, right? the, now you add Jimmy Butler who, you know, fourth team in four

years, everybody thinks he's a talent, he thinks he's a superstar, no one else thinks he's a superstar, can't win with him, can't keep money, like, how does that, I just, like, that doesn't seem to work together. Yeah, and here's the thing,

I mean, I think if you look back at some of the track record with the organization, and this has been under the radar in a lot of ways, and now it's coming to the surface, they've, at times, thrived on some chaos and thrived on making things that might not, you know, you don't think go together, right? James Hardin and Chris Paul, remember that whole conversation when it started, could they share the ball, could somebody play off the ball? They won a franchise record, 65 games, Paul stays healthy with the hamstring, they probably win the NBA finals.

They've pretty much made it work. Now the deck is back, and now they either have to find a way out of it with Paul. If somebody presents, you know, a favorable trade, which is not happening yet, I fully believe if someone said to the rocket, yes, we have a deal for you. The Rockets would take it, right? That has not happened thus far. Paul's not going to retire. James Hardin is, you know, for all of his flaws still, one of the best players in the NBA without question.

Mike Dan Tony can win you 55 games every year. He's still got to improve in the playoffs. The Rockets know that. It's a huge question. Yeah, you had Jimmy Butler to the mix? It's either going to work and you win a title or somebody's choking somebody by the 18th game of the season. It is a lot for this team to figure out right now, and I'll say this, there is no more fascinating, dramatic, maybe dysfunctional team in the NBA right now than the Houston Rockets.

You mentioned the blow-up. Like, look, anybody who's been married, you've had a fight with your wife. Sometimes there are things you can take back. Sometimes there are things you can't take back. Yeah. Do you believe this is a reparable situation? With Mike, so there's two parts of the answer. Number one is Mike Dantonie in the rocket.

That's where this started. I mean, you either, in NBA world, I understand the Rocket's perspective, but in the NBA world, you either fire him or you extend him for three years, right? Doing the one-year extension when you just won 50-plus games for the third straight year, doing it with the weird guarantee and the biolism, that really doesn't work in the NBA. And then there's a system there, and you have power agents, and that's Warren LaGerry, who runs Tap the League, when it comes to the coaches, that's probably not going to work, and it hasn't worked as far.

That relationship can be fixed without question, and Mike D'Antony is committed to making it work with the rocket, so that one, I think, can be fixed. Paul and Hardin, that's the biggest question, because only Chris Paul and his family really know how he feels right now, and I've written so much about James Hardin for the last five years, and James Hardin is still a question mark. We haven't heard from James Harden during this period. I mean, obviously, you know, he's doing the Hardin thing, and I'm sure he's working out, but we can all still question James Hardin and whether he has the killer instinct,

whether he's truly a leader. That is going to be on Hardin and Paul. If they're still on the same team, when the team gets back together in a month, a couple months, can they, with Mike Dantone, to figure this out? And I cannot answer that question right now because I don't think anybody knows the answer to it. Well, listen, what you've got to do is you've got to go down. to that strip club where he has his jersey retired. Ask James Hardin.

With his jersey in the raft. Yeah, yeah. Ask James Hardin, you know so. That's how you catch up there or in a gym. Great stuff. Brian, really appreciate. Brian Smith, really appreciate you. Join us and giving us your perspective on all things, Houston Rockets.

Thanks for having me on. I appreciate it. Doug Galdivin for Colin. This is The Herds. Get some herd-line news with Ryan music. No, no, no, no. Turn on the news. This is the Hurd-line News. Well, Doug, we're seeing a whole new side of Kauai Leonard after he became a two-time NBA champion and two-time finals MVP.

At the championship parade, he made a joke acknowledging his viral laugh from that infamous introductory press. Ha! Ha! Now, we have this from an Instagram post by his teammate, Sir Jabaka. I know you have been hitting very healthy all year long, and you try to take care of your body, right? Definitely. But now you are on NBA champions. Mm-hmm. Why is the worst junk food you cannot wait to eat?

I'm just drinking alcohol and eating dessert all the time. Is Quiet Leonard becoming an actual human being in front of our eyes? You've said you're not totally convinced that he is in the past. Drinking alcohol. He didn't even say beer or wine. It sounds like he's saying what he thinks human beings actually say. That's a very... actually a perfect way of putting it.

It turns out that he's like Darth Vader once they took off the mask, right? There's still some human being in him. He's not all machine. Right. You know, or maybe it's like Rocky IV. Right? He's not a machine.

He's a man. He's a man! Right? Anyway. Yeah. I mean, I like this side. All right. So I got...

Ha. Ha. Ha. Ha. Ha. I got a couple of questions here. Okay. What type of alcohol do you think he drinks?

Because let's be honest, he said alcohol. He didn't say vodka, beer, wine, wine coolers. We have no idea. Black Scotch, dude. Tennessee. No question. Expensive Tennessee. Okay.

Now desserts. Is he like cookies, ice cream? Apparently all of them. This is a big thing. Did you see like Dirk Novitsky has said this? Like he's had, like, retired three months ago. And he's like, hadn't worked out a day. Eating dessert every day, right?

No, he said, he said ice cream. He's ice cream every day. He said ice cream every day. Oh, I would say that there's, you know, I mean, who doesn't like chocolate cake? Chalka cake's amazing. He's got to be going like cookies. Crees and Creme? Yeah.

Who invented cookies and cream? A genius. I want to kiss that person. It's like the greatest things in life that have been invented. Cookies and cream, ice cream, back shoulder throw. All the quarterbacks, Phil Sims tried to tell me he invented the back shoulder throw. Damn, Marino thinks he invented the back shoulder throw. I don't know, but the back shirt

shoulder to throw is kind of amazing. LeBron James invented the shop. He did. Barbershop conversation never existed until LeBron James. Thank you, LeBron. Although I did watch Coming to America, which I felt like was before.

