The Herd with Colin Cowherd - THE HERD - Hour 1 - The NBA showed a sense of urgency last night

Episode Date: April 15, 2026

Colin Cowherd reacts to a thrilling night of NBA action with the opening round of the play-in games. He credits the Hornets for their win over the Heat and why the NBA deserves credit for the success of the Play-In Tournament. Thoughts on the Blazers win over the Suns which capped of a sense of urgency last nightSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Show Move West for a day. We're 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. NBA had its best night as a league last night. Best night in six months for their league. And so Darry, the GM for the Sixers, said this years ago, he said,

why don't we do like college basketball? Why don't we have a one-game playoff series? Well, that's not going to work with billionaire owners. But the playing tournament, Adam Silver doesn't get everything right. He got this right. It creates a March Madness, 8 versus 9 seed feel. So last night, in what became an incredibly entertaining circus, a mess, Charlotte beats Miami.

And again, you felt like you were watching two totally flawed teams. I mean, at one point, you got Lamello Ball had the winning basketball. But one at a point, Lamello Ball trips, bam on a bayou, hurts him. The refs didn't see it. It should have been a flagrant. Nobody saw it. The refs missed it. The announcers missed it.

But since the All-Star break, and I got to give Charlotte credit, since 2020, they've nailed three draft picks. Brandon Miller hit. Lamello ball hit. Conniple, who stunk last night, 0 for six on threes. But I will say this. Since the All-Star break, they know what they are. They've shot 114 more threes than any other team. And some are God awful.

Essentially, the Hornets offense with Lamello ball is a frat party with no chaperone. They are out of control. Last night he had 30 points and was two for 16 on threes. and still had 10 assists and 30 points. They're kind of a mess. It's not schemes. It's not great sets. The coach lets them play.

And Lamello Ball is one of the really entertaining, flashy players of all the ball brothers. He's got the game. And they've got Miles Bridges, who's had kind of a rocky career. They went and got Kobe White from the Bulls, kind of stole him. He's kind of a shot maker, not a great player, but definitely a shot maker. and again, this team knows what they are. It's like semi out of control basketball with three really good young players and a couple of veterans.

And, you know, Miami lost bam. That didn't help. Miami's just kind of, you know, bondo tape. Andrew Wiggins there and Tyler Hero there. And I don't know exactly what Miami is. They probably thought they were going to be better than a playing team. But this meant a lot for Charlotte. and they're not going to probably win another series.

Khan Kinnipel, you see what happens to rookies when they get to the playoffs. He was a little overwhelmed. They benched him late. That's what happens to young teams. But Charlotte now is exciting and young and fun. And since 2020, they've hit on three really good draft picks. They're surging up. They'll be better next year.

They won last night. First time ever, before last night. In elimination games, Charlotte was over 20. So you may look at that and think, ah, it's a playing game, it doesn't matter. Let me tell you something. This basket by Lamello ball mattered. It was a great night for Charlotte.

And here's Lamello after. We just stuck with it. We stuck with it. We grind it out. I mean, we wasn't hitting our threes. A lot of shots he wasn't hitting. But like I said, we stuck with it. On that last run, pretty much I just got to win the game.

I feel like I just game up, so I'm like, it's my fault. I got to make it work. and they made it work. Again, when you create urgency, I mean, first thing went watching both games last night, the first thing you notice, the on-ball pressure defense is so much better. These are really flawed teams.

Tonight you're going to get, like, the Warriors and the Clippers, you're going to get the star version of what you saw last night. But the one game urgency, it was really intense. And the second game was Portland and Phoenix. Phoenix has overachieved this. year. Their win total was like 30. They've won 45. The Durant stuff didn't work. The Dylan Brooks acquisition has been fantastic. But it's really about Portland. Portland has a new owner. And Portland's coach got fired earlier this year, arrested, basically. Choncy Billups,

the gambling mess. So here we had the West Coast version of what you just watched with Charlotte and Miami, two very flawed teams that aren't going to win the title. Winner goes and play San Antonio. Well, Denny Advia had a night. So he comes from Israel, comes into the league like an overseas player in his teens, goes to a crappy team Washington and disappears. But he slowly gets better, better, better, better. Then Portland picks him up last year, and he is now developed into a star. He's the best offensive player in the league that nobody knows.

He's one of three guys in the league 24, 6, and 6. And he can drive, he can distribute, he can pass, he's a tough matchup, He's a highly intelligent player. They surround him with three kids. Donovan Klingin from Yukon, who I think's a beast. I watched these two teams play in February. Cleon was unstoppable. He can hit jumpers.

He's big. He's one of the better offensive rebounders. They have Scoot Henderson. They have Shaden Sharp. And then they brought in a couple of guys, a couple old guys. Jeremy Grant's been a get-it basket guy forever, formerly of the Pistons. Now he's with Portland. And he's just a guy that can hit shots.

