The Herd with Colin Cowherd - The Herd - Hour 1 - Bradley Beal, Chris Paul

Episode Date: June 19, 2023

In this hour of The Herd, Colin looks at guard Bradley Beal's new home in Phoenix and relishes the fact that Beal is finally with a competitive team. Colin examines why Phoenix was the best destination for Beal. On the flipside, point guard Chris Paul will have a new home and Colin examines what he brings to a team's offense. Also, Colin looks at the impact new head coach Sean Payton has had so far in Denver. Finally, Colin thinks the Buffalo Bills are feeling the void of a valuable assistant coach who has been gone for well over a year now. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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where Colin was right, where Colin was wrong, always plenty of both. Yesterday it was a good TV day. I flew in. I was hanging out with my wife somewhere else, another state on Father's Day, so I flew back in and watched the U.S. open. A lot of fun, really pulling hard for Rory McElroy.

Really pulling hard. Didn't happen. And then I watched the United States Men's National Team. Man, they're fast. They're twitchy. We got our guys. We got a squat. You know, that's what they say out there in the soccer streets.

We got a squad. And we do. I can't wait for the World Cup in 26. I know. Either can I. Thank God it's in North America. So we waited and waited and waited for years. For years I've been saying, I wish Bradley Beale would go to a winning organization,

a great front office, great ownership, other great players. And, you know, for about an hour, you thought the John Wall, Bradley Beale thing would work, but Wall was never what people thought he was. And so Bradley Beal, really good player, really smart guy, loyal player, sat for years. sat for years in a bad operation. Then the Phoenix Sons go out and they get a new owner and he's much better than the previous owner and new owners tend to me really, really aggressive. We saw Steve Balmer do this.

We saw David Teper, Carolina do this. New owners want to put their imprint on an organization. And so the Phoenix Sons owner says, get me Bradley Beale. That's after getting Kevin Durant and I love this squad. Kevin Durant, Bradley Beale, Devin Booker. Yes, that's a really good basketball team. I hear this. What about Phoenix's bench?

You know who led the NBA in bench scoring this year? The Pacers. The spurs were second. The pistons were top five. You know who wasn't good off the bench in terms of productivity? Miami, Celtic, Sixers. Denver was middle of the pack. A good GM can move parts and cobble together a workable bench.

A great GM can't make Chris Paul younger or Landry Shammit better. For the record, the Sacramento Kings had the number one bench scoring in the playoffs. One and done. See ya. Give me a break on bench. They have DeAndre Aiton. My guess is they'll move him for parts. They'll fortify their bench.

They'll get another average starter. And there you go. But we've discussed this multiple times on the show. you don't need three megastars. In fact, Brooklyn did that, and it flamed out. You need three very impactful players that can work and fit together. KD. doesn't need the ball in his hands. He worked instantly with Phoenix.

Devin Booker has the ball in his hands a little more, but he's not a ball hog. He's not a Westbrook player or a James Hardin player. He dribbles the air out of the ball. And then you have Bradley Beale. Again, can catch and shoot. can lead traffic, but Chris Paul was getting old. Chris Paul wants to end his career somewhere in L.A., Clippers, Lakers.

This is a perfect fit. When anybody laments Phoenix's bench, A, it wasn't as bad as you think. Go look it up from last year. And secondly, who rolled through the NBA playoffs? Was it Yokic, Murray, and Gordon, or the Nuggets bench? Give me a break. Bragging about your bench in real estate is like bragging. about your two-car garage. It ain't selling the home. The kitchen is. The master bath is. The neighborhood

is. The landscaping can help. It's not your two-car garage. So it's nice to have. It'd be great to have the league's best bench. But if you have three impactful players, chances are you can't afford it. That's why the Pacers had the best bench scoring. And the Spurs were a second. What do you bet with Victor Wembenyama? They probably won't have great bench scoring because their star will do more of the scoring. So I got three guys, all smart veterans, all impactful. None of them constantly need the ball. All of them want one thing. That's a ring. Again, there was a reason Twitter blew up and the internet exploded with the news that Bradley Beale was going to the sons. It did not explode because they picked up a bench wing three and D guy. They're just bench guys. You have free agency

see to improve your bench. You have a trade. You have the draft. You have the buyout market. Kevin Love came out of the buyout market. Pat Bev. You have the trade deadline. I get Bradley Beale, a camp and offseason, a full season with Vogel, K.D. Booker. This is going to be a really, really good basketball team. My guess is their bench will be, I don't know, top 12 to 15 in the league. exactly where Denver's was. All right. So part of the trade was Chris Paul going to Washington. Now, Chris Paul, they're going to buy him out,

and Chris Paul is going to be a free agent. And then Chris Paul is either going to go where he wants to live in Los Angeles to the Lakers and Clippers. Chris Paul was on with Michael Strayhan. Good Morning America this morning and talked about how he found out he'd been traded. I see this potential blockbuster deal. between you and Bradley, Bill, that may take you from Phoenix to Washington and vice versa. I was surprised. What are your first thoughts on that?

