The Herd with Colin Cowherd - The Herd - Hour 1 - The Nuggets are hungry

Episode Date: June 2, 2023

Nuggets overwhelm Heat in Game 1. There's a new big man in town. Nick Nurse opens up about James Harden’s future   Guest: Eddie HouseSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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

Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and friends on the IHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what I'm saying.

Yep, that's me, Clivert Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, my basketball and college football journey, or my career in sports media. Well, now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifers Show. This is a place for raw, unfiltered conversations with athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. So let's get to it. Listen to The Clifford show on the IHard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.

And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok's podcast network on TikTok. On the Look Back at it podcast. From 1979, that was a big moment for me. 84 is big to me. I'm Sam J. And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick a year, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived it. With our friends, fellow comedians, and favorite authors.

Like Mark Lamont Hill on the 80s. 84 was a wild. I mean, it was a wild year. I don't think there's a more important year for black people. Listen to look back at it on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Thanks for listening to The Heard podcast. Be sure to catch us live every weekday from 12 to 3 Eastern, 9 to noon Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and FS1. Find your local station for the herd at Fox Sports Radio.com or stream us live every day on the iHeartRadio app by searching Herd.

Now let's get this party started. listening to Fox Sports Radio. Welcome to the herd. It's me, Jason McIntyre, back in the driver's seat for Colin Cowherd. I'm flying solo today, ladies and gentlemen. Cowherd, well, you know, we took vacation in the recent week, and let's just say he had some travel issues so he could not make it back from Iceland. I don't know what that means, but they called an audible this morning. I got the call from the bullpen. J-Mack, come on out, fire some more takes, so here I am.

I did host a Saturday morning radio show on Fox Sports Radio for six years, three hours by myself. So I think I could probably handle this. Heavy lift from the staff this morning needed. But yeah, when you saw that NBA finals game last night, holy cow, what a disaster that was for the league. Listen, I love the NBA as much as anybody, but let's be realistic. That was a nightmare scenario for the NBA last night. The Denver Nuggets don't even play their best game. and they dominate and win by 11.

Now the spread was nine, nine and a half. I told you guys yesterday on the show, had to hammer the nuggets. A lot of game one evidence points to that after a seven-gain series in Denver dominated. The second half, they led by as many as 24 points. Just an evisceration of the Miami heat. It kind of left you wondering,

can Miami win one, much less two games in this series? And I think it all stems really back to the man in the middle, Nicola Yokic. He was utterly dominant. That's the only word you can use to describe the Doey 610 European who was just flashing brilliance left and right against Miami. They had no answers. And, you know, in the morning meeting with the staff, I kept saying like, you know, Yokic is just so dominant out there. You can't stop him.

Denver's now 13 and 3 in the postseason. They look like, not like an all-time great team, but certainly the best team in the league. And it all runs around Mr. Yokic. and what makes him so special, I believe, is that he is as dominant as Shaquille O'Neal was. Not the best big manson Shaq, but as dominant as Shaq. Now, they dominate in different ways. Shaq just overpowered you back to the basket. I'm going to dunk.

Everybody knows the famous dunk on Chris Dudley, where he dunked on him, just shoves him to the ground. That was Shaq's dominance and overpowering anybody in the game, really. Yolk is different. He is kind of like a Jason Bourne out there, crafty. he's going to point out your weakness, he's going to hold the ball, and he's going to pass. I mean, folks, if you want to be bleak for the Miami Heat, they were trailing by 17 points at halftime, and Mr. Yokic had taken three shots. That's it. Like, he doesn't have to score to kill you. He's really an evolved big man, a kind of guy

who can step out and hit the three. Hey, we're going to sag back on Yokic. Let's see if he could shoot. Yeah, he can bang threes. We're going to double team Yokic. That's fine. He's a great passer. the vision. I think Colin has compared him to Arvita Subbonis, one of the best passing big men ever. And Tracy McGrady was on a Showtime podcast, What's Burning? And listen to what he said about the great Nicola Yoakich. Let me tell y'all something. This dude is so... Straight up. Like, I haven't seen anything like him where he passes. You got a 7-foot, 7-1. center bringing up the ball initiating the offense. The passes that he makes from one side of the courts to the other on time and on target,

the bounce passes in between defenses. You can't guard him on the post because he's too big. He can't jump over a dollar bill. He rebounds. He is amazing. Yeah, T-Mack, my guy, huge fan of Tracy McGrady back in the day. And listening to him, gas up Yokic, again, We're talking about a guy who can dominate.

Now, offensively, he dominates. Defensively, he's not doing much. Shack, obviously, was a great defender. And I know 90s basketball fans will say, oh, Shaq was a better defender. He was a better player. Are you sure about that, guys? You watch Yokic in this offense.

