The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Steelers, NBA players poll, Auburn-Virginia, & the end season awards

Episode Date: April 8, 2019

Colin explains why the Pittsburgh Steelers made the right choice, his thoughts on the NBA players poll, the Auburn-Virginia game, and his annual end of the season NBA awards. Guests include Chris Broussard, Eddie House, Chris Haynes, and T. J. Houshmandzadeh. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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

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This is The Herd. Wherever you may be and however you may be listening, we are live in Los Angeles on Iheart Radio, Fox Sports Radio, and FS1. One hour from now, exactly where Colin was right, where Colin was wrong. I'm going to hand out my NBA regular season awards. They're a little offbeat. they go a little contrarian to the usual NBA awards. Some good, some bad, some ugly.

I'll be handing those out. Joy Taylor's obviously with me here on Monday. How are you? I'm great. Good morning. Good morning to you. And I'm only going to speak for guys. If you want to motivate a guy, call him out, doubt him, poke him in the ribs,

tell him there's things he can't do. That's a way to motivate a guy. I'm going to only speak for guys. I'm a guy. I'm going to double down on this. The Pittsburgh Steelers are going to win their division next year and are going to have a great year. It's going to be the rebound year.

Because over the weekend, Antonio Brown used to be a Steeler, went out again taking shots at the Steelers. Took shots at the receiver that won the MVP award that apparently freaked A, B. out, Juju Smith-Schuster. And Antonio Brown called him, you know, names. And then Juju Smith, Schuster came back and said, don't get your emotion on the Internet. and Antonio Brown said emotion.

Boy fumbled the whole post season in the biggest game of the year. Everybody went blind and busy making guys famous. Not enough reality these days. By the way, check the list. It was a whizzing match between, you know, a Hall of Fame level guy, Antonio Brown, and a very good young receiver, Juju Smith-Shooster for the Steelers. And what it heightened was this.

The Steelers got rid of the right guy. Anytime you have a divorce, the bitter person in the divorce that can't get over it, They always eventually unravel. They just unraveled. The person that gets over it first. By the way, Big Ben this week, do you hear what he's going to do? He announced he's going to quit doing his Monday radio show in Pittsburgh after games.

I predicted when all this stuff happened, all these guys taking shots at Big Ben. I said, it's going to motivate him. Steelers getting ripped. It's going to motivate him. Levian Bell taking shots. They won't let me be a human, not just a football player. Antonio Brown. It's all Big Ben, and they're still yapping, and the Steelers, Big Ben, says, you know what,

I'm not going to do that radio show. I'm going to focus really this year on football. And Mike Tomlin saying all the right things. Let me double down. All this noise, Steelers had to make choices. They got rid of the right people. I mean, you're in a new relationship, AB. You've got a new team and a new contract and all that money.

It's disrespectful to go after the Steelers. Concentrating your own team. your own teammates. What message are you sending to the Raiders? You're still all caught up in your emotions with Pittsburgh. And this to me feels like Big Ben is laughing this morning going, told you, told you it was crazy. Told he's ridiculous.

Told you the money changed him. Never forget. Former Steeler Ryan Clark, remember what he said about Antonio Brown. I knew already that they were going to be. going to offer Antonio. And he's walking past and I turn to the strength coach and I say, when you give him money, you're going to create a monster. That day in practice, Antonio and I almost get into a fight because he's saying things to Coach Leboe. He's screaming at Coach Leboe, screaming at us defensively. Don't touch me. I'm the franchises and that because he already

had that mindset. And now with success, with money, these things come. They always say about money. It makes you more of what you are. If you're a giving person, you become more philanthropic. if you're a selfish person, money makes you more selfish. It's like alcohol. Alcohol basically makes you more of what you truly are. Money does the same thing. This morning, the Pittsburgh Steelers are all going. We told you.

We told you. And the Raiders are going, why is he talking about the Steelers? We're paying him all this money, new team, new offense, new focus, he'll be the man. I'll double down. Steelers win their division. they're going to be motivated by the Browns talking, Antonio talking, Lavian talking, and Big Ben cancels his Monday radio show, wants to focus more on football.

I don't play fantasy football. If I did, I would go big on Big Ben and big on Juju Smith-Huster this year. They're going to prove this is how guys operate. You want to get a guy focused, take shots at him, bad mouth him, doubt him. Big year for the Steelers coming up at a great weekend. for Pittsburgh. They chose the right guy to get out of the building. Let me shift to this. The Athletic is a subscription-based sports section. A bunch of good riders and stuff. You pay a monthly fee and you get the athletic. Sam Amick works for them. He's a NBA guy. And, you know, they do

polls and stuff all the time. Like NBA, I like polls. I like lists and polls. And you can do these anonymously so people can be brutally honest about stuff. You know, that's why you have anonymous sources, because people can be more honest if they don't put their name on stuff. So you do need some anonymous sources. Never forget, that's how Nixon got booted from the White House, got impeached. It was some anonymous sources. Okay? You need some anonymous sources.

You don't want all of them. But polls are always great because, you know, players have buddies and friends. They don't want a dog. But a poll will give you an honest response. And almost a third of the league was polled by the athletic NBA players. And they were asked a bunch of questions. this is the one that's really interesting because they can be honest now. This won't hurt their money.

It won't hurt their locker room. It won't hurt their business. It won't hurt friendships. They can be totally honest about this. Who's the best player of all time? 30% of the guys in the league answer. Now, you would think, you know, Michael, LeBron, I mean, the last seven, eight years, there have been a lot of support among NBA players for LeBron James in that debate.

Fans tend to like MJ over LeBron. But players, a lot of players, you know, MJ was selfish, not much of a giver. LeBron's been pretty much a giver. LeBron's has a bunch of buddies in the league. He's elevated players. And the numbers came out. 73% say Jordan's the best ever. LeBron got less than 12%.

And Kobe was neck and neck with LeBron. The hell? You got to be kidding me. We've not even talked about LeBron and Kobe. the last 10 years. It has been a given. This, once again, is LeBron the chosen one, the king, getting very self-reverential in the last year. I always felt LeBron's brand was a Wii brand. It's got his guys from high school. It's about elevating others. And in the last year, it's become a me brand. He's gone Hollywood, or at least too much Hollywood. L.A. Times calendar

intersection. He's coming out. Oh, the city loves him. Cities talking about, no, city doesn't love him. Hollywood may. But the city, Staples Arena is not Hollywood. It's on Olympic Boulevard in L.A. It's a long way from Hollywood. So he did an interview LeBron did Friday. And this is kind of the new LeBron. He used to make a point, even though he was great, of elevating others and us and together. And listen to this. Listen to the words he uses now? For me personally, it's a disappointment for myself because I hold myself to such a high standard. Being in the foxhole, like me being in a uniform, me being on the floor, I know I could command my guys more than that. I know what I can do for the franchise and what I can do for the team. So I'm basically trying to speed up my body to get back on the floor, but also my mind is kind of

shot because I just want to be out there for my guys. I know what I bring to the game. I know my commitment to the game. I've never cheated the game and throughout my career is always giving back to me. I am guaranteeing my body. I'm guaranteeing my mind will be and always be in championship mindset. How many I's did we have there, 15, 20, I, me, me, me, I, I, me, I, calendar section, my projects, me, I, no Lakers, part of those projects. Like, LeBron has moved into Hollywood and in Hollywood, they just love to have award shows about them They're not even. Hollywood is so fond of themselves. They love to cheer. They always get it more than the rest of us.

They're so much smarter than us. I'm me, me, I, I, I, I, me. That doesn't even sound like LeBron five years ago. That poll by NBA players, LeBron neck and neck with Kobe? I thought that argument had been won by LeBron. You notice who's gotten way more popular in the last year? Kobe Bryant.

What people are telling you, players are telling you is Kobe played then did his stuff. LeBron's trying to do both at the same time. And this is part of that story last week where Brian Winhorse came out and said, sources told him that Space Jam 2, LeBron was having trouble,

getting players just to be in a movie and play pretend basketball with him. Kevin Durant, word is he'd rather play for the Knicks than the Lakers. Kauai would rather play for the Clippers than LeBron and the Lakers. Paul George would rather live in OKC and play with Westbrook.

The Lakers? He's from Los Angeles. Folks, I haven't gone anti-Lebron. I trust my eyes. I trust my sources. That interview Friday, I, I, I, I, I, I, me, me, me, me. LeBron was a wee guy.

He's a me guy. It's a bad look. And that poll lets you. you know exactly how all that's landing to players in the league. There's been a tipping point. Best player of all time. LeBron's neck and neck with Kobe. I mean, I thought that thing would.

That had been decided, right? We never argued that was, no, not LeBron was either best or second best. That poll was a referendum. Guys have gotten a little tired of mogul show. movie, me, I, it's off brand, it's not who he is. I mean, again, Tom Brady's brand's always been family football.

Even in his documentary, he was always at home with his family talking football. LeBron's brand was, I'm taking my high school guys, I'm joining my friends, banana boat, us. It's not that way in L.I. It's gone heavy eye, heavy me, that

pull, an indicator of it. Really interesting. There's another, there was one more, and I'll get to this later in the show. There was one more question asked by players. I think the players were out of their gourd, and they completely

dissed a great NBA player. I like to a shocking level. We'll do that maybe before the hour, maybe top of next hour. We have Colin Wright, Colin wrong. Coming up next, the moment of the weekend in sports, and I think it didn't get any credit. Certainly not the credit it

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Biggest moment of the weekend in sports, but controversy overshadowed what was truly an amazing performance. There's 72,000 people at this Auburn, Virginia game. And there was a foul call at the end of the game and it was obviously a foul. I tend to be a swallow the whistle guy, but you've got to protect the shooter. The kid got bumped.

The defender gave him nowhere to land. It's a foul. Every referee of note commented on it. I text two buddies during it that are officials, one in NBA, one of college. They're like, of course it's a foul. They did blow a double dribble call, but that's life.

That's sports. Ask the Saints. It happens. Nobody's perfect, not even refs. We don't have robots on this thing. What was amazing about this is that we got so caught up on the foul or no foul, and it was clearly a foul, that we forgot that what Kyle Guy did was unbelievable.

72,000 people. CBS, he had to hit three free throws to win the game. There was 0.06 left. And the kid walked up to the free throw line and went three for three. And to make it worse, he was in a shooting slump. To make it worse, none of his teammates are around because they're on the other end protecting the other basket. by himself in a 72,000 seat football stadium that's on stilts.

They're trying to make it bigger. CBS goes to a commercial after the second free throw. Apparently they had to make money. That kid went three for three. He said after the game he was terrified. I mean, that's one of the great clutch free throw performances ever. To go three for three for a college kid in a show. shooting slump. None of your teammates are around. You're by yourself in that stadium. You don't

hit them. You lose. You hit all three you win. I'm sitting there thinking, can we get over the controversy? It was a foul. LeBron ain't doing that. There's about three guys in the NBA, I trust to go three for three. Steph Harden, maybe KD. I mean, I'm like, I don't remember a time in my life where a kid in a shooting slump in front of 72,000 in a football stadium, and by the way, it's generally harder to shoot in these football stadiums that get transformed into basketball arenas. Shooters will tell you it feels too colossal, like an airport hangar. It changes depth.

Like, it's not a great place to shoot for, shooters don't want to play in barns. You know, they like to play in tight little arenas. I was blown away by that kid. I was nervous for him. You know it's nerve-wracking. I had nothing. I don't care about Virginia basketball. I don't even know Texas Tech basketball.

I mean, they're coached a UNLV for like 20 days. Some of you may have forgotten that. UNLV hired him 20 days later. He bolts town, goes to Texas Tech. I'm sitting there watching this kid, and I'm like, I played in high school basketball. I got into a couple of these situations. I missed the free throw. And that was a great high school free throw show.

I got trophies at home. That kid, congrats to Kyle Guy. That guy was the man. Three for three in that setting is a one. one of the most amazing things I've ever seen. Let's get over the controversial stuff. Ref's missed stuff. That was a foul.

I mean, that tip of the cap to that kid. I'm sitting at home with no emotional tie. And I'm like, oh, my God, my stomach to make me sick. I was just, oh, kid, it was like watching Jeopardy. When you know somebody's got like $15,000 in the line, you just hope they don't embarrass themselves to give a bad answer. You're just like rooting for the person so it's not embarrassing to his legacy and his family. I was just rooting for the kid not to humiliate himself.

and if he misses those free throws, that sticks with Kyle Guy the rest of his life. Well, I don't know that it would be necessarily humiliating because of everything that you just described. But, I mean, he'd be like, oh, Kyle Guy. Yeah, Kyle Guy, butchered it. I mean, really, I think he got a pass once he hits the second one. God. But to hit the third is really just the legendary part. But in those moments, it's like the levity of the situation.

Like, you feel like you're there. Like, you're the one having to shoot the free throw. I mean, it just, and by the way, he didn't waste any time. One dribble up, one dribble up, one dribble up. Wow. It's all overthink it. Wow. Joy with the news.

No, no, no, no. Turn on the news. This is the herd line news. So, despite missing the playoffs this season for the first time and since his second year in the league, LeBron has supreme confidence in his abilities. And with the Lakers having capped space to sign a max player this summer, LeBron had this to say on Spectrum Sportsnet. I'm looking forward to seeing who jumps in the car with me and want to take this ride to the top.

I know what I bring to the game. I know my commitment to the game. I've never achieved the game. I'm not saying I'm guaranteeing a championship, but I am guaranteeing my body. I'm guaranteeing my mind will be and always be in championship mindset until I'm done. All right. Got any shooters on that team? I don't know.

