The Herd with Colin Cowherd - The Herd - Hour 2 - The NBA is too long

Episode Date: May 19, 2023

Thoughts on the NBA regular seeing and playoffs being too long It looked like LeBron James ran out of gas in the 4th quarter of game 2 Lakers are heading home and need to win game 3   Guest: Cedric CeballosSee 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. 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 IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, this is Robert from the Stuff to Blow Your Mind podcast. Joe and I are both lifelong Star Wars fan, so we're celebrating May the 4th with a brand new week of fun, thought-provoking Star Wars-related episodes. Join us as we tackle science and culture topics from a galaxy far far away, such as the biology of tauntons and wampas on the ice planet hot,

or the practicality and corporate business sense of the Sith rule of the world. of two. Listen to Stuff to Bole Your Mind on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Thanks for listening to The Heard podcast. Be sure to catch us live every weekday from 12 to 3 Eastern, 9 to noon Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and FS1. Find your local station for the herd at Fox Sports Radio.com or stream us live every day on the IHeartRadio app by searching Heard. You're listening to Fox Sports Radio. Here we go. live in LA, hour two, it's the herd, wherever you may be and however you may be listening. Thanks for making us part of your day.

Jay Mack. Jay Mack will have as he always has on Friday, tomorrow's headlines today. You and I work next week. Then the series wrap up. Then you and I are going to take the following week mostly off. You're going to tell the audience that? I'm not telling you where we're going. You and I are both going on separate vacation.

Undisclosed location. Yeah, and then we both come back. I'm going to a cold one. You're going to a little nice or warm one with Tavis. hours. And then we're coming back for the NBA finals. So there's these series wrap up and there's a long five-day break between it. And so... Perfect little respite. A little respite. I thought I might stop into Chicago on my way to my vacation. Just check it out. You know, you have a place there? Yeah, I love Chicago. No, I've heard it's amazing. Yeah.

So, listen, the warriors are bracing. All the signs are there. And you know and I know, dynasties do not age gracefully. The signs of a falling dynasty are there in Golden State. There's a story out this morning. Bob Myers, the GM's ready to walk away. So what are the signs of a falling dynasty in any sport? Your roster ages out. The promising young players don't quite develop fast enough.

The rise of your rivals' talent, your conference, your division gets better. That tug of war upstairs between should we pay Clayton, Thompson or not, you go back and forth on rear view mirror, windshield, future, past, romanticizing. And then one of the last signs of the dominoes and the sky falling is the brain drain. Institutional knowledge walks out, Bob Meyer. As of today, there's two you have to keeps. Absolutely no question have to keeps. Steve Kerr the head coach and Steph Curry.

Those you got to keep. There are three you should keep. Draymond Green, Andrew Wiggins, and Bob Meyer. You're not going to be as good without them. You're just not. Everything else, Jordan Poole, Clay Thompson, Jonathan Cominga to me, it's on the table, make a call, we'll talk, we'll negotiate. But if you look at the last five or six dynasties in America in all sports,

the Patriots went from a dynasty to offensively anemic. in an offensive league, anemic. The Hedels got old and irrelevant fast. The Spurs, old, odd, and irrelevant fast. The Yankees, bad contracts, regrettable decisions in personnel. Young players don't quite give you what you thought. Old guy is not quite as good. But in the end, too many bad contracts by the Yankees,

and they underachieve now on an annual basis. They all, you know, Chicago Bulls, if you watch that documentary, Jerry Krauss, the late and great GM, Jerry Krauss, had his issues. But his whole thing was he told everybody, this is the last year. And it created divisiveness and animosity toward Jerry Krauss. But in a way, it was incredibly unselfish. Go ahead and hate me. Use that to foster this intensity and energy. They did want a title.

and they blew it up. That's about as well as you can do. Nobody liked it at the time, everybody thought you have to run it back. Running back doesn't work. Don't hand out any more contracts. And I think that's where they are. Even in my business,

and I've talked to my wife about this all the time, Jerry Seinfeld, last show, highest rated show on TV, number one show last year. Thanks for Flying United. Johnny Carson, last great show, last great week. Bye, I'm going to go play tennis. It almost never happens in any,

industry and the brain drain by letting Bob Myers go. Remember, nobody does more dirty work than Bob Myers and Draymond Green. And so they may not be Steph and Kerr on the pecking order of importance, but this stuff rarely ends elegantly. Eric's bolster right now is arguably the best coach in the NBA. He was talking, I think sports are getting smarter. And the smarter people who embrace how they're pivoting are rewarded. I think, you know, prime example in baseball. It's a long time coming. They change the defensive shift.

