The Herd with Colin Cowherd - The Herd - Hour 1 - A good fit for Chris Paul

Episode Date: June 9, 2023

Looking at the future of Chris Paul and which team will be the best fit for the 12-time All Star. Russell Wilson is in prime position to have a bounce back season under new head coach Sean PaytonSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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J. Mack, I don't know what you did last night. I went out and got some dinner and just thought about all these sports things that are happening. tonight game four Denver wins it feels like the series is over where are you leaning tonight series over anyway

you think it's over Miami needs a prayer unfortunately some injury to some superstar on Denver or something but yeah it's over I got Denver to me you do and the line's about two and a half I saw three and a half last night I have a check this morning so that means a busy morning

on the McIntyre front okay though we'll find out about that later Okay, so anytime I've worked at a place, and currently this isn't the case, but I have worked at places before, and you're not quite sure the business is operating at full speed or highly functional. And it always comes down to one thing. Everybody's asking, who's running this place? Who's making these decisions?

In Miami, you know it's Spolstra, and you know it. it's Pat Riley. Golden State, it was Bob Myers. It was Steve Kerr. Who's making the decisions here? With the Lakers, we're never quite sure who's making the decisions. Jeannie Buss, Rob Polanka, or LeBron. I saw this story this morning.

Chris Paul to the Laker rumors, heating up, who's running this place. If that comes to fruition, LeBron is running the Lakers. Because here's what they need. more accurate three-point shooting, more dynamic, more youth, and somebody because of LeBron's age and AD's brittleness that can give you 70 games a year and big minutes. Seven seasons since Chris Paul gave you over 70 games.

LeBron over the last three years has averaged 52 and AD over the last three years has averaged 44. The last thing in the world the Lakers need is another old star that gives you 50. 53 games. It would be a mess in Los Angeles. I saw this headline. And by the way, is this LeBron's people putting it out there trying to create inertia and steam and momentum? Chris Paul's dreamed of playing with the Lakers, says the headline. So what? They're not Disneyland. Lakers aren't into making your dreams come true. I want to be in George Clooney. Who gives a rip who Paul George, Paul, excuse me, Chris Paul is dreamed of playing for? I like Chris Paul,

But two things are true. A heavy winter jacket and Chris Paul in Boston are perfect. They're both useless in Los Angeles. He doesn't fit here. He doesn't. He's old, expensive, and brittle. That is the opposite of what the Lakers need. But increasingly, we have asked ourselves this question.

And this is what you ask yourself all the time for an organization that was once proud. Could be baseball, football, NBA, MLS, could be anybody. Who's running this place? Rob Polenka as a GM cannot think this is a good idea. It's a bad idea. Even Westbrook, who didn't work, when they made the move, I argued he's available, he's productive, he gives you minutes, he plays hard, he plays often. I love Chris Paul in Boston because they have two young, dynamic, athletic stars in their prime

that give you 70 games and big minutes. LeBron's averaging 52 games, 80, 44, and 80 just came off his longest streak of playing consecutively. That puppy won't last. So as we all age, you fit in fewer places. All you need to know, if this thing gains any steam at all, LeBron is running the Lakers. Because you look at the Kansas City Chiefs, Andy Reid acknowledges, I don't draft the players. Brett Veach does that. do that. I use the offense. Annie Reid doesn't even worry about defense. That's Steve Spagnola.

I know exactly who's running every part of Kansas City and Golden State and Miami. Chris Paul to the Lakers is a classic who's run in this place scenario. All right. So we're, after the finals wrap up, you have the NBA draft. And then Jay Mack and I, you just, we're going to pull up to the professional and college football. buffet for six months and we're going to gorge. So one of the things of the things we disagree with, sometimes I try to talk him into things, he tries to talk me into things. The one thing we agree on is that Russell Wilson is not washed.

We're in the minority. There's even people in the league that think Russell Wilson is washed. Jamack does and I don't. Not sure how you feel. Garrett Bowles, their best offensive lineman who missed last year with an injury, he's all in on Russ. He's a great dude. You know, he's the same guy every single day.

