The Herd with Colin Cowherd - The Herd - Hour 1 - Can the Lakers keep this going?

Episode Date: April 5, 2023

Colin gives credit to the Lakers for getting into the play-in game but wonders if this run can continue He's rooting for the Warriors to go on another championship run which would be the most impressive title of their dynasty Let's slow down on the Joel Embiid MVP talk Ryen Russillo from The Ringer joins the show to tell Colin why Luka Doncic is the most fascinating player in the league while also being the most frustrating. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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

Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and friends on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. 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. 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, my basketball and college football journey, or my career

in sports media. Well, now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Cliford Show. This is a place for raw, unfills of conversations with athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. So let's get to it. Listen to the Clifford show on the IHard 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. Thanks for listening to The Herd podcast.

Be sure to catch us live every weekday from 12 to 3 Eastern, 9 to noon Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and FS1. Find your local station for the herd at Fox Sports Radio.com or stream us live every day on the iHeart radio app by searching Herd. Now let's get this party started. You're listening to Fox Sports Radio. Oh, it's a Wednesday. We're live in Los Angeles. This is The Herd, wherever you may be, and however you may be listening or watching.

Thanks for making this part of your day, lots of choices. J. Mack's still on vacay. I'm going to take tomorrow the next day off. Get ready for some golf at the Masters in Augusta. It is great to have. Ian Ryan's filling in at the Hurdline News desk. We have a great show today. There is a lot to talk about.

and the NBA season is coming to a regular season close. And here's the good news. Got a lot of NBA. Lakers have now officially qualified. They have clinched a spot in the play in tournament. That's a little bit like getting a voucher for the right to stand in line on a Friday night at the nightclub for a right to get into it. You may not get into it, but you got a voucher. You get a stand in line.

So that's what the Lakers are. LeBron played great and a ton of minutes. Anthony Davis played very well and a ton of minutes. In fact, the stories this morning are, LeBron said last night, I'm going to see how my foot feels when I wake up. And Anthony Davis said, I don't know if I'm playing against the Clippers tonight

because I haven't played back-to-backs in a long time. And this is sort of a classic example of where the Lakers are. They win a very, very gutty road game, and the number one concern is, our old guy played too much and our always hurt guy can't play back to back. A little bit like cramming for a final. You'll pass the test. You're not an A student. The Lakers have been cramming for this playoff test for the last two weeks, and they've won seven of eight. They're focused.

They're playing through pain. It's impressive. I do not think it's terribly sustainable. Why is a kid cramming in college? Because he parties too much. Why are the Lakers now having to cram for the playoffs? Because they get hurt too much. But if the tournament, the March Madness tournament, if that's what the Lakers were going

into, I'd like their chances. They've shown on individual nights. They can be very good. They've beaten Denver twice this year, beaten the Nuggets twice. They beat Milwaukee in a Friday night in Milwaukee. I watched the Saturday night game against the Celtics. They went toe to toe with a team I think can win the championship. If this was March madness, one game, everybody rested.

I think the Lakers could be a handful. But to win the championship, it's four playoff series. You have to win potentially 28 games. These guys are complaining, and rightfully so, that they don't play back-to-backs and their feet are sore. Okay, sounds like a retirement community in Florida after a rough night out. So here's the way I look at the bright side. Anthony Davis is playing his butt off.

he's playing through pain. It's really impressive. He's dominating down low. LeBron had a couple of baskets last night that made him look like he was 29 years old. It is and has been since Westbrook left, a very united front. They play defense. Anthony Davis plays injured. LeBron has his rest, but the minutes he does play, he can be spectacular.

They create contact. They get to the free throw line. Last night was a nice win. Utah's not great, but they're better than one. we thought they would be six months ago. But Darvin Ham now has a question on his hands. They play the clippers tonight. They can still move up in the standings and get out of the playing game and be a real

playoff team. But do you play AD tonight? Do you play LeBron tonight? Here's Darwin's answer. We have our short-term business we need to take care of and our long-term business we need to take care of. We prioritize the player's health first and foremost, you know, regardless of what the stakes are, what's at the implications.

of a win or a loss or all that. Like, we need our players to know that we care about their health, first and foremost. It's a group decision that we see that we can't, you know, they won't have any issues in terms of their health and we're not putting them at risk, then we'll proceed. If there's any kind of question marks, we'll walk through them, talk through them, and go from there.

