The Herd with Colin Cowherd - The Herd - Hour 1 - The NBA has a problem

Episode Date: June 20, 2023

Colin discusses comments from a Texans WR saying rookie QB CJ Stroud could be better than Dak Prescott The NBA has a maturity problem with some of its young stars College football expanding the playoff will still lead to universities arguing over who got snubbed from selectionSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Yep, that's me, Clifford 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 Clifford 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 IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.

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Live in Los Angeles. It's the herd. Wherever you may be, however you may be listening. Thanks for making us part of your day. J. Mack, Nick Wright in an hour. All sorts of these football stories now percolating NBA draft. Thursday. We think we know who's the.

going one. I would take Scoot Henderson two. You would agree with that? 100%. I think he looks. Sometimes you've got to trust your eyes. He looks really fun. He looks like John Moran. By the way, did you see two pretty famous athletes hanging out overnight? I did in a place you know well. Paris. Oh, okay. I was thinking about two other athletes. We got some fun stories today. You haven't seen this. KD. has a new NFL friend. Oh, good. Good. Good. Well, you know, there's the old belief. Duffer the childhood, tougher the route, eventually tougher the kid. Crown molding, granite countertops, BMW, soft kid.

Just being honest. Tougher the childhood, tougher the route, eventually tougher the kid. So Noah Brown's wide receiver played with DAC for several years in Dallas. Now he's a member, Young DAC, Emerging Dak. Now he's in Houston with rookie quarterback C.J. Stroud. So this is interesting, right? He played with young Dach. Now he's got young C.J. Stroud.

And he compared the two. One of the draft comparisons to Dach Prescott. Do you see any similarities there or no? They're both great quarterbacks. I mean, great arm talent. I think I think it's a little bit early to compare a rookie to somebody like Dack Prescott. But that's great class to be in. And I think he has all the potential to live up to that, maybe even surpass it.

So, you know, I'm rooting for CJ. I'm willing to have his back on anything. C.J. Stroud, yes, is more talented than Dak Prescott. Easily. He was a much better high school quarterback, a much better college quarterback, and NFL scouts and GMs rank him as a much better NFL prospect. He's better than Dak. But that's where quarterback is really interesting and unique in our American sports landscape.

is he as mature as DAC? Is he as tough as DAC? Does he has the leadership skills of DAC? Is he as resilient as DAC? Dak is very highly ranked on intangibles. And part of that, most of that, my guess, comes from

Dak's journey. Dak got sacked 55 times at Mississippi State in his last two years. I watched a couple of those games. He got the hell beat out of him. He didn't have star receivers, star left tackles. He was on the eighth or ninth best team in the SEC or at least best program. He made him better for the short term.

All that toughness. Meanwhile, C.J. Stroud went to Ohio State. His left tackles were five star. Go on to the NFL. Five star wide receivers. Look at the last two classes he's been throwing to at Ohio State. Some of the best college receiving courts in the history of the sport. Great coaches, well-funded, in a much weaker conference where Ohio State, outside of their game against Michigan, has a significant talent gap. Easier route. Now, I'm not saying C.J. Stroud had a easy childhood. I don't know about it. But the two things that matter in this sport at quarterback, where do you land and what was the route like to get you there?

Dak landed because he was a fourth round pick to, at the time, the emerging best offensive line in the league, Tyron Smith left tackle, Zach Martin, and Zeke at running back with a offensive head coach who was a quarterback in the league. That's a darn good place to land. C.J. Stroud has a first-time offensive coordinator, a defensive head coach, and an offensive line 24th in the league last year. Ohio State has never had a great NFL quarterback, and I believe I know why. Because unlike the SAC, Ohio State usually has significantly better players than everybody on their schedule except the Wolverines and maybe an out-of-conference game or eventually a bowl game.

