Thanks for listening to the Best of Herd podcast. Be sure to catch us live every weekday from twelve to three eastern, nine to noon Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and FS one. Find your local station for The Herd at Fox Sports Radio dot com, or stream us live every day on the iHeartRadio app by searching Herd. This is the Best of the Herd with Colin cowher on Fox Sports Radio. Oh here we go on a Tuesday, live in Los Angeles. It's the Herd wherever you may be, however you may be listening. J Mac, it's as if I can see into the future. You're on a heater, Jalen Ramsey, Lebron, Now we're getting close to mark thatness. You get some picks, you're gonna get out of here. But that's Torny take Creighton melancholy mood in Laker Land. Colo. All right, So when I suggested yesterday with the Lakers big come from behind a win against Dallas, which I was on a plane, I watched every basket, I suggested that my takeaway from that win was not the win. It was Lebron limping out of the tunnel, and I challenged Laker fans, give me the last three week stretch with Lebron and a D. When one of them wasn't on the floor writhing in pain, had to leave a game early, or wasn't limping out of the tunnel. The fan boys were beside themselves. You can't remember it. It just doesn't happen anymore. And now we know this morning Lebron's gonna be out several weeks. And as I often say, barring an injury, I thought the Lakers could be a playoff team. This has the potential to eliminate that. And I preached this yesterday. This is the new reality, and this injury now provides more clarity for the thirty ninth time. You gotta move off Lebron and Anthony Davis the duo, probably keep Lebron, move off a D. I could argue this morning that Lebron's injury, let's say misses eight to nine games, and let's say a D falls again. We don't want any bad things to happen to a D. But he misses a couple of games and they miss the playoffs is not a terrible thing. It would create an ice bath, a shocking, alarming reality. The franchise needs it, you know, there's an old saying it's one of my favorites. You can look into your past, don't stare at it. The Lakers do a lot of staring at the banners and at their past. And at their very best, they were connected to Hollywood Jerry bussin showtime, fun and flashy and magic and titles and glitzy and blockbusters, and they're very much still currently connected to Hollywood knockoffs, reboots, and nobody watches the Oscars. Lebron A D the original, it is good, it filled the theaters. But lebron A D two, lebron A D three, lebron A D four. I'll say it again. My takeaway on the Dallas win and I said yesterday was lebron limping out of the tunnel. He then shared appears to be a clinic or a hospital. Shot of his leg all wrapped up, wherever that is, whoever is helping him. We're not rooting for more injuries. What we're rooting for in Los Angeles, and what everybody should be rooting for, is clarity. This is not a franchise that figures out the simple stuff. They look in the past, they romanticize that they count banners I just spent about three and a half four hours watching some amazing television. It was ESPN's thirty for thirty. It was a three part series on the Lakers and the Celtics in the eighties. Strongly encourage you watching. It was fantastic. It brought a flood of remarkable memories. The Celtics and Bird and McHale and Parish and Ange and eventually Walton against Worthy and Wilkes and Kareem and Magic and Michael Cooper NBA Heyday. Been a lot of great teams. Never been a rivalry or a decade quite like that. And that was great, and that was like forty years ago, and the bubble thing was like three or four years ago. So this again demonstrates Lebron a d This blueprint is over. No more reboots, it's over. It doesn't work, it's too old. They're talented when they play together, they just don't very often. Wish Lebron the very best of luck. He'll be back and play two three weeks. Okay, So mock draft time. Milk Kuiper came out with a mock draft and it is exactly yesterday yesterday something we strongly suggested the Chicago Bears. Do Bears have the number one pick. So mel Kiper's mock draft has the Bears making two trades, one to the Texans and then another to the Colts, and the Bears end up with multiple picks and they end up at four. That to me is the way you could manipulate the draft. And I don't know what the Bears would get by going down one spot and then eventually down to four. And by the way, at four, they'd still get like a Will Anderson edge rusher, Jalen Carter defensive tackle. They need both. And we know the Bears they'll draft defense. That's what they do. And here's why it's important to get multiple picks the Bears. The league is pivoted to offense and the Bears haven't, so you have to give the Bears a surplus of picks to get the offense right. Just think about this. In the one hundred and three year history of the Chicago Bears, they've never had a quarterback throw for over four thousand yards. The Packers have done at seventeen times last five years. Mahomes has done at five times. Geno Smith did it last year. Bears have none in one hundred and three years. They can't do offense. Last year their first offensive pick third round, Villas Jones, wide receiver, bust. Their first two picks cornerback, safety, great players. They can't draft offense. They don't get it, they can't scheme it, they don't think it. It's a defensive culture, so you need multiple picks. Joane Nameth through for four thousand yards in nineteen sixty seven. The Bears in twenty twenty two can't get close. I could give you the Mitch Traubisky debacle number two pick, ridiculous, embarrassing reach, Kevin White wide receiver, number seven pick complete nutter bust, Villas Jones bust. They drafted a tackle in the second round a couple of years ago, ot To of Oklahoma State. It's supposed to be the tackle of the future. They've already moved him inside to guard. They can't draft even justin fields. Even justin fields were two years in. I'm not blaming solely justin fields. He's five and twenty with a passer rating undera and completing less than sixty percent of its rows. Like, they can't figure out offense, So you have to give the Bears multiple picks, so they can have some whiffs. And I'm not saying they've they've never drafted a good offensive player. But you have to go back to al Sean Jeffrey twenty twelve draft. I think the last time they hit a star skill player in the draft ten years ago. The Seahawks got two starting tackles, both excellent, and a star running back in last year's draft. And they're not a great drafting team over the last