The Herd with Colin Cowherd - The Herd - Hour 1 - Aaron Rodgers could end this

Episode Date: April 13, 2023

Colin gives his thoughts on the NBA play-in games last night Aaron Rodgers could help out the Jets right now if he wanted to Great players like Kevin Durant hide flaws See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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go. It is a Thursday live in Los Angeles. It's the Hurt. Wherever you may be, however you may be listening. Thanks for making us part of your day. Well, we're 4-0. Jay Mack and I have told you, take those underdogs and the points.

I just think there's not that many good teams in the NBA this year. Great teams. Give somebody five or six points and you tell them they're an underdog and you tell them you shouldn't win this game. Chicago came out last night and just took it and your guy, Zach Levine, Here we go.

Well, he's very flashy. Talented. Skilled. Hey, what would Zach Levine put up in Bill Russell's NBA? 60 a night? I mean, goodness gracious. What a game last night. It was.

So the NBA is a Star League. And some of that's David Stern. Years ago, he took over how many ever years ago he came into the league and said, you know, the name on the back of the jersey can be as valuable as the name on the front of the jersey. and he really saved the NBA. But you've got to get the right star. So the Bulls have two stars, DeMar Rosen and Zach Levine.

They are star players. They are like lower end A players, B plus A players. But are they the right stars? Because flashy stars get way too much credit from fans. Right? It's like Hollywood. There's 10,000 stars in Hollywood. There's 10,000 people probably,

directors, movie stars that would walk into a restaurant if you were there and you'd be like, Oh, my God. But how many of those stars in Hollywood get you to a theater? Tom Cruise, Denzel. How many get you to a streaming show? Not many. But there's thousands of stars in Los Angeles.

Some are writers. Some are directors. You'd know if you saw. You'd be like, oh, my God, take a picture. I can't believe. But are they the right star that can move the needle, move you into stuff? In the NBA, about seven of those guys, just like Hollywood. it. But there's a lot of stars. And Zach Levine is spectacular, but he's been with the Bulls six years.

One playoff series, and they essentially got swept, a gentleman's suite by Milwaukee. Well, he doesn't have a lot to work with. Demar de Rosen's a six-time all-star. LeBron loved Alex Caruso. Vucevich is a two-time all-star, and this is the East. One playoff series? Six years in the East? The middle and bottom of the East is Drek. It's bad. It's weak. It's not very good. Yes, he is a spectacular star. But like Kyrie and Mello, what do I get for it? If you look at the seven or eight guys in this league that can, as they say, put people in the theater, they're layered.

Kauai Leonard, great defensive player. Get a bucket. Steph Curry, leadership. They have some flash, too. Janus, Kevin Durant, LeBron, LeBron James, Anthony Davis, by the way, can defend, can rebound, can block shots. there's layers to it. All those guys have flash, but those are guys like in Hollywood

that get you into a theater. Hollywood's full of stars and the NBA's full of stars. And more than any league, the NBA promotes theirs. But so often fans are fooled by the flash of it. And you just think, you know, Kyrie is Steph Curry's equal. It is not close. One's a smarter player.

One's more selfless. One at least tries defensively. One is willing to step. step back if they play with a star and give him the big shot. Steph and Kyrie are not even close, not even close. But for a lot of fans, Jersey sales, oh, it's the same guy. And Zach Levine and Kauai. I think a lot of people are like, oh, one guy, this, that, no,

Kauai is a great defender. A great, is he always available? No, but he can win a series. Last night, Zach Levine won a game. And his coach acknowledged he won a game. He was phenomenal. What he did at the end of the third quarter and going into the fourth, and part of the beginning of the fourth before he came back out,

it would have been very, very difficult for us to have won that game if he had not done that. So his performance was extraordinary, and it gave us life and it gave us a hope. Not denying that. J. Mack loves him. I am not denying that Carmelo and Kyrie and Zach Levine can win you a game. But are they layered? The analytics say they give you more than flash and hope and six years, Chicago, surrounded by some all-stars. LeBron love playing with Alex Caruso and he's not an all-star.

I got a win. I'll make a bet. Chicago faces Miami next and gets dragged. Loses. I'll make you that bet. I'm four for four. I'll take that bet. Okay, so there's a lot of stuff swirling, as Jay Mack knows, about the New York Jets and Aaron Rogers.

