The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Straight Fire w/ Jason McIntyre - Bradley Beal Traded to the Suns, Phoenix Has a New Big 3 & A Dark Day in Washington DC

Episode Date: June 19, 2023

On today’s episode, Jason and Super Producer Rob G (Robert Guerra) bring you wall-to-wall conversation on the blockbuster trade that saw the Washington Wizards send All-Star guard Bradley Beal to the Phoenix Suns in what basically amounts to a salary dump. This one was a huge win for Phoenix. Beal may not be good enough to lead a playoff team by himself, but he can absolutely excel as your third guy behind Kevin Durant and Devin Booker. The only thing that can stop these guys is the NBA’s new Collective Bargaining Agreement. If and when the Suns trade incumbent center Deandre Ayton for some additional depth, they should find themselves as one of the favorites to win the Western Conference next season. On the flip side, the Wizards did the right thing by deciding to bottom out - even if it was a year too late. A Beal-led club just isn’t good enough to compete in the Eastern Conference. Now, they can take their lumps for the next few years, earn a few high lottery picks and start anew. Click here to subscribe, rate and review all of the latest Straight Fire with Jason McIntyre podcasts! #Volume #HerdSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed Human. Another podcast from some SNL, late-night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer, Streeter Seidel, help an a cappella band with their between songs banter.

Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and friends on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal, but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque.

Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's Superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the IHard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A win is a win.

A win is a win. I don't care what I'm saying. Yep, that's me, Clifford Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, my basketball and college football journey, or my career in sports media. Well, now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifers Show. This is a place for raw, unfilled conversations with athletes,

creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. So let's get to it. Listen to the Clifford show on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok's podcast network on TikTok. On the Look Back at it podcast.

For 1979, that was a big moment for me. 84's big to me. I'm Sam J. And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick a year, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived it. With our friends, fellow comedians,

and favorite authors. Like Mark Lamont Hill on the 80s. 84 was a wild year. I don't think there's a more important year for black people. Listen to look back at it on the IHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. The volume. This is Straight Fire with Jason McIntyre. What is up, Straight Fire, fam? It's me, Jason McIntyre straightfire for Monday, June 19th. had a phenomenal Father's Day weekend. Mine was terrific. I decided, hey, fam, you know,

we haven't seen a movie together in a while. Let's head over to see a movie. So we go through the options and we settle on the Spider-Man into the Spider-Verse or whatever it's called. Folks, I think like an hour into the movie. I had nodded off twice just because I fall asleep in movies. Dark, I'm exhausted, blah, blah, blah. You don't care. And then my phone starts buzzing, like relentlessly. Like, you're not supposed to look at your phone in the cinema and my phone, just too many beats. I'm like, what the hell's going on? And all the texts are, Beal, oh my gosh, Sons, Tidal. I'm like, oh, geez, what the hell happened? And then, of course, I've got to, like,

in the theater. I don't know what the movie is. Do I leave the theater and start reading text and replying and put out a few tweets or just do I bang it out right there and get back to the movie? I decided to do it right there. You know, my kids were locked in on the movie, although they didn't love it. I personally liked it. A little long, and the ending really ticked me off. But nevertheless, decent movie, Spider-Man, whatever the Spider-Verse movies. called. But the Bradley Beal trade to the Phoenix Suns is obviously massive for a number of reasons. I don't know what, Rob, I guess we'll start with the Phoenix angle because obviously Bradley Beal going to Phoenix is great. We'll talk about the Washington Hall, which was non-existent.

Like, this is basically a salary dump, folks. This is what it's looking like. We'll get to, we'll start with the Sons. And first we'll start with Bradley Beal. I had the analogy last week that I guess some of you liked, that Bradley Beale was the Costco brand of vodka, and Damien Lillard was whatever your favorite brand of vodka is. A lot of people like the goose. I'm going to get my goose on. I forget who it was. It said that.