six seven years. So in twenty three years, the Bears one time I've had a top ten offense. It's embarrassing. I mean, Cleveland makes fun of Chicago's offense. So when I look at the Chicago Bears, their fans all have these big, strong opinions on offense. You don't get one. You're a defensive culture, a defensive franchise. All your best players are overwhelmingly defense. You can't the average in the NFL now, like you're an average quarterback if you throw for four thousand yards and have thirty touchdowns. It's Kirk Cousins. He's thrown for four thousand yards seven times, thirty touchdowns probably three or four times. Bears have never had a quarterback do that. The years so and justin fields right now, I'm sixty forty. It's gonna work. But I feel like he's not going to get the drafting, the scheming, the breaks. It's just not the infrastructure, the ecosystem of the Bears. They do not get offense. And so my takeaway is the best thing you can do is just get another second, another third. They've got, they've got two fifths, get another fifth, and just roll the dice. Draft seven or eight offensive guys and try to hit on three of them. Because you're not hitting on seven or seven, it's not gonna work. And once again, when they had a job opening, they hired a defensive coach and their first pick last year, their second pick last year. We're defensive players. And once again it's the offense that gives us occasional highlights. But it's Bear fans. You just don't have a You don't get an opinion on offense. The Vikings can have one, the Packers can have one. By the way, Detroit last year, that offense was great. But this is melk Kiper's mock draft. That's the way to do it. Just keep trading down, trading down, probably keep justin fields because there's no a prospect. Bryce Young at five ten and a half one hundred and ninety pounds probably not an ideal a fit in a cold, windy weather city. We all know that certain quarterbacks, smaller quarterbacks are tend to be better in warm weather or domes. We know that Kyler Murray works much better in Arizona than he would in a you know, in Chicago, or a Buffalo in Buffalo. You want Josh Allen, that ball cuts through weather. Brady's ball cut through weather. Jay Cutler, by the way, strong arm, Aaron Rodgers, far Flacco cut through bad weather. Teddy Bridgewater got drafted I think at one point by Minnesota. That's not a smart pick. Teddy's better like a TUA. You get him down south warm weather that works. Here's the Bears GM Ryan polls this morning, being asked if they're sticking with Justin Fields. We're gonna do our homework on this class and if something changes, and again I'll just use the same statement. We gotta be blown away to say, you know what, I think this is best for our organization. Justin did some really good things. I'm excited about where his game's gonna go. But at the same time, when you sit in our situation at one overall, you have to do your due diligence. You have to investigate everything. You got to spend time with those guys just to make sure we're making the right decision. All right. If there was an a plus plus prospect, you probably roll the dice in and move off fields. There isn't, so you give them another year. You're still not paying them a fortune, but getting as many picks as you can't. This is a really good tackle draft. It's another it's a really strong early tight end draft. There's some really good ones. First two rounds. Get as many first seconds, third as you can. Load up heavily on offense. Cross your fingers that Chicago can hit on a couple of them, because last year their first offensive pick, you could have called me. I would have told you that guy that usc Tennessee receiver can't track a ball, never could struggles catching it as a bad pick. That is classic. Chicago nailed their first two defensive picks, whiffed on their third offensive pick. Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays in noon easter nine am Pacific on Fox Sports Radio FS one and the iHeartRadio app. You know, my wife's from the Midwest, Michigan and I we often talk about this. I love Chicago because people are nicer in the Midwest. But you have to be careful. You can't be too nice. You can't have people walk all over you. And people on the coasts and I don't know why, but they're a little more manipulative, a little more selfish, a little more into themselves. People in the Midwest they were or card head down. They like what they like. And I always feel like Green Bay is the classic Midwestern sports franchise. They're terrified of being irrelevant, and because of that, they've let Aaron Rodgers manipulate them. So Brian gudencoons, who seems by all accounts a nice guy, and this is a nice organization. But from the time Bart star one, like his second championship to Brett Farve, it was like two and a half decades they couldn't get on TV. They were irrelevant. So they're already the smallest town in professional sports. If Aaron Rodgers left and Jordan Love was no good, they'd be totally irrelevant. It's hard they still haven't replaced long term. Elway in Denver or Marino in Miami. It's hard forget about Chicago and Cleveland getting a great quarterback and Deshaun Watson's not a great quarterback. So Brian Gudencoon's talking at the combine, came out and said Aaron Rodgers has not told the Packers's plans. Guden koons hasn't spoken with him at length at the end of since the end of the season at all. Aaron insinuated they did. They haven't until they have conversations. Everything including trading Aaron is on the table. And then he was also asked about Jordan Love as a starter potentially. Is this a hypothetical or is Jordan Love ready to be an NFL starting quarterback? Yeah, I think he's ready to play, and I think he's ready to be an NFL starting quarterback. He's worked really hard, He's show a lot of progression. I know he's really eager to have that, and I think that's the next step in his progression is to play. So I think Aaron Rodgers, and in a business perspective, it's been very, very smart as a coastal guy, has manipulated Green Bay. He knows it, he sees it. They're terrified to be irrelevant and Farvan Rodgers have made this franchise thirty years of absolutely front page Fox DV Super Bowl Contender, irrelevant, and they want to move off Aaron Rodgers. I think they're humiliated and embarrassed, and now they're just not very good even with him. But because of his twenty four to seven retirement talk, now going on four years, he has effectively created a no trade clause. Most teams can't go all in on Aaron and his salary. And it's brilliant, it's manipulative, it's