The Herd with Colin Cowherd - The Herd - Hour 2 - The top 10 remaning

Episode Date: May 9, 2023

Colin gives his top 10 players remaining in the playoffs Nick Wright from First Things First joins the show to hold Colin accountable for his Warriors praise while their season hangs in the balanceSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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with a commanding 3-1 series lead. It's the herd. Nick right around the corner. J-MAC joining us, wherever you may be and however you may be listening. I still think it goes seven. I'll readjust. Then, Warriors favored by seven and a half tomorrow night.

Anne's leaving town, so I'm going to be locked in. No cocktails. I had one last night, snuck it in. I was celebrating late in the fourth quarter and got ahead of myself. I got to give Darvinham a lot of props, pushing all the right buttons. Lonnie Walker did not take a shot in the first three quarters. And then he carried the Lakers in the fourth quarter. I never seen a game like that before.

It was an all-time great game. I can ignore. And by the way, I'm not rooting for against anything, but I do love dynasties. I lived in Connecticut during the Patriot dynasty. I like smart. When teams like smart, efficient businesses, I just like them. And I think the Warriors have been smart and efficient owner, GM, coach, players. I think Kansas City now.

Last year, like nine rookies played. They move off players. Kansas City has replaced New England as the smartest team. I think the Yankees have had a lot of money. I don't think the Yankees are brilliantly run. They just have a lot of money. I like, I mean, Green Bay, for all the criticisms, is generally very smartly run.

I appreciate Green Bay. Aaron Rogers wore me out, but I've always thought the Packers, outside of the Patriots for a 10-year run, nobody drafted and developed O lines like Green Bay did. They never drafted a first round lineman. They always had great O lines. I like smart. Warriors have been smart.

The Lakers are an odd team that can't shoot that was thrown together at the trade deadline, but to their credit, they're playing well. I mean, the one thing the Warriors didn't do that was smart was draft James Wiseman, second overall. Well, it was the second best player available. They had that pick. Maybe their scouting department kind of failed there, Colin. They gave Jordan Poole a $128 million contract,

and that's looking not great a year later. And I do like Jordan Poole. I'm like the only guy on Jordan Poole Island. I like him. He has not played well in the series. Okay, so I said, I'm going to do a top 10 list in a Nick Wright. These aren't the 10 best players in the league.

They are the players I would choose now based on how they're playing now. What am I getting in the playoffs, the 10 best players in the playoffs? Are you ready to do this? So number one would be Anthony Day. All you need to know, he has the highest plus minus of any player on any team in the postseason. He not only leads the NBA in blocks, he has 14 more than anybody else, and he also leaves the

playoff in contested shots. He's got 150. He has literally changed the way this dynasty runs their offense. He's eliminated gimmies down low. So I think Anthony Davis right now, now his offense can suffer at times because of his defensive effort. He hit a little bit last night on the offensive end. I think he has just been a complete monster in the playoffs. Number two, Steph Curry. Again, the Warriors are not a playoff team without it. He's plus 56 the team is when he's on the court, minus 52 when he's

off it. He has the most points and the most threes in the postseason, and we are in a three era. And maybe we've just overvalued the Warriors' overall roster. If Wiggins is their second best player? Is this a playoff team without Steph Curry? I don't know if it is. Number three, there are defensive limitations with Yokic. Nicola Yokic, so he's only third, but leading score in the conference semifinals leads the nuggets and everything. Pass, size, rebounding, intensity. But again, unlike AD, he's not going to give you much on the defense event, so he's third. I would give you Jimmy Butler at four, but again, he is banged up a lot, so he's not as healthy as the first three guys. He is the third leading score in the playoffs, though he's playing sort of above himself.

He's also shooting 56%, which is just remarkable, especially against the good Nick's defense, but he's not available as much as the other guy, so I'd put him four. Five, I would put Devin Booker, and I can think two things. He's great right now, but it's not sustainable. By the way, he has the worst defensive rating, the worst defensive rating among all remaining players giving you 30 a night. So he's the one bad defensive player of all the stars left. The sons are also plus nine with Booker on the court and plus seven when he's off the court. He doesn't have nearly the impact of an Anthony Davis, a Steph Curry, or a Yokic.