My guess is Anthony Davis, who no longer plays back-to-back's, probably rests. LeBron probably gives it a decent effort, gives you 15 to 20 minutes, which is what he should be playing most of the regular season, maybe 22, 24 minutes, not these 36, 38 minute games. Tonight's a big game. It's quasi at home against the clippers, but that's where the Lakers are. When they have a great performance, they cross their fingers that everybody's healthy and can play the next game, especially if it's a back-to-back.

it doesn't feel sustainable. But if you think big picture, and even Darwin Ham said it, big picture, Anthony Davis has a huge market now. He did not three months ago. Like he has played great basketball and he has carried this team on both ends on a lot of nights. The market now is there if he remains healthy. But I still contend this is not a team capable of winning four playoff series and somewhere between 23 and 28 games.

Okay, so yesterday the Warriors won last night. Clay Thompson was a late scratch. They had to go to Jordan Poole, Steph Curry, big night combined for 64 points, bad first half. What's New for the Warriors? Came back, had a great third, good fourth, and won. So Nick Wright said something yesterday about the Warriors dynasty in this year where Andrew Wiggins has missed a bunch of time. You know, it's been one of those, they've been a terrible road team.

and Nick Wright made this claim yesterday on the show. No one will ever take the regular season seriously again if your beloved Warriors win the title. Because if the Warriors, if Andrew Wiggins can just be gone for two months, the Warriors can be two and 20, two and 20 on the road against 500 teams and then go win the title, then why would anyone care about the regular season ever again? I would argue it is important for the health of the NBA that the Warriors get bounced in round one.

And it's like, oh, sleepwalking for five months, there is a penalty for that. Well, they weren't sleepwalking on purpose. The truth is there's been a lot of factors here. And I totally 100% disagree with Nick Wright. The Warriors winning again would first of all send two big messages. Culture matters. and keep your stars together, even if you have to overpay them a little. The Warriors winning a title would also send this message.

When one of your stars, Andrew Wiggins, goes through a dramatic personal crisis, you totally support him, there are no leaks, nothing gets out, and you've got his back, and you welcome him in. The other message is, hey, man, it's not pretty, it's hard to win titles here. There's no layups. Michael Jordan's Bulls dynasty. Wasn't that 10-part documentary great? It was also revealing Jerry Krauss, Michael Jordan, Dennis Rodman, Phil Jackson,

trying to heroically hold it all together. Michael retires for baseball. It's hard. The Kobe Shack Dynasty, Jeff Perlman's written about that. I mean, you can't even, you can't believe they won three championships, and they should have won four if Carl Malone doesn't get hurt. This stuff is hard. The Warriors, if they won this year, with an aging staff on the heels of the Draymond punch to Jordan Pool,

inflamed the locker room, on Clay having a bizarrely good resurgence to his career when we thought the best days were over, with Andrew Wiggins missing 40 plus games, being the worst road team to ever make the playoffs. That's a 30 for 30. That's a movie script. That's great for sports. You could call it from punch to the playoffs. What the Warriors have done this year is remarkable. It's full of different storylines and drama and conflict.

Listen, they didn't want Andrew Wiggins to go through what he did. They didn't want the Draymond Poole situation to inflame to that. They weren't rooting for that stuff, but they support their guys. Culture matters. Have your guys back. Don't worry about the salary cap. If you got to pay a little more, pay a little more to keep the band together. They made a big, bold move.

They moved off Wiseman. They brought an old guy in the band, Peyton back. That's what sports is all about. That's why the Warriors continue to get massive ratings in the Bay Area. Because everybody knows the members in the band. Good God, people traveled with the Grateful Dead forever. You go and see the band you know forever. The one hit wonder, you don't.

The Warriors loyal to a fault to some of their guys, you'd argue. They develop players. They have drama. They overcome it. They don't bail on people. I think that's what's great about this dynasty. They won last night, and Steve Kerr talked about it. It's fun.

This is all what it's about. We love the competition, and even though we'd prefer to be home free in the playoffs right now, this is where we are. And I'm really proud of the guys what they've done here in recent weeks to put ourselves in this position. but now we've got to go finish the deal and, you know, get into the top six. By the way, last night was a classic example. Clay Thompson, who loves to play, had back soreness. He was a game time scratch, so they have to dig into their bench.