What did you make it like? I think I'm kind of with you. I'm almost ready for the Olivia Pope, like, image consultants to come in and save the day here. Because it's really very anti-Lebron. You're totally right. He's always been talked about as a great teammate. He's always had his high school friends around him. He elevates people.

And it's like everything that he's saying now is very me and I. And it's just kind of like it just lacks this self-awareness that he always just, just naturally had. Like, didn't we always bragged about two things. He never got hurt. We were always like, it's amazing. And the other thing was, if you look at his upbringing,

he's been a remarkably good CEO. Like, he just understands the whole room, the temperature. Right. Didn't have a perfect childhood, never in trouble. And all of a sudden, you know, I think Hollywood screws people up.

He got out here, and it's like all the branding that I loved about him, it's like, dude, take a step back and you use the word we. It's just odd. Even one of the biggest marks against LeBron was what the decision.

Which when you really break it down, wow, that's the worst thing you can say about LeBron's that he raised millions of dollars to the boys and girls and announced publicly where he was taking his own career in his own hands. It's just, it's kind of weird. And then the jumping in the car with me to take this ride to the top, it's almost like you really should be saying,

I'm looking forward to whoever wants to come and take the driver's seat. Like, you just got to have some humility in this spot. It's just, I don't know. Maybe we're being. Maybe we are, but I think you and I have both been like, it's odd. It's not very, it's not LeBron. I've seen Hollywood swallow people up. Good people come out here and make horrific decisions.

Good people come out here. Hollywood's different. Palm trees. It's the most beautiful, successful people. There's a lot of successful people in Philadelphia. They're not as pretty out there. And all of a sudden, all these people are telling you how great you are and gassing you up. That's why Kobe lived in Orange County.

Kobe lived away from it. Mike Trout doesn't get involved in it. You stay away from. That's why the Rams, by the way, they all live like thousand oaks away. You don't want your players living around Hollywood. It's difficult. So the athletic pulled 127 players more than a quarter of the NBA. And one of the questions was asked of them is who's the most overrated player in the league?

Ooh, like it. I don't think you'll find the results surprising, Colin. What? It was Russell Westbrook and Draymond Green tied for the most votes. Now, I obviously very much disagree with this. but this is what the quarter of the NBA said. Are you proud of me? For not leading the show with this?

Yes, I am, actually. It shows a lot of perspective by you. No, I was not going to bring this up today. This is an easy one for me to lead my show with. In fact, I didn't know you were doing this in her line. I didn't. I was going to avoid this one because it was too easy. So all of those, you hate Russell Westbrook,

this could have easily been my show today. and I didn't lead with it. I don't have it in my stack of stories anywhere, and I didn't know Joy was doing it, but yes, I did notice this. Well, I'm sure you did. I'm sure you have Russell Westbrook alerts from Google hooked up to your phone.

But, I mean, I just disagree with this. Like, if you have a problem with what Russell Westbrook does, then, you know, go do it. Nobody else does it, so I'm assuming that they can't do it. The other names on the list are Jimmy Butler, Andrew Wiggins, Carl Anthony Towns, James Hardin. We always see, you know, he gets quite a bit of hate as well. Ben Simmons, LeBron, interestingly on there, 4.2% and Kyle Lowry as well.

And finally, you were just talking about hitting clutch free throws. Well, tonight's the men's national championship game. It's exciting as the women's was last night. Baylor and Notre Dame went back and forth the final seconds, and Baylor came out with the win, 82, 81. They lost Lauren Cox in a bad injury. Chloe Jackson led the way for Baylor with 26 points, 13 and 25 shooting, and Arike Agumboale finished the game, 11 of 27.

She was incredible. Is Baylor now better than Yukon? Is Baylor now better than Yukon? So Kim Moky's Baylor Squad joins Yukon with 11 and Tennessee with eight as women's teams to win at least three championships in the NCAA era. It feels like to me, no, I mean, Yukon had the run. And it kind of feels like Baylor's now, I'm not saying all-time legacy. No, they're not eclipsing them, but they have a very, very strong program. It's almost like Clemson feels better than Alabama now.

Now, we know Alabama's runs better, but like Clemson crushed them last year. Clemson brings back the best quarterback in college in 10 years, and if they lined up tomorrow would beat them again, you can kind of feel Baylor kind of. Yeah, taking their momentum of that. Taking their momentum. And the women's NCAA tournament has highest attendance in more than 15 years. Highest what? Highest attendance in more than 15 years. Well, you've got out three.

simultaneous kind of like Notre Dame Baylor, Yukon. Yeah. You've got like a North Carolina, Kansas, Duke, Kentucky thing going on with women's basketball. It used to be, it was just Tennessee for 10 years won everything. Then Yukon won everything. And now you've got like three people. Like women's basketball, there's more good players. Yeah, I mean, you're seeing this a lot with men's basketball too.

It's not just the traditional powerhouses that are, you know, coming out on top. Yeah, good stuff. Joy with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The herd line news. My man, I got picked up at the airport last night. Long story got in really, really late, couldn't park my car.

And the guy that picked me up said, I just had Chris Broussard a couple weeks ago. That is a good man. And I'm like, he certainly is. Let's bring on the good man, Chris Broussard, voice of the NBA on this network. I know that sounds real bougie like you and I use cars, but sometimes in our schedule, we have to. Okay. It helps. So I'm not even going to talk about the Westbrook.

I'm shocked. I got to give you props. Let's hear it for me, John. I'm shocked that you didn't lead with that. I really am. I know it'll be the lead tomorrow. No, but I thought the one that really resonated with me is that the players were asked about the greatest of all time. And LeBron and Kobe now are at the center of that ring equal.

And it wasn't like that two years ago. Yeah, I'll say this. Look, I'm glad, first of all, the players recognize Jordan as the greatest he is. And I've had LeBron ahead of Kobe forever. I thought everybody did. Well, in my experience is talking to former players over the last several years, surprisingly, the majority of them have always picked Kobe over LeBron to me. He's a score.

What they love about Kobe and why they have put him over LeBron, this is ex-players who face both, is that they always point to the killer instinct. Like, I get the impression that players didn't want to go against Kobe because they feared him. They knew he was going for the jugular. LeBron, they obviously have great respect for his ability and his skills, but it's not the feeling like he's going to go out there to crush you, to rip out your heart. And I agree Kobe's got more of a killer instinct, but I don't think his killer instinct outweighs the other things LeBron has over him.

But again, many ex-players have told me they do think Kobe has it over LeBron. So I'm not that surprised that it's close, but Kobe is gaining. If LeBron has a year next year like this year, it could change. But this sounds crazy. Joy just hates this topic. But listen, we all do this. Even psychologists will sit down and said, you know, you're over-dramatizing your childhood. Your mom wasn't that terrible to you.

She was just, you know, blah, blah, blah. We all tend to exaggerate and create our own history. I've done it. I've done enough therapy. We do this with sports, too. We forget that Michael Jordan missed all sorts of game winning shots. We just remember he was six for six. And we make Michael, we forget that between James Worthy leaving at Carolina and his first NBA titles, there was eight years where he just shot a lot and didn't win a lot of big games.

We forget that. Couldn't beat the Celtics. Couldn't beat the Pistons. But if LeBron James, next year again, struggles, and they don't assemble this great. team. And for the second year in a row, it's not a playoff person. There's going to be a lot of people that say, yeah, we did it in the east. They went over to the west and it was, you know that's going to happen. Absolutely right. And I actually feel like, look, I think LeBron's going to come back with a great season next year. I think they make the playoffs for certain. I don't care if they

don't add anybody and he got the same exact team. I think he leads them at least to the playoffs. However, if he, let's say, if he's going to miss the playoffs or go out in the first round for the next few years, for his legacy, it would actually be better if next year he's at 23 points, 7 rebound. You know, you begin to see the decline individually. Then people would just say, oh, he got old. He got old. But if he, next year, if he's still 27, 8 and 8, or 28, 8, 9 or something. something like that and can't lead you to victories, that's when people will begin to say, well, he looks like he's just as good.

His statistics are just as good, but he can't win. And to your point, they'll say, look, Kobe was in the West his whole career. He had to beat San Antonio just to get to the finals. No, it will absolutely elevate Kobe Bryant. It will elevate Michael Jordan, who went through the East. He had to go through really good teams in the East. Remember, Michael got to the finals, and none of those teams were ever. Right. The sons,

He had to go through U.S. Sonics. They weren't Utah. Those teams never won any titles. Well, Jordan was in the era where it was like one or two stars on the team. Yeah. One or two. Not really big threes.

So the athletic, Sam Mamick, they did this poll where they pulled like 25, 30% of the league. And they talked about, I've got to get this. They talked who you'd start your team with. Now, you're a former guard. Yes. And a slot receiver just won the MVP in a Super Bowl. We didn't have them 15 years ago, and they certainly weren't winning MVPs in the Super Bowl.

That for a lot of reasons, some analytically, slot receivers, because teams don't want their quarterback doing seven-step drops and getting hit. So get rid of the ball fast. Slot receivers are big. The NBA, when I grew up was a center league. It is now a guard wing league. Can't hand check.

Right. So the players were asked, who would you start your franchise around? Not only do they put James Hardin in a tie for 10th. That's shocking. Which is dumb. Not only did they put Steph Curry in sixth, which is just so... It's just disrespectful. They put Anthony Davis second.

Now, time out. Get hurt regularly. One playoff series victory. Seven years in the league, not really a leader. Again, gets hurt a lot. control the ball and not a great three shooter. Like, am I nuts on this? No.

Players are massively overvaluing Anthony Davis. And you see their overvaluing size in that list. They're clearly overvaluing Davis. He's a great player, but to start your team around, not necessarily. Steph, this is why, this list is why Steph Curry is going to benefit when Kevin Durant leaves this season. Why? Because Steph Curry, before KD goes to Golden State,

Steph Curry was, he had become the face of the league. LeBron took it back when they won that championship. Before a year and a half, Steph was the face of the league. And it would have been a great rivalry between not only the Warriors and the Cavs, but LeBron and Steph to see who's the face of the NBA. But Steph was on pace. Tim Legler, our former colleague at the old network, and we have great respect for him,

he was saying Steph could be a top three player of all. time. Now, I think that was a little far, but he was on pace to be a top 10 player of all time. Maybe dare I even broached this, challenge Magic Johnson for the all time, best point guard of all time? Much better score. Right, no question. And change the game, as did Magic to some degree. But when Kevin Durant goes to Golden State, all that changes. And when he leaves, if and when he leaves after this season, Steph Curry is going to show people again. how great he is. People, anyone who thinks that the Golden State Warriors are going to fall off if KD.

leaves has another thing coming. Steph, Clay, and Drayman are going to be motivated. And I think we have been a bit robbed, Colin. We've been robbed. That last season Steph had before KD got there, 30 points a game. Every week it was something crazy he was doing. We've been robbed and we're going to get it back when KD leaves. So bye, KD.

go win your title, win your third title, and go to New York with Kyrie, even out the league, and Steph's going to put on the show. It's amazing. Like players, you play in the league, you got all these big guys ahead of Steph and Hardin. They control games. Hardin basically is the offense. I like Anthony, I've said this about Anthony Davis. If he joins LeBron, they'll be better.

He gives you 24 and 12. But late in games, who's getting that? He'll be playing off LeBron. LeBron will be the driving force and Anthony will play off him. All right. Colin right, Colin wrong. I will say this. Joy and I have, and we like LeBron, we've been LeBron advocates. Is it fair now to say interview Friday, I we, we, I, we, I me, I, we, I me. Are you feeling the same thing? I was, I said that earlier in the year. I didn't really feel it so much from that interview. I didn't have a problem with the I stuff

and that what I have a problem with is LeBron. And I'm with you guys. I'm a LeBron guy, but stop the open recruiting. Stop it. Recruit on the low. We don't need to hear any more about how you're going to go out and who's going to join me in the car and who's going to join me in the bus.

No, because there's no upside to that. Number one, what if nobody wants to jump in the car with you? Then it looks like nobody wants to play with you, number one. And number two, when you show up. a training camp in late September or October, it's already going to feel like a lost cause. Because this whole summer, all we've been hearing is, who's he going to get?

I got to go out and get somebody. I'm going to be recruiting. And so that's number one. Number two, it's not helping your guys. What if you come back with the same exact team? Or, you know, for the most part, the same core. You have to build these guys up. This is the Anthony Davis thing all over again.

No, you're right. He keeps talking about players to join me. How about the guys you got? You just are kind of coming out of the Anthony Davis thing and everybody's kind of moved on from that. Don't do it again. You should be saying, look, like everybody else, if you don't win the championship, you've got to improve.

So we're going to be trying to go out and get guys. But I like what we have. Brandon Ingram showed improvement. Kuzma, we know what he can do. Lanzo is a great defender. Like, build them up. And it could be total BS. And on the low, you're making calls.

you got all these guys' numbers, they respect you, you can call them and recruit quietly. But don't announce it to the world. There's no upside at all, and there's plenty of downside to that. Chris Broussard, great seeing you, bud. Great seeing you. Great to be on. Coming up next, a coach that's calculated, every time he opens his mouth, opened his mouth again this weekend. And there's a reason for it.

He's telling you something. He's afraid of something. And it's coming. That's coming up next. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind. Highlights are trending, opinions are flying, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in. I'm Timbo. Every episode, we're cutting through the noise,

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

And for more, follow Timbo Slic Life 12 and the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. Welcome to my new podcast. Learn the Hardway with me. 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 Our Heart Radio app. Search Learn the Hardway and listen now. Jacob Kingston grew up in an isolated polygamous sect.