So the first story I saw today, the Packers and the Jets haven't talked Aaron Rogers trade in weeks, so it's stalled. Here's the other thing. The Packers want, according to stories here, Yahoo Sports, Charles Robinson, he's legit. The Packers want a second rounder this year and a first rounder next year. We've talked about on this show. I think that was J-MAC's idea. That seems reasonable. Does everybody understand Aaron Rogers, Jets, Packers deal could be done tomorrow.

Now, Aaron's letting you think that he has no control over it. Aaron's got all the control over it. If Aaron came out tomorrow and said, I am in for three years in New York, the deal's done. If he came in and said, I'm absolutely playing for two years in New York. I will commit to two years. The deal's done because that's what the Jets are afraid of.

But Aaron's indifference is all he has these days, right? Like he's not winning playoff games. He's not going to be Brady or Mahalms. He's not going to win that much. And in the last three and four years, his superpower has been R-E-L-A-X, relax. Russell Wilson in Denver may have been a disaster, but at least Sean Payton goes in and knows he's got his guy for the duration.

He may not want him for the duration, but he's got the commitment for the duration. I tell my kids this all the time. What you want in life you'll get. If you want a big social circle, you'll create one. If you want to make money, you'll do that. You're smart enough. If you want less stress in your life, you'll create that. If you really think of what matters to you and your,

your life. Most people get it. Some people, it's career aspirations. Some people, it's great relationships with their kids. Some people, it's party time. Surround yourself with party friends. You'll get what you want. Aaron Rogers is getting what he's want, getting what he wants. Aaron right now is more committed to the chess match than he is winning. How do I know that? Because Aaron's smart and Aaron took the most money and Aaron knows if you take the most money, you don't win as much. That's why Jalen Hertz reportedly wants to take a little team-friendly deal. Why?

He's telling me winning matters most. That is why. Tom Brady always took less. Why? Tom's number one priority was winning games. Patrick Mahomes, first contract. Team friendly. Winning matters most, not stacking dollar bills.

Aaron took the first. the biggest deal telling you it's about the money. And if you look at what he's committed to, Aaron Rogers at this point in his career is committed to having leverage and power and winning the chess match more than he is winning playoff games. How do I know? Because he's smart and he's talented and he's made decisions which hinder one and help the other. Let's be honest, in Green Bay. He wasn't win playoff games at the end, but he had power. It got him a huge contract. And then eventually it got him out of town. But you will get in your life what matters to you. And Aaron has made multiple choices that the money and the leverage and the final say is the most important thing.

Aaron's too smart to think, yeah, I cannot show up in the off season. And that's really going to help rookie receivers. He knew it was going to hurt the rookie receivers. But he wanted the power in leverage to not allow the Packers to control his off-season. Aaron's smart enough to know if you take the most money. It's going to limit your roster. He's a smart cat. Went to Cal. We know he's bright.

So you get what you want. Aaron now is more concerned with winning the chess match, having leverage, control, and power, even vaccines. He doesn't want anybody to have power over him. He's going to do what he wants to do. And that's fine. But Aaron knows he could solve. this tomorrow with a press release. I'm in two years minimum, hopefully three. Deals done.

That's what the Jets are waiting for. But Aaron's way too smart to think, yeah, we just drafted a couple of rookie receivers. I'm not going to go to OTAs. That'll work out well. He knew it wouldn't. He knew it would be choppy. He knew they needed him when he took the most money. They're not dumb. He sees what Brady's doing. Bree's doing. When they took less money, they want more games. You get what you want. Aaron right now could do the Jets of solid. I'm in for two years minimum three. Then they could get on their way, get him in camp, know exactly what to draft,

but that's not the most important thing to Aaron right now. Winning the chess match, having control and power is. A lot of people are that way. I would prefer my quarterbacks aren't. There we go. Jay Mack, you're shaking your head. You're affirming that. Rare agreement on Aaron Rogers this early in the show, Colin.

I mean, you want us, I can say us because I'm a Jets fan, you want us to get in bed with a guy who refuses to commit to two years. Can you imagine that? Yeah. Disappointing. If he said it tomorrow, though. I'm in. Say it tomorrow.

So why won't he? Because he wants control. He's very much. That's what I want, a control freak. Quarterback of the team with the longest playoff drought in the NFL. I always say this, you can't show me how smart you are and then conveniently get dumb. as if when Aaron took the most money, he thought it would help winning. Or when Aaron with two rookie receivers didn't show up to OTA,

and he thought they'd just get through it. Aaron knew it would be choppy early. Aaron knew the money would hinder winning. But he wanted control. People think it's all about the money. It's more about control. Aaron's got a lot of money. That's why R-E-L-A-X.