Oh, but it's real barbershop talk. That's never actually. Actually, it has happened. But I want to know. So what's he? I would say chocolate cake, cookies and cream, ice cream. Maybe brownies.

Probably some brownies. Yeah. And it's Toronto. You might want to check the brownie. Before you eat the brownies. It is the offseason, though. We'll wrap it up with this NBA story. Adrian Wojnarowski as well as other reporters are reporting that Bucks Forward,

Chris Middleton, will officially decline his $13 million player option to become an unrestrictive free agent. He added that Middleton and the Bucks are working towards a new long-term deal where Middleton is expected to get the five-year – or he's asking for the five-year max or he would look for the four-year max somewhere else. Does he stay in Milwaukee or does he pull an Al Horkford and go? somewhere else. I think he stays there. But it is you know, this is what happens, right?

This is, like, is he a max a max player should be the best player on the team. There should be like four max players in the entire NBA. Well, those should be Supermax. Like, Supermax should be like five best players in the NBA, right? Which there's inevitably always eight, right? Right? Okay, fine. Right? Well, what was it seven?

Was the magnificent seven that that Nick Wright had yesterday, right? Yeah, the seven impactful players. Like, okay. All right. But yeah, there should be like, there's not a max guy on every team, but a max guy should be the best player on the team, and he's not.

Chris Milton's an incredible story, right? Like he, Mark Turgeon signed him late. I think he's from, I think he's from South Carolina. And at Texas A&M, he had some injuries, and when they had a coaching change there, he wasn't as good late in his career as he was to start. and then he worked his way into being an incredibly valuable weapon.

But he's got some Draymond Green to him from this aspect. Chris Middleton is best with the Bucks and the Bucks are best with Chris Middleton. It is a match made in heaven. So I don't think he has the values outside of that organization that he has to that organization. But what value should that organization pay to a guy who fits perfectly with how they want to play? You know what I mean? Like that's a hard one. It's a hard one.

And that's the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The Herd Lye News. Speaking of guys on social media, Kevin Durant is love social media. But does he really want to be in New York? We'll discuss next in the Hurt. Be sure to catch live editions of the HARD 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. 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 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 answers. Sports Slice brings you closer to the action with stories told by the people who live them.

Listen to Sports Slice on the Iheart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Slic Life 12 and the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hardway with me, your host, and your favorite therapist, Kear Games. And in recognition of mental health awareness month,

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

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

Because that's two different intentions, bro. Absolutely. And that's two different levels of trust. I want you to just really be a good person. Join me, Kear Gaines, 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 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 with 42. Hey, rec, my mama want you to wave at her. What? Hey, Ms. Parker.

Listen to the Clippers show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. Will Ferrell's Big Money Players and IHeart Podcast presents soccer moms. So I'm Leanne. Yeah. This is my best friend, Janet. Hey. And we have been joined at the hips and side. school.

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

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

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

You're lucky I'm not an alcoholic. You're lucky I'm not a killer. I love this team and I'm really trying to be a figure in their lives that they can rely on. Oh. Listen to soccer moms on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Doug Gottlieb, in for Colin here. in the herd, man, I cannot wait to our best for last. Our best for last because the worst part of us oftentimes I see at kids baseball games.

My son is currently playing all-star baseball for a team in our hometown. And there was some a little bit bad sportsmanship from the other team. We got smoked by in the semifinals of a St. Hedge Weeks tournament over the weekend. A little bit, not crazy. And then a couple of remarks, which weren't great. But I've nailed it not down. How many different parent groups do we have now?

I think I'm like at seven, seven different eight, nine, nine different parent types at little kids baseball games. And I'd be interested to hear your thoughts on those upcoming. We do have a, man, we got a good show for you. Mark Stein had this tweet. Stein is also an Orange County guy, Cal State 410 alum, Big Titan, now writes for the New York Times. One smart NBA coach suggested to me in regards to Kevin Durant, why not stay where he is, lean on the all-star assistance of Steph Curry and Draymond Green rather than go to the Knicks or Nets

and launch a complicated comeback in a tabloid environment amid such high. expectations. Yeah, I just, I got to tell you, I'm not feeling the Kevin Durant in New York sort of thing. Just not. Did I feel it before? And I'll offer this up, I'll offer this up as a son of my late father was an avid New Yorker. And so I have an affinity for New York City, New York City hoops. The love of basketball in that city, if you're in New York now, you're not in your head.

going like you go down to Westforth, you go to Rucker, you go to any park, there's kids still playing outside, even though they don't produce nearly the number of basketball players, the depth of basketball talent they used to, because kids, nobody, you grow up in the city, most parts of it, your family's so wealthy, you're not grinding like you need to. And the ones that are grinding and are good, they go to prep school or go to school somewhere else, so they're not necessarily from the city anymore. It's just not the depth of players anymore. or coming out of New York City or even the boroughs. But I know this.

There will be somebody who will crack the code. The Knicks will, at some point in our lifetime, win again. And to any, he was like, it'll never happen. Like, all right, they said that about the Red Sox, the White Sox, the Cubs, the Cleveland Cavaliers, right? It never happened. Like, never is a very long time. and to the guy or guys that accomplished that.

I mean, they still, no one knows anything about the system of Red Holtzman, but they still, they're Red Holtzman. I mean, Walt Clyde Fraser still on TV. Why? Because he was the last great championship guard. Till Jackson got the job there as president. Why? Because he was part of that last year.

Whoever I know the Yankees are great. Right? and I know if you win it with the Rangers, like Mark Messier, there's a ticker tape parade. But whoever accomplishes it with the Knicks, you're going to get a statue. You're going to be a legend for a hundred years. But man, the expectations when you're in New York are so fever pitched. And all right, so KD sits out all of next year if it's in a place like New York. He'll be expected to produce right away.

Like, no, we won't. Yes, they will. He'll be in his 30s with a team that won't have a culture of winning. Or you could just stay where you are, go to San Francisco, rehab, come back and get the band back together and do it again. Jordan had a year and a half off. Why can't Kevin Durant? All right, coming up next.