There's now more hits per game. They change the batters box. You've got to stay in the batters box. You've got to pitch at a pitch clock. And so now the games are now almost 30 minutes shorter. More hits, more base runners. The ratings are up 10%. 11% Fox and ESPN.

And the attendance is up about 10%. Mostly up around the league. So you're just getting the same product. more swiftly delivered and produced. It's very smart. Long time coming. Nobody needs it a Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday night to beat a ballpark for four hours. You got a job. You got kids. You got school. Let's get people in out. Two hours, 32 minutes. Get them in. Get them out. Let's go. Just the same product, more swiftly, succinctly produced and packaged. I think the NFL, you're not hitting as much, not as many hits

on the quarterback. Quarterbacks the difference between a good rating and a bad rating. Nobody wants to watch a backup quarterback. The preseason is shorter. I think he should be shorter. And Eric Spolstra said this playing game, this playing game is actually really smart and is really worked. I do know the play in help. There were far less teams tanking.

Everybody was fighting for those last two months. Every game was must-see TV, and that was in both conferences. So I think the league, that's probably the best thing that's happened in the last decade. So the playing game and flattening the odds in the lottery. It used to be like 30% if you had the worst record, you could win the lottery. They flatten those odds out now. It's like 14, 14.5, 15%. So those two have alleviated lots and lots and lots of tanking.

We thought Utah Jazz were going to tank. They were a viable team. But here's where I think baseball just made really smart steps. You're seeing the reward in attendance and ratings and overall product quality. I think the NBA needs to do two things, kind of the same thing twice, to make it more about a quality league. It's becoming kind of a quantity league. And the truth is, you need to shorten the regular season and the playoffs. It's now just a battle of attrition.

I mean, I could give you a list of all the NBA stars who have been hurt. It's ridiculous. If the Lakers come back to L.A. and tie the series with the Nuggets, let's go back to Denver play a game. We'll know they're fairly close and even teams. You don't need three more games to decide it. That's three more games that Yokic, AD, or LeBron could get hurt. You saw last night, LeBron hit the floor.

I want this to be the best teams advance, right? The best teams advance. Not survival of the fittest. It's not a reality show. I don't want my contestants losing weight and, you know, eating strong. to survive on an island. I want the best teams to win. College basketball decide. It's the one thing college basketball, and maybe it's too acute, but it does very well. They decide your fate. You play an entire regular season. They decide your fate in March. In 40 minutes. The NBA decides playoff fate

in the first round. Second, finals, conference final, in 336 minutes. Do we really need nine times the amount of basketball to decide the fate of teams? Shorten the regular season and shorten the playoffs to five-game series. I do three games in the first round. What if you get an upset? We had one. Miami got bounced or Milwaukee got bounced. We had one.

Would it have been different in three games? We had an upset. If there's going to be an upset, I mean, New York beat the calves. You could tell by half time a game won. New York was better. You could tell very early in Miami and Milwaukee. Miami was better, better coached, better game plan. You can tell very quickly.

Right now, it looks like in the conference finals, Denver's better. Lakers come back home, win one, it's 3-1. You know, we don't need longer series. You really don't. In everything that really gets a TV rating, March Madness, college football, NFL, you know, once you get out of the group stage in the World Cup, stuff that gets big ratings. Create urgency.

Best teams will win. And so March Madness is 68 teams. They finish it in two and a half weeks. In the NBA, if you count the playing games, it's like 20 teams. It takes nine and a half weeks. And I was looking this morning at all the players that were hurt during the playoffs. Janice, M.B., Jimmy Butler, Kauai Leonard, Deerrin, Fox, Paul, George, Anthony Davis, John Morant, Chris Paul, Julius Randall, Tyler, Hiro, Victor Oladipo.

It's not what we want. We always say this. The NFL is better when I never see a backup quarterback. It's always better when I don't see a backup quarterback. I'm getting backups. This is not survival of the fittest. That's not what we're looking for. We're looking for the best players on the best teams.

And you can tell. As long as everybody gets at least one or two home games, you can tell. Right? You could tell by game six who was going to win game seven. That's why we went on the air and said game seven is going to be Boston, right? But you, and if Philadelphia would have won, so be it. It's not like Boston's perfect. It's not like Boston's not flawed.

They've got arguably the worst coach in the entire playoffs. If Boston would have lost and it's a three or five game series. Well, they got a bad coach. Bad coaches don't win titles. But I think they've done a good job in this playing game. I really do. I think it got people engaged. But I do think baseball's smarter, what do they do? Shorten it.