He works his butt off. And, you know, I'm ready for that stuff to go away. And when it goes, you know, everyone's going to eat crow. I think he's one of the greatest quarterbacks in the game in the last 10 years. I mean, stats don't lie. Just because you have one rough season, you can't, you know, dictate your type of guy and his personality and what he goes through. So there's really no historical precedent for Russell Wilson going from four really good

years, three really good years, final years in Seattle to what we saw last year. So here's what we saw in Seattle his last several years. Three years. 66% completion percentage, 33 touchdowns, eight picks, and a 106 quarterback rating and winning 10 games. That was the average. By the way, with a very poor offensive line and running back by committee. So it's not like he had great offensive support.

He had a defensive head coach. The O line was a bit of a mess. They've drafted well and now it's good. And the running backs were just a bunch of guys. Right. Rashad Penny. A bunch of guys. Never could stay healthy.

And then here's his numbers last year in Denver. Man overboard. Everything plummeted. Four wins. 60% completion percentage. His touchdown passes were cut in half. and is passerating like Trabiski level. So how's it possible?

The only comp that is even, well, it's the same city, Denver. Peyton Manning was really, really good, and then he fell off a cliff. But Peyton Manning was 39 years old. Peyton Manning had had four neck surgeries. Russell Wilson last year started the season at 33 years old and has never had a major surgery. So there's no historical precedence for it. Really good to wash. Again, he was doing that in Seattle with a battle line and B-level running backs.

So I believe it all comes down to an 80-20 split. That 80% of last year was Nathaniel Hackett being completely absolutely over his skis and into conference with really good teams. And then 20% was on Russell Wilson. And where was that 20%? Is that I think Russell Wilson views himself sometimes wrongly as a great pocket passer. No, he has two skills that are all-time unique. He has unbelievable instincts, especially late in games and in crisis, third down.

It's got really good instincts. He's smart. But his instincts are fantastic. And the second thing is, he's uniquely mobile. The way he moves, he never gets hit. There's other guys that are faster Lamar Jackson. maybe bigger and stronger, Josh Allen. But Russell had like a decade of running around and never getting hit, never getting really tagged.

So he is uniquely instinctual and uniquely evasive. I think he has to lean into those again. And for some reason last year, he was very reluctant to do that. He was probably trying to be a good employee. He listened to Hackett. But you could tell by the end of game one in Seattle when Hackett couldn't figure the clock out, we're sinking here. I'm going to take over the vessel.

So let's go back to Russell Wilson's numbers last year in Denver. I think with Sean Payton, not only an upgrade in coaching, but arguably the second, third, fourth, best coach in the league, I think Russell's numbers are going to go from this for our TV audience to this. 26 touchdowns, 8 picks, 4,100 yards, a passer rating in the middle, 60s, excuse me, a passer rating at 96 and a completion percentage around 65. And what would that be? Trevor Lawrence.

Trevor Lawrence was not a top four or five quarterback in the NFL last year. What he was was capable of having a great game, a great half, a great moment, and leading his team to the playoffs. So that's what I believe Russell Wilson will become. Trevor Lawrence. Not a top five guy, although Trevor this year may be, but he'll be capable of getting a team to the playoffs, winning a game with a late drive, more than competent,

good in the pocket, not yet great, more mobile than average, very good instincts, bit of a playmaker, not Mahomes, not Alan, not Burrough, maybe not physically Justin Herbert, but somewhere between like six and 12 in the NFL. That is my guess. Because there's simply, there's no precedent for four really good years, three really good years into awful.

There's nothing out there. Peyton Manning's it. And he was six years of hits older and four neck surgeries in. So that's where we are today. J-Mack, you and I, I think, agree on most stuff, most, not all. I don't know who I'm taking tonight. I will say this. Miami will shoot the three probably better and will play with more energy.

So I do think it's close. I don't think I'd bet it. If I had to, Miami's the second best team in this series. Can we agree on that? They are. They're smaller. They don't have as many elite players. They have more undrafted guys.

They're more about culture than talent. Denver's got a nice culture. They got better players. I wonder if after this series, a lot of the people in the NBA are going to start to change their mind on three-pointers. Denver's not living by the three in the finals here. They're going through their center yokech. So I don't know if this is going to start a shift away from three-point shooting,

maybe back toward a big man being primary. There aren't a lot of yokaches around them. Well, it's also interesting. Analytics are great, like in baseball, for a long season. You play the averages. But when you get into the playoffs, you'll use starters out of the bullpen. You'll change. You'll go for the win in that moment.

