The Herd with Colin Cowherd - THE HERD - Hour 3 – Too many draft mistakes made by the Lakers? Is Caleb Downs a fit for the Giants?

Episode Date: February 16, 2026

NBA analyst Jason Timpf talks to Colin about the evolution of the NBA Draft with growth from international talent and how the G League has changed the dynamics, and discussing all the draft misses committed by the Lakers. John Harbaugh talks about the Giants possibly taking Caleb Downs in the NFL Draft, and Colin discusses some of his own draft crushes early into the process. The Eagles are emerging as a top team to land Raiders defensive end Maxx Crosby.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human. Hey guys, it's us. The Jonas Brothers. I'm Joe. I'm Kevin. And I'm Nick. And guess what? We created our own podcast called, Hey Jonas.

We invented a podcast? Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to it. We're the first people to do podcasts. We get to ask other people questions because we're sick and tired of being asked questions. Well, sick and tired is a strong way to put it. But, you know, tired and sick. Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you.

you get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it. 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 ice. Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Will Ferrell's Big Money Players and IHeart Podcasts presents soccer moms. So I'm Leanne. Yeah. This is my best friend, Janet. Hey. And we have been joined at the hips since high school. Absolutely. A redacted amount of years later, we're still joined at the hip.

Just a little bit bigger hips. This is a podcast. We're recording it as we tailgate our youth soccer games in the back of my Honda Odyssey. With all the snacks and drinks. Why did you get hard seltzer instead of beer? Oh, they had a bogo. Well, then you got them. Listen to soccer moms on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

What's up, fam? It's Isaiah Thomas. And I'm C.J. Toledano. It's our favorite time of the year on our podcast point game, the playoffs. We're digging into the biggest surprises of the season. And I'm looking back on some of my greatest playoff moments. If we didn't talk ever again, I was funny. You just understood. That's how personal it got.

Wow. Then after that game seven, Marquis' keep coming to him. He's like, you know I love you, dog. You know, it's all love. This was just playoffs. This was just basketball. basketball. So listen to Point Game 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 on Fox Sports

Radio in noon to 3 Eastern, 9 a.m. to noon Pacific. Find your local station for the herd at Fox Sports Radio.com or stream us live every day on the IHeart Radio app by searching Fox Sports Radio or FSR. Thanks for listening to the Heard podcast. Well, Jason Tim's been former college basketball. player has been with me at the volume for years and years and covered the NBA for a long time, podcaster, real thinking man's version of basketball. And I feel like today we're celebrating not only FS1, but the volume. I got middle comp doing my updates. I got Jason Tenth joining us live, and he is joining us live.

So, Jason, I've been on something, and for a couple years where pre-NIL, and I told Adam Silver this when he was on the show, I said, you guys kind of demonized college basketball. not only is it good for the kids in terms of marketing. I got to watch Zion at Duke or Cooper Flagg. Kids want to buy their shoes. They watch them. And nobody's watching the G League. I said, but I think the coaching's better in college basketball.

It's harder. And this past draft, top 11 guys were all college guys. That had not been the case for a long time. And by the way, this past draft appears to be a great one because it's a really good draft. you have some information when basketball pre-NIL sort of veered into hey let's get the guys paid let's go g league well what did you uncover going back 10 to 12 drafts when the g league was where a lot of young guys were going out of high school yeah it's fascinating because there's been this obvious difference in the top end talent in the NBA between the very best players

internationally versus from america and you see kd and and Stefan LeBron kind of pulling a lot of weight. And thankfully in the last couple years, we've had some good ones. Anthony Edwards, Kate Cunningham was another one of those guys who was really competing last night. Cooper Flagg looks like a hit. Concanipple looks like a hit. But we had like a 10-year stretch there. This is crazy.

Ben Simmons, number one overall pick. Zion Williamson, number one overall pick. Andrew Wiggins, number one overall pick. Carl Anthony Towns, Markle Fultz, D'Andre Aiton, even John Morant, who's the one guy I listed, who was a number two pick, every single one of those guys were huge pedigree, huge potential guys who all to varying degrees underachieved. And I'd argue six of those seven have been straight up busts. And at a certain point, you can't just consider that to be coincidence.

There has to be something developmentally taking place. And I think it's a combination to several factors. There are some basic developmental things where some of these guys just aren't putting in the work. Like I'm sorry, John Morant. John Morant has straight up become a worst jump shooter. every single season over the last four or five seasons. He's just not putting in the work. There are guys that haven't developed their skill sets.