What's wrong with the rockets and how they can fix it? Next in the herd. One more herd? The herd streams 24 hours a day. seven days a week within the iHeart radio app search heard to listen live or on demand whenever you'd like what up welcome in this is the herd wherever you may be in however you may be making as part of your day thanks so much live from los angeles i am doug gotlib in for colin cowherd we got a lot to get too. Jason McIntyre, he is an artiste. I'll tell you what kind of artis upcoming. Now,

not paint by numbers. There's an art to his takes. We'll get to that upcoming. Jason McIntyre be part of our NBA draft coverage on Fox Sports Radio tomorrow night. Rick Bucher, Chris Broussard, and Jason McIntyre. So that's going to be awesome, right? The whole first round, click on Fox Sports radio. You'll learn about the picks and about where they're going, but more than anything about what it all means for the NBA, because the real stuff is what's going on around the NBA, including the story which started really, look, I think it started with the NBA finals.

Like, Tillman Fertita's a new owner, and he, I want some butts. That's what he wanted, he was, he wanted to chew some butts after they lost game six at home. and look, I get it, man, you've been super successful. He's like, I'm a fighter. Like, yeah, all right. Your family has owned a piece of UFC, right? That's, you went a little Brian Williams on us, right?

Like, yeah, I've been in the octagon. Like, no, no, no, you watched fights in the octagon. You are a restaurateur and a remarkably successful one. like man landry's i like landrys i like landrys that's good mortons i like mortons uh what's this what's what's the big one they have the what's the big uh steakhouse they have i mean mortons is one of them uh what's the big one he has um i mean they own a bunch of different spots houston's i think is theirs as well i got a good deep menu like relax with the i'm a fighter You're a great business man

From an incredible business family And you guys have been around the UFC game Like, Mastros, right? Mastros is a big time I do like Morton's the whole deal Where they like bring out the piece of meat Like that's going to be your piece of meat

That one? I want that one. Anyway I just I look at it And I'm thinking a season ago, they lose to the Warriors and like, we're never going to beat these guys.

Can't beat these guys because we missed 27 straight threes and Chris Paul's hurt. All right, if Chris Paul wasn't hurt, we would have won this game. This year you had Chris Paul and they didn't have Kevin Durant. And Andre Godala was limping around, much like he didn't play the year before. And you still couldn't win game six at home. Forget about game seven of the road, couldn't win game six at home. Then we heard rumblings about a potential, riff between

Chris Paul and James Hardin. Everyone became suddenly available except James Hardin. The entire coaching staff outside of Mike Dan Tony was put on notice and let go.

Even Mike Dan Tony like, yeah, listen, we'll give you a contract extension, but essentially we'll be able to fire you and not pay you a dime more than we want to pay you. So a funny thing can happen on the way to divorce. A funny thing happened on the way to blowing up this team. And maybe it was saved by Chris Paul's contract. Like Chris Paul's contract is so bad that they're like, ah, let's work it out.

Basically, this is, it's almost like a couple who should be divorced. Like, man, but the guy's sitting there going, I never got a pre-up. and it's more expensive to get rid of her than it is to keep her. Right? That's what the rockets are telling you? And then the rockets had to look around and go, wait, the Warriors are no more. I started yesterday's show talking about the remarkable change in the league in one week. And the biggest change was, though we all thought the Warriors would come back a step.

The assumption was they would lose Kevin Duran. but remember that Rockets team lost to the Warriors without Kevin Durant. Like to anyone who wanted to go like to Tillman Fritina, don't worry, boss, don't worry. Next year they won't have Durant. Fratita's sitting there going, wait a second, they didn't have Durant and they just kicked our ass on our own home floor. Their bench is going to be better. They're going to be healthier. And they won't have Durant fine.

Now they won't have Clay Thompson for most of the year. and so now all of a sudden the Rockets are sitting there going like, well, we don't have a pre-up with Chris Paul. Let's do it again. That's what it feels like. Honestly, I feel like the Rockets, you know,

everybody says this in every league in sports. And frankly, every league in college sports and pro sports, it's a copycat league. Right? It's Copycat League. I mean, that's really what happened with the Warriors. when the Rockets say we're solely focused on the Warriors

and how we beat the Warriors, it's one out of respect for what they've done. How do we copy what they've done? You're not going to have Steph Curry, but all right, we got our James Harden. You're not going to have Jaymond Greenville, we got a PJ Tucker. We're going to

the Lakers, they were like, well, we're going to zag with everybody zigs. The whole league's going with shooters. We'll go with guys that can't shoot. Huh? That was Magic Johnson. his plan. Genius!

All this three-point shooting stuff. Let's get me Rondo. Get me Lance Stevenson. Get me Javelle McGee. Huh? But no, when you hear it's a copycat league, they're all copycat leagues.

You take what somebody's doing that's successful, and you copy some, if not all of it. We talked about Disney's got this like Netflix killer. I mean, they just like, there's Netflix, and then there's Amazon. I don't know who started making their own shows first, but they were both successful.

And Disney's like, hell, we're getting boat raced here. Let's buy Fox TV and studios and let's put it together. Let's copycat league. Everything's like every. Original ideas are really hard to see through. And once they're successful, why wouldn't you copy it? Why wouldn't you? And when you look at the Toronto Raptors, what happened?

last year they couldn't get past LeBron James oh God we can't get past LeBron James we can't get past LeBron James we can't last year they were swept by the calves calves weren't any good last year calves got swept by the Warriors and LeBron's like oh yeah my thumb's bad and my thumb the thumb I had a thumb thing

all along my thumb I'm shaking guys hands at my right I got a thumb thumb problem the calves could have been beaten if Victoro Lidibo makes a shot or two down the stretch by the Indiana Pacers in the first round. That did happen, right? They went to game seven with the Boston Celtics who did not have their two best players.

