The Herd with Colin Cowherd - The Herd - Hour 1 - The Heat have the better coach

Episode Date: May 22, 2023

The Celtics are simply being out coached The Lakers age is showing against the Nuggets Jayson Tatum will probably be "that guy" in BostonSee 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,

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Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the I-Hard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, this is Robert from the Stuff to Blow Your Mind podcast. Joe and I are both lifelong Star Wars fan, so we're celebrating May the 4th with a brand new week of fun, thought-provoking Star Wars-related episodes. Join us as we tackle science and culture topics from a galaxy far, far away, such as the biology of 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 Bole Your Mind on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever

you get your podcasts. Thanks for listening to The Heard 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 IHeartRadio app by searching Heard. Now let's get this party started. You're listening to Fox Sports Radio. Here we go. It is is a Monday and a busy one live in Los Angeles. It's the herd. Wherever you may be and however you may be listening, lots of choices out there. Thanks for making us part of your day. One hour from now where Colin was right, where Colin was really wrong, plenty of both. Jay Mack has a chance

to go to the Lakers game tonight. He's going to stay with a family pass, hard pass. It was a tough one for predictions. Celtics Heat. Lakers Nuggets game three. Lakers Nuggets, you can chalk it up to one team's the better team with their players in their prime. What we're watching with Boston, who, remember during the Atlanta series? We were like, why are these games so close? So you see this a lot in college sports where a really good coach leaves and they give a coordinator the job at a big program and he's just not ready. He's a coordinator. He's a two not a one. You see this all the time in college sports. The difference is, you know, we don't pay attention to some random college team. The Boston Celtics are a big, big, big, big brand. This is national TV. And their coach isn't

ready. Don't blame the players. These same players were great last year. It's the coach. It happens. He's over his head and he's going up against probably the best coach in basketball every other night. on national TV. It's like the Celtics are this elegant, talented, five-star restaurant, and the chef has butchered the meal on national TV, and people are streaming out of it across the street to a food truck, the Miami Heat with no frills, paper plates, and for eight bucks, you get the best sandwich in town. It makes the heat so redeemable and so easy to love because they're everything. Boston isn't. Underdogs, untouted, tough, fighters, relentless. and it's playing out on television.

Night after night, after night. It's the coach. And then you combine Joe Missoula, probably a great guy, but he's not ready for the gig. He's a kid. And you combine him with this relentless heat team and the coach and the weird Jalen Brown,

Jason Tatum, end of game vibe. And then you combine that with Jalen Brown's hand, which is hurt obviously, because now he's two for 20 on three. and it's just the perfect storm to be an absolute mess. And again, remember during the Boston Atlanta series, J. Mack and I would come on the air and were like, Quinn Snyder got the job in late February,

trying to build a culture in March. In April, he's in the playoffs, and they took the Celtic 6 in the last four games. They were scoring like 130, 120, and we're like, how's Atlanta scoring these many points? It was the coach of Boston, Joe Missoula. He's over his skis. Same dudes last year, most.

were tough and feisty, confrontational, trapping, adjustments. They sought out matchups. This team's just not, they hired a coordinator. He's not ready for the Bama job or the Oklahoma job. He's not ready for the Carolina basketball job. He's not ready. But we're watching this thing play out on TV and he's not ready. And the chef butchered the meal.

It's bad. And, you know, as I look at this, it's interesting with Jason Tatum. So Tatum's a guy that's got some self-doubt, the opposite of Butler who has zero. So Tatum has had very strong coaches in his career. Mike Shishchevsky, Brad Stevens, Ime Adoku, strong, strong coaches. And they have elevated Tatum, infused confidence in Tatum. These are really, really high-end coaches. So Tatum now, who's got really an assistant coach pretending to be.

a head coach. I mean, they offered him the job. He took it. And Tatum is shrinking. Do you know he hasn't hit a shot in the fourth quarter, a field goal in the series, in the fourth quarter? And he was first team all NBA. And this was the year. This was what makes it really difficult for Boston. These title windows shrink fast. This was the year. The heat knocked out the Milwaukee Bucks. The Sixers stars imploded. The Warriors are in a rebuild year. This was the year. This was the year. LeBron's too old.

And now you've got a major question on your hands. Uh-oh. Tatum and Brown qualify for the max extension. 613 million. What are you going to do now? My takeaway is you can't blame the players. It happens. Great organizations.