I was surprised, too. I found out on the plane yesterday flying here for this. You know, in this league, anything can happen, so you just figure out what's next. What is your first reaction? Don't push him in further. He's trying to be nice about it. Yeah, he is, right. Yeah. What's happening? It's crazy to me how many people are pushing back on Chris Paul to the Clippers. For three years, I've watched this team with a great owner and a great coach and two phenomenal wing players have no facilitator.

And try to make Kauai Leonard, who in his prime was not a facilitator. He's been a get a bucket, get a stop guy. He's never been get a teammate, an easy jumper guy. Westbrook's a score, bad hands, not great vision. It's not who you want leading you, and he needs them all the time. Chris Paul is the classic facilitator on a team with a great owner, a great front office, a great coach, and terrific wings. Yes, it would be better if he was 28, not 38.

But he's not, and it would kind of be odd if he had a 21 or 22-year-old point guard with Kauai and Paul George anyway. I would prefer a younger Chris Paul. but Kauai's not a leader. Kauai's not verbal. Check, check. Chris Paul is both. Not everything is a six-year plan.

We talk about this all the time. I say that's about Bryce Young, Carolina Panthers quarterback. Not every player has to be a 401K. Some are day trading stocks. Some you buy, you sell, you move. Chris Paul for a year with the clippers. Because remember, Kauai and Paul George,

one more locked in year with the clippers than player options. They could be moving. So it's a one-year deal, potentially two. And again, impactful players. Is Chris Paul a star? Well, obviously he is from the commercials, but what he is is impactful. He's outspoken. He's a leader.

He'll set up your offense. He's going to play 48 to 52 regular season games. If you play 17 games in the playoffs, can he play 14? Remember, this Chris Paul led sons gave Denver issues until Chris Paul got hurt. So the way I look at this thing, you need in league history, historically three impactful players who fit together. Check, check, check. And you generally win a title if two or three are in their prime, not the case. I don't think Chris makes them a championship team.

Does he make him a Western Conference finals team? I think it's in the running. Denver, Phoenix today are really good. We don't know quite what to do with the Lakers, the Warriors, or the Clippers, but I feel better about the Clippers this morning with Chris Paul than I did yesterday without him. This team's been running around trying to make Kauai and Paul George, their facilitator. It's like taking a slot receiver and say, hey, be our quarterback. Get the offense up and running.

You can pick up yards, but in the end, it doesn't look right. It doesn't feel right. It's clunky. It takes some time to get into play. plays. I like Chris Paul to the Clippers a lot. I wish he was younger, but I also wish Kauai was available more often. He's not. That's your reality. Are you better today if Chris Paul goes to the Clippers? Yep, you're better. Are you great? Doubt it. Are you good? You were good last year. Owner, front office, coach, wings, and a little too old point guard.

Sounds like a really good basketball team to me. So there we go. Little NBA stuff over the weekend, J. Mack. Are you, you know, a lot of talk about Chris Paul or the Lakers is gaining steam? Well, it's not good if he goes to the Clippers and the Sons get Bradley Beal and the Lakers are sitting there like, how are we improving? Oh, I got Austin Reeves. Well, we do have Austin Reeves. But, sorry for saying we. I wonder what this does to the Kyrie Irving Lakers chatter. Will this, will LeBron go into Jeannie Bus's office today? Hey, sons are anying up. Clippers are getting Chris Paul. What are we getting? You do acknowledge. Beal, K.D. Booker, and moving Aiton for pieces.

That's the best team in the league. It's certainly an argument. They're the team to beat. I saw plus $6.50 to win the title. I mean, assuming everybody's healthy, that's the best team in the league. No disrespect to the Nuggets. They're very good, but, you know, Suns played them tougher than anyone else in the playoffs. Stole two games and had Booker and K.D. and nobody else.