And then Drew Holliday, who's been in the league. I mean, it feels like he and Earl Monroe play together. He's been in the league forever. And here's this Denny Advia guy. And again, comes into the league, crappy team, teenager, disappears. He has developed into a stud six minutes to go. Portland was in big trouble. And it rains a lot in Portland.

It doesn't in Phoenix, but it started raining threes. Grant had a couple. Advia had one. Drew Holiday had one. and you had two overachieving teams playing their butt off late. I mean, let's face it. Klingin's going to have to go and play the best four games of his life to even hang with Wemby. And the Blazers played the Spurs three times this year.

Wembe didn't play in those games. So it's going to be Donovan Klingin. I wish the very best of you going forward. But considering what Portland has gone through, considering the Chonzie Billups disaster, and considering their star is the least heralded, good offensive player in the league with a new owner. They've got a lot of interesting draft capital going forward.

So just like Charlotte, you may think, oh, it's a play in game. It doesn't matter. Hell yeah, it matters for Portland. That was big for Portland. That was huge for Charlotte. And here's their unheralded star after. I think back in the beginning of the season we weren't very disciplined and staying together and like finishing games

and I feel like we showed character today. We showed growth, we showed character. We showed we're capable of keeping our composure and making winning plays. Coming here to a playing game and, you know, beating the seventh seed and go to the playoffs, it's like the best thing that ever happened to me in my career until so far. Yeah, it's so, I mean, if you're poor, Portland, new owner, this kid's going nowhere. He's just entering his prime.

I mean, the whole Scoot Henderson thing hasn't been what we thought, but Sharp average is about 20. Jeremy Grant's been better than anybody probably thought, and they got draft capital. And so, I don't know, feels kind of good to me and Charlotte similarly. But the biggest winner last night was not Portland or Charlotte. But when Portland won in an absolutely stacked draft, the Bulls get Portland's pick from a previous move with a Lori Markinen deal or something. I don't know. So Chicago, in the best draft in a decade, has two picks in the top 15. So we're still waiting to see where that first pick goes.

And Chicago just cleaned house because, for the record, I could be wrong. on this, but Chicago could have drafted that guy that's over my shoulder years ago. They could have drafted him with a number four pick. Didn't. Now, again, it took him a long time to become a good player. But it was a great night for Portland. It was a great night for Charlotte. And the Chicago Bulls in a really, really deep draft are going to have two of the top 15, 16 picks.

So you've got to love that for Chicago. So I thought, Jay Mack, you know, Dary years ago said, how in the world does college basketball get such great ratings when the quality of play is not as good. Urgency. People are busier than ever. We're distracted. We're caffeinated. We've got a million platforms. One of the reasons college and pro football work in this country or the World Cup or the

Olympics. There's urgency. If I don't watch the World Cup, I've got to watch this game. I've got to watch this college football playoff. So one of the knocks on the NBA regular season is, hell the players barely care. So why should I care? It's a legitimate criticism. tanking was out of control. Part of the tanking this year is because the draft is so good.

I mean, it's funny, there's about nine really difference maker players and nine teams tanked. I mean, I think everybody kind of knows. But I will say, when you create urgency, like last night, unbelievable five hours of NBA basketball. I mean, I was texting you about the Charlotte Hornets. Like, that's not a normal thing that we do. We text a lot, but I wanted to go to bed early last night. You know, I was shaking off this cold. Denny Avdiya was incredible.

And I'm friends with some guys from D.C., you know, I'm from that area. And they were crestfallen when they traded Denny Avdi. I'm like, really, guys, is he that good? Well, but they watch them all this. This guy can play. Well, and what happens in the NBA, obviously European players are highly skilled because of their academy system. And he's a classic example. He comes from Israel.

He comes over. He's like 18, 19 years old. And he goes to a bad team. So Washington's not on national TV. So unless you get the league package and you deeply care about the NBA, you have no idea, he's averaging five a game, seven a game, eight a game. I think he was there four years. Portland goes and gets him and he makes a pop.

They make him more of a centerpiece. And this year, there's only three guys in the league that go 24, 6, and 6. One of them's Yokic. So he has become, he's a jet you can tell. First of all, Phoenix defensively, Portland kept getting behind him. But between Klingin and him and Sharp. I mean, Devin Booker's one of the highest paid guys in the league, Olympian, almost won the finals a few years ago. he was not even close to looking as good as Denny Avdi last.

I mean, that guy was unstoppable. It was really fun last night. Now, we're going to address on the other side, you know, people in Miami are freaking out. And I kind of agree with somebody at another network. Like, don't put yourself in a playoff situation. If you're Miami, you had plenty of moments this year where you shouldn't have been in that game.

