The Herd with Colin Cowherd - The Herd - Hour 2 - Aaron Rodgers returns

Episode Date: February 23, 2023

Aaron Rodgers has finished his darkness retreat, we think A source says Aaron Rodgers will be back in Green Bay next season   Guests: Antonio Daniels, Jeff Goodman   #douggottliebshowSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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

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You're listening to Fox Sports Radio. What up? Welcome in. This is The Herd, wherever you may be in. However you may be making as part of your day. I'm Doug Gottlie. In for Colin Cowherd. Thanks so much for joining. You know, I have a different way of looking at a lot of these stories than my good friend Colin Cowherd does. The Aaron Rogers ayahuasca story. shared because that one came out at the start of the year, right? That one came out during training camp. And we were actually at the Chargers training camp the next day. And I said, hey, I've actually visited a shaman. And my guys were like, what? Like, yeah, yeah.

It wasn't ayahuasca that's a different deal than I've done. But it's, there's some similarities there. And you're trying to, not necessarily searching. But, you know, trying different things to find out where you are in life and find your balance and figure out what your next step looks like. You know, I don't want to say it's being enlightened. And again, full disclosure, like, I've been friendly with Aaron Rogers.

Not recently in terms of exchanging testimony. I've hung out with him before. I find him to be a very bright, interesting person. but his constant, kind of like Kyrieuiver challenge of authority can be a little off-putting, right? The search for conspiracy theories to lock on to. I do think it's a sign of intelligence, but it also can be a lot when you're somebody's friend or somebody who's just like, look, I just, I don't care enough, but I think we landed on the moon way back when. I just do. You know, I just, I just do.

No, I don't think Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone, but outside of that, I think pretty much, everything else I'm kind of going along with. Jay Stu, you love this, the Aaron Rush thing. I actually, the, the darkness retreat, Scott Berman, who owns Sky Cave Retreats, said Rogers left the dark room and the facility Wednesday. Okay. My thing of the darkness retreat is, it doesn't sound like fun. On the other hand, I do, this is, it's like a marathon, like people who say they run

marathons. You know that some people that run marathons, their body becomes so fatigued that they pooped themselves late in the marathon. Do you guys know that's a real thing? And the story of marathon is a century in ancient Greece was 26.2 miles from Athens. And to save the city, he ran back to tell them that trouble was coming and then he died. Right. So to me, it's like, okay, if options are, if you run a marathon, you can crap yourself or die, I'm going to pass. On the other hand, people that do a marathon and run a marathon, like, hey, more power to you.

That's a mental strength that I'm a pretty mentally strong dude. In that case, I just don't have it. Plus, you know, the ADD, the boredom would kick in. Like, I would get to, you know, even if I was feeling good. I'm like, mile 18, like, you know, there's a game on. I'm just tired. I'm going to go have an honor and Palmer and watch the rest of it on TV. I like to exercise. I like to push myself. That's just two outcomes, death and pooping yourself. I have no desire to go through. So Aaron Rogers sitting in some sort of room, house with no lights and trying to find his inner Zen. Like part of me goes, it's kind of tough, right? I mean, look, I feel free and energized. If I just turn off, my phone, right? You ever do this? You like, you leave your phone and home to go run

and Aaron? And you're like, wow, that's kind of liberating. And then all of a sudden you get back and there's like 50 messages. Like, damn, I just, I missed it. Jay, Steve, you've been lockstep and you like that all the stuff Aaron Rogers does. I do. I will make one exception. When he did that whole immunization thing last year, I thought that, I thought he was lying and I thought he was disingenuous in his explanation of that. But everything else that he gets a lot of stuff for, a lot of grief for. I mean, just think about it. We have a guy that's at the top of the most popular sport in our country being eccentric

and interesting and actually saying things. Would you rather have an Aaron Rogers or Matt Ryan? I mean, for people in our business, I think Aaron Rogers is like the ultimate content. So for that reason, I like the guy. I agree with you. And my thing with the vaccine has always been, like you were. you're dishonest and then continue to be dishonest about it. Like if you didn't want to do the vaccine,

like that's where you actually at least say with Kyrie, hey, there was no gray area there on the vaccine. You didn't want to do it. That's it. End of story. Right. And the search for enlightenment and the like,

look, he does things as a quarterback that I don't, you know, doing the Pat McAfee show, I'm sure a lot of these teams that, it's like the Jets. Why would the Jets throw all this love to Derek Carr when the thought is they can get Aaron Rogers? Well, the first thing is they probably don't think they can get him.