We were God's chosen kingdom on earth. He felt destined for greatness. So when a swaggering Armenian businessman catapults Jacob into an extraordinary world, he doesn't look back. Ferraris and Lamborghinis, private jets, meeting the president of Turkey. I'm Michelle McPhee, and this is one of the most shocking criminal conspiracies I've ever come across. When Jacob met Levan this went to a billion dollar fraud. But with two kings from entirely different worlds, just how long can their empire survive? The largest tax investigation in American history.

You need to tell me what you know. Is somebody coming after me? Jacob told Levan, you're ruining my life. Listen to Kingdom of Fraud on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Life throws hurdles big and small. The question is, how do you conquer them? On hurdle with Emily Abadi, we sit down with the most inspiring women in sports and wellness, professional athletes, coaches, and Olympic champions to talk about the challenges that shaped them

and the mindset that keeps them going. From the WNBA standout Kate Martin and rising hockey star Layla Edwards. If a boy can do it, I don't see why a girl can't. Like, I've never understood that. Like, it didn't make sense in my brain. It's hard to be in spaces that no one looks like you, but don't ever feel like you don't don't belong. Don't let that be the reason you don't do it. An Olympic champs Gabby Thomas and Katie Ladecki.

The ability to show a gold medal to someone and have their face light up and smile, that means the world to me. And that's what motivates me to win more gold medals. At our level, at this scale, like being able to fail in front of the entire world. Like, I can do anything. I can do anything. Because resilience isn't just about winning. It's about showing up, even when it's hard. Listen to Hurtle with Emily Abadi on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Presented by Capital One, founding partner of IHeart Women's Sports. Come into Maco today, get your dream paint job during the tax season sales event.

Maybe we can't afford a new car, but with your tax refund, you get a new paint job, Manko. I need a new paint job. My car's got too dense in it. I'm proud as heck of those dents, but it's got too dense in it. Listen, Nick Sabin's one of the smartest coaches in football. NFL or college. He's very calculated. Nick just doesn't talk to talk. We joke about this, Joy, all the time. He comes about four times a year, three times. He comes to a press conference, and he ain't going to talk about something, and he'll just figure out a way to talk about it at the

press conference, even if you don't ask a question about it. So this is something he's talking about now, and this has become a real thing for Nick over the last three to four months. He was barking at people at the Senior Bowl about players leaving early, and this weekend, wrapping up spring practice, went into Sabin calculated mode. Now we have guys that have no draft grades, seventh round grades, free agent grades, fifth round grades that are going out for the draft. And, you know, the person that loses and that is the player. Your third round draft pick, and we had one here last year,

I'm not mentioning any names, goes and starts for his team, so he's making third round money, which is not that great. Be the first guy taking in his position this year, probably. and make $15, $18 million more. So the agent makes out, the club makes out, now they got a guy that going to play for that kind of money for three more years. The player, by the way, didn't like Nick saying that, but Nick is right. But Nick just didn't make this up, didn't just rant.

Nick had this thought out. Here's a little story behind the story. The XFL starts in a year. The XFL does not have. have an age requirement. You can go after one year at Alabama and play for that pro league, second year or third year. Nick's already losing five, six guys a year every year early. Nick is well aware that he is entering a tsunami, a cultural tsunami that college basketball coaches, Mike Shosheschi and John Kalapari deal with. Nick's not going to be able to keep his

guys. Because Nick has more guys ready to play in the NFL, Georgia. will face a little bit of this. I've been told this by NFL people. The SEC is going to get ravaged because it's got the most NFL bodies by the XFL. And in fact, Clemson's got a terrific wide receiver named Justin Ross. And he came out and he said, listen, if the XFL is offering that kind of money, paychecks, he goes, 18, 19 year old guys, we're going to take the money. He goes, that's going to be hard for an 18, 19 year old kid to turn down. By the way, PAC 12 doesn't have any freshmen good enough to go to the NFL or sophomores. They don't have many juniors good enough to go. Alabama's got a bunch. This is Nick Saban getting ahead of this,

creating a narrative, warning the players, don't get used. You can make a lot more money. And he's not wrong. You can make a lot more money staying at Alabama. And let me tell you something. Nick's been on this for my sources tell me Nick's been on this for like three months because he's heard once XFL came out and the stories about the XFLs, they'll take freshmen out of college. They'll take sophomores out of college. Nick's going to be losing 12 kids a year, half his recruiting class. So he's getting ahead of this and creating a narrative.

He's not that worried about guys not being rich enough. He's worried about the future of his program. Yeah, I don't know that it's going to be an overwhelming amount of kids that are going to go to the XFL right away. I think a lot of guys still want a good college experience and a lot of guys want to make it to the NFL. And until the XFL can prove that it's a pipeline to the NFL, I don't think, like, not every kid is just going to ignore

every piece of good advice that he gets. That said, it's really cute of you to say, oh, you know, he would have been making millions and millions of dollars more if he had to say it next year. Yeah, he also could have blew both of his knees out or any other number of catastrophic injuries, which could have dropped his draft grade even, lower. And those are the chances that you take. And it's just very difficult for me to listen to

coaches who make the money that they make telling kids and you don't know what their background is or what family they have to support or how, what kind of money situation they have in their current situation. Aside from the fact of not being paid to play football in the current moment, to pass up going to the NFL. Just know that what Nick is upset about is being talked about behind the scenes. When the XFL came out and said, we've got no age limit. Nick's not dumb. like, I got, this is strategic. Nick's like, I got guys in my program. Washington doesn't.

UCLA doesn't. Purdue doesn't. But Nick's program, you could, even if it was only four guys a year that left as sophomores, not juniors, combined with the juniors who leave, that's 11 guys. And by the way, with Nick, every year, it feels like there's one more guy that leaves early. So by the way, this is what college basketball coach has been dealing with now for like 10 years. it's hard. It means very difficult to have to like bring in a bunch of kids,

teach him the system, make the chemistry work. One of the advantages Nick Sabin and Davos-Sweeney have over Coach K. and Kalapari is you get a kid again and again and again. By the time he hits the field, you know, he's part of your system. You're not like by the time most kids by the sophomore year in a college system, they figured out the system. Now they can just go play. I don't know.

It just, it kind of feels a bit disingenuous to me. A bit. I get what he's trying to say. but, I mean, crime me a river. These kids are getting an opportunity to go and play professional ball earlier and possibly go on to the NFL. I mean, that's the reality of where we are in the world. All right.

Top of next hour where Colin was right, where Colin was wrong. We are loaded today. Also next hour, I'm going to try to get it in. We have our own NBA regular season awards. NBA season, regular season ends officially on Wednesday. Playoffs can't wait. Start Saturday. Discover alerts you if they find your social security number

on any of the thousands of risky websites. Free for card members at Discover. Sign up today online. Discover.com. Discover.com slash free alerts. 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. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind. Highlights are trending, opinions are flying, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes. in. I'm Timbo. Every episode, we're cutting through the noise. Breaking down the plays, the controversies, and the stories behind the headlines. We go straight to the source, the athlete themselves,

their locker room stories, their reactions, the stuff nobody gets to hear. The laughs, the drama, the triumphs, the moments that never make the highlight real. From viral moments to historic games, from buzzer beaters, to controversial calls, we break it down, give you context and ask the questions everybody wants answered. Sports slice brings you closer to the action, with stories told by the people who live them. Listen to SportsSlice on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Sliced Life 12

in the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. Welcome to my new podcast, learn the 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, Keir Gaines, is we have. have real conversations about healing, growth, fatherhood, pressure, and purpose on my new podcast,

learn the hard way. Open your free iHeartRadio app. Search Learn the Hardway and listen now. Jacob Kingston grew up in an isolated polygamous sect. We were God's chosen kingdom on earth. He felt destined for greatness. So when a swaggering Armenian businessman catapults Jacob into an extraordinary world, he doesn't look back.

Ferraris and Lamborghinis, private jets, meeting the president of Turkey. I'm Michelle McPhee, and this is one of the most shocking criminal conspiracies I've ever come across. When Jacob met Levant this plant to a billion dollar fraud. But with two kings from entirely different worlds, just how long can their empire survive? The largest tax investigation in American history. You need to tell me what you know. Is somebody coming after me? Jacob told Levan, you're ruining my life. Listen to Kingdom of Fraud on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.

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

Like, it didn't make sense in my brain. It's hard to be in spaces that no one looks like you, but don't ever feel like you don't belong. Don't let that be the reason you don't do it. An Olympic champs, Gabby Thomas and Katie Ladeke. The ability to show a gold medal to someone and have their face light up and smile, that means the world to me.

And that's what motivates me to win more gold medals. at our level at this scale, like being able to fail in front of the entire world. Like, I can do anything. I can do anything. Because resilience isn't just about winning. It's about showing up, even when it's hard. Listen to Hurtle with Emily Abadi on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Presented by Capital One, founding partner of IHeart Women's Sports.

Ah, here we go, hour two on a Monday. this is the herd. Wherever you may be and however you may be listening. I Heart Radio, Fox Sports Radio and FS1. We're live in Los Angeles. Joy Taylor's joining me. I flew to Las Vegas yesterday afternoon and flew back yesterday night just to watch a magician and hang out with friends.

I went and watched the guy named Shimshi. Okay. Crazy. I just, I don't even know what to say. Go to YouTube, look up, Shimshi. Were you a magic kid? Well, I liked it, yeah. I've been Chris Angel, Copperfield.

I've never seen any of them. Oh, one Saturday I took my son to two shows. I'm like, let's go to the early Copperfield in the late Chris Angel. When I was doing radio in Miami, we had a magician come into studio once. Yeah. And he was like a hypnotist slash magician, and I went and got him a spoon. So I know it was like a spoon that people used from the kitchen at the station. And he put it on the table or the counter.

and just looked at it, and the spoon slid across from one hand to the other. So I decided to leave. Hey, Goulet, I was a magician. I used to show up to radio stations and make ratings appear. Whoa! That was terrible. That was bad. Yeah, no, this guy yesterday did stuff.

Aaron Andrews was in the room with about 10, 15 of us, and he did a trick on Aaron Andrews. I don't know what happened. She doesn't know what happened. I don't know what happened. I just said... Very impressive. That's very baller of you too, by the way, to fly to Vegas for two hours to see a show and fly back. Yeah. Very baller on me.

I mean, everybody can't do that. My wife's like, she's like, I'm so jealous. I'm like, it's a lot of work for a two hour, but I'm like, I like everybody in the room and I want to see Shimshy. Anyway, there you go. All right, we do it every Monday at this time. Colin right, Colin wrong. Here we go. Where Colin was right.

I told you for years. Do not buy these claims by Aaron Rogers and Mike McCarthy. They're buddies. And they get along great. And I said, it's not what the people I know are telling. me. That's not what my intel is. My intel is they barely tolerate each other. And this article, this past week by Tyler Dunn at Bleacher Report, which was a tremendous article, worked on it for apparently over a month, exposed Aaron as really petty, like disappointing for as smart a guy

as he is. And McCarthy had his issues. Listen, fans, you can believe whatever you want. You can believe whatever you want. But Aaron Rogers used to mock the media and roll his eyes if we suggested that, you know, we're hearing a lot of things about you and McCarthy that aren't great. They were all exposed. I was completely validated this week, which is not why I'm in this business, but Packer fans put the pom-poms down, your grown men, put them down for a second. I acknowledge your golden child has his flaws. He's ridiculously petty. And I think in the end, that separates him from Brady, not the talent. Where Colin was wrong.

Well, Duke and Michigan are not playing tonight. my two favorites to meet. In fact, I'm still shocked. Michigan got blown out. In fact, only one of the six teams I predicted had a chance to be in the final four. Only one made it, Virginia. There were very few upsets early. It was a very unique tournament.

There was almost no upsets in the first couple of days. And then at the end, the big dogs, a couple of them like Carolina got whacked and Michigan got whacked. And Virginia slid in to the national championship. Listen, this is the talent drain happening in college basketball. the big boys, the Calipari's, and the Kansas and the Dukes, those one and done's, they're great players, but they're young. And when you go to this tournament, something that I've noticed in recent years, experience matters. It's nice to have a couple juniors in your team.

Texas Tech's got a bunch of upperclassmen. It really matters. Where Colin was right? Well, look at this. According to Bleacher reports, Matt Miller. Arizona Cardinals have not only received two trade offers for Josh Rosen, but as we predicted, as we told you, they want to save face in the deal. This is what I've been told, and what we've told you is happening.

Teams are offering them a second round pick, but Steve Kimes, the general manager, and he moved up last year to get Josh Rosen. And when a general manager moves up to get a player in a previous year, he does not want to settle for lesser picks the following year. If Arizona had a new GM, and I'm not encouraging anything, the guy would make the deal in a second. Josh Rosen's absolutely getting a second round pick for Josh Rosen is a fair offer, and that's about right now what he's worth. By the way, Randy Moss went to the Patriots. I think they only gave up a fourth.

So, I mean, Josh Rosen is worth about a second round pick, and Matt Miller is telling you what we've been telling you for the last week. Where Colin was wrong. Okay, I find this next story absolutely bonkers. I think it's a horrific move. I think Golden State's basketball heaven. The head coach and the GM are likable guys that are former players. Kevin Durant would surrender tens of millions of dollars to leave Golden State. But Rick Buecker said this last week on our show about Katie and the Warriors.

From everything I've heard, it's done. He's leaving. Yes, he's leaving. It's not a matter of not liking or appreciating what he has. But being there, I can tell you that Kevin Durant has never been fully embrace. raised by the Warriors faithful. It's still Steph's team. It's still Steph, Clay, Draymond.