He had 27, 14, and 10, made it look easy. And he didn't even play his A-plus game. Again, we're talking about a guy who is unguardable. At one point, the heat said, you know, we're going to bring Cody Zeller off the bench. We're going to try him on Yokchch just to get him a different look. Yokic took him from the perimeter, drove to the lane, literally went through him for the layup and one. And Yokic is the kind of guy.

He doesn't have to dunk to dominate you. I don't even know if he's had five dunks in the postseason, but he makes it look easy. And one of the problems, I know it's weird to say this is a problem for the league is that, and I got a great quote from the movies. Audiences love flamboyant people who broke all the rules and paid dearly for it. obviously like a Robert Downey Jr. comes to mind. But the first half of that quote, audiences love flamboyant people. Really applies to a lot of NBA players. We've got Showman, right?

I mean, Magic Johnson. One of my favorite players. Magic and Patrick Ewing were my favorite players growing up. They were extremely flamboyant. Ewing's thunderous dunks in Madison Square Garden, pointing at people, shot blocking, letting them know. Magic Johnson with the passing. Listen, I know Larry Bird was a silent assassin and was a legendary trash talker,

but he was flamboyant in his. own ways. Isaiah Thomas, the great point guard. These 80s and 90s players were ultra flamboyant. Obviously, we've got to mention the great Michael Jordan and what he could do, uh, the shrug against the Portland Trailblazers. It's like audiences love the flamboyant players. And if you look in the modern era right now, Kyrie Irving's not a great basketball player. We know he's a talented one, but he is extremely flamboyant with his layups, his finishing at the rim. You know, this guy, the audiences love the Kyrie. Irvings of the world. Steph Curry's hitting from three with the shoulder shrug. They love that.

The NBA's best player right now is Nicole Yokic, who is not flamboyant at all. And I say that's a problem for the league because how do you market this guy? Like he's great to watch. I love him. But we know what the audience likes. You know, the casual fans. They love dunks. They love passes. The deep threes. They like the trash talk. I love that stuff. Yokic is just a killer. He is literally unstoppable. I mean, the Miami Heat said, we need a great series from Bam Out of Bio. Hell, we'll take a great game from Bam Out of Bio. Their center, who has been all NBA in his career?

Bam Out of Bio, when the heat, when Bam Out of Bio scores 20 points, the heat had been 6 and 0 this postseason. They're like, we know what Jimmy Butler's going to give us. One of the other guys, one of the undrafted dudes, he's going to deliver. If we can get Bam, 20 points, can't lose. Bam Out of Bio had his best game of the playoffs, best career playoff game with 26 points. And I guess smashed.

by Denver, and it was never close. Not for a moment. Don't tell me it was close when they cut it to nine. It was never close for a moment in the second half. So you get everything you want from Bam out of bio. He had no chance defending Yokic, and you have no chance in the game. Folks, I don't want to sound too bleak for the league.

I don't want to sound too bleak for the Miami Heat fans. I know we've got some at this network. Shout out to Joy Taylor, but I'm just, I'm looking at the numbers here, and Denver has won 11 of the last 13 against the heat. heap. Miami has not beaten Denver since the bubble. Nicola Yolkich literally owns his team. By the way, here we go on FS1 with the Cody Zeller highlight. That was the one minute Cody Zeller got in the game. Go look at the box score. Came in for one minute and Yokic just attacked him, said send that kid back to

the bench. Cody Zeller, awesome, college basketball player. But I look at this number. Miami shot 33% from deep. And ordinarily you're like, oh, well, they made 13 threes. That's not bad. Folks, a lot of garbage time baked into that. First half, when Denver raced to that 17-point lead, Miami was four of 17 on three-pointers. You cannot do that. And I know we talked about Caleb Martin and the emergence that he had against Boston, where he was arguably their best player with Jimmy Butler. Yeah, Caleb Martin, well, regression to the mean there. Caleb Martin, one for seven last night. Max Strauss, the immortal Max Trues, undrafted, can hit five threes any night of the week. Oh, for 10. Duncan Robinson came in, couldn't hit the broad side of a barn.

It was a brutal night shooting. And that's what Miami fans are going to see. Hey, hey, Yokic got his triple double, but we've still got our guys. They're going to make shots. Guys, I'm sorry, I hate to break it to you. This is who the Miami Heat are. This is what they were in the regular season, the 27th best three-point shooting team in the league. Just because they had a, you know, four-week out-of-body experience in the playoffs

where they took down the bucks with three-point shooting. and Jimmy Buckets, and they were able to beat the Celtics with just otherworldly shooting from the perimeter. Like, that's not who they are. This is who they are. And they have no answer whatsoever for Yokic. They even tried the zone, and they had a brief 11-0-0 run in the fourth quarter

that I think cut the 21-point lead to 10. And, you know, the announcers, if you were listening, you were like, oh, oh, maybe they could make this interesting. They were begging for a close game. And then as soon as it gets remotely close, here's Yokic, on the elbow, dish, Aaron Gordon, junk. Here's Yokic, pick and roll with Murray. Automatic. I'm just saying, like, I know we gas up Janus Atenacumpo as the greatest player in the league. Calhurt loves his Kevin Durant. Obviously,

