The Herd with Colin Cowherd - The Herd - Hour 1 - Lakers are in trouble

Episode Date: May 19, 2023

Colin has BIG concerns about the Lakers falling to 0-2 vs the Nuggets Thoughts on a report that states the 76ers fired head coach Doc Rivers due to complaints from James Harden Why culture is so important in sportsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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We'll reference to yesterday's show. Okay, so the Lakers now can they win for the next five games? Against the most efficient team in the league. Colin, breaking news, LeBron James just missed another fourth quarter three-pointer. That's 20 in a row for LeBron. Well, it's, when you get older, that's an easier shot. You don't have to go up against the trees. It's not over.

Let's be real. It's not over. It's not over. Close. So if you have been a Laker cynic or critic, if you have questioned their ability to win a championship, I have definitely fallen into that class for most of the last three or four months. last night was a perfect representation of how one-dimensional they can be. It's bad news against Denver.

AD offensively disappears. LeBron missed his threes, but I mean, he gave you 22, 10, and 9, and that's kind of, that's kind of what you're getting on his good nights. Their NFL comp is the Tennessee Titans. You say they're boring, but I mean, the Titans and the Lakers are physical. It's an old school offense, very driven around one guy. You get a lead, you play ahead, you play downhill, and you hold on to the end. Not overly dynamic.

There is a formula to the way the Lakers can win. And last night, it was a perfect formula to win. It was low scoring. You had the lead for most of the games. So the Denver crowd wasn't as frenzied and crazy. It was low scoring. It was perfect for you. Your role players, Rui was fantastic.

Austin Reeves was good. and you still couldn't win. So you couldn't win a shootout. And you couldn't win a low scoring game when your role players on the road played really exceptional. Can you win four or five now? And, you know, I'm looking at this thing. The reality of what they've become.

And this is where the Lakers, to me, get really interesting. Because as we've talked about before, the thing about Jason Tatum, it's not that he's not great and can't be great. But you're always wondering, will he be great tonight? If you go back to the bubble championship team and that AD, in the 21 games in the bubble, 17 times he was 20 points or more and often way more. This current Anthony Davis, and this is who he is now, we have to own this, right?

Like our fans have to own this. Who he is now? He had three games under 20 against Memphis. And they didn't have Stephen Adams, Brennan Clark. They didn't have their bigs. They were small Memphis. this is who they are. So if indeed, this is who the Lakers,

what you're watching, it's the Titans with Ryan Tannihil. There's a way to play. Play with a lead. Can't trail. But what's concerning is last night's game was really built for them. Yokic, again, they're playing in huge minutes, so he runs out of gas in the fourth. He gets to the free throw line.

He becomes a facilitator, still vital to the offense. But he's not scoring in the fourth. and your role players played well, and you're still losing. So you've lost two different ways. Shootout in a wrestling match. Denver is clearly bigger. They are younger. They are more athletic.

They are top to bottom. And what they really are, and this is where the discussion comes in, they're just much more consistent. They're a much more consistent team. Even in Yokic's two games where you say he's not scoring. much in the fourth. That's okay. He's great both nights for three quarters. Then he becomes a facilitator and lets Jamal Murray grab the baton. So what the Lakers are, you have to ask yourself this going forward when I suggest, buy low, sell high. What do you do? Because this appears to be what they are.

I think they're going to keep Austin Reeves. On the road, he's not going to give you great nights consistently. I think they're going to run back AD. Well, he's not going to get younger next year. I think they're going to bring back LeBron on most nights in the playoffs now. You get 22, not 32. And you can watch him now. It's kind of a lazy man's offense. Right when you get older, you shoot three. So if you miss, easier to get back on defense. Don't have to race down the floor. LeBron could get to the basket every time he wants. And he knows it. But he's also strategically saving his energy. That's why when I watch the threes,

it's like a bad gambler. You keep gambling and you know it's not working. It's like this strategy isn't working. The threes aren't working. He's doing it to conserve sort of energy. So it's compounding. He's tired. And then because he's tired,

he's missing the threes. Like, it's not working. So they've lost a shootout and a track meet with Denver. They've lost a wrestling match with Denver. How are they going to win four of the next five against Denver? It is hard to envision. Lakers lose down 02. Exhausted, they roll back to Los Angeles.