The second thing is they might not actually want him. And if you're a Jets fan, you might think that's blasphemy, but then you go, okay, how long are you going to have him for? Any sort of details of what's going on he's going to share, and most NFL coaches don't want that. You got to play however he wants to play, or you've seen the body language go bad. you've got to pay him an exorbitant amount of money and you're going to have to trade and give

other pieces or I can just, Derek Carr's easy, right? He's easy. He's a pound puppy. That is, he's a pound puppy. You know, he's had so many head coaches, so many coordinators. He feels like he's been done wrong and treated wrong when he's in Oakland and then in Vegas that Derrick is going to do anything we want. So we don't have to pay him as much. We don't have to trade to anybody. He's not going to go on Pat McAfee's show and we don't know what he'll share there. Sure, we don't have the upside of the laser arm,

but we could probably have Derek Carr for four or five years. We might have Aaron Rogers for one or two. Feels like an easy call. But in regards to the darkness retreat, like, I don't know, that's one of those deals that I don't have in me. I just couldn't do it. I think I could

do a day. Maybe a day and a half. because I would sleep a great deal. But I also would point out that, I don't know, are you just sitting in there and just food and water and that's it? Like, are you meditating? Are you watching? Like, if I had my iPad and I could watch a show,

I could sit in a dark room for weeks and have terrible hygiene. Right? Just with Amazon Prime, I've watched all these, they have these Tom Clancy-based movies and then a show. They got a bunch of different, I mean, Michael B. Jordan's in one of these Tom Clancy. see movies. I love it. Can I stream a show? Can I, can I, can I, can I binge any of these shows?

If that's the thing. Or am I just sitting there in my own thought, my own thoughts for four days? That sounds miserable. That sounds miserable. Don't you think the owner of this, uh, darkness retreat is in trouble? I mean, I don't think Scott Berman, the owner of Sky Cave retreats is in Rogers' inner circle. No. So according to Aaron, we're supposed to question anything coming from people not his inner circle. And then Jeff Darlington yesterday also, he kind of risked his career by saying that an important source told him that Rogers will be back with the Packers next year. I just, I look at, I understand that we all want the chaos of Aaron Rogers

forcing a trade. But I have to believe that that contract, which is essentially a two-year contract with gigantic money. I just, I can't see him holding out, getting a new deal, finally getting the contract he wants. And they're not being some sort of understanding of, hey, look, here's the deal. Let's just do this for two years. We'll pay you a bunch of money and let's, let's have you plan on retiring a packer. And if you still want to play after that, we can figure it out that after that.

I would, do I think that the Packers are at least privately annoyed that they're have to go through this again, especially considering he didn't play great and his body language wasn't great last season? Of course. But at the end of the day, he did agree to the contract and the gist of it is it's two years at gigantic money and then they can get out of it at the end of the season. I think it's reasonable to think that, you know, with, as he's been integrated a little bit more into the decision making, with all the players they released, who they bring in and who they if he just feels a part of it and the money that he's making and the idea of making some tweaks and changes to what they're doing, how they're doing it, yes, I do think that I'm with Jeff

darling. That's the most likely scenario. New year, new wireless plan, switch to consumer cellular, save up to half on your wireless bill. Plus, for unlimited time, get an additional $25 off your bill at consumer cellular.com slash herd. promo code the herd. Coming up next, the all-star break has officially ended. We've got a full

slate of NBA games tonight. How will the new look Lakers look different from the old look Lakers? Do the Warriors have another championship in them? If not, who does? Antonio Daniels joins us.

Talk some NBA hoop next in the herd. One more herd? The herd streams 24 hours a day, seven days a week within the IHeart radio app. heard to listen live or on demand whenever you'd like. 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-Hart Radio app, podcast or wherever you get your podcasts. A win is a win.