KD, thanks for coming along and helping us win these last two. It's a matter of where can I go? And I can show I can get this done. Like I can be the centerpiece. Where am I going to be unbelievably appreciated? Oh, Lord, that feels needy. But I mean, I trust Buker. I trust these sources.

I think it's nuts. I don't think there's a better place in the world. I think he's going to hoist another trophy this year. He's going to be the MVP again this year. And next year he could do it for a four straight time, which really, then you're going to get arguments that he's better than LeBron, which maybe he's not, but you're certainly going to get arguments. I don't see the answer to his validation leaving.

I see it staying. I don't get it. As his agent, I'd say you're out of. or gourd. You can make a fortune Golden State more. But the tea leaves are telling you he's leaving. Holy Lord. Where Colin was right. Oh, Mike Trout,

12-year deal with the Angels. And there are already four games out of first and they're in last place. And by the way, he's first in everything in baseball. He's putting on a clinic. He's hitting 3.93, five jacks, best player in baseball. But one of the reasons I think these 12 and 13-year contracts are

awful is because he's invisible. The second most popular team in Southern California. By the way, the Dodgers passed on Bryce Harper a long deal. Passed on Manny Machado. And the Dodgers are setting offensive records, rotating guys. Paying one baseball player, $350 million, I don't care if it's Mike Trout. It's bad business.

You're not going to be able to sign Setup Men. You're not going to be able to have an elite shortstop and second baseman up the middle. You're not going to be able to have elite players hit in front of him or behind him. Trout's amazing. But I said before, if I'm Mike Trout, you know, all right, congrats. Who wants to play for 13 years and last place looking up at everybody? And again, I'm not denying Mike's great. And I understand the money.

But the Dodgers passed on these long deals and the Dodgers are smoking it. They're analytic people like, nah, we're not interested. I think these long-term deals make the players rich. I don't think it makes the teams richer. I don't think it makes the teams more nimble and viable. And the Angels and Trouters set in the record. But I mean, where's the team? Last place.

And never going to be able to surround him with the kind of players that he deserves to be surrounded by. Where Colin was wrong. The AAF, the American Alliance of Football folded before the first year ended. I always thought it would get gobbled up by the XFL eventually, but I did think it would last a year. I was told last night in Vegas around a bunch of football people,

they were out of money by week two. So there was a lot of half-truth and salesmanship in the kind of financing they actually had. Now, I think the XFL is going to work. It's got Vince McMahon. I can't talk about everything about it until May. It's got very good TV deals. XFL is going to have no age barriers, so they're going to have a larger pool of players. And there is clearly an appetite for spring football.

CBS, by the way, which had the AAF, they ordered more games. But this league tried to be a developmental league, and they should have just tried to get players and play games. They didn't have the money to develop anything. Just get players, play games, survive for two years. Then you can become a developmental league, but they were spending way too much money on developing stuff instead of just putting a product on TV and being entertaining, so they folded.

Where Colin was right? Big Ben's canceling his Monday radio show in Pittsburgh. This is what I've predicted. Watch Big Ben. with all the noise this year, coming to camp in his best shape, and is most focused. He's been doing this radio show forever on Mondays. But once or twice a year, he'll step on it and say something that doesn't play well because he's Big Ben. And he's like, yeah, I'm going to get off it.

Criticism is a great motivator for guys. And I said, I said this all during the noise. I said, the team's going to choose Big Ben over receivers and backs and watch him react. with this hyper-uber focus. And he has announced he's going to get off his Monday show, which is not only a real thing, but it's symbolic. I'm all in on football. Say it again, I don't play fantasy football.

If I did, I draft Ben next year. Where Colin was right. Chris Paul, fifth straight year. If he doesn't play tomorrow, his games played will go down again for the fifth straight year. Listen, I like Chris. I've been a Chris Paul fan forever. But when they sign him to a hundred and six, $60 million four-year extension, I said, hard pass.

Next three years, they owe him over 40. Chris plays hard. Chris doesn't take possessions off. He is a grinder, and his body is wearing down. And this year it was hamstrings. He missed the two biggest games last year of the year against the Warriors and the playoffs. And again, if he misses one of the last games, it'll be the fifth straight year, his number of games being played is going down. And I like him, and I'm a Chris Paul guy.

But when players get hurt, especially intense guys, they don't get healthier as they get older. Where Colin was wrong. According to Brian Winhorse, LeBron's struggling to get players, not to just play with him, to go in the movie Space Jam 2, to pretend to play basketball with him. I think in one year, LeBron's become more toxic that he and his people realize he's become heavy. A lot of great players, Derek Jeter, Tom, Brady, Peyton, Manning were great. weren't heavy. LeBron's become heavy.

This Lakers season has really changed the way I actually view LeBron from a wee guy to more of a me guy. He doesn't want to sit down for tough interview questions. He wants people that are going to fluff it up and, you know, he can direct traffic on everything. LeBron needs to sit down, get asked hard, intense questions about how he's changed and answer him. And I always thought LeBron was the best recruiter in the NBA.

but once Paul passed on him, Kauai's not interested, either's KD or Clay, and now the space jam story came out. There's a tipping point here in the last six months, and I didn't see it coming a year ago. Where Colin was right? Virginia, Texas Tech played tonight, the lowest over-under in 20 years.

I always say, if you want big ratings, big brands, big names, Duke, Michigan, you know, Carolina, This thing's going to be a ratings disaster tonight. There's very little buzz. It'll be low scoring. I wouldn't be surprised if it's 52, 51. Not a lot of highly skilled players. A couple low-n NBA guys here.

I got nothing against it. I'll watch it. I'll be, you know, I'm a sportscaster. That's what I do. I'll watch it. But for all of you rooting for the underdog, you always tell me, oh, I love the underdog. Underdog's where it's at.

Really? Underdog's where it's at. Watch the ratings tomorrow for this. There's no buzz for it. where Colin was right? The Warriors, bored for the regular season again. Oh, what do you know? Last night played a playoff team.

To secure the number one seed, beat the playoff team 131 to 104. Had a 42.3rd quarter. They've won five straight, seven of eight. All the drama with Kevin Durant disappeared as predicted. Stars voiced their opinion in the regular season. Stars get quiet. head down, off social media, concentrate, late in the regular season and in the playoffs and all the drama with the Warriors, it has completely disappeared and they're totally dialed in and beat the Clippers by 25 last night.

A really good team warriors are back, baby. Coming up next, Eddie House in the House and my NBA regular season awards. That's coming up. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific on Fox Sports Radio, FS1, and the IHeart Radio app. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind. Highlights are trending, opinions are flying, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where sports slice comes in.

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

And for more, follow Timbo Slices Life 12 in the TikTok podcast. network on TikTok. Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hardway with me, your host, and your favorite therapist, Kear Games. And in recognition of Mental Health Awareness Month, I'm bringing over a decade of my own experience

in the mental health field and conversations with so many incredible guests. I'm talking, Tripp Fontaine, Ryan Clark. Sometimes when we're in the pursuit of the thing, we get so wrapped up in the chase that we don't realize that we are in possession of the thing. And we're still chasing it. And we don't know when we've done enough.

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

I want you to just really be a good person. Join me, Kear Gaines, as we have real conversations about healing, growth, fatherhood, pressure, and purpose. On my new podcast, learn the hard way. Open your free, our heart radio app. Search, learn the hard way, and listen now. Jacob Kingston grew up in an isolated polygamous sect.

We were God's chosen kingdom on earth. He felt destined for greatness. So when a swaggering Armenian businessman catapults Jacob into an extraordinary world, he doesn't look back. Ferraris and Lamborghinis, private jets, meeting the president of Turkey. I'm Michelle McPhee, and this is one of the most shocking criminal conspiracies I've ever come across.

When Jacob met Levant, this went to a billion-dollar fraud. But with two kings from entirely different worlds, just how long can their empire survive? The largest tax investigation in American history. You need to tell me what you know. Is somebody coming after me? Jacob told Levan, you're ruining my life. Listen to Kingdom of Fraud on the I-Heart Radio app,

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

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

At our level, at this scale, like being able to fail in front of the entire world. Like, I can do anything. I can do anything. Because resilience isn't just about winning. It's about showing up, even when it's hard. Listen to Hurtle with Emily Abadi on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Presented by Capital One, founding partner of IHeart Women's Sports. Get ready to roll with the inaugural PBA playoffs on FS1's Knockdown Mondays. Bowling's top 24 superstars compete head-to-head in a brand-new bracket-style battle for 100 grand.

The PBA playoffs begin tonight at 7 Eastern on FS1 and the Fox Sports app. I'll have a bowling trophy in my garage. I was pretty good. I'm not going to lie to you. Put a little spin on that thing, Joy. I'm not a good bowler. Pretty excellent. Eddie House.

What up, Eddie House? Look at the new thin Eddie House. For our radio audience, let me describe what Eddie House looks like. Handsome. Oh, thank you. How much you lose, Eddie? Like 30. Whoa!

How? Hooping. Playing basketball and then change my diet a little bit. Fish, chicken, rice, how come? Veggies. Huh? Would your wife say?

No, no, no. Not at all. I really, the big three. The big three. Yeah. And I mean, you know what? The other thing was, I was, you know, as I was walking around a little plump, I was getting

compared. Everybody was like, oh, you look like your brother. And I'm like, well, yeah, I know we kind of got similar trait, but I always been the handsome one. Yeah. And as I started getting compared to, I'm like, you know what? I can't have that no more. Let me fix this.

Can't get confused with him no more. I love you, Mikey. He loves you, Mikey, but he's a good-looking one. So, you know, whatever. All right. 11 years in the NBA. First of all, come on, let's give it up for Kyle Guy hitting those three free throw.

You're not impressed? No, not impressed because that's what you do. I mean, he's the best shooter on the team. He probably was the best shooter in that game. You're supposed to walk up there and knock him down. Not to take anything away from the fact that he did it. I mean, but you've ran over that scenario every single year since you was eight years old. Whenever you're working out, you put them scenarios on yourself.

We're down by one. two freethos, I got to make it. You've already lived this situation. And it's the, and him being the best shoot on it, it shouldn't be no pressure. He should walk right up to there and knock them things down. It's not as impressive as, as everybody's making it out to be. By the way, was it a foul? I thought it was a foul. For sure, it was a foul. You got a foul. You got a foul. He was getting hit on his legs before the ball was even released. He got fouled twice. He got foul before the ball was shot and then he got foul because he wasn't able to land. So he got foul twice on there. I always thought, yeah, I mean,

You have to protect the shooter. That guy invaded. Look at it. He moves under him. You can't do that in the NBA or college. We keep talking about the inbounder. He should have, that pass should have never happened. That big man should have been shade in that direction.

Anything going to the basket, you're not allow a pass going towards the basket. Anything away from the basket, you could live with that one second. Because the ball's going that way and he's got to heave a long one. But anything going towards the basket, you got to try to protect that. And that's twice, Auburn let Kyle Guy get a shot at three. He scored six points in nine seconds. Yep, no, you're right. All right.

So the athletic is like a sports page, subscription-based sports page. They interviewed about 25, 30% of the guys anonymously in the NBA. And they asked him a bunch of questions. And which player would you build around? And they had Janus number one by a mile. And then they had Anthony Davis way ahead of Hardin, way ahead of staff. And I don't get it because it's a guard wing league. It's not a big league.

I mean, I love Carl Anthony Towns. I love him. He ain't getting anybody into the playoffs. That's with Andrew Wiggins. That's been with Zach when he used to, they don't have Zach anymore. Levine's in Chicago. I mean, they don't, he couldn't get guys into the playoffs. Well, a big needs somebody to get him the ball.

And who would you start it with? I mean, Kevin Durant, no doubt. I mean, think about it. Look at that list. Kevin Durant could do everything that everybody on that list can do. Can everybody on that list do what Kevin Durant does? How can NBA players? put Anthony Davis above Kevin Durant.

Kevin Durant's got to see that and think, this is why I want to go to New York. I mean, Kevin Durant is, isn't he the best player in the league? Yeah, I think right now he's the best player in the league. Like I said, he can do everything. What can Kevin Durant, what can Janus do different that, what can Yonis do that Kevin Durant does? He can't, she can't come off of pin downs.

He can't take step-back threes. What can KD do that Yonis does everything? So I'm going to build, I will build with KD, a guy that we know not to take any shots at the bigs, but the bigs have become pretty much extinct now. Nobody's looking for, oh, Patrick Ewing, and we're going to dump down the ball down low to. Nobody's looking for that. Everybody's looking for a three-point shooter. It's a guard-driven league right now.

Yeah, it's a tempo league. And the NBA used to be about, if you won the boards, you won the series. It's not the league anymore. No. It's just not the league. The other thing is the players voted Michael Jordan over. LeBron, best player of all time, and it wasn't close. Players almost, Kobe and LeBron James were neck and neck.

When you look at statistically, LeBron's the much greater player. As a former player, if I said greatest of all time, you put Kobe or LeBron, who goes ahead, LeBron or Kobe? Because we all acknowledge Michael. You played against Michael. Michael's the best you've ever played against. Yeah. Okay.