You don't care about the game tomorrow. In the playoffs, the starting pitcher is your momentum. You don't give a rip about tomorrow. You've got to win the game now. I remember Lou Pinella years ago was managing the Cubs, and he was setting up stuff for later in the series. Lou, win the game tonight, today. Win the game now.

Whereas in a regular season, you're playing, you've got a lot of tarmac. So in baseball, you're doing, analytics work. But if you watch postseason baseball, some of that stuff hits the road, win a night. So in the NBA, over the course of 82 games, you play into averages. The NBA playoffs, the refs let you play. Sometimes you just need a basket. And the best basket is an eight-footer, not a 23-footer.

Well, Miami's only path to victory is hitting three. That's it. That's all they can do to win this series. Meanwhile, Denver is like, I think they hit five threes last game. It's five or six. Low number. They don't need threes because they got Yokic, who, man, it's amazing how he's a game. Somebody should write a book on, I'm pro-analytics.

But they feel much more built for a regular season than a baseball or basketball postseason. I mean, think about football. There's a lot of things you will do knowing protect your quarterback, protect your players. But you'll have guys play hurt in a playoff game. I mean, Jalen Hertz was not healthy. These are playoff games. You play. You'd rest Jalen Hertz in a regular season in week 13 if you led the Cowboys by three games in the division.

So I think all of our sports, there is an urgency, there's a business side. Super Bowl champs, every coach gets richer, the owner gets richer, the players get richer, win the game and play hurt. And so analytics are great, but what I think we're seeing from Denver, by the way, Milwaukee had some of this. Get a basket. Just go get a basket. And Yokic is the best right now, not only the best at get a basket, but create a basket for somebody else. I read a stat where Yokic and Murray ran more pick and rolls in game three than they had in any game this season. They just say, we're throwing everything out the window.

We're going to our bread and butter. Yokic and Murray, they can't stop. 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. 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.

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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-taped 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. 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.

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. Go to tankless maidsample.com. Check out a navvy and tankless water heater.

It doesn't matter if you've done loads of laundry, dishwasher. It only heats water when you need. need it so it never runs out tankless made simple.com Navian so you know when I used to work at the other place a lot of people would scream about bias and regional bias and some of it absolutely exists much like the losers who are always saying our elections are rigged and the NBA is rigged they're not I got news for you if they were the Denver Nuggets would not be in the finals the raptors wouldn't have gotten to the finals We just have Lakers Celtics every year and occasionally Steph Curry.

So of the last 12 champions, if Denver wins this final, six are non-traditional brands. It's not rigged. Either are elections. But there is bias. It's never as bad as everybody thinks. For instance, you know, everybody now is saying ESPN's got an SEC bias. It's the best football conference. Easily.

No argument. Stop. It's the best. Big Ten is entertaining. It's not as good as the SEC. Now you add USC. maybe it gets better, but it's not as good as the SEC. But there is bias out there, and a lot of it is illustrated in this story.

Bristol's in the Northeast. That building is full of New York sports fans. That's why they talk about the Mets way more than they should. Nobody cares about the Mets. In New York, the biggest city in North America, with a loaded roster, in a beautiful new stadium, semi-new. They're sixth in the National League in attendance and third in their own division. nobody cares about the Mets.

They barely care about them in New York. I hate the bracket to you. They get 31,000 a game. The Cubs get more, and they're in a tiny stadium that's 100 years old, 200 years old, however old it is, and they don't have a roster as good as the Mets. But here's another, here's regional bias by ESPN. So they came out on ESPN Plus. That's behind like the pay window or something, you know, the pay service.

You got to pay for it. They stacked all 32 teams by their top five players. Now, like number one's Kansas City, legitimate. Mahomes, Kelsey, Chris Jones, Creed, Humphrey, Joe Tunney. Here's their top 10. So again, I don't have any arguments with a lot of this stuff, but here's where it gets fuzzy. They have the Jets at 8 and the Niners at 10. So the Niners are 3,200, 3,300 miles from ESPN.