He's controlling the media. Packers, I'm not going to show up for camp. I'm controlling the Packers. This trade, he could go out. He wants to control the situation. That's what he cares about, and anything you do care about, for most people you will get. Relationships with kids, money, travel. My daughter loves travel.

She doesn't make any money, but she travels a lot because she's made a choice. She wanted to travel out of college for a year. So that's what she does. We've done the Kyrie Irving and Aaron Rogers comparison, right? There's a lot of similarities. Well, I think it's more KD and Aaron because I don't think Kyrie's a great player. I can see Kyrie going into a cave for three days or whatever. I mean, he's burning sage in the locker room.

But I think KD and Aaron are great players. I think Kyrie's a good score. I don't think, I don't buy into this. Kyrie's a great basketball player. Zach Levine or Kyrie Irving? Zach Levine. Oh, thank goodness. He's a bigger athlete.

Zach Lee's way better. Not even close. And, yeah. If LeBron's got his choice this off season, he sees Kyrie Irving out there, Zach Levine out there. That's a no-brainer. It's not like there's a buy-it. There's a little brainer in it.

I don't think it's a no-brainer. Be sure to catch live editions of the Hurry 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'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 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 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 all 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.

Thank you finishing that sentence. Yes. I don't think there's a more important year for black people. 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. You are now entering the No Bull Zone, sponsored by credible great rates. None of the Bull. Story out yesterday. Sequin Barclay, Star Running Back for the Giants, will not sign the franchise tag. That means he could not show up. He wants a longer-term deal. They have offered him a deal.

about $12 million a year, according to reports. He declined that, and he's been hurt, as you know, multiple times, three straight years. He had injury, injury, injury for three straight years. Last year he was very productive. But ask yourself, if you have a truly great quarterback that you really believe is the centerpiece of your offense, would you need to sign Sequin Barclay at all? I mean, the Steelers let Levian Bell walk, who at the time was great. Big Ben. The chiefs have now moved mostly off their first round running back. Last year, they used

a seventh round running back. They've got Patrick Mahomes. The Chargers reportedly have told Austin Eccler seek a trade. They got Justin Herbert. The Patriots for years. It was a revolving door at running back. Sometimes a really good running back the following week would be DNP, did not play, did not dress. They had Tom Brady. Philadelphia. Miles Sanders made a Pro Bowl. Let him walk. They have Jalen Hertz. If you truly believe the quarterback is the guy, you're not getting committed to an often injured running back. I like Saquan Barclay. But the reality is the owner loves him, Daniel Jones. And therefore, the GM and the coach don't and know they need Saquan Markley. But if you have a great quarterback, it's very 1995. It's very 1995.

You know, that's 27 years ago, almost 30 years ago. That was a different era. Back then, if you had a running back, Terrell Davis had two rings. Emmett got you three. L.A. never got Super Bowls without Terrell Davis. Different league. Two rings. Emmett Smith, three rings.

Marshall Falk, a ring. You're running back, you could pay over and over again. Different league. Now the middle of the field is owned by offense. It's more quarterback-wide receiver league. go look at the last 10 years, the best running back. Show me the rings for Todd Gurley and Adrian Peterson and Derek Hill and Zeke and Levian Bell.

Show me the rings. So if they're going to cave on this, the Giants are going to cave, it tells you in the room they have major doubts about Daniel Jones. They can say whatever they want to the media. They can say whatever they want in a press release. But in 2023, a running back who's been hurt three separate seasons, You're not signing a big contract. You think Kansas City would?

I mean, the Steelers let Lavian Bell walk. At the time, he was great. Let him walk. They had Big Ben. We'll figure it out. JMAQ with the news. No, no, no, no, no. Turn on the news.

This is the herd line news. All right, let's go with the NFL draft here. A lot of reports indicate that the Panthers are going to take Bryce Young number one overall. We said yesterday, Chris Mortensen said, Bryce Young will be the pick, like definitively. We'll see. Rookies always get NFL comparisons when they enter the league. And Peyton Manning, who remember said,

Adam Gaze is going to be lights out as a head coach. Peyton Manning, here's what he had to say about Bryce Young, comparing him to Joe Burrow. Burrow is kind of the guy that comes to mind because of the sort of six cents in the pocket, the decision-making, processing info quickly. And I'm not saying Bryce is going to have that same success as Joe right away.