There are guys that haven't taken care of their bodies like Zion Williamson, for example. There are so many different things getting lost there. A big part of it, too, I think there's been a race to get that first payday, but a lack of the competitive nature that drives you. Like, you know what made the All-Star game good last night? When you're in a situation like that where there's nothing you're playing for, you're not trying to achieve some team goal. You're not playing for money.

You're not trying to earn your coaches trust in the rotation. The only thing that drives you is that competitive force of will. And thankfully, we have some of these younger guys like Aunt, like Kay, like Wembe, that are driving that because we had a decade there where the American players just lacked that force of will to become the best versions of themselves. Yeah. I mean, and I also think the better the college sport is feeding the pro, sport, the better it is for the sport. Because I think college coaching, baseball, it could be anything.

Northeast hockey. I think college coaching is really good. The, you know, let's talk, you, the tanking thing is hard because I said this earlier. There used to be in the David Stern NBA, you could draft and develop, you could acquire, you could trade for it. There were a lot of ways to go from unwatchable and bad to good. It may take a couple years, but there were a lot of avenues. Well, Adam Silver's NBA is it's a draft and development league. It's harder to acquire and trade for. Well, so a lot of these smart GMs in San Antonio and Detroit and now Utah are like, well, this is the pathway to get better and we're bad.

And so we're going to tank. And even Adam Silver's like, I don't really have an answer for it. And I guess my whole point on this has been I'm not necessarily pro tanking, Jason, but the cap is hard. For a long time, it was like, okay, Joe Laker will pay a tax, oh whatever, we'll overspin. You can't really do that now.

So is there a solution to the tanking? Because Adam Silver, it seems like the pathway, San Antonio, Detroit, Utah to go from bad to great. Not when there's prospects like this, frankly. You know, like in the same reason that will drive the top five or six teams in the league to do everything to get the Larry O'Brien trophy. When you have a Darren Peterson, when you have an A.J. DeBonsa, when you have players that look that tantalizing, you're just going to have guys do everything they can to try to drop.

And, you know, I hate, you know, I hate when the conversation solely focuses on tanking. Because even when you look at San Antonio, even when you look at Oklahoma City, it goes deeper than the tanking. They also just organizationally do an amazing job on the margins. They seem to find discounted players later in the draft that are more talented. They have, you know, coaching consistency in a basketball culture. Like, there are a lot of teams in the league that have done a lot of tanking that haven't been able to accomplish anything. So I think that's an important kind of difference to point out. But the reality is, is there isn't a good solution.

Like, if you abolish the draft, you're going to have every agency and, you know, every single sponsor try to pressure and drive these guys towards big markets. I don't think that necessarily would be good for the competitive balance in the league. they've tried flattening the odds. You could flatten them all the way. That's probably what I would do. I would just have every single team that misses the playoffs have the exact same odds. You'd end up with some shenanigans surrounding the playing

like in that 7 to 10 range. You'd have some teams do some tanking. But at least the teams in the bottom of the league would be incentivized to build strong basketball culture and play well. But the reality is like Adam Silver catches a lot of crap for what's happened in the last few years. But at least he's trying.

And frankly, I am yet to hear a solution for the tanking situation that really would work. So your top five NBA title contenders is Oklahoma City, Denver, Cleveland, the Timberwolves, and the Spurs. I may have the Spurs a little higher, but they're still young in spots. What's interesting about this group is you don't have the Knicks who last year, when Kat and Brunson are on the floor, there is some defensive deficiencies. But let's talk, let's talk a team you don't have in the Knicks because I do, I mean, I like their roster. I didn't think they should have changed coaches. Mike Brown's fine.

He's been around the block. What is it with the Knicks you don't like? So you know what's weird, Colin? I actually do like the Knicks more than I liked them last year. Like their core players are better. I think Josh Hart, Mikhail Bridges and OG and Ninobe are both having better versions of previous seasons. I think Jalen Brunson's the best version he's been. They're a little deeper.

