The Herd with Colin Cowherd - The Herd - Hour 3 - Jeff Benedict

Episode Date: April 24, 2023

Bestselling author Jeff Benedict joins Colin in studio to talk about his new book LeBron, covering the superstar’s life from his childhood in Akron all the way through his NBA career, becoming the NBA’s all-time leading scorer.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Listen to look back at it on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what you're saying. Yep, that's me, Clifford Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, my basketball and college football journey, or my career in sports media. Well, now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifers Show. This is a place for raw, unfiltered conversations with athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard,

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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 Hurd. Fox Sports Radio. As J. Mac well knows, I don't generally like sports movies, but I love sports books. Jeff Benedict sitting alongside us now is a New York Times bestselling author of 16 books, TV and film producer, executive producer on the HBO documentary Tiger, who he wrote with our friend Arman Catan. He's got a new book out, LeBron. I just finished it up.

There's so much depth and reporting here. So let's start with this. let's go back you really get a sense of now Tiger was combative when you tried to do the book Brady was over the top willing to LeBron's takeaway on you

writing a book you know when you go a mile deep on somebody what's been the reaction? I'm certainly not antagonistic at all I mean none of these players at this level have any they don't owe any journalist anything in terms of access or cooperation

and I didn't I never go in expecting a player to participate for a biography of a living person. That typically doesn't happen. But LeBron didn't do anything to obstruct the process, to make it difficult. I mean, it was, from my perspective, it was a pleasure to research and write. So the air movie just came out. Much of that is the story of Michael Jordan and the shoe deal. So LeBron signs a shoe deal early.

his idol was Michael Jordan. The losers on that were Adidas and Reebok. So we got a really behind-the-scenes look in the air movie at the pitch by a converse to Michael Jordan's mother and the losers in that. So let's go.

What did LeBron do? He chooses Nike. The losers are Reebok and Adidas. What did he say to them? So here's the thing, Colin, that's so great. I love the air movie. But what's so different in LeBron's cases, Sonny Vaccaro did not have a relationship with Michael Jordan before signing him. He built an

incredible relationship with LeBron James and Gloria James that started way before LeBron decided to go with Nike. I think the Sunny Vicaro story with LeBron is, it's an incredible epic American story about how they met. I mean, basically, Sonny had guys that were almost like runners that were, they were little scouts who were finding high school kids because they're funneling them to what was then the greatest basketball camp in the country, Sunny's ABCD camp. And when LeBron was a freshman, like that year after LeBron's freshman year, one of Sonny's guys, they meet at the final four, and he brings a VHS tape like a video cassette to show Sonny this kid that he's found in Akron named LeBron James. And so all the guys in the suite are standing around.

on the TV watching this videotape and Sonny comes in and sees these guys. It's like, what are you guys looking at? And they go, you know, one of the guys is his kid, you know, LeBron James, he's going to be like the next Jason kid or whatever. And Sonny's like, yeah, right. You know, he comes over. He's squinting and looking at the guy, looking at LeBron. And he's like, he can't see anything. It looks like a peanut. And it's just because it was shot so poorly, you know. And they're like, you got to invite him to your camp. And Sonny's like, I can't invite him in my camp. He's a ninth. grader. He's a freshman. Within two years, LeBron gets basically what amounts to a private audition

in the Bay Area. He flies out there to play in front of Sunny because Sunny wouldn't go to Akron. Sonny comes into the gym. They met beforehand in like the hotel cafe. It's a great meeting. When LeBron and Gloria meet Sonny and Pam Vicaro, there's an instant connection. They get along right away and then that day he plays in front of Sunny. And partway through the game, Sunny just walks out of the gym, doesn't say anything. People are thinking, oh no, this is a disaster. He gets in a cab, hails it to the airport, and partway there, his wife is asking him, like, why aren't you talking, saying anything? And Sonny says, I've never seen a player like that. I mean, that's a huge statement from the guy who signed Michael Jordan and then signed Kobe Bryant to major.

your sneaker deals. It sets up this great fight between the big three sneaker companies, which Nike ultimately wins. And I love it when Sonny, knowing he's going to lose, tells LeBron, get as much money as you can. It's just, it's great stuff. Let's go to LeBron's idol, Michael Jordan, the first time they meet. Where is it? So it's off-season. LeBron's just finished a sophomore year of high school. He's playing in an AAU tournament in Chicago. He's got Maverick Carter with him. And one of Michael's guys, keep in mind, Michael's in retirement at this point. He's not in the NBA.