He's just on an unbelievable heater. Number six, Jason Tatum. I like Booker over Tatum because Booker, it will always. always take the shot. He'll be point guard, off guard, he'll always take the shot. And I think Jason Tatum continues to lack the it, the alpha in big spots. He struggles at the end of games. He's got fewer field goal attempts in clutch time than Marcus Smart. That worries me. Number seven, Joel Embed, he looked gassed in the last game, but he leads the Sixers and everything that matters, blocks, rebounding points. But they're one and two since he returned. So if you're going to be

valuable. You should have a winning record when you're on the floor. And they're one and two since he's returned. He also has health struggles. I'd put him at seven. Eight, Kevin Durant. I don't think he's playing quite the defense he did in his prime, but he's played the most minutes of any player in the postseason. They have no bench, and they are leaning on KD. heavy. But he's been the second best offensive player on this team. Let's be honest to Booker, so he's at eight. I would put Jalen Brown at 9, he's the most efficient Celtic, leading score in the second half of the Celtics, but probably in this top 10, he's not in the same class as a Steph or an AD or an Embed in terms of pure talent. And number 10, and he can disappear at times now, but I'm going to put LeBron in it out of respect.

In spurts, he is instrumental. Did you watch his defensive effort at the end of the game last night? He is one of the smartest guys that have ever played this sport. oldest player ever with 25, 10, and 5 in a playoff game and a team I 27 last night. He looks absolutely gassed. I said this earlier. If the Lakers fell behind by 15 in the second quarter at Chase Center, and I don't know if that's possible, I don't know if I would just sit him for game six.

But I'm going to put LeBron in there because I think there's so many intangibles to his ability to have self-awareness, sense when he's needed, but he does take quarters off. I mean, he had a quarter in this series. He didn't take a shot. I mean, he takes quarters off, so I have him at 10. Nick Wright, oh, boy. Nick Wright joining us live. He does a show later on the network.

Oh, Colin, no FaceTime from you yesterday. Big surprise there. I was expecting to get the old call. How are you? You said you had one cocktail last night. That was during the game. What'd you need after, three or four, just to get to sleep? How are you today?

Well, I'm not bailing. I'm not bailing. But it would be nice if somebody, anybody beyond Steph, would step up. Clay was awful. Looney, you can't play. The second best warrior was Gary Payton the second. His dad was way better. I hear you want to blame Steph for some of this.

No, no, no, no. No. Well, you hear partially correctly, partially incorrectly. Listen, here's the deal, Colin. Steph offensively was brilliant for 47 minutes. Yeah. The last minute was tough for him, but they would not have been in that position, if not for his brilliance up until that point.

Now, defensively, oh, man, that old 10th best player in the playoffs you got there, LeBron James, sure seemed to throw it back to 2016 finals. where Steph Curry put him in the pick and roll, hunt him. Is he on me? I'll go to the basket and he'll foul me. And LeBron scared of the free throw line, LeBron, not clutch LeBron, four for four from the free throw line in the final minutes of that game. And when Steph stayed on Lonnie Walker the fourth, Lonnie Walker, the fourth, of course,

dotted his eye a few times. But no, I don't put the majority of the blame on Steph. Some, of course, must go to Clay Thompson, who had two just brutal hero shots when they didn't need it. But I don't put the majority of blame. on him either. There is one name that you have not mustered to be able to escape your lips, and that is everyone's favorite podcaster, Draymond Green, because Colin, it was Draymond, who got the

rebound after Steph's first miss, had Dennis Schrooter on him, and looked up at the rim and thought, actually, that's not fair, never even looked at the rim immediately threw the ball away a la bin Simmons. And then, in the final play of the game, Dremont. through a perfectly threaded pass to Anthony Davis, and they lost. So that is a little Steph, a little Clay, a little Draymond, and that is how Dynasties end, of course, and that is what we're seeing. And at what point, Colin, do I get an apology from you, and maybe even J-Mack,

because you guys laughed at me when I gave you the Lakers at 50 to 1, six weeks ago to win the title? I gave you Chiefs Niners Super Bowl at 50 to 1. Before the season, I was a Brock Purdy injury away from giving you that one 50 to 1. Lakers, 50 to 1 to win the title. I gave it out on this show less than two months ago. They're now 4 to 1. And you're in shambles so much.

You're bringing up the 79 Supersonics as a reason to explain what's happening. Yeah, you're on a Devin Booker heater. I don't think it's sustainable, much like Devin Booker. It's not sustainable. I did say this, though. I said Anthony Davis is doing something. If you look at NBA history, and I watched it back in the early 70s, whoever as the player in this series, whether it was Duncan, Shaq, Michael, that everybody has to adjust

to. That team usually wins. And even though Steph is great, they're not necessarily, they did a little Jared Vanderbilt on him. But the Warriors, everything they're doing is adjusting to Anthony Davis. And that's right. I mean, it's what, you know, I'd be the first to tell you. I wanted to sell him.