It might have been Maurice Claret. I don't know if anybody remembers that name. Ohio State running back flopped in the NFL pretty badly was all over the goose. And that was his thing. I'm going to get my goose on. I like Bradley Beal a lot. Apparently a lot more than NBA Twitter. Because you know I have these.

with NBA Twitter. I don't like how the group think is like, oh, Bradley Beale, oh, he's garbage. He hasn't won anything. He's trash. It's like, do we not just see Andrew Wiggins? Folks, I wrote this down. So Andrew Wiggins was the number one overall pick.

Not a huge factor in Minnesota because he was the number one guy. Ends up in Golden State. Boom. Andrew Wiggins wins the title as the second or third best player. Oh, wait, Andrew Wiggins is really good. Yeah, no shit, Sherlock. We all knew he was good.

That's why he was the number one pick overall. Aaron Gordon. Number four. pick. Awesome player at Arizona. Goes to Orlando. He's all right. He's good. It's Orlando. He's the number one option. Didn't quite pan out. Aaron Gordon in Denver with the fully healthy Yokic and Murray, and they win the championship.

And Aaron Gordon wins one game all by himself. Wow, Aaron Gordon. This guy's an amazing defender. Aaron Gordon, oh, he really, he really did a number on Jimmy Butler. Aaron Gordon's very good. Obviously, this is, again, we knew coming out of college these guys are very good. Just because they're not built to be a number one on a crappy franchise that's cycling coaches, that doesn't mean they're not great players. So consider this.

Bradley Beale goes to Washington. He was the number three overall pick. Has some success, mild success with John Wall. They had a good back court. They got to the playoffs five times with the Wizards. I believe three of the times, Bill, or two or three of the times, Beale was on the team where they ran into LeBron in the playoffs. and that was, you know, young LeBron, who was friggin' incredible. And there was, I don't know, this is for the hardcore NBA fans.

There was a LeBron Deshawn Stevenson beef. Deshaun Stevenson was kind of like that defensive stopper, the Ruben Patterson, Kobe stopper, if you will. And he was like, I'm not going to go go goon. But in the series for Washington, he turned into a goon and went after LeBron and Jay-Z made a rap about it. I've mentioned this on the pod several times. You guys have to look it up.

Jay Z. Disse, Deschon, Vincent's, Blow the Whistle was the song. I listened to it to get pumped up on my way to my men's basketball games. Not kidding. And my son was in the car last. It has a lot of bad words, but who cares? Whatever.

That was bad fathering. Anyways, Bill was on those teams. And then John Wall gets hurt. And then they really got bad. And everybody's like, Bradley Bill, this guy, you're comparative to Damien Liller? Are you a fool? Bradley Beale's not that good.

Just take a deep breath. There was a playoff series where he shot 46% from three. there was a playoff series where he averaged 30 points per game as the number one option. Just let it sink in. Bradley Beale's now going to Phoenix where the number one option is going to be draw out of a hat, Devin Booker or Kevin Durant. I don't know.

One of them. Against Denver, it sure look like Devin Booker. And then other games, it's Kevin Durant because it's Kevin Durant. Now your third option is not Chris Paul because he's gone and he cannot come back. I'll tell you about that. It ain't DeAndre Aitin. We know it's not him. I actually think the next move is to move Aiton, but we'll get there.

The third option is Bradley Biel, who's been an all-N-Bee-A player, who's been an All-Star, who averaged 30 in a playoff series, and who is a very good shooting guard. And he's still in his prime. Okay? This is a massive win for the Phoenix Suns. I don't want to go too overboard, but if you look at how Denver played everybody in the postseason, they destroyed the Lakers.

I know some of the games were close, but they swept them. They handled the heat. Some of the games were close. They won 4-1. They handled the T-Whor. T. Wolves. T-wolves got lucky in one game. Yeah, they did get lucky guys.

And then there was the other series against the Phoenix Suns, where they went up to O. Game two, they really blew it. Chris Paul got hurt in that game. The team fell apart in the fourth quarter. They got tired. Game three and four, they go back

and DeBook and Kevin Durant go off. I think they combined for like 70, 80 points. I don't know the exact number. And Phoenix ties the series. One of those two games, Landry Shamit went off, and there was one other shooter. Rob can remember it.