A win is a win. I don't care what you're saying. Yep, that's me, Clivert 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,

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you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. Hey, this is Robert from the Stuff to Blow Your Mind podcast. Joe and I are both lifelong Star Wars fan, so we're celebrating May the 4th with a brand new week of fun, thought-provoking Star Wars-related episodes. Join us as we tackle science and culture topics from a galaxy far, far away, such as the biology of tontons and wampas on the ice planet hot, or the practicality and corporate business sense of the Sith rule of two. Listen to stuff to blow your mind on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Doug Gowleyman for Collins.

I've heard Fox Sports Radio. Iheart Radio app. There's a lot of things going on in the NBA, which, but the most interesting part is, you know, so oftentimes we've had this end of the year where you got teams openly tanking. and I know most people in the NBA don't love the play-in-game scenario, but the fact is it has pushed a lot of these teams that are in that 8 to 12 range to try and make one last push. And I don't know how fascinated to see what it looks like.

And then look in the West, you have, what do the Warriors look like when Steph's back? What are the new look Lakers like? What are the clippers like adding in Russell Westbrook? How much does he actually play? You know, Denver obviously has the best record. More Jamal Murray. Do they have another step of kind of dominance in them?

Can they win the postseason? Obviously the Mavericks. And then you get the Pelicans who have had a good year, but they've been doing without Zion for a while. When you have Zion, is that a team that could make a run? Let's welcome Antonio Daniels. He's a former NBA player and a good one, won a championship with the Spurs.

He's been the analyst for the, for the Thunder in the past and now he's for the Pelicans. Of course, he joins us here in the herd on Fox Sports Radio. Let me tell him, let me get your thoughts on a couple of these moves. Let's start with

Dallas. Obviously, they weren't going anywhere anyway, so it feels like a no lose. What's their top end with these two with this roster this year? That's a great question. That's a toughie. because what you liken it to is they made it to the Western Conference Finals last year

with Jaylen Brunson being Lucas Robin. So is anything less than a Western Conference finals run considered a disappointment, consider what they did a year ago. But then you also have to look at what other teams around the Dallas Mavericks did. And I think that's the case with a lot of teams in the Western Conference. If teams don't accomplish what they've accomplished, I don't think that's a clear-cut indictment of that particular team. I think it's more praised in a testament to what other teams have done in the Western Conference to take that next step.

I don't know. Like, I'll be honest with you, Doug. I don't know what, like, people I hear all the time, and we discuss this all the time. What does Will Kyrie Irving and Luca Donchik work mean? What does work mean? You know what I'm saying? What determines whether or not it worked or not? it's a great question um i would say

i mean look i think work i mean look chri's played without the ball off the ball a good portion of his career i think there are people that think lucca dominates it too much if you've watched him play when he played overseas that wasn't the case nearly as much so i don't i don't know how much of what they've created in dallas created a monster what does work mean right i think it means you get out of the first round of the playoffs does that does that work for you because the statistically it's going to work. They're both going to be great.

I mean, why wouldn't they be? But if it doesn't add up to wins, does that consider it working? And if you're the Dallas Mavericks, you get out the first round and lose second round. But then you turn the clock back 365 days and they made it all the way to the Western Conference with Jalen Brunson, being that second guy. Is that considered working, considering that Kylie Irving came over in February? I don't know. That's, for me, that's one of the tougher questions to answer.

And I think a lot of it, for me, depends on how they get eliminated, who they get eliminated by, in how many games, how competitive were they, so on and so forth. It's a great way. It's a great way of looking at it. What are your thoughts on the new look Lakers? As LeBron has said, these are the 23 most important games of his career. I thought the Lakers came in second during the trade deadline, obviously behind the Phoenix Sun. you know, Phoenix got an all-time great and didn't have to tear up their core at all, which

that's another conversation for another day, how they were able to accomplish that. But I bet the Lakers got exactly what they needed. You know, they got shooting. They got guys that don't need the basketball. They have a guy in DeAngelo Russell that they can actually run their offense through when LeBron James is not there, when Anthony Davis is not there. They got shooting with Malik Beasley. They got shooting with Mo Bamba and somewhat.

height and rim protection with Mo Bamba, and then they got defensive versatility and toughness with Jared Vendibald. I feel like they checked all the boxes as far as what they needed. And then on the other side of that, Doug, they didn't get rid of anything that they needed. Russell Westberg didn't work. Even though he had sacrificed a lot and was playing extremely well in his row, it still didn't work.