So let's look at the Niners five best players, because this is the ranking. They're five best players. They have arguably the Niners, the best pass rusher in the entire sport. at a position that's really important. Trent Williams is viewed as the best left tackle in the sport. Christian McCaffrey, in my opinion, is the best all-purpose running back in the sport. George Kittle is the second best tight end, and Fred Warner is the best linebacker in the sport. Arguably, outside of Kittle, who's the second best tied into Travis Kelsey, you have four or five players are the best at their position in the league.

they're behind the Jets who have a quarterback coming off as he's aged Aaron Rogers is coming off a subpar year. Now I think Aaron is their best players, their best player, put it up. But the Jets best players, according to ESPN, Aaron Rogers, sauce gardener, Quinn, Quinn and William's Garrett Wilson and Elijah Vera Tucker. Garrett Wilson had four touchdown catches last year. 31 other wide receivers had more. And Elijah Vera Tucker missed 10 games and he's a guard. Aaron's coming off an average errand year.

Sauce Gardner's absolutely special. And Quinn and Williams made the Pro Bowl. You're telling me that core is better than San Francisco. core. Let's go back to San Francisco's core again. These are Hall of Fame players. Nick Bosa is going to be a Hall of Famer. Trent Williams will be a Hall of Famer. George Kittle will be a Hall of Famer. Christian McCaffrey-O-Warner are Hall of Fame talents. It will depend on their durability and their production going forward. They play collision positions. Three of those five are guaranteed Hall of Famers. Two could be if I get three more great years from both. Sauce Gardner feels like a

Hall of Famer. Aaron is, but is no longer in his prime. That is regional bias. That is having too many people in the room that are Jets fans because that ain't close. It's nothing against the Jets. But when I was there and Rex Ryan was the coach, they gave them more publicity than the Packers, Cowboys, and Steelers that have a combined 15 trophies. Tim Tebow was as a jet, The biggest story going into a season. He was a backup quarterback, a backup quarterback for the New York Jets. So a lot of people talk about bias and people often say, Colin, your show, Leans West Coast.

It's not my fault. California wins a lot of championships. New York State right now, it's in like a 10-year drought. They're not winning championships. California's in a 10-year surplus. They're winning a lot of stuff. The Warriors, the Rams. now USC is interesting.

You've got all so, you've got, you know, the Lakers won a bubble championship. Dodgers are viable. They're always a World Series contender. Can I ask a question since you are going after my favorite football team? Yeah, go ahead. All right. Can we flash the top 10 real quick? Let's just show it on the street.

Yeah, let's see the top 10 real quick. One more time. Because I often ask you, what is the most important position in football? It's just one simple question. Pretend this is a courtroom. Quarterback. Okay. How many teams in that top 10 have a quarterback as one of their five core players?

Well, I haven't looked at all 10 of them. I know Dak Prescott, Jalen Hertz. Take a guess. It's a leading question. No, no, no. Nine? Yeah. One team doesn't have a quarterback.

The Niners, that's why they're 10. The Jets now have a quarterback. Okay. And a defensive coach and a shaky O line. It's all fair. And a wide receiver in Garrett Wilson. We're not looking at the coach. We're looking at the core.

If you're basing this on five players, it's not like the five best players for the Niners are all guards. Pass Rusher, left tackle, weapon, superstar versatile running back. Like, the Niners have the best players in the league at like six positions. Fair. The Jets do not have the best player in the league. Only Soss Gardner could be argued. Fair. And I'm not saying.

What do the Ravens have that's best at the anywhere? Well, Mark Andrews is probably the third best tied-in in the sport. Lamar's a top 10 quarterback probably. So basically this list is, do you have a great quarterback, right? Patrick Mahan-Bohrower. Don't you call it that. Because they're trying to get cute with this core thing. Like, how, why is on a team of 50, how many, 54 players?

Why is a core five players? That's a little silly. This is just a fun list for June. If you asked every GM in the league, you get five players off every roster in the league. You can take any team. Do you think the Niners would have nine teams ahead of them? If you could go to a GM and say, I'll give you the best left tackle, the best edge rusher, the best linebacker, the best all-purpose back.