And because of that, their quarterbacks get overdrafted, meaning they get drafted near the top of a draft to better franchises and eventually don't have the talent and unravel. I'm not saying C.J. Stroud will fail. I don't see a lot of the juice. I think he's fine. His comp as Jared Goff. I don't know if he throws the football that well, but he's not going to get Sean McVey as a head coach, and he may never get two offensive lines as good as the Rams, his first three years, and the Lions now. Goff's gotten great O-line protection for most of his career, and offensive coaches both times. I do not believe as talented as C.J. Strout is, and he is more talented than Dak Prescott. High school, college, and now. Right. Coming out of college.

college. I don't believe he's going to have a 98-passer rating. Complete 66% of his throws. In goes 61 and 36. Where you land and how hard was the route to get you where you land are the overwhelming keys in this league. I like C.J. Stroud. Kind of. Dack today, less talent, more Ws, better team this year, offensive coaches, McCarthy and Garrett, good luck to C.J. Stroud. crowd. So I saw this story this morning. Dalvin Cook's a really good player. He's a really, really good running back for the Minnesota Vikings. Nobody disputes that. And nobody's interested. And you're like, why? Why? What could it be? Well, I'll say exactly what it is. Scarcity. Every industry, it doesn't matter what it is. It could be real estate. It could be my business.

It could be law. It could be hospitals. Every industry has. as a position, often due to technology or cultural changes, that becomes much less important. And just think about the running back position. Last year, Houston, fourth round, picked up a running back name Damian Pierce in front of a bad O line, a thousand plus yards. Fourth round. The Super Bowl winning Kansas City Chiefs picked up Isaiah Pacheco in the seventh round. 200 plus rush yards for Kansas City in the playoffs, almost 1,000.

Oh, Tyler Algier. Atlanta picked him up. Fifth round. Kid in front of a pretty decent old line. Rush for almost 1,200 yards. Fifth round, fourth round, seventh round. By the way, the Rams this year at the end of the 6th round got a running back at an old miss name Zach Evans.

Really good. Could start in this league, I think, eventually. Scarcity. I don't, I'm not happy. the Dalvin Cook can't find a job, but college football provides running backs in every third, fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh round. So when you get into the NFL at that position, save your money, invest wisely. The only reason to spend big in a running back for a second contract is if you don't trust your quarterback,

Ryan Tannahill and Daniel Jones. It should also be noted that is the game. game has changed. The smart general managers in the league also see this. Of the last 10 Super Bowl champions, a decade, eight did not have a thousand yard rusher. The culture is changed. The game is changed. Every industry has a job, a position that is being reduced or eliminated, and it just so happens in the NFL. They have value, but it's mostly running back. If you're wondering why Dalvin Cook doesn't have a gig. J. Mack, we have got stories today. We do. Your Dalvin Cook diatribe. Can I call it that a diatribe?

Sure. Got me thinking, Kareem Hunt still unemployed. Ezekiel Elliott still unemployed. These are guys who are multi-tool weapons, whether they can block, receive out of the backfield, run the football. The running backs, you know, if you're a running back in college, what's the move? Do you stay at the position?

Do you try something else? Christian McCaffrey got paid because the quarterback was Teddy Bridgewater. Derek Henry's been paid. Daniel Jones will ensure that Saquan Barkley eventually gets paid. But if you have a top 8 to 10 running back, it makes no sense. And if you believe Kirk Cousins and most do is a top 10 to 12 quarterback, makes no sense when you're paying him to pay the running back. There's simply too much talent provided by the college game every year.

and it's provided in the fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh round. And by the way, Falcons, you showed that Algear had a big year? They went and drafted a running back in the top ten. Is that what smart teams do? Well, so we talked about that. It's not necessarily what smart teams do, but I thought there was an argument that the Texas running back was the cleanest prospect in the entire draft

in terms of personality, character, talent, ability to do multiple things. I thought he was, I talked to GMs about this. They're like literally there's nothing to worry about. He was Ladanian Tomlins. And you get a good kid. He doesn't fumble. He can block. He can catch.

And for Atlanta right now, they have a young quarterback in Desmond Ritter. And I think their theory is let's give him great skill people. They have a good old line. If he can't move us with this, we have the wrong quarterback. Like a lot of times you, like right now C.J. Stroud comes into the league. And he could be good, but you don't know. Justin Fields. He's not getting any help. So you go into year three with Justin Fields and you're like, we're still not sure if he can play.

You will know by Thanksgiving if Desmond Ritter Atlanta's quarterback can play. They have an excellent young tie dad, excellent receiver. Star running back, a good two running back. And our old line is sneaky top eight, top nine in the league. So it's like you'll know early. So Atlanta's betting on, we got to get the quarterback right. Let's figure it out now if we got the guy. I don't think it's a bad bet.