Chris Paul got hurt. Yeah. Aton was like. And also, we've talked about this. A lot of you didn't know how good Andrew Wiggins was because you didn't watch the T-wolves, and then you put Wiggins on the Warriors, and you're like, oh, hell, he's good. And then you Aaron Gordon in Orlando.

Nobody knew how good he was. And then you put him into a good culture. Like, Aaron Gordon's great. People have not watched Bradley Beale. I sit on my treadmill, watching those East Coast games at 4.30 in the afternoon out here. Bradley Beale has been crushing it for years. You've never watched him.

John Wall was a goofball. He's had bad management. And in the end, you know, life works out. If you work hard, put your head down, have a good reputation. you'll find a way. Somebody that's well-running smart will go, that person, man or woman is underappreciated. Phoenix, really smart move.

How about that argument? Phoenix doesn't have any defense. They have no defenders. They can't stop anybody. Hello, Denver was 18th in the league in defense this year. They won the title. It's an offensive league. Yes, it is.

And they also had one great defender in Aaron Gordon. Yeah. And so, I mean, I would say this to the Celtics, Horford can't defend. Jalen Brown. is a little overstated as a defender. Bench guys are over. Robert Williams, when he's healthy as a rim defender,

but Jason Tatum's an elite defender and Marcus Smart. And we've considered them an excellent defensive team. Folks, the great defensive teams in this league, the Lakers with AD were really, really good. Is Austin Reeves an elite defender? LeBron no longer is. Is DeAngelo Russell? I mean, so if you can have a lockdown,

If you have either rim protection or a lockdown defender like Aaron Gordon with size, that's twitchy. You can put them on people. Wiggins, Gordon's obviously bigger. But that's enough. You can slow down their scoring threat. Remember the Super Bowl? Eagles had the best defense. The front seven was incredible.

The quarterbacks are good. And what did Patrick Mahomes do in the second half? Like 14 of 15. Just shredded them. Offense beats defense. If you look at where the money is right now in American sports, it's in television. Television executives want scoring. hockey scoring. I mean, the hockey scoring is up. Football scoring is up. Basketball scoring is up.

Yeah. I mean, so baseball is the only one that's not up. So the reality is we're building rules in sports to elevate offensive players and limit defensive players. So you either get it or you don't. Be old Booker and KD on any night could score 42 and you would not be surprised. That sounds like a championship level team to me. Be sure to catch live editions of The HARD weekdays at noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific. on Fox Sports Radio, FS1 and the IHeard 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 Eyeheart. 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, Clivert 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 Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes,

follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. Do you remember when Diana Ross double-tap Little Kim's boobs at the VMAs? Or when Kanye said that George Bush didn't like black people. I know what you're thinking.

What the hell does George Bush got to do a little Kim? Well, you can find out on the Look Back at it podcast. I'm Sam J. And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick 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 you all know.

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, so... Thank you for finishing that sentence. I don't think there's a more important year for black people. Really? Yeah. For me, it's one of the most important years for black people

in American history. Listen to look back at it on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. All right, little breaking news now between Woj and Sharm Sharanja. The Warriors, Draymond Green, is declining his player option. It's for like $27.5 million. What it means is he wants more money. They're going to explore other options.

The Warriors want to bring him back. So he's going to decline his player option, meaning the Warriors sign him. and he gets a little bit more money. Now, if there were teams out there that were viable with cap space, you know, they're not. The only team that has a ton of cap space, there's two that I would look at. Oklahoma City and San Antonio, I think, have really, really interesting futures.

And in Oklahoma City's case, you add Draymond to that team tomorrow. They'd be really interesting. If I was OKC, I'd make a call on Draymond Green. I think San Antonio, Victor Wembeniama, in a couple of years. Maybe you bring in Draymond for some guidance and, you know, toughness and defense, catalyst offensively. Those two teams. Also, Detroit has cap space.

He played at Michigan State. Other than that, it's mostly bad teams. Oklahoma City is the only one I look at and think, oh, put Draymond on Oklahoma City. That's a playoff team that wins some games. Outside of that, it's a cap space. It's mostly bad teams going nowhere. So my takeaway is he's going to come back. Warriors want him back.

but I do wonder, once you pay him more, what do you do again with Clay Thompson? Steph's expensive. Andrew Wiggins is not cheap. Draymond's going to cost more. You got to keep Looney. He's your best big and rebounder. What do you do with Clay Thompson? To me, I don't have an answer on that.