Here's the coach of the Denver Nuggets and LeBron after. You win game one of the playoffs, and all everybody talked about was the Lakers. Let's be honest, that was a national narrative was, hey, the Lakers are fine. They're down 1-0, but they figured something out. No one talked about Nicola just had a historic performance. He's got 13 triple doubles now, third all time.

What he's doing is just incredible, but the narrative wasn't about the nuggets. The narrative wasn't about Nicola. The narrative is about the Lakers and their adjustments. So, you know, you put that in your pipe, you smoke it, and you come back, and you know what? We're going to go up 2-0. This is not the NCAA tournament. It's the first team to four wins, and we have an opportunity to go home and play great basketball and home serve. So, you know, until the team beat you four times, then you always have an opportunity to come out of it.

You know, so that's the confidence that we should have. And I know it's going to be a tough hill to climb up, but we still have an opportunity to, you know, play good basketball and play the best basketball of the series in game three. The glimmer of hope for the Lakers, number one, they come home. They've been great at home in the playoffs. They're going to win some games in the playoffs at home here against. Denver. And the second thing is, Denver's not terribly deep. So Yokic runs at a gas late. They still got to keep them on the floor. They've got to keep them on the floor. They don't have a deep bench. And he's an overwhelming part of their offense. First three-quarter scoring, last quarter facilitating.

He's great at both. It's a glimmer of hope. Series is not over, but they've got to win four of five. We've been watching the Tennessee Titans for years. There's a way to play. It's with a lead and hold on and run the ball and eat the clock. When they lose those games, then where do you go? Right? This is not a team that's going to race back from 17 down. This is a team whose best player is good offensively every other game. So that creates the dilemma.

If the Lakers get bounced here in five games, do you just run it back or get a new number one? It's something this morning you have to think about. I don't know what to think of this. Word out of Philadelphia, Rivers and his guys believe that James Hardin was the driving force to get rid of Doc Rivers. And the GM, Darrell Mori apparently listened. That's the story, Yahoo's force.

You can go ahead and blame Doc Rivers. He struggled in game sevens. I'm not denying that. But the Celtics are proving that you can be at a huge head coaching deficit and get to the Eastern Conference finals. Doc Rivers is better than Joe Missoula. the previous Sixers coach Brett Brown also dealt with this. He got blamed for Ben Simmons' indifference, Joel Embed's inconsistencies.

Brett Brown was more than competent. Doc Rivers is more than competent. In the NFL, the coach gets rid of the player if it's a struggle, Pete Carroll, Russell Wilson. That's okay. That happens. In the NBA, the player often has more power and gets rid of the coach. I'm fine with that. Magic Johnson did that.

LeBron's done that. Michael Jordan may have done that. that. I'm okay with that, right? Different cultures. But James Hardin, oh, yo, yoy, flaky now, moody now, expensive now, inconsistent now. I've said he's a role player that's fashionable. James Hardin's running coaches out? I mean, Philadelphia, you know, it's really interesting. The Celtics have a culture. The heat have a culture. The warriors. They got a culture. The Sixers have a slogan.

Trust the process. Hard two, seven, eight, nine years in, can't get past the second round. I just watched the MVP in Hardin put up back-to-back humiliating performances and get rolled in both. Seven years for the Celtics, I'm getting that culture and I'm getting five trips to the ECF. I'm okay with it. I want a title if I'm a Celtic fan, but I'm getting consistency and I'm getting culture. And that's with some coaching changes. even now they get to the Eastern Conference

Finals and Joe Missoula it appears is a bit over as skis and overwhelmed by Eric Spolstra but they can even the series and probably do tonight what am I getting for this for a franchise that has been very much about the player was told that M.B.

it was the future. Ben Simmons is the future and now Harden getting the coach fired according to a story maybe we should just watch them and they're telling us what they are. The peak of the Sixers is one of their stars winning the MVP. The Heat, the Warriors, the Celtics have a culture.

Sixers have a slogan. To me, that's the difference. All right, Jay Mack, I picked the Lakers, not even reluctantly. I said, I'm going to take them over Denver. It does not look good this morning, I would admit, but they are very good at home. and Denver's not terribly deep. So as Yokic pulls back as a score in the fourth quarter, there are glimmers of hope, right?