I think that was the one first round pick I got right. Yeah. And I understood their reasoning for it. So the last thing, you mentioned the chiefs in their seventh round running back. I wonder how come people aren't talking about the Eagles running back situation? Remember who their top running back was all season? Right. Yeah.

What did they do? They just said, enjoy free agency. Thank you for your service. So we'll just bring in the next guy. The minute the Eagles discover that Jalen hurts his great. And he is running backs can go. So Philadelphia figured it out. so did Kansas City.

The minute you have a star running back, by the way, Cincinnati Joe Mixon may not be long for each other. Once you realize the quarterback's the star, then you start drafting running backs fifth round down every year. It's just the way to do it. 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. 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 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. 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 IHeard radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. Do you remember when Diana Ross double-tapped Little Kim's boobs at the VMAs? Or when Kanye said that George Bush didn't like black people.

I know what you're thinking. What the hell does George Bush got to do with a little Kim? Well, you can find out on the Look Back at it podcast. I'm Sam Jay. And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick it here, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived it. Including a recent episode with Mark Lamont Hill, waxing all about crack in the 80s. To be clear, 84 is big to me, not just because of crack.

I'm down to talk about crack on day, but just so y'allon. But just so y'all know. I mean, at this point, this is the second episode where we've discussed correct. So I'm starting to see that there's a through line. We also have AIDS on the table right now. Thank you for finishing that sentence. I don't think there's a more important year for black people. Really?

Yeah. For me, it's one of the most important years for black people in American history. Listen to look back at it on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. So good to have you in today. So many things to talk. talk about. Football's creeping back into our lives. So when Nick Saban sat down with our Joel Clatt, Joel Clatt has a podcast, Joel Clatt show. And Nick was talking about, you know, who's going to play in the college football playoff. Now, Georgia now has surpassed Alabama is the best program in the

country. And Texas is coming hard. And USC is coming hard. And Michigan is coming hard. LSU is coming really hard. You know, nothing lasts forever. Nick's run lasted about three times longer than most college dynasties last. And he was talking to Joel Clad about the playoffs going forward and who gets in and who doesn't. All we do is take the teams that win the most games at the end of the year and put them in the playoffs. But do you really get the best teams? When they told me that we would be favored against three out of the four teams that got in the playoffs,

I'm like, well, why aren't we in the playoffs? If you're going to have parity, you have to have a better way of figuring out who has the best teams, not just because you lose two games on the last player of the game that knocks you out when you may be better than somebody else who didn't have the same circumstances that they had to play in. It should be noted that LSU once lost two games was allowed in and won a national championship. It wasn't just that Alabama lost games. If it was all about odds and who's favored, Alabama lost to LSU last year and was favored. In the last seven to eight years, virtually every game Alabama has lost, they've been favored.

You've got to play the games, and the regular season has to matter. College football, not this year, but next is going to a 12-team playoff. I can't wait. It will quadruple the arguments. People tend to think if you expand a playoff, it limits the arguments. The opposite happens. I'll give you an example. We all know we'll never be members of Augusta National.

But your local country club let in Bob and Kevin, and they work under you. Why won't they let me in? I deserve to be in. The more people you let in, the more people believe they deserve to be in. And I can tell you right now what's going to happen with the 12-team playoff. There's going to be a three-loss Auburn team or a three-loss Georgia team. Well, maybe not Georgia, maybe Texas. And they're going to be better than one-loss Cincinnati or no-lossed Boise State.

They're going to be better than a team from the American Athletic Conference who doesn't even look to recruit their players. But that 12-team playoff is going to garner great sympathy for no-loss teams and one-loss teams. and you're going to get a three-loss Michigan State team or a three-lossed team, and they are better, especially the Florida team with a talent in that state. They are better than that team. The more you let in, the greater the arguments get. I can't wait for it.

It's great for my business. They'll be arguing non-stop. But the regular season does have to matter. And overwhelmingly, college football has gotten it right. In my lifetime, I can't think of a single team that I thought was easily, indisputably, the best team in college football and didn't get a shot to get to the playoff. The regular season has to matter. As much as I like gambling on football, you can't go with odds. Bama was a two-touchdown favorite and lost to LSU.

J-MAC with the news. No, no, no, no. Turn on the news. This is the herd line news. It's nice to see the NFL expand the playoffs, the season, and the regular season still matters greatly. Only four months of football. Well, I think it matters. And I also think there is this people overreact to everything.