But a lot of people in Miami feel like, hey, bam, bam was out for the game. and they didn't call anything. Now, I will tell you, when that play happened, the announcers didn't see it. I didn't see it. I knew Bam was off the floor. I didn't see the grab. Then I went and looked at photos, and then it was obvious.

So I'm going to address that coming up. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific on Fox Sports Radio, FS1, and the IHeartRadio. Hey, it's Rob Parker and Kelvin Washington from the odd couple on Fox Sports Radio. And in addition to hearing us live weeknights from 7 to 10 p.m. Eastern on Fox Sports Radio, we are excited to announce brand new YouTube channel for the show. That's right. You can now watch the Odd Couple live on YouTube every day. All you got to do, search Odd Couple FSR on YouTube. Again, YouTube, just search Odd Couple FSR. Check us out on YouTube and subscribe.

Hey, it's us to Jonas Brothers, and guess what? We have some big news. What's the news, name? Huge news. we created our own podcast called Hey Jonas. We invented a podcast? Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to it. We're the first people to do podcasts.

Pretty, yeah, pretty wide range of podcasts. We're starting a trend. But this one's extra special. So how do we actually come up with a name Hey Jonas, guys? I honestly don't remember. I think it was on a call about what we should call it. Well, we were thinking I'm originally calling it one of the early names of our band before Jonas Brothers. This is how you guys remember it going down?

Yes. I have a very different memory of this. We were talking about a thing, a bit for the podcast, where people could call in and say, hey, Jonas. And then I wrote down on my little notepad, Hey Jonas, and offered it up as a potential title for the podcast. But thanks for remembering that, guys. Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,

or wherever you get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it. 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. Last night, a blown call changed a game. The morning, the internet lost its mind. Highlights are trending, opinions are flying, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where SportsClyce comes in.

I'm Timbo. Every episode, we're cutting through the noise, breaking down the plays, the controversies, and the stories behind the headlines. We go straight to the source, the athletes themselves, their locker room stories, their reactions, the stuff nobody gets to hear. The laughs, the drama, the triumphs, the moments that never make the highlight real. From viral moments to historic games, from buzzer beaters to controversial calls, We break it down, give you context, and ask the questions everybody wants answered.

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Every match, every upset, and what it really takes to win on Clay. Genshin won. I mean, she went down at three to Rabakina, but I'm delighted. She's an outsider to win the French for me. And she likes Clay. Listen, Lena Rubakina is arguably the best player in the world right now. And I actually can win on any surface. Because if she's serving, well, good luck.

Consider this your court side seat to the French Open. Listen to the Renee Stubbs Tennis Podcast on the Eyeheart. radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Presented by Capital One, founding partner of IHeart Women's Sports. All right, welcome back. We're live in L.A. Go to go to my favorite haunt tonight to see if I can make room for it. I got busy day. I'm knocking down Red Bulls working on three hours sleep. So what? Who cares? Nobody cares. Okay. So there was a playing that game last night, and I understand fan is short for

fan. My job is not to be a fan. I try to take all the emotion out. of it. Fans don't want gray areas in sports. So Miami fans see this trip by Lamello Ball, and they're like, oh, you got, you got to throw them out of the game. Well, first of all, in the NFL, there's lots of gray areas. Nobody calls pass interference during a Hail Mary. They could, they don't. It's a rugby scrum. In Major League Baseball, you're not supposed to argue balls and strikes. If you get to the World Series deciding game six or seven, they're going to let you chirp a little from the dugout. That's life and that's sports. It's called speed limit. They don't pull you over unless you're eight to nine miles an hour over the speed limit outside

of a school zone. So this is one of these time and place matters. There was a lot for the ref to look at. LaMello hit the ground. Bam's going out of bounds. He's trying to save the ball. LeMello reaches up and grabs him. I didn't see it in real time. The referees obviously did not see it in real time. And everybody wants him to be thrown out. in a playing game, the star of one of the teams is not getting thrown out in that space. And by the way, the refs and the announcer and the announcer Iron Eagles great.

He didn't see it. I didn't see it. Eric Spolstra afterwards said he didn't see it when it happened. I didn't see it, but I don't think it's cute. I don't think it's funny. I think it's a stupid play. It's a dangerous play. Obviously, our best player is out.

I'm not making an excuse. The Hornets, played great, you know, and they made those plays down the stretch. We had our opportunities to win. I just, that's a shame. You know, he should be penalized for that. I don't think that belongs in the game, you know, tripping guys, you know, shenanigans. And, you know, Curtis was there.

It's his responsibility to see that. And if it's not his responsibility, then Zach's got to see it. If, you know, somebody has got to see that and that, you know, he should have been thrown out of the game, you know, for that. They didn't see it. and then I buy it. Now, I will say this was not Bill Lambere tackling Kurt Rambas.