And we can go with the whole chemistry thing or whatever, but like Jason Tatum's like 19 years old and he's lighten up the cats. The Cavs were not good. The Raptors were good, but they would see 23 in that, what is it, wine, wine and gold or wine and cheese jersey, whatever it was. And they're like, dude, we just can't beat that guy. They get swept by the caps.

What happened? LeBron leaves, they fire their coach, and make a big change, they get rid of their high-priced superstar player and get a better, higher-priced superstar player. One-year rental, and you know what? it worked. And the Rockets are sitting there going like, what's a hell of an idea. Now, Kauai Leonard

is not available for a one year rental, I don't think. And they don't really want to get rid of James Hardin. And they can't get rid of Chris Paul. But maybe they can move Clint Capella. He's young, he's athletic. And as much as he can't play him at the end of games

against the Warriors, you don't have to play the Warriors in the playoffs anymore. Maybe we keep him, maybe we move him, and maybe we bring in a Jimmy Butler. You know? And sure, Jimmy Butler would be his fourth team in four years. And sure, Chris Paul is always hurt, hard to get along with, doesn't seem to enjoy watching James Hardin dribble the living life out of a basketball. And no, James Hardin doesn't play defense, and he can't play without the basketball,

and he doesn't dig Chris Paul pointing out all of his flaws. And look, Mike Dan Tony doesn't really know much about defense, just says, could you guys play defense? And he's clearly miffed at his contract situation and that Jeff Bezdelik, who was his defensive guru, got fired after talking him out of retirement earlier this year. Like all of those things. But much like the Raptors had to look up and go, well, hey, I don't know if the Kauai thing works or if he stays, but at least we don't have LeBron there. Isn't that what the Rockets can do? I have no idea if James Hardin and Chris Paul will want to kill each other or if they'll both kind of team up and want to beat the living daylights out of Jimmy Butler

who people seem to struggle to get along with. But at least we don't have to beat the Warriors. They're all copycat leagues. Wouldn't stun me if the Rockets are copying what the Raptors were able to pull off. Coming up next, Jason McIntyre joins us. We'll get his thoughts on the dysfunction within the rockets and can it still come together for a championship? All that's next. I'm Doug Gottlieb. This is The Hurd.

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Ah, the smooth sounds of the herd on Fox Sports Radio. Doug Ghaly been in the house with you. Welcome in. Tomorrow night, Fox Sports Radio will be live throughout the first round of the NBA draft with Pick-by-Pick analysis by host by Chris Brousard, Rick Buecker, Jason McIntyre. The action starts tomorrow. Seven o'clock Eastern right here on Fox Sports Radio. I'm Doug Gottlieb.

I will be in for Colin Cowherd throughout the week. So I'll give you some draft stuff heading into the draft and coming out of the draft tomorrow. And then later on to the evening, you can hear the smooth sounds of Chris Broussard, Rick Buecker. And Jason McIntyre, who earlier today used the bird, used Twitter, to, uh, what, you needed some new hoop shoes. Is that right? Like, you know, Doug, I'm trying to play pickup a couple times a week. And, uh, you know, my old, uh, well, my old, I tell like two-year-old chicks are starting to

show some wear and care. So I was floating to anybody out there. I like the most comfortable gear, you know, uh, so I was looking for some suggestions. Got some funny ones. Okay, but why were you, you were very anti-Nike in your tweet? You said nothing with the swoosh wise. Yeah, no, I don't do Nike. Yeah, I don't do Nike.

I'm a big Under Armour stock guy for about a decade, maybe a little less than a decade. And Nike's their rival. So I'll do Air Jordan, the Air Jordan brand, but I won't do anything with a big swoosh on it. I hate to break it to you, but Nike and Jordan brand are in fact the same company. I'm totally aware of that. Converse also owned by Nike. I don't know if you knew that one. Hurley also owned by Nike.

Nike moved the world. Why do I want to help them? Because you own stock in them, you will sacrifice your feet? No. No. Actually, that's what you said. You didn't say I'll wear any shoes. You said I'll wear any shoes but Nike.

Well, here's the thing. Specifically, I won't wear a shoe with a big shoes on the side. I just won't do that. I don't like for me. My principle is, hey, I don't need to advertise for Nike. The two-brand logo is, I mean, you can't see. You have a, you have a Lakers jersey, don't you? I do have an old Magic Johnson jersey.

Yes, I do. Do you have a new LeBron James jersey? Not yet. I do not. But will you be buying one? I probably will not. You know me, Doug. I like the throw-out jerseys.

What about, what about for your kids? I'm just, I'm pointing out that your kids will want an Anthony Davis or a LeBron jersey, will you purchase one? You know, kids want what kids want. I don't want to be able to have a sushi. Me personally, I will not wear a big shoe. Now, if Nike's going to send me three stuff, that's another deal. So you are a man of principle, except when you are not.

Exactly. There you go. Exactly. Except when it's free. You're certainly right. Yes. You're a man of principle except when you're not. Jason McIntyre joining us.

All right, what's real and what's not real about Houston and what's come out in several different articles recently? Well, Doug, as you know, I go to the gym, play basketball. There's a Houston rocket who's been in my gym now for about a week in his trainer. I've watched them work out, talk to the trainer, and said hello to the player. This stuff about Chris Paul versus James Hardin's real. They don't like each other. They did not get along this season.

Daryl can say all he wants. I believe he's covering up for the fact that he can't. So the Houston Rocket told you this at the gym? Well, that's the thing. He didn't tell me that. He's talking to the trainer. Their friends, I spoke to the trainer afterwards. And it's real.

It's real. They do not. Chris Paul and J. Tart and have that beat. That's not breaking news. That's out there. The Rockets players are talking about it. The real question is, can they move Chris Paul? Can they trade him?