we have LeBron James. Anthony Davis. You guys remember when Calhard had Anthony Davis as the number one player in the playoffs at one point? Like, let's be realistic. If you're starting a team in the NBA right now, you look at the age, you look at how he dominates, who were you taking over Yokic? I don't know how you make the case for anyone. Listen, remember, Shaq, who is really the most comparison to Yokic because of their dominance, Shaq could not make free throws. He was like 50, 52% for most of his career. Even Yonis against Miami, he was hot potatoing the ball around because he couldn't shoot free throws. I think he missed 17 free throws in that to sign a game. Tell me the weakness of Nikola Yokic. Other than maybe he's not flamboyant enough, he's not a great

interview. We're talking about a historically great center, folks, and I don't think the Miami Heat have any answers for him. And I know the league has their issues. We'll get to John Morant later in the show. We got some fun James Harden stuff coming up, but you want to celebrate Yokic. And the problem I see is it's a tough sell in the league for an unfamboyant guy who is utterly dominant. Even we've seen Patrick Mahomes go from like quiet, shy guy to he's got some personality. They brought it out of him. Josh Allen's still a little reluctant. Joe Burroughs got his sly sense of humor. I want to see

a little more from Yokic on the personality front. Really market him to the league because folks, he ain't going anywhere and neither are the Denver Nuggets. All right, first segment in the books. I think I survived so far. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific

on Fox Sports Radio FS1 and the IHeard Radio app. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's Superhuman documented it all,

embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the I-Hard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what you'll say.

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 with Little Kim? 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 y'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 Back here on the herd, Jason McIntyre in for Colin. Colin should have been in today, but I had a travel snafu, if you will. He'll be back on Monday. I don't want to tease it too much, but we have a couple great guests coming up.

Eddie House will be here. Chris Broussard by guy. Maybe we'll do some sparring later in the show. And yes, we will get to John Morant. A lot of NFL coming up, too. I'm actually going to give you my favorite five bets in week one. I go to Vegas every summer. I enter the season-long gambling contest,

and I'll be dropping some wagers. So week one bets coming up. But first, I want to go back to the NBA. There was an interesting coaching move this week in the league. And Nick Nurse accepted the job in Philadelphia. And as a preamble to where I'm going with this, I used this quote, I think two times ago when I hosted the show. I heard it from a philosopher on a podcast a couple years ago,

and I've trying to instill it in my life. It's hard choices, easy life. Easy choices, hard life. And you know, you don't have to think too hard about this one. If you make the hard choices, right, I'm going to go to the gym every day. I'm going to stay in shape. Even though I don't want to, man, it's a long day at work. I'm going to make that hard choice to go to the gym.

And I'm going to make that hard choice to eat right and diet. And, you know, I'm going to put away that pizza, speaking as a pizza lover. I'm not going to eat pizza. I'm going to eat the vegetables. You know, make these hard choices. I know that doesn't sound hard, but trust me, it's hard to say, you know what, gone out enough times this month. I'm going to dial it back. I want to be productive tomorrow. You make these hard choices to stay in, avoid some of these vices. You're going

to have an easier life. Chances are you're going to have a longer productive life. And the opposite is also true. You make the easy choices. I'll take an extra out. I take an extra beverage, adult beverage, that is. Stay out until 3, 4 a.m. playing video games and gallivanting. Listen, we all were in our 20s. We all made these choices. Life's going to get hard on you pretty quickly. And the Philadelphia 76ers, through their last two coaches, have made the easy choices. They got players coaches, Brown, and then Doc Rivers. Doc Rivers, especially as a players coach. I want the players to run things. It's a players league. Doc Rivers, of course, was a player. Players love playing for Doc Rivers. Doc Rivers is not won a whole hell of a lot since that

Boston title, 15 years ago or whatever it was. Doc Rivers is a lot. Doc Rivers is a lot. known for some massive playoff flameouts, blown three, three one leads, blew a three two lead this year against Boston with game six at home. And they got their doors blown off in game seven. So the Sixers have been going with the easy choices, players, coaches. And finally, Daryl Morey has said, I've had enough. He made the hard choice. And then what would Nick Nurse as their new head coach?

Now, you know, hardcore NBA fans know Nick Nurse well from Toronto. He won a championship. I call it. I've called it for years. The luckiest NBA title ever because, of course, you know, they beat the Sixers on that fluky Kauai Leonard three from the corner. And then, of course, Kevin Durant plays 11 minutes in the entire series, the finals. Clay goes down. That was a lucky title.

But Nick Nurse won the championship. You can't take it away from him. And Nick Nurse is known as a grinder. He is going to hold his players accountable. He's going to work them hard. All those adjectives that describe hard work, grit, resilience. That's what Nick Nurse demands from his players. He had a lot of success with the wings.