I was moving off of the trade deadline. Yeah. If they don't win the final, are you still on LeBron A.D. the rest of the way. Next year, the following year. Well, next, listen, LeBron. at this point is a year by year enterprise. And LeBron I know the narrative

right now is, oh man, LeBron's gotten old. LeBron in January. Now it's later than January, but that was just four months ago. In January, averaged 35 points per game. For the month, I don't think it's LeBron's gotten

old. I think it's that LeBron needs foot surgery, was supposed to have foot surgery and didn't have it because he thinks they can win the title. And because of that, he can't drive to the basket the way he wants to, he can't do all the things he wants to do. So LeBron is a year-to-year proposition.

But Anthony Davis, I think you are exactly right that he is the one that is forcing the adjustment. And here's what I mean. The Warriors have five guys, Steve Kerr trusts, and because of AD, they

can't play all five at once. Right. Because he wants to play, obviously. Steph, Clay, Draymond, Wiggins. and Looney. That's their best five-man group. But when you have two non-shooting bigs out there, that allows Anthony Davis to do what he did

in game one, which is take over the game defensively. So because of that, he is forced to play either Gary Payton or Jordan Poole, who once upon a time was an NBA player I hear, but I haven't seen any evidence of it in a couple months, or Dante DiVincenzo,

or Moses, Moody, or whomever. And that, now you have a guy out there that Kurt just truly, clearly does not want to have out there. And that's why he's grasping. Jordan Poole was starting. Now he can't play in the fourth quarter. Jamichael Green started two games ago. Played two minutes last night.

Gary Payton wasn't even on the team halfway through the year. He's in the closing lineup. And then Moses Moody's in the closing lineup. And then it's a whole hell of a lot of Dante DiVincenzo. And that is all because you can't play those two. bigs because of what AD does to you. So, yeah, listen, he is consistently brilliant on the defensive end and intermittently brilliant on the offensive end.

And the reason I won't crush him for the intermittent offense the way some will is, we never do that in reverse. If a guy is consistently brilliant on offense and only occasionally good on defense, we just say they're always great. Yokic, take him for example. He's occasionally good defensively, always great offensively. We don't call him inconsistent. Anthony Davis has been, in my opinion, the second most impactful player this postseason

behind only Jimmy Butler, and that's even with his off nights. Yeah. So we got into this discussion earlier, is that if you look ahead, Sons or Denver, coming out of a long series of this win. six or seven and having to go high altitude with LeBron and AD playing 40 minutes feels like, okay, the series starts 1-0 Denver. So I don't want to get to that yet. Is there anything?

I mean, I could argue we're a couple of three-pointers away from it being 3-1 Warriors. Is there anything with the Lakers that does concern you a little? I mean, two of the next three are at the chase center. Well, there's not two. There's not going to be three, Colin. Colin, there's not going to be three. Colin, it's okay. Everything ends, my friend.

And the idea that this is going seven is laughable. The other thing I told you before this series was that, and you can check the tape, my friend, this was going to have the exact same beats as the Memphis series. The Lakers win one and then the home games, three, four, and six. The Lakers' path to a championship is a narrow one, but it is crystal clear what it is. They must go undefeated at home. There is a reason we have only seen the 95 rockets go on the road as the path to the championship, and it is because it is so incredibly difficult the moment you lose a single home game.

So they can't lose a single home game. And what we have seen in both of these series is game four is a close, game, the fork in the road game, and in game four against the Grizzlies, AD didn't have it. LeBron gets the layup over the defensive player of the year. They win in overtime. In game four of this series, Lonnie Walker plays the role that the Lakers have had multiple guys play this year. And that's, let me just say this before we get to Denver Phoenix.

People have talked in LeBron's career about how being the third star you get minimized. And that is true. That happened to Kevin Love. That happened to Chris Bosch. But that is because when LeBron's hand is on the joystick, the third star is whoever has it that night. So it can be Austin Reeves at the end of the regular season. It can be Rui Hachamura at the beginning of the Memphis series.

And it can be Lonnie Walker the fourth last night. It's whoever has the best matchup, whoever has it. So I don't think this is going seven. if it were to go seven, it drastically hurts the Lakers' chances of winning the, of getting to the NBA finals. But I don't think it's going seven. To your point, though, I think they'd rather play Phoenix. Yeah, I think Phoenix is...

They're a bad defensive team. They're a really bad defensive team. You can attack Booker. Chris Paul might not be healthy. I think they... I mean, and by the way, now with Chris Paul Ealing, they have no bench. So the Warriors, at least, there are players that can come off the bench and score, and they can be very good defensive.

in spurts. I think the more I watch this, Phoenix now, and I thought they'd get to the Western Conference finals, they need another guy, like a Norman pal. Somebody off the bench. They don't have it. 100%. No. Listen, Devin Booker has been brilliant.