You can go to the history of the best college basketball and football programs. They whiff on coaches. USC football's done it a couple of times. line of basketball's done it. Notre Dame football once hired a high school football coach from Ohio. It happens. He's a kid. They gave him the gig. They got trapped. The other coach was really good. He got in trouble. They had to get rid of him. You can blame the players all you want. I do think they need to tweak the offense. They've got enough defensive guys. Their defense is fine. They'll get the right coach. The defense will be fine. But you got to move off the coach. You can't move off all the players.

you're not moving off Tatum. You know, you're not going to move off all these players. So Joe Missoula, to his credit, was at least accountable afterwards. I just didn't have them ready to play. I should have, whatever it was, whether it was the starting lineup, or it was an adjustment, just I have to get them in a better place, ready to play. That's on me. Okay.

All I'm hearing, all I'm hearing from Denver Nugget fans, all I'm hearing, oh, the disrespect. Nobody respects us. They have a 3-0 series leading the Lakers. Listen, it's not disrespectful to respect history. There's a history in the NBA. When you get these young, really talented teams that look like they could win a championship, Katie and Westbrook and OKC, hardened in his prime with the rockets,

Lobb City, Blake Griffin, D'Andre Jordan, Chris Paul. These Celtics, the early 2000 Sacramento, No Kings, and you got a nothing burger. Because these young teams, they get in, like the Celtics last year, in their prime. And here come the old heads, Dremont and Steph Curry, and they knock them down a peg. And so when the Denver Nuggets are rising and ascending with young stars, it's okay for us to go, well, I don't know. Let's see what they're like on the big stage.

Now, they've been very good on the big stage, but we didn't know. They remind me in the Milwaukee Bucks. Remember, pre-title? You had this MVP unique big and Janus, a wing player in Chris Middleton, a good and unknown coach. You had no history of greatness. You had to go back to the 70s. Denver didn't have any history of greatness in titles. So everybody's like, what are they going to look like when you put the old heads on the

floor, when you put LeBron James on the floor? You know what they've looked like? Great. Unlike Nash's sons and the KD. Westbrook Thunder hardens rockets, these Celtics, they have risen and they are starring. But it's not disrespectful to respect NBA history. There have been steps for decades. I've been watching it since the 70s. You're good.

Then you're really good. Then you get to a championship in the conference and lose. Or you get to the finals and the old heads knock you back a peg or two. These guys are young, ascending Michael Porter, Jamal, Murray, and. and Yokic are all in their prime and all getting better. And the Lakers, LeBron looks really old, 80s and old 30. And Austin Reeves is what Austin Reeves is. They rose.

They didn't shrink. But it's okay because we've watched all sorts of teams shrink. We watched that game seven after the refs took away game six, right? Against the Lakers, game seven, the Kings had a chance to win it and stunk to join up. It was right there for him. And they stunk it up. Katie and Westbrook got to a finals. Couldn't get it done. Lobb City, fun to watch, not fun in the postseason.

Time and these Celtics, hired the wrong coach, regress backwards. It's not disrespectful. We just didn't know if these, we didn't know if the young guys would step to the table. You got Jamal Murray on a heater. Yokic like Janus is hard to defend and elevating others at a historic level. And Michael Porter had had injuries. He was a great high school college talent, but we kind of waited for Michael Porter for years. He was like this AAU kid.

You're like, oh, he's going to be great. He got hurt. And now, and he totally understands his role in the team. Now Michael Porter's finally arrived. So it's Michael Porter into his prime and Murray into his prime. Hey, Murray had a big injury. Remember? A lot of people bailed on him.

He went to the coaching staff at Denver and said, are you going to bail on me? He's now ascending in his prime and Yokic is ascending. I mean, this isn't even a great Yokage series by his career numbers. And that's what you're watching. Old LeBron, an old 30-year-old AD, and Austin Reeves is what he is. But it's okay because NBA history, this situation, these Denver Nuggets, we've seen them wilt under these lights dozens and dozens of times. And this team's got no wilt in them.

They got none. And it's great to see. I'll tell you this, I can't wait for a Nugget Heat Final. It won't rate in terms of TV ratings. My takeaway is Denver's going to be a handful size-wise for anybody, but you're going up against the best coach in the world right now. Eric Spolstra, Spoh has just unraveled Joe Missoula and the Celtics. So, J-Mack, it's been fun.