Oh, by the way, it's not like their receivers are bad. It's not like Purdy was terrible. This team got to the NFC championship with Brock Purdy. With Brock Purdy. They've got great. players, but the quarterback question, I think looms. I'm not saying the Niners should be number one. I think

that does drop you. They shouldn't be Kansas City. Your beef is with Aaron Rogers and the Jets. My beef is the Jets core is a quarterback that is in arguably past his prime. I'm sorry, he is, a guard that couldn't play,

and a receiver that is... Well, the guard could play. He just got hurt. He missed more games than he played. He's very good. By the way, the other storyline is count the NFC teams on that list. Three. That's it. No Vikings. And by the way, three and the Niners were lucky to make it. That's also true. First of all, if you're doing top core players, and I'm not saying

quarterback shouldn't be more. Like I would put Kansas City, Cincinnati, Philadelphia, all above them. And Miami, because they've got some superstar corners and receivers, you can make that argument. Buffalo's interesting. After Josh Allen, Siffon Diggs, they got some defenders. Good defenders. The team that would have been spicy. You want to make this a little spicy? You bump the Niners and you put the Jaguars a 10.

So the Niners are not in the top 10? Yeah, they don't have a quarterback. They have a quarterback. Trevor Lawrence, you're not picking up the phone call. You're not picking up the phone if somebody's calling about Lawrence. I'm not arguing that the lack of a star quarterback doesn't put them below team. It doesn't put them below the Jets. If they played tomorrow, who would be favored?

Where's the game? it doesn't matter large play. If it was in San Francisco, they'd be favored by six, two and a half on the road. And they'd be favored, by the way. So your core is overweighing quarterback,

and I don't think Brock Purdy's terrible. Remember. Once 7 and O's a starter. This isn't Shanahan putting LaFleur in a body bag as usual. Now it's Robert Sala, defensive guy. I mean,

Shanahan owns the floor. Anyways. Jay Mack with the news. Ah! Ah! No. No. Turn on the news.

This is the herd line news. All right, let's jump over to the NBA. Nicole Yokic is a superstar, getting a ton of praise for his incredible performance. But, hey, Aaron Gordon has chimed in. By the way, Aaron Gordon's playing really well. Chimed in about how his teammate is changing the league. The Joker's redefining the game. You know, you are going to start seeing more and more players that can just,

do everything, you know, regardless of size. You know, he's kind of like breaking that mold, kind of like how Magic Johnson did with the point guard position. You know, he's breaking the mold of the center position of only just being dominant down on the block. Now he's being dominant from 40 feet, everyone on the floor. Can you argue the three players in the NBA historically that have sort of broken the code? Magic point guard

LeBron forward Yokic Center That they're literally one of one Like LeBron literally came in as a forward And it's like now I'm going to run the entire offense Like literally I'm going to guard Derek Rose I could guard the four LeBron is a positionless player

He's just a great basketball player Jordan was a guard Kobe was a guard Bird was a forward LeBron's positionless Would you say Curry is in that group as well No Curry is a shooting guard He's a shooting or a point guard

guard, but he's a guard. He can't, he can't defend wings. So, is it safe to call Yokic a unicorn? Oh, completely. Okay. I think there's three players in league history. Magic literally played center in a finals game and scored 42 against the Sixers. We'd never seen, as good as Bob Coosy was. He could do that. LeBron's literally a positionless player. He can do anything you want him to do. He's never been a great, he's never had to guard a big, but he could.

And then I think Yokic, I was thinking about this the area. How about this story? So, Yokic gives you 10 assists a night. So if he averages 24 points, Shaq average about 29.30. But Shaq wasn't a big assist guy, right? If Yokic averages 24 and gives you 10 assists, but 10 assists 20 years ago equal 20 points. But 10 assists today because of the three-ball era equals probably 23.5 points. Okay.

So if you count as average 24, the 23.5 point, that his assists average because of the three ball, the emergence of that, he's a 50 point a night player. That does not count. So this is what they call. So points scored and assisted on per game in the NBA. Look at how far Yokic is ahead of Shaq. Oh my gosh. Shaq at 38, Yokic at 54. Because now his assists, it used to be if I got six assists, that would equal 12 points. Right. Now, That's like 15 points. Yokic for a single playoffs is a mile ahead of Shaq. So we do need to put, I said yesterday, Yokic's top 10 center all time, obviously, is top seven.