Yeah, I don't like when you look at it is they got to win four or five. You say that, and it's like, well, they're not winning the series, especially two in Denver. But I think if you just, you know, game by game, you know, I think AD and LeBron lead a little more rest, right? When you get a nine-point lead, you got to pull those guys and rest them for the fourth quarter. LeBron missing 19 straight fourth quarter threes. in the playoffs. That's the craziest number of the postseason to me.

19 straight, Colin? Well, and to make it worse, he easily gets to the basket. He's shooting 72% in the series on twos. Yeah. So LeBron, knowing he can score virtually 75% of the time is settling for threes. It feels like an energy-conserving strategy that is failing and he knows it. Did you notice when he went down with the ankle at one point under the hoop, he tied shoe and then he just reached and tied the other shoe for really no reason, as if to buy himself

like 30 extra seconds or a minute when he had that flop near mid court. He like just stayed down. You know, he was looking to conserve energy. It's tough in the altitude, man. And this guy's 38 years old, year 20. I don't blame LeBron for this loss. Like Anthony Davis being four of 15 is what we've talked about. When can he play back-to-back good games? But, you know, and again, it's so easy to bang on 38-year-old LeBron in high altitude. But let's be honest about this. Denver is younger, longer. They play in this environment. I'm going to high altitude after the show today.

It always takes me two days, a half to two days, to get right. Also, Jamal Murray had 23 points in the fourth quarter. Like the Lakers had 24. That's not sustainable. That was just pretty volcanic from my guy. Jamal Murray, I've been hyping him to you for a while. I know he's good. He's a little Devin Booker.

We know he's very good. He goes on heaters. And when he does, game over. Fearless, kind of like you and I. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. You been. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific on Fox Sports Radio, FS1, and the IHeart Radio app. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal, but encouraged.

It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's Superhuman documented it all. embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the I-Hard Radio app, Apple Podcasts,

or wherever you get your podcasts. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care which 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.

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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 blow your mind on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. So one of the things you noticed last night, Denver right now has been the better team. They're bigger, they're more dynamic, they're longer than at home. I think the Lakers win game three, and it looks a little different. There is a hole in Denver, the number one seat in the West, is that you've got to keep Yokach on the floor.

And they play them 33 minutes in the regular season. They're playing him 42 minutes in these games, and that's against AD. So he wears down, they're not terribly deep. And this team has to really grind in the fourth quarter. But it's not a Jason Tatum situation where he disappears for three quarters and is great in the fourth. he's great every night, but they play him 42 minutes in the playoffs, and he gets worn down because they don't really have a bench. They have two bigs on the bench that don't do anything.

And so in the last couple of games, combined, he's 0 for six on the fourth quarter, but he's not a selfish, arrogant player. He becomes very much a facilitator. That's why he got 12 assists last night. So if this was a relay team, he runs the first 70 percent, then he hands the baton of Jamal Murray, and last night he closes the relay team. And so it's a team that's got, they're very efficient, they know what they are, but when they play Yokic, these huge minutes, especially against AD, he wears down and he has to transition to kind of a facilitator late, whereas LeBron becomes a three-point shooter late, and he's not making any of them. And so the key for Denver is, and here's the concern for the Lakers, the Nuggets have a hole, but it's the Lakers hole. AD doesn't give you great fourth quarters consistently. He doesn't give you great offense consistently.

He wears down. LeBron wears down. So that's the real advantage here. Every team has a hole, right? We've got a salary cap. It's like the NFL in the 70s you could keep. Pittsburgh Steelers had like nine pro bowlers, 10 pro bowlers. You can't keep guys like that.

Philadelphia gets to a Super Bowl doesn't even win. They have to move off four or five defensive players. That's the reality of the sport now. Kansas City Chiefs have to move up Tyreek Hill. You just, you know, you pay your quarterback. You start paying the quarterback. You've got to move off people constantly. So these teams,

Boston's kind of deep, but Milwaukee got old. You know, the Knicks don't have enough shooters. Everybody's got a hole. Boston probably has the least. They've got a hole here, but it's the Lakers hole. So I'm not sure if it really hurts. You know, I watched last night, and you start looking at the numbers, and the real concerning thing for the Lakers here is that this was the game built for them to win.

second game, four nights, Yokic wears down, and to show you how fragile the Lakers' straw house is, it just took a two and a half minute blitz by Jamal Murray to have it burned down. I mean, Lakers were in control of the game, but it's a very fragile state for the Lakers. All it took was a two and a half minute blitz. Jamal Murray, one point lead by Denver, 12 point. Here's Mike Malone after. One man can't win a championship. I mean, I was with LeBron for five years in Cleveland.