They surrender 79 points in the first half. They're in a hole, and they come back as they're prone to do and have a huge third quarter and win. I actually think this is a very, very likable dynasty. You know, they do 30 for 30s on the Yankees dynasty. There's no salary cap. They just went and bought the best players. Or in college football where, you know, Alabama or Georgia in the footprint of the South, they're just more great high school football players.

They get them and they dominate. Those aren't likable. This is likable. Little drama, a little ego, overcoming Wigan story. I think it's amazing. And I don't know how a team. I said this yesterday. The biggest break for the Warriors is that the West this year is unsettled.

If you put them in the East, I think they'd be in big trouble. Because I think we know what the Bucks and the Sixers and the Celtics and the heat and the calves are. Some are too young. Some are missing a star. But you have a really solid top of the Eastern Conference. The West is question marks and who's going to play tonight. So it's a little bit of a break for the Warriors.

They get a weaker West. Will Chris Paul stay healthy? Could Kevin Durant go down? Is Paul George available? Would LeBron and AD both be there? This is the year for the Warriors to scratch and claw their way to win the West. There's been a lot of years where there's define good teams with experienced stars, healthy and ready to play. This is not one of those years.

So I find it incredibly likable. Disagree totally sends all sorts of great messages. Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays in noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific on Fox Sports Radio, FS1 and the IHard Radio app. 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 Podcast. or wherever you get your podcasts. A win is a win. A win is a win.

I don't care which I'm saying. Yep, that's me, 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. 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 tauntons and wampas on the ice planet hot,

or the practicality and corporate business sense of the Sith rule of two. Listen to Stuff to Bo Your Mind on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. All right, so I say this. Certain games do matter in the NBA. Lakers win last night matters for them. They clinched the spot in the play in game. And the Warriors win matters. They have to win those home games because they're not winning games on the road.

And then there are games that may feel like they're big, but they're not really big. Last night's a great example is that Joel M. Bede had a monster night and they beat the Celtics. Okay. context. Jalen Brown was out, second best player, sometimes the best player for the Celtics, and their Senator Robert Williams was out. Embedes trying to get that MVP vote, so he's going to play his arsoff, and the Sixers were 0 and 3 against the Celtics this season, so it meant more. There were four clear factors to assist urgency for the Sixers and to hurt Boston. Sorry fanboys in Philly. This game still came down to the final shot. This is the classic NBA regular

season game that NBA fans look at and go, wow, and I go, it meant very little to Boston. It meant a lot to Joel M. Bede, his MVP pursuit, and to finally beat the Celtics psychologically in one of their four matchups this year. It was a perfect setup for a team to get blown out, and yet the Celtics, it came down to the last shot. I'm more impressed with Boston than Philadelphia last night. And we've said this about Boston. Their championship really lies in Robert Williams, the center, even though he's probably their fourth best player. And the reason being is because the East has so many good and active bigs. Yonnes, Embedd, Evan Mobley at Cleveland, Bamada Bayou at Miami.

A lot of really good active bigs. And Robert Williams, when he's out, the Celtics are awful. They're small and unathletic at center. Last night, you had six-nine old offensive-leaning Al-Horford taking on Embeddeed. who was absolutely a magical player. If you vote him MVP, I got no problem. I wish he played more regularly. But on his best nights, he's as good as anybody the sport has seen in years.

But Boston last night, 3-0 against the Sixers, didn't play crucial players. Nobody's worried about MVP. In fact, in Boston these days, they're trying to get good players rest. They're trying to find rest for Jalen Brown and Jason Tatum. It was a showcase for a wildly gifted player in. Joel M. B. that can do a little bit of everything. He's really fun to watch. And Doc Rivers made a big push for the MVP afterwards.

There's so many things that we did wrong. But what we did right was Joel M.B. And if the MVP race is over, I'm really, like tonight, we had, we couldn't make shots. We had guys making shots, would open shots. The man just scored half our points in the NBA game. and I'm biased, but the MVP race is over. Yeah, it does matter. We know this in college football, what your schedule look like.

We know in college basketball when you get certain ratings, who did you beat? On paper, it's like, wow, they beat the Celtics. Not really. They didn't beat the Celtics backups. Jalen Brown and Robert Williams out. It's not the same basketball team. Robert Williams is the key for Boston. I know you think it's Tatum and Jalen Brown.

In the West, Tatum would be everything. But in the East, in the West, you know, Yokic isn't that athletic. He doesn't defend terribly well. There's not a lot of dominating bigs. I think Anthony Davis is great. When he's available, DeAndre Aiton has certain limitations on both ends of the floor. All the young centers I like, the Evan Mobley, the Bamada Bayous, Janus. I mean, even another big, Brooke Lopez has had a year for Milwaukee.