But I think that instincts that Joe has, that Bryce has, the ability to beat the coverage keeps a lot of plays alive. I love that. Recognition, processing instincts. You see a little bit of Joe Burrow in Bryce Young. Yeah, there's an it, which I don't see in C.J. Stroud at all. There's an it. You know, we talked about this S2 test.

Burrow does very well. Mahalms does very well. Bryce Young does very well. Drew Brees did very well. The ability to see something, see the field, and instantly get the ball away. Whereas Will Levis may do very well in the Wonderlic. He was a great student, but would he do well in processing stuff very quickly? If you watch Will Levis play, that seems to be a problem.

He does not, he makes throws into areas you would not. Maybe he has too much confidence in his arm. But some guys process stuff, and it's hard to define what it is with Burrow. Burrow doesn't have the biggest arm. He's not the most mobile. He's not the strongest guy. Why is he so damn accurate and why is he so good? he just recognizes things above the shoulders very quickly.

And that is Bryce Young. Bryce Young is actually small. He doesn't have a big arm. He's agile, but he's not a scrambler. I don't see it with C.J. Stroud. There's an it to Burrow. There's an it to Bryce Young. And I think that it increasingly is the ability to process stuff really fast so you have a half second to a second beat on the other quarterbacks who are often bigger, stronger, and faster.

I think he's got it. I don't know, man. So let me just, Bryce Young, you saw him out here as high school. He was, like, ticketed for greatness. Goes to Alabama, number one quarterback, you know, favorite for the heights and all this stuff. Great. Joe Burroughs the opposite of that. He goes to Ohio State, could not hack it, was like the fifth quarterback in the quarterback room.

Has to transfer to LSU. I believe his first year at LSU. He was okay. Nothing special. Like 15 TD passes, whatever the number was. Not everybody. Remember, some people are late bloomer's. Yes.

Joe Burrough's a little bit of a late bloomer. But for the record, when Joe Burrow was coming out of LSU, he was the number one pick. I remember saying I think he's going to be like a better version of Tony Romo and got pushback. I mean, I always thought he was Tony Romo. He's obviously better than Tony. But he moves around. You know, they're playmakers a little bit, but they're not afraid to throw the ball into coverage.

Romo had a lot of picks that way. But the truth is, not everybody develops quickly. Bryce Young took over a great program in Los Angeles. huge pressure, moderate, great day one. Bama, great day one. I think he's just, it tells you a lot that they spent so much time the Carolina owner and staff with C.J. Stroud

and yet it's Bryce Young they like. Knowing that C.J. Stroud is a safer pick in terms of size. They spent all sorts of time with C.J. Stroud. So it... Well, who's making the pick? Because the staff, the coaches, the owner, the GM and the coach. They might all love Stroud. But the owner steps.

and says, I want Bryce Young, I want a superstar here. Who do you think is making the pick? The GM, the front office, the coaches, or the owner? The billionaire. I think the billionaire is listening to his coaches, too. I think Steve Ballmer listens to his staff. I don't think you get to be a billionaire bulldozing everybody all the time. At some point, you have to be a good listener sometimes.

Even in the hedge fund? Yeah, I mean, I think most, how do you learn things? You read, you listen, you hear. I learned the failure. Like when I have takes on here, rare, rare that it happens, but I have a take on here that flops and to bust, I don't bring it back. But that doesn't happen often. But when it does happen, I learn from my mistakes, right?

That's what we do, Luther of failure. I don't think the owner of Carolina's bulldozing people. I think he'll have the final say, but I think he's listening to Frank Reich, who was a quarterback, successful coach. I think he's listening to his guys. I still can't believe. We've got to trade up all these picks. DJ, well, we've got to go get the 5-10 quarterback.

We just got to go grab them. Anyways, all right, let's go to the Jets. because, you know, we like talking about the Jets on this show. So I think they dodged a bullet not getting Odell Beckham. But now there's a report, according to our guy, Albert Breer, that the Jets may be acquiring D'Andre Hopkins. Now, it could be via trade for a pick, or D'Andre Hopkins could get cut by the Cardinals

when the Jets would pick him up. D. Hop gets to decide where he wants to go. You want to go catch passes from Air Rogers in New York? It's not a bad living. Yeah, I wouldn't want to trade picks because you're going to have to do that. I think the Jets have a couple of seconds. They have back-to-back picks in the second. Yeah, so they're going to give one of those to Green Bay.