I agree with you. Almost too brilliant in that. Listen, the guy's not going to shoot 65% for the playoffs. So when he cools off even just a little bit, what does it do to him? But the reason they won game three and four was not because Devin was brilliant, even though he was.

It was because for the first time all postseason, they got actual contributions from their bench. They were a five-man team when Chris Paul was healthy. When he went down, they're all of a sudden, you know, they are forced to play the bench more, and those guys stepped up to a degree. But there's two reasons, three reasons primarily, that I think the Lakers would rather play Phoenix.

I don't think they're going to get to. I think Denver's going to win. I think Lakers would rather. The first one is what you said. The Lakers are comfortable playing their bench guys. Phoenix is not. And because of that, if Phoenix were to get to the conference finals, they would be coming off a grueling seven games playing 44 minutes a night for Booker and Durant. Yeah. Booker and, yeah, Durant. That's the first reason. The second reason has to do

with travel. It is a shorter flight to Phoenix and there is no altitude. And for 65,000 minutes in LeBron, I think that really, really matters. I think the altitude, the every other day in the long flights would be really tough on them. And lastly, and I think this is correct, Phoenix has no way to deal with Anthony Davis on the inside defensively. And it's not that Yokic is a great defender,

but Denver is connected and they know what they want to do. And AD, I think, would be so gassed with what he has to do defensively against Yokic. His offense would be minimized. Phoenix clearly doesn't like playing DeAndre Ait and he's had a bad attitude for two years. Their next option is Jock Landale.

And so if the Lakers were to get Phoenix in round three, I actually think that could be a quick series, but I think they're going to get Denver and it's going to be a war. All right. Well, so now you would acknowledge Golden States a seven and a half point favorite in a game five that Warriors will. They're going to win game five. Congrats. So did the Grizzlies.

The series ended last night, man. I promise you. They're going to win game five. I would, LeBron, here's what I'll tell you's going to happen in game five. LeBron is going to take five to seven first half threes. And if he's hot and they can all of a sudden hit a bunch of shots and they're in it, then they'll go for it. If not, they will pack it in early, prepare for game six.

And do you remember game six of the Grizzly series? The Warriors, the Lakers won it by 40 points. Now, I don't think they'll do that to the Warriors, to the Warriors, probably more like 20. But this thing's over in six, Colin. It was the moment was last night. The Warriors couldn't finish. They couldn't close.

They had a double-dated second half lead. That had a 7.4th quarter lead. And they ran out of gas. There's some bad turnovers and bad shots. Listen, nothing lasts forever, my friend, except for our friendship, which is back on. Last week, I said it's strictly a professional relationship. I've reversed course.

We're friends again. It's good to see you. Good to see you. Yes. reverse course. I'm glad we could get the satellite up for this. It was very fuzzy 15 minutes ago. First things first after our show,

the fastest growing sport show on cable. Nick Wright, as always. I'm a good sport. My team's in trouble. Although, you know what? I'm not anti-liker. I've been pro-Lebron my whole career. Anthony Davis wears me out.

But I will say this. You know what I kept thinking last night? And I know somebody around the country, you probably think this is becoming an L.A. show. But I kept thinking about this. Steve Balmer could buy and sell the Lakers owners 30 times. He's the richest owner in the NBA by far. I think he's richer than everybody else combined.

That's how Rich Balmer is. They're building a new facility. He goes big. He's got a great front office, a deep team, and he's watching the Lakers potentially get to the Western Conference finals. For a team that was, and they took Westbrook, he could argue he thinks he has the better coach, the better executives, the better roster, the bigger net worth,

and the Lakers are going to potentially get to the Western conference finals. Would that drive you Alabama? That would be like Auburn hiring Belichick. And Alabama being a total mess, and Alabama ends up in the natty again. And you're like, we did everything right. We got the greatest football coach ever. We did this. We have the greatest player. We got the best recruiting class. I mean, it must drive the clippers insane to watch the team that everybody loves in their building turn their roster over. to a bunch of bounce around the league guys, unproven guys, and they're going to knock the dynasty potentially out.

That's not a bad take. The one thought I had, Colin, do you remember how a lot of people out there wanted to discount the bubble title that the Lakers had? A lot of people did, but it was a title. So here we are a few years later. Heat, underdogs in the first round, win. Underdogs in the second round, up 3-1.

Lakers, underdogs against the Warriors, up 3-1. The Heat and the Lakers who met in the bubble title that people want to discount. are already back on the cusp of getting back to the NBA finals. Maybe you have Jimmy Butler a little low on your list there. Sorry, no disrespect to AD, but he's not been better than Joker, Butler. Hell, I don't even know if he's been better than Booker. I mean, the inconsistencies for AD.