brilliant by Aaron. So he got the bag. So I'm one of these people. I'm professionally claustrophobic. If I feel trapped by a company, I'm out. I ripped the band aid off. I've said it before, I'll say it again. I'm professionally clousterphobic. If i think I'm getting work, if i think my future is limited, if i feel I'm not getting something, I'm out. I'm like an old I'm like a dealer in Vegas. I'm out. But Green Bay's not going to do that because they scared money, don't make money. They're paralyzed by this, and so Aaron got the bag and has a no trade clause without officially having a no trade clause, because you look at it and you're like, well, I'm not gonna give up two ones and two twos for Aaron Rodgers. He could say no, he'd be leaving a year. So I think a small Midwestern market full of well meaning, earnest people are getting completely worked. There's nothing they can do. They would like to move off. I don't know if Jordan Love is ready. Brian Gudenkuns has done a very good job in the draft. You cannot criticize their drafting and developing for years. They've had at lead offensive lines and they never draft right lineman in the first round ever. So I totally respect the organization, but I think Aaron coastal Aaron has manipulated a little bit the organization. It's really savvy business, it's really smart business. He's got him right. Worri wants them. They know it, and he knows it, and I think they want to move off him. And there's almost just a tiny little market now for Aaron Rodgers because of the constant retirement talk. I do think he would I do think he would say if it was the right fit. Like let's say it's to Tennessee and he likes very well, then I think Aaron would say I'm in for three years. But Aaron's going to control this thing. He's going to absolutely control it without having an official no trade clause. Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays and noon Easter nini Empacific. We talked about this yesterday where it Todd McShay came out and said, you know, I would be scared to death to draft Bryce Young because he's smaller, and we had Sean Payton. We used this bite multiple times yesterday, saying in the top ten fifteen picks, you don't take small players at any position. You take certain prototype players. And I totally get that. But you know, I was thinking about this last night on this topic. Not you marry some you date others. Not every relationship has to be a fifteen year relationship. Some of you have purchased things in your life or gotten into businesses where they solve problems for the time being, and that's okay. Outside of my grill, nothing I bought ten years ago still works. Nothing does I buy stuff because it helps me for the time being. Not everything has to be a four oh one K plan. Sometimes you buy a stock, it hits, and you sell it. You've done that. I've done that dozens of times. I keep a stock for less than six months. It's okay that those count two. You get tax at a little different rate perhaps, but you can do that too. Does Bryce Young make the Colts better next year? Yep? Yep, so right now, the culture and chaos with Bryce Young, they'd be better now. His body doesn't look like it's going to stand up forever. I'd be worried about that. But I do think a dome team with decent weapons Bryce Young would make Atlanta better tomorrow, and Indianapolis better tomorrow, and Houston better tomorrow. I think he's definitely a dome or a warm weather quarterback. Played in So Cal High school Alabama, and I think he is a very unique talent. He was the best high schooler. He's arguably the best college quarterback. I think he's a very unique player. Yes, he's five ten and a half and a buck ninety and that's just not big enough. But the NFL is a year to year league. I always think about Jim Harbaugh's coaching staff. I swear to got. It's a year to year proposition. This coordinator's out, this coordinator's in, he's going to the NFL, he's coming back. You know. The thing is Michigan's good every year. It doesn't ruin the program. Not everybody. The transfer portal is a great advantage and a great example excuse me of how this works. Sometimes you just got to fill a gap for a year. Sometimes in free agency you overpay for a player because you're not paying your quarterback anything, and you overpay. I remember when the Seahawks had Russell Wilson, third round quarterback, weren't paying him anything for four or five years, and they went out and bought Percy Harvin, who barely played, but he was a transitional player. He was an impact player. They didn't need him for a full season. They needed him situationally. They went and got Cliff Avril. They needed an edge rusher. Sometimes the free the transfer portal in college sometimes you just need a guy for seven games. Free agency in the NFL, sometimes you need a guy to plug holes. Not everything's a ten year planning, a four oh one game plan. So my takeaway is we have organizations that the New England Patriots when they had Tom Brady, drafted another six quarterbacks. I think it could be more than that, and some of them. They took Garoppolo in the second round and I think Ryan Mallet at one point they took a third round guy and they had Tom Brady and he was winning Super Bowls, and they kept drafting quarterbacks. So you draft Bryce Young and two years from now, you gotta draft another quarterback. But what you don't want to be in the NFL is in utter chaos. And right now Indie between Ersay and the quarterback situation, Matt Ryan, they're in chaos. They gotta get out of chaos, you know, to be great, Just get out of that mass because everybody gets fired with that mess. Atlanta a little bit of chaos several years in a row, Houston, utter chaos. Just get out of that space. So, I don't know. I look at what sports has become. It's much more transitional than it used to be. The college game now, the transfer portal changes everything. And you know, I've talked to different coaches about this. At the college basketball level. Some guys they have a system, and part of their system is going and getting a transfer player just for conference play. They just need to match up against Kansas on the wing, and that's it's a one year proposition and it works perfectly, it works fine, that's okay. Not everything's forever. And if you look at the teams in this league, I mean, you know, I mean right now, the San Francisco forty nine ers have brought Purty, there's Tom Brady rumors, they have Jimmy Garoppolo, he's gonna move, They've got Trey Lance. I don't know what they're doing. It's a year to year proposition with the Niners at quarterback. Hell, it's a