Well, that's what I keep thinking. And then all these people that follow the Packers closely say, listen, this Rogers thing may not go down before the draft because of a June 1 cutoff where after June 1 they can spread Rogers' dead money over two seasons. This dead money is $99 million. And it's like, so if the Packers aren't getting the Jets picked this year, I would say trade, you know, a $4.4.4. round pick for DeAndre Hopkins. If you don't have to give up that second for Rogers,

I go get Hopkins in. If I'm Green Bay and I'm like, hey, I can save, I can, so basically what you're saying is the Packers can spread out Aaron Rogers' dead cap hit, right? After June 1. Right. Now they wouldn't get a draft pick. But the Packers, that's not a terrible idea for the Packers because they don't have a lot of needs. They have to get a tight end. Well, in the first round, there's like two guys, they'll be available. Three, right? Two or three. So they'll get a tight end. Okay. And in this, because they have all, I think they have all their picks. I Don't they have one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, I think. And so the other need they have, they need another wide receiver.

If you go look at the second, third round, there's a lot of good receivers. And after that, they could use an edge rusher. And so, I mean, it's not like the Packers have a lot of neat. It would be great if you could get a first or a second for this draft, because then you could get all three of your issues addressed by the second round. But Green Bay's got a history of finding a lot of good players, third. fourth, fifth, sixth round. A lot of them. Yeah, that's right. Final story, Colin, this is not good.

So the Pelicans last night, I was wrong here. You were all over this. OKC with a late comeback and beat the Pels, but that's not even the biggest story. Zion Williamson, in warm-ups, looked incredible. Yeah. He's dunking. He looks a little heavier, but, I mean, he looked ready to play. And then he didn't play. And remember, we saw the video last night. Zion's not feeling like Zion. Colin, Pelicans fan, her outrage. We lost a play-in game. The franchise is over here warming up and dunking,

not between his legs, dunks or anything, but he was doing some nasty stuff, and they're like, what's happening here? And I don't know, man. This is going to be an interesting off-season for the New Orleans Pelicans. I'll just say that. You have to wonder, are they sick of the Zion hamstrings and not wanting to play and all that stuff?

He got his money barely 29 games this year, a four-month hamstring injury. And then to see him doing these. moves. Like, you couldn't give us 20 minutes in a playing game? Not just 20 minutes? Well, optics matter. You know, it's almost like Gavin Newsom, who I think is a good governor, but when he was not wearing a mask in a game, a football game, and demanding everybody in California wear a mask everywhere, and he's up in a suite in a stadium not wearing a mask, the optics are pretty bad. Like, it piss people off. Like, I get it. You won't let my kids go to school. You're

up there dinking around at a social event with no mask, and you're lecturing people. on masks. This is one of these that I don't know all the insight, but the optics are bad. Like, it's a playing game. Just play 25 minutes. And the other thing is like, if he's this close, why didn't he play like 20 minutes in the final regular season game? So we would have some two. Yes.

Now, I don't know all the particulars on his... I don't think we're ever going to find out the real story here. But ultimately, this is a disaster for the following. I still can't believe. It's not a big national story. I can't believe what Oklahoma City's done this year. Chet Holmgan got

hurt. We thought they were tanking. That franchise has lost Westbrook, Harden, KD. They just keep finding players. Does anybody in the league overachieve? I'm not talking titles. Just overachieve more. Remember when Westbrook left and they got better? I think it was Chris Paul they brought in. He was really old. And everybody thought, okay, they'll bring in Chris Paul with the kids. They'll tank. They made the playoffs. I mean, nobody overachieves in this league like

Oklahoma. They may have underachieved, although I don't think you're going to win a championship with Russ. They may have underachieved with Hardin-Westbrook, KD. A franchise every year, I think is going to be awful. It's weird because everybody loves the GM of the Thunder. Presti. Loves him. Remember, this is the, this is the moron who dealt James Hardin. He traded James Hardin when he didn't have to because he's like, oh, I don't know. I don't think Hardin's going to be great. We can't pay him. Traded away James Hardin blew up a nucleus of an awesome. That Hardin, Russ, KD.T. man at the time, Harden. Sometimes

people get better than you don't know. It ain't about what he is. It's about what he can be. You told me that the first day. I came on this show. It's not what you are now. It's what you can be in in a year or two if you really lock in with the heard-line news and deliver the goods. I think morons a little strong. I think Sam Presti is

regarded as one of the smarter people in the league. Yes. And I would like to... I didn't like that deal either by the way. Yeah. And I would follow up with an overrated chin. But they do have a really nice team. By the way, you like Joe Douglas. Jet's GM. You can't identify a quarter of to save his life, but I do like Joe Douglas. Two biggest positions is in the league, arguably.