Mike Brown has them playing with more of an emphasis towards dribble penetration early in possession. So they're generating more catch and shoot three. reason they ever had, which has been good for their offense. There's a lot of strengths there. They've had a higher defensive ceiling this year, but it comes down to two things. One, the rest of the league has also gotten better, which makes it really difficult to kind of get super enthusiastic. And then basically what you saw with Carl Anthony Towns last night is the biggest thing that stands in the way of me believing in this team. There is a huge difference between between being a physically limited defender and a mistake making defender. A mistake making

defender cannot be planned for, it can't be coached around. Him twice yesterday, leaving a shooter when he should have emphasized the fact that the defense needed to take away the three cost his team a game. There were so many examples in the Pacer series last year of him like crashing off the top of the key and letting Pascal Seacom leak out for dunks because he doesn't understand transition defense principles. He's just a very sloppy mistake prone defender and you can't make mistakes when the margins are that small in the NBA playoffs.

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and the Ben Mallor show Fox Sports Radio on YouTube subscribe, hit that thumbs up icon and comment away Hey it's us to Jonas Brothers and guess what we have some big news. What's the news? Huge news. We created our own podcast called Hey Jonas

We invented a podcast? Well we didn't invent it We just contributed to it. We're the first people to do podcasts. Pretty, yeah pretty wide range of podcasts throughout there. But this one's extra special. So how do we actually come up with a name Hey Jonas, guys. I honestly don't remember. I think it was on a call about what we should call it.

We were thinking I'm originally calling it one of the early names of our band. Before Jonas Brothers was... This is how you guys remember it going down? Yes. I have a very different memory of this. We were talking about a thing, a bit for the podcast, where people could call in and say, hey, Jonas. And then I wrote down on my little notepad, Hey Jonas,

and offered it up as a potential title for the podcast. But thanks for remembering that, guys. Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it. 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. What's up, fam? It's Isaiah Thomas. And I'm C.J. Toledano, and our podcast Point Game is about defying the odds. Like LeBron heading into the playoffs without Luca and Austin Reed.

And finding ways to win no matter what. He's the smartest player to ever play the game. His IQ is at a level that we've never seen before. And he knows without Luca and Austin Reeves. I got to manipulate the game. We get a player's perspective on the challenges of the playoffs. I think Joker's going to be exhausted this series because when they don't have Rudy in the lineup,

he has to really guard guys like Nasree. He has to guard Julius Randall. And then he has to give us everything he gives us on the night-to-night basis on offense. And when IT's friends stop by, like Quentin Richardson, we dive into some playoff history too. Steve Nash would get that thing. That man, hell get the flying.

He running up the court, licking his fingers, why he got the ball like, after you go through a training camp with that, Isaiah, you figure it out real quick. Get your ass up and down the court, and you're going to get the ball. So listen to Point Game on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Here's something that should not be as complicated as it is. Getting a racist statue removed. And here's something that should be a whole lot easier than it is. Getting a new one put up in its place.

As long as there's a politics of race in America, there's going to be a popular. politics of remembering the Civil War. To get to school, I had to go down Robert Lee Boulevard. Get to the grocery store, I had to go down Jefferson Davis Parkway. If you're an historian and you leave out half of what the history is, you're not doing your job. I'm Akila Hughes, and Rebel Spirit Season 2 goes deep on both of those things. The fights, the politics, the people who won, and my personal campaign to add something to the Kentucky State House that's actually worth the wall space. We are more than our bodies.

We contain essence. We contain Spirit. How do you represent that? They are just fueling a fire that is really catching. You'll see what I mean. Listen to Rebel Spirit Season 2 on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Keith Giamonka seemed like a mild-mannered suburban dad,

but secretly, he became someone else, a master of disguise who went on a crime spree. At the time, did it seem like a crazy idea? It seemed very crazy, but I felt so desperate that I felt it was the quickest, easiest way out. Did you allow yourself to think about how it could go wrong and what that might look like? No, I didn't want to manifest that. I was trying to manifest success. Every family has its secrets. But what happens when you discover that your dad has been living a double life? that is not the look of an innocent man.

This is going to change my life and my family dynamic forever because everything that had existed prior in my reality is now untrue. Listen to Deep Cover the Family Man on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I want to talk Lakers because you've always had, I mean, that's how I found you at the volume. And a lot of your audience is you were a Laker podcast. I've said before is that it's an uneven franchise and Rob Polinka and it's a three and

D league and they don't have enough threes or D's. And it's like every player in the roster is more of an offensive leaning guy. And I also believe like Steph Curry, if your best offender, D. Wade in his prime, Tim Duncan, Kobe is a committed defensive player that it's easier to build a defensive culture. If they're not, Steph Curry had limitations physically, then you have to build around them. So to me, and I think Rob Polenka, it's just an offensive, everybody's offense first. Austin, LeBron at this point, Luca, DeAndre Aiton, I guess Jared Vanderbilt has some dexterity. He can, you know, switchable stuff.