It's Denver. Listen, you can say what you want about Denver. You and I love basketball. We've seen this spot, and we've seen teams like Denver with ascending stars, and you're like, I mean, we're asking ourselves this morning. Are the Celtics ever going to win one? Yeah. The Miami Heat have broken all the analytical models, Colin.

They had a negative net rating this season. They were 27th in the league in three-pointers in the playoffs their first. Like, nothing makes sense. They were outscored in the regular season, a negative point differential. And they're about to be in the finals. Is it? Is it? the most coach-driven team ever.

Think about this. When Nick Saban got to the SEC, I mean, for about 10 years, he was blowing everybody out. But it was a weird time in the SEC. Spurrier, Urban had moved out, right? Kind of. And so the coaching was bad.

There's guys now that are out of the profession. Now Georgia finally got the right coach. Ole Miss gets the right coach. Now Nick Sabin looks mortal. Look at the Eastern Conference this year. Philly hired old Dock Rivers to fix the culture, did, but limitations. Tibado fixed the next culture, did, but limitations. Missoula, over his head.

Bood and holes are unraveled. You can argue the better coaching's out west, this is a unique two or three year window of weaker, well, I would say maybe a unique window this year because of Missoula and Eric Spolstra, a great coach like Sabin, in a poor. orally coached conference is just, this has become, Miami's as much about coaching as it is about Jimmy Butler. I mean, you don't go from Boston last year, an elite defensive team with the same dude still in their prime to this.

I mean, when Miami's got 61 at half. Yeah. I've been workshopping something about how deep the league is right now and the player pool is better than it's ever been. And Miami's got four undrafted players. who look better than all of Boston's role players. Caleb Martin, Duncan Robinson last night, Struce and Vincent are like,

they're better than Marcus Smart. They're just dominating them in this series. Colin, I've never seen anything like this. I cannot remember a series where undrafted guys are crushing big money dudes. And Boston's like, what do we do? Well, I do think there's a, I believe, and this is just me, I would move off Horford and Marcus Smart.

Now, I know Marcus Smart can be kind of the soul of the team. But the reality is this offense needs a hyper-confident player to get them into sets. I feel like Marcus Smart's a defensive guy. Jalen Brown's a wing. They need a quarterback. They don't have one. They were two games away from winning the title last year, and they were like a top three team all season at best roster.

I mean, by the way, are those two moves after or before you fire Missoula? I don't think you have to trade the team. I think they need a tweak at point guard. They need a real leader. He does not have to be, as I said, Jordan Poole. I don't need a great defender. That roster's got defenders. That's not the issue.

They're bad this year because of the coach. They've got to get somebody to get them into their offense, can hit a three. You know, smart plays defense. Tatum plays defense. Robert Williams, Brown. I'm not worried about defense. Get a confident, not crazy, not Kyrie.

get a confident point guard, can have some defensive limitations, get you into your offense, big confidence to overcome Tatum's often lack of confidence. There is one of those out West currently who is on a bad team. He said he doesn't want to leave his city. His name is Damian Lillard. Do you part with Jalen Brown for Damian Lillard? Or, I mean, Jalen Brown's all NBA this season. Are we going off three games in the playoffs, maybe a little more,

or the 82 game sample size where he was one of the 15 best players in the league? It's all fun. It is. Fun off season ahead. Yep, 40 minutes, 45 minutes from now, Colin Wright, Colin, wrong. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific. On Fox Sports Radio, FS1, and the IHeard Radio app. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal but encouraged. It's the enhanced games.

Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's Superhuman documented it all. 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, Clipper Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, the reactions, my journey from basketball to college football, or my career in sports media. Well, somewhere along the way, this platform became bigger than I ever imagined. And now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfiltered conversations with some of your favorite athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated.