Kobe LeBron, though, I'm always surprised, because I love Kobe, that players like Kobe more than we think. Well, I'll put LeBron ahead of Kobe for this. I think he just overall skill set. And it's always been LeBron Jordan conversation anyway. So I don't understand how Kobe just leapfrogs LeBron like this. I contend that Joey and I have been talking about this. In the last year, LeBron has turned off a lot of players with all the mogul stuff and the Hollywood stuff. He's turned guys off. But also think about he's the active player up there. Who wants to vote their player as the best player and you've got to constantly go against them. That's, you know, your colleague, that's your competitor. That's who you're trying to beat. You're not going to show

him no love. Now those, that poll, if you look at that, that poll is interesting that you see magic 1%, Kareem 1%. Well, as the older players in the league start we, now, you'll see LeBron start going up and maybe Jordan coming down because the players in the league right now watch Jordan. In about eight years, it's going to be a lot of these millennials and who that they watch. They watch Kobe. You'll see his numbers go. They watch Kobe. They watched LeBron. They really didn't see that much of Jordan. So his numbers might come down if you do that same poll in a few more years. By the way, one more thing on the poll, I don't mean to be petty. I didn't lead my show with this. We're an hour and a half into my show. I'm going to acknowledge it for the first time today.

Most overrated player in the league was Russell Westbrook. I mean, if you don't stop it. Well, I just, first time an hour and a half, I just made, I just noted it. I didn't even make it a topic. You won't even. You want to slide it. You find a way to slide it. You find a way to slide. It on in. Listen, how is he overrated, right? So three straight years, triple doubles, right? He's been top three.

Let the league and assists the last two years. And was third. Okay, that's mine. Players voted. Players be wrong. A lot of players be in their feelings, too. Players are almost. No, players be in their feelings, too.

What do you mean by that? You know what I mean by that? People, I don't like, do for whatever reason. Players be in their feelings. You know how that goes? I'm going to vote for my friend. You know, he's the most overrated person. I don't really like how he get down.

I think he stats stuff. Well, everybody's stat stuff. You know why? Because that's how you get paid. You put up big stats, that's how you get your money. So ain't nothing wrong with him stat stuff. And at the end of the day, when he does get a triple double, they win 75% of their game. So it's needed for him to do that.

It should be celebrated. By the way, Joy, as my witness, first time I've talked about it today. You did not. Well, it's the second time because I mentioned it. Well, I didn't want to. But I did it as a topic. John, but he is a hater, right? Oh.

A Westbrook hater for show. No, no. I mean, that's fair. See, yeah, just admit it. If you're going to be a hater, just wear it. For Westbrook. Yeah, just wear it. Just wear it.

But he did not bring it up today, though. This is the first thing he got out of today. I could have easily led my show with it. I struck a chord when he's like, I know he likes Westbrook, and I'm going to say something that he's not going to like. He's the most overrated and the players voted it. Hey, I'm a journalist. You got to bring these stories up. I can't just fly by like it didn't happen.

True, true. But you are a hater, though, on Westbrook. That's too strong. No, it's not. I am a critical thinker. You are extremely critical of Westbrook. I'm a hater. I think I'm a true.

I'm the honesty broker. I'm America's honesty broker. You're Westbrook's number one hater. All right. You're running out of time. Let's go to Joy with the News. Good thing, Eddie. No, no, no, no.

Turn on the news. This is the Hurdline News. All right. Speaking of that poll, although Kevin Durant and the Warriors have clinched the first seat in the West, there's still, obviously, the looming question of where Katie will play next season. and a quarter of the NBA's active roster was asked that question in the athletics poll, and more than 63% believe KD will leave the bay for a chance to restore the Nix dynasty. Wow.

Golden State only had 20.2%. Brooklyn had 4.5% and then the Clippers 2.7. Lakers are not even on there. I think anyone was assuming he was going to the Lakers. But I agree. I think he's going to New York. I think all signs point to New York. I don't think he's made his decision yet so that we are all speculating, but it feels like that's what's happening. As somebody who's left a company three different times, I contend that you don't make your mind up until the very end.

No, I don't think he has made his mind up. I think that I don't even think he's thinking about it, to be honest with you. I don't think that any of these players think about it until it's time to think about it. Like they know it's coming, but there's a task at hand. There's something that needs to be accomplished first. and he's been there before and done it before, so he knows the level of focus that it takes to make that happen. I know you think he's leaving basketball heaven,

but I don't see the difference between what he's doing here and what LeBron did. And I know everyone's saying, like, LeBron went home to Cleveland. LeBron left Miami to go home to Cleveland. To me, going to New York and getting a championship for the New York Knicks is the equivalence of LeBron's going home situation. It just would change life. I mean, it would be so legendary. I honestly feel like he would surpass LeBron for a lot of people.

Wow. All right. You don't think he's going to do it on? I think he probably will, and I don't get it, but I'm not KD. So Paul Pierce had some comments this weekend. He was asked, who had a better career between him and Dwayne Wade? And he said, that's easy. I could say off the bat, that's me.

If you give me these guys early in my career when I was 24 years old, you give me Shaq, when I was 25, I mean, LeBron, I'd be sitting on five or six championships. Easy. I played 10 years with who, with who. So team Wade and team Paul Pierce went back and forth all weekends. But you can summarize the two players pretty much with Paul Pierce had two fewer championships, three fewer all-star selections, three fewer all-star selections, three fewer all-devenous honors, and four fewer all-MBA selections.

I think Wade's better than Paul Pierce, but I've always felt Paul Pierce is underrated, but Wade's a better all-time player. He also had Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett. Yeah, no, I mean, D. Wade's one of the 50 best players I've ever seen in basketball. I'm not sure if Paul Pierce is. I'm absolutely sure D. Wade's one of the 50 best basketball players in my four decades of watching the NBA. It's not disputable. He's probably somewhere in the late 20s, early 30s.

I'm not sure of Pierce's. Although, if he was 48, 4950, I'd always thought Paul was underrated. Sure. This had the Internet. It's quite upset. Yeah, I'm sure it did. I was off the Internet most of the weekends. And finally, talk about it was.

See Who's Going Places sponsored by Toyota Let's Go Places. Rob Gronkowski is insisting for now that he's retired and focusing on new opportunities, prior to the NFL, that is. And WWE Chief Brand Officer Stephanie McMahon says they would happily welcome Gronk. In fact, he might be at the very top of their list. Who would I love to have in WWE? I think truly the sky is the limit. Anybody who has a really big personality, I'd love to have Gromk in the ring.

Connor McGregor, huge personality. There's a number of different women that I've had my eye on as well. So it's really, you know, it's really about bringing in the biggest personalities, you know, with the best athletic ability, whoever can entertain and connect to our audience. Yeah, Gronk's one of those like, you knew when Charles Barkley went into broadcasting, you're like, oh, he'll be funny. You know what I mean? Like certain people, you're like, gronk to pro wrestling.

You're like, oh, yeah, that'll work. That's why I thought Ronda Rousey was a perfect transition to, you're like, oh, he'll be funny. WWE and Becky Lynch beat Ronda Rousey last night to become the WWE's first champ champ. Well, that's not champ. I remember reading McGregor's tweet. McGregor actually waited on it as well. He said,

congrats to Ireland's Becky Lynch, the WEREWEs first champ. Wow, what a match these ladies put on. Rhonda Rousey is something special in that ring as is Charlotte Flair. Becky Lynch beat Charlotte Flair and Ronda Rousey in the women's match, which was the main events. And the Flair Dynasty, Stephanie McMahon, you are right.

I could not do what these athletes do or could I? So McGregor's kind of thrown his hat in there as well, which would also make sense. I mean, that's kind of a perfect transition from McGregor, although he has some things going on right now. And shout out to Kobe Kingston, becoming the second African-American to be crowned the WWE champion

after the Rock and the first name of African. So that title. Very exciting stuff at Russellmania last night. Yeah. You know I have a non, I have a crush on Charlotte Flare. Yes, we know. But a Twitter crush. So it's innocent.

I'm very happy in my life, but I have a Twitter crush. She's very good on Twitter. She's very good wrestler also. Joy with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The Heard Lye News. You know, it is amazing that I am just shocked that players on that poll have Anthony Davis above Kevin Durant.

What the hell are they thinking? So they did this poll for the athletic. Only 8% of players think they'd start their team with Kevin Durant. What are you doing? By the way, Kevin Durant's thinking about going to New York. It's got everybody worked up. Anthony Davis would go to New York. People aren't worked up about it.

What does that tell you? People think Kevin Durant to New York changes the whole NBA. Nobody thinks Anthony Davis to New York changes the NBA. That's telling you right there, the excitement level. I got nothing against Anthony Davis. Players have a lot of respect for Anthony Davis. Again, he's a big, he doesn't shoot threes, he doesn't handle a ball. He gets hurt a lot.

He's not really a leadership DNA. I like him. He's a great player. But James Harden is 10th. Who did? What are these players watching? By the way, Luca Donzich, Dallas is 8. I'd take him over Anthony Davis.

He can handle the ball and shoot. It's a guard wing league. I just don't get it. Yeah, I've seen a franchise built around Anthony Davis. How'd that work? Not great. And there were some good players on the team. Booking Cousins at one point.

Drew Holliday. This is why players should play. Coaches should coach. GM should GM. All three are very hard individually. You don't want to jump into another lane. Players should not be GMs. GM should not be like coaches should not be GMs.

I had a GM tell me this years ago. He said, coaches are selfish. They fall in love with players because the players help the coach. He goes, don't trust the coach talking about personnel. He goes, coach is a love a guy. you're sitting there as a GM and you're like, God, his contract's killing us and he can't do. But the coach loves him because the coach has a style, the player fits the style, so the coach loves the player, and he's an average player.

I just blown away by that. When do you guys want me to do, do we have Chris coming up? All right, Chris Haynes around the corner. He's got some good NBA stuff. Chris breaking all sorts of stories. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific on Fox Sports Radio, FS1, and the IHawks. radio app. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind.

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

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

and conversations with so many incredible guests. I'm talking. Tripp Fontaine, Ryan Clark. Sometimes when we're in the pursuit of the thing, we get so wrapped up in the chase that we don't realize that we are in possession of the thing. And we're still chasing it, and we don't know when we've done enough.

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

I want you to just really be a good person. Join me, Kear Gaines, is we have real conversations about healing, growth, fatherhood, pressure, and purpose on my new podcast, learn the hard way. Open your free, our heart radio app. Search Learn the Hardway and listen now. Jacob Kingston grew up in an isolated polygamous sect. We were God's chosen kingdom on earth. He felt destined for greatness. So when a swaggering Armenian businessman catapults Jacob into an extraordinary world, he doesn't look back.

Ferraris and Lamborghinis, private jets, meeting the president of Turkey. I'm Michelle McPhee, and this is one of the most shocking criminal conspiracies I've ever come across. When Jacob met Levant this plant to a billion dollar fraud. But with two kings from entirely different worlds, just how long can their empire survive? The largest tax investigation in American history. You need to tell me what you know. Is somebody coming after me?

Jacob told Levan, you're ruining my life. Listen to Kingdom of Fraud on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Life throws hurdles big and small. The question is, how do you conquer them? On Hurtle with Emily Abadi, we sit down with the most inspiring women in sports and wellness, professional athletes, coaches, and Olympic champions to talk about the challenges that shaped them and the mindset that keeps them going.

From the WNBA standout Kate Martin and rising hockey star Layla Edwards. If a boy can do it, I don't see why a girl can't. Like, I've never understood that. Like, it didn't make sense in my brain. It's hard to be in spaces that no one looks like you, but don't ever feel like you don't belong. Don't let that be the reason you don't do it. An Olympic champs Gabby Thomas and Katie Ladeki. The ability to show a gold medal to someone and have their face light up and smile, that means the world to me.

And that's what motivates me to win more gold medals. At our level, at this scale, like being able to fail in front of the entire world. Like, I can do anything. I can do anything. Because resilience isn't just about winning. It's about showing up, even when it's hard. Listen to Hurtle with Emily Abadi on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcast. Podcasts for wherever you get your podcasts.

Presented by Capital One, founding partner of I Heart Women's Sports. By the way, the craziest thing I'm trying to effort this video. So Brett Hart's like a wrestler, 61-year-old wrestler, WWE. He was getting inducted into the Hall of Fame this weekend. And a fan clearly unscripted attacked him. And the WWE people beat the living hell out of him, which they should have. I mean, the guy's a crazy loon. It's frightening.

Can you imagine being attacked by some random fan? it is the craziest video and my bad we haven't shown it yet I don't follow generally induction ceremonies at WWE even though we're now in business with them but the video is some of the craziest stuff I've ever seen in my life it's why I'm always on the player's side

when it comes to these fan interactions they're nuts at any point somebody can just lose their mind like what stop that guy how many giant humans were sitting around that ring and he just dove in there and tackled him I mean And it's really scary. You see it occasionally in European soccer. I'm surprised we don't see more of it, actually.

You see it in football about five times a year. So we'll get the video next hour. I don't care if we're supposed to run it or not. We have to run it. Let's bring in Chris Haynes, senior NBA insider Yahoo Sports, who's taping this as we talk. He's got all sorts of stuff. Look at that.

He's got his phone. I don't know if you're into pro wrestling or not, but wait to you, have you seen that video? Is that the craziest thing you've ever seen? I saw it. Brett Hart, go after a legend like that, man. 61-year-old guy. I'll say this.

That fan, whoever went in got the, you-know-what kicked out of him. He didn't think that all the way through. Yeah, he didn't. That's why I didn't have a problem with Russ when the guy ran on the court after Russ. I'm actually surprised that Russ handled it that well. No, I don't have a problem with Russ Westbrook. If some fan runs on the court, backhand him. I'll always support the player on that.