I think the minute you start living through the rearview mirror and falling in love with the past, you get into big trouble. If you watch the Warriors play, they are not the same. Forget defense. they're not the same offense without Draymond Green on the floor. He's probably the most impactful player in league history that averages less than 10 points a game. From toughness to defense on the ball, team defense,

he can lead a break. He's a screen setter passing. He's a huge, huge part. I've said before. Marcus Smart is arguably not the best player, but the soul of the Celtics run. I could argue, Draymond Green's the soul of this one.

Remember when he punched Jordan Poole? Steve Kerr wasn't mad at that as much as he was. It got out. He knew the value of Draymond Green, setting the table for other stars. So he's declining his option. He'll go to market. My guess is the Warriors will re-sign him at a bigger number pretty soon.

J-Mack with the news. Turn on the news. This is the Herdline News. I'm surprised you don't see Draymond wanting to go to the Detroit Pistons. or using the Houston Rockets as leverage against the... OKC is an interesting place. Moderately. Moderately.

If Chav Omgren came back, Draymond Green, you got your star score. That's an end, you know, well-run, a lot of draft picks. We'll play in team, but you think Draywan's going to want to move from the Bay Area to the Dust Bowl? No. For the twilight of his career. He's on the back nine, we would agree. Yes, yeah, yeah.

He's on 13. Can you have a burgeoning podcast in Oklahoma City? Dremon's podcast will work anywhere. I'm kidding, obviously. All right, let's go back to Bradley Beale. He's off the market, and the heat are turning their focus toward Damien Lillard. Miami reportedly believes this will be the offseason Dame asked for a trade from Portland. They have their sights set on acquiring him.

Jimmy Butler apparently has been part of the recruiting pitch to Damian Lillard. If you're Miami, you've got to pay more than what Phoenix gave up for Beale, which was basically nothing. Do you think that Dame to Miami? me make sense of it. The draft is Thursday. Portland has the, I believe, the number three pick. Yeah, I mean, I think Portland should go out and get Scoot Henderson and get their next star, or get Miller from Alabama, who's finally would give them a star wing. Portland's got some really interesting young guard pieces. NERC, you know, they've got a big that's okay. They just can't get, they haven't had wings for years. And so they're either going to get their next star guard.

And it was interesting. So I was, yesterday I was checking out the NBA draft prospects. Rashad Phillips is a guy I trust. He's real smart on that stuff. And a lot of these guys, I go back and forth and I just read all their. And, you know, Scoot, they say is John Morant, Derek Rose. So what does that mean? Dynamic, fun.

You put that in Portland. They'd fall in love with him. I don't know if it's a championship team, but Dame wasn't either. I think there's a lot here for Portland to do. I also think at some point in life, it's sports. This is not a marriage. You know, you don't have kids to worry about. Like, you both gave each other 10 plus great years.

Dame gave that to Portland. Portland gave that to Dame. They both did really well. It's just time to move on. It's okay. So that would be, let's just say, Miami gets a big addition with Damia Lillard. We're seeing the Clippers maybe getting Chris Paul. Sons, they add Bradley Biel.

So the Warriors, Celtics, and Lakers are doing not. thing. That, to me, is almost as interesting because I think you put Miami with Dame Butler and Bayham. Oh, that's a championship level team. Yeah, that's an elite team. You're better than the Celtics with those three, correct? Absolutely. Okay. And the sun's just past the Lakers, if some people might have already had to pass. I just wonder what some of like the Warriors, it's almost like they're falling behind if they do nothing, Colin. Well, let's hold on. I mean, there's a lot of time to make moves. I I think Phoenix has a new owner super aggressive, love their move.

Miami, Dame, love that. I think Dame's better than Bradley Beale. I just don't think he's going to last as long. So, you know, it's, first of all, we thought Phoenix was interesting last year. Now they'll be better. We thought Miami was a little bit of a dark horse in the playoffs. They'll be better.

So these are good organizations right now currently with momentum that added pieces. It's not like we're taking a bad team to good. Phoenix was very, very tasty at the very end of the year. So I don't I I this is so early I was shocked yeah that Bradley Beal got moved this quickly I mean I was like you hear stories like lot of strong interest I own my phone they made the deal so to me Phoenix was way ahead of everybody else and I think because they were it'll force Pat Riley over the next 36 hours to similarly get dame off the market yeah one of I think

Beal's agent um it has his his son or his dad one of those two works in the son's organization there was something a foot there. Helps. Last thing, all these people saying Beal keeps getting hurt. So games played the last two years. Bradley Beal, 90. Damien Lillard, 87. Okay?