So, Embedge remarkable, but that wasn't the Celtics last night. here's Ryan with the news. No, no, no, no, no. Turn on the news. This is the herd line news. Let's start things off in the NFL. Jalen Hertz is entering the final year of his rookie contract with the Eagles. He's in line to get a massive contract extension from Philly,

and one NFL exec thinks he'll keep his team's future in mind when negotiating the deal. The exec told Mike Sando of the athletic, I think Hertz will do a Mahomes-type deal with good structure for the team, team, he seems to get it. Yeah, I mean, that's what the smart guys do. And that's why I say when Aaron Rogers and Russell Wilson, when you take the most money, go ahead. Like, I get it.

And I understand it, but you do realize you'll pay for that later. You're just not going to have the same roster. So I always said, Mahomes is really telling you, Tom Brady knew. You see documentaries now in stories and books about Tom. Tom knew he was going to be great. Remember he goes up to Robert Kraft after the draft and says it's the greatest draft pick you've ever made and Brady was like a six round draft pick? Like Mahomes knew I'm one for the ages. And so Mahomes is like, I'm going to do a team friendly deal.

I think sometimes guys take the most money because they have a chip on their shoulder or they want to retire soon and they don't love the game. And there's a variety of reasons. But if you really think you're an all-timer, if you really have con, there's inner scoreboard and outer scoreboard. A lot of people talk trash. A lot of talk people are big talkers, but deep down they're insecure. If you really truly think you're great, there's two things that are true. You're not consumed with your tax rate. I understand you don't want to pay the most taxes, but if you have confidence that you can make money,

it doesn't start and end every conversation. And the second thing you think about all the time is I'm going to take a little pay cut as an NFL quarterback because I want better guys around me and I think I can win championships. Like it's the ultimate sign of security in outer scoreboard or inner scoreboard is Jalen Hertz and Mahalm saying, and Brady, I don't need to take most money because I know how good I am. I just want to make sure I don't go into games with a deficit of talent. I love this idea by Hertz. We'll see if that ends up being the case for the Eagles.

And let's go to the NBA now. The Mavericks are outside of the playoff picture right now. But hoping to climb back into the play-in tournament before the regular season ends this week. Things have not gone well for doubt. Alice, as they hoped after making the trade for Kyrie Irving. At practice yesterday, Luca Donchich took blame for the disappointing season and explained what he thinks has been going wrong. I mean, I don't think the offense is a problem.

I always said this. It's our defensive end. I think anybody can score on us. Whoever it is, anybody can score on us. So I don't think the offense was really a problem with scoring a lot of points. I'm the leader of this team. You know, the one to blame is me. So I take a lot.

I mean, it's disappointing, obviously. Being in the conference finals last year, to being, you know, barely, I mean, trying to get in play, and it's very disappointing season, I think. Yeah, at least he understands the problems. They're obvious, but, you know, kudos to him. It's pretty obvious what the issues are. Yeah, I mean, that's what you want out of your star player. Whether or not it is his fault or not is taking blame for it.

And Luca also did go on to say that he will sit out if the Mavs still have a chance at the postseason, there were reports that perhaps they were going to shut down him and Kyrie Irving. And we'll finish up with this. The Suns officially clinched their spot in the playoffs last night with a 115-94 win over the Spurs. The win secured a top six finish, so they will avoid the play-in tournament. This was their six straight victory, and they moved to a perfect 7-0 with Kevin Durant on the floor. Yeah, not a shocker. It really is.

Say what you want about Kevin Durant. His ability to go anywhere and instantly translate to W's. I think people forget what a circus Brooklyn was. What is Kevin Durant now in his last 26 games, 24 and 2, if he plays? 24 and 2. It's better than any player in the league. That's who he is. Ryan with the news.

Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The Hurd-Lie News. So there was a story yesterday that emerged after I was on the air. that Bill Belichick, maybe it happened during it, but I didn't see it, that Bill Belichick has shopped his quarterback, young quarterback, Mac Jones to teams this offseason. Now, there was some speculation on the internet, whether it's true or not.