Patrick Beverly was having one of his worst statistical years of his career. So now you get rid of those two. You part with one of your first-round picks, and you keep it moving. I like what they did. I like the additions that they added. And for me, it's not about the name on the back of the jersey. It never has been.

It's never about, okay, this guy's a Hall of Famer. It's all about a guy's skill set and fit. How do what they bring to the table complement what LeBron James and Anthony Davis need? And I feel like Malik Beasley, DiAngelo Russell, Moe Bamba, and Jared Vanderbilt, compliment LeBron James and Anthony Davis better than Patrick Beverly and Russell West Westbrook did. Can they win a championship? Can they? That's a that's a Fannie Davis question. That is solely based on Anthony Davis in my opinion. I don't think it's fair to LeBron James to have to shoulder the responsibility of a franchise at 38 years old. I don't think it's fair to LeBron

James to have to do what he's doing on the night-to-night basis at 38 years old. Can they win a championship? I think it's going to be very, very difficult because of what Phoenix did. For them, a championship, Anthony Davis has to completely separate himself as being the clear-cut Batman, plain and simple, with no questions asked. So it's not, oh, well, maybe it's LeB, maybe it's a 1A and a 1B, nope. For them to win an NBA championship, Anthony Davis, in my opinion, has to completely separate himself and be the best player on the Los Angeles Lakers. If not, I don't think so.

You brought up the Suns, and it's a good point. Like, I didn't even bring him up. Chris Paul appeared to have been creeping up on over the hill throughout this year, right? Even last year in the playoffs, it felt like when everyone else raised their level, he wasn't able to. But now you have two elite scores.

You have eight new can score inside, although he struggled in the playoffs when teams go small. They don't have much of a bench to speak of, but offensively, boy, they got some weapons. what are your thoughts on that? I know they got arguably the best player in the league, maybe inarguably the best pure scorer still in the league when he's healthy. But what does their team actually look like

when they get here a month and a half, two months before getting ready for the playoffs? Well, my thought has always been. Give me the talent and I figure the rest out. You don't win games in this league without talent. You don't win games in this league without firepower. and if you look at what Phoenix was able to do, they were able to rid themselves of McKell Bridges, who was a really good, available, young, up-and-coming player

for an all-time grade, without getting rid of Chris Paul, DeAndre Aiton, and Devin Booker. I feel like Phoenix just played themselves into the favors to come out of the Western Conference. And when you hear, because this is the argument that you hear now, well, what about their bench? Now what this gives you an opportunity to do when you have four guys that you can play through, it's to stagger those guys.

And you'll understand what I mean by this, Doug. To me, their bench is fine because now you'll have either Devin Booker coming off the bench or you have Kevin Durant coming off the bench or you have John Zare Aiton coming off that bench. Point being, you're going to have someone coming off that bench facing that second unit that is a starter. That is accustomed to putting up big time number. So, yeah, you may not have, be able to go nine or ten deep as far as the rotation is concerned, but I tell you what, if you take Kevin Durant out six minutes into the quarter and start him in the second quarter, does your bench really suffer?

I don't think so. So I feel like when you acquire star power like the Phoenix Suns have done, what that is given head coach Monty Williams is a lot of versatility and a lot of options. And that's something all coaches want. All right, you mentioned Rustin work with the Lakers. does it work with the Clippers? Man, I don't know. And that sounds crazy to say, right? I know I'm here to answer the question.

I don't even know what Tyloos' plan is for Russell Westbrook. Is he starting? Is he coming off the bench? Is he coming off the bench next to Bones Highland? Is he starting next to Kauai Leonard and Paul George? Does he start games and not finish games? Again, for me, Doug, it is all about the fit. Nothing else.

What I like that the Clippers did is they gave themselves an opportunity to put a small ball lineup in at the end of the game to close games in a very effective manner. I feel like Terrence Mann is a better fit in that starting lineup than Russell Westbrook is because of Paul George, because of Kauai Leonard. You need someone in that starting lineup that doesn't need the ball that understands time, score situation, that understands when it's his time and when it's not his time. I had Russell Westbrook in my top two or three in six men of the year. Why would I want to change that if I'm Taran Lou? You know, hey, keep him coming off the bench. Let him feast on second unit. Is he the best fit alongside Bones Highland?