It doesn't matter if it's politics or sports. People overreact to everything. And so, oh, the regular season and college football won't matter. So what you're telling me is when Bama and Auburn play or Michigan and Ohio State play, nobody will any care anymore. You really want me to believe that. Has March Madness mean that Cameron Indoor was empty when they played Carolina? Or when Kansas plays Missouri, nobody cares. We love sports and we care.

The regular season will still matter. The difference is, and I think this is good, and I had to be talked into this years and years and years by fans because I was worried about that too because I love the urgency of college football. But the truth is the reality of college football now is the powerhouses avoid playing good out of conference. games because nobody wants a loss. You know what? The Kansas City Chiefs lose a handful of games every year. It's oh, you should be allowed to lose two games and still have an argument to get in.

It's okay and the SEC or the big ten. Now you're adding USC. So Ohio State now has to play a Michigan and then may have to go to USC and a Penn State. A loss shouldn't knock you out. So I think it'll encourage people to, you know, we'll have more reasonable discussion. and not just schedule. But the bottom of the 12-team playoff is going to be some no-lost Boisey States. That's okay, too. That's fine by me. I mean, listen, every sport has expanded.

Baseball has expanded their postings. NBA has expanded with the playing. NFL has expanded. The college basketball tournament, which we think is perfect at 68 or whatever. They want to expand 128. Everybody's expanding, getting bigger, but college football is resistant. I just think their crowd is just afraid of change or fearful of, oh, no, more teams are going to get let in the mix.

Everybody overreacts to everything. I mean, when USC and UCLA announced they were going to the Big Ten, you'd have thought there was a meteor shower over the world. Now everybody takes a deep breath and goes, it's going to be awesome. It's going to be great. Big Ten's good. Oh, my God. Have you seen USC and UCLA's schedule?

Everybody wins. The fans win. It'll be tough for volleyball teams and golf teams and the travel. But football, it's great for it. Yeah. It's not that hard. All right. All right.

Let's go on to the NFL. Baltimore Ravens coming to the season with high expectations. now that they have Lamar Jackson locked into a long-term deal. They added OBJ. Cornerback Marlon Humphrey, one of the better cornerbacks in the league, added to those expectations by making a bold statement of camp. Here's what he had to say. On paper, man, we look very scary.

You know, we got the pieces. It's just putting them together, working together, figuring out how it works, and putting out a product. You know, I think it's really easy to talk about all the great receivers we got, all the great running backs. We got all the great D-Bs we got, the good D-line. but I think this is a year of just proving it. I never doubt their talent.

I doubt if they'll be healthy. Three years in a row, they can't stay healthy. There's got to be something behind it. You know, he said that San Francisco had this issue. And San Francisco this past year wasn't as dinged up. And my takeaway is, did they practice not as severely, not as hard? Baltimore cannot stay healthy. And it's mostly their offensive players getting hurt.

Is practice too hard? Is there extra hitting? There's got to be an answer for it. You know, I don't know if it's at apples to apples, but the Miami Heat have heat culture. It feels like the Ravens have a culture because Harbaugh's been there forever. A lot of continuity. They're able to do it with Trent Dilfer. They're able to do it with Joe Flacco.

They're able to do Lamar Jack. Whatever it is, they figure it out. June and July, though, everybody loves every team. I mean, right now, we're bullish on so many teams, right? Ravens are one of them. But eventually, you got to pick some teams you don't like a lot. We can't have everybody going up. Arrow's not going up for every single team, is it, Colin?

Like, I know Humphrey's excited, but are they that good? Well, they're not a top three team in the AFC, right? No, they're not. Are they top five? I'm not sure they are. And that's the thing. It's really tough with these NFL teams in June and July. All right, next up, this is the story I was alluding to at the top of the hour.