I made a call. My people had not heard it. Doesn't mean it's not true. But my real takeaway is, if it is true that they are shopping him, then shame on about nine general managers for not taking the call. all. Folks, he had no weapons in New England. One of the two years, they made a defensive coordinator, his offensive coordinator, and yet his passer rating is up against 90. He's completing 66 and a half percent of his throws and has 36 touchdowns in two years. His rookie year

with awful weapons, awful weapons, but a legit offensive coordinator. He had a higher passer rating than Tua and Josh Allen and Jared Goff and Jalen Hertz and Lamar Jackson and Ryan Tanne Hill as a rookie, a rookie who started one year in college, Mac Jones has completed passes to 19 different Patriots in a couple of years he's been there. None has made a Pro Bowl. It is just a collection of rotational guys in the NBA, like bench guys, fourth guy off the bench guy.

They don't have a one, they don't have a two, and they just signed a three. Ju-Ju-Ju-Smiths-Huster do a contract, the smart teams wouldn't do. And I think people forget this too. When he started, and he was a slow, you know, he's a late developer. But when he started at Alabama, he wasn't just good at Alabama. Most quarterbacks are good at Alabama. He had 41 touchdowns and four picks and completed 77% of his throws. It's one of the great passing years in the history of the sport.

at a program with a defensive head coach in the best defensive conference in college football. 77% completion percentage. 41 touchdowns, four picks. Was Georgia not in the conference that year or LSU? So, like, to me, I like Derek Carr. But if you gave me Mack Jones and Derek Carr and one's free, essentially, I'd take Mac Jones. And I like Derek Carr. But why would I roll the dice?

on Will Levis at number four for Indy when I know Mac Jones can play. We do this in sports, and I don't blame fans for doing this because fans are very passionate. You have teams you root for and against. So I get when fans don't always have the greatest, most objective takes. Like, I get it. But if you're in the media, it's called Google. It is a search engine. It's all right in front of you.

If you look at what he has endured in New England, a defensive culture, Matt Patricia, Joe Judge as offensive coaches, awful weapons. Worst receiving tight-end combo in the league. They overspent for free agent guys, no stars. And he's almost got a 90 passer rating, 66.5% completion percentage and 36 touchdowns in two years. That's a hell of a number. You see how bad Cam Newton was with this same stuff? Remember Cam Newton?

Remember Cam Newton? It's bad. So if Atlanta, New Orleans, Jets, Washington, Indy, Houston, if those GMs didn't look into this, and I don't know if this story is true, I made one text, and my guy hadn't heard about it in the league. That does not mean, you know, the guy I text has a good quarterback. So they're not going to be in the hunt for that. And not every rumor out there you get, you know about. Some of this stuff is you call two or three teams. And I don't know if it's true or not. Some people are speculating, blah, blah, blah,

it's just trying to be divisive. My guess is most people just don't make stuff up, so it's probably true. But I think, again, I've said this about Derek Carr. I don't think he's great. Of course he's good. I don't think Jared Goff is great. Of course he's good. I think people have swung so far the other way on Mac Jones. He now has incredible value on the market. He's not going to do anything off script. If you look at the history of this league, Lamar's hurt, Kyler Murray's hurt, Russell Wilson down.

A lot of these move around guys. Last year I thought, Josh Allen, regressed, made more mistakes. Sitting and throwing from the pocket wins a lot of games in this league. Aaron Rogers has been the MVP two times in the last three years. If you look at his rushing numbers, they've steadily gone down.

Aaron now is strictly a pocket quarterback. Maybe not Brady Pocket, but he's a pocket guy. I don't know. If Mac Jones, If I'm Indy and I can get Mac Jones over Will Levis, I do it today. Totally stabilize the organization. Absolutely would do it today.

Listen, there's like five guys in this league that you don't pick up the phone for. Mahomes, Burrow, Allen, Herbert, Trevor Lawrence, you don't pick up the phone. You just don't know what you're doing if you're a GM picking up the phone. You hit the Powerball lottery. everybody else you pick up the phone. And there's about eight teams in this league. If you're crossing your fingers and hoping Anthony Richardson become something, yeah, I saw Mack Jones in the SEC.

I saw him for one year in the SEC. Aided alive. Okay. So, yeah, that, the fact that there's, there's, he can't, if New England's trying to move him and can't, that's an indictment on GMs in the NFL. Be sure to catch live editions. The Hard weekdays in noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific.