But my take, is there a quick solve with the Lakers? And quick, I mean, with the new ownership group, two years. Is there a quick solve? I think they could do it in two years, but they would have to hit. on just about every decision they've made. Because Colin, you know, for all the focus on the top of the roster, and I don't want to sit there and pretend it's perfect. There's some overlap between LeBron and Luca.

Obviously, all three of those dudes have their defensive concerns at this point. But the truth of the matter is their star power is why they're 33 and 21. The reason why they've won as many clutch games as they had, the reason why they've been afloat in the standings is because even though one of those dudes has been hurt all season, the other two have been great. The biggest problem is this roster is utterly devoid of jump shooting talent, in athleticism down the roster. They are 25th in catch and shoot three point percentage on a team that's going to have a lot of guys being thrown at Luca,

thrown at LeBron, thrown at Austin. You got to have guys that can hit catch and shoot the reason they don't. And they're 23rd in defensive rating. And I think where this has really started to mount up on Rob Polinka is the misses. There have just been too many misses, draft misses, like wasting first round picks on Jalen Hood, Chafino and Dalton Connect and getting nothing out of those guys. can't even play them or they're out of the league. Free agent misses.

Jordan Goodwin was like a really important player for them last year. They let him walk because they didn't want to spend a second round pick to clear a roster spot. So they let him walk. Now he's killing it for the Phoenix Suns this year. Letting Alex Crusoe walk, botching their mid-level exception choices every year on Kendrick Nunn and on Gabe Vincent. Like nobody's perfect on this stuff, Colin.

It's hard. But no one's been as dreadfully bad on the margins on every single decision, the way that Rob Polinka has, and that just creates a massive talent disadvantage down the roster. Call it they need three new starters. LeBron's going to be leaving. You need three new starters and they need to build out a bench. They have nobody on the roster who is both a good defender and a good catch and shoot player, literally not a single one. They are at such a huge disadvantage in this department.

Their only shot at upsetting anybody this year is just all three of their stars are healthy and hit some crazy top gear for two weeks. But that's really hard to win four playoff rounds. and then LeBron will be gone and then you won't have the same top end talent. They got a long way to go. So to the warriors who have fallen in love with keeping Steph comfortable. We'll wrap it here. The Kaminga story, again, kind of a G-League Ignite, raw athletic,

never developed a great shot, not a good rebounder. A little hot and cold down low. There were moments, his length and athletic ability was good, but I didn't feel he was consistent down low. You would know more about that than me. but my take on the Warriors is for years I thought what a great organization then there's the Kaminga mess who do we blame for that is it is it is it Kers system is too curry favorable is it Kaminga didn't develop like it was an ugly mess they really wanted it to work the longer he was

there the uglier it got who's to blame on that I blame the front office and Joe Laker and it's kind of easy for me the thing with Steph Curry say what you want about the age and it does get complicated now. You waiting as long as you have. Steph next year, like let's say you make a move for Janus this summer. Steph turns 39 next March. Like, the time frame is now is now just about over. But the point is, is he was worth investing in during these years. The hallmark of elite NBA offense is a 120 offensive rating, meaning you score 120 points per 100 possessions. Last year when Steph was on the floor, despite the inadequate offensive talent around him, 120 offensive rating. This year, 119.5.5.

half. Why? Because Steph still to this day, just running around in circles, being the shooting threat that he is, is guaranteed to generate you a bunch of good shots. And that is why he was worth investing in. Do you remember in that 2022 finals when they were playing Boston? Yeah. Boston went up to one. And you and I were covering that series. And we were talking about how Boston looked a little more talented. Like there was a real talent advantage. Steph goes nuclear in game four, pulls it out. Lake of gets to look like a genius for not trading his young players. Following seasons, it became pretty clear that they needed a talent upgrade. And the main year I look at is that 23, 24 season, when both Pascal Seacom and O'GN and O'O became available.

And the Warriors could have made a move on one of those guys with Kaminga and some draft compensation. They could have won those bidding wars. They could have made that upgrade and competed for a championship. But Joe, like I looked at Kaminga and he saw a star. And this is one of the most frequent issues that you see, the tantalizing potential over. the realistic outcomes that you have in front of you. And they always towed that line and tried to play both eras. And the future era ended up being nothing.