All right. So, by the way, I am shocked the athletic. 30% of the players in the league polled on who they'd start the franchise with. James Hardin's 10th, Steph Curry's 6, Kevin Durant is fourth, Anthony Davis is way ahead of all of them. Aren't you a little surprised by that? I'm not, Colin, because I think

when you're talking about starting the team, you want to start your franchise off with a player who can give you at least a decade of producing at a very high level at a top cliff. And so I think that's why you're seeing some of the younger names, Janus. I think that would be obviously a lot of people who they would

start off number one, 24 years old. arguably people are saying already he's become the best player in the league overall and so I don't have a problem AD I get the concerns I get what you're saying he's been hurt he's been and that's the only knock well he's not a real leader guy he's a great player but nobody sees him as magic nobody sees him as like Jordan leadership skills of like a shack he's a great player but if I'm going to start my franchise come on one of the absolute empirical things is are you an Are you a leader?

Tom Brady's a leader. Jeter's a leader. I get that. Like there's a certain guy. Who's your guy, Colin? Who would you start your team off with? Kevin Durant. Okay, all right.

Well, then you got to what? You start your franchise off with a player who could probably give you, what, four years, max? I'll take four years. Listen, I went into a lot of relationships. I was just hoping to have a fun weekend. I get four years of great. You win and out, huh?

All right. I'm saying four years. You know what? You get four years of great, and then you figure it out over four years. I understand. You're saying four years of great, Colin, but you still have to build the rest of the roster up. So when you're talking about building a franchise,

I'm giving you one pick. Then the rest, you've got to fill it out. It takes about four years before you finally get the team together. James Hardin's 10th. A 10th. He's the best one-on-one player in the league. Analytically, he's better than Kobe. I don't think he is.

That's too low. That's too low. Steph Curry's the best ball handler, best shooter. Unanimous two-time MVP. He's 30 years old, Colin. It's so wet. This is not college. You're talking a four-year window.

We're talking. We talk about building a team of franchise. We need a decade of dominance. These guys sleep in kale pajamas. Those days are over. Drew Breeze is 40. I mean, seriously, I honestly think, like LeBron next year, I think he's going to have a great year. I don't think you're going to win a championship.

But LeBron will come back and give you a bunch of numbers. I'm not into his stats, but he'll give you 28-88. I think players now are healthier than ever. By the way, I think half the time these guys are doing stuff overseas or doing stuff, and I'm not blaming them. I'm not saying any names. But, you know, I think these players are taking stuff. And if your league doesn't test for stuff, I think they're all taking it.

You think I'm crazy? I say that. I think Durant's got four great years left. And then remember, he can shoot. And then if he wanted to, three more years to shoot. He's Dirk Novitsky's 50. I mean, you don't think Durant's got. seven more years of gaming him?

Seven of what? What type of game? What type of game we're talking about? Four, excellent, three really good. That's fine. That's fine. But it still takes time to get the other players involved, to get the draft. Because if you're talking about starting a franchise, you have to think about it from starting.

What is it called? What is it called when you start the team from scratch? Expansion. Expansion team. So it takes time. That's your first pick. Now you've got a draft really well. Now you've got to hope those players pan out.

And so you have to look at it from that standpoint. That's why I get it. Most of the time you're going to look at players who are dominant in the age of 24 and under. And, you know, I understand why the KDs and steps are left below. Okay, I'm going to mention something for the second time today with a little bit of a guilt. Westbrook was voted the most overrated player. I'm just throwing it out there. This is what the players said.

Does it validate guys like me who go out there and say he's just too relentless? He's too hard to play with. So when I'm talking with players, now our votes are made public when we make these all-NBA votes. Okay. And I've had conversations with Kevin Duran and, you know, other guys with Ron as well. Oh, excuse me, about my alarm going off.

That's good. I was playing for your show, Colin. But they always talked about, you know, sometimes when they feel like we give a bogus vote to another player, they always say this. Players know. Players know who the real gamers are in this league. We should have these votes.

We should have these ballots, right? And so that speaks volumes if Russell Westbrook is voted the most overrated player by his own peers. It's not just us or we're saying that he's that chases sometimes or everybody gets off the way. This isn't just hating because Steph's not on it and Kevin Durant's not on it. A lot of great players are not on this. It speaks volumes when it's coming from your peers. And because that's what they always say. Players know.

Game record. I spoke to DeMarcus. on my podcast last week. I asked them, are you kind of feel a certain type of way that they're not mentioning you as one of the top centers now? So like everybody's forgot, he was like, they know, the players know, and that's all that matters.

I don't care what little Joe Smow says on Instagram. The players know who the real guys are. I will say this. I feel a little validated today. But I'm not, you know, not here to praise myself. That would be a grotesque. And I do feel like a little win. By the way, by the,

Anyway, a story came out last week, Brian Winhorse. We all know Brian. And, you know, that Space Jam 2, LeBron's getting some guys having a little trouble getting some stars to line up for a movie. And even Joy and I have both been pro-Lebron. But that does feel like there's a little tipping point with LeBron that the king and the chosen one and the self-reverential. It does feel the tides turned a little on LeBron.

He doesn't have that Robin Hood thing like five years ago, right? You think so, Kyle? I think so. I do. Look, I look at it like this. I can't pay too much attention to that. Look, there's a commitment. There's a certain amount of time involved where the players have to be in L.A.

Right. In that certain time frame. And, you know, guys have commitment, especially when you're trying to get other stars to play alone. They got, most of the big time stars are going overseas and holding camps and, you know, promotional shoots. And so it's all about a time and thing. I wouldn't take that. And I wouldn't let that lead me to believe. that they just don't want to be a part of it.

It's all the time and situation as it right now. All right. Finally, I got to ask everybody today, Kyle Guy, 70,000 people, college kid, had to hit all three free throws. CBS went to a commercial after two. He's standing there by himself. I was blown away by Kyle Guy.

Those are the biggest free throws I have seen in basketball, AAU to NBA in years. Eddie House said, who cares? You're a shooter. Go hit free throws. What did you make about? Those are tough three free throws. 70,000 people in a football stadium.

That was ridiculous. And I know it's being overshadowed by the stupid foul. It was a foul, though. It was a foul. Of course it was. You can't get in a man's space like that. No, that was a silly play. But to go out there and hit three free throws and know that this is going to put you guys in the, come on.

Now, Chris, it's unbelievable. There's none of his teammates are even in the free throw line. So he's by himself. That's so hard to do. That's so hard to do. That's not like that's home court now. Everybody's not being quiet now. They always tell you the depth is terrible in a football stadium transformed to a basketball arena.

It's a terrible place to shoot. Unbelieved. Yahoo Sports. Chris Haynes, NBA Insider. We've got to go hour three. Good seeing you. Appreciate you. Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays in noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific.

Ah, this is the Herd. Wherever you may be and however you may be listening, live in Los Angeles, Heart Radio, Fox Sports Radio FS-1. Still want to get that wrestling video on, Sam. Get it on. Find it. I don't care if it's somebody's phone. Get it on. Most amazing thing I've seen this weekend.

Crazy. Crazy fans. I think we're lucky sometimes in sports that we haven't as much crazy as I think is out there. Swear to God, Joy Taylor's joining me. I think it's crazy people everywhere. Every time I get on a plane, every time I go anywhere, it's a crazy person. Just a disruptive... Talk to people on planes. I talk to everybody.

I talk to every Uber driver I've ever had, every cab driver. I break bread. I talk. And there's crazy everywhere. And I mean just intense. Oh, by the way, I was at the Vegas airport yesterday. I met the nicest people in the world from Cleveland, Ohio. And the guy came up.

He goes, oh, you're all over the Cleveland newspapers. They're just crushing you. And I'm like, ooh, what do they say? He goes, that they don't like you. And then he goes, can I get a picture? And he was he and his wife, they were adorable. And we got a picture. And he's like, hi, he goes.

I'm pretty nervous about the Browns and I said well they're going to score a bunch of points I said I don't know how good they're going to be I like the Steelers to win the division but they're going to score a bunch of points because they got backs and receivers and a great tight end and the quarterback's a good distributor I'm like so nice Browns fan well I mean the minute you get off Twitter you deal with normal people Twitter is a vortex

of insanity it's just no logic no nuance just throwing you know grenades everywhere it's the worst Channel 83 Sirius XM coming up in 15 minutes. We'll talk with T.J. Hushman Zada, who's faced the Steelers, about Antonio Brown going after Juju Smith-Schuster. Best for last. We have our NBA awards for this season. I think you'll like those. But Antonio Brown just can't let go of Pittsburgh, even though he's now a Raider.

Over the weekend, he went after Juju Smith-Schuster, being recognized for winning team MVP by a fan. He responded to a fan tweeting, emotion. Boy fumbled the whole postseason in the biggest game of the year. Everyone went blind, too busy making guys famous not enough reality these days. By the way, check the list. The Steelers got rid of the right guy. Anytime you have a divorce, the bitter person in the divorce that can't get over it, they always eventually unravel.

They just unravel. The person that gets over it first. By the way, Big Ben this week, do you hear what he's going to do? He announced he's going to quit doing his Monday. radio show in Pittsburgh after games. I predicted when all this stuff happened, all these guys taking shots at Big Ben. I said, it's going to motivate him.

Steelers getting ripped. It's going to motivate him. Levian Bell taking shots. They won't let me be a human, not just a football player. Antonio Browns, all Big Ben, and they're still yapping, and the Steelers, Big Ben, says, you know what, I'm not going to do that radio show. I'm going to focus really this year on football.

and Mike Tomlin saying all the right things, let me double down. All this noise, Steelers had to make choices. They got rid of the right people. I mean, you're in a new relationship, AB. You've got a new team and a new contract and all that money. It's disrespectful to go after the Steelers.

Concentrating your own team, your own teammates. What message are you sending to the Raiders? You're still all caught up in your emotions with Pittsburgh. And this, to me, feels like, like Big Ben is laughing this morning. Gone. Told you. Told you was crazy. Told he's ridiculous. Told you the money changed him. Never forget.

Former Steeler, Ryan Clark. Remember what he said about Antonio Brown? I knew already that they were going to offer Antonio. And he's walking past and I turned to the strength coach and I say, when you give him money, you're going to create a monster. That day in practice, Antonio and I almost get into a fight because he's saying things to Coach Leboe. He's screaming at Coach Leboe, screaming at us defensively. Don't touch me. I'm the franchise.

This and that because he already had that mindset. And now with success, with money, these things come. They always say about money. It makes you more of what you are. If you're a giving person, you become more philanthropic. If you're a selfish person, money makes you more selfish. It's like alcohol. Alcohol basically makes you more of what you truly are.

money does the same thing. This morning, the Pittsburgh Steelers are all going. We told you. We told you. And the Raiders are going, why is he talking about the Steelers? We're paying him all this money. New team, new offense, new focus. He'll be the man. I'll double down. Steelers win their division. They're going to be motivated by the Browns talking, Antonio talking, Lavian talking. and Big Ben cancels his Monday radio show, wants to focus more on football. I don't play fantasy football. If I did, I would go big on Big Ben and big on Juju Smith-Huster this year. They're going to prove this is how guys operate. You want to get a guy focused, take shots at him, bad mouth him, doubt him.

Big year for the Steelers coming up at a great weekend for Pittsburgh. They chose the right guy to get out of the building. Let me shift to this. The Athletic is a subscription-based sports section. A bunch of good riders and stuff. You pay a monthly fee and you get The Athletic. Sam Amick works for them. He's a NBA guy.

And, you know, they do polls and stuff all the time. Like NBA, I like polls. I like lists and polls. And you can do these anonymously so people can be brutally honest about stuff. You know, that's why you have anonymous sources. Because people can be more honest if they don't put their name on stuff. So you do need some anonymous sources. Never forget.

that's how Nixon got booted from the White House, got impeached. It was some anonymous sources. You need some anonymous sources. You don't want all of them. But polls are always great because, you know, players have buddies and friends. They don't want a dog. But a poll will give you an honest response. And almost a third of the league was polled by the athletic NBA players.

And they were asked a bunch of questions. This is the one that's really interesting because they can be honest now. This won't hurt their money. It won't hurt their locker room. It won't hurt their business. they won't hurt friendships. They can be totally honest about this. Who's the best player of all time?

30% of the guys in the league answer. Now, you would think, you know, Michael, LeBron, I mean, the last seven, eight years, there have been a lot of support among NBA players for LeBron James in that debate. Fans tend to like MJ over LeBron. But players, a lot of players, you know, MJ was selfish, not much of a giver.

LeBron's been pretty much a giver. LeBron has a bunch of buddies in the league. he's elevated players. And the numbers came out. 73% say Jordan's the best ever. LeBron got less than 12%. And Kobe was neck and neck with LeBron. The hell?

You got to be kidding me. We've not even talked about LeBron and Kobe the last 10 years. It has been a given. This, once again, is LeBron the chosen one, the king, getting very self-reverential in the last year. I always felt LeBron's brand was a Wii brand. It's got his guys from high school. It's about elevating others.

And in the last year, it's become a me brand. He's gone Hollywood, or at least too much Hollywood. LA Times calendar section. You know, he's coming out, oh, the city loves him. Cities talking about, no, city doesn't love him. Hollywood may. But the city, Staples Arena is not Hollywood. It's on Olympic Boulevard in L.A.

It's a long way from Hollywood. So he did an interview LeBron did Friday. And this is kind of the new LeBron. He used to make a point, even though he was great, of elevating others and us and together. And listen to this. Listen to the words he uses now. For me personally, it's a disappointment for myself

because I hold myself to such a high standard. being in the foxhole, like me being in a uniform, me being on the floor, I know I could command my guys more than that. I know what I can do for the franchise and what I can do for the team. So I'm basically trying to speed up my body to get back on the floor, but also my mind is kind of shot because I just want to be out there for my guys. I know what I bring to the game. I know my commitment to the game.