I don't think so. But there's a reason that they went after and signed Russell Westbrook. That reason remains to be seen, though. What is that reason? Why did they? Why did they need it? Like, Bones Highland is a non-starting bucket off the bench who thinks he's a point card, right? And he's a better, I believe, and you could tell me if I'm wrong,

he's at this point in their careers, he's a better offensive player than Russell is. Now, Russell's had a much better career. Okay. Much better offensive player. He's a score. He's a better score at this point in this career. Okay. But when we look at the totality of both of their games, you know, Bones Highland is a score for me. And this is how I think of it. The point guard positions for me, Doug, is not a skill set, it's a mindset. Right? And I've heard bones to highland say numerous times, you know what?

I'm a point guard. Well, your mindset says different. You may be built like a point guard. You may be able to handle the ball like a point guard, but do you think like one? Right. So the answer is no. Like, he's not. But he is that off the bench guy, the off the bench six man point guard is not like a

regular point guard. They just come in, hey, dude, change the tempo and go score, right? You're like a wind-up doll. Just go store, right? Bobby Jackson I mean you kind of Jamal Crawford obviously he's kind of the goat in that sort of like as a starter

not great in getting guys involved okay now that brings us to a different conversation though because this is why Denver didn't think Bones Highland and didn't want him as far as the future is concerned because a lot of teams don't want that wind up guy that you're speaking up

a lot of teams want Ty's Jones you know I mean a lot of teams want someone that is going to come up that bench and really balance that second unit. Because when you look at the way that the clippers are constructed, they got enough scoring. They have Kauai Leonard.

They have Paul George, right? They have Norman Powell. They have Eric Gordon. So they have guys that can put the ball in the hole. But who is going to be that guy to quote-unquote set the table? They have a high assistive turnover ratio. That's a great question. They don't have one.

They don't have one. Right. And they weren't able to go get one. And this is why Kauai Lenton. Leonard has been saying this for years. You know what? I want a traditional point guard. I want a point guard to come in here and set the table to put the pieces of the puzzle

together. And the thing about Russell Westbrook for me is I feel like every team that goes out and acquires Russell, and this is what kind of confused me about the Lakers. You know what you're getting. You know exactly what you're getting. It's not like Russell's going to come in and be something that he hasn't been throughout the course of his career. To a year of the Clippers, you watched what happened.

LA. You watch the way he played in LA, the role that he played in LA, the good and the bad. So when you go out and you recruit him, you know exactly what you're getting in return. And again, Doug, there's a reason. I don't know that reason. You don't know that reason. That reason is still

out there. There's a reason they went to get him. Well, yeah, I mean, I think when you see Russell, you think that he's something that he's not. He doesn't play nearly as hard defensively as he's gotten credit for. He's not nearly as good because Russell, the guy is not Russell the basketball player.

Russell is a guy everybody likes. Russell is a basketball player. He's hard to play with. And at this, he's a bad version of the guy that he was in Oklahoma City because he's older and the league has changed and his shooting has gotten really worse if you want to get down to it.

And, you know, now his role has to change and he hasn't reinvented himself. So I just, I do wonder what his expectations, what their expectations of. And I get it. Like, it's different when the guy's making, you know, two million non-guaranteed as opposed to $40 million. Because you can't tell him to go take a hike.

Whereas when he's making two, like, look, dude, if you don't want to do what we ask, don't worry, here's a check, goodbye, you figure it out in the future. But, you know, a lot of times it takes the guys, it's like Carmelo Anthony. He was out of the league for a little bit for he decided to reinvent himself.

And that elongated his career in Portland. I don't know what happens to Russell's. Go ahead. You know, I've always felt, and I agree with you 100%. I've always felt like it's easier or not easier. It's difficult to reinvent yourself because at this point in your career, if you're reinventing yourself, you have to be a shooter. You have to be a knockdown shooter.