Remember, they got O.G. Enanobi. They drafted Scotty Barnes. They liked length on the perimeter. That was mostly during the Curry years, where they looked like you had to be flexible and be able to switch everything on the perimeter so you needed long wings. He's out with that now.

He's going to Philadelphia. where the players have kind of run amok. Joel Embed. I wouldn't say he's the most in-shape center in the league. He won MVP. Obviously, he was very good this year. Take nothing away from Joel Embed. But I think we can all agree the training habits.

Now, some of that is attributed to his injury history. But the training habits for Embed, he was a guy was out of shape a lot, a lot. And we know James Harden, who is a very prolific basketball player. He's also a very prolific partier. I mean, there are jokes about strip clubs that have his roster, his jersey in the rooftop at some of these jiggle joints in Houston. Like, he is noted for going out and spending time after hours, living it up, and enjoy it.

Dude, you're a multi-millionaire in the prime of your life. Hanging out with rappers left and right. Like, I can't blame Hardin for that. But if nobody's holding him accountable, well, there's going to be a limit on his greatness, right? I mean, you could count the playoff flameouts for James Hardin. You're going to need two hands for that one. He had many in Houston. It was a memorable one against the Spurs.

Oh, my God. It was one of the worst ones I've ever seen. He did deliver against Boston twice with two late threes, two huge wins. And then where was he in game six and seven? Just no show. That's the history of James Hardin. Here today, gone tomorrow. And of course, Nick Nurse was introduced this week.

as a Sixers coach. So what do you think the tough Philadelphia media did? Well, they kind of grilled him. So here's Nick Nurse being pressed about James Hardin in Philly this week. Do you want James Harden back? James Hardin's a great player. That didn't answer the question. Well, I would say this is that James has a decision to make,

and I'd be very happy if he came back. not exactly a resounding vote of confidence i mean he's saying what he has to say he's not saying it with a smile on his face listen i'm nobody language expert but he's like slouched and kind of dodgy i don't know if i'm james hardin i watch that and you know there were rumors i think it was sham sharonio had reported that um james hardin wanted doc rivers gone and so the sixers capitulated thinking they'll keep Hardin and now they bring in Nick Nurse and here's how Nick Nurse addresses the Hardin stuff. Listen, I'm not trying to knock Hardin. I'm not trying to slam and beat.

Two great basketball players from this generation. You guys might forget this, but like five years ago, people were talking about James Hardin is the best score since Michael Jordan. He was doing some crazy stuff out there. He was an unbelievable offensive threat, but he always kind of had those letdowns. And now you've got a player who needs to be held accountable by his coach. And folks, my takeaway from the Nick Nurse edition and James Hardin's history, again, history doesn't always repeat itself, but it often rhymes. I would guess James Hardin is probably on

his way out in Philadelphia. And maybe Daryl Morey and Nick Nurse say, hey, this is what needs to happen for us to get better. Maybe we take one step back to take two steps forward. We get rid of guys who don't want to grind, don't want to be held accountable, and we bring in guys that are going to be tough and resemble our city. You know, Philadelphia is a tough city. I lived outside of Philly for about seven years with the wife and kids, and we did go into Philly a ton. We still were kind of New York kids. We lived together in New York, so we would go to New York more often than Philly. But Philly is, as a sports fan, as good as it gets. I mean, they are tough. They hold you accountable. You look at Ben Simmons.

and they loved Ben Simmons when they drafted him. Love Ben Simmons. Big fan of his, I am as well. Kind of reminded me of Magic Johnson at times with his passing and his vision and his triple doubles. Ben Simmons was an all NBA player. We forget. And he had that moment against the Atlanta Hawks

where he drove in game seven and made the pass instead of the layup because he was afraid of being fouled. And Philadelphia fans never forgave him. They drove him out of that city. someone in our morning meeting joked that Philadelphia fans

cracked Ben Simmons like the Liberty Bell and that couldn't be more spot on because Simmons never recovered from that. He instantly was like I'm done here, I want out, he didn't get a vote of confidence from his teammate or his coach

and beat in Rivers at the time and it was just one of those moments where you're like, wow, Ben Simmons is not going to happen. Now he remember, he eventually came back to practice and I'll never forget this. He had a phone in his

pocket at practice. That's how checked out he was. He didn't want to be there. And, you know, images from the practice, you could see the phone lit up like he was on it. It wasn't just in his pocket, but he had been on it. And it was just like, man, they got in his head. And Philadelphia, listen, the city of Rocky Balboa. I'm not going to make jokes about batteries in Santa Claus. But listen, Philadelphia fans are very demanding. And they want a lot. I think, I think Nick Nurse fits Philadelphia perfectly. I don't know that James Harden does. And I think Philadelphia has got a really interesting offseason. If you're ranking the teams, the most interesting, Philadelphia has got to be top three, right?