But basically, they didn't get any help, and that was the problem. Not just after Chris Paul went down. Just in general. It was a little your turn, my turn. That doesn't totally work out. You need an offense.

So then they lose game five, a close one in Denver. And then game six, they get blasted at home. And it's like, well, who's helping Booker and Durant? If they don't get theirs, this team had nothing left against Denver.

But now you insert Beal into the mix. And before it was like, oh, you've got to win the minutes when Kevin Durant's out or when Devin Booker, the seven minutes he goes to the bench against Denver, you've got to like tread water in those and they couldn't. Those minutes are not going to happen anymore. You're always going to have two of the three on the court, B.O. Booker, KD., assuming health. Why wouldn't you make the Phoenix Suns the favorites? Listen, I like Denver a lot.

You guys, we've talked for the last three weeks about how this Denver team is built to be in the finals multiple more times. Should they be favored? Sure, they should be favored. I think the Phoenix Suns are now the best team in the league. I don't even know how their roster's rounded out. I don't even know if they're going to trade or keep DeAndre Aiton. And here's my thing with Aiton.

I believe three, they have $171 million salary tied up, I think in those four guys. Because Beale's contract, by the way, four years left, 207 mil. Yes, that's over 50 a year. That's a lot for your number three option. They also have no draft picks because I believe the deal. I saw ESPN said six second round picks. I know that Shams reported four.

We don't totally know what the deal is. There's also some pick swaps involved, mostly because Chris Paul is going to be waived by Washington, but Washington's holding out to get another team involved, maybe try to get something else so Chris Paul can be rerouted there. But Chris Haynes is reporting Chris Paul when he's waiting. will go to the LA Clippers, or that's what's expected. So a lot to be sorted out.

For now, bottom line, the deal is no first round picks, which is staggering. None. None for Bradley Beale. Oh, and I forgot Landry Shammon. Chris Paul's not going to Washington. Washington gets like, let's just say it's six second round picks and Landry Shamit for Bradley Beale. Washington is another segment.

We'll do that later. Listen, there's several layers to this, but it gets better. Trust me. So the D'Andre Aitin factor, and Rob, just hear me out on this. I do believe there is a world where Phoenix can still win the title with those big three and Aiton and filling out the roster with, I believe it's just minimum players. I don't even think they have their mid-level exception. I've been looking, folks, it looks like they're just going to have to find guys who are going to play for the minimum.

Could you find DeAndre Aiton just won with the Nuggets? Does he want to go win a title with Kevin Drey? I don't know. Does he sign to try to go win it because I want to live in Phoenix? I don't know. Are there other players who decide, you know what? I'm going to go ring chase, take less. I'm just going to throw a name out there.

Reggie Jackson was on Denver but barely played. Reggie, you want to come win a title? We could use you. Because, oh, by the way, you're going to be getting minutes because they got to fill spots. You know, again, a lot is to be sorted out on Phoenix's end. But bottom line is they're going to have those four big guys if they keep aiding. And a bunch of minimum salary guys.

So that's why I would strongly consider moving DeAndre Aiton, if you're wondering, Jay, why didn't Washington one him? Well, if you listen to last week's podcast, they got the big guy, Daniel Gafford, Gifford, whatever, Gafford from Arkansas. And it's like they're paying him $12 million. I don't know. But it says a lot about what they think about DeAndre Aten. Do you want a center who's in his prime?

Absolutely not. They don't even want him to be their best guy. They don't want to take on that salary. They're going to be awful. But they didn't want Ait. I think that speaks volumes about what his market could be should the sons look to move him. Maybe that's why they haven't moved him yet.

Because if you can trade out Aiton and get two players to replace his stats, let's just in a perfect world he's 20 and 10, you don't think you can get that out of two guys? I personally think that is definitely a move. You move on from Aiton, you bring on two bodies, and you fell out the roster a little bit more.