And now the current era looks like it's running out of time. I just blame the front office for not basically investing in Steph and believing too much in this young talent. Well, you got a sample of how hard he works. His name is Jason Timp. Follow him at the volume. It's great. But he's seeing you as always.

We will talk now much more frequently over the next three months. And nice job. Looking forward to it, man. Hoops tonight is the podcast. That guy's a hustler. Listen, he is a Laker savant. He just kind of took apart limb by limb. Rob Polenka, they just made too many mistakes.

Now, in fairness, the Dodgers ownership group has got deep pockets, and a lot of the money the Lakers should spend is in the front office. You go look at the, much like basketball, baseball is international. It's very complex. very sophisticated. The Dodgers just don't miss a lot. Now, Andrew Friedman is as sharp as any GM in the sport, but they just don't miss a lot. The Lakers got very friends and family-oriented.

They need more eyes. They need more people. Outsiders. Albert Breer, Jason, Temp, Colin Wright-Rong, good show today. Take a break. Live in Chicago. Heardline News with John Middlough around the corner. It's the hurt.

Be sure to catch live editions of the herd. weekdays at noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific. Hey, it's us, the Jonas Brothers, and guess what? We have some big news. What's the news, new? Huge news. We created our own podcast called, Hey Jonas. We invented a podcast?

Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to a podcast. Pretty, yeah, pretty wide range of podcasts throughout there. But this one's extra special. So how do we actually come up with a name, Hey Jonas, guys? I honestly don't remember. I think it was on a call about what we should call it. And, well, we were thinking I'm originally calling it one of the early names of our band before Jonas Brothers.

This is how you guys remember it going down? Yes. I have a very different memory of this. We were talking about a thing, a bit for the podcast, people could call in and say, hey, Jonas. And then I wrote down on my little notepad, Hey Jonas, and offered it up as a potential title for the podcast. But thanks for remembering that, guys. Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it.

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. What's up, fam? It's Isaiah Thomas. And I'm C.J. Toledano, and our podcast Point Game is about defying the odds. Like LeBron heading into the playoffs without Luca and Austin Reed. And finding ways to win no matter what.

He's the smartest player to ever play the game. His IQ is at a level that we've never seen before. And he knows without Luca and Austin Reeves, I got to manipulate the game. We get a player's perspective on the challenges of the playoffs. I think Joker's going to be exhausted this series because when they don't have Rudy in the lineup, he has to really guard guys like Nas Reid. He has to guard Julius Randall. And then he has to give us everything he gives us

on the night-to-night basis on offense. And when IT's friends stop by, like Quentin Richardson, we dive into some playoff history too. Steve Nash would get that thing. That man, hell get to fly. He running up the court, licking his fingers while he got the ball, like, after you go through a training camp with that, I say,

you figure it out, real. quick. Get your ass up and down the court, and you're going to get the ball. So listen to Point Game on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Keith Gianmanca seemed like a mild-mannered suburban dad, but secretly, he became someone else, a master of disguise who went on a crime spree. At the time, did it seem like a crazy idea?

It seemed very crazy, but I felt so desperate. that I felt it was the quickest, easiest way out. Did you allow yourself to think about how it could go wrong on what that might look like? No. I didn't want to manifest that. I was trying to manifest success. Every family has its secrets.

But what happens when you discover that your dad has been living a double life? That is not the look of an innocent man. This is going to change my life and my family dynamic forever, because everything that had existed prior in my reality is now untrue. Listen to Deep Cover the Family Man on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Here's something that should not be as complicated as it is, getting a racist statue removed. And here's something that should be a whole lot easier than it is, getting a new one put up in its place.

As long as there's a politics of race in America, there's going to be a politics of race in America. There's going to be a politics of remembering the Civil War. To get to school, I had to go down Robert Lee Boulevard. Get to the grocery store, I had to go down Jefferson Davis Parkway. If you're an historian and you leave out half of what the history is, you're not doing your job. I'm Akila Hughes, and Rebel Spirit Season 2 goes deep on both of those things. The fights, the politics, the people who won, and my personal campaign to add something to the Kentucky State House that's actually worth the wall space.

we are more than our bodies. We contain essence. We contain spirit. How do you represent that? They are just fueling a fire that is really catching. You'll see what I mean. Listen to Rebel Spirit Season 2 on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