I know Dames getting shut down so they can tank, but Bradley Beal's not motivated to play and get injured when he's playing for a bad team that's headed toward the lottery. Well, the other thing we've learned, ideally in the NBA, you want your players in their prime. But it's hard to get influential NBA players in their prime.

The truth is most of the time the great players are like Michael Jordan got beat up for six years. And remember Michael spent a couple of years in college. So Michael goes to his eighth or ninth year of playing high-end basketball before he started winning titles. LeBron's first seven years in Cleveland, then he loses the first year in Miami. So the idea of, oh, I love how it would be great to have everybody at 26 years old be ready to win championships. Generally, they're closer to 30, 31. Jason Tatum 25. Yeah, and they regress this year.

So Denver is in a really unique spot where everybody's in their prime, but Murray's had a surgery, right? So, you know, bottom line is Miami is a well-run organization. Generally, every offseason in my life, Miami gets better. So I would expect them to make a move. 100%. Let's move on to Kyrie Irving. the market for him is not quite what he expected. The Mavs are reportedly the only confirmed bidder for Kyrie next season.

Suns are officially out, obviously, after the B.L. The Heat want Damia Lillard and the Lakers. They're saying that they're not interested. Kyrie also reportedly ranks behind James Hardin and Fred Van Fleet on the Rockets' Free Agency list. So what does this do for the Dallas Mavericks? If you are the only bidder, why the hell are you giving this guy? a four-year contract when you know he's going to be screwing around in like year one or two?

I would get, I mean, if we said this before, bad businesses negotiate against themselves, tell Kyrie, I'll give you a two-year deal. If he pouts, I'll give you a year. I mean, if he has to walk, he walks. There's no way on earth I'm giving him a four-year deal. So that's a bad, that's a bad G-E. But you also have to worry that a team sneaks in and offers him more. And then he says, I don't want to stay in Dallas because you guys screwed me. I want to go to someone who's giving me more. Hypothetical. Okay.

Milwaukee bucks. Jump in. Kyrie, Kyrie, Kyrie. We're falling back. We're falling behind a heat. Going for Dame. We need you. We will offer you a two plus one or three.

Whatever. We're offering you more than Dallas. Does Kyrie go to Milwaukee? Okay. If I was, I mean, I don't think the worst thing in the world is Dallas losing Kyrie and getting nothing for it. And you say, what about Luca? Remember, the NBA has set it up, so players make significantly more staying with the team that drafted them.

Not like a little more, like tens of millions more. So, Luca's not going to leave Dallas. So they tried poor Zingis didn't work. Jalen Brunson didn't work. Kairie didn't work. No, Jalen Brunson worked. Well, they got to the conference finals. And that's a mistake.

But I don't think if you, I think the swing showed Luca, we're trying stuff here. But I would be more willing to let Kyrie just. go, get nothing, then I would decide him to even a three-year deal. He's erratic. That's a big, big roll of the dice. I like how you take big swings in life. You know, last week, what was the one last week he wanted to do? Oh, the Clay Thompson?

A lot of people in the Internet were fired up about that. Take swings. Remember the Clay discussion we had? You say, hey, I'm not paying you. No, I'm not. Go test the market. Clay's still got a year with the Warriors. Why do I have to pay you more? We'll see what you look like at the end of the year. I mean, this idea that my employer has to pay me a year early. No, you don't.

If they pout, it hurts their market, they'll have less leverage. Let them pout. Let everybody in the world see it. Leaks some stories they're pouting. Then their market shrinks. Cowherd is a ruthless business owner. Leaks some stories. Finally, the USFL playoffs are set.

The Pittsburgh mallers and Michigan Panthers will face off Saturday for the North Division. The reigning champ, the Birmingham Stallions, will face the New Orleans breakers for the South division Sunday on Fox. The winners will play for the title on July 1st. Colin, you're expecting the stallions to repeat as champs in the USFL? Yes, I'm taking the stallions over New Orleans. Good football weekend ahead. Camps open in the NFL shortly after that. Oh, they do? When do they open? I don't have the exact date, but early July is NBA free agency, then right to camp. So we're getting toward football. This makes you feel a little bit like football's on the horizon. I think it does. Yeah. Jay Mack with the news.

Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The Heard Lye News. So I saw a story this morning. Russell Wilson of the Denver Broncos, the quarterback, shows off his leaner physique. He has apparently lost weight. So when Sean Payton, we won't have Sean Payton on our show this year as often. Maybe we can get him once or twice.