Because you have no draft bet. You can't even, I mean, you can't even say, hey, this guy in the second round, you can't even do that. The Christian Brown who helped the nuggets can't get a guy like that. So it's going to be tough sledding. That's why I would push for trading D'Andre Aden. We haven't heard a lot on that front. But this owner has made it very clear he's going to spend.

He doesn't care about the apron, the first, the second, the steel. He doesn't care about any of the aprons. He's paying, he's going all in on the title. And I, listen, it's not my money. I applaud that. If I'm a son's fan, hell to the yes. Let's go. KD. D. Book?

Bradley Beal? Now, Rob, I do want to ask you if you saw what I thought was the most funny comment on all of social media. NBA Twitter needs to be applauded for this. Somebody said the washed point guard trifecta is now complete. And they had an image of Chris Paul Clippers, Chris Paul Rockets, Chris Paul Wizards, John Wall Clippers, John Wall Clippers, John Wall Rockets, John Wall Wizards. Russell Westbrook Clippers Russell Westbrook Rockets Russell Westbrook Wizards

And just a little dig a jab at Chris Paul Russell Westbrook and job wall I don't know guys I thought that was hilarious What I didn't find hilarious Rob G And I'll turn it over to you here Just a little nugget Bradley Beals agent Mark Bartolstein

Is the father Of the Phoenix Sun's CEO Josh Bartolstein So I know Milwaukee and Miami tried to throw their hat in the ring. Sacramento wanted to. But none of that was ever happening. It was Phoenix. When your dad is negotiating a deal with his son,

you think he's going to screw his son over? Rob, Bradley Beale got what he wanted. The agent got what he wanted. I think this is a win-win for everybody except the Washington Wizards. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal, but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque.

Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast Superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the I-Hard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care which I'm saying.

Yep, that's me, Cliver Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, the reactions, my journey from basketball. basketball to college football or my career in sports media. Well, somewhere along the way, this platform became bigger than I ever imagined. And now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfiltered conversations with some of your favorite athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. One week, I'll take you behind the scenes of the biggest moments in sports and entertainment,

and the next we'll talk about life, mental health, purpose, and even music. The Clifford Show isn't just a podcast. It's a space for honest conversations, stories that don't always get told, and for people who are chasing something bigger. So, if you've ever supported me or you're just chasing down a dream, this is right where you need to be. Listen to the Clifford show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok.

Do you remember when Diana Ross double-tap Little Kim's boobs at the VMAs? Or when Kanye said that George Bush didn't like black people. I know what you're thinking. What the hell does George Bush got to do a little kill? Well, you can find out on the Look Back at It podcast. I'm Sam J. And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick it here, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived it.

Including a recent episode with Mark Lamont Hill, waxing all about crack in the 80s. To be clear, 84 is big to me, not just because of crack. I'm down to talk about crack on day, but just so y'all know. I mean, at this point, Mark, this is the second episode where we've discussed cracks. I'm starting to see that there's a through line. We also have AIDS on the table right now. Now you're finishing that sentence. Yes.

I don't think there's a more important year for black people. Really? Yeah. For me, it's one of the most important years for black people in American history. Listen to look back at it on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. 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. you find it important to be a good person while you hear on earth? Or are you a good person because you're afraid? Because that's two different intentions, bro. Absolutely.

And that's two different levels of trust. I want you to just really be a good person. Join me, Kear Gaines, is we have real conversations about healing, growth, fatherhood, pressure, and purpose on my new podcast, learn the hard way. Open your free, our heart radio app. Search Learn the Hardway and listen now. Yeah, I mean, first off, let me just say this. for all of you YouTube and iTunes commenters when we did Beal or No Beal last week,

which I thought was an incredible segment. Yes. And they're like, oh, what are you talking about? He's going to get way more than that. They're really going to accept this trade. This trade's trash.

You guys don't know about it. Well, look who's laughing now because they got even less than the worst offer. I think we put on the Beal or No Beal segment. I was correctly quickly. They didn't technically not get a first round pick because they do have at least one first round pick swap in there because that's all the picks that they could get. Yeah. So, you know,

do we know if that's a Phoenix pick or? It would be a Phoenix. It would be Phoenix's pick swapped potentially. What year? I mean, if it's 23 or 24. We don't know that yet. They wouldn't want to hold off for like 27, 28. Right, exactly.