And I believe that's why Darrell more he's saying, there's no beef here because he can't find a willing partner for Chris Paul. Are the Orlando Magic taking him? Or the New York Knicks taken him. Phoenix. Those are the teams that's point card needs. Doug, this is one of the worst contracts in the NBA right now, and they're stuck. I like your theory about Jimmy Butler, but talk me through how the rockets acquire Jimmy Butler.

I don't know. I mean, they got to find out of somewhere to move Capella and move all their other pieces. I don't love it either, but they have to be sitting there saying, well, the warriors are done. why not us? Lakers have only two players on their roster. Why not us? Yeah, well, Lakers, I don't know, right? There's talking about the Kimball Walker stuff. I personally believe I would go with the two or three players. You know, you get a Reddick, you get a Patrick Beverly, a Danny Green, and surround Anthony Davis with that. Remember, Anthony Davis, and Drew Holliday went to the second round two years ago. It's almost like Anthony Davis is undervalued, isn't it?

you know, the guy's been hurt a little bit, he pouted and wanted out. We're still talking about the sixth best player in the NBA. Am I wrong? Six or seven? I think Davis is better than six or seven. I don't know. I don't know how it's began this. Let's put rankings next to guys.

But, I mean, Kevin Durant's not going to play next season or most of next season. LeBron James wasn't the best player in the league this year. Kauai probably is. There's no reason to believe that Anthony Davis is not in that conversation of the best couple of players in the room. So now you get LeBron and Anthony Davis, name a better duo in the NBA. There isn't one. I don't want to hear him Hardman, Chris Paul,

or Westbrook and Paul George. You get LeBron and Anthony Davis in the pick and roll in good night. I can see how this team improves to 50 wins and then in the postseason goes on a tear. You know, my sad warriors right now with the injuries, it's depressing. I think we can all agree that's bad for the lead. No Kevin Durant, no Clay Thompson next year.

but at least there's LeBron and Anthony Davis to hang your hat on if you're the TV networks. Have you stocked Kawhi Leonard's trainer to find out what Kawhi Leonard is going to do? No. Well, I think there's a bunch of real estate agents in the Los Angeles area saying, hey, Kauai, who has a kid with a woman who went to San Diego State with, their deep relationship, she's from the San Diego area. You add up a couple things there. But, Doug, let me ask you.

if Kauai is trying to build a global brand. Okay. Hold on. What did you just do there? You just did? He has a house in San Diego. So that, no, no.

And he bought a place in L.A. That's at least the real estate shatter out there. Okay. Okay. So everybody's saying he's definitely coming to. You did. You want to these things that like, I get in an Uber.

I was like, I want to go there. You're like, all right, cool. And you go, you go, you take a left. and then a right and then a left and then a right and then a left and then a right and then another right and then you're there. Technically you got where I wanted you to get, but it was a path to get there. Okay, so. Well, it isn't that the story of free agency? He wants to, I guess, he wants to build a global brand.

I apologize for interrupting. Jason McIntyre joining us. I'm Doug Gottlieb. This is the herd. Go ahead. He's won. He wants to build that global brand. If you look into that lawsuit against Nike for stealing home claw design,

it's real he wants to be a global ambassador and next year in the olympics which is in Asia he knows that is my time i'm in my prime to sell a lot of shoes a lot of new balance gear this is my time and i don't believe there's a path to that in toronto i currently i believe that the clippers are just going to be so far behind in LA right now behind lebron and anthony davis i do believe the knicks are back in play Doug for Kauai Leonard. The Knicks. Yes.

Why? You just said there's real estate chatter otherwise. What? There is real estate chatter, yes, but guess what? You can be by coastal. You know that. I think you've got homes all over the country. But when I look at the Madison Avenue impact for Kauai Leonard, listen, you take

that to Asia? I mean, Kauai Leonard is in position to become arguably the biggest deal in the NBA. But he's got to be in, I believe right now in New York City for that. Plus 1,000. If you're gambling on Kauai Leonard's next stop, plus 1,000 New York Knicks had some value right now. Jason McIntyre joining us here in the herd. Okay. What about Kyrie?

Where does he end up? I still think it's the Brooklyn Nets. I went on FS1's lock it in last month and said how Kyrie has been texting Nets players all season. And Mark Stein has confirmed, yeah, he's been texting Dinwiddie all season. Dinwiddie's been recruiting him. He could toss Karis LaVert's name in there. well. They've put on the full court press for most of the season. Kyrie wants to be the alpha, and he will be that in Brooklyn.

He wasn't that in Boston, and then Brad Stevens and what happened. What Jason Tatum did is working. I think the Nets make all the sense in the world. And I know you think Jimmy Butler, Houston, has the potential. I think Jimmy Butler, as Kyrie's wingman, Robin to his Batman, has a chance in Brooklyn. And I think that's why the Nets made that trade for Alan Krabb. or they shipped Alan Crabb out of town to Atlanta. Yeah, to get a second.

Can afford two max deals now. That was right after the Kyrie was hanging out in New York at the Jay Z's Club, like one night before that. Basically convincing the net, hey, guys, you free up cap room, I will get a wingman. I think that guy could be Jimmy Bowles. What do you make of the Celtics and the sudden downfall, the Celtics, Al Horford, opting out and now looking elsewhere? Give me by lows on the Celtics stock, though.

I'm never selling Brad Stevens. Jason Tatum, Jalen Brown are still there. I would agree with what you said about Gordon Hayward coming off. Hey, go look at Paul George. Remember when he had that gruesome broken leg at the U.S.A basketball? He came back. He played like six games. The following year he was pretty good.

The year after that is when he really popped and was a monster. I think Gordon Hayward did line for a huge year. I'm buying the Celtics low, Doug. Yeah, I don't know if there'll be – I don't think they'll be championship contenders, which is why I think they'll allow Horford to go and get the big paycheck. I just think they're sitting there going like, look, he's 33. We don't think he's a max-level guy.