Okay? This was not a dangerous fast break play when you're cutting the legs out. Bam's going for the ball and Lamello, here's the excuse or the reason and Lamello apologized. Here's what he said after. I apologize on that one.

I mean, I got hit in the head, didn't really know where I was, but I'm going to check on him and see if he's okay. and everything. I got hitting the head. Didn't even know where I was, but just playing basketball. But like I said, sorry, and I'm going to check on them. Were you checked for concussion

after that play at all? Me for concussion? I mean, I don't think I ever had a concussion. Or I might have, I don't know. I don't even know how those concussions work. When it comes to April, I look at the refs like I look at the IRS. I know you're necessary. I'd rather not

see you. I'd rather the refs disappear in these big playoff games. I'm very, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, for letting players win big games late or early. Get the refs out of the way. Okay, so the NBA has said they're checking into it. Uh, are they going to yank him out of one game of the next series? Uh, that's possible.

I wouldn't lose sleep on that. But if the refs don't see it, what I don't want is refs making it up. I, I, I've said this before. nothing drives me crazier in sports when you watch a play in the NFL and it's like a good play, the 25-yard completion, and there's a holding penalty, and then you look at the replay,

and the announcers and all of us go, yeah, I'm not sure that's holding. Call stuff you absolutely see. Don't project, don't guess. Riffs didn't see it. They were watching BAM trying to save the ball. So, and the NBA is officially, according to Chris Haynes reviewing it.

They'll probably yank him out of a game in the next series. But listen, I supported the Miami Heat when BAM scored 83 against a bunch of teenagers for Washington. I said everybody else in the league had a chance to do it. Bam's a great player. Big body against a bunch of kids. I totally supported kind of manipulating the last couple of minutes of that game. I totally supported Miami. I'm not throwing Lamello out in this spot.

There's no way in the world I'm doing that. Flagrant, absolutely. J-Mack with the news No, no, no, no Turn on the news This is the herd line news All right, Colin, let's get started with tonight's Play-in games

The Stars tonight. The Stars tonight, yes. We got Clippers and the Warriors out here in L.A. and Steph Curry is on a bit of a minutes restriction, though they're saying 40 minutes is the restriction, which isn't much of one.

I think the Clippers are probably the side here. They're big five and a half point favorites. Here's Kauai Leonard talking about taking advantage of going against an all-time grade. He's one of the greatest players to play this game. Even if it's a pickup game or anything, just be able to share the floor with a player like that, you know, being a coached by Steve Treff, also playing a great line. And, you know, that you end up there of a championship pedigree. You know, it's just a great opportunity you came to take it for granted.

I think I'll take the clips tonight by about five. Well, lines five and a half, so you're right on. It's a tough sell to take the Warriors here. They're just not a good basketball team. There are a lot of good players. They haven't been a good team for years. Bob Myers was a smart guy. The GM.

Got out early. He got out early. Since then, they've written $275 million in contracts. Not great. Not great. Kauai Leonard having one of the best seasons of his career. He might get to first team all NBA. Because, like, Luca's not going to qualify because of the games played.

You know, because of the load management and his injuries, I said this five years ago, and I, if you take Michael Jordan, the closest we've ever had stylistically to Michael was Kobe. Right. But the closest physically strength hand size to him is Kauai. Because Kauai, like Michael, just because of hand size, can just do things, you know, think how good of Kauai. Quai in his prime was a good defensive player.

Can you imagine Kauai Leonard playing in the Michael Jordan era when you could hand show? Because pound for pound, Kauai, maybe one of the strongest players in the league. And certain players, I feel like they're born too early or too late, if Kauai could have played in Michael's era and guarded Michael, that would have been Michael's greatest test. Because Kauai, when he's healthy, and this year he's been healthier, he remembers. mains in my lifetime one of the best get a stop get a bucket guys just in terms of i need a stop or i need a bucket he's a remarkable player yeah wow that this might be the highest praise you've ever given kawai well the guy doesn't show up for work it's hard for me to spend time talking about him fair but his i will i will argue forever is that kawai has a lot of jordan characteristics doesn't have the flare

the style, the personality, or the teams. But he and Kobe combined, for those that didn't see Michael play live, if you could take the strength and hand size of Kauai and the defensive on ball, and Kobe's flare and offensive wizardry, that's MJ, if you didn't see him play live. All right, let's move on to the Lakers, Colin,

who got not great news that Muka and Austin Reeves are out indefinitely. The Lakers are kind of not saying much about them. But J.J. Reddick is talking about Keyes to the series as if the Lakers have a chance and says, we've got to take care of the basketball and box out. We don't have that luxury.