Wait until you see his 12.6 rebound game in game five. Maybe he'll rethink it. He's just inconsistent. Four shots in the second half yesterday. Four. He looked tired. Austin Reeves, third quarter. quarter, Lonnie Walker and the fourth.

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 IHard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what you're saying. Yep, that's me, Cliver Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, the reactions, my journey from basketball to college football, or my career in sports media. Well, somewhere along the way, this platform became bigger than I ever imagined.

And now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfiltered conversations with some of your favorite athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. One week, I'll take you behind the scenes of the biggest moments in sports and entertainment.

And the next, we'll talk about life, mental health, purpose, and even music. The Clifford Show isn't just a podcast. It's a space for honest conversations, stories that don't always get told, and for people who are chasing something bigger. So if you've ever supported me or you're just chasing down a dream,

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

I know what you're thinking. What the hell does George Bush got to do with Little Kim? Well, you can find out on the Look Back at it podcast. I'm Sam J. And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick it here, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived it. Including a recent episode with Mark Lamont Hill,

waxing all about crack in the 80s. To be clear, 84 is big to me, not just because of crack. I'm down to talk about crack on day, but just so y'all know. I mean, at this point, Mark, this is the second episode where we've discussed crack, so I'm starting to see that there's a through line. We also have AIDS on the table right now, so. Thank you for finishing that sentence. I don't think there's a more important year for black people.

Really? Yeah. For me, it's one of the most important years for black people in American history. Listen to look back at it on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Oh, got to tell you, these NBA playoffs, when are we going to watch a game together? We should probably think about doing that, J-Mack. You know that? So Wednesday is game 5 for Lakers.

Friday is game 6, which we know is going to happen. You want to go to your spot? That one spot? Your spot. I mean, you can't give it out on air. You don't need hundreds of dudes lining up to show up. Or some women. Let's do Friday at our spot.

Our spot. At the end of our first year, Discover credit cards doubles all the cash back you've earned. everything doubled. Seriously, check it out for yourself. Discover.com slash match. Here is JMac with the news. Turn on the news. This is the herd line news. I didn't really realize this until just now. So Steve Kerr, not thrilled with the officiating last night after the loss. Screens. Screens drove him crazy. It was a little odd. Here's what he had to say in the postgame press conference. I thought the fourth was about, it was about Walker and it was about I think we had three or four illegal screens called and that was disappointing.

I didn't get a look at the replay on any of them but you know there were a couple that were very disappointing just live but you know the Lakers are they're a team that plays with a lot of gamesmanship they understand you know how to how to generate some calls I thought they took some flops and were rewarded but I'll have to see the the replays. Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe those were all illegal screens, but didn't feel like it watching it live. I thought he makes a very good point there. You know, Schroeder is German for flop, and that's all he does. He just flopped around. It's a little annoying and unsettling. But I will say this, Clay Thompson kind of leveled him with an elbow.

I don't know if you remember seeing that one in the middle of the lane. And initially it didn't look bad, and that Schroeder flops. But, you know, Clay's just not locked in. And again, I'll point, I said at first hour, there's a video out there of Clay like taking that leaning three with like, I think 12 seconds on the shot clock and Kerr's behind him instantly. He knows the shots off. Kerr puts his hands up and then looks like, what are you doing to Clay? Now he defended Clay. Hey, we trust him in the press conference afterward. You don't want to say this is a meltdown, but they kind of blew the game late. They've had a couple, you know, there was a moment with the Kings where Curry called

the timeout they didn't have. Like they haven't been buttoned up like the Celtics. It is easy to point to the end of the game for the Warriors. But let me throw this. They had three air balls in the first half. The Warriors had eight open looks in the first half. Three of them were airballs. Like, they could have put this game away. This game didn't need to be close late.

I mean, the entire game, did you not feel like for most of this game, the Warriors were leading and controlling you? Well, that's why I don't think the series is over. That's why I don't think it's over. I thought the Warriors were a better team last night. Oh, I thought they were, too. And I know as a Laker fans are not going to be happy out here. Listen, I'm in a tough spot.

Curry is my favorite player. We don't need to go into Y. Yeah. I root for the Lakers. I've loved them since the first basketball game I ever went to was Lakers Nix. Yeah. In New York, because my family would travel up there for the holidays to see family. And then the second game I ever saw was in Lakers Nix.

My dad had a business trip, the only one I ever went on with him. And it was like, oh my gosh, these Lakers and Nicks are awesome. I love these are my favorite two teams. And so I root Lakers, but I love Curry. I don't know. Is it okay to do that? I'm getting a lot of heat from these gibronies online. My takeaway is if they hit one more three last night, you could argue the Lakers win this game.