We can look at guys throughout the course of history that were crazy athletes. But then once they lost that athleticism, they couldn't reinvent themselves. Right? Look at a guy like Steve Francis. Right? Look at a guy like Tracy McGrady. Helen Iverson. these guys.

Alan Iverson, when you go from being dominant to like, hey, dude, you're going to play less minutes, you've got to shoot, be more efficient, you've got to buy in more defensively, you're just kind of a cog in the thing. Like, that's hard for guys to accept when they've been the MVP of the league. Vince Carter's an anomaly. He's an anomaly. That's very rare. A guy can come from being Vincentity to go to the end of somebody's bench or 10th, 9th, 10th guy

and become a knock-down shooter. That's very, very difficult to do, especially at this particular point in your cross. career. And the thing about Russell was this, though, does? Regardless as to how we feel about his shooting, his numbers are still impactful. Like, if you look at what he's doing, as far as that 15, 7, and 7, and whatever he was giving you off the Laker bitch, and last minute, yeah, you can talk about the inefficiency,

but does that really tell his impact or lack thereof? I guess it depends on the perspective. My pushback would be, then why weren't they winning? If LeBron's putting up these incredible numbers, if Russell's having such impact, why aren't they winning? Well, look at the way that the roster's constructed one. Agreed. Anthony Davis, not being present, too.

It's hard to win without your stars. No doubt. That's the we're experiencing down here in New Orleans right now. Like, this is a star-driven league. There's no more league that's a star-driven than the NBA. One player makes a huge difference. So let me ask you a question, Doug. If Chris Middleton plays last year, do you think they beat Boston and seven?

Yes. Me too. Because one player in the NBA makes a huge difference. So when you take that player out for a lengthy amount of time, right? It's hard to win that way. It's difficult. Zion's missed 30 games. B.I.'s missed 35 games this season out of 59.

So both of those guys that basically miss half the season already. So for New Orleans to still be sitting in the spot that they're sitting now, yes, we can look at it and say, oh, man, they should be high, whatever. It's difficult in this league to win without your stars being consistently present. And the reason that the Lakers aren't winning, regardless as to how good LeBron James has been, is because that bat, that Robin, Anthony Davis, has not been present. No, look, it's totally fair. He has played in 35 games, okay?

And so, you know, while he hasn't played all the games, That's not indicative, though. That's not indicative. Because he played in 35 games, but the real stat, Doug, would be go back and look at how many games that he's played in and finished. Just because it says you played in 35 games, that doesn't save the amount of games that he's played in and left in the second quarter. Games that he's played in and left in the first quarter.

Or game that he's played in and left in the third quarter. That's actually games that he's just started, not finished. Okay, but I mean, like, look, dude, he's been back for, you know, since mid-January. And, you know, they ended and they, you know, they played, obviously they played Brooklyn, but Brooklyn didn't have all their dudes and lost. You know, they lost to you guys in New Orleans once. He played that entire game, you know, and Zion didn't play.

Lost to Milwaukee, lost to Portland. He played in those games. The Oklahoma City game, like he was out of it. That was when LeBron set the record. You know, he played in those games. And they had all three of those guys. and I'm with you as far as losing a star, but my point is more,

if you're telling me Russell was having a good year, I'd agree with you statistically. No, no, no, I don't, I think he's, like, he's not having a great year by Russell Westbrook standards, but the thing I respect about Russell is what he has done. Give me a guy who is a first ballot hall of famer, right, can still put up numbers that Russell was putting up. That's an MVP of the league that's ever been asked to come on.

the bench like this and accepted that role. Accepted the role? I'd have to think about it. I don't know if there, I don't know if there is anybody. But, but part, but, but, but again, I would also tell you that accepting the role and then getting rid of him and what, so desperately wanting to get rid of him, I think speaks to it wasn't as, it wasn't handled as well by Russell as outwardly it would seem, right? there's still, there's something amiss there.

All right, let's get to a couple of other things here. Antonio Daniels, our guest, of course, he's the color voice of the New Orleans Pelicans. What about Zion? When is he going to play? I don't know. The thing that you know, Doug, and you played enough basketball to know

the severity of groins and hamstring, right? The ability to re-injure a groin and a hamstring. and our cautious you have to be with groins and hamstrings. We've seen Devin Booker over the last two years be in and out the lineup. You know what I mean? We've seen Bradley Bill over the last two years be in and out the lineup because of his hamstring. James Harden talked about how long it took him to recover from his hamstring.