You'd want to wait until all these guys, their MAC deals are expired. But to your point, I love this deal for Phoenix. And for whatever they lose in Chris Paul, which they were going to waive him anyway. So that's like they basically gave up nothing. They were going to wave Chris Paul if they couldn't trade him. So they essentially gave up Landry Shammit and some second round picks and a pick swap for Bradley Beale.

It's it's the most low risk, high reward trade I think we've ever seen in recent memory in the NBA. And even though they don't, they have what, five guys on the roster as of, you know, recording this right now. Jack Landale, I think is in there still. Right. I think Cameron Payne. is still on the roster for now. But Devin Booker, point book, which we saw in the playoffs during that time where Chris Paul got hurt, can really play point guard the way you need him to. He's not obviously a floor general the way that Chris Paul is, the way that a Tyos Jones is.

But in today's NBA, when you have three high usage guys who are all used to handling the ball a lot, I don't think you really necessarily need a de facto point guard. Because all of these guys have experience running the show, setting guys up, getting their own. own looks, et cetera, et cetera. The thing that you brought up, which I think is very important, though, is they have to trade DeAndre Aden for something, some level of depth. Whether it's a two for one, whether it's a three for one, even if you're taking 75 cents on the dollar, you just need more bodies. And, you know, you go back, obviously, to the Indiana Pacers.

They made him that big offer, which he ended up matching. Maybe you get a Miles Turner and like a T.J. McConnell. They're not, you know, T.J. McConnell's nothing special. He's like a six-foot, gritty guard. I like Miles Turner, yeah. I like Miles Turner a lot. But so, you know, maybe you can do some of that. Or there was some rumors going around that the Dallas Mavericks had interest in DeAndre Aden.

Maybe you get Tim Hardaway Jr., Reggie Bullock and Javelle McGee, right? Like, none of those guys are anything to write home about. But suddenly you have two backup swingmen and a center who has experienced a Frank Vogel system. Like, there's definitely avenues you can explore. that could fill out the rest of this roster because I think to your point, whoever they have around them, you got to play defense and hit the open shot. Otherwise, these guys are going to take care of everything else. And don't forget, Rob, you can't have KD playing 70 games.

I mean, he's sniffing that. Maybe he'll hit that 65 mark. But you can't wear them down when you're expecting to play 20 more games in the playoffs, you know? Even the nuggets were resting their guys late in the season. Sure. And I think anybody who's expected, I saw some people in Vegas, they almost start pounding the over on the sun. you know, win total, which I don't even know if that's out yet.

Or if it is, I haven't seen it. I wouldn't do that at all because this team is not going to be geared towards the regular season. You have three guys and as of now zero depth. What you want to do more than anything, especially given Bradley Bill's history, Katie's history, is just be healthy, rested, have some level of chemistry on the floor when you get to the postseason. Whether you're the three seed, you're the seventh seed, it doesn't matter. We saw that this last postseason. And this Phoenix Sun's team, I think, is set up to be really, really dangerous.

And I'm interested now to see how the red, if this inspires the rest of the Western Conference to kind of retool because you know that, hey, we got to outskirts. We're not going to be able to outscore these guys. We're going to have to find more defenders. We're going to have to find ways to attack on the margins because that three-headed monster is going to score at will. Yeah. And it's funny you mentioned defense. I have a couple more notes here real quick. So all these people saying, oh, Jason, Phoenix is not going to be better than Denver.

Phoenix doesn't play any defense. Guys, do you know where Denver ranked in defensive efficiency this season? They were 18th in the regular season. They were not a great defense. They weren't even great in the playoffs. They couldn't stop Phoenix. They just outscored them. And against Miami, Miami's offense was like, come on.

Undrafted guys, they're not getting the job done. They barely could reach 100. And we're talking about game 100 from Miami. So stop with this defense. Nobody plays defense. Lakers have the best defense in the league, I think, since the All-Star Break of the Trade or whatever. They couldn't stop Denver at all.