game to game proposition. They don't know. But they're not in chaos. They got they got somebody that can take a snap eventually. And so I get. I don't think Bryce Young is built for a fifteen year career. I don't think he is. Okay, that GM of the team that drafts him is not going to have that job in fifteen years, and the coach is absolutely not going to have that job in fifteen years. Andy Reid kept getting to the NFC championship and they ran him out. Nobody keeps their job. If Belichick has another a lousy season, he's probably gonna be in trouble. Am I crazy on this? Not outside? Tell me something you had ten years ago you purchased and today you can count on it. Almost everything I buy, even big items, even cars at least for two years. Clothes you still wear the same gear ten years ago. Nothing worked out in shirts? Maybe nothing. Just buy things four moments and you can draft players for three years to get us out of the mud, get us out of the tunnel of confusion. That's okay. Draft enough. I mean, it's so easy to get draft capital in this league. All you have to do is move an elite player. Yet two or three picks you go from not having enough to having. Chicago could literally accumulate four or five or six more picks by the time the draft hits. And it's and we're almost in March, and the draft is in the third week April. So you think someone will love Bryce young enough to want to move up and grab him. Why I think Indian I can see Houston saying he's the guy we like, We're gonna roll the dice. Why wouldn't Houston prefer to say, hey, let's spend all our picks on left tackles and defensive ends, in quarterbacks and then next year we will add a quarterback Kalla Williams to the top, because he's way better than Bryce Young. I don't think that's a terrible idea, but Indianapolis with Ursay's in patience, is not in that space. They gotta start winning, and the time is now. Tennessee feels like they're falling off. Indie's got to start winning now. Jacksonville's coming and are coming hard. I think it's their division for a while. One more Herd. The Herd streams twenty four hours a day, seven days a week within the iHeartRadio app. Search Herd to listen live or on demand whenever you like. Philadelphia and Miami And I'm sitting there watching it and it's in Philly, and I'm saying, Miami's gonna win this game. Miami's got very good, a great coach, maybe the best coach in the league, Spolstra, great culture, tremendous defensive team, and Miami if it's close, they win. They're a great close game team. And that's because the culture. It's defense. So it was a great example of why I don't trust Philadelphia. And I said this yesterday, I don't trust Philly in big spots close games. I don't trust them in the playoffs. There's no reason too, why would I I think MB's a great talent, why would I trust them in the playoffs? And Harden shrinks in the playoffs. And so Miami won the game last night and it was a go either way game. They went to Jimmy Butler three straight times. He had the shot of the year in the NBA. I think this is it right here. Yeah, I think that's the shot of the year in the NBA. Then he came down, he slipped it in a turnover, and then he got to the free throw line, whereas mbiden Harden last repossessions over three with a turnover. So my point is this mbad hardened thing. The fans love it. I don't trust them in the postseason. I think I think Mbiad's in a remarkable talent, but a little flakey. Harden's very flaky. They got a good shot by the way for the win, but clanked it missed, and it was a classic example. So I thought this morning, these are my ten favorite duos currently in the NBA. Tannem's duos favorite. No, I think they're the best, the best, and I'm considering everything, this is strong. So number ten would be Luca Kyrie. They played no defense, none, but offense is about seventy percent of the league. Luca leads the league in scoring, Kyrie shooting over fifty percent. So they're just dynamic. They're magnetic offensively huge issue. I don't know. If either is a great teammate and they don't play a liquid defense, they'd beat ten. Nine. I'd put Kawai and Paul George. Now Kawhi is starting to play better. They're both excellent defensive players and good offensive players. I would take them in a series over Dallas because they can make stops and Dallas won't. I mean, Kawhi has been on seven all defensive teams. Again, you never know if he's quite ready to play. If Kawi played in a nightly basis, I could have these guys in the top three, but I never He's nonverbal, he's not a leader. He's just a basketmaker and a stop. You know, get a stop guy. But I put them in nine. Number eight Donovan Mitchell and Darius Garland. Donovan's having a great year again. I get more consistent play from them because I think they're gonna be ready to go. Donovan's averaging twenty seven a game, not much of a defensive player. Garland's a rising star, He's fantastic. I think Cleveland's a year away. Mobley keeps growing. But I love watchinge great, great, one of the better watches in the NBA. I put Donovan, Mitchell, Darius Garland at eight. Seven YO Kitchen Jamal Murray. Everybody freaks out, but I don't trust Jamal Murray in a big spot. He everages twenty a game. Yo. Kitch is obviously the great point center some Bill Walton qualities, one of the great passing big men. I know I should trust this team. I don't. Some guys are great regular season players, not great postseason players, but I would put them a strong one. Jamal Murray's an average two. I would put them at seven. Number six would be Lebron in a D. But a D's already missed twenty four games this year. Now. Lebron's hurt. If healthy, you could argue their number one or two, but they're never healthy. A D leads the league in rebounds, tremendous defensive player, but he's already missed twenty four games. It's just a matter of when not if he'll get banged up and Lebron's out for two weeks. Number five the guys I watched last night Fama Dabaio, who has right now is having his best year as a pro twenty one a game, very good defensive player. And Jimmy Butler. He's averaging twenty two now. Jimmy misses some games, plays hard, gets dinged up. But I just think this is a great This team leads the NBA in one deshin wins thirteen, so I think this is a great team. In close game, you got to blow the heat out if it gets close. Between their defense, their coaching, situational basketball, Miami's great. I put them at five. I put Yannish and Drew Holiday at four, and the reason is because I think eventually they wanted Chris Middleton to be the two instead of Drew Holiday. Holiday is a better