I mean, I think the Lakers are certainly up there. It's going to be an interesting off season in Philadelphia. All right, coming up next, we got a great guest, Eddie House joining the herd. Let's bring in Eddie House on the Cowherd Global Network. How you doing, Eddie? How are you doing, man? I'm excellent, man. I like your shirt.

We're kind of matching today. Nice, nice. Listen, man, I know you're a big Boston Celtics guy. Everybody asks you about it. We're going to start. We'll get to the finals at a moment. But I need to open up asking you quickly about the Celtics and that game seven.

I know Jalen Brown struggled. Tatum had the injured ankle. But I'm just curious, your overarching thoughts on game seven. And then how Brad Stevens instantly handled the Missoula situation, as well as the Jalen Brown talk. Well, it's one word embarrassing for, the Celtics, the performance they put on out there,

the way they played. It was embarrassing. And not only that, you know, the crowd started booing. It was, it was just totally embarrassing because in a game seven, the crowd was ready to erupt. History was on the line either way. And, you know, they happen to be on the wrong side of it. But it's just the passion that they played with in that game seven.

I felt like it was a lackluster effort. And it was something that they had been dealing with all season long. the up and down roller coaster. Sometimes you'll get a great team that's engaged defensively, moving the ball, attacking the ball on the offensive end, and then some games you get a team that just plays five out and passes the ball around on the perimeter, misses a lot of threes, and doesn't have the same effort

on the defensive end that it takes to win game. So I would say that it was overall just that game seven was embarrassing. So what are your thoughts on Missoula? Do you think he did enough to save his job down? When he was down 3-0, everybody thought he was getting fired. Then they win three. I don't know how much of it was about him versus just the Celtics kind of waking up. But you think they should have brought him back?

Yeah. I mean, it's like, okay, you get somebody else now. Somebody else has to install their philosophies. This team already, he was a part of the team last year that went to the final. So he already understood what this team could do, their capabilities. He doesn't have to learn these guys. He knows those guys. I think Brad Stevens doing it right now, you know, getting this out the way.

That way there's no rumor swirling in the edge. You're not taking this all the way into the NBA draft. You're not taking this all the way into free agency. You're not taking this all the way, you know, Summer League and stuff like that. You get it over with right now. And I think the most important thing that Brad Stevens did was make it clear that Joe's our guy. And moving forward, the task is to find somebody that's experienced to get him experienced assistant coaches.

So I think that's the way to go. Joe's a young guy. and people give up on youngsters so fast. And so it was his first year. Think about where he got thrown into the fire. Three days before media day, he's named the coach. So he doesn't really have a training camp to get down with the team or anything like that. First time ever being a head coach to come from sitting in the back row to sitting in the main seat.

And just learning how to micromanage not only egos, but also the game, understanding when and we're not to use timeouts. I thought he got better over the year over the season at that. So I'm not surprised that Brass demon came out and did this, but I'm happy that they got it over with, and now that could be behind him. Eddie House, former NBA World Champ with the Celtics. So, Eddie, I've known you for a while. We've done radio together TV.

And I still think my favorite question to you was about that LeBron performance against the Mavs of the finals. Just super mysterious. He just didn't really show up. I'd look at last night's finals game. Nuggets roll. lead by 24, double digits entire half. I thought it was a cakewalk.

I'm just curious. Your mindset, when you think back to when you were in that Miami locker room, when LeBron was like, you know, could not solve Dallas with struggling against Barreya, like if you're in that Miami locker room after game one, and you just saw what Yokic did, just totally unstoppable, what's

the mindset of the Miami players after watching what he did to them and knowing that he's beating you 11 of the 13 times you played? I think we've got to take a hard look at saying, hey, we might just have to let him go off. He gets 50. We can't allow him to have 15 assists, and it's going to be hard to keep him off the glass because he's a big body. He just understands angles. He understands positioning, and he's always around the rim, and he just has

so much size, and he's so skilled. So I think you have to pick your poison with him. You don't want the other guys to get off, and I thought last night everybody had a field day for Denver. And I think the problem with the heat and this series so far in game one, and it was kind of something that I was thinking about anyway is Denver plays so fast. And I'm not sure if Miami can keep up with that pace. And, you know, it's just one game. You don't want to overreact for one game.

But you do see right there you can't get back door cut looking at Yolkut. You've got to stay home. You've got to be focused. There needs to be another guy over there tagging. You can't miss assignments with him. If you miss assignments, you're not paying attention to your defensive principles and stay in discipline on the defensive end. You'll get back cut. You'll get dribble handoff.

You know, they'll play the pick and pop game, pick and roll game, and you'll be a count late. So you've got to try to be a step ahead of them defensively and get a little bit more physical with the guys on the outside. Yolkidge, you can try to get physical winning, but he's strong. He has great footwork and he can get a shot off on anybody, but it's the other guys. You know, that's the real focus is to try to focus on trying to take the other guys out. Don't let Murray get so comfortable, which he's been playing phenomenal basketball. Can't allow him to get comfortable. Michael Porter, Jr., keep him off the glass.