We got close, but you need help. And Nicola has help. And the biggest key, Ome, as you know, is that we're healthy this year. The last two post seasons, there was no Jamal Murray. Last year, there was no Michael Porter. So Michael Porter, the level he's playing at, the level that Jamal's playing at. Aaron Gordon doing a lot of the dirty work, KCP playing his game. Bruce Brown off the bench has just been outstanding.

So we know how great Nicola is, but every great player needs help. Yeah. Again, Denver's not flawless. They got a hole. My take is I think it's the Lakers hole as well. Their big gets fatigue late. LeBron gets fatigue late. He looked gassed.

A.D. gets fatigue. Back-to-back games, offense disappears. J. Mack with the news. No, no, no, no. Turn on the news. This is the herd line news. So game two of the Eastern Conference Finals is tonight in Boston. Can't wait.

Miami up won nothing. Obviously must win for the Celtics. Robert Williams, who played really good in the Philly series. Good first half against Miami. I don't remember one play he made in the second half. Well, Bam Otabaiu, his length is... Bam's one of those guys. He can drive Miami Heat fans crazy.

But for a big, he is so active on both ends. He's jumping on the floor. He's blocking shots. He's around the basketball. Bam is in his athletic prime. Bam's a handful in this series and kind of, you know, makes Robert Williams really forgettable. So here's what Robert Williams had to say about the Celtics mentality.

There's no doubt in my mind that we'll come out ready to play in game two. But the problem is we can't keep relying on that. We can't rely on our backs being against the wall. There's no time for it. We have to fix it. Yeah, I think it's just a mental thing with Boston, Colin. They just aren't locked in for 48 minutes. It's like first half, ball moving around, popping.

Smart had 10 assists. Like, they looked like the best team in the league. Their last 22 games at home. They're 11 and 11. And that's one of the loudest places in the league to play. You know, we tend to think the NFL is the coaches league, right? NBA, it's players. It's not.

Like, this is the best coach in the world right now, arguably. And there are those that believe a coach that's probably on the bottom end of the spectrum. So what you're watching in this series, if you don't think coaching, I know we all go and we rip players or we worship players. But this is really going to be, A, the talent's probably a little closer than we want to admit. Al Horford's old. Robert Williams doesn't score. Marcus Smart's mostly defense. They're really two guys in Brogden in terms of their offense.

You know you get Jalen, Tatum, and Brogden can play. Well, I got Jimmy Butler, Bam, and Lowry. Lowry average is the same as Marcus Smart, so it's like Boston's more talented. I think Miami's the gaps a little closer than guys like me want to say. The second thing is, it's a big coaching mismatch. So when this series is over, for all of you that don't think coaching manners,

maybe this is why the NBA fires coaches, you know, on an annual basis, that game one felt like a complete coaching, utter coaching mismatch. As close as you make it sound, do you want to guess what the spread is tonight? And I'll give you a hint. In game one, it was eight and a half. I know. I bet down to eight.

Okay, so I told you in game one, you were here as a witness. I thought that was a disrespectful and egregious line against Miami. Fair. I would say Boston's favored by seven and a half tonight. What, where is it? Nine. But I don't think. Well, the zigzag theory.

Okay. So tonight, I would take Boston. With the nine or just a wait? I think what's going to happen, it's going to be reasonably close, but Boston will bring what they lacked in game one, which is sort of energy focus. and I think Boston pulls away. If you look at the game two,

Boston won, game one against Milwaukee got smashed in game two. Boston won game one against New York, lost game two. It feels like Miami has one in the bag. They probably take their foot off the gas a little bit. If it got ugly early, I would pull back the minutes

big on Jimmy Butler. I mean, this series, after Miami won the first, didn't you think to yourself, oh, we're going six or seven? This is a six or seven. And I thought Miami was definitely the side. We'll see. I have some doubts now on Boston.

Next up, Greg Popovich. He's been with the Spurs since 96, led the team to five titles. But Colin, his contract expired at the end of the season. They expect him to return, but no deal in place yet. Do you think the Wembenyama winning the lottery, do you think it, listen, I know everybody's going to say, obviously Popovich wants to come back. Listen, the guy's been through a lot personally, you know, off the court, and he's in his 70s now. Like, are you committing to, oh, yeah, I'm going to be around for five years of Wembeon.