If somebody else wants to overpay for him, there's nothing we can do. By the way, who is paying Al-Horford? I'm just curious. What team out there is committing that much money? Dallas. Oh, interesting. So you got Al-Horfer, Porzingis, and Luca Donchich. That squad could be a problem in the West.

Yes. That could be a 45-50 win team. Well, like, let's see. And Prozingis has to come back and be healthy. Also, he's got some off-the-court stuff to deal with. And, you know, just like the Lakers, like, they have to actually build a team around those guys. But it was Luca Donchitz and a bunch of guys, and they won, I believe, like 33 games last year. You toss in a potential, you know, all-N-B-A talent.

Let's call them an All-Star in Porzengis and an All-Star in Horford. I don't know, man. That lineup could be deadly. Can you imagine Luca and a lot? Horford and the pick and pop. That's pretty filthy. It is pretty filthy. Okay, so draft is tomorrow night. You're part of our draft coverage with Broussard and with Rick Buecker. Yes, sir. Your, your comp for Zion Williamson is who? Oh, I don't know. I hate the comp for Zion because he's a combination of guys. Is he not? There isn't just one guy. You know,

he's not Rodney Rogers. He's not LeBron. I don't think there is a comp. I think he's kind of a unicorn. I know it's a cop-out, Doug, but I don't think the NBA's ever seen anyone like him with that quick second jump and the ability to get to the rim and defend and the leaping ability. He's off the charts. So John Moran's going to go to R.J. Barrett 3 to New York. Do you like R.J. Barrett? I do. I like him a lot. There's a bunch of stats out there. He was the first teenager, I believe in the last like 30 years in college basketball to average like 22, 8, and 5, or whatever the numbers were. He's also kind of undervalued because he was in Zion Shadow.

I love Barrett, man. I think he's going to be Big Tom player, multiple-time All-Star. I like his game a lot. All right. You got your sneaky hot take guy. Give me a sneaky hot take. Give me a guy you like in the NBA draft that other people are not in on. Give me Alexander Walker over Jared Korn.

I'll take the kid from Virginia Tech. I like his game. You know, I saw Culver at the end of the NCAA tournament against good defensive teeth. He shot 23% Doug from the field, like 3 of 17 on threes. I don't know that he could create his own shot. He's a sick athlete. He's got the swag. You know, he's got the Jordan look to him and, you know, where's the number 23, dunking on people. I just don't see the skill to be a two in the NBA from Jared Culver. I like to get Alexander Walker out of Virginia Tech. Is that spicy enough for you?

That's pretty spicy. It's pretty spicy. Real quick, where are you? Kobe White or Darius Garland? Because I think it's closer than people say. Well, they're all raving about Kobe White. I think he's a competitive dude. He does have short arms.

I can't tell if he has short arms or if his height is inflated because of his hair. But I have heard nothing but rave reviews over Garland as a shooting point. How about this? Is it spicy enough way? Let's move on to the next one. Carson Edwards can be Fred Van Vleet in three years in the playoffs for Team X. Okay. Yeah.

I mean, like, look, the whole Fred Van Vleet thing is, like, the crazy part was, before they had the kid against Milwaukee, he was terrible. Yes, he was. He was atrocious. So, look, I love the Fred Van Vleet story. Like, super successful, college player. the difference is they're not even similar at all as players no not at all like he's a gunner yeah well he's a he's a

score but he also has he's a freak athlete with like Sequin Barclay like legs he's just he's a remarkable physical specimen I think he'll be fine I think he'll be an off the bench score in the NBA that's that's what he'll be that's what his role my final spicy one before you boot me off the air more likely to be potential Draymond Green and I get potential okay D'Andre Hunter

of Virginia or Nasir Little of UNC? It's a good one. Well, here's the thing. I mean, how real do you want my analysis to be? Do you want the stuff you'll hear on TV or the real stuff? I want the real stuff. Nassir Little is not smart enough to be Draymond Green. He's not a smart basketball player.

He's just a, he's a competitive kid who will make the league. But he's just, like, Draymond Green is kind of a basketball savant, dude. Now, the problem, with, who did you want to, who was the other one? The kid from Virginia Hunter. Yeah, he's fine. He's fine. He'll be a good player. He's not a star. He's kind of a little stiff. Good player. It'd be good.

I mean, the guy I would do a Jordan Caroline would have a better shot. Better shot because of his ability to guard four or five positions. His competitiveness is a better shooter than you think. Can he lose 25 pounds? I don't, sure, but I don't think he has to. I don't think he has to. I would put him in the PJ Tucker range as opposed to Draymond Green. Right.

I think he's a PJ Tucker type. That's fine. Look, Draymond Green is kind of a unicorn. There's just not a lot of guys. I actually think that Zion Williamson is going to be closer. He's like a newer, better version of a Draymond Green. How about this one? This is your love.

This is better than... And I like this here a little athletically. He just... Yeah. Just not a lot of skill there. Roy Williams kind of screwed him over. He did not screw him over. Who is he supposed to sit?

Cam Johnson? Ty Jerome. Yes. would be a perfect fit for the Warriors at 28. With Clay Out, I love Ty Jerome's game, just such a clutch player, money player, winning player, all those unquantifiable adjectives. I like his game a lot.

I love his game in college when he can just dribble and jump up and shoot over people. He's not doing that in the pros. He's just too slow. It's just too slow. It's just too slow. It almost sounds a little hard. I mean, do you want me to lie to you and tell you he's...

Clay Thompson, like, dude, he... He's just too slow. He can't guard athletically. He can't, he won't be able to... Those contested shots that he made in college, you've got to make from four or five feet further out in the pros. Yeah, but everybody knew they were coming. On the Warriors, he's the...

He's playing against college kids. You're playing... There's 450 NBA players in the entire... His defenses are designed to stop him because he's their best player. But on the Warriors, it's like, well, we got to stop Curry. We got to stop the Draymond, pick and roll. Oh, yeah, this other kid, Ty Jerome. Let's try.