Can allow him to get comfortable. Bruce Brown, Jeff, all those guys that are coming in that are contributing. You've got to make sure that you kind of turn their water off or slow it down a little bit. I just want to point out, you know, I said at the outset of the show that Yokic is as dominating as Shaq was, just in a different way. Now, I haven't gone on social media to see what the rabble rousers are going to say. But again, I know Shaq was dominant at both ends, Eddie, and you're going to want to yell at me, and Shaq was dunking on people and blocking shots.

But, again, Yokic against Anthony Davis, who was the best defensive player in the league, arguably, in the playoffs. He had 34, 21, and 14 in that game one. And in game four, you ended up with 30 and 14 and 13. Like, I don't want to say he's unstoppable, but because of the passing and the shooting ability, he's pretty damn unstoppable. Do you think he's as dominant as Shaquille O'Neal was?

Well, when you say dominant, yeah, he was as dominant because he was dominating games, right? There was nothing that you could really do. And you could dominate in different ways. Michael Jordan was dominant, but he didn't dominate how Shaq dominated games. And Yoke is just doing it a different way. Then both of those guys, he's doing it pass and rebound and scoring. He's definitely dominated these playoffs. I don't know if there hasn't been a better player throughout these playoffs.

Everybody's been talking about Jimmy Butler, who has been playing great. but he's had some games where he has some low numbers, where Yokic, his numbers are always, it's consistent, it's the same, and the fact that your center is the guy that's spearheading your offense is totally different from the way that, you know, we grew up where the center was a guy you would throw the ball into, and if he was going, you're going to run the offense through him through the post. Well, they're running it through.

He's bringing it up the court. He's catching it at the pinch post. He's catching it at the elbow. He's catching it at the nail. So he's doing it in so many different ways. what I just explained right there is dominant. So, yeah, he's just dominant, but in a different way. Hey, I got to give some shout out to my guy, Jamal Murray.

It's almost like he's an unsung hero. Eddie, one of the craziest stats I've seen is that he's never been an All-Star. He's like a 16-point-a-game guy in his career in the regular season, and in the playoffs, it's like 25. And last night, he's just making effortless shot after effortless shot. All the shot goes to Devin Booker. I don't know, man. I think Jamal Murray is really one of the better shooting guards, point cards,

whatever you want to call him in the league. And it's like Yokic is so good that it's almost like Murray is underrated if that's even possible? Well, I mean, if somebody's not watching basketball, they might consider him being underrated. But if you understand the game and exactly what they do, without Jamal Murray, Denver Nuggets aren't the same basketball team. You need Jamal Murray out there. He's that second guy. He's a guy that him and Yokic, when they're going to pick and roll, that right there is damn near unstoppable because you don't know what to do. there, BAM is in a drop coverage. He doesn't want to leave Yokens because Yokens can shoot.

Murray ends up getting to the floater. And then Murray has his one-on-one game. So he can do it in the picker roll and he could also do it, you know, ISO basketball. If you need a guy to go get a shot, he goes get it. And to your point about him never being an all-star, well, you set the numbers in the regular season, 16 points, been to postseason 25. Well, you don't become an all-star by what you do in the postseason. You become an all-star. You become a superstar in the postseason, but you become an all-star in the regular season by putting up some big time numbers. I mean, I would rather

have a guy show up in the playoffs than show up throughout the regular season and then the playoffs come around and he's listening in action. Totally agree. All right, Eddie, breaking news that they just sent me here, according to Shams Sharani. I know we haven't prepared this question for you, but the sons apparently are hiring Frank Vogel.

The new head coach in Phoenix is Frank Vogel, who was ousted in L.A. By LeBron James, according to many people. You know, Frank Vogel, listen, I know he coached in Orlando and they missed the playoffs, but he was pretty damn good in Indiana when they had Paul George, David West, Roy Hibbert. I think Vogel's a good coach. He's defensive-minded.

What do you think this means for the sons? Kevin Durant famously went on, I think it was Instagram or whatever, with Kyrie Irving, was like, we don't need a coach back in Brooklyn. Just any initial thoughts when you hear Frank Vogel to Phoenix? I think that's good for Phoenix. That's a good hire for Phoenix. I thought Monty Williams was kind of unfairly let go. Two times, twice in four years, he was a coach of the year, NBA coach of the year.

But, you know, things happen. New ownership comes. They want to get their guys in, want to get their people in. And that's understandable. I think Frank Vogel is a great hire for them because you said it, the defense, he's a defensive-minded coach. They got enough offense over there. Their problem was getting stops when they needed to get stops.