Football is smarter, less violent. Basketball. Just reduce the possibility of injuries. You're watching these games last night. These players are gassed. You're getting the worst of Yokic by the fourth quarter. You're getting the worst of AD by the second half. Shorten it, quality over quantity.

That's what I would do. But I think the playing game has been a success. Big success. I mean, I remember a few weeks. weeks ago when we were watching that we were like those were must-see remember didn't the warriors did the warriors the warriors there was a the lakers played the timber world and they're trailed and they came back and it got a raided shrewder hit the three from the corner but remember the miami he lost the playing game at home to tray young and then had to beat my guy zach levin and levin and they were

leading in the fourth quarter yeah and it was like oh my gosh so the heat going to blow this and then you know miami pulls it out and now the heat are three wins from the finals Boston tonight, I think wins. The line is nine. I would probably stay away, but I do think Boston wins comfortably. You know how much of a brush fire you started on the internet with the Jimmy Butler, Kauai stuff yesterday? People are just so worked up. And it's staggering to me. For people that missed yesterday's show, what did we say? Yeah, like Jimmy Butler and Kauai were drafted in the same draft. Who's had the better career? Who would you rather have going forward? These are no-brainers. What I want you to do is reach out to your NBA people, get them to text you and be like, who wants to get them to get the the Kauai Leonard business right now. Nobody. Everybody.

Everybody. By the way, 75% of the league would get into the Jimmy Butler business today. Nobody wants in the Kauai business. Who leaves Greg Popovich in like bad terms? Like he's had a great run in San Antonio. Kaui Leonard's the only guy. I don't want anything to do with this. Yeah, I always say it's like Kauai and Ben Simmons.

And for the record, Ben Simmons was all rookie, all NBA. Yeah, yeah. He was very good early. There's an indifference to both. Now, it's really bad with Simmons. But it's, I think what happens with fans is, and this does matter. In football, it's really about winning. In basketball, it is mostly about winning, but you can still never have a title and be great.

Same in baseball. Nobody questions A-Rod before the title was great. But in football, there's no question. You'd rather be Troy Aikman. I think you'd rather be Troy Aikman than Dan Marino. was considered this wizard, this all-time talent. Who's considered the better player of those two? I think Troy Aikman is considered...

Well, I mean, that's a great question. The better talent is Marino. The better leader and football player to me was Troy Akeman. Yeah. That would that would get major pushback? What would Marino have done if he had Akeman's offensive line and handing off to Ed Smith? By the way... I know he had the Mark Clayton and Dupor.

They were good, but... I don't buy that. He had Don Shula. He did? Yeah, I don't buy that. That's fair. That was on that. Marina did not. Marino and Farv, I never thought, played the game at an elite, kind of above the shoulders level.

I thought they were all-time talents. But I thought Dan got himself in trouble. I thought Dan, there could be some ego. Well, I had to bail out the defense all the time, and I cannot believe I'm defending the Miami Dolphins. By the way, Marino's a lot like Aaron Rogers. Nobody doubts the talent, but are we going to blame all of it on the Packers? Aaron didn't show up for offseason. Aaron's been indifferent.

Aaron didn't communicate with Devante Adams. I'm not saying Green Bay is not culpable. Some of that's on Aaron. Don Shula is a top 10 coach all time. But top five. Belichick sticking around to beat his record. And so don't tell me that the Miami Dolphins weren't well run. Shula's a legend.

I even like his steakhouse. So some of that's just on, some of that's on Dan Marino. Oh. I know Dan's great. Interesting? Yeah. Like John Elway came in. And he just never had certain elements.

He finally got a great coach, finally got a run game. Then he won. I think Marino, everybody likes to point to we didn't have this. He didn't have that. I remember a lot of good receiving corps. He was a great coach. He had pretty good. The Marks Brothers were good.

They were not Michael Irvin. I'm sorry, they just weren't. Like, the beauty is these sports debates, we could have them all the time. I don't think people realize when this show ends, you and I are walking off for like, we could have done another hour easily. Like, there's just so many fun topics. Don't say that too louder, man. No, no, no, yeah, yeah, that's right.

Want more herd? The herd streams 24 hours a day, seven days a week, within the IHeart radio app. Search Herd 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-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, 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 Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. Hey, this is Robert from the Stuff to Blow Your Mind podcast. Joe and I are both lifelong Star Wars fan, so we're celebrating May the 4th with a brand new week of fun, thought-provoking Star Wars-related episodes. Join us as we tackle science and culture topics from a galaxy far, far away,

such as the biology of tauntons and wampas on the ice planet hot, or the practicality and corporate business sense of the Sith rule of two. Listen to Stuff to blow your mind on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. All right, welcome back. Cedric Sopalos played for 11 years in the NBA as a former All-Star slam dunk champ. And so as I watch Lowe. Yokic last night, Cedric, that you played against somebody that I covered, Arvita Sabonis. We got the old guy.