We don't have Austin Reeves. We don't have Luka. We can't be getting killed on second chance opportunities. The Rockets a great rebounding team. Is there ever been a regular season game in the recent history of the league where Laker fans,

they'd won 15 to 17 in March, offensively in the half-court offense, as good as almost anybody in the league. Not a transition team. They're too old, a little slow. You couldn't wait to watch them in the playoffs. Even the coach, DeAndre Aiton, Rui Hachamora, the whole team outside of Marcus Smart offense,

and it is more of an offensive league now than ever. They go to OKC, Reves Luca out for the year. I don't remember a game that was more devastating. You lose your top two stars in an hour. And the trickle-down is going to be like, I don't know what this means for LeBron now. Let's be real. If we're being honest,

the Lakers are probably getting swept here, right? Yeah. Now, Austin Reeves, he's not going to get his huge payday. And then I wonder if there's going to be, you know, I ran into a guy who's close to the Lakers. And he's like, do the Lakers love Reddick? How are things with Reddick and the Lakers? I guess they're fine.

They were hot. And I don't know if that was like a signal. Can you look into what's going on there? Let me ask you. Chicago Bulls now have two picks in the top 15. Austin Reeves on the market. You know, the Bulls don't have a star. They don't have like a bill-go-

Well, Josh Giddly. Stop it, come on. He's not a star. I mean, I don't know what Reeves is. Well, Boozellis is really good, but it's weird. When you watch those games last night, Portland, Charlotte, they've got so many young, energetic, fast players. I think both teams have been crap for a while.

Both like the NBA, but I think the regular season was a disaster this year. And I think a lot of it is the draft is so good, eight teams tanked. And it was really uncompetitive. Load management was embarrassing. I will defend my take forever. I still wish we didn't have as many threes. But when you watch those games last night, these are flawed teams. The pace of play in the NBA now is so fast.

It's just incredible. When you watch Charlotte up and down the floor, I said it before. It is an out-of-control frat party with no chaperone. They are just up and down. But the Lakers don't look anything like that. No, no, Lakers are old. Nothing wrong with that. Again, the Lakers are the four seed in the West.

But they, I don't know that they have the horses. I'm worried about them here. Yeah. We'll see. Final story, Colin is to the NFL. A lot of talk about the New York Giants, what they're going to do at five in the draft. Their speculation, Arvel Reese could drop from two to five.

Jets were looking at them. And then there's a lot of talk about Sunny Stiles. Kyle is the linebacker. But Caleb Downs is the one that everybody's targeting. Of course, Baltimore with Harbaugh got Kyle Hamilton at 14. He is an integral piece of the defense. Would they consider Caleb Downs? Here's Joe Shane on the draft.

That wouldn't be out of the question. I mean, those are really good football players. And, you know, those are the conversations we're having right now. Like, hey, we like all these guys, but you got to pick one. And, you know, a couple of them are going to be there. So we're working on stacking that right now. You speak of Sunny Stiles and Caleb Downs, like, talk about talented defense. We've watched a lot of Ohio State defensive film the last couple of months,

a lot of good football players from top to bottom on that defense. And, you know, those are two of the key players on that defense that we looked at. So, you know, certainly guys that we've talked a lot about and think very highly of. I'm a big believer that Giants should trade down more than any team in the draft. Whoa. Yeah, I mean, I don't think Tennessee should trade down. If Jeremiah Love is there, get Cam Ward help. I don't think Arizona should trade down.

My takeaway, if Jeremiah Love is there or David Bailey is there, when's the last time Arizona drafted a great pass rusher? But the Giants should trade down because the Giants have, the Giants are about three, four really good players away from winning a division. Right tackle, got to get a corner, like another safety. I would get another back. more than any team and you could say the Browns could trade

but they need a receiver and Carnell Lake's going to be available from Ohio State so I would just take him the Giants more than any team in the top ten like Kansas City shouldn't trade down if that right tackles available go get him Bengals shouldn't trade down Caleb Downs in state if he's

their defense on the back end's atrocious the Giants don't need the fifth pick they need two more picks they need another third and a fifth You think they'll take downs at five? I think that's a little rich. I don't think they will. I think if Sunny Stiles is available, it's very Harbaugh,

it's a tough interior backer. He can be kind of, you know, he's just one of these guys that's a physical freak, but he's not going to change outcomes. What's going to change outcomes is getting, they short up their kind of tight end situation in free agency, right tackle, you got to get better in the back end of the defense,

scataboo and another back. You got to help Jackson Dart. That's what you got to do. You got to make life easy for Jackson Dark. Keep them out of the blue tent. They get the receiver back, the star receiver whose name is. Neighbors. Neighbors is coming back.

Yeah, I just, I cannot envision taking a safety at 5. Again, Downs is exceptional. Could be one of the best players in the draft, but value at 5? I don't see it. All right, Jay Mack with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The Hurd-Lie News.