I was told this years ago by a very smart person, an agent. And he said, you're fine in the entertainment business until the first number is eight. And then there's cognitive decline. So Greg Popovich, because he's around young people, because his income and his travel, he's going to live longer than the average person. He eats better, better medical care. He's around young people. All that red wine. Well, I mean, I just, I think Popovich, you know, when you're around young people, you stay a little younger.

He's a very active guy. He's at practice every day. He's moving. So I think that does matter as you age. I think he's fine for about three years. I think if I was the Spurs, then even Popovic. What I would feel is I think Greg's fine for three more years. But I do think you do have to have a plan in place.

Like a Nick Saban is going to be fine for the next three to four years. But I do think Nick Saban at some point, if he loves Alabama as much as I think Nick Saban loves Alabama, you want to hand that puppy off to somebody that can really do it. So I think Pop for three years, you're great. Then you start getting into 78, 79-ish, 77. That's when I think you have to have the next plan. It's weird. I thought Belichick would want to retire after he lost Brady,

but it seems like there's no end in sight for Belichick. He wants to stick around. I just wonder, like, you know, these young guys take a couple of years. Like, LeBron didn't make the playoffs in year one. We don't know if Wemidiyama will. I think we'll do that in headlines later. Well, I mean, Tatum, number three pick, has been everything you would hope for. There's everything you'd hope for.

Great kid, everything. he gets the conference finals, and it's a great roster. It's the best roster, arguably, with Denver left. So the Spurs are at least a few years away from being a legit contender. We don't know what they're going to do at free agency. I would say four years. Okay, so Popovich, that's a tough timeline for this guy. Yeah, I mean, Popovich builds it up.

Does he have to hand it to somebody? I mean, San Antonio's had so much success. It's very much the family. There's got to be somebody in the family. They believe it. By the way, they found Spolstra, the Portland Trailblazers, The Miami, he came out of like a film room. There's somebody in that organization.

I don't know who it is. There is somebody in that organization. Like the Warriors think Kenny Atkinson's great. If Steve Kerr was retiring, they'd give that job to Kenny Atkinson. They think he's the next, you know, bright young guy. But Kerr's still very, very vibrant and young. But there's somebody in the Spurs organization, and they've kind of said he's the next guy. I doubt they go outside.

I doubt they go outside. Yeah, final story. Portland, they got the third pick in the draft this year. William Lillard has been committed to Portland for his entire career. He started to get into it on social media with some of these fans who are speculating. Maybe it's time to start a rebuild. Dame responded on Twitter saying, if the fans want to trade me, start the petition and send it in.

I've been on the same time over a decade. I'm just saying if people got different wishes, shrug emoji. It's got to be a tough spot for Dame Lillard, Colin. Let's just be real. you're not getting a number two, like player alongside Dame to make you a contender for the number three pick. That's not happening. Also, there's a reason that celebrities should not get into sparring matches on the internet. Because people on the internet have nothing to lose.

Dame does. It's an unfair fight. Anonymous people with nothing to lose. Dame's a celebrity with stuff to lose. So stay out of that space. I don't have a problem with Portland doing either. I said this yesterday, and I firmly believe. believe it, that Damien Lillard is too great a player. He is now geographically isolated, and he's not

on TV in May and June. And I just think it would be good for him and his business to go somewhere where he's playing at this time of the year. And that's not a knock on the Blazers. I think you can fetch a lot for Damian Lillard. He still has two to three years of being an elite shooter. You have to surround him with better defensive guards. He's a little bit of a liability there. but leadership, guile, toughness, coachability, I think, you can't, and I've said this about Bradley Beal for years. The bummer is, there's so much better than most people understand. They just haven't been, you got to play the playoffs last nine and a half weeks. That's when people watch the NBA is the last nine and a half weeks and too often dames not playing.