Quarterback left tackle, whiff, whiff. And I think Joe's excellent. He crushed the draft last year. He's excellent. Whiffed on a quarterback and a left tackle. By the way, Tom Telesco with a Chargers, A plus left tackle, a plus quarterback. I mean, so again, who's the better... I mean, in the NFL, you can whiff on guards all day long.

You can't whip on quarterbacks and left tackles and edge rushers. So my point being is, it's a good. an in-exact science. Oklahoma City drafts very well. They find a lot of guys. I mean, they're not going to get free agents. They draft and develop very, very well, and they missed on one. The kid Josh Giddy last night.

Did you see him? He's 20 years old. No, no, no. They're 31.10 and 9. I remember when the guy everybody likes SGA came out the same year of Kentucky as Kevin Knox. And I remember thinking Kevin Knox was going to be better because the other guy was wiry and kind of wild.

Knox fizzles out. and this kid becomes a star. I mean, like a big time player. By the way, he used to be on the Clippers. And they let him go. By the way, again, smart people inside the Clippers building. Very smart, yeah. I mean, when Steph Curry, Jerry West pushed for Steph Curry over Monta Ellis with the Warriors, right?

And a lot of people in the NBA, like, smart NBA GMs were like, you're going to give up Monta Ellis for Steph Curry. I'm telling you, drafting is hard. And the NBA, it's even harder because they're all like 19-year-old, at least in college, I have three or four years of tape. A lot of those NFL kids come in. They're married. They've got a girlfriend. They're going to have kids. Like grownups. NBA, it's like kids. Their bodies aren't even fully developed.

Jay Mack with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The Hurd Lie News. The two things I'll defend people in the NBA over. Danny Aange is a very smart guy. Look what he's done to Utah to get all those picks. In Boston, he did a great job.

But remember all those people? picks, he got two stars. Marcus Smart's a good player. He's not a star. He's a good defensive player. Maybe the heart and soul of the team. Think about all the picks they had. Jason Tatum's a star. He nailed that one. And Jalen Brown has, I think, become a really, really good player. He was an athlete at Cal. He's really become a much more refined offensive player. But I mean, if you can hit every three to four or five years, if you can hit on a star on the draft, that's great. But it's, It is hard to draft an NBA.

And the other thing is, I don't get too caught up in substitution patterns for coaches. You've got agents in your ear. You have GMs in your ear. You've got parents. Sometimes you're doing things to keep the temperature during the regular season in the room good. Look at all the chemistry stuff the Warriors have now. Jordan Poole, Draymond Green. Now here comes Wiggins, Cuminga, Gary Payton.

You're playing a lot of games the fans have no idea about in terms of minutes and patterns. It's hard. All right. Coming up next, I thought this was interesting. You can tell when somebody's truly great as an athlete because they can hide or mask flaws in teams and coaches. And I'll give you an example of that on Kevin Durant next. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific. What do you get when you combine a three-time manager of the year at a.

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on the IHeart Radio app, on 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 I-Hard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. 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. 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.

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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 Jett. 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, 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. 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. It is time for football, USFL style.

I love it. Let's go. He's got running room. The ball slips through the hand, and he dribbles it in. Amazing catch. Go to what he does best. Up to the end. What a defensive stand.

And it's a big play. Here's a helmet cam. I love this. Knock all the Finns down. This is how it feels and looks. This Saturday, real football for real fans is back to 2023 USFL season opening kickoff weekend. Starts the new season Saturday at 4.30 Eastern on Fox.

Now they last year they played all the games in Birmingham. Now they're playing Canton's going to have games. Detroit's going to have games. Birmingham's going to have games. Somebody else. Memphis is going to have Memphis a new team. By the way, Birmingham won it last year. The MVP of the league, do you remember?

He went to the Cowboys, Turpin, the wide receiver. So there's players here. It's like real players. A couple quarterbacks he watched in college football, so it's fun. So, you know, I love KD, and Westbrook wears me out. But they're both going to be Hall of Fame players. I just, I think there's more layers. I think Katie's a great defensive player.