This is not a defensive league. Just stop with that. Next funny note, Rob, not really relevant. But the salaries of Bill, Durant, Booker, and Aiton, I had it at 170. Apparently it's $164 million next season. The entire Chicago Bears payroll, which is how many guys don't,

NFL roster, 54, 56, 144 million. Four guys on one NBA team, making more than the Bears. I know it's just cherry picking in different sports and 82 game season versus, you know, 17, blah, blah, blah. I just found that interesting. The other note that I had, Rob, and I do, I got some DC fans listening to the pod. I grew up, I was born in New York, so I root for New York teams, but I grew up in the D.C. area.

And at the time, the team wasn't the worst. Wizards, they were the bullets. And I grew up reading Michael Wilbon and Tony Cornheiser in the Washington Post, and Tony Cornheiser would just shred the bullets, just make fun of them in every column. He called them Les Boulet because they were like soft and French.

Just making fun of them endlessly. He had these nicknames for a guy, like Jeff Malone and all these guys. They were not a good team. But eventually, they land on Chris Weber. They had Chris Weber and I think Joanne Howard for like five minutes. It didn't totally pan out. They move on.

This century, the Wizards have won. I mean, they've tried to be competitive, but they just, they're not. But they have never bottomed out. They won 19 games twice and 20 games once. This century, I'm calling it now, Rob. The Wizards will finish with less than 19 wins this year. This is a bad basketball team, but it's by design. New GM comes in.

Hey, man, Kuzma, we love you, baby. We know you can get more on the open market. market, enjoy it. Porzingas will be interesting. Maybe they hold on to Porzzi. Maybe he doesn't opt out. He stays in and they trade him at the deadline or something. I don't know.

Bottom line, they are excited about being bad. I haven't dove into the 2024 draft. We could do that after the 2023 draft this Thursday. There's no Wembe, Yamah, obviously, but they're going to be bad. aggressively so. And they're going to start from the bottom. They are bottoming out. They will be very bad.

But if you're a Wizards fan, this is kind of a dark day, right? You had Wall and Beal, you were competitive. We kept Bradley Beal. He wanted to stay here. But at the same time, you're frustrated because if you had sold Beal last summer, Rob, when we talked about it, you could have got way more than this. You could have had at least one first Rob pick. At least. I mean, look at what Rudy Gobert went for.

And I don't know. Was Rudy Gobert that much better than Bradley Beale? Donovan Mitchell went for a lot. Dejanta Murray went for a lot. And again, Bradley Beal's in the same galaxy as these guys. they're not like way better than him. I know they're a little younger and more defensive oriented for Gobert, but Washington just did a bad job last summer,

but guess what? That guy's gone. New guy comes in and he's cleaning up the mess. Overall, I know it's tough to put a brave face on this, but Washington Wizards fans, you should be happy. You could probably get tickets on the cheap this season coming up, and, you know, when the good team's coming down, you could parachute in, but it's going to be bleak,

probably for this year and at least two or three more before they rebound and rally. but Rob, this is going to be one of the worst teams in the league. And again, you're sad to see Bradley Biel go, but it's pretty clear he didn't want to be here anymore either, right? Yeah, I mean, look, he even said on Gilbert Arena's podcast about a year ago almost to the day that this trade went down. They asked him about the contract extension and why I decided to re-up in Washington.

And he basically said, look, I saw the free agent market. The teams that I would be interested in going didn't have any cap space. It wasn't looking good for me. So I thought, hey, let me get this bag. right now and I'll see what happens later. And that is a practical business decision. I can't blame him at all for saying, I can get way more money here.

I can get the no trade clause, which I guarantee you we're never going to see another no trade clause in the NBA because if it leads to trades like this, like the NBA is just going to accident out, maybe the next CBA. But yeah, he played it right. And if you're Washington,

the only thing that you could be upset about today or this week before the draft is that you didn't do it a year sooner. and for a guy like Victor Wem and Yama. But this has been the right decision for years now. And they kept kicking the can, kicking the can, thinking, hey, maybe if we had Kyle Kuzma, hey, maybe if we, what was it, Johnny Davis, the point guard from Wisconsin, you can't get off the bench.