I wish I had an answer for you. I wish I could tell you, you know what, Doug, he's going to be back next week. But because it's a hamstring, this isn't a twisted ankle where you can just go in, rehab it, strengthen back up, get back out there and play. Got it. Anyone that's ever had a hamstring issue knows how this works. You can feel great. You can feel great.

Be on your way back to performing. Do all the rehabilitation right and go back out there and move the wrong way and have a setback. And that's exactly what happened. He had a setback playing three on three. But he was doing all the proper things to get up to that point of one-on-one, then two on two and three-on-three. It's just we just don't know. And I would love to tell you.

I would love to be at breaking news where you tell you, you know what, Dion's ready to go. He's going to be back next week. But your guess is as good as mine with this one. Because they have to be overly cautious. No doubt. No doubt. Well, the way you described is perfect. Have you ever heard your hamstring, you feel fine, you run up and down.

That's a sudden you pull it again. You're just kind of devastated by it. Tony, you're the best. Appreciate you joined us. And we'll talk to you throughout this kind of stretch run of the season. For sure. Appreciate you, brother. That's my guy, Antonio Daniels, NBA analyst.

Of course, former won a championship with the Spurs. He's the color analyst for the New Orleans Pelicans. The story involving Alabama star freshman Brandon Miller is tragic and nuance. We'll take a deeper dive next in the herd. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific. On Fox Sports Radio, FS1, and the IHeart Radio app. Pauly Fusco here with Tony Fusco. Yo, of course you know us is the host of the number one rated

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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 I'm saying. Yep, that's me, Clifford Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, the reactions, my journey from basketball to college football,

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Iard, Fox Sports Radio, IHeart Radio app. So one of the stories, and we get to this time in the sports world, right? You go back a week ago Monday and we reacted to the Super Bowl. The holding call, Mahomes' incredible second half. jail and hurts, what's the future look like for the Eagles? Then we kind of transition. And of course, with March upon us, many people all of a sudden become college basketball experts as they kind of populate a field that is already quite populated.

But in it, you look up and you're like, hey, Alabama is the number one team of the country? And then you have the story that because it was during football season, you may not have heard that one of their players was involved in the murder of a young woman in Tuscaloosa. and he's been removed from the team. He wasn't playing at the time he was injured and was expected to redshirt. Now he's obviously no longer part of the program. And because of how it was handled,

and partially because of the timing, and maybe because they're not a traditional basketball powerhouse, the story had in many ways gone away, right? Gone away. Pre-chow hearing comes up, and now you find out that their star, really superstar, Brandon Miller, who might not be a household name until this week, but now is likely the first college player drafted in the upcoming NBA draft.

He's the best player in the number one team in the country. And he actually had the gun in his car and brought the gun back to his now former teammate. Darius Miles. So with all that's taken place, welcome in Jeff Goodman, basketball. reporter and analyst for stadium sports. We do a daily TV show together, which airs at, what is the air at two Eastern Time?

One Eastern Time, one Eastern time. Yeah, I get my time zones on stadium sports. Jeff, I think the rest of the world doesn't obviously follow college basketball throughout the year as much as we do. But that story kind of had, I don't want to say gone away, but wasn't even really discussed along with Alabama basketball until this week. Is that fair? Yeah, because Darius Miles, the player, was kind of a non-factor for the team.

You know, and he was a guy who gave the gun to his buddy, who then shot and killed a woman. But yes, it went away until this preliminary hearing in which it came out that Brandon Miller transported the gun that was used. You know, basically Miles said, bring me my gun. and it was in Miller's car and he brought him a gun and then ultimately it was it was the murder weapon um it's you know we talked about this a little bit and people are crucifying brandon miller saying he should be in jail some people um because again he gave that gun or at least he drove the car

with a gun in it to give it back to his former teammate derris smiles um i think you are now in the same here of listen law enforcement they interviewed him several times he's not a suspect he wasn't charged so to vilify him at that level unless something changes through the the trial I would say it's completely unfair to me it's you're innocent until proven guilty now the one thing go ahead well obviously we we we know there's no criminal charges okay but what I think people would push back on is okay but you know um letter of the law, spirit of the law, and the spirit of playing in college. Like, is this guy you want representing the entire state of Alabama, honestly, all of college basketball, considering his level of involvement?