He can plug and play. He doesn't need the ball. He gets along with everybody. He just, he lubricates. and sometimes Westbrook agitates. Same with all people. I tend to like lubricators, not agitators. And so they're going to play in a series now because now Westbrook is a clipper

and KD is obviously a Phoenix Sun. And they're going to meet, they're going to play this Sunday? Good God. KD and Chris Paul got a lot of time off. They're going to be rested and ready to go. And Westbrook says, there's no beef. I know we play together. There's no beef.

I think people would still think there's some beef or something. There's no beef of any. So I think that's the good narrative for media for people to talk about. But there's no beef, man. I got nothing but respect for him and things he's done with his career and having seen him back from injury. There's no beef at all. But he knows I'm going to compete. And I know he's going to compete.

And that's all of this. So when they played together in Oklahoma City, Westbrook and Katie, they won 62% of their games. since they've broken up, Westbrook has come down 10%. He's won 52% of his games. And KD's moved up 10%. He's won 72% of his games. A 20% swing.

Katie's got two titles, two MVP's, his winning percentage, 72%. In fact, I couldn't tell you the specific last time Katie lost a game this year. I think it's in November. Westbrook has a regular season MVP, one playoff series, win, no rings, no finals, and his viewed is toxic. But I think part of greatness, you know,

we kind of look at greatness as just it stands alone. Part of it is the ability to elevate others, right? Or to hide flaws. A great actor can make a average script better. He can't make a bad script, great. You're not going to make a bad script, good fellas, okay? But you can take a decent script and make it a really good movie. That's what a great actor can do. And I think Joe Burrow did this with the Bengals. We don't love their owner, bad offensive line. They had a brand new defense. They just paid for. Receivers were really young kids. And they get to a Super Bowl. That's greatness. The ability to hide flaws. And what's funny about to me, Westbrook and KD, when Westbrook was playing with the Thunder, nobody talked about how bad his hands were or how rigid his stock.

was. It was like, he's unbelievable. He's so athletic. Look at the points you get. We didn't really talk about his flaws. We really didn't. In fact, most of you loved his loyalty and how hard he played. Since they've separated, it's all you talk about. Like, oh my God, Westbrook has one way to play. Hair on fire, 100 miles an hour, can't play off the ball. Some of the worst hands I've ever seen for a guard. Like can't shoot, can't pass. I mean, again, can't pass. He has the ball in his hands. so much, he'll end up with a lot of assists. But I think the greatness with Kevin Durant, if you really want to talk about the greatness, he got Westbrook two of finals.

If you want to talk about the greatness of LeBron James, he dominated the Eastern Conference with Kyrie. Kyrie blew up the solid Celtics. The Mavs are a mess. Brooklyn. Like, LeBron won a championship, beat the dynasty with Kyrie Irving. That's a shot at his greatness. Kevin Durant and Westbrook won 62% of their games.

They got along for years, and they got to a finals. If you're ever questioning how good Kevin Durant is, start right there. The great ones hide flaws. They make average coaches look pretty good, and pretty good coaches often look great. They take a player who plays one way, only one way, incredibly rigid, and they get to a finals. That's the greatness of LeBron James. Kyrie doesn't get along with anybody. Moody can't play.

Bad defender. LeBron just washed over it. All of a sudden, we all thought Kyrie was a great player. Before LeBron and after, he's just a great score. And nothing more. You get nothing else after that. And so, you know, it's a different analogy, but it's like Antonio Brown with Mike Tomlin. When Antonio Brown was with Mike Tomlin, you're like, a little bit of drama.

he leaves the Steelers and you're like, man, that guy is trouble. In Pittsburgh, he was talented, a little temperamental. You had that video of him throwing stuff in the sidelines and barking. Mike Tomlin kept it all together, right? Lavian Bell, kind of dramatic, a little dramatic with the Steelers, but very productive. Lavian Bell leaves the Steelers, A, B, leaves the Steelers, and what happens to their careers? because that's why Mike Tomlin's a great coach. It took me a while to figure Tomlin out,

but he kept that stuff all together. You didn't really see A, B, and Lavian Belt. You didn't really see the truth. He hit it over those flaws. And I know this is not another shot. I think the Clipper's son's going to be a fascinating series, but we didn't talk about all Westbrook's flaws when he was at O KC. Everybody loved it.