So a friend of mine's Tom Telesco used to be a jam for the Raiders and the Chargers. And when it comes to move, moving up. I remember he told me this one time. He let me stay in their draft room on opening night once. It's just fantastic. And I kind of watched him operate. And I remember one thing he said is he said, you got to be careful about moving up. He goes, a lot more teams in the history of the NFL have had great players fall to them than moving up and finding them. Now the Ravens did move up for Lamar and the chiefs did for Patrick Mahomes. And I kind of feel with quarterback, if you got to move up, you got to move up. If you got to reach, you got to reach. But it should be noted when Telesco was with the Chargers, Justin Herbert Feldwin, Derwin James fell to him and Roshan Slater fell to him. And if you go look at the history of this league, there have been, I mean, I'm not anti-move-up guy. But I saw a story, Mel Kuyper came out with his mock draft, and he has the Cowboys moving up to number six and getting sunny styles. So trading up for an inside linebacker is not ideal. According to Mel, Dallas would surrender the 12th pick and the 20th, and they would get the 6th and the 39th.

not what I would do. Because I think at that 12th pick, you may be able to get the best corner in college football Delane from LSU. And LSU is a cornerback in a safety factory. And I also think there's enough really good players around 10, 11, 12, 13, 14. I don't think there's a big gap. You know, like Spencer Fennell, the tackle, you could say, well, he's not as good as styles.

It's a more important position. Well, Mackay Lemon, isn't this, isn't that? and Dallas isn't going to take him. Well, but it's wide receiver. It's a more important position. So I wouldn't do it. I mean, I think trading up in a weak draft for a linebacker feels like to me paying full sticker price for a used car.

Like, it's just not a smart decision. It doesn't matter how good the car is. Doesn't matter how good the linebacker is. That doesn't feel like the right move. I am not anti-moving up. So last year, Seattle in the second round moved up for safety, Nick Amanwari. And that was a great move. I said it the day after the draft.

That's the best second round player in years. Everybody I knew loved that safety. I don't have a problem moving up for Lamar Jackson. But that's not this draft and linebackers not that position. I'll give you this. The last couple of years, let me give you two teams that have moved into the top 10, which is being suggested by ESPN's draft expert. I'll give you two teams.

Vikings did for J.J. McCarthy. How'd that work out? And the Jags did for Travis Hunter. Yeah. And I bet you privately they regret it. Travis Hunter's going to end up being a really good corner. But the Jags got better last year when he stopped playing. That's when they caught fire. I'm sorry. I know it was an injury, but it's true. So I am not anti-move-up ever for a quarterback if you think he's the guy or a guy just falls. I mean, like Caleb Downs is available. if the Bengals passed on him and you're the Dallas Cowboys and you're sitting at your spot and Caleb Downs is available

and all of a sudden you know somebody passes on him at 9 or 10 and maybe the dolphins and all of a sudden you watch Caleb Downs free falling okay that's where you go make moves like that I get

Sunny Style's a good player linebacker all right boy the Dodgers are good you see that thing last night and I got to admit I have discovered something about myself and I don't know if it's good

but I am not terribly sentimental I am not a terribly sentimental guy I guess I am with my pets maybe family but I'm kind of rooting for the clippers to beat the Warriors tonight I don't get this, man, this bring the band back together again.

I mean, you got Steph on a minute's restriction tonight. I don't root against Steph and the Warriors much, but I don't get the sentimentality here. Like, if you live your life looking through the rearview mirror, you're going to get in accidents. Keep your eyes through the windshield. So I find myself in the rare space tonight. I kind of want to see the Warriors lose and start like coming to terms with the sentimentality. Guys, it's been over for years.

It's the herd. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific. Hey, it's us, the Jonas brothers, and guess what? We have some big news. What's the news, new? Huge news. We created our own podcast called, Hey, Jonas. We invented a podcast?

Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to a... We're the first people to do podcasts. Pretty, yeah, pretty wide range of podcasts. We're starting a trend. But this one's extra special. So how do we actually come up with a name, Hey Jonas, guys? I honestly don't remember.

I think it was on a call about what we should call it. Well, we were thinking I'm originally calling it one of the early names of our band. Before Jonas Brothers was... This is how you guys remember it going down? Yes. I have a very different memory of this. We were talking about a thing, a bit for the podcast where people could call in and say, hey, Jonas. And then I wrote down on my little notepad, Hey Jonas,

and offered it up as a potential title for the podcast. But thanks for remembering that, guys. Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it. Another podcast from some SNL late-night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smigel 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.

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Highlights are trending, opinions are flying, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in. I'm Timbo. Every episode, we're cutting through the noise. breaking down the plays, the controversies, and the stories behind the headlines. We go straight to the source, the athlete themselves, their locker room stories, their reactions, the stuff nobody gets to hear. The laughs, the drama, the triumphs, the moments that never make the highlight real.