I've never cheated the game. And throughout my career is always giving back to me. I am guaranteeing my body. I'm guaranteeing my mind will be. and always be in championship mindset. How many I's did we have there, 15, 20? I, me, me, I, I, me, I, me, I, calendar section, my projects, me, I, no Lakers, part of those projects. Like LeBron has moved into Hollywood, and in Hollywood, they just love to have award shows about themselves.

Hollywood is so fond of themselves. They love to cheer. They always get it more than the rest of us. they're so much smarter than us. I'm me, me, I, I, I, I, me. That doesn't even sound like LeBron five years ago. That poll by NBA players, LeBron, neck and neck with Kobe?

I thought that argument had been won by LeBron. You notice who's gotten way more popular in the last year, Kobe Bryant? What people are telling you, players are telling you is Kobe played than did his stuff. LeBron's trying to do both at the same time. And this is part of that story last week where Brian Winhorse came out and said, sources told him that Space Jam 2, LeBron was having trouble getting players just to be in a movie and play pretend basketball with him. Kevin Durant,

word is he'd rather play for the Knicks than the Lakers. CoI would rather play for the Clippers than LeBron and the Lakers. Paul George would rather live in O.K.C. and play with Westbrook. the Lakers. He's from Los Angeles. Folks, I haven't gone anti-Lebron. I trust my eyes. I trust my sources. That interview Friday, I, I, I, I, I, me, me, me, me. LeBron was a wee guy. He's a me guy. It's a bad look. And that poll lets you know exactly how all that's landing to players in the league.

There's been a tipping point. Best player of all time. LeBron's neck and neck with Kobe. I mean, I thought that thing would, that, that had been decided, right? We never argued that was, no, not LeBron was either best or second best. That poll was a referendum. Guys have gotten a little tired of mogul, show, movie, me, I, it's off brand. It's not who he is.

I mean, again, Tom Brady's brand's always been family football. Even in his documentary, he was always at home with his family talking football. LeBron's brand was, I'm taking my high school guys. I'm joining my friends, banana boat, us. It's not that way in L.I. It's gone heavy eye, heavy me, that poll, an indicator of it. By the way, coming up around the corner of my NBA awards for the regular season, and I've never, you know, I've always said the MVP, what is valuable?

We can't even figure out what value. I mean, Russell Westbrook had a great year. three years ago. He wasn't the most valuable player. He had a great stat, triple, double that everybody thought was awesome. That's fine. That's not valuable. I'm going to give you the most defined, easy to figure

out, honest NBA awards ever. Because, you've heard me say this. We can't figure out what valuable means. Yeah, we struggle with defining the MVP. We just don't even know what it is. So let's just have awards, best, worst,

underrated, overrated stuff we can all agree on and I'll have mine. I think you'll be surprised by a couple of them coming up next. Plus, T.J. Hushman Zata, on Antonio Brown, has gone off the rails ripping former Steelers, former teammates, I should say. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific. 11 years in the NFL pro bowler. T.J. Hushman Zata, my friend, we got a lot to talk about here.

Oh, I got in trouble in Cleveland, apparently. I was all with the newspapers. Because I said, I got to throw this Odell Beck and thing at you. So I said, again, I don't read the Cleveland newspapers. I didn't go online, but apparently I'm all over their sports sections because I said, O'Dell Beckham didn't want to go to Cleveland. He's the most NFL, he's the most New York, L.A. Paris guy in the league. I mean, he vacations in Paris, hangs out with models. He's a superstar. He's an icon. He didn't want to go to Cleveland. Now, I do think he'll work with Baker Mayfield because, I mean, I think the combination will work,

but I said, and I got it pretty well sourced. he was not happy when he was told he was going to Cleveland. Again, he'll be a good teammate, but it wasn't his favorite choice. So Cleveland's all worked up. And by the way, fans believe what they want to believe, TJ. I mean, for years and years, Aaron Rogers said, oh, me and Mike McCarthy are great. And I knew they weren't because I had buddies in the organization. They're like, they can't stand each other.

So fans believe what they want to believe. Do you think O'Dell Beckham is just gloriously happy to be in Cleveland? No. He's not going to say he isn't happy, but no, he wanted to go to the Rams or the Patriots. Simple as that. And you go to Cleveland and it's like, oh, man. But when you examine it, it's actually a good thing. They have a really good quarterback. They have other pieces around him that are going to play well. You don't want to leave New York and go to Cleveland. But when you're in the NFL to play football, he's in a good quarterback. He's in a good. good football situation. So winning will make him happy. If they lose, it's not going to be good. I agree with you. I think it's very combustible. What do you make of Antonio Brown? I mean, he's still taking shots at Pittsburgh. What do you make of that? Man, Antonio Brown is tripping. I don't understand like why, dude. It's like, it's almost like you get a divorce and you're still talking about your other wife to your new wife. Like, you're done with Pittsburgh. Like, what I don't

like about it is this. And I thought Ben played a big part in all of this. Yeah. But Juju and a lot of young receivers, they've been watching Antonio Brown in high school. They've watched them in college. Right. So when you get drafted to the Steelers, you're like, oh my God, I get to play with A-B. You're excited about that. Right. Ju-Ju was excited about that. Ju-Ju was a good kid. You know him. Yeah. And it's like for you to come, Juju admitted he cost you guys the game when he fumbled the ball against the Saints. Like, come on, bro. Don't do that.

Like, why? For what? What do you get out of that? Everybody knows he fumbled. You make yourself look bad. You better play well these next three years and you're going to be done. Nobody's going to want to deal with you. Ryan Grant, a level-headed guy,

Ryan Clark, excuse me, came out and said, by the way, when an athlete comes out and says this publicly, I believe him. Because a lot of athletes don't want to come out and bang on guys, they know. But here's what he said about when he was with the Steelers about Antonio Brown. I knew already that they were going to offer Antonio. And he's walking past and I turned to the strength coach and I say, when you give him money, you're going to create a monster. That day in practice, Antonio and I almost get into a fight because he's saying things to Coach LeBoe. He's screaming at Coach LeBoe, screaming at us defensively, don't touch me. I'm the franchise. This and that.

Because he already had that mindset, and now with success, with money, these things come. Did you ever play with anybody that you knew they were going to unravel if they got big money? No. I wouldn't say. I mean, the only person I played with that people would think was that way was Chad. Right. And he wasn't like that.

Now, not like Chad is not going to just throw a teammate or a former teammate under the bus like that. Not publicly. He might say it in practice or he might say it in a locker room. but publicly, no. And to me, I've always believed money doesn't change you. It just reveals who you always wanted to be. That person now comes to the forefront. Like, Ryan Clark would know.

You spent time in that locker room. Like, if I was on that defense and I was Ryan Clark or Ike Taylor or Palomalu and he did that with Coach Labo, I would have just hit him. What are you going to do to me? Like, in a play, I would just hit you. What are you going to do? Like, come on, man. Like, you don't, I just don't understand what he gets out of doing this to juju.

I don't okay you're upset that he said Ben was a leader what else is he supposed to say they're teammates now oh I agree with everything Antonio Brown said about Big Ben of course I'm going to defend my quarterback because he's my quarterback I'm not going to go against my quarterback because you want me to I'm not doing that crazy um so last week a story comes out from Tyler Dunn it took two months to write multiple sources some on the record some off listen nobody looked good in it um McCarthy looked like he had kind of checked out. Aaron looked petty. What did you make of the Rogers stuff where he froze out receivers? I mean, we can say, well, it's just anonymous sources, but people don't write articles to make crap up. I mean, it did look. At one point, Mark Murphy told Aaron Rogers,

hey, we got a new coach coming. Don't be the problem. Like, they're tired of his stuff. I don't think it made Aaron look great. The thing is this, and you, McCarthy drafted Alex Smith, or he played a part in drafting Alex Smith over and Aaron Rogers. Over Aaron. So once he became Aaron's coach, in the back of Aaron's mind, he's like,

what was this guy thinking, drafting him over me? So immediately Aaron Rogers goes into it saying, McCarthy really don't know what he's doing because he drafted a guy over me in the same draft when he could have picked me. So anything that Mike McCarthy did during their tenure together that Aaron did not like, it went back to, yeah, I knew he didn't know what he was doing because he drafted Alex Smith over me. Don't you have to get over that stuff? No, you never get over that.

That's always in the back of your mind, always. You do something I don't like. I'm going to always go back to that. Back of your mind is different than freezing out people because you're still holding a grudge. I wouldn't say, I don't know of the freezing out thing because the quarterback to me, what I'm going to do? Throw the ball away, throw an interception, take a sack. You know, I mentioned this. Do you remember this, Joy, during the year? Because Joy and I just started working together.

It was August or July? So we worked the whole football season together. Right. And one of the things I kept hitting on, I said, Aaron Rogers led the NFL this year and throwaways, like by a large number. And I said, time out. He's got a good old line. My theory was he's throwing the ball away.

And what he's telling you, he's calling out McCarthy with his play, as if that's a crap play. I'm just going to throw it away. way. And when you read that story, it felt like, oh, okay. I mean, it felt like when I started reading that story, I'm like, not that he was tanking games. I'm not saying that. But Aaron was trying to prove a point sometimes instead of extending drives. And that could be the case. But this is the thing you point out, don't be a problem, Aaron. Now with Matt LaFleurterre, Aaron Rogers has to make this work. Has to. If Aaron Rogers doesn't make this work, you're the common

denominator, Aaron, you're the problem. Right. You're the problem. He has to make this work now. You have to be acceptable to coaching. You have to make sure that this partnership between yourself and LaFleur works and it runs smoothly and things operate on a good level. If not, Aaron Rogers is now the problem because Mike McCarthy's gone. You're the only one still

in this situation. I think it's going to work. I think he'll find a way to repair his image because he knows now. If this doesn't work, if fall, on your shoulders. Yeah, I have this feeling that Big Ben and Aaron are actually going to have really good seasons, almost like I think LeBron is, because when a great athlete that still has a bunch left in the tank gets just clobbered by teammates in the media, they spend the next six months thinking, okay, I'm going to get in the best shape in my life, I'm going to be totally focused. Big Ben announced the other day, I'm not doing my Monday radio show anymore.

And I'm like, that's because A.B. has been crapping on you. The media is crushing you. People like me crushing you. Lavian Bell's crushing you. I said, if I played fantasy football, I would pick Big Ben. I think he and Juju are going to have a ridiculous year because he's going to want to prove we didn't need you. Like I think Pittsburgh will get buttoned up this year. I really do. It's going to be

like, that's going to be interesting. I agree with the assessment of Aaron Rogers and Big Ben going out there with a lot to prove. But when you say the Steelers have a lot to prove, everybody does, but that division they're in, man. It's way tougher today than it. It's a lot.

Baltimore is always going to play defense. Say what you want to say about what they're going to do offensively. Cleveland, top to bottom on paper, has the best team in the division on paper. That division is going to be very tough. Good stuff. Good to seeing you, bud. Thank you, man.

Always a pleasure. Monday, I've got my NBA awards around the corner. Here's Joy with the news. No, no, no, no. Turn on the news. This is the herd line news. So, LeBron missed the playoffs this season for the first time since his second year in the league, but he still has complete confidence in his abilities.

and the Lakers have Capspace to sign a max player this summer, and LeBron said this to Spectrum Sportsnet. I'm looking forward to seeing who jumps in the car with me and want to take this ride to the top. I know what I bring to the game. I know my commitment to the game. I've never cheated the game. I'm not saying I'm guaranteeing a championship,

but I am guaranteeing my body. I'm guaranteeing my mind will be, and always be in championship mindset until I'm done. I don't think anyone's doubting that LeBron has a championship mindset. There's a little more questions about how his body is going to be next year,

but he has been the most resilient superstar, so I do think that he's going to be in, I think he's going to go down a little bit and wait, and he's definitely going to be in the best shape that he can be in coming season. There's never been a reason to doubt that. Once he came back from the injury this year, he was heavy.

He didn't look like he was in great shape. I mean, you're rehabbing. You're not working out the way that you usually are. I just, my hope for next year with the Lakers, obviously, is that they have, they make some incredible move this off season, which is just 100% necessary for the future of the Lakers and this stint with LeBron James. But he's just had such an off-brand year. It's just so anti-Lebron, everything that's gone on with him.

And I don't want to pick apart every single thing that he says, but it's just kind of the place that we're in right now. I'll go back to it. You got to use Hollywood. Don't let it use you. And when people, and I'm not joking when I say this, you take somebody who you think is rock solid and you move them to Los Angeles and they're attractive and they've got some talent and L.A. will eat you alive.

Okay. Because it's the best-looking people and you get invited to parties and you're meeting famous people and they're telling you how great you are. and Hollywood eats people up. Kobe Bryant lived in Orange County, which for those watching is two-hour driving traffic away. It's very far. He helicoptered in.

Kobe wanted the ability to say, I can't make lunch or dinner because I'm down there. You know, RAM players don't live in Hollywood. They've got them living north of the city, staying away from Hollywood. LeBron's gone very, he said yes to every project. He's got very... The word that you have.

to love the most in L.A. is the word no. And it was like every, and I don't think that he came to L.A. and then all of a sudden all these projects started happening. I think a lot of these projects were already in motion before he even came here. But it just, it felt like this was the year that you don't do any of that. Yeah. And focus completely on basketball. And I feel like our feeling towards the Lakers would be different right now.