So Aaron Rogers started to get comfortable in New York, and he is already making new friends. We found a photo on Kevin Durant. his Instagram that went viral yesterday. Kevin Durant hanging out with, wait for it, wait for it, Aaron Rogers. I'm a Jet Mander fan. Don't ask no questions. Now, I don't really know what that means, but look at how much bigger. That was my-

I mean, Aaron Rogers looks so tight. He looks like Bryce Young, okay? Aaron is 6-2-2-25. And look how small he looks next to Kevin Durant. He looks like that old little guy. I went to an espies. they have that red carpet summer they do the espies and so i was uh in that tunnel where all the stars come by and j j wad is there and there's all these great athletes and they're big strong guys

and then amari stadomire walks by NBA guys are different yeah yeah and it's not just the height it was the length of amari stodemeyer i remember one time going uh to a laker game and pao gassal like brushed up against me just his length of arms yeah and i'm like i'm like It was the longest human. Palgassal was the longest human I'd ever. I've been around 6-10 guys a lot. Kevin Durant is why the NBA is magical. These are the world's, I mean, just genetic brilliance.

And I, can you imagine trying to guard Kevin Durant? There's a reason he can get a bucket. Yeah. There's guys that can score touchdowns. Not anybody can be Kevin Durant's size. Unique. And then, you know, put the work in. But it's NBA athletes are, it is just.

Unbelievable how gifted they are. Unique they are. There's a lot of caption contests going on for this photo. And the one I thought was funniest. Beautiful to see two athletes joined by their shared hatred of the media. Aaron Rogers and Kevin Durant. You know that that's what they're doing. I don't think Durant.

I don't think Durant hates it. I think it annoys him and he's willing to fire back at it. I think Aaron's got some real grievances with the media, me particularly. But I think Kevin Durant, I don't think Kevin Durant. hates it, I think it annoys him, and he likes to fire back. I think, you know, Aaron's like, he thinks the media is just in the bag for one side. He's got grievance. That's my takeaway. They kind of are. Well, I mean, the media has... We're in the middle. We like to play the gray nuanced discussion. Yeah. The runner-up was two people who should have never gone to New York.

Now, listen, Aaron Rogers can still make it happen with the Jets, obviously. Final story. Oh, no, that is the final. Oh, yeah, we do have one final story. Draymond Green and LeBron have been friends for a while, Colin. And they were spotted together in France on Sunday. The timing is just super interesting, of course, as Dremont opts out of his contract with the Warriors. He wants to stay in Golden State. Here is Dremond and LeBron in France.

Who's that guy bothering him? Can they just have their lunch without you bothering them? It looks like a Frenchie just coming up, you know, and just being like, Bonjour, LeBron. I don't think either player fits on the other's team. I don't think the Lakers need Draymond Green. They've got a great defender.

And I don't think the Warriors need somebody to take the ball out of the hands of Steph Curry. Can we just stop with LeBron changing teams? He's not going anywhere. All these people are like, oh, can we get LeBron here? He's staying in L.A. Right? Well, I had somebody tell me recently, it was an NBA guy, exec, and say that, listen, players like to live in L.A.

Chris Paul just wants to come to L.A. Kauai wanted to live in L.A. Paul George wanted to live in L.A. Matt Stafford wanted to live in L.A. Like if you start looking at baseball players and the, I know you can listen to cable TV news and nobody wants to live in California. Pro athletes do. Yeah. And by the way, college athletes do.

So you can believe whatever you want to believe. But USC is having their best recruiting class ever. And if you go look at the athletes who have had an option to choose California, they do. We have really good weather. Great economy. Amazing business. You know there's the thing out here. I've never done it.

but the mountains in the skiing are so close that you can go skiing in the morning, drive back to the beach, and in the afternoon we're sitting on the beach in 80-degree weather. Whenever I hear that, nobody wants to live in California except pro athletes. They are all, I mean, it's... It's kind of insane. All it is is avocado toast losers, homeless people everywhere, taxes, blah. It's just like they're trotting out these tropes. Come visit, check it out.

I'm not selling California. They're not paying me. I'm not a spokesman. but seven years now, dude, this place is pretty amazing. It's pretty good. Thanks for bringing me out here, by the way. You're very welcome. Jay Mack with the news.

Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The Heard Line News. Speaking of New York, I'm going to throw this at you. See if you believe this. See if you buy this for a second. And so we said this, this was kind of a story Jay Mack and I talked about last week. This draft in the NBA to me has two stars.

Scoot Henderson and Victor Wembenyama. Then a bunch of guys I like. There's a, you know, Kobe Buffkin's an interesting player, Grady to Kent, Kansas, interesting player. Central Florida's got an interesting player. There's guys that all have, there's some interesting players. But there's two like, wow, wow, wow, star early, wow.