I think we need to start discussing him in the mix with Shaq and Wilt. I don't think that's out of bounds at this point. It's funny. When Magic first came into the league, Laker fans would know this. There was a lot of criticisms on Magic because of his size, he wasn't a twitchy defender, and he wasn't a great shooter. But you couldn't look at him like that. Because guards were always shooters when we were kids. You never had a guard who couldn't shoot.

He couldn't make the league. You had to be, because you were small. And Magic wasn't a great shooter. But you had to look at the other end of the telescope. He was kind of, he was just labelless. He just ran the offense. He was a catalyst. He could rebound.

Magic gave you whatever you needed. LeBron, he's labelledless. He's positionless. Yokic is a point center. And those assist numbers are much more significant today than 20 years ago because of the three-point shot. Yokic also doesn't get a lot of credit. What happens if Yokch makes a great pass,

a guy gets it, gets foul, and goes to the free throw line. Van Gundy brought that up. It's actually a great point. So I think we're looking at a guy in terms of productivity. I don't think there's anything I've ever seen like it. Yokic or Elyahuon. Now, Elijah won two titles when Jordan had retired. No, Yokic.

But Elijah won defensively was unbelievable. It's tough to do that. Well, ask yourself this. I would say it's close to even. Yeah, well, I would take Yokic, but Akeem's great. Akeem had his way against Shaq, by the way, if you ask Shaq. Well, he had a million moves. His bag was deep.

Right. So, but here's what's interesting about it. When people say, well, Yokic isn't a great defensive player. So the two best players for the heat are known for defense, Bam and Butler. Two best players for the Nuggets are known for offense, Murray and Yokic. Who clearly looks like the better team? Offensive league. So 75-25, it's an offensive league.

And by the way, Anthony Davis is a great defender. He could not stop or come close to stop the Gilchage. There is no such thing as a Kobe stopper, an MJ stopper. Tony Allen was a very good defender in this league for years. There used to be a guy for the Sixers named Bobby Jones, very good defenders. They never stopped the great scores. Bill Russell didn't stop Wilt. If you're a great score, what Bill Russell did is shut down average scores.

Nobody's shutting down Wilt. Nobody's shutting down Kareem, Kobe, MJ, LeBron. Nobody's shutting those guys down ever. They may shoot a slightly lower. You know, did Brian Russell? for the jazz. Oh, stop. I'm just saying, did Michael shoot a little... No, I remember, it was like Michael Jordan's torching the jazz. Who's guarding him? Byron Russell, that's who's guarding him? I'm just saying, I'm not saying he stopped him.

I'm saying, can a guy make it a little more difficult for an elite score? Yeah, instead of Kobe shooting 47, he shoots 46. Yeah, but even the Scotty Pippen, great wing defender in his time, like outstanding. This idea that, oh, he could slow down Kevin Durant in a mythical matchup. No. No, I mean, did you see Charles Barkley against Pippin and the Bulls in the finals? Barkley got whatever he wanted. Yeah, unbelievable. All right. Now, this is interesting.

Next story is, so the Warriors, remember, they parted ways with GM Bob Myers. Unclear whether he was shoved out or he just said, I don't want to come back. They didn't part ways. So what do you call? He just left. He retired. Okay. It's still a lot of unknowns as to what happened.

So, according to the athletic, Steph Curry wants to run it back with Clay and Dremond. The Corps. He wants one more season with the core that has won four titles together. It's interesting that a week after Bob Myers leaves Steph Curry through the athletic says, we got to keep it together. Pretty clear to me. Very sure. And I'm the biggest Curry defender on the planet.

I've been hyping him on your show for years. Who's the first guest on my podcast way back when? Listen, it's clear Bob Meyer said, we've got to change things up. This is not working. That's right. And the warrior said, no thank you. Yep. and Steph Curry is putting his foot down and they're going to run it back.

Bob Murray is right on this. Bob Myers, yeah. So Steph Curry said the core, Clay and Draymond. I don't know that Jordan Poole is in the core. He did win one title with him last year, but that is going to be interesting whether he comes back or not. Because you know the core is the guys who have four titles. I think you're perceptive on this. I think Bob Myers, I think we've talked about this with Rick Buecker.