But from time to time, you get switched up on him. When you watch Yokic, do you see Arvetus? Oh, you see a lot of it, not only the passing ability, but the way he used his body. Arvetus, obviously, we, like you said, we got the bigger version, the slower version. but the way he uses his body to defend players off of him. He has an ability not only to have that vision, but he can't defend people off of them from stealing the basketball. Because that's your first initiative when you're guarding Arvidius.

It's like, oh, I can rip him. He's a seven-footer. If he puts that ball, that's a long way for the ball to go and to travel. He can shoot the three effectively. Like that was a big threat. I don't know if Yokic has the pull-up three like Arvetus with the quickness, but he does have the ability to shoot the three as well. But the ball handling, using of his body, taking up space, and just being an intelligent

basketball player, they both are great. LeBron has not hit a fourth quarter three-pointer since game one against Memphis. Why do you think he's shooting so many, Cedric? Well, it's just the anxious part of LeBron, you know, and any player that wants to make a big shot. You know, it's always coming long for three. It's funny, late Codfit Simmons, just always tell me, yeah, Dan Marley, he's going knock down a long three, and everybody thinks the guy has 100 points.

But your layups that you contistently do, we need that to help you. And it seems like late in the fourth quarter, LeBron has made some big layups. And I don't know if it's his legs, his age, just catching up to him, I'm not really sure. But if he keeps going downhill and scoring those layups and not only scoring layups, but finding those spot-up shooters, he got a really good chance of helping his team move on to the finals because it seems like the pull-up jumpers is what's really getting them. When he wants to prove that he can shoot that jumper. Now, when they swing that thing around, it's a little different.

He looks a little bit more confident with it. But if he just continues to go downhill and find his spot-up shooters, they might have a good chance to even this thing up when they go home. You know, there are times, Cedric. you know this. The Lakers two stars are either brittle or a bit old. It looks like Denver is bigger, younger, and more guys in their prime. Maybe it's just a bad matchup. Do you see that? No, I don't see the bad matchup, see, because, you know, look at the numbers, game one. Both them had tremendous games. It's just the fact that you have to sustain leads. These are two good teams.

This is how you want to have it. I got upset at Game 7 when Boston and Philadelphia went at it because I didn't, you know, where was my man hard in that? I couldn't find him nowhere. He's making all this money doing, being a superstar, but they're showing up in this. Both teams superstars are showing up. Obviously, we didn't get a lot of one, but he really showed up game two, fourth quarter really big, allow them to those four players to show up and you're going to have a competitive game. And we'll see. I mean, home court, it might be home court. They come down off a mile high. Obviously, they're going to be rocking and rolling in crypto.com arena. That may be a factor, especially with role players.

Role players seem to play a lot better at home. You might get that effect, so we'll see what happens when they play in the Lakers. You had notable teammates that were very aggressive. Kobe and Barclay. You played with Dirk and Shaq. These were guys that did not have to be convinced Cedric to take a big shot. I love Jason Tatum, but there are moments that he's an elegant player. It's a beautiful game.

so smooth. But I watch Jimmy Butler and Jimmy's like, get me the ball. There are times with Tatum and you should, you know, because you played with get me the ball guys. When you see Tatum, is it possible that this is who he is? It's his personality. And he's never going to be this kind of get me the ball, get out of my way, Michael Jordan guy. It's just who he is. He showed a lot of that in game six and fourth quarter after he was only had seven points. and really poured it on. But I don't know if it was a get me the ball, get out of my way type of situation.

I'm with you. I don't think we'll ever see that part of his game. And I know people are probably trying to convince him to be that. He plays within the system. I don't think his coaching staff really wants to get him out of that system where they kind of flatten everything out and let him go unless it's the last second opportunity. But getting themselves into it.

I mean, you got to remember, D. Wade had the same situation, effective at the two position. And it took Shaquille Anil being his teammate. Like, what are you doing? This is your team. Take it over. Anytime you get ready and you see fit to be the alpha dog, you go ahead and be that. You know, maybe he's subsiding to Brown and allow them to go back and forth.