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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 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. So the Jason Tatum dilemma is an interesting one. I think he's always going to be, and I said this last week, I think this is who Jason Tatum is. We all try to solve all these players. You know, you kind of, I got a bunch of

kids. You are what you are at six. You're just different variations of it. I think Tatum's always going to be an odd fit in Boston, which is an in-your-face town. And he's sort of an understated personality. But Magic and Michael and Jordan and LeBron, they didn't always have a perfect coach either. They didn't disintegrate. They didn't disappear. I mean, again, LeBron and Magic, we know, Joe Missoula, it's a, it's a disaster. Okay, you can't not have a field goal in the fourth quarter of a series or shoot 25% from three. And I think, I think Tatum needs a strong coach to elevate him and he had it with Coach K and he had it with Brad Stevens. It's, you know, Michael, Magic LeBron, don't relinquish all fight. The ball's in your hands, bro. Go Alpha. And maybe maybe Tateau. Maybe Tate is just too nice of a guy. Maybe he doesn't have that rip your heart out, Gene. Whatever.

But sports, and we've said this time and time again, sports rewards aggressive. Jimmy Butler is aggressive. Kobe, Shaq, D. Wade, Michael, they were aggressive. Brady was aggressive. Peyton Manning barking at teammates was aggressive. Jimmy Butler's self-belief is on display, and it is perfect for postseason basketball. And Tatum is sort of disappearing into the tapest. And, you know, it's interesting because Boston, one of the reasons Boston wins a lot in sports,

and they're usually good with their teams is because they're aggressive. And sports rewards aggressive. The aggressive free agent move, the aggressive trade. You know, the Red Sox, by the way, feel like they've gotten less aggressive through the years. The Dodgers and the Padres are buying players, and you get rewarded for that. But I look at the history of Boston, Big Poppy and Kevin Garnett. and Larry Bird and Brady, they're just unapologetically confident. And Jason Tatum, like 10 days ago, I think it was, went out and said,

I'm one of the best players in the world, and it just sounded uncomfortable. It just sounded like he didn't want to say it but felt he had to say it. And I just think, I wouldn't get rid of Tatum, but is he just the world's best too? We said this for years about Anthony Davis. Now, I think Tatum is one of the great two-way players in the game, and he is a one. but his personalities, it's a two. Jimmy Butler's got a one personality. We've seen it before.

He's a fighter. And, you know, Tatum doesn't quite have that dog in him. And so I think you just have to come to terms with it. I think Boston loves, because it's an in-your-face, sort of obnoxious town politically in sports, they just love the fighters. They love Big Poppy. They love KG and they love Burt and they love Brady pumping the fist and in your face. That's not who Tatum is, man. He's a nice kid.

You know, when I watch him, I know the coach is bad. LeBron had bad coaches. Magic had a coach. He had to run out of town. You never get a perfect career of great coaches. You're still going to grab the ball in the fourth quarter and take a game over when you're the best player or second best player in a series. Here's Jason after. Tonight was tough.

you know, I think from the beginning of the game, we was turning the ball over. We didn't shoot the ball well. They shot the ball extremely well. And it just kind of felt like we never recovered, honestly. And that's on all of us as a unit. You know, we didn't play well at all. And obviously by the score, it showed. For the record, they say Tatum wanted Missoula.

We've seen that before. Star wants a coach and then discovers very quickly he's not the right coach. Missoula was in the program. They elevated him beyond what he's currently capable of five or six years down the road. Maybe he becomes a great coach. But it is disappointing that Tatum kind of disappears. You're never going to always have the great coach. You've got to fight through it.

J-Mack with the news. No, no, no, no. Turn on the news. This is the herd line news. the Jason Tatum defender on this show. Maybe we could chalk it up. Remember LeBron that series against the Dallas Mavericks when he got to the finals? And it's still a mystery to this day.

What the hell happened? By the way. How was Berea and all these guys on Dallas able to slow down LeBron? And he bottomed out and LeBron was greater the following year. It's very possible that this is the epiphany. This is the tipping point. He's crashed upstairs. He's crashed.

He's lost confidence. bad coach, and that he has a great offseason. That's very possible. Yeah, I mean, Michael Jordan against the Detroit Pistons. They beat him up physically, they pushed him around, you know, he had that tough, and then he said in the offseason, I got back at it in the weight room, and then, you know, they go on that run. That's right.

Let's not overreact. I don't want to I'm not saying you are. Just Boston fans. Three games, he's been bad. I'll say this. Yokic, zero baskets in the fourth quarter games one or two. But the difference is Yokic, this is what you get. You get three good quarters, and then

becomes a facilitator and he still has remarkable value. He wears down. With Tatum, it's apprehension, it's anxiety. I mean, he shrinks. I know. Listen, it's okay. We're not, would you agree with this, though? I think, I don't like sometimes how long it takes, and I've said this about the clippers, how long it takes when you let wings like Kauai and Paul George are running the offense or Tatum and Brown are running the offense. They're not, they're not points. I think, Austin needs an offensive-minded point. Well, that's why they went and got Brogden.