And so I think this is a really, really good hire. I was thinking Frank Voge. If he didn't get a head coaching job, that he could possibly be the head assistant, the number one assistant over with the Celtics. But, you know, obviously that's not happening. But I think that's a really, really, really good hire, especially for guys like Kevin Booker, Kevin Durant. I'm not sure what they're going to do with CP3, and DeAndre Aden as well.

So I think that it's a great hire for the fact that it's a defensive-minded coach, and they got plenty of offense over here. Again, it just happened. So what do you think this means for Dandre Aiton, who kind of fell out of favor? But Vogel has liked tall defensive centers going back to Hibbert, Anthony Davis. Remember, they picked up Dwight Howard for the run in the bubble. I think they had Javelle McGee on that Lakers team too.

So Vogel likes his big rim protectors. Do you think there's a chance they keep Aiton? Well, I wouldn't give up. I wouldn't want to get rid of Aiton just for the reason that, I mean, he's a walking double-double. We didn't give you 16 and 12 or 16 and 10 on a career so far. So those are very good numbers. You just got to try to find a way to motivate him every night to bring that out. He has nights where he shows up.

He has nights where he doesn't. And, I mean, he's still young. So, you know, to give up on a guy that's so young like that. And I think it was him and Monty had some kind of friction, it seemed like. And sometimes a new coach is just like a new scenery, right? It's just like having a new place that you're going to as far as a team because you do have a new coach, new philosophy. And now they both, they can learn. Vogel has to learn him.

He has to learn. Bogo, I just wouldn't give up on DeAndre Egg, too young. Speaking of giving up, this is a tough topic, Eddie, but this John Morant situation, some of the comments from Adam Silver yesterday, I don't really know how to handle this, but when the commissioner comes out and says, yeah, we kind of know what we're doing with John Moran, we uncovered some more stuff, but we're not doing it until after the finals. We don't want to take the shine away from the finals. Some are taking this to be, this could be like a 50-game suspension,

depending on what they uncovered. You could argue John Morant embarrassed the league with his dog and pony show. I'm repentant. I'm cleaning up my act. I'm going to go away for a week and then try to come back so I could get to the all NBA

and make that money. I don't know, man. Your initial thoughts on John Moran, I don't know if you've talked to people around the league about this yet, but what's your sense of a suspension? I think it's going to be lengthy. There's no way.

And even though we're talking about it today, so we are taking some shine off, Commissioner Silver said he doesn't want to take shine off the NBA finals, but he spoke on it and people are talking about it today. So it was taking a little bit of shine off of it. And I think that is another thing that you can use when you're going back into us. Like, hey, man, this is stuff that has been lingering throughout the finals. It hasn't just been about the NBA and the basketball. We've been talking about you and you're holding a gun. And I think it's unfortunate for him because now he's, you know, he's a role model, believe it or not.

I mean, if he wants to believe it or not, like a lot of kids look up to him, a lot of youngsters. You got to give a shout out to Simba, the rapper, who kind of sent a message out to him, and it was a solid message, man, it was for real. And I think that, you know, John has to take a long look in the mirror and look at his surroundings. Whoever's around him, who's ever allowing this, who's ever recording this after this, they're not your partner. They're not your friends because if they were, They will be making sure that you're not in a situation that you are in right now.

They'll make sure they do everything to keep you out of those type of situation. So it's unfortunate because he's super talented. I mean, he's box office. You're going to pay to see him. You're going to watch to see him play. He does amazing things on the basketball court. And he's young, man. That's the one thing.

He's young, very, very young, getting a lot of money. We all make mistakes. When I was that age, I made plenty of mistakes as well. But he has to learn from him. and he has to be sincere with what he's doing. Like not just saying it and then go back and revert back to what you're doing. You've got to really be looking to change because you've got generational wealth, and you're ready to trick it off for, you know, for a gangster lifestyle.

And he's a hooper, man. So when you were screwing around, we could wrap up with this. When you were screwing around and, you know, being a young, rich guy enjoying life, did any NBA player pull you aside and be like, yo, Eddie, clean it up, man? anybody do that? No, I'll tell you, it was Pat Riley that did that. He called me in his office one time and was telling me that I was, you know, I was kicking it too much.

I was out in the clubs too much. I was hanging out and he told me, hey, you don't want to be known as that. So I'm calling you in here to let you know. And that's why I owe everything my 11-year career to that Miami-Heaton organization and Pat Riley, because without that, I'm not sure if I do 11, I'm not sure if I play 11 years. It gave me a sense of professionalism, how to be a professional, how to carry myself as a professional how to have a work ethic as a professional. So sometimes it's, you know, getting with the right program, getting with the right organization, and having the right mentorship.

Sorry, I got to ask another one now. So when Pat Riley calls you into his office, did you know what it was about? And instantly were you like, oh my gosh, what am I doing? No, I just knew it was something because he ain't calling you in your office for nothing. So, and it was, you know, my first year or my second year. So I was relatively young and, you know, to hear that, it was a shock. Damn. All right. You know, coming from him. Huh? I'm proud of you, man. You cleaned it up and you crushed it and you ended up winning a title. Like, that's awesome, man. Congrats. Anyhouse, NBA champion, NBA analyst here of Fox Sports.