If they want to be a Batman and Batman type of thing instead of a Batman and Robin. Yeah. Who knows? But he does have to be affected, especially later on when you're going against Jimmy Buckets, because you know he's going to want the basketball and try to make this a personal thing to get his team going. You know, we talked about. about this, dynasties generally and poorly. The Hedels and the Spurs got old really fast. I mean, the Patriots, now they can't score. They got anemic very quickly. The Yankees,

bad contracts, they underachieve. So the warriors, you get into a weird space where should you reward Clay Thompson for the four rings or, and he's still an effective three-point shooter, do you look at it and say, Cedric, we can't give you a long deal. We just can't go there. what would you do? I mean, obviously, you want to keep Kerr and you want to keep staff. Nobody disputes that. Then there's a lot of discussions to be had. What would you do with the Warriors if you were the GM? Yeah, first thing, I will reward Clay as much as possible with that contract. Now, that may be rewarding him and sending him on his way, a sign and trade, who knows,

later on, maybe a year or so. But what he has done for that organization from day one has just been excellent. And now that you bring up another subject on Steve Kerr, does this an opportunity for him to exit out to get out of this situation, knowing that it's going to be a rebuilding thing? Does he hold on and get rewarded 10 years later like Popovich has done with the young fellow being the first pick? And then Draymond Green, you know, did this incident with Poole really affect?

And I thought it did affect this basketball team, especially on the road. Now, you got to listen, ladies and gentlemen, when we are on the road, That is when we have our togetherness. And to have a split team, team Draymond, team pool, it makes it really difficult to win basketball games when it's you against the world.

And I think that affected them a lot. They did go a long way. But I reward Clay. And if you're going to reward him and you have to move on to get some other things, try to do that with draft picks or rebuild. And then also boils down to the, you know, the baby face assassin. What does he want to do? Yeah.

Does he want to play without Clay? Does he want to play without Draymond? Does he want them to stay around because they know him, he knows them? I think you talk to him first before you even talk to the coaching staff. You talk to the guy, you know, two-time MVP, finals MVP, four-time winner. You talk to him first and see exactly where he wants to go because keeping him happy is going to make the Warriors. That's a really good point. Just go to Steph and ask Steph what he likes.

Cedric Sabalos, 11-time, 11 seasons, former second round pecked at Cal, State Fullerton. Hey, Cedric, great seeing you again. Thank you. Good guys. Thank you. All right. Yeah. I mean, you do got to go to Steph at some point. But it's, these, these dynasties, they all end clunky, man. Well, wait, if you go to Seth, he's going to, Steph Curry, he's going to say, yeah, keep Clay. I don't think you go to Steph Curry. But I, but do you ask Steph about Jordan Poole? Do you ask Steph about the importance of

comminga's growth? This is crazy. I usually like to lean into my superstars and get a gauge on where their heads at. Yeah. I think that's dangerous here because Steph's 35. And you know I'm the biggest Steph Curry fan, probably in sports media. I got to do what's best for the organization going forward. And I don't know if asking a 35. It's different to ask LeBron, right?

38, he's at the end versus asking Curry. Well, players, you know, they always say this about GM. Sometimes GM's GM to save their job in the NFL. That's true. Instead of just drafting what's good for the future or moving on, your loyalty, your picks, you draft guys that can help you immediately, but their best, not best interest of the franchise going forward. There's GMs, you know, there's always been this feeling like a GM will take longer to bail on a bad pick

because it's his pick. You blow out of GM, the new guy comes in, and then let's just get the best players. I mean, remember, Curry, didn't you say he missed like 20 games last year, and Jordan Poole put up like 25 points a game? Some ridiculous numbers? That's why I think Poole's really a tough one. You know you want Draymond. You know you want Clay back.

It's the number. See, Steph and Draymond are coming back, so is Kerr. Wiggins you really want back. And because Looney doesn't cost anything and is a great rebounder, you'd like to bring him back. The pool piece is fascinating because Steph now's, you're going to want to limit Steph at 35's minutes. You're going to want to give him 20 games off. Yeah. Not at home, but road games, you're going to give Steph off.

So the bottom line is, who generates the offense? Pool, who, by the way, I thought. but did in the last couple games in the series play a more measured, strategic game. He wasn't as out of control. He's valuable. Isn't he still 24, 25 years old? He's young. Is there a world where Curry hangs out with Jordan Pool in the offseason?

They get on the same page. Pool kind of reins it in and says, listen, man, you kind of got to change if we're going to go back to where we were. Is there a world where Jordan Pool gets that memo from? Yeah, I mean, you tend to, you are what you are, but I would say this. playing behind LeBron was hard, but you knew you weren't LeBron.