He's offensive-minded. But he's a- Me, he had zero points last night. Again, I'm talking, an elite offense, a 24-point-in-game guy, maybe the Bay Area's got one that's available. Oh, come. Certainly worth considering. All right, let's get started.

Lakers, obviously, in a tough spot, Colin. Down 0-3 to Denver. Nobody saw 0-3 coming. I don't care what you say. Every game, obviously, must win from here on out. And LeBron has a simple message for his team the rest of the way. Just got to get one. It's one at a time.

You know, just focus on game four. And, you know, that's all you can really think about. I mean, obviously, this game is what we're done with. We have some opportunities, but we didn't come through. So just get ready for Monday. And just got to get one. And it's one game series for us. Every game counts, obviously.

You're not going to go tonight. You have tickets. My buddy has season tickets, and his family decided they're not interested. They're very upset with LeBron. I shouldn't. They're upset with LeBron. A lot of Laker fans right now are trying to pin this on LeBron. And of course, the LeBron haters on social media.

Oh, gosh, he's choking. I'm just going to remind people, he's averaging 22, 10, and 9 in this series. Now, this is not LeBron's fault. Let's be clear. Yeah. When you compare these LeBron numbers to LeBron Prime numbers, he looks small. Right. But those numbers, as you pointed out on social media, are around Larry Bird's career

playoff numbers. LeBron is facilitating. He is scoring. He's just not as dominant as he was. The three-pointers failed him. Listen, the Lakers are getting good stuff from LeBron, good stuff from A.D. Nothing from DeAngelo Russell. Austin Reeves is delivering, I think, 20 points in every game. DeAngelo is the guy, and I said this on my podcast. When he scores 17 or more points in these playoffs are undefeated, 7-0. And when he doesn't, they're 1 and 7. You got to keep up with Denver, and Russell's not, he's not doing that. Remember, he was good against the Grizzlies. Game one against the Warriors. I think he had like 19 points. Remember that he? He's had moments. I think that he's totally flamed down. Boston, it's pretty clear what they have to do,

get a new coach. Lakers, you can argue, have overachieved this year a little. 100%. See, I think Boston's underachieved. I could make an argument. If Denver wins, they're not going backwards. The Warriors will reboot. Okay, Phoenix is going to add players. Like, there's an argument. This is Peak Lake. They've been exposed. They got a huge break against Memphis because both their bigs were hurt. True. Okay?

That series, I mean, they went up against an immature team with no size. The Warriors, no size. The West, go back to the last 30 years. There have been weird years, the Dallas title year. There have been weird years in the West. But by and large, it's a well-run conference. Teams reboot quickly. I think the Lakers have half a dozen questions this off-season.

A lot of questions. All right, we're going to spend a lot of time in Lakers off season. I would agree. I don't think they're that far off. But anyways, let's move on to another guy who could be on the move. James Harden, he almost certainly will decline his player option with the Sixers and enter free agency. A lot of rumors about where he could play next. There was the whole report that he wanted Doc Rivers out and maybe he stays now that Doc is gone.

Well, there's reportedly an appetite for someone. Wow. Giving James Harden four years. Wow. And $200 million. I don't get it. Well, five straight years, scoring has regressed. I mean, he couldn't finish at the rim against the Brooklyn Nets in the playoffs.

He did not look great. He was always a bad defender, still is. His scoring average has gone down five straight years. He's not really committed in the offseason. We know that. I mean, his scoring average has gone, just say these out loud. 36, 34, 24, 24, 22, 21. Like he is now a third option on this team.

And when I say a third option, you're not getting anything on the defensive end. True. But what coaches out there, what GMs, what owners saw two wins against Boston? By the way. 40 plus point games. People roll their eyes at Jordan Poole. Jordan Poole's in his prime. $200 million for James Hardin?

That is, I don't get, I mean, I don't get it at all. Well, the whole stars win in this league argument is you need James Harden. Can he be your number two and win? And you push Boston to seven, but that doesn't look as good now that Boston is getting smoked. Right. Also, this player, whereas Jordan Poole is a inconsistent playoff performer, Hardin is generally historically a poor playoff performer. Yeah.