One of Michael's guys approaches Maverick and LeBron during the AAU tournament, in between games, and invites them to basically take a ride and go to see Michael's private gym, hoops in Chicago. Yeah. They go. They see it. It's cool to go in. They see the weights that Michael uses. And the guy says to them, you guys should come back later this summer.

stay at my place, LeBron can work out of the gym for a few days. They have to ask their moms to get permission to go, which is telling a little bit about the character of LeBron and Maverick. What they were like is they're kids. And their moms are in their lives. This is a big deal. Their moms give them permission. They go back.

And later that summer, and they work out, and LeBron does. That chapter is called a different floor. Because at one point, LeBron is invited to get on the floor with players in the NBA, Jerry Stackhouse, Antoine Walker. These guys are big, long. Men. They're men. And when LeBron gets on the floor, it looks smaller, even though dimensionally it's not. And he plays that. He can't stop anybody on defense, but he can score. And the players all see that this... A sophomore. A sophomore can score against them. And he's a good passer. at the end of that day

they all leave and go home LeBron being LeBron stays behind cleans up the gym with the guy they're leaving to go home the next day LeBron has to be in high school for his first day of his junior year as he and Maverick are leaving Michael pulls up in the red sports car

and gets out and it's the moment it's like the kid meets the idol the idol meets the future and Michael invites him back inside he doesn't give LeBron any advice, but he gives him his cell phone number. And to me, it's like this is the moment where the future and the past. Michael doesn't give out his phone number. But he gives it to LeBron.

And the next day, LeBron is his first day of his junior high school. Think about that. He goes to school with that number in his pocket. Why this is fascinating is because if you fast forward about five, six months, LeBron is going to meet Grant Wall from Sports Illustrated in the locker room at the high school. He doesn't know Grant Wall, never seen him, never met him. Grant's not a big name yet at SI. He's got like 15 seconds to go up to LeBron, Total Stranger, and pitch him on cooperating with him on a feature story.

He wants to profile him in the magazine. And I interviewed Grant about this. It's a wonderful story. He didn't know how to do it. And he finally just, he knew that LeBron and Matt. Maverick and another friend, we're going to Cleveland that night to watch Michael, who's now on the Wizards, because he's come out of retirement, play the Cavaliers. He knows they have tickets and they're going. So he asks LeBron, would you let me drive you and your friends to the game? And LeBron's got

to decide whether to get in the car with this stranger. That chapter's called Get in the Car. And he, without calling his mom, without calling the coach over, he has no adult that he turns to for advice. Within 30 seconds, he decides to trust Grant enough to get in his car. And they drive to Cleveland. And they get there and that night, by now, six months after that initial meeting at Hoop's Drim, Jim, Michael and LeBron have a relationship that's very different. It's more mature. Like when Michael comes up to LeBron after the game in the tunnel, he says to him, you know, where's your mom? How's she doing? He knows the. family by now. The reason I think, and Grant Wall's jaw is just dropping. This kid is a junior

in high school right now, and he's carrying on with Michael Jordan like he knows him because he does. And I think it's phenomenal because they're now going to call him the chosen one the heir to Air Jordan in the magazine. It all started in a small private gym in Chicago. There's been a couple of low points for LeBron. One, I think, is a little overstated. The decision, which they did give millions of dollars to a boys and girls club, but be that as it may, it was clumsy. By the way, that's the first chapter of his book, Jeff Benedict's book. It's a fascinating chapter.

You get details. You'll not get anywhere else. I mean, just read chapter one, and that's the hook. You'll be hooked. You'll read the rest of the book. But what I want to go to is when LeBron left Cleveland, they're burning, they're, you know, the decision, they're burning jerseys. So he goes to Miami.

Dan Gilbert pens a really incendiary letter, which Dan Gilbert later regrets. It's all emotion. It's juvenile for a billionaire. But I want to get past Miami. LeBron is willing and capable of putting it all aside four years later when Dan Gilbert comes a mea culpa to meet LeBron to get him back to Cleveland. I always thought that was remarkable. I don't know if I could have done a bygones, be bygones. I'm not a grudge holder, but go back and read that letter.