But there's very few impactful players in the NBA draft. History tells you there's about three to four a draft. Highly impactful can help win a playoff series, guys. and that's about the number. NFL first round will have 10 of those guys. NBA draft first second round, maybe three or four. And so players that you look at and go, they always find work.

So when the sons got Bradley Beal, Kevin Durant, Devin Booker Bradley Beale, the complaint is, well, they don't have a bench. Rick Buecker came on our show yesterday and talked about this. Duplication bench. Here's Rick. I don't get the fit. You were already top heavy and it didn't work. Now you're incredibly small.

And you can't play big and small. Depth has always been an important element. And then the other part is how do those pieces fit together? Here I've got three largely perimeter scores. And who's your playmaker? Who's your distributor? because you don't need defenders. You need a point guard now.

Okay, so there are so many forces working against NBA executives and GMs on cohesion, chemistry, and fit. There's too much mobility. Now we have a new CBA. It's going to be harder for guys to move around. The bottom line is get good players, worry about the fit later.

Just get good players. Smart veteran players. Beal smart, Booker, KD. Smart. They'll figure it out. But yesterday I pushed back to Rick Buecker and I said, well, you have D'Andre Aiton. Whereas Beal's an imperfect fit, Aiton is a toxic one. So D'Andre Aiton gives you about 18 points a game, 10 rebounds. But he views himself as more of a score.

And 18 points is nothing to laugh at. So now with Beal, Booker, and KD on that roster, Aiton will never get looks. And he tends to pout if he's not included in the offense. So he is now a bad fit in Phoenix. Good player, not great, good player, bad fit. Because he pouted last year when he had to guard Yolkich and wasn't getting shots. Well, now you had Bradley Beal. He's never going to get looks.

So a story came out yesterday that the Phoenix Suns are getting lots of calls, Andre Andre Aiton. Of course they are. He's an 1810 athletic big. He's owed $105 million, but not $150, not $150. It's not that punitive. The move that makes sense to me on this, I'll throw it out there, is the New York Knicks. So Mitchell Robinson is exactly what Phoenix needs, a defensive-minded, rebounding big, who doesn't

need touches and won't pout when he doesn't get the ball. He's sort of a Robert Williams with the Celtics, knows his role. What the Knicks need is somebody to help Jalen Brunson, a big that can score. DeAndre Aiton. Aiton will get the ball. He'll field included. He'll get his looks. He'll average 18 to 20 a game.

And you'll get the happy DeAndre Aiton. In Phoenix, now with Beal, he'll never get the rock. He'll pout. He'll be disengaged. He's now a toxic fit. So we said this yesterday. One of the reasons I liked Beal to Phoenix. I think if you put smart guys together, veterans, they'll figure it out.

Even Denver, we go, oh, the perfect fit. Yeah, they're the one. But like Miami's got pieces they could use. Boston, I'm not sure Brown and Jason Tatum are perfect fits. Perfect fit almost doesn't exist in the NBA. What does exist is talent and impactful players. Cobble three together, figure out the rest later. I would do a Mitchell Robinson, Josh Hart deal, maybe a pick from the Knicks.

Josh Hart can play defense. Mitchell Robinson can play defense. one doesn't need the ball at all. And then the Knicks get what they need in the East. With Janus, with Embed, with BAM, you need some size and somewhat of an offensive threat for the Knicks. Also, you bring Ait and over with Brunson. You've already got R.J. Barrett. You're less reliant on Julius Randall's scoring.

Maybe you can move him. Sons and the Knicks make sense to me. A big that scores in New York, less. reliant on Randall who you could move, sons get a big that doesn't need the ball and a little help in the back court. J. Mack, what say you? Not terrible. Yeah. I'm lukewarm. Can I call me

can I call it lukewarm on that? Okay. All right. I don't know. I mean, listen, I'm with you. I would move Aiton, but the deals out there don't look great. And who wants a guy like DeAndre Aiton? Work ethic is not there. No time out. Back to the basket center. 19 and 10, 18 and 10. That's a lot of point. And by the way, Yokic and Yonis are the two best players in the league. Embed could be third.

You got to have a big. Why? They had Aiton and he couldn't do anything against Yokic. Like you said, Anthony Davis, he was useless. I mean, I would rather roll the dice with a guy like Miles Turner in there. Turner can shoot threes. He's less needy. Aiton's like needy. Hey, feed me or I'm going to pout. feed me or I'm not going to go for rebounds and really jostle inside. But the Knicks could use some scoring beyond Jalen Brunson.