Probably not. He's busy. But I had asked him multiple times when Russell Wilson was struggling with Nathaniel Hackett and the pivot from the Seahawks to the Broncos. I asked a Sean Payton multiple times, you know, what would you do hypothetically to fix it? Drew and I would discuss, hey, at the end of the week on Saturday, we'd be at the hotel, we'd finish the team meeting,

finish the offensive meeting. The last thing we'd do before game day Sunday would be a dot meeting where we'd go through, you know, the plays in each section. Let's talk about the play action pass. I want to know your top three now, after the week's finished. And I'd Sharpie these three. And I want to call those plays that he likes. And then I always wanted to know, hey, is there something you didn't like?

And periodically, not often, but periodically, he might say, hey, I don't feel comfortable with that. I don't feel like we got a good enough look with that this week. And I'd just put a line through. Then we'd want to set up the look in practice where it's simulated the Chargers defense. And you want to get a rep or two where you're like, ah, I see it. It feels good. Yes, so what he would do is lean into highly communicative, lean into what Russell Wilson likes. We said this last year. We couldn't figure out why Russell Wilson stopped moving.

His superpower is moving. He stopped moving. And of all our sports in America, football is our coaching sport, even with Mahomes, Brady and Breeze. We acknowledge the coach is 35, 40, 45% of it. We don't do that. Joe Montana, we talk about Bill Walsh. Mahalms, we talk about Andy Reed, Breeze Payton, Brady Belichick. Not saying they couldn't win elsewhere, but we acknowledge that coaching is a big chunk of it. Football coaches coach the fewest games of all the professional leagues and yet make the most money. The average Major League Baseball managerial salary is about a million and a half a year. Oregon State's football coach coaches 12 games and makes 4.8

million a year. Football coaching matters more. And as the NFL has pivoted and college football has pivoted due to safety to more of an offensive league limiting what a defense can do, the gap between the top offensive coaches, Andy Reid, Kyle Shanahan, and some of these defensive coaches, it feels like the Grand Canyon. Sean McDermott of Buffalo is considered the best young defensive coach. And nobody in Buffalo right now seems to be happy. with him. People love their offensive coach in San Francisco. They love their offensive coach in Miami. They love their offensive coach in Cincinnati or Kansas City or Los Angeles. And they're going to love Sean Payton. Just the way he attacked the offensive line. Think of

the three things. One of the knocks I've had on defensive coaches, they have no feel for urgency. Like Bill Belichick's just messing around. Yeah, we're going to take a defensive coordinator for a year and make him an offensive coordinator. Like, no sense of urgency. Sam Howell starting for Ron Rivera. Really? That's, that's, that's, you got to get, you got to get wins or you're going to get fired. That's your urgency.

What did Sean Payton do immediately? So defensive coaches, Mike Tomlin and Sean McDermott, five years running, cannot fix the offensive line. McVeigh did it in an hour with the Rams when he got the job. Andy Reid did it in an offseason with Kansas City. And Sean Payton, one off season. three months, offensive line upgrades. Then he went in the draft, drafted a speed receiver,

then he's got Russell Wilson to lose weight. Move, that's his superpower. Basketball on grass is what Sean said on this set multiple times. So I look at their schedule. The good news for Denver, first two games are at home, a Las Vegas team that doesn't have much talent, and a Washington team with a first year starting quarterback feels like 2 and 0. Four home games in their first seven.

they'll get a look at home at Jordan Love, Aaron Rogers' new team, Justin Fields on the road. There's a lot of wins here. And Sean Payton, like the other contemporaries and the NFL that are offensive coaches, seem to sense the urgency when you get a young quarterback,

a rookie quarterback, a new quarterback. Make it happen. Urgent action quickly. So I love what Denver's doing. I love everything so far they're doing. and if you look at the trends in the NFL right now, because this is such a public league, I think it's pretty easy to see what teams are trending up

and what teams are trending down in the NFL. And I think one of the real trends up, we've talked about this, Denver is a trend-up team. It is absolutely a buy in the NFL. All right, a lot of stuff where Colin was right, where Colin was wrong. Rick Bucher next hour as well. Chris Paul, probably to the Clippers.

We'll consider the Lakers, Bradley Beal to the Sons, Miami working on Dane. We got all sorts of stuff happening on a Monday. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific. This is Steve Kavino and Rich Davis. And together we are Kavino and Rich. Kavino and Rich. Thanks, buddy.