Man, sometimes, the game has never been more global. We've talked about this. There's never been more talent. are we still grabbing on to four years, $200 million for team? Do you remember the Moneyball movie where... I love it, my favorite sports movie ever? One of my favorites. Brad Pitt playing the role of Billy Bean is sitting in there and he's like,

can we recreate, I think it was Giambi, in the aggregate. We can't get one guy to get his stats. Could you get two guys or three to put up hardened numbers for $200 million? I would hope so. Isn't that all we're watching with Miami? True, but now Miami's got some questions to answer because two of those guys, Struce and Vincent, are free agents. And I don't know what Caleb Martin's situation is,

but a lot of those guys, do you all of a sudden pay them? And then are they no longer as valuable because they're not undrafted, hungry, they got paid. So this is a weird NBA offseason ahead because the playoffs have kind of wrecked so much. Like this Miami run, James Harden flopping being terrible in game six and seven. Like, I don't know, four years, 200 million. I just can't, I can't do it. He's also not a good culture guy. He's definitely not.

Final story. Memphis Showboats and the Pittsburgh Mallors played one of the best games of the USFL season. Showboats receiver Derek Dillon was at the back of the end zone as Mallor's kicker Chris Blewitz field goal attempt came up short. Dylan attempted the return. Here's how it went. We have a return man back. It's a dangerous return man. And this is short and this is in the hands of Derek Dillon.

And here comes Dylan with a full head of steam, breaks one tackle. And you don't have your best defenders on the kicking group. Now here comes Dylan. Oh, no. That's a touchdown. That's a touchdown. That's a touchdown. To the house.

Iron Bowl. Auburn Bama. Shades of the kick six. Is that what they called it? Alabama, Auburn. Derek Dylan is a former LSU standout. 27 years old. Those moves, man.

Look like if I'm an NFL team, are you inviting him to camp? I mean, look like you. These are some moves. Look at this little spin cycle here. Boom. See you? danger is you have a bunch of linemen and a kicker and a

holder. It's fair. So if you do this and miss, that's the Nick Sabin thing. He didn't want to kick it. Yeah. Nick's like I got in my head I can see Saban on the sideline just Oh. J. Mack with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The Hurd Line News. Yeah, like

sometimes you've got a bottom out in Boston. It's like, okay, Joe Mozilla is the issue. I also think they have a point guard issue. You can't just keep bringing this thing back and back. And I also think Mark is smart. because he's a defensive player. I think he's out of his prime. He's had a bad series.

He's out of his prime. I don't think Tatum and Jalen Brown are out of their prime. I think they're right in the middle of it for the next three to four years. But Robert Williams gets banged up. Horford's old. Marcus Smart feels like he's moot. Those defensive players who play great defense, it's hard. You get banged up.

It's physical. You're on the floor. I think they have to generate more offense from a true point guard who's got big swag, big opinions. I think they need three point shots. How about this? It just came to me listening to who you were describing. Marcus Smart toughness goes to Phoenix.

Chris Paul leadership point guard goes to Boston. Well, you could do that because he gets you into the offense. There you go, and he's a leader. Chris Paul's, I mean, he hasn't won a title, but he's expensive. He's not going to let these guys fold up the way they have against Miami, that's for sure. But he's also not going to be available. He's probably not, but he'll be on the bench. And Marcus Smart adds toughness, like Phoenix got kind of pushed around by Denver.

That's not bad. That wouldn't be my choice. I mean, I love Chris, but he's got about a year left. We got seven more weeks to come on. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific. Two NBA insiders podcasting twice a week to plug you right into the NBA great buy. All happening in only one place. This league uncut.

The new NBA podcast with me, Chris Haines. And me, Marks. Join us as we team up to expound on everything we're covering, hearing, and chasing. Listen to This League Uncut with Chris Haynes and Mark Stein on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, 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 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, 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. became bigger than I ever imagined. And now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfiltered conversations with some of your favorite athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated.

One week, I'll take you behind the scenes of the biggest moments in sports and entertainment, and the next we'll talk about life, mental health, purpose, and even music. The Clifford Show isn't just a podcast. It's a space for honest conversations, stories that don't always get told, and for people who are chasing something bigger. So if you've ever supported me or you're just chasing down a dream, this is right where you need to be.