Enjoy the weekend, Eddie. All right, you too, man. Be safe. Good stuff from Eddie House. Pat Riley calls me into an office. I'm probably a little nervous. All right. Coming up next. John Lynch. Remember we talked about this guy yesterday? GM on the 49ers. He's got praise for more 49ers quarterbacks, but it wasn't who you'd expect this time. Is Jay Mack in for Colin? It's the herd here on FS1 and Fox Sports Radio. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd week days in noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific. Hey gang, this is Jay Glazer, host of Unbreakable, a mental health podcast. And each week we try to help turn our mental health issues into mental wealth. And we dive in with every. everyone from a world of sports and entertainment like Sean McVeigh, Lindsey Vaughn, Michael Phelph, David Spade, Guy Fiery, and also those who can help us in between the ears,

anyone from a therapist to someone like Ed Milet or John Gordon. So each week, listen to Unbreakable with Jay Glazer, a mental health podcast, an I-Hart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get podcasts. 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 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-tap 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 Little Kim? 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 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'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 So 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 IHeartRadio app Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcast Jason McIntyre here on the herd In for Colin Cowherd First hour Nearly in the book Second hour we got Rick Buecker

stopping by Remember yesterday I was workshopping stuff with Rick Buecker That was fun We'll be doing more of that Next hour Real quick I wanted to Talk about an interesting topic

And we hammered this yesterday The 49ers And John Lynch And his quarterback situation So a quick story And a brief one So I had started this website The Big Lead

and it started to grow. Everything's going great. I'm bringing in the hiring. I'm doing everything, the P&L report. And finally, we're starting to get acquired by a company. So they wanted to rent us with the option to buy. And at that point, they thought maybe we've got some leverage here over Jason. So they tried to push one of their guys on me.

Hey, Jason, hire this guy. He's really good. I was like, whoa. Hold on. I'll be in charge of the hiring. I know what kind of guy I'm looking for to write about sports, to work, to grind. and I talked to their guy and he's not really my kind of guy. And I wanted to bring in my own guys.

And I ended up, you know, holding out and winning and winning, if you will. And that battle of push and pull management ownership, like it is difficult. And what's going on in San Francisco right now, folks, I'm telling you, there is something simmering beneath the surface. Listen to John Lynch this week on Sirius XM on Tray Lance, the guy they traded up for but never plays. We're extremely high on Trey. The great thing for Trey and for Sam Darnold that we brought in is, you know, with Brock off to the sideline,

Brock had his first session throwing the other day and everything's tracking great. But those guys have got the work in the offseason, and they're both relishing that opportunity. Really proud of Trey. Trey came back off a broken and dislocated ankle, and he's out there, has had a really, really quality offseason. So we still remain very high on Trey. I'm just befuddled. What are we doing? Why is he talking in May and June about his quarterback leader?

Brock Pertie's the leader in the clubhouse. He just started throwing again. Oh, I'm really proud of Trey. He's coming off that nasty injury. It was gruesome. You could see the ankle bent the wrong way. And he's been great. Like, why are you doing this?

Unnecessary problems heaped on young quarterbacks. Trey Lance, I'm looking here. He started four games in two years. they add Sam Donald. Do you think they went and signed Sam Donald for a reason? I think we had Albert Brewer on here yesterday and like, dude, that was like one of their first moves in free agency. We got to bring in another quarterback.

Why? What's going? I just, I totally don't understand the need to all of a sudden reveal what's going on with your quarterbacks. By the way, have you heard a damn thing about what's going on with Zach Wilson in New York? Nope. All about Aaron Rogers.

We know he's a starter. You know, if you have the starter, fine, talk about him. If you don't know what you have, And the 49ers clearly do not. I wouldn't rule out Sam Darnold starting week one. And Brock Purdy is maybe inactive if he's not ready coming back off the injury. What if Trey Lance, folks? What if Trey Lance is not ready and he's inactive?

It's getting messy in San Francisco. All right. Coming up next hour on the herd, Rick Buecker tells you if the heat are done after game one. And I'll give you my 10 most improved NFL teams. And the Jets are not first. Another podcast from some SNL late-night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and Friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier.

This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer Streeter Seidel help an a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and Friends on the 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 I'm saying. Yep, that's me, Clever 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 Clivert Show on the I-Hart. Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok's podcast network on TikTok. On the Look Back at it podcast. For 1979, that was a big moment for me. 84 was big to me. I'm Sam J.

And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick a year, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived it. With our friends, fellow comedians, and favorite authors. Like Mark Lamont Hill on the 80s. 84 was a wild year. It was a wild year. I don't think there's a more important year for black people. Listen to look back at it on the IHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed human.