He's barely been healthy the last two years. I do want to point out the Kevin Garnett situation. Remember in Minnesota, he took them to a conference finals. they got destroyed. But he was like, I'm sticking around in Minnesota. I like it here. I'm going to win. And then eventually the Celtics came along and were like,

hey, we're building a super team. And KG thought about it. I was like, I think I'll go. And then he wins a title in Boston. Like, Dame, I know he wants to stay in Portland and be that homegrown guy. But at some point, like, somebody's got to get in his ear and be like, yo, you could

maybe win a championship if you leave. Like, I get you want to be there. I think almost all people want to be loyal. And how do I know that? 40% of Americans never leave their area code. Now, by the way, many people don't, they want to stay, but they grow up, I grew up in a small town. So the people who often do stay, I mean a lot of Californians born, left briefly came back because there's a lot of jobs here. New York, Illinois, Chicago, Philadelphia, Dallas, Atlanta.

There's a lot of jobs and opportunities there. players want to stay. They all, I think LeBron James would have never left had he gotten titles, and I think overwhelmingly athletes want to stay. But LeBron left because they couldn't find him a two. By the way, Dwayne Wade stayed all, except for about for 10 minutes. Why? Because Miami kept delivering great coaching and great rosters.

These guys all, Kobe wanted to stay. He threatened Chicago for five minutes. Shaq didn't want to leave, but Shaq and Kobe were battling, and then Miami came. But if you ask Shaq, he would have wanted to be a Laker, a heat. He didn't want to bounce around to Phoenix and Cleveland. So I think people, by and large, leave. I've said this before in my career. I love doing local TV.

But I saw what was happening that the big, the cable giants were eating up local sports. And then I went to ESPN. I didn't leave because I was miserable. I left because there were some management stuff and there was other opportunities. But most people, I think, don't want to leave. Why do you think that's? Why do you think that is that's a crazy number? 40% of people stay in their hometown.

Because I think we like human connection. You can't make connection outside of your hometown? Like that's a weird number. Yonis doesn't want to leave. Yonis will leave though. If the Warriors came after him and he's like, oh, I get to play with Steph and this and this. And I get, Janus wants to stay. There was something on the internet yesterday where somebody brought up on some FaceTime thing

or something about Golden State and he kind of smiled. He won a title in Milwaukee. And this year he got bounced. He would love to stay. But Milwaukee isn't a huge free agent hub. But overwhelmingly, people, I mean, don't you get those warm fuzzies? You go back home. You go back and see your friends.

For like five minutes and then you're like, oh, geez, I remember this is kind of boring. But, no, I mean, there's a big world. There's a big country. Let's go out and see it. Go out and experience life. You and I, maybe are a little different. Well, I think both my parents left the Caribbean to come to America and, you know, offered a lot. And, like, when I first broached my wife, hey, Fox is interested.

Do you want to move to California? I was like, I don't know. Then we come out here. We went to dinner with you and your wife. And we're like, all right, let's sign a lease. Let's get out here. It's amazing. I mean, it's a lot of fun.

My Ann, quite a sales pitch by Ann. Yes, it was a hard sell from Ann, yeah. All right. Jay Mack with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The Herd Lie News. Be sure to catch live editions of the Herd Weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m.

Pacific. Hey, I'm Doug Gottlieb. The podcast is called All Ball. We usually talk all basketball all the time, but it's more about the stories about what made these people love their sport and all the interesting interactions along the way. We talk to coaches.

We talk to players. We tell you stories. You download it. You listen to it. I think you like it. Listen to All Ball with Doug Gottlieb on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, wherever you get your podcast.

Imagine an 11th, 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. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what you're saying. Yep, that's me, Cliver Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, the reactions,

my journey from basketball to college football, or my career in sports media. Well, somewhere along the way, this platform became bigger than I ever imagined. And now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfiltered conversations with some of your favorite athletes,

creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. One week, I'll take you behind the scenes, of the biggest moments in sports and entertainment, and the next we'll talk about life, mental health, purpose, and even music. The Clifford Show isn't just a podcast, it's a space for honest conversations,

stories that don't always get told, and for people who are chasing something bigger. So, if you've ever supported me, or you're just chasing down a dream, this is right where you need to be. Listen to the Clifford show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple 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 Blow Your Mind on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever. you get your podcast. What a play. Wilson going deep. Over the middle.

He's got a man. Cut touchdown. Valletta, two for two. This is tipped up in the air, though. It's intercepted. I know you, mom. Lowers the boom, and this is what this guy does. Bam.