So the athletic pulled 127 players more than a quarter of the NBA. And one of the questions was who's the most overrated player in the league? Oh, interesting. I trust this survey implicitly. Oh, you do? Okay. Well, you did you did not leave the show with this, which I'm proud of. Thank you, Joy, for having my back on that. Yes, that was a good move by you.

You know what I think, though? I think it was the obvious move. So you kind of pivoted, you know? So you think I was calculated? Yeah, maybe. Maybe. I wasn't in the meeting for that part when you decided we weren't going to leave the show with it, so I can't be sure. But Russell Westbrook and Draymond Greed tied for the most votes. Now, obviously, we know how you feel about Russell Westbrook being in this poll. But Draymond Green is kind of interesting.

Do you feel like Draymond is overrated? Well, it's a good question. I never thought he was great. I thought he was a niche. He was a bit player. He was the bouncer at the really cool bar, and he kind of signaled, don't mess. It was like the guy in hockey, the fighter,

who can occasionally score a goal, but he's the least skilled guy by a mile on the team. I never bought into the, I thought Draymond had value. But these people talking about Max Deal for Draymond, I'm like, well, he's like a seven-point-a-game guy who can't shoot. Yeah, but I don't think that they have the championships they have without him. And if he had not gotten suspended for that game, I don't think Cleveland would have had that championship. So it's kind of a weird conundrum.

I think he's perfect for that team and super necessary and, like you said, valuable. James Hardin's averaging 36 a game. He's tied for third and most overrated. I mean, I'm not a huge Hardin guy, but you have to acknowledge he's the best one-on-one basketball player by a lot in the league. So you agree with Russell Westbrook being on there, but not Harden. I think, listen, James Hardin can shoot. It's a shooter's league.

Hardin, and he's not my favorite player, but I'm like, it's become a cottage industry. Let's bang on Hardin. I think that that's part of it. It's some James Hardin, Haiti, gets the calls, and he has his travel with a step back. But, boy, nobody delivers like him. I mean, he can take games over, like,

four games in a row. I mean, my policy is, like, if you don't like it, stop it. Yeah. Or go do it, too, and be better at it. So finally, tonight is the men's national championship game. Hopefully it's as exciting as the women's was last night. Baylor and Notre Dame went back and forth to the final seconds. Baylor came out on top. 82, 81. Chloe Jackson led the way for Baylor with 26 points, 13 of 25 shooting. Scored a lot more than the guys will tonight. I'll tell you

that. And Harrike Agumboale finished the game with 11 of 27 and 3 of 5 from range with 31 points total. She did miss the free throw at the end of the game that would have tied it. I love sports. It was a very exciting moment for Bay. So Kim Mokie's Baylor squad joins Yukon and Tennessee as women's teams to win at least three championships in the NCAA era. And by the way, that game is going to, I'm not trying to be PC here. That will be wildly more entertaining offensively than tonight's game. Tonight's game could be 4948. It's like defensive basketball.

Texas Tech is long and physical. I thought the tournament overall was very exciting. Oh, I loved it. I was very disappointed in Duke not making it all the way through. but the games have all pretty much come down to the wire. Listen, I love the tournament. We marginalized college basketball. I still think there's value.

I love the games. Now, college basketball has kind of become, instead of a sport, a bracket, it's kind of a three-week sport. But I thought the tournament was, listen, I would love to see Carolina face Gonzaga at the night or something. I'd love to see Villanova and Duke or Michigan State, Kansas. Yeah, but, I mean, listen, you got to do what you do to make it to the championship game. So overall, I thought it was really entertaining and had some great games and great moments. Yeah. Good stuff.

Joy with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The Heard Lye News. Tired of all these NBA awards. They never make sense. They name a coach of the year and an hour later he's fired. And they name MVP and the guy's good, but he's not valuable.

Finally, officially, the NBA awards I will hand out for this regular season. These should be seen with clarity, easily defined, easy to embrace. That's coming up next. I don't skip meals anymore. When I get hungry at 3 before dinner, I need 300 calories. I drink Soylent, a complete meal in a bottle, plant protein. It's great. Go to Soylent.com, and you can get 20% off your first case if you put in the code, Herd 20.

Third. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific on Fox Sports Radio, FS1, and the IHard Radio app. M-Drive supplement, stronger, more energy drive, M-Drive for men.com today. Refine your prime with M-Drive. I want to thank Chris Broussart, Eddie House, Chris Haynes, T.J. Hushman, Zada. Well, in our best to last, if people hand out awards all the time. I've told you this before, the NBA awards are kind of ridiculous. Like, they're not defined.

Like, the MVP to me has always been like, well, what does that mean? Is it the best player? if it's just that call of that. Is it the most valuable player, Westbrook won because he had triple doubles, but they couldn't get out of the first round. How valuable makes him talented, but how valuable is a triple double? LeBron has them all the time and teams lose. So I thought, let's create easily definable,

wrap your arms around it, no confusion awards that virtually nobody could argue. Are we ready to go? The Hurd's NBA regular season awards. Let's start with this. The Best Player Award. Here's the current best player in the NBA. The winner is Kevin Durant.

Okay. This was LeBron's award for about 12 years. I think he's the best player. He's now the best offensive player on any given night in the league. He and James Harden, he's a better defensive player than LeBron. I think he's had a very good year health-wise. There's been a little bit of this, you know, he a little snippy here and there.

But in the end, who in the NBA, game seven of a finals, who do you want to take the final shot? That to me is the best player in the NBA and Kevin Durant wins our best player in the NBA award. Now, NBA has a most improved player. We're offering a least improved player. Ben Simmons. You can't even argue it. There's so much I love about his game. Six, ten and a half.

Great ball handler. Strong. Finishes at the rim. Plays defense. Incredible vision. He cannot shoot. He's shooting 21% outside of 10 feet.

Okay, you can't, God gave you all these gifts, and I'm not overly religious. But when the man upstairs gives you gifts, you have a certain responsibility to yourself to work on them. Less dating famous people. work on your jumper. I mean, this is ridiculous.

In 2019, you've got to be able to shoot or you become a guy late in games. Nobody has to guard. You can argue who's gotten better. Nobody has the talent that's just sat on it for an offseason like Ben Simmons.

How about most overrated player? Yeah, I said it. Kauai Leonard. doesn't make teammates better, doesn't pass, doesn't communicate. Toronto's 17 and 5 when he doesn't play. They're statistically better when he doesn't play. He's missed 22 games and hasn't really had a major injury. I think he's a very, very good basketball player.

But don't be putting him in the Kevin Durant class. Don't be putting him in the Steph Gurrey Yonis class. He doesn't really communicate. If you want a franchise player, he's a very odd personality. and I understand a lot of it he's been overlooked, but you can't miss 22 games. You can't like disappear last year from San Antonio. At some point, there's questions that have to be asked,

and I'm asking him. I think he's good, but I think we've anointed him to a level. He just doesn't reach if you're considering everything. teammate, communicator, passer, healthy, ready to play, easy to figure out in your own locker room. Kauai Leonard, most overrated player. The best lose. losers this year are the New York Knicks.

Listen, the Philadelphia 76ers tanked for five years. They all haven't won Bupkus. The Knicks are tanking one year to get Zion. It's brilliant. I mean, you've got to give the New York Knicks credit. They don't win much, but they know how to tank. They're going to have as good odds as anybody to get Zion Williamson, and they didn't have to tank for six years to do it.

Now, they haven't been very good, but they've been actively trying to win, and they brokered a deal. They cleared up cap space. They can take two max players and get the number. one pick. That's how you do it. If you're going to tank, tank briefly. Yeah, do it properly. And they've been the best losers in the NBA. How about the worst winners? The Lakers. Why are you suddenly hot? We wanted you to win all year. You couldn't. Now you've won six of nine. Last week you beat two playoff teams. What are you doing, Alex Caruso? Start being Alex Caruso.

What the hell happened? Lakers, here's how it works. If you're bad, you want to lose in the last three weeks. That's what you want to do to increase your chances in the ping pong lottery. The Lakers are finally hot at the exact time you don't want to as a bad team be hot. NBA hands out executive of the year. We're handing out co-executives of the year, Del Demps and Magic Johnson. As my wife says, there are two ways to lead by being a great example or a horrible warning. They're both effective. These guys wrote a how not to make a trade guide.

Del Demp's got petty, held a grudge, and blew up his own career, and Magic Johnson and his staff leaked everything to the papers blowing up his team's chemistry. Don't talk to the press. Don't sneak things to the internet. And certainly, Del Demps, don't get petty. The Lakers offered everything shy of the logo, and he was not interested for Anthony Davis, who's a great player but hasn't shown the ability to carry a franchise.

That was the biggest non-trade trade in league history, and for that, giving everybody an example of how not to make a deal, they win the co-executive of the year. All right, time for the sixth man of the year. The NBA hands that out. We're giving ours to Kyrie Irving. Now, I know that feels strange because he starts, right? but they're 11 and 3 when he doesn't play.

So he's about the sixth most important Celtic, and God knows I have no idea how that's even possible. How can somebody as good as Kyrie Irving stunt the Celtics offense? But he does. They're significantly better from the efficiency standpoint and the winning standpoint when he doesn't play. So for being about the sixth most important, Celtic in value. He wins our sixth man of the year. The NBA hands out a defensive player of the

year. We're handing out one too, Kevin Durant. He's defensive about everything. And he locked up the award with this. Talk for a while. Why do you care? Because you usually talk. I don't feel like talking the last couple days. Has anything to do with conversation about free agency? That's the conversation you're going to have. I have nothing to do with the Knicks. I don't know who traded poor zingas they got nothing to do with me i'm trying to play basketball y'all come here every day ask me about free agency ask my teammates my coaches you rile up the fans about it let us play basketball that's all i'm saying and now when i don't want to talk to y'all it's a problem with me come on man you're talking you're talking so who are you why do i got to talk to you

how are you playing how's a team playing in the last couple weeks i'm done you know you don't care about that. He gets very defensive. So we think he's... Defensive, not defensive. Well, you know, we think he's the defensive player of the year. He's the defensive player of the year. He gets defensive about everything.

And finally, the NBA has a comeback player of the year. We're handing out a please don't comeback player of the year to Carmelo Anthony. Atlanta, Houston, Chicago, Rockets basically paid him to stay away. Listen, it's over. He's going to make the Hall of Fame. He scored a bunch of points. He was an offensively gifted player. But come on, man.

It's not a chemistry guy. He doesn't work. Please don't come back. You had your career. It drove me crazy. You drove me nuts. I was never into it. You know, you have a good business mind.

He's pretty good on the business side. And he was a great offensive player. But all these teams trying to engineer a new Carmelo. Maybe he can come off the bench. Maybe he can give us just. He refuses to shoot a three. He's not in great shape. He doesn't want to play defense.

He doesn't want to come off the bench. He won't want to be part of a system. Please don't come back. Carmelo, Anthony. So I think mine, my awards were very easy, a lot of clarity. I've never understood the MVP award. I think people just define the MVP by whatever they feel like the MVP is that year. And we always mention the postseason when it comes to the MVP.

And it's just, it's not a postseason award. No, that's fair. It's not. I think we struggle with the word valuable. That's why I think the NBA should just have best player of the year. The player of the year. This player of year. Like college basketball has Player of the Year award.

This guy was the player of the year. And you'd be like, yeah, like Zion as a player of the year. No, I do think calling a player of the year would be more accurate. Yeah, yeah. We're arguing or valuable is I could make the argument, Chris Paul is more valuable than James Hardin on his own team. Because when they play together, they have an amazing record. And when they're just James, it doesn't work quite as well.

He becomes a little too ball-centric. And the warriors are always going to take it away from each other. It's never going to be Steph or Duran. Yeah. It's best player. Give me that. I just want to add it. I'm just going to, I only have a minute left on.

the show, the players voted on most overrated player. There we go. Well, one minute. I'm just giving it one minute. Okay. I'm sneaking it in the back door of the show. Westbrook was voted the most overrated player in the league. Would you have any comment on that?

I mean, I'm sure you consider it to be a win. For who? It was only a quarter of the league that participated in this poll, by the way. But apparently the most accurate players were polled. Oh, okay. I'm so, I don't know. James Hardin was on there, too.

I think there's a little bit of, you know, hateeration going on there. To me, it's always the same. If you feel like they're overrated, go average a triple double this year then. I will say this. Andrew Wiggins, I've seen him play live four times. He's a good player.

He just never popped. He was just kind of, he just kind of, I told a buddy of mine, Scott Shapiro is a big Timberwolf face. and I used to tell him, I'm like, I've seen him play, dude. Nobody can score 27 invisibly like Andrew Wiggins. You look up and you're like, how do you score 27? I always said that's a barometer to me.

Do you, like when LeBron would go in an 8-0 run in the game, like you felt the point. Remember when LeBron, Bosch and Dee Wade were together? If DeWade and DeWade was physically kind of running down, you know, he was eroding a little bit. But if DeWade had a big second quarter, you're like, you could feel it. It was like DeWade on the quarter. It elevated the team.

Like D Wade, you felt his point. They were physical, little guy going to the basket. He'd jam on people. He doesn't bring the energy. Andrew Wiggins drops 24 and I never feel it. He just kind of slides in 24. I always, that's a big deal to me. Like when Zion for Duke went on a run, he took the game over.

The temperature in the room changed. With Andrew Wiggins, he scores, he's talented, but the temperature doesn't change. He doesn't move other players, elevate other players. All right. Speak for yourself. just right around the corner. We are done for the day. I had to slip that little Russell Westbrook thing in there.

Man's got to do what a man's got to do. We'll see you tomorrow. In L.A., it's the herd. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in. I'm Timbo, and every episode,

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