I think it's a most 3-1 series don't feel close. Two of the next three are in the Chase Center. I think it's very much a game seven series. Agree or disagree. The Celtics have clearly been the better team than the Sixers, and they will win that series on equipment. No question. And Miami's been better than New York. No question.

And Lakers were better than Memphis. No question. I mean, I think Denver clearly better. Phoenix, and that's tied at two. Well, that's the one I... Just the Kevin Durant factor. Like, Durant hasn't gone postal yet. He may go for 50 tonight because he's Kevin Durant, you know?

So, I don't know. I just don't think this Warrior Series over. Next up, Andrew Luck. Andrew Luck, been out of league since 2019. But apparently the Colts are saying that the commanders have been tampering with Andrew Luck. Washington reportedly made attempts to learn whether or not luck would have interest in an NFL return.

Ultimately, they moved on from the idea because he said he would stay retired. Is this dirty pool on the part of whoever was reaching out to Andrew Luck with Ron Rivera trying to save his job for Washington front office? Well, if it's tampering, it's tampering. And Washington's been a mess for a decade, so it wouldn't surprise me if they screwed something up here. But Andrew Luck's not playing again. Like, we have to get over that. He's not playing. He's very happy.

I think he liked football. I don't think he had the passion for it like a Brady does. I think Andrew Luck got hurt, said, you know what, man. I want to have kids and a family and I got $100 million in the bank, and I don't blame him at all. I always thought he was almost too smart for football. Like he had too much of a life beyond football. A lot of the greatest athletes, the Kobe's and the Brady's, they are obsessed by it. It's like this hard to explain thing they want to play forever.

You know, LeBron James, he just, this is his thing, man. Keep the thing to thing. I just don't think Andrew Luck had that. He was just gifted, worked hard, super smart. I mean, listen, he went to Stanford. He could have gone to a lot of football powers. he wanted to get smarter. And his dad's a bright guy.

Andrew's a bright guy. There's nothing wrong with that. It's probably a better, more balanced human being. I do wonder what on earth he's doing with all his time now. Like, imagine if you just said, I, I, stop. I had a great run. I'm going to go up and retire from radio and TV. I couldn't do it.

I'm not built for that either. I like to work. I like to get up and do stuff. Yeah. I like to be productive. Once your kids get a car, they don't want to hang around you anyone. My kids barely want to hang out with me. I'm the same way.

They're 10 and 12. And I'm a wonderful parent and my kids can barely stand me. I'm an outstanding parent as well, although I'm sometimes cringe according to my kids because I wake up on Tuesday and I say happy Tuesday sleigh, you know, because Slay is like the cool new word, so I hate happy Tuesdays slay to my kids. How do they act of that? And they're just like, just don't say that when my friends are around. And I'm like, but that's funny.

I'm very funny. I think you should say it all the time. Don't laugh at me. Happy Tuesdaysley. That's cool. You can say it for any day of the week, too. I would say it on a date. At a wedding anniversary, I think it's very funny.

Yeah. All right. I have a feeling the control room doesn't agree. Final story. Chiefs and Bengals are becoming one of the AFC's new rivalries, back-to-back, thrilling AFC championship matchups. Chiefs expected to host the season opener as the defending champs, and Bengals' cornerback Mike Hilton says everybody wants to see a rematch of last year's

a FC title game. Do you think, Colin, Chiefs Bengals will be the opening game of the season? And remember, schedule comes out in about four. 48 hours. I think it will be. I don't think they'll meet again for the AFC championship, because that's just not the league. But I do think they'll be two of the final four AFC teams. Other two are Jets and who? I don't know who they are, but I think Jacksonville is surging. And I also think the Chargers, and I've been reticent to do this, I think they're really good. I think their first three picks are going to be productive. I think their O-Line will be healthy again.

I think the Chargers, and I'm not saying this because I'm an L.A. guy. I think Jacksonville, is the most underrated team in the league at nine and a half. That's my favorite over bet. I think they're a 12-13 win team potentially. And I do still worry a little bit about the Bengals O line. A little bit. A little bit. And they got rid of their two guys in the back end, the safeties. I would have too.

They got too expensive, but I worry about that. I'll just say I would love it if it were Chiefs Bengals in the opener. I don't want to see my Jets on the first game of the season. Aaron Rogers facing Andy Reid. I just have no interest in that. I'm sorry. Give us the Monday night game. Let us beat up on a bad team like the Patriots or Dolphins, whatever.

It's fine. J-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, it's Ben.