All right, welcome back. It's been a fun show today. When Adam Silver's coming out and he's like, I don't know what to do with tanking. I mean, baseball felt like it had seven things it had to correct a few years ago and Theo Epstein and Rob Manfred like corrected them and they've all hit. You know what I've said about the NBA. I don't tanking is the only way to go from awful to good. So I guess I'm pro tanking because you've made it so hard to, you know, it used to be a,

you know, it's like college football has become administrative. You know, you buy players now. The NBA has become draft and developed. That's the only way to go from bad to good. In college football, Indiana went from irrelevant to a national title in two years, because they wrote checks. It's transactional. It's administrative. So based on a CBA in pro sports, that will dictate how you go from bad to great or how many players you can keep. I think as the world's become more distracted, dynasties in hockey, basketball, and baseball makes sense. That's the one thing that you watch now is a villain in baseball. Jeff Passen wrote about this last week. He was right is that football is different. College football, pro football, it's different. It's one game a week.

World Cup Olympics every four years. You know, auto racing, you've got your Indy 500, you got your big standalone events. But in baseball, basketball, and hockey, you have these extended regular seasons. The way to make it work in a distracted country with more platforms and streaming and TikTok is dynasties, somebody to hate. Nobody hates anybody in the NBA. The Lakers aren't any good, the Celtics without Tatum. Even when the Celtics won, they didn't really move the beaners.

they weren't hateable. You know, the Larry Byrd, McCale, fighting Dr. Jay and Lakers and the pistons and tackling guys. You know, you had a love-hate relationship with half the league. Here's John Middlough with the news. No, no, no, no, no. Turn on the news. This is the herd line news. I don't know if you're aware, Colin, but the NFL drafts only a little over two months away. Yeah. And the New York Giants, they have the fifth overall pick. And their news, coach John Harbaugh gave some thoughts on potentially selecting star safety, Caleb Downs. We favor Hall of Fame safety.

So if we have a chance to draft a potential future Hall of Fame safety in Caleb Downs, that would be just fine with me. We'll take the best player. You know, when you draft that high, you take the best player. It's not a need pick. It's the best player pick because you're going for the guy that's going to be that kind of a player. You're talking about a guy that you would like to see someday.

wearing a gold jacket if possible. That's what the goal is with that pick. That guy would be just fine with me. I'd take him in a second. Yeah, it's, I think the top, John, I don't know about rounds two, three, four, five. I think there's a lot of good players up. I mean, there's 15, 16, 17 guy. I'm seeing Lem and the receiver for USC at 12, 13, 14,

and that guy feels like an automatic starter, 75 catch guy. There's a couple of edge rushers. I mean, that Miami guy, Ruben Bain, people don't have him top seven or eight. And I'm like, I watched a lot of Miami games. He was unblockable. The kid for Texas Tech, the edge rusher, Bailey, David Bailey, he was unblockable. I think there's a lot of elite players in the top 15. I think one issue is you could argue two of the best players, Jeremiah Love and Caleb Downs, don't play premium positions.

Right. You know, so if Caleb Downs was a defensive lineman, he'd probably be the best. number two overall pick because he is arguably the best player in this draft not playing defensive line or quarterback. But, you know, I think the rule of thumb is you draft safeties later. The problem, if you're John Harbaugh, you go, well, when I got to the Ravens, they had a guy named Ed Reed. He's in the Hall of Fame. And then we drafted a guy named Kyle Hamilton, who probably one day will be in the Hall of Fame. And he goes, I view that position as a premium because I've seen it firsthand. Yeah. And I also think, John, there is an acceleration of the value of

I mean Worry in Seattle has been big. I think there's a handful. Kyle Hamilton's another. The way defense has changed in the NFL, it does feel like safety 10 years ago wasn't necessarily premium unless you had an Ed Reed. There's a lot of elite safeties right now in this sport that matter. But I think, you know, personnel people would say even Worry, second round pick. When you watch the Broncos, Hufunga, later pick.

You can find those guys who are stars at that position later where you cannot. If you're the Giants, that offensive line, Collins, has been an issue for a while. That's where I would lead. Speaking of linemen, a lot of rumblings this offseason about Max Crosby. Yeah. And it feels like his time with the Raiders might be coming to an end. According to Mike Garifolo, he expects a trade not only to happen, but when he does, he puts the Eagles among one of the top three teams with the opportunity to pull this off.