You weren't that big and strong. Playing behind magic, you knew you weren't a 6-9 point guard. Playing behind Shaq, you knew you weren't that physically dominant. When you play behind Steph and you're the same size and same quickness and you can shoot two,

I think pooled sometimes tries to be too Steph light and he should have his own game. Because you look at stuff, And he's not bigger than you. He's not stronger than you. He's not necessarily as athletic as you. And you can shoot threes two.

And your takeaway is, hey, I come in for Steph. I'm going to do kind of mini-staff. And Steph really is brilliantly gifted and Jordan Poole's talented. There's a gap there. I think Poole too often comes in for Steph and says, I got to do what Steph does. When he plays more measured and within himself, Poole's a very effective player. but I think being behind staff is hard. It looks way easier than it is.

I don't know, listen, man. You don't like when I reference the show, but I've got up close of your work ethic over the last seven years. Yeah, I work hard, blah, blah, blah. Nobody cares. No, no, no. I know the audience doesn't care, but I've seen you up close.

And I've worked with other people at this network, and I've seen them. There's a reason you are where you are. I know you don't like that, but if Jordan Poole hasn't been sitting with Steph Curry for three years now and seen what it takes to be one of the greatest 10 players in the history of the sport,

I think maybe Jordan Poole, maybe you've got to move off of him. Like when you're around greatness that long, what time about? If Jordan Poole doesn't have the memo at this point, it's not going to get through it. Well, it depends on what I get. If you gave me for Jordan Poole,

because they do have some, they do have guard depth. If you gave me a 17 point a game big, they have no scoring from their bigs. If Wiggins sits, they have no scoring outside of the back court. So if I could get for Poole, can you get me 17.5 points,

highly functional, intelligent, big. Okay, then it's now... What if I do better than 17? Let me give you 23. Who? 25. Julius Randall. Do you want him?

He's not a true. You ask for 2017, I'm giving you 23rd. He's not a rim protector. I don't love the deal. But I'm just, we... This is where the Carl Anthony Towns thing is fascinating, though they don't need... They don't need Jordan Poole to go. And that's the problem with Poole.

Like, you look at these teams. Anybody can find a guard who puts up 20 a game. Those are easy. Are the Timber Wolves taking... Jordan Poole to go with Anthony Edwards? No, I'm not, but I'm saying we don't need 28 from the, the problem is right now, if Wiggins takes time off, all their scoring comes from guards. So, I mean, Denver can give you size with Porter and Gord, Yokevich Big, Murriott, Guard, they give you such balanced, layered scoring. Celtics, by the way, sometimes.

You know, Robert Williams and Horford, you're not going to depend on. It feels like it comes from the wings and the wings only, Tatum and Brown. one of the reasons there's an argument for Denver is they give you scoring everywhere. They don't give you a ton off the bench, but there's not many great benches in the NBA, to be honest. By the end of these seasons, these teams are so worn down. Phoenix has none. Denver doesn't. By the way, Aaron Gordon is like a really good fit in Denver, and I know people are like, why doesn't LeBron just go in the post? Hello, Aaron Gordon's banging him down there, the whole game and his younger. Maybe Jonathan Cominga could emerge as a guy next year?

They thought he would emerge this year. It's all Wiseman would, too, and that clearly. Yeah, but Cominga's now been there, what, three years? Like, it's time for you to become an 18-point-of-game score. But their big issue is the reason they don't want to get rid of Wiggins is, if they do, who scores when he takes a night off? It's all guards. All right, Jay Mackle of the news.

No, no, no, no. Turn on the news. This is the herd-line news. So Lakers are back at home against Denver. Saturday and then Monday. I know you will be out of town this weekend, but I'm sure you will make time to watch the Lakers Saturday night must win. Undefeated at Crypto.com Arena during the postseason. LeBron says the Lakers cannot get comfortable.

We still got to play with the same desperation as we did tonight. I mean, we came out with an ale, but it doesn't give us any more comfort. We can't go into any postseason game with comfort just because you either haven't lost at home or you're going back home. I think it's even more. You've got to be on edge because when you go home, you're getting your own bed, you're around your family. Everybody's being cool. jolly and everything, nah, you got to be even more on edge when you get home.

So, you know, we got to understand that going back and being down O2. There's no reason for us to get comfortable. All right. No need to panic there if you're the Lakers, right? I don't think you need any radical changes, maybe a little less DeAngelo Russell. Well, this just may be a series where they're not capable of beating Denver and Denver. I mean, Denver's very good.