Takes another carry for himself. What a play from DeAndre Johnson. Into the end zone wide open touchdown. The showboats. Happy Mother's day. Tomorrow, the USFL kicks off. at 4 Eastern on Fox as the Birmingham Stallions take on the Michigan Panthers. Sunday at New Orleans Breakers Battle of Philadelphia Stars on FS1 then. It's the New Jersey Generals against

the Houston Gamblers at 4 on Fox. The worst plus minus of all the players in the Western Conference finals is DeAngelo Russell. All I ever hear on the internet. Oh, Delo, DeLo, let's save the great nicknames for the great players, shall we? his he's minus 41 through two games 59 minute minus 41 I've said this with Delo there's a reason the Warriors got him out of town fast there's a reason Minnesota let him go there's a reason the Lakers let him go there's a reason the Lakers won't re-sign him he's talented

he's not a winning player he's been a disaster in the series Austin Reeves hasn't Ruy's been excellent LeBron and AD you mostly know what you get mostly I've said this about Zach Levine in Chicago he's very talented. His plus minus is minus three. That's his average. Yokic, I don't expect everybody to be Yokic, but Yokic is plus nine. Best in the NBA. So the difference between Yokic and Zach Levine is 12 points, and that's because Yokic can score. He's more efficient. He doesn't pound the basketball and have others witness it. He facilitates. He's not a great defender. Zach Levine's not a great defender either, but there's a lot of play. I said, I said there's always two kind of stars in Hollywood.

There's the stars that can drive people to a platform. Tom Cruise can drive you and I to a theater. There's actors that can drive us to James Cameron can drive people to a theater. People drive you to Netflix or Hulu, whatever they drive you. And then there's just stars that you'd recognize if you ran into them at a restaurant. You go, well, what's the name of that, what's the name of that lady? Oh, what's the name of that guy? It's the same in the NBA. There's a bunch of, stars that if they walked into a restaurant you were at, you'd go, wow, there's very few stars that are winning players. Yokic is the best currently in the NBA. This is what I've said about the most valuable player award. I know M.B.'s talented. I don't think he's the most valuable player. Hardin won it.

Russell Westbrook won it. I don't doubt their talent. They're Hall of Famers. I don't think they're valuable. They're just amazing individual players. And that's why when you can get a player like Yokic, that Tim Duncan, where it's LeBron James in his prime, magic, where they're not only great, but when they're not, they can facilitate others. That is a winning player. A lot of the winning player stuff is like hard work, like setting screens is a winning player. Westbrook doesn't like doing that. Hustling back on defense, help defense. Talent and winning player. A lot of guys with talent, Carmelo wouldn't defend. Hardin won't defend. The winning player stuff isn't just talent.

In fact, it's usually the dirty work, and Yokic is willing to set screens and facility. Draymond Green does more dirty work than anybody in the NBA. He averages seven and a half game. He's a winning player. And so this goes, you know, DeAngelo Russell. Lakers let him go. T-woolves let him go. Warriors got, there's a reason.

It's not because he's not talented, but he's got a minus 41 plus minus. Barutol. and Zach Levine J. Mack is minus three for his career. Now you could say, well, he's not around much, but he doesn't, but they had enough talent this year. They had players around them. You've got to facilitate stuff beyond yourself to be a winning player. So Tom Brady was at a luncheon yesterday with all four of the top four

rookie quarterbacks. And he was talking about, you know, where you get drafted, so forth, so on. Here's Tom. Going in the second round, in the end, that's the first. not real that big of the deal. Going first overall, in the end, it's not a big deal. It's great. You got an opportunity. You're probably going to be paid more than anyone for a time period. But I was drafted, you know, $1.99. I just outlasted everybody. There's another me back there. Right. So how do I keep my edge on everybody? Nice. I had to keep working. I didn't go, hey, I'm good.

Right? I won three Super Bowls. I'm good. So what's interesting about this is I do think Bryce Young is the best quarterback. But what's interesting to get to the number one spot to get him, look what Carolina gave up. Not only a bunch of picks, but they gave up their best receiver, DJ Moore. How much better this year would Bryce Young be with DJ Moore? But they had to give that up. They could have gotten to the number three pick, Houston, or number two or three pick, and not giving up DJ more, just giving up picks.