Listen to the Clifford show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. 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 Bole Your Mind on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Sunday Memorial Day weekend on Fox. It's the most patriotic day in racing. We're the best of the best, let Freedom Ring with 600 miles of high. speed chaos. The engines fire at 5.30 Eastern on Fox. So the NBA has always been a highly marketed and

promoted star-driven league. They sell stars above everything else. The NFL does not. Baseball is the national pastime. They're selling a feeling in an aura of being at the ballpark in the summer. The NFL, it's all about toughness, the shield, but the NBA markets its stars heavily and That's what they talk about. It's what I talk about. It's what everybody talks about with the NBA. Because of that, fans, you get your hook in the fans, and they literally have amnesia. They're much more crazy, passionate, and loyal to the individual NBA fans.

Laker fans and DiAngelo Russell is a great example. You bailed on him once because he was too immature. The T-wolves bailed on him. The warriors got rid of him. He was too squirly and flaky. They couldn't depend on him. So he was a star when he was seen. 17 years old and he was a star in college at Ohio State and he's paid like a star and he marketed

like the deal. Come on. He's not a star. He's been disappointing people forever. The Lakers are 7 and 0 when he scores 16 or more. One in seven when he has 15 or fewer. And he's been awful. So just because your build is a star, just because you're paid like a star doesn't mean you're

a star. We've said this before. There's very few actors in Hollywood you can build a franchise around. Matt Damon is one of those guys, a Denzel or Robert Downey. There's a lot of people that could be in one born identity or one Avengers. You're not building the franchise around him. Delo can be on a team. He is not.

The Lakers thought in the trade he's their three. No, he's not. He's not Austin Reeves. Austin Reeves is much more dependable, limited, but more dependable. And so when you look at the plus minus of this series to give you an idea, The Lakers are minus 53 when D. Lowe is on the floor. They're plus 31 when he's not. He hurts them.

He sees himself as one thing. He's another. I'll give an example. Michael Porter was also like great in high school, great, great ascending star. He had injuries. He disappointed. But Michael Porter totally understands his role. And we've seen him grow and grow.

and this is his moment. He gets his role. Dilo had great games first year in the league. He's been a roller coaster ever since. If you look at his playoff numbers, they're awful. He's a 39% career playoff shooter. That's bottom five in the league since he entered it. So don't blame LeBron James.

It is so easy to blame LeBron James. Happiness is based on expectations. If you think LeBron at 38 in year 20 is going to give you, you 32 points consistently. That's a U problem. It's not what LeBron is. Denver's best players, Porter, Yokic, Murray are all in their prime. Dilo's in his prime, but he's a bounce around the league guy.

You can't build anything around him. He's talented. He's always had this label, and he's, boy, he's wrapped his arms around the label, paid like a star. He's not. You just can't trust him in big spots. So that's the first thing that jumped out to me. And Darvin Ham, again, you can blame Darvin Ham.

He talked about DeAngelo Russell's struggles. You know, he can make those shots. So the biggest thing is, you know, not to get depressed, not to get down. Just continue to be aggressive, continue to be assertive. And, you know, eventually that ball will go in. I think it goes hand in hand, man. You know, we need him to be great in his coverages. And also for, you know, no one man is on the island when it comes to offense or

defense. We need to make more threes. And so him being able to do both is being solid within our defensive structure and him being aggressive. Again, make your next shot, your best shot. That has to be his mentality. Listen, there's a lot of questions with the Lakers. I think Boston's got one big issue, the coach. I think the Lakers have a lot. Ask yourself, in one year from today is LeBron younger? DeAngelo Russell more trustworthy? Austin Reeves more athletic? Anthony Davis younger and more consistent? The answer is no to all four. So I said this earlier in the season, got pushback.

You know, buy low, sell high. There's not a lot left on Anthony Davis's contract, and he has got major market value. I mean, not Yonis market value, not Yonkits, Jamal Murray at this point, but he's got value. He was the best defensive player for a lot of the games in this playoff. I think you have to have big discussions. But ask yourself if you think this unit has got a lot more in it.

Have you been able to trust Jared Vanderbilt, Malik Beasley, DeAngelo Russell, Rui's hot and cold, your best player AD's hot and cold offensively? He's not due for a big one tonight. So a lot of this stuff, when Rob Polenka made these moves with the Lakers, he made them better. He didn't make them great. remember all the bad teams they were beating up on at the end of the regular season to get through that playing game? Right? And they got lucky to face Minnesota playing game and trailed entering the fourth quarter.