defensive player, very smart, veteran player. Jannis is the best player in the league, and basically he gets them to four. I like Drew Holiday, He's one of the get a bucket guys on this team with Jake Crowder and Ingalls and Chris Middleton. But this is a Yannis story. He is on any given night, the best player offensive, defensive player in the NBA. That's four. I would say three Tatum and Jaylen Brown. My knock is with Jason Tatum. He didn't show up last night at all. It was great Saturday night against Philly. Did nothing last night. He was tragic in the first quarter, game was over. I sometimes I don't think Tatum quite has the it. Jaylen Brown's the better athlete. Jaylen Brown, I feel like, is more aggressive. But they're phenomenal. You could argue the heart and soul a team as Marcus Smart, but I mean they're really really good A players. Number two Kevin Durant, Devin Booker. Any given night, you'll have the best shooting guard, best shooting player in the planet. They're fantastic. Booker is overlooked a lot in the West because of Dame and Staff and other great guards and Chris Paul and all that. Devin Booker is a great player. He's not Kobe, he was compared to him early. He's not. But Durant's the best get a bucket guy in the NBA right now. So I think they're number two and number one the greatest backcourt shooters in the history of the game. Stefan Clay. Now Steph is hurt. Clay's having his best year in six, five or six years. Clay's having a great year. He's not the defensive player he used to be, but he's still a tremendous player, super smart, can finish each other sentences. Steph's gonna be fine. There's no backcourt in NBA history that can drop fifteen points, come back from twelve down, or have a four point lead become nineteen faster. And they have champion Chip Moxie experience, big game, clutch performance IQ off the charts. They're my ten best duos by the way, uh Darren Fox and Sacramento. They don't plan any defense either. And Sabonis we had like eleven and beat Harden. Don't make it. Don't trust him, flaky, what do you think of it? Oh God, where to begin? Don't first of all, don't plan any defense. I get that narrative, but there's no way you can have Mitchell and Garland at eight. They don't plan any defense. Donovan Mitchell can't guard anybody in the very loaded East. They're They're a four could be a three seed. Fine, four could be a three The Denver Nuggets are number one by a mile in the West and their seventh the second. Their centers averaging a triple double. Who would you take if you drafted tomorrow? Donovan Mitchell, Darius Garland or Jamal Murray. You take Murray third. I would put Murray second. I love him. I have an irrational dude. He scored over forty Who would you take him over? You take him over, Donovan Mitchell. Yeah, oh, you're out of your mind. Jamal mur I mean Jamal Murray, Donovan Mitch. He's a scoring machine. Yeah, jeverage in twenty a game? Have you seen what he did in the playoffs? High altitude in Denver. People come into town, they're exhausted, they can't defend. You should average twenty nine a game, go at? Why don't you go ask the Clippers? Well? Defending Jamal Murray was like in the Bubble playoffs. Him and Yokis took down the Clippers. The Kawhi Paul George Clippers early on. Bubble doesn't count. It's the nonsense. You see it? Come all right now, I know you're doing. You would take Jamal Murray over Donovan Mitchell? Wow? Wow? Ryan H. Russell Westbrook guy back here. No, I don't need to hear. Listen, Jamal Jamal Murray would go a little bit higher with Yokich, I would slide the calves down overall. Listen, this is very fun. You're not gonna like this. But are you too high on Kevin Durant and Devin Booker who have played a total of zero games together and they're the second best come out? But let me ask you this. I have never owned a Bentley, but I know what it looks like. If I got into it, I know what it would drive like. Am I supposed to go? Yeah, Durant Booker, they haven't. I've never seen him play together. There are two of the best shooters in a shooters league at their position in the league. Like, I don't need to see. Kevin Durant works everywhere. Even in Weirdo Brooklyn Whackadoo Brooklyn, he worked. He was the one guy that worked. Simmons didn't, Kyrie no showed, Harden came in heavy, Durant worked a whole single handily beat Milwaukee years ago. Give you props for the Bentley analogy. I'm sure that was off the cuff. That was good. Also, he's now judging Mike Rutson and Randall? Where are they? I like him a lot, Julius Randall postseason? Can can you kind of marginalized Julius a little in the postseason? Julius? Take that? Take that jumper. I like him a lot, plays really hard. Yeah, I can't quibble too much. Is a really good list. I gotta give a shout out Jimmy Butler, one of the most underrated players in the league. A few years ago when I had a Saturday radio show, I said I would take Butler over Kawhi Leonard and they were ready to hang me out here in LA And Jimmy Butler always done, has been better than Kawhi Leonard. He's available, he plays, he got to the finals. I like this list, and I'm curious what Clippers fans think of Paul George and Kawhi there nine. Yeah, they never played. No, they would be if they played regularly. Probably three. Okay, if Lebron and ad played regularly, where would they be? Well? Yeah, but it's I mean eighties, miss twenty four game. Lebron's not gonna be out. He doesn't do back to backs. Come on, stop, Well in the playoffs. You don't have back to backs. This is Steve Cavino and Rich Davis, and together we are Cavino en Rich, Cavino and Rich. Thanks buddy, that's right. Cavino and Rich Fox Sports Radio's newest hit show, heard weekdays from five to seven Eastern two to four Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio app. Every Cavino and Rich shows available as a podcast. Just search Covino and Rich wherever you get your podcasts and subscribe of such a rocking dude. The show features are unique take on sport. It's injected with some fun, humor and relatability. Listen to Covino Enrich five days a week on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Con Rich, give me a hell yeah. Rick Bucker and I went to dinner last night. Very covert conversation. We're not telling you any of it. But what's interesting is we were talking during the break and you just threw something out there. What I'm trying to get jamac to get his arms around is that I think Luca's got some James Harden qualities that he doesn't elevate teammates he's not easy to play for. Defense is a hobby, not an occupation, and he's going to go down as a