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Listen, Lernerabakina is arguably the best player in the world right now. And I actually can win on any surface. Because if she's serving, well, good luck. Consider this your courtside seat to the French Open. Listen to the Renee Stubbs Tennis podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Presented by Capital One, founding partner of IHeart Women's Sports. Great night for the NBA last night. urgency.

So he's one of my favorite podcasters. He covered the Warriors Dynasty and just does thoughtful podcasts and substacks. His name is Ethan Strauss. His podcast is House of Strauss. And whenever the Warriors are a topic, he's always got good insight. He is now joining us live.

Ethan Strauss, author of the Victory Machine, the Making and Unmaking the Warriors Dynasty. So Tony Sopranos best line, in my opinion, of the Sopranos was this. Remember when is the lowest form of conversation. Looking in the rearview mirror. And I lack sentimentality.

I collected baseball cards as a kid like everybody else, but I don't save concert tickets. I'm looking for the next cool piece of tech. I'm not really a history lore guy with baseball. I like the Dodgers now. I don't care about the 27 St. Louis Cardinals. I look at the Warriors. And I'm like, okay, you're not competitive.

You're small, old, and slow. And Bob Myers is like, get me out of here. You're somebody that covered them. You know the Bay Area. If they lose tonight, is it once again, we're bringing Steph back. We love Draymond. We're not moving off pods. Aren't people in the Bay Area over this kind of fraudulent marketing project I've heard for three to four years?

Whoa, fraudulent marketing product. I mean, hey, Tony Soprano hurt Polly Walnuts feelings when he said that. And I think you hurt my feelings just a little bit when you put it quite like that. But I feel it on a certain level, Colin, I do when it comes to the sentimentality. This situation is depressing in subtle ways with the Warriors. And in a way, it might even be better if Steph had a more natural decline. But that's what's weird about it. He's not Willie Mays bumbling around the outfield for the Mets.

He's still good. When he's healthy, he's even arguably great. And in a way, that just wasn't planned for. We didn't plan overall for some of these millennial NBA superstars to hang on for as long as they did. So we've got this reality where he's still great. And there's this impetus to win and make his career as much as it can be while he's still wearing a warrior's uniform. But at the same time, it's also what's preventing them from the renewal process, from the life cycle, all of this stuff that we know we got to get to.

So I share what you're saying, and part of me feels it. Part of me thinks, man, can we just fast forward to the retirement ceremony? Because whatever this is, this isn't comfortable and this isn't fun. And boy, is it taking a long time. Yeah, and also, if you watch Charlotte last night and their pace and their youth, they get up the floor so fast for these teams like the Lakers and the Warriors, like guys, watch the games. This is a young man's league.

And I watch Golden State, and it's like they're old, they're slow, and they keep marketing stuff, and they charge more for tickets than anybody in the league. And it's like, guys, give me a break. And I want to shift to this. You also covered Kevin Durant. And I've compared him to Aaron Rogers that he's an independent athlete in a team sport. Both of them are. They kind of lean into mystery.

They're enigmatic, and they like it. They like that they frustrate people. There's free spirits, and I totally respect that. When you covered KD, I thought it was interesting. He goes to Golden State to learn how to win, to learn culture. He gets it wins and goes, I don't really like that. I'm going to Brooklyn. If Houston is a one-and-done team, same record with him without him,

does it do anything to his legacy? Does it ding it at all? It's a great question because it seems like every postseason is a trial in Kevin Durant's legacy. And I'm not saying that the verdict is guilty year after year. That would be more James Hardin. But it feels as though he always gets a bite at the apple to change the narrative on his career.

And it goes the way it goes. And I don't think it's just a coincidence. I don't think what you're observing is irrelevant. And it's just luck. I do think there's an aspect to these greats, whether it's Aaron Rogers or Kevin Durant, whose attitude about their job is, I am brilliant, true, I am great, true. My job is only my job and nothing else. Also true,

but there's an impact to it. Your teammates or your coworkers are not going to fight for you in the same way. You saw Kevin Durant, he had that leaked those DMs saying bad things about teammates and whatnot. And you know what? Credit to him, he's going to go out and perform just as well with that stuff swirling around. But it reveals something. It reveals the situation where those teammates, I don't think are going to fight for him. I think in that documentary on the Patriots, somebody on one of those teams said about your coworker Tom Brady that we worked for Bill, but we played for Tom. How many people would articulate that about Aaron Rogers? And I believe maybe even fewer people would articulate that about their former teammate, Kevin Durant.

That's really well said. So, listen, I saw a story the other day. Nike stock is in the tank, and one of the reasons is they embraced pro basketball, and a bank was saying the consumer's not buying it. I've been very critical of the tanking epidemic and this kind of laissez-faire approach by stars to play games. It's been really bad PR. I thought last night was remarkable to playouts will probably turn our heads again.