And then they faced a Memphis team missing their two bigs, huge advantage to Anthony Davis. And then they faced a Warriors team that was crappy on the road all year. Some of this is good fortune. Rob Polenka made the Lakers better. He didn't make them great. I don't think they went tonight. I think they get swept. I think they pack it in.

Cancun on three, grab your golf clubs. But, you know, the DeAngelo Russell stuff, he's been billed as one thing. NBA fans, because the league gets their hook into fans because they promote and market the stars. And I get it. You're just, you're just, I mean, college football is as much about the brand as it is the player. College basketball is more about the coach, Mike Shishowski in his prime, than it is about the player. The NFL's the shield. Baseball, the national pastime.

It's a feeling. NBA is about stars, so we tend to have amnesia. I mean, Westbrook still got people lined up forever to follow it. Harden reportedly, according to JMAQ, 200 million four years for James Harden. Somebody tell me how that's possible. And so, like your fans are getting, it's nothing against DeAngelo Russell, you're getting amnesia. You didn't want him years ago. T. Wolves didn't. Warriors didn't.

This is what it is. I will say there's an interesting NFL story to keep your eye up. Just interesting. So pro football talk is suggesting the Raiders, Devante Adams is not happy. So Devante Adams and Jimmy Garoppolo are an odd fit. He wants his quarterback to sling it up the sideline and take big swings. It's not who Garoppolo is.

A lot of his dirty work is done underneath or over the middle of the field. So you could see Garapolo having very, very good numbers with that rookie tight end they just drafted or Hunter Renfro. Right. So Devante Adams left Aaron Rogers and got Derek Carr. Devante wasn't entirely happy because Derek's not a let it rip guy. Well, Garapolo's less of a let it rip guy. So the question is, if the Raiders start poorly, remember, they're in a tough division. They have no quarterback for the future and Garapolo gets hurt a lot.

If you look at their first four games of the year at Denver, at Buffalo, Steelers at the Chargers, Uh-oh. If they go 0 and 4, do you move off Devante Adams? There's a team in Los Angeles called the Rams who would want him. And do you move off Garoppolo potentially? Who, by the way, there may be a good team that's got a quarterback injury. 50 quarterbacks plus played last year in the league. So this is one to keep your eye on.

If you look at the Raiders division, they have no quarterback of the future. they have an injury, kind of injury-prone quarterback starting for them. Brian Hoyer's the backup, and next year is a tremendous college quarterback draft class. If you went 0 and 4 to start the season, you're done. Would you consider moving Devante Adams and start looking at that schedule? It's not, I mean, it gets easier, but it's not like the Jets or Detroit or New England or the Chiefs or the Vikings or Kansas City in Denver again, there's a lot of L's if Devante Adams gets moved

and those Ls could equal a future quarterback. They don't have one. Remember, move Stidham to Denver. Garopolo gets hurt. It's kind of a under the radar tank vibe to it, a little under the radar. I'm just, they want Garoppolo to start. They're selling it.

They're going to win games. but Devante and Garapolo is an odd fit. Devante criticized his friend, Derek Carr, for not letting it rip up the sidelines. Garapolo doesn't throw it up the sidelines. Like, that's just not who he is. And so you could see Devonte's already voicing. We're not even into preseason. It's May, and he's already unhappy.

So that one, Pro Football Talk, that one's an interesting. By the way, if you moved him after June 1st, he would not be much of a cat pit this year. It would be a little cap hit next year. But again, if you draft a quarterback and you're not paying him anything, what do you care? That cat pit's not nearly as punitive. You bet the Raiders under seven and a half wins? Under. On the idea, if they start slow, you ship Adams to the highest bidder.

He could change the fortunes of a Super Bowl contender. There's no question he could. You know, his favorite quarterback's with the Jets, right? That's funny. Hour to do 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, 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. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal, but encouraged.

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

Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, this is Robert from the Stuff to Blow Your Mind podcast. Joe and I are both lifelong Star Wars fan, so we're celebrating May the 4th with a brand new week of fun, thought-provoking Star Wars-related episodes. Join us as we tackle science and culture topics from a galaxy far, far away, such as the biology of 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. This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human.