It's almost remarkable. It went public. Take me to that decision by LeBron to meet him and then choose to go back home. So a couple things. First of all, that's a screed that wasn't written with a pen. It was written with a blowtorch. I mean, he burned every bridge that LeBron had to Cleveland. when he wrote and said those things,

and then to compound it later that night, he actually then talked to a rapport from the Associated Press and went even further than what he said in his letter. So by the time LeBron lands in Miami at two or three in the morning, he knows everything that Gilbert has said about him. I interviewed a number of NBA executives

who are still in the league today, so they didn't want to be named or quoted in the book. But what the consensus was, was they were shocked, not so much that Gilbert felt the way he felt, but that he actually voiced it. I couldn't believe it. That was the stunning thing, because LeBron still had so long to go in his career. Like, he's so, he's 25 at that point. And stayed in the east? Yes. You're going to have to go through LeBron. It was just remarkable. And then four years later, when LeBron decides to go back, by now his inner circle, Maverick, Rich Paul, these guys are a lot more.

sophisticated and grown up than they were even just four years earlier. They've learned a lot. Rich Paul does an incredible job here that he doesn't really get any credit for, but he was a navigator in this situation. And to LeBron's credit, everyone around him doesn't want him to go back to Cleveland. And they don't really understand why he's willing to go back. Maverick wasn't excited about it. LeBron is, this is where I think you see the LeBron that's now a fully formed man. And I don't, I mean that in multiple ways. Yes, as a player, but also as an adult, as a businessman, as a person who's capable of looking

at the long game and the long haul, which so few athletes really are able to do in the moment. Yeah. LeBron has always had a long-term view of his career and the decisions he makes. The investment decisions he made with Warren Buffett's guidance in the beginning were long-picture decisions. And he does it here. And when he agrees to pen an essay with Lee Jenkins from Sports Illustrated that says, who am I to hold a grudge?

That single sentence, you almost don't need to read the rest of that essay, even though it's a fantastic essay. well-penned, well-thought-out. But that single sentence that LeBron put his name to is, you just go, okay, the level of maturity that you're seeing here is just different. There isn't maturity like it in the NBA. Think about Pat Riley, who's finding out through a phone call that LeBron's not coming back.

Riley's furious. I mean, this isn't good news. it's like we were going to win a lot more championships. They were primed to do it. They were built to do it. Riley would have spent even more money to get more role players. They could have just kept rolling. And it didn't make sense to Riley or anybody else while LeBron was doing this.

He obviously wasn't motivated in that moment to catch Michael. He was driven by something else. Because if he just wanted to catch Michael and get six rings, we'll just stay in Miami. That's right. That's the easy path. Yes. It's all there. You're talking about going back to Cleveland, a team that stinks.

Yes. I'm not saying they were kind of good. They stunk. Yeah. This is not a good team. Yeah, Kyrie Irving was viewed as a bust. Couldn't stay healthy. Yeah.

He's going back there. But here was the difference. Now that he's won in Miami, this is like Tom Brady in 2007. After he's won three Super Bowls, why does Randy Moss go to New England? He goes to play with Tom. And LeBron does know.

When he goes to Cleveland, there's guys. like Kevin Love, who would never go to Cleveland, but he'd go to play with LeBron. He is a magnet for talent. He can get guys to go there, and he can take a guy like Kyrie Irving, and he can now be the statesman, the teacher, the guy with the young stars under his wing,

and he does all those things. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays at noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific on Fox Sports Radio, FS1, and the IHeart Radio app. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential.

Either way, the podcast's Superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the I-Hard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A win is a win. A win is a win.

I don't care what I'm saying. Yep, that's me, Clifford Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, the reactions, my journey from basketball to college football, 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. 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. I've always found it remarkable that if you're in the public spotlight, you could be a politician, you could be a talk show host, you could be a basketball player,

you're going to step in it. You know, LeBron, you know, I didn't take much of it. His comments on China, you know, for conservatives, that's just, you know, red meat. They're going to go after that. But by and large, if you look at LeBron's childhood, he has been, it's really a remarkable American story. that it's almost like LeBron didn't have the cohesive family, so he is so loyal to it.