You know, maybe. Devi Objia, maybe that guy can use it. No, you got a bottom out. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, you got a bottom out. You got to suck really bad, not just for one season, probably for two or three. And then you see what you have from there.

You take on bad contracts and trade in exchange for first round, everything that the Oklahoma City Thunder keep doing that we saw the Brooklyn Nets do for a while that kind of brought them back from relevance after that the Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett Fiasco, that's where you got to go. And they're finally doing it.

They finally ripped the Band-Aid off. Expect the tickets to, if you're in Washington, hey, maybe you get $10 seats. That'd be nice. Yeah, dude, that's a win. We had recorded an interview with a draft guru about Thursday's draft. We're going to hold that a day because of the B-Ls.

news, but also. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal, but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast Superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the I-Hard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what I'm saying.

Yep, that's me, Clifford Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, the reactions, my journey from basketball to college football, or my career in sports media. Well, somewhere along the way, this platform became bigger than I ever imagined.

And now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfiltered conversations with some of your favorite athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrate.

One week I'll take you behind the scenes of the biggest moments in sports and entertainment, and the next we'll talk about life, mental health, purpose, and even music. The Clifford Show isn't just a podcast, it's a space for honest conversations, stories that don't always get told, and for people who are chasing something bigger. So if you've ever supported me or you're just chasing down a dream, this is right where you need to be. Listen to the Clifford Show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast.

And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford. and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. Do you remember when Diana Ross double-tap Little Kim's boobs at the VMAs? Or when Kanye said that George Bush didn't like black people. I know what you're thinking. What the hell does George Bush got to do with Little Kim? Well, you can find out on the Look Back at it podcast. I'm Sam J.

And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick a here, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived it. Including a recent episode with Mark Lamont Hill, waxing all about crack in the 80s. To be clear, 84 is big to me, not just because of crack. I'm down to talk about crack on day, but just so you all know. I mean, at this point, Mark, this is the second episode where we've discussed crack.

So I'm starting to see that there's a through line. We also have AIDS on the table right now. Thank you for finishing that sentence. I don't think there's a more important year for black people. Really? Yeah. For me, it's one of the most important years for black people in American history. Listen to look back at it on the IHeart Radio app,

Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hard Way with me, your host, and your favorite therapist, Kier Games. And in recognition of Mental Health Awareness Month, I'm bringing over a decade of my own experience in the mental health field and conversations with so many incredible guests. I'm talking, Tripp Fontaine, Ryan Clark. Sometimes when we're in the pursuit of the thing, we get so wrapped up in the chase that we don't realize that we are in possession of the thing.

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

Because that's two different intentions, bro. Absolutely. And that's two different levels of trust. I want you to just really be a good person. Join me, Kear Gaines, is we have real conversations about healing, growth, fatherhood, pressure, and purpose on my new podcast.

Learn the hard way. Open your free iHeartRadio app. Search Learn the hard way and listen now. Before we're done, I need to just quickly, a couple of minutes, you guys know I'm a soccer guy. The U.S. Open was in my backyard out here in L.A. over the weekend. My son had a volleyball tournament.

My daughter had a dance performance. It's Father's Day. Listen, a lot of people like, Jay, how are you not at the golf? I'm like, listen, guys, you know me. If my wife said, yeah, Jason, you want to go watch golf? You could spend six hours, go watch the U.S. Open. I would say no thanks. I would rather spend two hours playing basketball.

Like, that would just be more fun for me. I know you could play basketball anytime U.S. Open. I'm just not, I'm not that huge a golf fan, even though we had Paige on the podcast recently, and you guys seemed very interested in page. I'm just not the massive golf fan that some of my buddies are. I had a lot of friends that went to it, and Fox had a bunch of people going, and that's great.