Host of The Fifth Hour with Ben Mallor. It would mean a lot to have you join us on our weekly auditory journey. You're asking what in God's name is the Fifth Hour? I'll tell you, it's a spinoff of the Ben Mather show, a cult hit overnights on FSR. Why should you listen? Picture if you will a world when we chat with captains of industry

in media, sports, and more every week, explore some amazing facts about human nature and more. Listen to the fifth hour with Ben Mather on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcast, 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's Superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the I-Hard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care which I'm saying.

Yep, that's me, Cliver Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, the reactions, my journey from basketball. to college football or my career in sports media. Well, somewhere along the way, this platform became bigger than I ever imagined. And now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfiltered conversations with some of your favorite athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. One week, I'll take you behind the scenes of the biggest moments in sports and entertainment,

and the next we'll talk about life, mental health, purpose, and even music. The Clifford Show isn't just a podcast. It's a space for honest conversations, stories that don't always get told, and for people who are chasing something bigger. So, if you've ever supported me or you're just chasing down a dream, this is right where you need to be. Listen to The Clifford Show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok.

Do you remember when Diana Ross double-tap Little Kim's boobs at the VMAs? Or when Kanye said that George Bush didn't like black people. I know what you're thinking. What the hell does George Bush got to do a little kill? Well, you can find out on the Look Back at It Podcast. I'm Sam J. And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick it here, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived it.

Including a recent episode with Mark Lamont Hill waxing all about crack in the 80s. To be clear, 84 is big to me, not just because of crack. I'm down to talk about crack on day, but just so y'all know. I mean, at this point, Mark, this is the second episode where we've discussed cracks. starting to see there's a through line. We also have AIDS on the table right now. Thank you finishing that sentence. I don't think there's a more important year for black people.

Really? Yeah. For me, it's one of the most important years for black people in American history. Listen to look back at it on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Tonight, the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show concludes on FS1 as the best from each group strut their stuff and hype up the crowd as we are set to crown a new champion in Best In Show. Catch the happy faces tonight at 70s turn on FS1. By the way, Thursday, the schedule is released.

Tomorrow there'll be some leaks. So Kansas City will open the NFL season. We know that on the first Thursday after Labor Day. Kansas City will open it probably with like a Cincinnati. That's what everybody's presuming. I believe week two, Sunday night, Mahomes, Aaron Rogers. So that can't be the first Sunday night. It'll be the second Sunday. But I think you're going to see Mahomes and Rogers. That'll be at New York. I think that's going to be very, very early in the

season. That's my guess, which is not good for the Jets, Jemak. You do not want to play Andy Reed in the first two or three weeks of the season. So I think, I think you're going to get a Rogers Mahomes matchup week two, week three. That would be my guess. Now, now, you know, maybe they put it on, maybe that's the Christmas game, one of the NFL Christmas games. That would be big. That would be better for the Jets because you'd get Mahomes in bad weather. Maybe you'd have a chance. Breeze Hall, the run game. Listen.

If you ran the schedule, wouldn't you put Mahomes and Rogers week two after my home? Well, I would ask a Jets fan, do you want to play on Christmas? And I'd say, no, I can't be locked in on an NFL game when it's Christmas Day. But if you were Roger Goodell, if you were Roger Goodell,

and you want the biggest ratings, you want to start in September. Remember, there's baseball playoffs. You want to steal the thunder in September from baseball playoffs. and college football, which started before you by a week. So the Thursday is the opener. That's going to be like Kansas City and, you know, Cincinnati.

And then you have your first weekend. And there'll be a big cowboy eagle or, you know, a cowboy nine or whatever the schedule says. You'll have some big games. But that second week and third week, you got baseball playoffs. And the NFL is hyper competitive. That's why they now have games on Christmas to usurp some of the momentum the NBA had. So what's the biggest TV market? in America. Let the audience know. New York. Okay. The Jets have home games this season against the Eagles,

massive TV market and Super Bowl team against the Chiefs, Patrick Mahomes, Super Bowl defending champs, and then of course the bills in New England. So you'd suspect probably three of those four will be national TV games. Sunday, Monday, or a holiday. So I'm guessing Mahomes is the first. Mahomes Rogers will be early in the season. That would be my guess. Because you wouldn't want great quarterbacks playing in crappy weather. Aaron Rogers visits Sean Payton and Russell Wilson in Denver. That's a big matchup.

The marquee quarterbacks. That's a tough matchup. You don't know what that offense is going to look like. Fortunately, the jets are loaded this year. So we're not, we have no fear of anybody. It's like bring them on. So Kansas City, Cincinnati is probably your late, you know, the post Labor Day Thursday opener.