I mean, you know, it was like when Durant left, a lot of people sided with keeping Westbrook. look at what Kevin's done and look at what Westbrook's done. That's a big swath. That's 20% difference winning percentage. One guy works with nobody, another guy works with everybody. That's where you are. I saw this.

The NBA came out with Jersey sales. By the way, the NBA, young people like the NBA. The NBA does very well in cities and with young people. And right now in America, young people, they're having a lot. hard time getting doctors, lawyers to small towns in America. They got college debt. They want to go to big cities and have fun. And so big cities have young people. The NBA does very well with young people, and they do well with big cities. NBA will get a number in an Atlanta, in an L.A., in a Philadelphia, in a New York. It's not, it's not for the sticks. It's not. It's for young people and young people

increasingly, they don't want to live in the sticks. They don't. I'm sorry. So I saw this. People often ask, why do you talk to Lakers so much? They have been mostly a hundred, hot mess for nine years. Top selling merchandise. NBA right now, second half of the year. Lakers number one. Over a dynasty with Steph Curry. Over a polarizing dynasty with Steph Curry, Draymond Green. We know the coach. We know the front office. A dynasty for 10 years. Lakers lead the NBA in merchandise sales. Why do we talk about them? So, and I've said this before, when you move to Los Angeles, NFL is king in virtually every city in America, except Los Angeles. Los Angeles is kind of indifferent to the NFL.

They like it more than the critics would say of the NFL. They like it a lot. But the Lakers are a bigger brand. The Rams have won a Super Bowl. Both franchises have star quarterbacks. It's once a week Sunday. L.A. is a very busy, distracted town. The Lakers have been a mess mostly for nine years.

It's the power of the Lakers and the sustainability of the Lakers in Los Angeles. Angeles, it's really impressive when you're here. I mean, the Dodgers win their division every year. Dodgers have World Series. They have an unbelievable brand. They have great players. Of course, the Dodgers are popular. And the Rams, they got a great coach and a great quarterback.

They have two Super Bowl trips recently. Of course they're popular. USC's got seven national titles. USC's got, I think, the most Heisman winners ever. I get that. Lakers, there's no ding to the brand. Still number one in merchandise sales. you were there the other night.

Hard to get Laker tickets in Los Angeles. Hard to get Laker tickets in L.A. Old LeBron, Brittle A.D., and by the way, even their, I mean, they've had so many different players over nine years. They don't keep anybody. I mean, they've had good young players. They trade them. It's just a revolving door of coaches, GMs, players, number one, second half of the year in merchandise sales in the NBA.

The brand is strong. And in the NFL, it's been tough because the Chargers were in San Diego, just moved up here. The Rams went to St. Louis, right? Didn't they go to St. Louis for like 15 years? Yeah, yeah, yeah. And then the Raiders, who were probably the biggest brand here, they just went to Vegas. So the NFL's had some fluidity, whereas the Lakers, they've been rock solid here, dominant in the 80s. Pretty good in the 90s, right?

I think one, it's really, you know, if you were ever, you know, in movies in the 70s, 80s, 90s, You are a star for the rest of your life. It just doesn't matter. If you show up, you are a Clint Eastwood. It doesn't matter if he's not been in a lot of great movies in the last 10, 12 years. He's a star forever, right? The Lakers in this town, like the Dodgers is explainable. USC has so many titles, that's explainable.

The NFL is explainable. Ram's been to two Super Bowls. It's been like a revolving door of players. The stars don't even play that much. You never know who coaches. Not a lot of success. bad team for a five-year stretch with Kobe they won fewer games than anybody in the league how's this would you rather have lakers season tickets that which is like 41 games or rams or

charger season tickets well my wife would go to the lakers so she would go with me i don't want to go to games by myself and my kids aren't big sports hello you get your own tickets and anne would go and anne likes the NBA she likes like UFC NBA she likes big event because the NBA in UFC are events. She likes events, not sports. 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 I-heart 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 I-Hard Radio app. Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, this is Robert from the Stuff to Blow Your Mind podcast. Joe and I are both lifelong Star Wars fan, so we're celebrating May the 4th with a brand new week of fun,

thought-provoking Star Wars-related episodes. Join us as we tackle science and culture topics from a galaxy far, far away, such as the biology of tontons and wampas on the ice planet hot, or the practicality and corporate business sense of the Sith rule of two. Listen to Stuff to Blow Your Mind on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human.