Hey, it's me, Rob Parker. Check out my weekly MLB podcast Inside the Parker for 22 minutes of pipe and hot baseball talk, featuring the biggest names and newsmakers in the sport. Whether you believe in analytics or the eye test, we've got all the bases covered. New episodes drop every Thursday, so do yourself a favor and listen to Inside the Parker with Rob Parker on the IHartRadio app or wherever you get your podcast. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal but encouraged.

It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast'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, Untax.

filtered 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.

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. You know, there are certain things that have been true for a long time. The SEC has the best college football. That's, you know, we're not going to argue much about that.

And most of the last 20, 25 years, I've always felt the West is better, deeper, more good GMs than the Eastern Conference. I think the East is really formidable this year. I think they've got the best young centers and guys like, like Mobley and, you know, MBEED and a lot of good active bigs. I think, I think, frankly, the East is really interesting to me this year. I don't know what to make of Boston. I don't know what to make of their coach after Robert Williams. If he misses games and he does a lot, they're old and unathletic at Center and the East

has all these good, rangy bigs. I don't know what to make of it. But I think for one of the few times, and New York is typically delusional. They'll get bounced in one round. The West is wide open. So let's start. Let's bring in Ryan Rosilla with the ringer, my buddy, podcast host, very popular podcast. So most of our lives, I feel like the last 20 years, the West was just better.

That didn't mean, that, you know, LeBron may win a title, but they're better. I actually feel I don't really buy a lot of the West. Sacramento is a cute story. They're not a title team. The Clippers I don't trust. The Lakers is fascinating because if it was March Mad, and it was one game series. I was like, oh, yeah, they're a handful.

But you think they can, I mean, let's just start with them. Four series, potentially 27, 28 games. On the confidence meter with the Lakers, I am embedded in a five. Where are you at on them going forward in the next month and a half? Look, if AD is going to play like this, then they have to be taken seriously. You know, it's weird because I've defended Anthony Davis forever. I've come on this show. I've shot down your dumb machine wall.

com, okay? I think it's pretty clear. I love the dude. And then there was a Memphis game about a month ago where he fell down five times and I didn't know if he's going to get up ever. Like, I didn't know if he needed an alert. You know, I was super worried about it. And I go, I don't know that I can do this anymore. I don't know that I can do it anymore. And since I freaked out about it, he's been on a tear. I mean, there's a chance he can make all NBA. Yeah. He's the most important player, you know, not just for the Lakers. You could argue he's the most important player for any team coming out of the West. So if he is going to play, you know, he's the most important player. You know, like this. And even though I don't love the price tag on moving out Westbrook, the fact that they

changed this rotation this much and improved it this much within one season, which I feel like they probably felt like they owed to LeBron, to Lincoln's front office. Like, I don't know, it's weird. I feel like they get trashed way more than they should. Granted, the rotation wasn't sweet to start the season. Yeah. But when you see a closing group, you know, with Reeves, with Vando, with AD, with LeBron, whether or not they want to go with Troy Brown, Russell would probably be the guy if he's available. It's a much better team. It's just a tough bet to go, Davis, who I'm always worried every time he's on the ground, Colin, every time, like, is he really going to do that for a month and a half? Is he going to be able to just get up every time? Because the history tells us he

doesn't, but I love him as a player. Yeah. So the Celtics are, you know, they're really interesting. So they have to start over at coach. You know, they didn't want to get rid of this coach where the Celtics last year at the All-Star break bought into the coach and were really good. And Robert Williams doesn't get hurt in the finals. I mean, I thought they were given the Warriors fits. And then I watched them, I don't take anything out of last night. Brown's out. Robert doesn't play.

It's Embed rolling over Al Horford. I don't care about that. But I do think Boston's fascinating. They match up very well with Milwaukee now. They're just more athletic. They get to the basket. Yet they can struggle at times with Cleveland. Philadelphia, I would trust them more in big spots than I would dock in that

group. Where are you on Boston? They're not going to blow it up. They've got their core. But I just feel like the East, God, they'd have to go through one series. I think it's a schlog this year. Where are you with the Celtics? I'd pick them against everybody in a series in the East except for Milwaukee. The other night, when they put it on Milwaukee, it's really weird because I'm like, I know this doesn't mean nothing, but like how far and the nothing does something need or do I want to go? It actually was weird in that blowing them out by 40. meant less than me than if they had won this really close game, even though they had an overtime game where Boston rested everybody. And it was like, wait, Milwaukee's going to lose them.