What and where do you think Max Crosby will be playing this upcoming season? It feels like if Buffalo could make it work, they don't have a pro bowler on their defense. Buffalo, I don't know if Kansas City could make it work. I feel like there's two or three really elite teams where he can be kind of a, I think Baltimore is another team that could use a consistent edge guy. I mean, I know the teams that are good that don't need him, but I think. How about your bears? I mean, the bears.

Again, Caleb Williams, rookie contract. John, I think that's as good an argument as any. I mean, the bears have Montez sweat. And I did think the bears, I think they need to draft. They need to get more athletic at linebacker. I think they need an edge rusher. Why not go in on Max Crosby? You got a couple of years left on Caleb's rookie contract.

I think he makes the Bears in a top four Super Bowl discussion. I would imagine that the, if the Raiders do, you know, pull the trigger and trade them, they're going to send them to the NFC. You know, the Chiefs, they would never probably trade, even though the Chiefs would be very interested. You know, the bills, now granted, they're not on the same timeline, but you look at the Bears. You know Howie Roseman. I mean, the 49ers used to be, you know, rivals because of, you know, geographical circumstances, but now they're gone in Vegas, not as much.

Tom Brady's in charge. The Lions would be a team. I think a lot of NFs, what about your Rams? They have the 13th overall pick. So they have a lot of draft capital because they also have their own pick. So they, listen, I would say, well, they don't necessarily need a defensive lineman. But he is, John, he is on a short list of the most respected players by GMs in the league. If you took that quarterback and you ask GMs, give me 10 guys you'd love to have in your roster, regardless of cost.

His ability to play hard in a bad culture for multiple coaches. at the highest level. Every executive I've ever talked to is like, I'm a Max Crosby guy. It's almost like Christian McCaffrey, 400 touches, catch it, run it, block it. There are a handful of players in this league. It's universal.

Not every talented guy is beloved. Crosby is going to have some suitors. Well, it's pretty rare, too, that you get a defensive lineman that is viewed with elite character. Aaron Donald. So when you check that box, I think the amount of people coming after him this offseason, will be a long list of teams.

Okay, let's end with a man named Michael Jordan to NASCAR, where it feels all of this right in the world that Michael Jordan is a champion again. And obviously the team he owns, they won the Daytona 500. Here is the call on the checkered flag and Michael afterwards. Chase Elliott, NASCAR champion,

most popular driver, trying for the win, and Reddick to the top side. He's got help. Riley Herps, his team, Reddick drops to the bottom. Alongside Elliot, in the wall goes Herps, and Tiger Reddick comes to the line.

Wow. A shower of sparks behind him. Unreal. I mean, we just hung in there all day. I mean, we were a great strategy by the team, and we gave ourselves a chance at the end, and look, I'm ecstatic. I mean, I don't even know what to say.

It feels like I won a championship, but until I get my ring, I won't even know. All right, what size ring do you wear? I was 13. that is good for NASCAR. Is that not great for NASCAR? That was cool. You know,

the thing with Michael for a long time after he got out of playing and he owned the Bobcats, he always looked miserable on the sidelines. He never looked like he was having a good time. So unless you play golf with them, you didn't see him smile that much. That enjoyment, that smile.

He knew his ring size when he was being interviewed after size 13. Is LeBron going to have to buy a NASCAR team to try to catch him now? I think Michael, he's got the six rings. He's won the Daytona 500. Not even Brad Doherty a couple years ago, another North Carolina basketball player who has won the Daytona 500 as well.

Isn't that crazy? MJ's not the first Carolina basketball player to win the Daytona 500. Yeah, that's good for MJ. I saw that yesterday, and I'm like, he's really into it. You know, it's like a southern thing, man. The reality is a lot of those southern athletes, man, And they grow up with this. They are sitting there with their families watching that puppy every year.

It is a big deal. Look how happy he is. I mean, he's just so fired up. He's just so excited. That's great. John with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by.

The herd lie news. Yeah, they asked Michael about car racing. And he's like, you know, when I think of the Indy 500, he's like, my family sit and watch that forever. And was it there. There's another NBA player. Was it Larry Nance? There was another NBA player with a connection to auto racing. Is it Larry Nance?

I think it was Larry Nance. I had Albert Breer on earlier today. We were talking about there's an NFL analyst that came out. And I thought it was the first red flag on Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza that it was very viable. Basically, in terms of taking sacks and holding on the ball. all Fernando Mendoza's comp out of college is Justin Field. So, and Justin has struggled. And the primary issue is too many negative plays and too many sacks.