I actually watched more U.S. soccer over the weekend then I did golf. And U.S. Mexico Thursday was incredible. U.S. spank some 3-0. Probably the best win we've had over Mexico in a long, long time. We've now were unbeaten in our last six against them. And then we go to the final against Canada

and we spank them two nothing. And folks, listen, you never want to get too excited. The World Cup for 2026 is still four years. Well, no, I'm sorry. Three years away. Okay. It's here in North America. We had a young team at the last World Cup,

one of the youngest teams in the field. And now we had this kid, Balagin, Balagin, who scored an awesome goal. If you haven't seen it, go look it up. I mean, it was ridiculous. And we got a squad. You never want to get too geeked, but I'm calling it right now.

This team will make a deep run at the 2026 World Cup. The U.S. squad will make a big run. Obviously, health pending, if Pulitzer goes down, he's not there, we're screwed, whatever. But this is a deep, well-rounded squad. The Burrhalter stuff went down over the weekend. He's going to be coming back as coach. I'm going to hold off on some comments on that for now. I just say I don't hate it as much as everyone else.

I don't think it's the worst thing in the world. It is interesting that they looked incredible with the interim guy this weekend. I mean, incredible. Probably the best performance we've seen out of them against rivals. back-to-back that quickly in a long time. And it's the small things that the U.S. soccer fans are pissed about about Burrhalter. Remember Burrhalter had Pulisic taking all the corner kicks at the World Cup.

And the services were not great. And if you watched the Canada game, Rana, who was in the doghouse, and listen, I'm not going to blame Burrhalter for it. Raina admits he acted a fool and he wasn't grinding. Raina was serving some beautiful corners that we sure as hell could have used in the world. World Cup.

Okay? It's not, it's not, doesn't look good for Burrhalter on that front. Obviously, other things do well. The concern for me is, and I outline this on the herd on Friday, Burrhalter is a defensive heavy guy. He builds through the back. He focuses on defense and it's less of an attacking style. If you watched our team against Mexico and Canada, we were abusing them on the wings.

Way of speed, ballistic speed, balligan in the middle. Rayna, kind of the attacking midfielder. It's just like, why haven't we seen this offensive outlook from the U.S. team at the recent World Cup? And it's like, Burrhalter is going to have to change his style a little bit to adapt to the new roster. You guys know small potatoes, but I coach my kids in sports. And, you know, when a kid is out,

you can't just keep running the same plays and the same stuff that you used to. You've got to adapt to your new. personnel. If your star is out, and my son's team, which won the championship, yes, I got to flex that three months later. We had our star who plays club ball. He had to miss a few games. Well, we can't run the same thing we run with him if he's not there. So we totally changed it up. And usually it worked. And it's small potatoes, but like, you know, I don't think all the coaches want to adapt because they're so wedded to their style and my style works and I'm here and I'm the boss. I have the final say.

And some of these coaches are like, you've got to have an open mind. And I hope Burrhalter does. He can't screw this up. This team is loaded. I think almost all the core is going to be under 30 by the time the next World Cup rolls around. Maybe under 31.

But we got a squad. And these wins over Canada and Mexico have to get folks excited. Yeah. Anyways. All right, it was a great Father's Day weekend for me. Hope everybody else had a good one. Back tomorrow.

Talk to you then. Another podcast from some SNL, late-night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and Friends, me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, S&L's Mikey Day and head writer, Streeter Seidel, help an a cappella band

with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and Friends on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Imagine an Olympic.

where doping is not only legal but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's Superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth.

Listen to Superhuman on the I-Hard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A win is a win. win is a win. I don't care what I'm saying. Yep, that's me. Clivert Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, my basketball and college football journey, or my career in sports media.

Well, now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifers Show. This is a place for raw, unfills of conversations with athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. So let's get to it. Listen to The Clivert Show on the IHeard Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok podcast network on TikTok.

On The Look Back at it podcast. For 1979, that was a big moment for me. 84 was big to me. I'm Sam J. And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick a year, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived it. With our friends, fellow comedians, and favorite authors. Like Mark Lamont Hill on the 80s.

84 was a wild year. It was a wild year. I don't think there's a more important year for black people. Listen to look back at it on the IHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed human.