And again, maybe I'm, maybe I'm naive, okay, that I'm, I believe the story or the fact that there is video evidence to support most levels of the story that his attorney put out. but I actually see like you're the guy with you're the star you got the nice car right because of nil he's got a nice car a teammate who's hurt wants to go to a club you drive him there he gets out you don't want to wait in the line you go have dinner turns out he left his gun in your car you're not a gun guy you're he's like I want my gun back again if if I'm not a gun guy and I'm I'm not familiar with gun I get rid of a gun right I don't want to I don't want the gun. So I think a lot of it is people didn't know the story, hear the story, and think immediately there's something nefarious to work that he had to know on some level you bring a gun to a guy and then all of a sudden, you know, minutes later it's involved in a shooting.

People just don't get the benefit of the doubt anymore. I would say this, Doug. The only thing going back on that I would have done differently, if I was Alabama, I probably would have to. spending him a couple of games for at the very least making a very poor decision to give Darius Miles the gun back when he knew there was some sort of heated exchange. I don't know how much you knew, but I'm sure he knew something was going on. Otherwise, you're not asking for your gun back, you know, at 2 o'clock in the morning. So I think that would have been fair.

That probably would have been justified. That is where I think Alabama might have made a mistake is. suspend the kid a few games as a teaching point, even if he's not a suspect and he's not charged with anything. Sir, you know, my pushback would be like, did he ever lie about anything he did? Was he completely... No, but he was out two in the morning, you know,

after they won a game. I'm in a car with a gun. And oh, yeah, by the way, you know, by offering up your text messages, he was home and the only reason he went there was because he was asked to return the gun, right? Like, again, in hindsight, should you have like what do you do with the gun do you keep it in your car again now now think think about think about a different perspective of if you're if you're brandon miller and you find out

like i didn't know i had a gun in the back of my car how many times we've seen guys get pulled over and there's a gun that's not registered to them and we tell me what do you mean what do you what do you had a gun in your car you didn't know it like no i didn't know how to get in my car like what do you mean and we don't offer that up as a viable excuse Now a sudden, he's driving around Alibah, driving around T-Town with a loaded weapon in his car. I think the people,

the people, people think, the assessment that people make is he got a text, bring my gun, stuff's going down. He brings the gun. The guy gives it to his buddy, his other dude who goes and shoots up the car, and they're all sitting there,

and that's not the way it went down. No, no, no. And again, we talked about this. I spent a ton of time with, Brandon and his family for a story I was working on. To me, I couldn't have been more impressed. Kid made a mistake, in my opinion. But again, I don't know.

I would bet that he didn't know what was going to happen with a murder taking place. If he had known that, I just can't imagine he would have taken it. I can't either. I can't either. And I would also say there's got to be at least a level of guilt that he's deal with like, dude, I gave him the gun and the guns

and he killed this woman. Although, man, if he is a level of guilt, he didn't see it last night on the court because he went for 41 and single-handedly basically beat South Carolina by himself last. All right, here's the honest question.

Let's say they win the national championship. Is this disgust on the broadcast at all? Yeah, it has to be. It has to be. It has to be. I mean, you would think, I don't think Grand Hills bringing it up, but yeah, I think it's discussed. Does it affect his drafts that,

draft steps. Zero. In my opinion, zero, unless something changes. And again, through the trial, some other information comes up that we don't know right now. But if it's as his, and nothing changes in regards to Brandon Miller,

he will still be a top five pick, could go number two overall. Victor, when Mignama's going to go one. Scoot Henderson in the mix, everybody thinks he's a lock at number two. Yep. Playing right after the G league. But, you know, he's like Derek Rose.

I get it. I got a right. on Jeff. Check out Jeff on Twitter or at Stadium of Sports. Will the Ravens re-sign Lamar Jackson to a long-term deal? Let's get to it next in the herd. 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. 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. On the Look Back at it podcast. From 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 hear, 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.

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