I think Mahomes Rogers is going to be very close to. the beginning of the season. That's my guess. You don't want to put those two in a snow game and both those cities have bad weather. Everybody loves a snow game. Not when you have great quarterbacks. Put Tennessee in your snow games. Don't put them a homes and Rogers in a snow game. I don't want to see that. And by the way, I said earlier, you were talking about Devin Booker and I said if there were 10 players I could have in the playoffs, I put Booker like five. Booker's not a good defensive player. You know, Butler I put ahead of him is. Anthony Davis is, and I also don't think what he's doing is sustainable.

Yokic giving you his game every night or AD's defense or Steph's offense or Jimmy Butler, those are more sustainable. What Devin Booker now is doing, in nine playoff games, he's shooting 51% from three and 62% from the floor. Not only is that way above his career average, that's way above Michael Jordan. I don't think it's sustainable. So he had his best regular season ever shooting 49%. Now against better teams, he's shooting 62.

two. I can think two things at the same time. That's amazing and it's not sustainable. He's on a historic heater. I think it's amazing. But he is, of all the elite players left, he's the worst defensive player. Tatum's a better defender. Brown is. A.D. is obviously. Jimmy Butler is. LeBron can be in spurts. Booker's not a defensive player. He's just on an absolute historic heater. As far as the Knicks go, this is actually, they look, like in this series, what I predicted they would look like in the first series, which is they play hard, they have a defensive coach, a defensive culture, a defensive roster, and they'll have a very low offensive ceiling.

It's just young Cleveland got overwhelmed and Tibbs kind of put the screws to the Cavs offense. I think this is what the Knicks are. And so I would suggest to you, call the Warriors who have an extra shooter or two, call the Mavericks who may be able to make a move hardaway Kyrie Irving, what the Mabs need and the Warriors need is size and toughness and length and a little interior scoring. I think they have to move off Julius Randall. Nothing wrong with Julius Randall, but I understood why they signed him.

But Brunson's your offensive guy, you have to surround. There's got to be a wing score. Randall, once, Randall's an effort guy. Playoffs, you can't just be an effort guy. You've got to be a star. Randall's not a star. He's a number three, or in my opinion, a great number. four or an average three on a championship team.

So you've got to go get a score. You think it's crazy to say Wiggins, Jordan Poole, you think it's crazy. Golden State may be looking to move Wiggins. If he gives you two more dog games in this series, they may look at it and think we like him, but he's meek. Steph's getting older. We need a more alpha aggressive number one, two score. I can see Golden State absolutely moving off him.

Here's Julius Randall after that loss to the heat. what have they done maybe to kind of beat you at your own game almost? It's just maybe they want it more. I don't know. You know, that's been who we are all year. And we've got to find a way to step up and make those plays if we want to keep the season alive. Yeah, they don't want it more. They just, Miami's got more guys that can hit a shot.

So it's hard to get to 103 points for the next. they are struggling. But again, I can understand why they re-sign Randall. He rejuvenated the franchise pre-Jalen Brunson. I get it. Totally understand it. But I think you think I'm crazy on this. If Andrew Wiggins does not deliver for the next two games and the dynasty ends for the Warriors,

you can't pay everybody. You're going to pay staff. They're not going to get rid of Clay or Draymond. So I think you kind of look at Wiggins and think, you know what, we brought you in, we're paying you a lot. By the way, you think Wiggins. would be their number two offensive threat. And on many nights, their number one score, think it's crazy.

You're not going to get a Luca. You're not getting Anthony Davis. You're not getting Jimmy Butler. So you've got to get a flawed good score. Wiggins is a flawed good score. We've heard the phrase, it's not personal. It's business, right? I know it's tough the idea of parting with Clay or Draymond.

But if you've got to save money and get younger and get more offense, I think you've got to move on from Clay. Raymond is the high IQ. He's still a better defender. Clay cannot guard twos anymore. He can't. No, no, no. He can't stay in front of Austin Reeves.

You see, got outrun by Lonnie Walker? I'm on a pivotal play there in the fourth quarter. I'm saying the same thing last night. I think you've got to move off Clay. I think you've got to keep Jordan poor. I don't think it's crazy. I don't know if they will, but I don't think it's... You can't romanticize about this stuff.

New information's in the building. Change how you thought. That's what smart organizations do. You said Warriors are smart. Yeah. I mean, Clay Thompson was great. He was unbelievable. in game two. It's been awful since.

Awful. A total liability. But then is there issues in the locker room? Hey, you kept Jordan Pool and you got rid of Clay? You know what? I like guys in their prime. I like the most possible athletes in their prime. Another podcast from some SNL late night comedy guy. Not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smigel and friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman

helped 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 I-Hard 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 two. Listen to stuff to blow your mind on the iHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed human.