But to get to number one, they had to give up DJ more. And the downside to being a number one pick is it usually means you enter a really bad roster and often a really bad culture. It is interesting how much better the roster and the culture are. If you just move down to a number seven pick or number eight or nine or ten, I'll give you an example, is that Kansas City was a playoff team. And they moved from 27, but they only moved to 10. And all they had to give up was a number three and a number one the following year to get Patrick Mahomes.

Because they only moved up to 10. It's a good, decent roster, excellent coach and Colger, and they didn't have to gut their draft capital. How about the bills? The bills were a decent team. They were a playoff team the year before. They weren't dynamic enough offensively. So they went from 12 to just seven. All they gave up was two-toes, two-toes to get Josh Allen.

So that's what, if you look at Justin Herbert, what did the chargers give up? Nothing. Kansas City and Buffalo were able to get superstar quarterbacks at 10 or at 7. It's not they didn't move up a lot of spots, But once you get up to number one, two, and three, those are bad cultures and bad rosters. And then you ask a young person to save the franchise. They often have a bad owner. They have bad players.

Now, I do think Carolina has done it right with Frank Reich, and they've got a very, very wealthy owner. But when you give away DJ Moore, that's going to cost you games this year. And so, in fact, Carolina, to get the number one pick not only had to give up two-toos and a first, but a star receiver. They don't have another star receiver on the roster. And so you start going to a lot of the best quarterbacks in the league. Justin Herbert went sixth. Mahomes 10th. Lamar Jackson 32nd.

Josh Allen 27th. They entered good cultures, good rosters, capable coaches, decent ownership. So like Caleb Williams next year, let's say Arizona is not favored in a single game next year. There will be an underdog as of this morning on the betting line in every game. As great as Caleb Williams is, Michael Bidwell, bottom three owner. Roster, bottom six to seven. Culture, awful. Now, their new coach, defensive coach, may change that.

But you're going to be asking him to save the franchise. We never asked Mahomes to save the franchise. They made the playoffs. Didn't ask Josh Allen to save the franchise. Didn't ask Lamar Jackson to save the franchise. guys. And by the way, Philip Rivers to Herbert, the Chargers were always capable. They had to rebuild their offensive line. It was really bad when he first got there. They were capable. I mean, how many years have we talked about the Chargers?

No, nobody disappoints us like the Chargers. Well, to be disappointing, people have to think you've got talent. So it's interesting when Tom Brady talks about this. I honestly believe the quarterback that has the best opening year chance to succeed is Will Levin. Will Levis went second round. No pressure. Excellent coach. Wonky division. Very good defense. And here's the other thing.

Not only did Tennessee not have to give up draft capital to get him, but they were able to use the first pick on a Northwestern offensive linemen Skoronski that many believe myself included was the best offensive linemen in the draft. So instead of giving up DJ Moore and, Carolina to get Bryce Young, Will Levis gets probably a 10 to 12 years stud on the offensive line, hopefully in front of him. So Will Levis looks at it as a loss in the history of the NFL. None of the great quarterbacks ever make their big money in the first contract. You make it in the second, third, or in Brady's case, the fourth. So you look at Will Levis

and everybody gets sensitive to give up any draft capital. He got arguably the best coach, the best culture, the easiest division, the best pick in front of him. He'll be fun. If Will Levis doesn't succeed, it's on Will Levis. There are times guys don't succeed, and it's like kind of on them, but kind of on the mess. I mean, I don't like the Houston Texans' ownership situation. I think C.J. Strout is more than capable. He is a first round quarterback, and I do believe he's a franchise quarterback.

I think it's going to be gofflike. You're going to wish after a few years he had more juice. but if he fails, it's not going to be all on him. It will probably be upstairs, impulsiveness, right? If Will Levis fails, it's on Will. Good coach, nice culture, play defense, start running back, and you've got to stud on the offensive line in front of you in a very weird, wonky division.

All right, hour one is in the books. The Warriors, are they teetering? Interesting news out this morning. On a Friday, hour two, live in L.A. next. Another podcast from some SNL late night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, S&L's Mikey Day and 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. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what I'm saying. Yep, that's me, Clivert Taylor the 4th.

You might have seen the skits, my basketball and college football journey, or my career in sports media. Well, now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Cliford Show. This is a place for raw, unfilled conversations with athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. So let's get to it. Listen to the Clifford show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok's podcast network on TikTok. 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. 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the I-Hart

radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed human.