Milwaukee's the best team in the NBA. They just are. Phoenix has a chance to be that. It's just tough to go on like a week of data where you're going, oh, yeah, I'll pick them. Like, no problem. Yeah, they played three games. They spoke Charlotte. I love what Milwaukee is capable of.

They were a team that had some depth issues, but you knew they had options. and they have a lot of different versatility of players around the three main guys. And Lopez, who's incredible. Janice, who's the best player in a league, and Drew Holiday, when he decides to shut down your on-ball guy or off the ball. Like what he does against point guards who are trying to switch and get him off of them, where he'll destroy your point of attack. Or if he goes, you know what, your best offensive player is this wing,

I'm going to be glued to him. You can put him on much bigger players. So it's really about a talent thing. I'm not going to trust Hardin until I, am told I have to. Same. I won't trust hard until the morning after he does something. So, and I think it's totally fair based on the resume here.

I love what M.B. does, you know, as far as last night, I mean, hell, Horford wasn't even guarding him. It turned into Blake Griffin, Cornett at times, and then Grant Williams to close the game. And Boston almost swept him in the regular season series, and that was without Rob Williams. Who, Rob Williams, Colin, when you watch them, Boston is a completely different team when he is on the floor. It's not about points. It's not about his great passes. It's not about help defensive.

It is about his presence being felt. He makes it harder for you to do all the other stuff that you want to do. And if they don't have him, they're downgraded. So, you know, we were talking about this a few days ago that I have a soft spot for KD because he's had to play with Westbrook and Kyrie, although he chose one, that are really got hard to play with. And it's his fault that he left Steph for Kyrie. That's totally on him.

But I don't think there's a player in basketball. Even LeBron moves to your team. You've got to kind of reconstruct your offense because he's always got the ball. I don't think I've ever seen a player that I always felt like Michael Jordan's a better version of Kobe. KD's a significantly better version of Dirk, and Dirk was amazing. I think he's the best plug and play guy I've ever seen. Even Michael Jordan couldn't get along with people. KD got along with Westbrook.

He just got the ball with two seconds on the clock after about four years. He was exhausted. Where do you put KD historically? I think we're looking at the greatest, the easiest guy to put in the history of basketball on any team and instantly make them great. I don't even think MJ could do that. I don't know what his comp is outside of Dirk. That is a very high ranking to be the number one in the history of everything. So we start there.

But you're right. I don't know if you're stealing my material. but I've said my favorite thing about KD, and look, there's, you know, who do you like 100% of, right? Right. Like,

you complain about your wife to me all the time. So I think whenever we're getting into like, what are our options, I'm not waiting around to have like 100% approval rating on anybody anymore. Right. You know, I'm getting more difficult. You're on me about it all the time. I love Katie.

I love his personality. I don't love what happened this summer. I think some of his answers are a little delusional. But at the same time, you're right, from a basketball standpoint, to be this talent. yet be able to fit in to anything that you want to do. I'm not going to say it's his greatest town.

His greatest talent is being like seven plus feet off the dribble into perfect jump shots. Okay, that's the thing that we've never seen before, I think, to this level, and to suggest there's going to be another guy like this anytime soon isn't realistic. Now, I would push back a little on the all-time thing in that I think when Steph retires, the best thing you can say about him is he's the greatest teammate of his generation. And the addition to what you're talking about is I don't know how many guys would have had the juice that Steph had his place in the game, Erdy with a ring, probably should have had the other one, whatever, and then be like, I'm willing to defer to Durant. I don't know that. Like a lot of guys say they like to win.

What they really want to do is win on their terms. If they win, it's cool, but if it's on their terms. So Durant, for all the heat that he takes from moving around, and granted, some of that is directly his fault. I love the point. I agree with the point. And it's like all these other dudes, all these puzzle pieces that we try to put together, where we know the players are super talented. And you go, all right, but how's it going to look?

I never asked that question with Durant. And we're already seeing how absurd they look on offense to close with those four guys. So the advantage to being an older guy is I can go back to late 70s NBA. And I've said this. I love the guy named World Be Free in his prime average 30 a game. No defense didn't make anybody better. But I can remember as a kid, he'd be on TV like once a year. You didn't have cable and all this stuff.

And nobody thought World Be Free was a great player. He was a spectacle. He was a great score. And I made this argument. That's Kyrie. He doesn't make anybody better. He's moody. He's eccentric.