Because here's what they're going to become now. R.J. Barrett, Jalen Brunson. Randall? Who they would like to move. Randall's got a market somewhere in this league. So what you'd have is... I would take Randall over Aiton, though. He plays hard.

I'm not... Randall goes hard. Listen, it's tough for me to call seven-footer soft, but I just don't see that dude. All right. Aitin doesn't seem like that guy who's just going to get it, spin, and try to dunk on you. Remember how Shaq would do that? These guys aren't Shaq.

Let's stop right there. How about the mentality of that? When I get the ball, I'm attacking. I'm scoring. I'm shooting. I'm aggressive. I don't see the aggressive nature in DeAndre Aten. Do you?

Well, I know now he'll never get the ball. So I know now, again, I'll take him perfect fit, Bradley Beale, over toxic fit. Aton with these three guys will never get offense. He'll never get looks. he was getting upset last year when it was just Booker and KD. Add Beale, he'll never get a play design for him. So it's not going to work. We didn't really talk about this, but Chris Paul obviously did not love Aiton.

We showed the video Chris Paul yesterday on a TV show saying like, oh, I got the text while I was in the air. He mentioned Isaiah Thomas's name twice. Isaiah Thomas and the owner. Did not mention the GM. Was it kind of fishy to you that Isaiah Thomas was mentioned when he's not even a member of the organization? I'm going to address that next. That was my next story.

Stunning. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific. This is Steve Kavino and Rich. And together we are Kavino and Rich. Kavino and Rich. Thanks, buddy. That's right. Kavino and Rich, Fox Sports Radio's newest hit show.

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

Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Covino and Rich, get me your hell, yeah. 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 president. Podcasts 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 bigger than I ever imagined. And now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfiltered conversations with some of your favorite athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated.

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

this is right where you need to be. Listen to The Clifford Show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. Do you remember when Diana Ross double-tapped Little Kim's boobs at the VMAs? Or when Kanye said that George Bush didn't like black people. I know what you're thinking.

What the hell does George Bush got to do a little kill? Well, you can find out on the Look Back at it podcast. I'm Sam J. And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick a here, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived it. Including a recent episode with Mark Lamont Hill waxing all about crack in the 80s. To be clear, 84 is big to me, not just because of crack. I'm down to talk about crack on day, but just so you all know.

I mean, at this point, Mark, this is the second episode where we've discussed crack. so I'm starting to see that there's a through line. We also have AIDS on the table right now. Thank you finishing that sentence. I don't think there's a more important year for black people. Really? Yeah. For me, it's one of the most important years for black people in American history.

Listen to look back at it on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Saturday, it's a special MLB on Fox as the Cardinals and Cubs head across the Atlantic to London. Plus, Derek Jeter makes his debut when he joins Arod, Big Poppy, and KB live at London Stadium. Coverage begins Saturday at noon Eastern on Fox. You ever surprised by how much the U.K., Germany, love the NFL? We shouldn't be surprised because over here in the States, the MLS is doing well, it's growing, our love for the sport. I've actually been a little surprised how popular the NFL has become overseas.

It's like really popular. Germany, I think they're going back this year. I don't know why I'm surprised, but it feels like there's a simplicity to soccer that would play on any continent where football, we've got our own rules. It's different than any other sport in the world. I could see people saying, it's just too American. It's gotten really, really popular. A global sport, obviously, is basketball.

I saw this story. So Chris Paul found out on a plane. This is kind of the bad part of sports that he got traded. His son called him or texted him. It's just part of the business. There's been a lot of people, Chris Paul being one of them, that have speculated that the new owner of the sons is relying on Isaiah Thomas for a lot of his information. And my takeaway has been, so what?

Everybody's got friends. find me a successful person and I will find you with somebody that has a half dozen to a dozen advisors, people they trust. Now, Isaiah Thomas is a talent evaluator in Toronto drafted Marcus Camby, Tracy McGrady, and Damon Stodemeyer. He was pretty excellent. Those are good players. In New York, he had personal issues and it was New York.