And so if you look at the guys and the quarterbacks in the NFL last year that took too many sacks, held on to the ball too long, too many negative plays. You know, it was like Gino Smith. It was Shador Sanders. It was J.J. McCarthy. So now I think he is a higher rated prospect, it feels like to me, than Justin. Fields, but a lot of people like Justin Fields coming out of college. So it's Albert Breer earlier on Mendoza. The cop I like best is Jared Gough, in that, you know, he's got a nice natural stroke.

He's really accurate. He could take hits, which, you know, golf has shown that he can do that. And he comes from one of these offenses that's spread out, relying on RPO's. So he does have a learning curve. With golf, what did that mean? It meant his rookie year was a disaster. under Jeff Fisher, right? But then once Sean McVeigh got a hold of him in 2017,

now all of a sudden you saw the stuff that you saw at Cal with Mendoza, who isn't a perfect prospect, and I don't think it's quite the prospect that Caleb, Jaden, or Drake were a couple of years ago. Yeah. For the record, thanks, staff, Larry Nantz, Sr. and drag racing. That was it. So, yeah, we'll see on Mendoza. We got two months to go through this thing.

I also, you know, the reality with drafting is everybody gets nitpicked. One of the guys I've depended on for years is Lance Zerline is a radio host in Houston and his dad works in the NFL. He does a great job for NFL.com. His draft previews are just totally buttoned up. I think it's going to be a lot of fun. You know, it's often the same teams at the top of the draft. I think one of the teams that of all the teams in the draft that I really think are in a good spot, I think it's the New York Giants.

They definitely need a right tackle, but they could move down to middle first and get that right tackle. There's three to four to five offensive tackles. Most start at about Fano at Utah is about eight or nine or ten. There's a couple early, one from Miami, one from Utah. But there's three other offensive tackles in the first round. And I think the New York Giants who need a right tackle, I think they need another perimeter weapon. I'd like to see them upgrade at corner. I think the giants are in a great spot where they have one absolute need right tackle, but that's available mid, late first round,

and early mid-second round. So I think, I mean, the giants are in a good spot. They've got their one weapon on the outside, their left tackle, their quarterback, a starback, and edge rushers. So the giants, to me, are a team. It feels like they could move down, more than what they could go five to nine, and then nine to 12 and accumulate fourth round picks, third round, fifth round picks. So I think it's going to be a really fruitful next 12 months for the New York Giants. Draft, preseason, keep Jackson DART healthy, get him better upfront protection, another perimeter weapon, another tight end.

Interesting year for the Giants. That's the team I'm going to keep my eyes on, the New York Giants. Other teams like the Raiders, they need a quarterback. Jets need everything. Yeah, you could give the Jets 15 draft picks. I'm not sure they're going to solve their current dilemma. All right, J-Max's back tomorrow. John Middletoff, thank you so much as always,

capable filling in. Jason, Tim, Albert Breer, we'll see you tomorrow. It's the Hurd. Hey, guys, it's us, the Jonas Brothers. I'm Joe. I'm Kevin. And I'm Nick, and guess what? We created our own podcast called,

Hey, Jonas. We invented a podcast? Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to it. First people to do podcasts. We get to ask other people questions because we're sick and tired of being asked questions. Well, sick and tired is a strong way to put it, but, you know, tired and sick. Tired and sick.

Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it. Another podcast from some SNL late night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's, Mikey Day and head writer Streeter Seidel

help an a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and friends on the I-Hart Radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Will Ferrell's Big Money Players and IHart Podcast presents soccer moms. So I'm Leanne.

This is my best friend, Janet. And we have been joined at the Hipsons High School. Absolutely. A redacted amount of years later, We're still joined at the hip. Just a little bit bigger hips. This is a podcast. We're recording it as we tailgate our youth soccer games in the back of my Honda Odyssey. With all the snacks and drinks.

Why did you get hard seltzer instead of beer? Oh, they had a bogo. Well, then you got it. Listen to soccer moms on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. What's up, fam? It's Isaiah Thomas. And I'm C.J. Toledano. It's our favorite time of the year on our podcast point game, the playoffs.

We're digging into the biggest surprises of the season. And I'm looking back on some of my greatest playoff moments. If we didn't talk ever again, I was crying. You just understood. That's how personal it got. Wow. Then after that game seven, Marquis come in to you, he's like, you know I love you, dog. You know, it's all love.

This was just playoffs. This was just basketball. So listen to Point Game on the Iheart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed human.