What is it about his personality that he doesn't seem, there's no FOMO, there's no fear of missing out with him. It's, I mean, it's kind of unique, right? I think so. And when I was crafting the early chapters of the narrative, not later when he's in the NBA, my favorite part of the whole book is the origin story. It's writing the origin story because I kept trying to think of a comparison, a sports figure. Who do I compare him to? And I couldn't

come up with anybody. The person I thought of the most was actually Alexander Hamilton, you know, an orphan, an immigrant. Yeah. Who comes to America and ends up being George Washington's right-hand man. Like that is so sounds so fictional, so made up, so unbelievable. But that's how LeBron's origin story is. I'm not suggesting that being the greatest basketball player

in the world is on par with being a founding father. I'm not saying that. Right. I'm saying that if you look at the odds of LeBron James becoming one of the most respected, successful, known humans on earth, if you

start where he started, that doesn't happen. And to maintain it with very few missteps, virtually impossible. Yeah, virtually impossible. And I, the worst thing that people say about him is the way, not that he went to Miami, but the way he announced it. That's right. But, you know, the benefit of time, if you step back from that, it's now been 13 years. As a biographer, I look at that as actually, there was a lot of smart things that happened there. This is where he crosses over and really, becomes interesting to the whole world. Prior to that, he was a great basketball player that everyone who follows basketball was interested in.

After that, the whole world was interested in this guy. Also, after that, people started taking sides. Yes. Pro or anti-Lebron. And I've said this before. You know, we romanticize JFK or Reagan. How would they have dealt with social media? Everybody great is now polarizing.

Yes. There is no non-polarizing stars. It doesn't exist anymore. No, but LeBron made a decision, a conscious decision that Michael never made, and Kobe didn't make, which is he decided to step into the political arena. Yeah. And to me, this is, again, as a biographer, a lot more interesting than basketball, is that for the first seven years of his career as a cavalier, he was actually a lot like Michael in the sense that he did not step over the line into the political sphere. Basketball and shoes and fam.

Yeah, he stayed in the safe space when he went to the Beijing Olympics and he was under tremendous scrutiny. Stephen Spielberg and LeBron James were the two targets of the political activism campaigns to get them to speak out against China. Spielberg eventually stepped away. He was supposed to choreograph the opening ceremonies. The pressure got too much. He left. LeBron didn't leave, and then he got to Beijing, and he wouldn't speak out. Fast forward just a couple months. Barack Obama is running for president. It's the fall of 2008, and Jay-Z is doing three benefit concerts for Barack Obama, and the last one's in Cleveland. And LeBron decides to come. And he gets up on stage at the queue, a full house, and he tells everybody how important it is, uncles, aunts, moms, you got to vote.

And he tells the arena who he's voting for, Barack Obama. And he also made a political contribution to his campaign. First time he'd ever done those things. And once Obama's in the White House, for eight years, LeBron is visiting the White House, not just when they win championships. He builds a relationship with Barack Obama. He learns from him from modeling. And during those eight years, you see LeBron really grow fast.

in being able to deal with things like gun violence, racism. He is taking steps that are so affirmative that by the time Donald Trump comes around in 2016, he is a completely different person, way more. He's just so smart about how to deal with things. So when Trump is caught on tape saying these incredibly hideous things about women and how he treats him and what he gets away with, that things I can't even repeat on the air. Right.

And that tape gets released right before his debate with Hillary Clinton. And Trump tries to dismiss it by saying, oh, that's just locker room talk. That was his quote, locker room talk. LeBron is now the most visible athlete in the world. And he comes right out and says to the press, I have a mother-in-law. I have a wife. I have a mother.

I have a daughter. We don't talk that way in the locker room. He never mentions his name. That to me was one of the most powerful statements. And if you need any evidence that this guy had the potential to go into politics and be a leader, it was right then. You just knew if Trump gets elected, there's going to be a collision. Yeah. And by the way, he made a personal pivot.

Nothing would have seemed less likely than LeBron being front and center of politics seven years earlier. No. So great stuff. Jeff Benedict, New York Times bestselling author. The new book is LeBron covering his life, childhood, and Akron to becoming the NBA's all-time leading score. What a pleasure this has been. Thank you so much for stopping by. Thank you.