top ten score. But my entire life, since watching the NBA starting in seventy two with Wilt, you know, I can remember those years, there's always been great scores that don't necessarily elevate teammates. And your take on Luca is he can be difficult to play with. And now he shares a unique thing because he shares the ball and he scores, and he's he can see the floor, he can do all those things. But you are definitely playing to his tune and you have to adapt to what he's going to do. And at this point he's he's very very good, bordering on great, but he has to learn how to win. I when I watch him with his national team and he gives up the ball more frequently, they're a better team. And that's where I think he needs to get to. And if there's no accent when Jason Kidd said our team has to mature, look at Dante's is the head of the head of that list in terms of having to mature, not just in not getting involved and upset with the referees or taking everything personally that said to him on the floor, but really starting to understand like how he can make the most out of what he has arrived. It is funny that I always said, there's like guys that aren't winning player. Zach Levine, and he's a very good player, is not a winning player. I never thought Westbrook's a winning player. I think you can be a score like I think Kobe was a winning player, and I think Steph Curry is a winning player. It's not just if you take a bunch of shots. I think Luca has a lot of qualities of a winning player. But I've seen now Brunson, Porzingis and Kyrie Irving where it's like, I don't know, I'm not sure if it some of it has to be on Luca for sure, for sure, and I have no doubt that he will get there. Yeah. I like everything about him, but does his game have to evolve? This is the issue that I've had with the my media brethren anointing him as the MVP at the beginning of every year. Oh, he's going to win it this year, He's the MVP this year. I'm like, he's not there yet. And when we start to give accolades before they've been truly earned. Yeah, I believe that it undermines the development of the players. It's okay when you see greatness to say I want you to fully realize your greatness. I'm not going to give it to you ahead of time. Yeah, Buck Celtics, I lean Milwaukee more, shotmakers. Who do you lean? I've said Milwaukee from the beginning of the year. Are you a skeptic of Tatum? Yes, I think Golden States in his head without question. And I said this a week or so ago where I believe I was talking to Chris Brossard. I believe that I trust Milwaukee more because I know what I'm going to get from Jannis every night. I know what I'm gonna get from Drew Holiday, I know what I'm gonna get from all their guys. Some are limited, but I know what I'm getting from Joe Ingles mostly if he's healthy. Yeah, and there and it's and it's not. I'm not saying that they're going to play great every night. Jannis doesn't always play great, but he's always going to make you beat him. And there are times where I just see Tatum kind of give in or decides this is not my night, and he loses his aggression When you're my most talented player and my entire team is looking for you, for you to be that guy to lead us, and you decide I don't think I have it tonight. That's gonna undermine my team, and it's gonna shake the confidence of my overall team. People tend to think a number one guy a number one talent, thinks like a one. Andrew Wiggins has number one talent. He's a number two to three guy. Yes, his personality is very passive. Yes, And I would say the same with Jason Tatum. This to me is potentially the Achilles heel with the Boston Seller. I agree half court offense. I sometimes there are times when Jaylen Brown is not times he's just more aggressive. He's a bigger, he's a stronger athlete. He's a more aggressive. I think he's more verbal, he's more vocal. He's more aggressive, Give me the ball. Tatum sometimes waits for the ball. Yep, that's what I see on our half court sets. Or he's simply when he's attacking, he's he's falling away. He's not aggressive looking for that shot. He starts to take sort of a passive approach even when he's taking shots. And again it just we're talking about fine differences, but we're talking about winning a championship. Then my best player has to be a guy that I know is going to go hunt that shot and take it if it's available. So a country club McIntyre has no problem with load management, I think teams. I think he's also missing a button. So or going to the club tonight. I wasn't sure which come on, which was of course Tuesday night club night out here in La. Don't you know that? Okay? No, I just I just moved to La, So no, I don't know that. Welcome to have you, So I go, I button all the way up mostly okay. So I think baseball sent a message for years that they're now radically changing. And their message was your time doesn't matter. Our game is our game, and people stopped watching. The NBA's message is stars are gonna play when they want to play. Yeah, and it's like, don't end. They're on like a six year ratings decline. I am bothered by it. Adam Silver a little tone deaf. Yeah, how do you solve it? Well? I do believe that what they're going to do is incentivized players to play. That awards and maybe even contracts. Contracts are going to be tied. Monetary value is going to be tied to a number of games played. The tricky part here is that the owners are essentially they're behind the load management. They're looking at the medical data the same way they looked at analytics, because that is their language. That's their love language, if you will, That's what they understand. If you get into the nuances of the game. The owners are looking at it. They're okay with the guys not playing. Yeah, because their money is already in their pocket in terms of ratings and so and all that. The owners and the players don't care. I sell my season tickets. Look, I think there are players. There are more players who care than you might think. Oh, I think they care mostly, yes, But the difference is you have the medical staff saying hey, they're they're reading the data, the medical data, and going, hey, do you need a night off? If you need a night off, just tell us and we'll tell the coach. Why can't we go to seventy two games not eighty two? Would that solve it? I suppose, But I almost feel like that's a sliding scale. It'll be seventy two, and then ten years later, five years later, let's go to sixty two. It'll be it'll be diminishing returns. I honestly, and I know this would never fly. I'm like, rather than reduce the number of games, because that's going to