Even Phil Jackson bomb there. Some of that is on Nick's ownership, the pressure, outside influences. The Knicks are a hard operation to get right. How do I know? I have eyes and I've watched the last 25 years. But if you owned or bought a sports team, right, that means you're probably very, very, very, very rich in another business. And you didn't have really any connections. Are you telling me a bad source is a Hall of Famer, a former GM, and a basketball legend? that guy, that should be the red phone. That should be the phone you always pick up.

A legend, smart guy, Isaiah Thomas, don't know him well, know him well enough. Bright guy, highly successful, did very well in Toronto. He's not perfect. He's had some troubles in his personal life. But if you're arguing that what he's doing is illegal or what he's doing doesn't make sense, or he's not a guy you should listen to. I'll argue that all day long. Isaiah Thomas literally forced Michael Jordan to change the way he trained for basketball.

Michael Jordan in his prime could not beat Isaiah Thomas. Look at the records. Like he's a super smart guy, very good basketball talent evaluator who's flawed. But I don't get, he's a basketball legend. He's Hall of Famer. He's a smart guy. If you bought a basketball franchise or an NFL franchise, who would you lean on? The red phone, the bat phone is the one you pick up from a basketball legend who's been a GM and had success.

And I'm not going to defend what happened in New York. But do you know how many good people haven't worked in New York? Like the smartest move of Pat Riley's career was leaving it. Phil Jackson, one of the smartest ethereal, erudite men in basketball. Disaster in New York. Some of that is on James Dolan and the Knicks. I saw this story also. I don't know how much time I want to give this, but this is a bad sign.

This is a bad sign. John Morant, wildly talented, get suspended, get suspended again for waving around a gun on IG. I don't want to hear it's no big deal. Big jobs have big standards. Don't do that. So NBA commission, Adam Silver, who's been almost to a fault. player-friendly suspends him for 25 games to start next season. J-Mack and I both said, feels very reasonable, seems fair.

And one of the sentences Adam Silver made sure it got into the release is that a lot of people look up to John Morant and there's a certain responsibility you have in certain jobs. A high school principal can't be on only fans. A basketball star can't be waving a gun on IG. anybody who denies that, never had an important job that has impact and has people looking up to you. So, John Morant, though, and this is worrisome, according to sources, John Morant and the people close to Jao have the feeling the NBA's out to get them. Yeah, they're trying to tear down their biggest young superstar.

It's a television show. Let's go and attack one of our TV stars. Oh, boy. You know what that sounds like? John Morant's group has got a bunch of dummies in it. Like, that's not what they're doing. That's not what they're doing. By the way, Zion Williamson's personal life is now circling the drain.

A story this morning, the pelicans are trying to get out of Zion Williamson. Again, this is a Zion Williamson issue. Now, I think on a greater note, what happens, the football culture, provides a much more mature athlete to the NFL than the basketball provides to the NBA. Kids have to spend virtually no time in college, a semester. They go pro. They're 19. They can go overseas.

There's a lot of routes. They can be kids. They can't even drink in the hotel bar. And what happens is pressure, money, fame, they unravel. Zion's unraveling. Jaws unraveling. That's an NBA issue. And I don't know what the solve is.

the NFL also, to its credit, does not coddle and tolerate. If you're young and a quarterback, even a quarterback, Johnny Mansell, Jamarcus Russell, and you're a circus, boom, you're out of the league really fast. In the NBA, you can be a circus. There's viewed as so little impactful talent globally. They'll just tolerate it and coddle. The second thing that should be noted, and I don't think this is a coincidence. Look at the slow growth stars in the NBA.

Janice, Yokic, and Steph. You get none of this stuff. None of it. Why? Expectations. You don't have to answer every question at practice. It's almost like a powerball winner. Jaws like a power ball winner.

Zion's like a power ball winner. Five years later, half are sad stories of people that couldn't handle it. Janice, Yokic, Steph, are your typical American millionaire. They got it in their late 40s, early 50s. They've had some struggles. They know what to do with their money. They're not going to go out and buy a bunch of jet skis and sports cars, right? So I think this is where the football culture is superior to the basketball culture

that they hand the NFL older, more mature players. Jha and Zion, this is the reality of what the sport is, and I'm not sure there's a solve for it. Hour 2 next. Another podcast from some SNL late-night comedy guy, not quite, on Humor 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 I-Heart 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'll say it. Yep, that's me, Cliford 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 Cliford Show on the IHeard 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. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential.

Either way, the podcast's Superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the I-Hard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human.