It's been great. Continued success. He's got the Tiger Woods book with Armand Cantean, the Dynasty Inside Story of Robert Craft and Brady. Go to Amazon. The book is called LeBron. Jay Mack, I'm going to take a break and come back with the news. It's the Herd. Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd.

weekdays at noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific. Hey, what's up, everybody? It's me, three-time Pro Bowl of LaVar Arrington, and I couldn't be more excited to announce a podcast called Up on Game. What is Up on Game, you ask? Along with my fellow Pro Bowler, T.J. Hushman Zata and Super Bowl champion. Yep, that's right. Plexico Burris. You can only name a show with that type of talent on it. Up on Game.

We're going to be sharing our real-life experiences loaded with Teachable, moments. Listen to Up On Game with me, LaVar Arrington, T.J. Hushmanzada, and Plexicoke Burris on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast from. 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 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 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 bowl your mind on the iHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

New movie out, Big George Foreman. In theaters this Thursday exclusively, get your tickets ready to PG-13, Big George Foreman. Should be fun. Great story. Olympic champ. Heavyweight champ, retired, came back. heavyweight champ again at 45. J-Mack with a news.

No, no, no, no, no. Turn on the news. This is the herd line news. It started with Russell Westbrook, who has been tremendous for the paper clips in this series, even though they're down 3-1. He's leading the team in points, assists, steals, and blocks. Yeah. Kevin Durant and Chris Paul said really nice things about Russ after game four.

People are going to always criticize when you successful and, you know, doing your thing for this. long. You know, somebody will always find something that they don't like about you. But Russ has been resilient in his whole life. He come to work, don't say much, just come hoops. So, you know, when he's retired, people are going to really tell the truth about how they feel about his game.

Right now is the fun thing to do is to make a choke out of Russ. But, you know, the way he's been playing is since he got with the clippers, show everybody who he really is. I feel like the only people to do that, too, is the people who don't know basketball. You know what I'm saying? And don't know what it's like to compete. I know for me, Russ is one of my closest friends. You know what I'm saying?

And so people to do that and talk crazy, probably wish they could be in that situation. Well, he's always been, he is productive. He can be situational alarming. Sometimes he doesn't play. You know, he plays with his hair on fire. He plays one way. But the way he does play, I think it's always been highly appreciated. by players because it's such a grind and he brings a hundred percent energy every night.

You know, he's a very hot and cold. I mean, he's like a golfer. You can get, you know, an eight and then a bogey, a double bogey, and then, you know, an eagle. Like, hold to hole. You don't know what you're getting. Game to game, half to half. But his energy is the best in the league. There are no off nights energy-wise in his entire career.

and by the way, when you play 82 games, you play sick, you play hurt. Westbrook's energy is through the roof. Yeah. He can drive you crazy, though. Not all that energy is positive energy. That's right. Because a lot of his negative doing silly stuff with the shots and the turnovers. Two things can be true about Russ.

And I know the media, we're not allowed to really do this now. Russ tries as hard as anybody in the league. Easily. He is running around. Now, tries, though. He don't set screens. He doesn't move off the ball. And he's not always a winning player.

When he was in Washington, he did this. He got him to the playoffs. They got dusted. They're down 3-1 now to the suns. They're being competitive. He's a productive player, but I would say with Westbrook, there's a way he has to play. He's not an overly layered player.

It is high energy, beat you to the basket. It doesn't have a lot of nuance. You know, he's kind of like, you hear this about quarterback sometime, is everything's a fastball. Like, that was one of the knocks on Hendon Hooker, I've heard this about the kid from Tennessee. Everything's a fastball.

Screen pass. seem, everything's a fastball. He doesn't play with a lot of layers. Whether that's true or not, that's what the scouts are saying. Westbrook doesn't have a lot of layers. It's kind of one way, 100 miles an hour. But you know what? In the regular season, when people are playing back-to-backs,

that's highly successful. Let's be realistic. They are missing Kauai and Paul George, and people will use that to defend Russ. If Kauai and Paul George were there, I don't know that Russ would be doing any of this stuff, because you'd have to pull him off the court. That's right.

He's a non-shooter. Right. So I think when he went to the Lakers, and I've never been a huge fan of his game, I said I like the move because LeBron and AD were giving you about 60 games. I'm like, he'll give you 26 a night. He'll give you 38 minutes and he plays his arse off. He's always been a high volume. He's got the ball a lot.