He's a great score. But we can blame him for everything. But Luke is fascinating. Porzingus didn't get along. Jalen Brunson now is exploding. I mean, Kyrie didn't work for an hour, is that is it possible, because we love scoring, that Luca is going to be hard on Luca, that he's got stuff we don't talk about. He never stops the apping at the officials.

He doesn't give you much on the defensive end. I got three teammates now. Don't really like playing with him. Where are you at this morning on Luca, who gets a pass because he's so damn good. and I mean, he really gets a basket whenever he wants. But where are you? You tell me, he's got some flaws, right? We can start picking apart a little now?

No, this is the path of everyone that's this good. You know, if Durant's foot's behind the line and Janus doesn't get that title, can you imagine what we're talking about right now with him? Like, it's weird. You're the same player, but the way we talk about you is entirely different. I've been on the look of thing here for a little while, man. I can't stand him, although I respect him. And that's too harsh.

That's too harsh. Let me put it this way. If I need a bucket, if I need a bucket, he has my first choice of anyone in the NBA. That's it. He's that good. He is that good. There's nothing you do. But during the course of the game, how hot he runs, if you had to watch him every night

and you're not a Mazz fan, and I watch him a lot, because again, with the Kyrie edition, I'm like, I want to see how this is going to work out. It gets really, really annoying. And I've always felt like when you're emotionally invested in all of these other things, it can detract from what you're doing. So when I say, I can't say him, that's harsh. I don't make this a breakout video to your 20-person staff. But, yeah, I mean, this is what's going to happen.

Like, his numbers were so off the charts against the clippers, and it was so soon. And you looked how they were built, went, oh, this isn't even, I'm not even downgrading him. Now he gets to Western Conference finals last year, so maybe that was enough to appease certain people. As far as not getting along with Prozingas, I don't know what the perfect basketball team around Luca looks like. Sometimes when I watch the Nets play now, I go if Luca was on that team and you had a big opposing guard who could handle defensive assignments,

multiple switchable guys could go, shoot, that's what could happen. I think he's a difficult fit as far as what's the perfect for around him. And I think with the Kyrie trade, I think there were some relationships there with the front office to Kyrie where they felt like, hey, we can make this work. Let's just raise our level of talent. But Dallas, this

year, you know, last year's run was a bit fluky. They were incredible defensively, like the last 50 games or so. This year they weren't as good defensively coming out of the gates, and now they're even worse because they traded one of their best defensive players. So there were a bad defense that became worse. And yeah, these questions are all going to start happening with Luca. I don't know that it's a personality thing.

Yeah, I don't like they're complaining about the officials all the time. Most of that that's pretty irrelevant. That's just a taste thing. But I'd like to ask Luca, Colin, like, what do you prefer? Do you want the ball every single possession? Is this what you want? Because a lot of young guys go through this, they get the numbers and they realize, you know what?

I've got a sacrifice here a little bit. But I don't know that the Prozengis Brunson-Cairie thing is. is telling us, oh, he's actually really, really difficult. I think he's a super high usage guy that's very efficient. It was the best version of their offense. And it's hard to figure out the perfect guys next to him. And as much as I haven't loved Kyrie's history, I wouldn't look at this Dallas mess and be like,

hey, this is on him right now. It's just his track record when he goes somewhere. It doesn't seem to be the greatest hang when it's all done. Yeah, I mean, listen, the McAiles and the Clay Thompson's and the Tony Parkers, we always talk about finding the great player is hard to find a two in temperament. Pippin, Wood, you know, Pippin, McAil, Clay. Like, it's hard to find the two. It took forever for Dirk to find the right cast around.

And we got to go. It's Ryan Rissillo, podcast host. He's popular. That was a joke about Anne. I never speak anything but glowingly about Ann. Thank you, Ryan. I'll have to answer to that later today. I do appreciate that.

Ryan Rissillo, thanks, buddy. Yeah, no, I do think. Luca reminds me, you know, there's this thing. It's a little like Josh Allen. he's so good early. You know, by year two, you're like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. And then you're like, yeah, some of the details I don't love on Josh Allen. Like, he makes a lot of bad decisions.

He runs too much. He bails out. He misses open receivers. And with Luca, it's like, does he need the ball every second? Does he have to yap at every official on every call hour to next? Another podcast from some SNL late night comedy guy, not quite, unhumored me with Robert Smygel and Friends, me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, S&L's Mikey Day and head writer, Streeter Seidel, help an

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