That's right. Kavino and Rich, Fox Sports Radio's newest hit show. Heard weekdays from 5 to 7 Eastern 2 to 4 Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the I-Heart Radio app. Every Covino and Rich show is available as a podcast. Just search Covino and Rich wherever you get your podcasts and subscribe. I'm such a rocking dude. The show features our unique take on sports, injected with some fun, humor, and relatability. Listen to Covino and Rich five days a week on the IHeart Radio app,

Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Covino and Rich, give me a hell, yeah. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. 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 put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the I-Hard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what I'm saying. Yep,

that's me. Clever 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 Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. Do you remember when Diana Ross double-tapped 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 a little Kim? Well, you can find out on the Look Back at it podcast. I'm Sam J. And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick a here, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived it. Including a recent episode with Mark Lamont Hill,

waxing all about crack in the 80s. To be clear, 84 is big to me, not just because of crack. I'm down to talk about crack on day, but just so you all right. Literally, we'll have plenty. But just say y'all know. I mean, at this point, Mark, this is the second episode where we've discussed correct. 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. Saturday, it's a special.

MLB on Fox as Cardinals and Cubs head across the Atlantic to London. Plus, Derek Jeter makes his debut when he joins Arod, Big Poppy, and KB live at London Stadium. Coverage begins Saturday at noon eastern on Fox. So the Lakers apparently are interested in Chris Paul, and if he gets bought out, he could chose the Lakers or the Clippers. So he's better friends with LeBron, but ask Kevin Durant go play for a friend how that works out. It doesn't. It's like opening up a business with a friend.

The only thing it guarantees, you guys won't be friends eventually. Like go where you're needed. So both the Lakers and the Clippers have old, brittle stars. No advantage. Push. GM, front office, I'm not going to take sides. Owner, Clippers Big Edge. Richest owner in the league. By far.

Steve Balmer is richer than 28 other NBA owners combined. owner clippers basketball die hard coach tyloo advantage roster depth clippers were actually pretty good bench scoring they've got some dudes better roster clippers pressure very little with the clippers always more with the lakers he's been a clipper briefly with steve balmer knows the organization

and also the clippers have no facilitators give me a break on westbrook he's not a facilitator for anything other than Westbrook. He's never elevated a single teammate in his life. Chris Paul's a facilitator. Lakers already have to. Austin Reeves facilitates the offense. LeBron James facilitates the offense. DeAngelo Russell can do it. So they got two and a half.

They don't need Chris Paul. If you're ever struggling in life which job to take, just ask yourself which one needs me more. That's the answer, not where my friends work. So I was told Westbrook and Harden were great friends. That didn't work. I was told Kyrie. Oh, it's great friends.

LeBron, by the way, and D. Wade, great friends. LeBron left them in the middle of the night. It doesn't matter. It's about business. Take care of business. It's always about business. The Clippers need Chris Paul. And he's not going to play very long.

The last thing the Lakers need, to be honest with you, is more confusion on who's facilitating the offense. It's always a struggle with LeBron because it's kind of what LeBron does. LeBron can play off ball, but as you saw this past year, LeBron was terrible shooting threes. LeBron's much more effective with the ball in his hands. He's never been a pure shooter. He's not a Ray Allen, okay? It's not what he is.

And so LeBron needs the ball. Austin Reeves is a guy that is not a catch-and-shoot guy. He can hit an occasional three, but he's not a great shooter. He needs the ball because he initiates contact and he gets to the free-throw line. So LeBron had his worst three-point shooting year ever. He's not an off-the-ball guy.

Austin Reeves basically creates contact. He needs the ball guy. Chris Paul, I don't, where's the fit? You're going to force LeBron off the ball more than he's comfortable with. Here's another story I saw this morning. And you ever work with anybody and they leave? And maybe they weren't the flashiest person at work and they didn't get the most credit. but they leave and the office just doesn't feel the same.

So I saw this story this morning that Stefan Diggs and the Buffalo Bills are just simply not getting along. Ben Volen of the Boston Globes reports that Stefan Diggs, their star receiver, he's frustrated with Buffalo's offense, he's rolling it, the play calling. He wasn't when Brian Dable was there. So the minute Brian Dable, offensive coordinator in Buffalo, left to take the New York Giants head coach,

coaching job. Drip, drip, drip, drip, the faucet's leaking. I've been told McDermott, the head coach of Buffalo is very rigid and very intense. We saw that Ken Dorsey meltdown. There's a lot of pressure if you coach under Sean McDermott. His defensive coordinator, Leslie Frazier, basically just left, didn't even have another job. Just said, I'm going to leave because McDermott wanted to go back to calling defensive plays. And Leslie Frazier said, no. I'm a veteran coach. I know what I'm doing. I'm good at what I doing.