I mean, last night was made to order. Yokic didn't score in the fourth. They led and took the crowd out of it. Rui and Reeves were excellent as road role players. Last night was the game you got to win. I mean, it really did set up as a perfect opportunity, and they didn't win. So we don't think they're going to win track meets against these guys offensively. Last night was played exactly.

Role players were good on the road, which they rarely are. So guys not named Austin Reeves on the Lakers shot 3 of 21 from D. Last night. Austin Reeves is 10 of 18 on threes. Yeah. Unbelievable. All right. Next up, what are we doing?

Many NBA executives believe James Hardin will rejoin the Rockets in free agency this year. Owner Tillman Frittita, Pertata loves Hardin. And there may, are there multiple reports that the interest is mutual? The Rockets hired IMEUDoka as head coach. Calvert, we're going to be doing this in headlines later. What are you thinking here? It sounds like Hardin in Philly. He's like checked out.

Oh, I'd move off him tomorrow. I'd move off hard tomorrow in Philly. I don't think he's good for the culture. I don't... He won you two straight up

won two games against Boston. You know, it's the buy low, sell high, and everybody is saying that. So, you know what? Perfect time to move him.

Daryl gets on the phone. Hey, he won us two games. And everybody's like, all right, so he's not as great as he was, but he's certainly not washed. That's exactly when you sell him. You don't wait until next year.

when he wins you one playoff game. Then the following year, he wins you none and you're tied to him. You still got that glimmer. That's how the Lakers moved off Westbrook. They said, he gives you 36 minutes and he is productive. What you want to do. When players fade, you want to be able to go. Like Clay Thompson, if Clay Thompson would have just had a good final game and they lost,

you could have said, hey, Clay Thompson had two great games in that series. What happened to Clay is he had a good game, and then he had like three in a row bad games. What you got to do is when players start declining, but they still can give you occasional greatness. That is when you can get stuff for him. That's when you can get value. It's like AD, if they lose in five games in this series, AD still has tremendous value. You could keep him for another year because I think he's got a year and an option. But it's like you bring him back.

There is the chance he comes in out of shape and gets hurt. then he's got no value on the market. I have a spicy, hardened trade for you, final hour of the show. Headlines. And we wrap up with this football team in New York, the New York Jets, showing just how happy fans are with the arrival of Aaron Rogers. NFL shop.com released the top-selling jerseys for the month of April. Coward, do you want to guess what the best-selling NFL jersey was in the month of April?

Well, he's a star. It's a big city. I would say Aaron Rogers. Bingo. Aaron Rogers, number one. Jaylen Hertz 2, Mahomes, O'Dell Beckham, who has a new team, Josh Allen, Kelsey. Oh my gosh, is that a mistake? Jordan Love is the seventh best-selling jersey?

What? Packer fans buy jerseys. Yeah, they can't go to the game with a Rogers jersey. Right, it's a national brand and Jordan Love. I don't think that's going to last long. But, I'm surprised CJ Stroud didn't make that list. Charlotte's a small market. Green Bay is a small market, but they got new quarterback.

It's hope. You're buying, you're not buying a jersey, you're buying hope. You're buying hope that Bryce Young and Jordan love are great. Rogers, you're sure he's going to be great. You want to represent in that stadium. One of my buddies who watches all the time says, you should try to make a wager with Cowher until he has to wear a Jets jersey for at least one hour on the show.

No. No shot? No. Let's get to the Super Bowl. No. Damn. There's a shot of that. Is this Sheboygan Logal Radio?

What are we doing? Hey, you eat a. You eat four pizzas if you're wrong in a football bat. All right, Jay Mack with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The Herd Lie News. Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific.

On Fox Sports Radio, FS1, and the I-Hard Radio app. Hey, I'm Doug Gottlie. The podcast is called All Ball. We usually talk all basketball all the time, but it's more about the stories about what made these. these people love their sport and all the interesting interactions along the way. We talk to coaches. We talk to players.

We tell you stories. You download it. You listen to it. I think you like it. Listen to All Ball with Doug Ghalib on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque.

Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast, 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, Cliver Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, the reactions, my journey from basketball. ball 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 Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. Hey, this is Robert from the Stuff to Blow Your Mind podcast. Joe and I are both lifelong Star Wars fan, so we're celebrating May the 4th with a brand new

week of fun, thought-provoking Star Wars-related episodes. Join us as we tackle science and culture topics from a galaxy far, far away, such as the biology of taun-tons and wampas on the ice planet hot, or the practicality and corporate business sense of the Sith Rule of Two. Listen to stuff to blow your mind on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Nuggets Lakers game three is tomorrow, and you have a chance to win $5,000 during the game playing Fox Bet Super 6. Download the free Super 6 app on your phone and make six predictions for a chance to win big.