I think Bob Myers wanted to move Clay Thompson and didn't have the stomach for it and didn't want to tick off Steph. And there's a great deal of loyalty to Steph Curry in the building. Steph has made all of them rich. There's a great deal of loyalty to Steph Curry. And there should be. He's made everybody. He's made Joe Lakeb another billion dollars. I mean, this was a lousy franchise 15 years ago, right?

It was a mess. So when somebody has made everybody rich, there's going to be generational loyalty, and there is. You just said loyalty three times. Did we talk about loyalty earlier this week? Well, no, I don't think. No, no, no, no, no. Not in golf. Did we talk about loyalty with golf?

Yeah. To the PGA. I'm not a huge fan. I'm a fan of winning now. I'm not a fan of we, I don't, I'm not a rear view mirror person. I'm more windshield. This idea of we got to be loyal to Clay Thompson. I don't get it.

I don't. We got to. But I think you're right. We got to be loyal to Kobe Bryant. And I understand, but they gave him all the money. And they've been a mess mostly since. Until who saved him? LeBron.

A guy that's not loyal. Lakers fans don't want to hear that. I know there's a lot of Kobe defenders. Guys don't text. me all my friends are big Kobe guys. Yeah. They don't like one. We all love Kobe too.

That's the reality. They were loyal to Kobe. And it dug him in a massive hole where they were like a 25-win team for six years. So Golden State, just be careful what you wish for with this loyalty to Clay Thompson. And I know loyalty is a big word in sports. Everybody loves it.

You know, Jerry Krause got a lot of crap for the Bulls. But Jerry Kraus did it right. He said, guys, this is the last dance. And everybody got ticked off and hated Jerry Kraus and lampooned him. And then he brought. broke him up. And it was the right thing to do. And everybody said, they have a right. No, no, no, no, no. Michael quit on him. It's Jerry Krause basically, and when Michael quit, he knew he was quitting

before he announced it, he'd gone into his baseball workouts if you read the books before he announced it with Tim Grover. So Michael had made the decision up long before he told everybody. So he quit on the team. And Jerry Krause said, I'm quitting on the dynasty. And he was right. They were spent. They were like done. Steve Kerr acknowledged that he was there. He's like, we're not done in Golden State, they're done. By the way, Jordan should thank him for not trying to run it back again and then losing and then he wouldn't be 6 and O and all this. Thank you.

But no Jordan fan wants to hear that. All right, I'm ticking off a lot of people. Final story. Jalen Hertz, let's go to a positive one. Listen, the guy's a franchise quarterback, got a massive extension, made a huge jump from 21 to 22. Head coach Nick Siriani spoke about this amazing development. Jalen may be the most coachable person I've ever been around him.

life. And that, and that, I mean, he's just always looking to get better. Now, that's our job as coaches to make sure we're feeding them good information. He's so coachable. Like, he just keeps getting, and he just keeps getting better, and he keeps getting better, and he keeps getting better. I don't know what his ceiling is, because he just keeps getting better, and he's going to, and he's going to continue to do that. And so I've seen that same jump, just, you know, the decision, you know, the speed in which he makes his decision, his accuracy of his throws, I've really been, he's really had a good spring. Coachability.

Siriani was with Andrew Luck in Indy I'm reading about here. Interesting that Hertz is more coachable than a guy like Andrew Luck. We know he's more coachable to Carson. I don't think he was trying to make it personally. No, no, no, but. Just because you're saying something nice about one person doesn't mean you're taking a shot at another. Did we do this yesterday with Rick Bueger? You tend to find the nice compliment and then conflate that as a negative compliment to somebody else.

Isn't that what it is? That's what you do. I don't know if that's what it is. Occasionally I do that. J-MAC with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The Heard line news.

He's on to something with the Warriors, and I want to talk about something that I've seen happen multiple times when everybody talks about culture. Because right now everybody's talking about heat culture. Everybody loves heat culture. Culture can be a lot of hooey. You've got to have players.

That culture in Miami's thinks if Jimmy Butler's not there. It's bam out of bio and a bunch of undrafted guys that don't make the playoffs. I want to talk about that coming up. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific. Hey, it's me, Rob Parker. Check out my weekly MLB podcast inside the Parker for 22 minutes of pipe and hot baseball talk featuring the biggest names and newsmakers in the sport.