I'm going to call defensive plays. So he just left. You never see that. So you got Dorsey Melton down. You got Stefan Diggs Not Happy. You got Leslie Frazier, a very capable defensive coordinator saying, get me out of here. This is all Brian Dayball. Brian Dayball was a buffer between the offense and Sean McDermott, who is an intense,

at times, rigid coach. This entire operation feels like a powder keg. and I think there are certain things people can change with but how many people in your life you've known that are very rigid and very intense and they lightened up it doesn't happen a lot

Tom Coughlin did it but and I think McDermott's a very good coordinator he can be organized but you're just seeing signs here since Daybo left he was the buffer and this thing's going sideways and so I said this last segment there are three teams in the NFL if we played trending up and trending down.

There's three teams that are clearly trending up. Denver's trending up from an incompetent coach to Sean Payton. I don't think anybody denies that. Upgrade the O line, massive upgraded coach. No reasonable person would debate that. The Denver Broncos are clearly, these are all public companies. You can see what's happening. I think the jets are trending up.

They won seven games with the worst. quarterback group in the league. They've also gone out and gotten Alan Lazzard, a friend of Aaron Rogers. They tend to draft well with Joe Douglas. There's no question. Aaron Rogers, for at least two years, the New York Jets are

trending up. No reasonable person argues that. I think the Steelers are trending up. Listen, they just win when JJ Watt plays. The other thing the Steelers have, Kenny Pickett at quarterback, got better as the season went on. You would imagine an off-season

for a young quarterback, get more comfortable. These teams, they happen to be AFC teams, they're all trending up. Broncos, jet stealers. Doesn't mean they're going to win their division necessarily. They're going in the right direction. There are three teams that are obviously trending down. I think Buffalo is a trend down. Star receiver, your only dependable receiver not happy.

They ended this season. Leslie Frazier's leaving. They ended the season with a lot of finger pointing. I like their draft, but I think offensive coach Mike McDaniel, Belichick-Sala, there's arguments to be made this morning. Is Sean McDermott the fourth best coach in that division? There are arguments to be made he is. I think Green Bay is trending down.

Most of that is Aaron Rogers leaving. But if you've listened to what the team and the executives are saying about Jordan Love, it's not very encouraging. He's got a long way to go. He's cleaning up kids in his fourth year with Green Bay. All the comments have been, take a step back, lower expectations. I think Green Bay is trending down.

And I think Arizona's been a mess for some time. That's bad ownership. Top people in the league do not want to work with this organization. The Bidwells. And Kyler Marie's banged up. I would not be surprised if Kyler Murray doesn't play until Thanksgiving. I wouldn't be surprised if the organization, kept him out even longer, get into the Caleb Williams USC quarterback sweepstakes.

I think that's not just words. It might happen. And I initially tried to defend Buffalo. Hey, everybody loses, but it was the way they looked against Miami at home and Cincinnati. It was the way they looked against those offensive coaches. They looked like they weren't, They weren't connected, and it's five years, and they still can't run the ball, and they still can't protect Josh Allen. Five years in, I've given them enough chances, and now they're star receiver's unhappy, and they've got one dependable receiver on that roster. One, and it's upon Viggs.

And it does make me wonder when he starts questioning, play calling, and how he's used, that's trouble. You start finding these offensive guys that are grumbling, Lavian Bell grumbled, defensive coach. Stefan Diggs grumbling, defensive coach, Tom Brady and New England grumbling, defensive coach, Russell Wilson and Seattle, defensive coach. It does feel like offensive players speak the same language as offensive coaches. That's what it feels like to me.

A lot of the grumbling from offensive stars often comes when you're in a defensive culture. That's what it feels like to me. So last week you said this is the toughest division in the NFL. We would agree. A lot of grumbling out of Matt Jones in New England in the offseason, remember, grumbling about receivers, we need an offensive coordinator, grumbling in Buffalo now, Colin, or the seas parting for Aaron Rogers and the Jets to win the AFC East. I know you can sense something is afoot here.

Not a lot of newness with the Jets except Aaron Rogers. And, you know, he's a veteran. He's got this locked down. Colin right, calling wrong, hour number two next. One more herd? The herd streams 24 hours a day, seven days a week within the IHeart radio app. Search herd to listen live or on demand whenever you'd like. 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, Street or 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 taun tons 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.