So in 45 minutes, we're going to have Vic Tafer on. He's a senior writer at the Athletic. He did a really interesting article this week, so I asked the staff, hey, can we get this guy on? He takes all the over-unders, and for the uninitiated here, everybody gets a number for the season. Vegas, Draft Kings, the big companies, right? They give you a number, seven and a half. They're all halves, right? and you have to bet the over or under.

There are 9.5, 10 and a half, 7 and a half. Are you going to win more than that number or less? His best bets, a lot of them are like Broncos over with Sean Payton. That feels like most people are on that. His overbets, I like the Rams over 6.5. I think McVeigh is too good of a coach. Stafford, Cooper Cup, Darnold, Healthy. He's got that.

His underbett, I do think Kansas City's schedule is brutal in the middle of it, under 11.5. I think Kansas City is going to go 11 and 6. That's more likely than them going 12 and 5 in an increasingly good division with Sean Payton. Justin Herbert now has got a big-time offensive coordinator. So there's some bets that feel right. And I don't want to argue back and forth. But the one he is saying here, not only does he not believe in Justin Fields of the Bears,

but the market doesn't either. The over-under on the Bears is 7 and a half. well, it's not a receiver issue. They've upgraded that. That's not a tight end issue. Their backs are good enough. They're O lines middle of the pack. So what you're saying is year three, and I would imagine it's hit and miss, it's probably 50-50.

People think in now a watered down division without Aaron Rogers, Justin Fields is going to go seven and ten. And I've said this is that I find that Justin Fields has a lot of Cam Newton. So Cam Newton never had back-to-back winning seasons. because Cam Newton didn't do things repetitively well. What he was was brilliantly gifted. So depending on his health and the great plays, he would win. But what the great quarterbacks do, like a Mahomes and a borough, you kind of know what you're getting quarter to quarter, half to half, game to game.

It's repetitive. They say this about wealth. Wealth is creating something and then just selling it over and over. It's the same in sports. You mostly get the same thing from Kobe in his prime, Yokic's game, Steph Curry, LeBron. With Cam Newton, it was like, have a great half than a terrible one, a great series, a terrible one, a great play, a terrible one.

So he had this, he was talented, but I didn't get consistency. That's my concern. And I'm still on the 60-40. It's going to work with Justin Fields. If you look at YouTube highlights, it's unbelievable. Same with Cam. But there is this, why consistently aren't? in his halfs series and plays, because that's what really wins in the NFL.

It's not the amazing part of Patrick Mahomes. What makes Patrick Mahomes so good, he audibles into plays that work, out of plays that don't, he audibles out of disasters. I had somebody inside the Panthers locker room for years, not Greg Olson, that would tell me, like, Cam kind of went to the line, the play was the play. That was, by the way, a lot of Big Ben, the play was the play. I'm not going to go audible. I can do what I want to do.

I can make it happen. You know, Big Ben also had some inconsistencies. Didn't win a lot of big playoff games last seven, eight years of his career. So with Justin Fields, it's not the talent thing. What I worry about is the uneven nature of his game. And it's predicated on this unbelievable athletic ability. He's got a whip for an arm. But it feels a little YouTubey.

It feels like a highlight reel. And so what's happening here is Vegas doesn't believe in him. And Vic doesn't. I don't know where I fly. I think I feel like it's an over. Mack and I both feel like they're an eight or nine win team because I do think if he can stay healthy, I think they have some nice weapons. And I think the division, Green Bay is not going to be, we guess, as good.

I think Detroit will be fine. They're not going to be great opening with Kansas cities probably a bit too much. And Minnesota, it's understood, I think, by most reasonable people, they're not going to win every single close game. But if the market is telling you Justin Fields over under seven and a half, that's not a That's the market. Like, that's what Fandul, that's what Draft Kings. That's what Vegas is saying.

They're not a lot of believers. In Chicago, the belief is probably 90-10. It's really separate from the market. People are telling you they don't believe in Justin Fields. You go to Chicago, everybody thinks. And so my concern is he's becoming a highlight quarterback. By the way, he'll win games that way. But you got to give me the same guy 90% of series,

half's games. And that part concerns me. So Vic shows up. Big Tafer in 40 minutes, about 35 minutes from now. Live in L.A., it's the heard. Another podcast from some SNL, late-night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer, Streeter Seidel, help an a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter.

Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and Friends on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's Superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. within probably 10 days I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth.

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

or the practicality and corporate business sense of the Sith rule of two. Listen to Stuff to Bo Your Mind on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed human.