They made a lot of money, $76 billion, so the money's coming in, but it feels a little ill under the surface. You can brag about ratings, but a lot of that is because you have NBC as a partner and you're on broadcast, not cable. So that stuff's all about the NBC deal. It's not a flourishing league television number product-wise. It's not. What is the current state in your opinion? Yeah, I'm glad you made that point about the NBC deal. I think that flies past a lot of people because there are a lot of victory laps today about how the NBA has the best ratings in 24 years. Well, when you take all your TNT games, you put 100 of them on network television, you're going to get a boost. I think with the NBA, it feels a lot better in the present with all the TV money they're getting than the future.

And the future is part of what that big UBS, that Swiss Bank that has to worry about stock prices and do intensive research, they're looking at that and they're saying that's the warning because we were just talking about it. We're talking about millennial superstars right now. Who are we talking about, Colin? We're talking about Steph Curry and Kevin Durant. Why is that? It's because those guys are perhaps orders of magnitude, more famous than the superstars who are in their prime right now. The funniest part, because I read the UBS report,

the funniest part when it was talking about Nike and the failure of basketball to elevate Nike like it once did, was this thing at the end where they said, you know what, maybe Rory McElroy, winning the Masters back to back, can give Nike its show. shot in the arm that it's not getting from basketball. That's where they're at, Colin. They need the Nike needs the 36-year-old Northern Irish golfer to propel them because there are no guys signed to

Nike from the NBA who can move the needle. So that's the worry. It's more about the future than it is about the present. I want you to listen to his podcast. His name is Ethan Strauss. It's called the House of Strauss. It is my it is my long walk podcast favorite. It's great seeing you as always and his substack as well as great. Good to see you, buddy. Thanks so much, Colin. Always a thoughtful guy. Yeah, really, really interesting. I loved his quote about Brady. We were coached by Bill. We played for Tom. And that is something. That is when your view to somebody that sacrifices everything for the team. And that's, that's, you know, it's kind of unwritten. It's unspoken. But that's really true. You played for Tom. You're coached hard by Bill. And that,

you know, Bill was tough on players, and I'm not banging on necessarily Kevin because of that. Not everybody is like that. We have to leave, you know, it's like artists. Like artists do weird things. But they also create Oppenheimer. You know, they all, whenever I watch a great movie, my take is how in the hell they think of that? I mean, how in the world did somebody come up with sinners or weapons? Did you watch Marty Supreme?

You haven't. I just saw it on the flight. I thought it was excellent. Every time I watch a great show, a great movie, my take is that's why I'm going to allow latitude on artists sometimes doing crappy stuff or crazy stuff. They're not accountants. They don't think like that. In order to get all the greatness that art provides for all of us, it can be the Guggenheim. It can be Hollywood. Whatever creative people do, we can't have rigidity in our culture.

We have to open up the boundaries for great artists. It makes all of our lives have color. And so, you know, I don't even know what I was talking about. Where was I had on this? Anyway, my point being is I don't even know what my point was. I just started rambling. I like a good rant on a Wednesday morning. Let me ask, La Mello Ball kind of sort of ranting.

So I know people are saying, hey, Steph Curry is going to retire a warrior. His dad, obviously, was Charlotte. They retired his jersey. He, Davidson. Oh, I remember now. Okay, go back. Go back. What I was saying is you have to allow for Kevin Durant and Aaron, Roger.

personality because they're artists. And you can't make every athlete Tom Brady. You have to allow Kevin Durant and Aaron to operate in their sphere and their galaxy. Do you? Right? Yeah, that's right. I mean, in order to get the greatness of Kevin Durant, you can't demand that he be the cake

and the icing. You can't demand, you've got to allow artists and great athletes are artists. You've got to allow unique personalities because what they provide is uniquely entertaining. Hey guys, it's us. The Jonas Brothers. I'm Joe. I'm Kevin. And I'm Nick. And guess what? We created our own podcast

called Hey Jonas. We invented a podcast? Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to it. We're the first people to do podcasts. We get to ask other people questions because we're sick and tired of being asked questions. Well, sick and tired is a strong way to put it. But, you know, tired and sick. Tired and sick. Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it. 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 I-Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. I'm Michelle McPhee, and I've been unraveling the strangest criminal alliance I've ever reported on, a Mormon polygamist and an Armenian businessman. Multi-million dollar house, Ferraris and Lamborghinis, private jets, a billion dollar fraud. But how long can this alliance last? Tell me what you know. Is somebody coming after me? Listen to Kingdom of Fraud on the I-Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your

Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where SportsSlice comes in. I'm Timbo, and every episode, we're cutting through the noise, breaking down the biggest moments in sports and giving you the real story behind the headline. And we're going straight to the source, the athletes themselves, their locker room stories, their reactions in the moment, and the stuff nobody gets to hear. Listen to Sports Slice on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you're you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Slica Life 12 in the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human.