I like Ty Jerome. I hope he makes it to the NBA. I don't like him in the first round of the draft. You're hating on a lot of these guys. Give me a guy you really like that nobody else does. I gave you Jordan Caroline earlier. I gave you a Jordan, Carolina. I think Kyle Guy makes the NBA as a shooter off the bench.

She's little, but he's got long arms, competitive. He can make shots. I like a guy. I'm not as big on. Cam Reddish is the hardest one because he looks the part. He should make more shots than he made, but he's kind of a weird personality. Some people don't think he loves basketball,

but he's got a super high ceiling. All right, there I gave you too much. Too much draft stuff. Thank you so much, Jason. Good luck finding those sockony basketball shoes. you've been looking for, and thank you so much for eavesdropping on all of that Rockets' conversation.

Do you hang up on us? Or did you hang up on him? You hung up on him? That's not right. That's Jason McIntyre, who is the co-host of tomorrow night's NBA draft coverage with Chris Broussard and with Rick Buecker on Fox Sports Radio. Let's get to Ryan Music with the news. No, no, no, no, no.

Turn on the news. This is the Heard Line News. He did basically say, like, imagine Jason McIntyre working out. So he posts. Gotta love Jay McIntyre. I love Jason McIntyre. Gotta love Jay McI. If anybody thinks I don't, I love, like, he's one of those guys that he does make coffee nervous.

But I love Jason McIntych in a room. Could get scary. But he, he posts videos of himself, like working out or shooting free throws or whatever. I'm just imagining him in the gym, like, posting a video of himself, like, doing bench press. And posting a video of himself, shooting. jump shots and then walking over to some trainer of a Houston rocket and going like, hey man, Chris Paul and James Hardin' Beef. Real? Fake? What do you know? Slipping him a 20? All right. What do you got? All right. So let's talk some NBA veterans. You guys were talking

NBA draft prospect. One NBA veteran, Kyle Corver, was included in that Mike Connolly trade that we were talking earlier. So Mike Connolly goes from the Grizzlies to the jazz, the jazz send Kyle Corver and some other players over to the Grizzlies. Mark Stein, NBA insider from New York Times, pointed out earlier today. Kyle Corver said after the season that he would mull retirement, but one source with knowledge of his thinking said that today, Corver, who's 38, is likely to pay another season, maybe even two. Some people connecting the dots. With the Lakers!

There you go. Corver does train out in Los Angeles. Santa Barbara, I think, is where he goes to this place called P3. or is, yeah, P3 is what it's called. P2 is where I parked. P3 is where he trains. There you go. Yeah, I mean, like, look, again, there's a perfect guy who's played with LeBron

can make shots, veteran, doesn't need the money. Makes sense. Once a LeBron guy, always a LeBron guy. Yeah, like once you're kind of in the family. He's in the family. He's got to be bought out by the Grizzlies in order to make that happen. Right. Let's go to the NFL here.

Which is not a tough way to live. Like, hey, you know, you want to pay me $3 million than not play for your team? Cool, I'll do that. If they signed Kyle Corver and J.R. Smith. Oh, man. They're going to. Might as well, like, somehow make a trade for Tristan Thompson. I mean, they should have hired Ty Lou.

It would have been incredible. Absolutely incredible. They are going to, I would say, I think J.R. and Kyle Corver will both be on that team. And Alex Caruso. They like it. Ooh, Caruso. LeBron loves him some Caruso. Who doesn't love Caruso?

All right, let's go to the NFL, Doug. reports out of New Orleans. The Saints and Star Wide Receiver Michael Thomas are still, quote, far apart on a new contract. Earlier in the week, there were reports saying that the Saints were comfortable making Thomas the highest paid wide receiver in the league. As for now, there is no deal, but each side is, quote, motivated to get a deal done before training camp next month. I don't think he should be the highest paid wide receiver in the league. Led the league in receptions. No, he's great. Tied for 10th and touchdowns. Sixth and yards. Yes. Very good or great.

Very good. Unbelievable net system. They create mismatches for him. But you can't just go like a hey dude, you go get open. He's not a Julio Jones. He's not a freak. He's not a... But he's a tactician.

You know, I got a chance to do play-by-play of the Saints demolition of the Bengals. The embarrassment of my Bengals. I mean, it was so bad. You know, the Saints didn't punt that day. Yes. Literally did not punt. But I was sitting there with Brian Baldinger

and he was just kind of explained, like the genius to this offense and how it works. On the other hand, I don't think that Drew Brees has ever been the best quarterback in the league, but he's had the best numbers of the best quarterbacks in the league, and that hasn't stopped him from getting paid.

Sean Payton's a wizard. Sean Payton is a wizard. He's a wizard. Let's do a little bit of MLB here to wrap things up, Doug. Whoever said pitchers were soft was a liar. During batting practice yesterday, three-time Sy Young Award winner, Max Scherzer, broke his nose. Did you see this video?

I did. He was trying to bunt. Yeah. And he did not have a helmet on. Didn't have a helmet on. Didn't really take that particular pitch very seriously. Yes. The awkward angle of the bat, ball grazes the top of the bat, somehow ricochets completely back into his face.

And now he's got a got a got a nose like mine. He's going, oh, and I think he's. decided to piss tonight too. He did. And those are the reports. He's still expected to pitch tonight in one of the Nationals doubleheaders against the Phillies. Broken nose though, right? It's still got to be painful.

Like in things like, it's like you when you have your appendix taken out. Like appendix is a major surgery when you have it taken out, but it's like, why is it there you don't need it? Everybody, doesn't everybody have a broken nose at some point? I think so. Most people. Yes. And when you broke your nose, did you miss a game? No.

It's like the least heroic heroic thing ever. I pitched with a broken nose. Well, like NBA players. A hockey guy that loses all his teeth, has a concussion. Noses coming, breathing at the side of his cheek where his nose is. You know, looking like sloth.