He shoots a lot. There's turnovers. He's just a lot. But I think in this series, they've needed a lot to remain competitive and he's delivered it. So let's spin it forward. what happens to Russ this offseason? Now, let's just say Paul, George, and Kauai come back to the Clippers. Are the Clippers bringing Russ back?

Because I don't know how well he fits with them. And again, you look around the league, like, what are you want to put him on Charlotte and they're going to win like 40 games and losing the first round? Like, I don't know. He can't be like the third star on our team. And you can make the argument that he has elevated his value over the last three or four games. That somebody will, I mean, he's really had, what's the narrative this morning on Russ? He's been fantastic.

Now you can move him. There'll be a taker, believe me. Okay. Next up, Celtics. Didn't talk about their win yesterday over the Hawks. My guy, Jason Tatum, I have to open by telling people. I don't like any Boston teams, but I love Jason Tatum. Tatum and Brown each scored 31 points.

And they combined for the team's final 16. Want a nice shootout with the Hawks. Trey Young had a good game. I'm sure you will take a jab at him here. Some bad news for the Hawks, though. Dejanta Murray made. contact with a ref after the game. I saw that. She seemed very upset. What was he doing?

Probably trying to get suspended for the next game. That was like, kid, you can't do that. I haven't seen an update here in the last five minutes, but either way, they're in trouble in this year. It's just a bad matchup. I was talking with Rick Buecker before, like during the break. I think the Hawks have something. This is just a terrible matchup against Boston. Well, a lot of teams are a bad matchup because the Celtics take away a lot of your offensive options. I mean, we're seeing what the Knicks are doing to Cleveland. I mean, Boston a veteran,

veteran successful playoff series winning defense. So Boston discombobulates a lot of people. Now, let's remember. Trey Young went to New York a couple years ago in the playoffs and just eviscerated the Knicks. Now, they didn't have Brunson, but nevertheless.

Final story, Sixers got to sweep without Joelle and Bede. He missed game four. Something happened in game three. I posted a video on social media. Somebody strung together all the times just Joel and B fell down in that game. Yeah, he falls a lot.

A lot. I mean, is it acting? Is it getting pushed? the net being that physical? Is he, is he like breaking down here late in the season? Big guys that fall a lot get hurt a lot. Big Tree fall hard. Yeah.

Like Doc Rivers is now saying, we don't know if he's going to be ready for the first start of the next round. I just don't know. I would say right now, it's probably the same percentage that's it before the game. Probably 50% at best. Not great. So Celtics in four? But again, this has always been Ambide's knock.

He's a rem. On his best nights, he looks like the best player in the world. But he's hurt a lot, and these seasons are long. Get hurt early, you get hurt late. Like Anthony Davis right now has been remarkable. If I told you, he's going to play 20 more games and not get hurt. You're going to take that bet. And I mean, I'm not.

Lakers need to win tonight. You never know what's going to have a baby. No, you want to get out of this series as fast as you can. J-Mack with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The Hurd. News. All right. Fun show today. Jeff Benedict. The book is LeBron. Kind of a crazy media day. We haven't

talked about that. You can go to your social media after our show. A lot of crazy things happening in the media. Should I just give the one of those signals? Let's let somebody else cover it, report it and talk about it. There's a lot of stuff. Let's get back to Aaron Rogers and the Jets, coward. So Lakers tonight. Lakers tonight. That's my lead tomorrow. Is this a multiple drink night for you watching the Lakers? I have to watch it with clear eyes. Total clarity night.

I had a good Saturday night party with my wife. We had a good time. Nice to hear. Yeah. You know, you have to celebrate life, and I did over vodka, ice, and rocks, and it was good. All right. We'll see you tomorrow. Another podcast from some SNL late-night comedy guy, not quite.

Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, S&L's Mikey Day and head writer Streeter Seidel help an a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter.

Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and friends on the I-Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what I'm saying. Yep, that's me. Clifford Taylor the 4th.

You might have seen the skits, my basketball and college football journey, or my career in sports media. Well, now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfilled conversations with athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. So let's get to it. Listen to The Clifford Show on the IHeard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok.

On the Look Back at a podcast. From 1979, that was a big moment for me. 84's big to me. I'm Sam J. Alex English. Each episode, we pick a year, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived it with our friends, fellow comedians, and favorite authors. Like Mark Lamont Hill on the 80s. It was a wild year. I don't think there's a more important year for black people.

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