reduce revenue, number of games people can attend and watch, etc. Reduce it to forty minutes, reduce the game to forty minutes. Play it like college. That's good, to the same place and you're still charting, Still charge the same money. Nobody's gonna miss the eight minutes. I don't think that's a terrible idea. Yeah, and look, the historians are gonna say, well, that changes all the dynamics and all the statistics. Look where we are right now, it's already changed. I was looking at this and I don't know we were going to get to it. But the scoring in the league right now, right we have six guys that are averaging thirty points or better. I could not find a year where there was more than three. And I'm going back to the sixties. I looked in the eighties. I can't find a year where there were six guys averaging thirty plus points in the same season. That's where the game has tilted to the offensive end, into shooters like never before. Yeah, I'm I am not somebody like baseball fan cracks me up. They get so beholden to records. You had a fifteen year period where guys were taking cattle steroids and you were worrying about baseball card numbers. Who gives a rimp? I mean to me, I would cut the baseball down to one hundred and twenty games. I'd start a month later, no more rainouts, and then I'd end a month earlier, and I'd wrap up the playoffs by you know, Steptember twenty eighth. So, because once you get into October, football just crushes baseball. It's the Yankees are playing. So I'm not. I have no problem with ten minute quarters. Yeah, that's the way. The last two minutes to take an hour anyway. Yeah, yeah, I mean, and again, all of it is a sliding scale. I honestly believe that there are elements to the game that are causing all this. Offenses are more star centric than ever before, so the star players are carrying a greater load. I do believe that the game is faster and the demand athletically or physically is different. But I don't know that it's any less than it was before. It just comes in a different form. Never, basketball has never had more great athletes. You can't put, you can't put. It's hard to put a guy on the floor that can't hit a jumper. Not only hit a jumper, but that doesn't have the agility and the speed in the vertical. Like all of that romanticize the Pacers Knicks. The Knicks didn't have a true pure shooter on their roster. John starts with a guard. He wasn't a great shooter. Yeah, they didn't have any shooters. Well that's the flip side of that is, but they had a lot of guys that were defenders, rapping and tackling. No, but well, but what you see now is think of how many teams have a what's called a defensive stopper like Pej Tucker is a dinosaur's he's the last of his kind, and and how well is he contributing, Like he's not giving them what they thought he was gonna give them. So that is also inflating the smart Marcus smarts that guy. Yeah, but he can play both ways. He's I'm a big Marcus Smart's. He could argue he's the soul of the team. He really really is. I would agree he's their dreamond Green. Okay, so um, I did this earlier. We were I don't trust. I watched the end of the Heat sixer's game last night and I said yesterday before the show, and I'll say it again, I trust. I don't love Miami, but I trust him late. Yeah, great coach, great defense, most one bucket wins in the league, thirteen. I Philadelphia has got more talent. Never trust him. Doc situationally there, they had a ton of turnovers last night and I just latent games. I just don't trust Harden. So I said he're the best due was in the NBA to me, the best duos. So put these do here. So here's the way. Now, Stephen Clay have things that you can't. It's hard to quantify playoff experience. They're joined at the hip there. It's like telegraphic. They talk a different half court offense. That's number one. Uh Durant and Booker. I know they haven't played, but I made the argument. I've never been in a Bentley, but I know it drives well. I don't need to be in one to know it's expensive. It's perfect. Everybody loves a Bentley, Durant and book are gonna work instantly. So I go down the list, Tatum, Brown, Jannis, Drew Holiday hit you finally hit the number one? What do you mean it's number four? Jhannas and Drew Holiday or number one? You think Jannis and Drew. I like Drew, but he's a He's a B player. What I love about B plus isn't he Drew Holiday just took them past the Suns over the weekend as the guy that's shutting down Booker and score. He can do, he can do. I'm not going shade at Drew Holliday. I love him. He's yeah to me, he's top three points. I argued that if Kawhi Leonard played, he and Paul George could be three, both elite defenders. Good get a bucket guy. Paul's a little bit iffy in the postseason. I think now you didn't like Donovan, Mitchell and Garland, who I think a gifted offensively. Will you talk about lack of defense with Luca and Kyrie? I mean they play none. Mitchell and I'm not even sure if they work offensively. Yet Mitchell and Garland work offensively. A lot of guards don't play defense. But here's the other part, and why I put I would put Janice and Drew at the top now just because of the health issues with the Warriors, is because they compliment each other. Yes, like it can't just be a great talent like KD and Booker. They're kind of the same. They're scorers. Which one's the playmaker? Let me ask you a Warrior's question we had. We talked about this at dinner. A lot of covert information. You don't get any of it, but give you this one. But off a goatto as a as a high scream with espresso poured over it. Yeah, I've added that to my vocabulary. So J Mack, if I ever say you offa gotto you, that's a that's a term of endearment. That's not not an Italian insult or anything gotto you Italian. It's a food lovel Yes, there you go. So I believe this is the last year of the Warriors dynasty. This feels like the Jordan team where you could have run it back. They just won the second three. You could have run it back and Jerry Cross is like, we're all falling apart here. Yeah, and I do think you could run it back. But Bob Myers wants to get paid more. How Kerr and this is a there's a lot of stuff here. The young guy. They already bailed on Wiseman. I think ker likes COMINGA doesn't trust him. There's a big difference. Pool is hot and cold. I've never got he's I mean, he's a flake. He disappears, but he can be right. I think it's the last year of the Warriors dynasty, and I do think you have to strongly consider making a big move next year. You cover them more than I do. Am I wrong? No? No, honestly, this is it. You could have yes as