Oh, Rocky Road. Hockey, right? Hockey guy's a little tougher. But it is a sign of baseball grit. He also should feel bad because he didn't have a helmet on and he did kind of you know, not take it seriously as far as bunting. And that's right, music with the news.

Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The Hurd Lie News. There's a terrible viral video of Parents Gone Bad, which I'm sure is in Southern California. No? Not Southern California? All right. It's a youth baseball game that ends in a melee.

But it could lead us to my very favorite best for last. It's next in the Hurd. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon eastern 9 a.m. Pacific. Doug Gottliebin for Cowherd. Cowherd just tweeted out water skiing video. He was water skiing, two skis, right? But only one hand. So he wasn't wakeboarding. He was old school water skiing. Has Cowherd officially jumped the shark? If he jumps the shark in water skis, You have to actually know the old Happy Days

Jump the Shark episode to understand that but it was actually a really good reference by your boy. Oh, I got so much more material. We haven't even talked about. I loved watching, I watched most of the Dodgers Giants game last night, Doyers 9-0 over their rival from the north. But the game was blown open. Big six runs in the seventh.

But in the sixth inning, Chris Taylor with a bun, first and third, and he lays down a perfect bunt. Perfect bunt. And I thought of the Houston Rockets, right? Because as we've told you, games, look, the analytics and the numbers, they help. They do help. They're like, all right, this is an equation that can lead you to more success. But they are not the end-all be-all.

And analytics guys will always tell you, like, stop bunting, don't ever bunt. And then I watch Chris Taylor stand up there, lay down a perfect bunt, score a run, safe at first because it's first and third with less than two outs. The second baseman covered second. The first baseman goes to get the field the ground ball. He can't get it. There was nobody to throw two at first end and nobody home anyway.

They score the run. Kershaw gets the win. They add on six more in the seventh inning and the rest of they say is history. Just like when the rockets, you look at these things. On paper, Chris Paul and James Hardin should work. Games aren't played on paper. On paper, you add in Jimmy Butler like, wow. Huh, that's like three stones.

That's like three of the infinity stones. Can I give away that if you hold an infinity stone, it kills you? Right? You have to have that special glove. And even when you have that special glove and you snap your fingers and you wipe out half the universe, even then you could still die? They don't tell you that. They don't tell you that with analytics.

Let's get to the best for last. It's almost the end of the show, but that doesn't mean we're phoning it in. Nope, we grind to the very last segment. It's time for best for last. Weed is legal in Colorado. I think these parents should have probably smoked a little before they went to their kids' game, and I only bring that up because there was some rage going on. Apparently, it's a seven-year-old baseball game with a third.

13-year-old umpire who could have seen something bad happening here, right? In Lakewood, California, there's a brawl between parents because parents are, in fact, the problem. The problem is not the children. The problem is the parents. It's in Lakewood, Colorado. I thought, I thought Colorado was supposed to be super chill now, right? Everybody loves and hugs each other. I was kidding about the weed stuff.

A little bit. It is legal. Whatever. Like, this is not acceptable behavior. But in regards to best for last, I thought I would share with you the different types of parents that you only see at youth baseball games. I know because that's where I have spent at least the last 12 to 13 weekends in addition to the California baseball essentially never stops. So here's the worst type of parents at youth baseball games. maybe not as bad

slightly less than the ones in Lakewood, Colorado who should never be allowed to attend if you're on that field and you're not breaking up the fight you should never be allowed to attend a child's baseball game ever again. I'm okay with that. That's not that harsh.

It's look, obviously the overly aggressive parent, but there's the always positive parent. A little bit of the chicken coop going on. If you sit with the ladies, with the moms, they are remarkably positive. And when your kids are young, because the ladies are like, good hit, good hit.

Like, that was actually a pop out. He got under it. That's not a hit. It's good contact. Good contact. That's okay. We know you walk the last six batters and that we're running out of time. We know we're on a time limit.

And you can't throw a strike, but good job. even the kids themselves are like they're up there on the mound crying because they can't throw a strike they know their mom has no idea what's going on and they're way too positive there's the umpire cost us the game right

oh I mean the strike zone he was safe how can you blow like we had a play at third base where it looked like the kid was out or kid was safe on our team Kid named Cannon Reynolds. He was safe. He was going from second to third.

Ball hit to shortstop. He waited until the kid threw him. The guy, kid from Los Alamitos, grabbed the ball through him. And he should have been out, but they missed the tag. And the umpire is only one umpire. He's at home, and he missed it. Oh. And we ended up losing 9 to 1.

And your parents are like, man, that ref, that umpire really cost us the game. Or they had eight more runs than we had. Yeah, but the momentum totally shifted. Okay, sure. Now this is synonymous with all different forms of sports. Coach is an idiot, right? The coach is an idiot. And I know, my kid, he's hitting 11th.

He's an idiot. That coach is an idiot. Your son's like so scared of the ball. He's in the dugout when it's pitch, but coach is an idiot. There's the, and I'm guilty of this sometimes, the trying to make suggestions from, the stands. Get your elbow up. Get your elbow up. Get your fastball's coming. Swing at this one.

There's also uncomfortable divorce separation parents. That one's a, right? Wait, they're not sitting together. Wait, I can't sit with one because then I'm the enemy of the other. There's the newly single mom parent where she's dressing just a little more scantily than she usually does. There's also the doesn't know anything about baseball or sports parent. It's three strikes you're out. And there's the drinking dads in the outfield, of which I am one. This is The Herd.

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What's up, guys? This is Clever Taylor the Fourth. And on my podcast, The Cliverts Show, I'm bringing you conversations about all kinds. 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 42. Hey, rep, my mama want you to wave at her. What? Hey, Miss Parker.

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

If we didn't talk ever again, I was calling it. You just understood. That's how personal it got. Wow. Then after that game seven, Mark keep coming to you. He's like, you know I love you, dog. You know, it's all love. This was just playoffs.

This was just basketball. So listen to Point Game on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed human.