Whether you believe in analytics or the eye test, we've got all the baseball. is covered. New episodes drop every Thursday, so do yourself a favor and listen to Inside the Parker with Rob Parker on the IHeart Radio app or wherever you get your podcast. 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.

In 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 you're saying. Yep, that's me, Cliver 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 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 with Little Kim?

Well, you can find out on The Look Back at it podcast. I'm Sam Jay 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 crack so I'm starting to see that there's a through line We also have AIDS on the table right now So Thank you for finishing that. incentives. 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. Looking for the end zone, jump ball, and it's intercepted.

Wow. It's got room. Into the air, a good return by Elder, and he's letting everybody know it. He tries the left side. He likes it. Sprinting for the end zone and getting there. They're dangerous throwing the ball. Oh my word. Broken tackle. Broken tackle. Looking to the end zone. It is caught. What a toe tap. Here's Bethel Thompson. Dixon. Makes the adjustment. And there he goes. Touchdown. Week nine of the USFL kicks off Saturday at noon

Eastern on Fox as Michigan takes on Pittsburgh. Then the action continues on Sunday as Philly Battles, New Jersey at 7 p.m. Eastern. Catch every play Saturday. and Sunday on Fox. Okay, we talk a lot about culture, the heat culture. So I saw this headline, didn't love it. The Warriors are working to rebuild their culture. It's their top-off season priority. Mostly Draymond Jordan Poole, wasn't pretty, went sideways.

I don't love that headline. Work on getting bigger and more athletic. The two best cultures in sports over the last however long are the warrior, and the Patriots, 10 titles. Two or 2A would be the Spurs. Get to that in a second. Why did New England fall off a cliff? It was not just because Tom Brady left.

That was part of it. It's because the entire last season, Brady was a Patriot. He was heard screaming. Remember this? Get open. Nobody can get open. The reason Tom Brady, two to three years before he left, was thinking about it. and his last year was yelling about it and then did leave is because the Patriots became more

about culture than getting athletic fast guys who could get open. They fell in love with themselves and their culture. Culture's a bunch of hooey if you don't have speed and athleticism. By the way, New England now is slow and unathletic. And they don't have Brady. They'll probably finish fourth. Greg Popovich in San Antonio. Since the Warriors have first won their first.

title in 2015. The Spurs are 30th in the NBA in three-point shooting. They fell in love with their culture. Find guys that can shoot. They fell in love with their culture. Did Popovich get dumb? Did Belichick get dumb? Fall in love with talent and shooting. In college, Jim Beheim admitted the other day, I thought it was very interesting because I think Coach K and Nick Saban had a strong culture at Duke and Alabama, but didn't fall in love with it. Beheim

admits he stayed with the zone too long defensively. He said recently, there's too many good shooters. We were too slow. People started shooting. Centers could shoot. Forwards could shoot. The zone doesn't work. He grasped culture.

He choked culture. Sabin moved off linebackers being a priority and made quarterbacks and receivers a priority. Coach K, reluctant, moved into one-in-one. That's how you win championships. So when I hear this about the Warriors' number one priority, Steph's 35, Clay's 33 can't defend, Draymond's 33, culture's not your problem. Trade Jordan Poole would be good tomorrow.

But you can't trade Jordan Poole, can you? Because he's twitchy and athletic and can get his own shot. You can't move Wiggins, twitchy and athletic. Kaminga probably should play more. Are the warriors going to become, what, brilliant Greg Popovich and brilliant Bill Belichick and really smart Jim Beheim became? They worried too much about the past and their culture and they grabbed it and we got to revisit it.

No, you can't resign Clay Thompson. Stefan Draymon, fine. But you've got to kind of probably keep Jordan Poole and Wiggins and Cominga. I got moving off Wiseman. He didn't fit your style. But the Warriors' number one priority should be size, a big that can score, having a threat over 6'7 that could put the ball in the basket.

Watch Yokic. That's the future. Hour 2 on a Friday next. 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 headwriter, 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 I-Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. On the Look Back at a podcast. From 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. It 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. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what you're saying. Yep, that's me. Clifford Taylor the 4th. 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 Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfilled 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 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. This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed human.