constituted, and I would dare say that last year was a gift you you. I don't want to say they stole one, but they got one that you shouldn't rightfully expect. No, I mean, Clay was when a team, when a championship team falls off the cliff as they did for two years. How many teams have we seen like that that have come back and won another championship basically with the same core. Last year was the year to beat him, Yes, but the young guys weren't ready to play, and Clay wasn't. Yeah, seventy Piper sent yeah, well yeah, this was the year to be the Chiefs. Ten rookies played, This was the year to beat the Chiefs. No argument, no argument. What do you think the move is? Well, that's the difficulty. There's not a move to be made that is going to like red wrecked them as a champion. I believe that you need to start start looking like how do we build our next core? You're I think you're right, so and can you get there? I would put all pieces on the table because once you start to let's face it, once you start to take a part Clay Drey and Steph, it's not the same thing you might. I mean, you're not gonna move Steph. Steff's gonna retire no que warrior, and I wouldn't. He's still outstanding when he's ready to go. But everybody else I believe should be available. And then the conversation is going to be with Steph, like we need to make these moves. You can still be friends with having a great year. You could argue it's the time to move. Oh for sure, for sure, that's the player, because I still I still contend Draymond's their best defender and a total catalyst in their half court offense. Yeah, they move the ball way better when he's in the game. Well, for sure, it's it's the disappointment is that Jordan and Andrew Wiggins got their rings and they got paid, and they don't look to me as if they have the same hunger they had a year ago. See. I think Jordan Pool's the classic because I think you'd go to Steph and say, we're thinking of moving Clay, and he'd say, why don't you move Pool? Because Pool can give you thirty eight or six. He's not a terribly mature player, and you could see something. You could see an Orlando. Did somebody go take a big swing on Jordan Pool? Yeah, wouldn't they? Yeah they might. Yeah, he's got that, he's got the championship veneer, now he's got the He's gonna be the next And honestly, you might be able to sell Jordan Pool as the next Steph more than you could Trey Young. I like Trey Young more of the Jordan Pool I do. Yeah, I wouldn't fault you on that, but neither's a great defender. I think Pool could be a better defender. I don't think Trey is to Jordan. That's what kind of frustrates me and Draymond. By the way, about Jordan athletically, there's no reason that he can't be a really, really good defender. They don't want he's long athletic, agile. Can you win a title with Jordan Pool as your second best player? No no, no no, no no no no. I'm not sure you could do it with your third I don't know your best player's staff. Your second best player this year is Clay third best players, Wiggins fourth, best players, Draymon. There's there's no accident that as the playoffs went on last year, Jordan played a smaller, smaller and smaller role than he did. Kurr can love guys, he doesn't trust him. I think he really likes Kuminga. Yeah, he'll never play him late in a big game. Well look at just look at the guys that he played in big spots last year. He trusted Nomanu be Eliza, he trusted Otto Porter. It's not a matter of what your talent is. Uma Petulia, he trusted Zaza Peculia, more than Javaial McGee, and you would have people out there going, why are you playing Petulia rather than Javail? Trust him long athletic, whatever he can, he can run. It's like I Steve knows that Zaza is gonna be or new Zaza was gonna be where he was supposed to be when he was supposed to be there. That's people didn't understand why Russ Westbrook got benched the other night. Um, and he was because he was having a nice offensive night. It's because coaches aren't looking at the box scoring going, oh, hey's shooting sixty percent. I gotta keep him on the floor. It's you were supposed to run the play this way and you completely botched it. And then you gave up on us. You didn't fight over a screen and we got a switch and now you're guarding Nicola Yoki. I'm taking you out of the game, right And the fans, I don't know, always realize that the coach watching the game is what is judging whether his game plan is being executed, and if it's not, then you're not going to stay on the floor. Can I ask him about Drew Holiday? He said Drew Holiday was the third best point guard in the league. I think you said, who said that? I didn't. I didn't know I did, so I said top three. It's tough. Dave is Damian Lillar the point guard. Yes, it's Steph Curry a point guard. Yes, John Morana point guard. Yes. Well, he's a much better defender than all he's he's the best defender. He's the best defensive point guard. And with all apologies to Marcus Smart, Drew Holiday is the best best. But I think we would agree offense beats defense pretty much the way the league's being played right now. But I just I think I think Drew's offense is vastly underrated. When you need him to step up and take a big shot, make a big shot, he does that. Does he tell you what every time? No? But he understands, he understands the game. His his willingness to work around Chris Middleton and Janis onto the compo and well, they don't ask him to score seventy one, they don't. But against Phoenix over the weekend, he got thirty three because that's what they needed because Middleton didn't have it going and Yannis wasn't available. So when I see a guy who's able to step into the breach against a team like the Suns. Who Yeah, okay, so they didn't have KD basically had everybody else Heyd's back. They just announced Yeah, tomorrow or tonight, tomorrow night, I believe, yes, correct, game TV game Collins. So you can be very excited that he's showing up for the TV audience. All right. By the way, when you got out to dinner with this this, I had forgotten this because we hadn't gone out for a while. Like you, you walk into some of these these very sheshy restaurants, it's like walking into Colin's living room. Yeah. I walked through the door and the and the hostess says, oh, are you here to see Colin. I'm like, yes, I am, and then I get escorted to the table now that the place is full, right, yeah, but somehow, as soon as you walk through the door, they just assume you must be here to see Colin. Yeah, a couple of cougars usually have one eye on Calar as well. We like he said it was a covert, covert conversation.