Best of The Herd

Published Feb 29, 2024, 9:10 PM

Colin looks at LeBron leading the way to a 21-point 4th quarter comeback and why his career is no longer comparable to Michael Jordan. He looks at Jordan Love's ascension at the end of last season and tells you where he ranks among top QBs in the NFL right now. Plus, NBA reporter Rachel Nichols joins the show in studio to tell you if the Lakers are prepared to contend for another championship

Thanks for listening to the Best of the Herd podcast. Be sure to catch us live every weekday on Fox Sports Radio in noon to three eastern nine am to noone Pacific. 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 Fox Sports Radio or FSR.

This is the Best of the Herd with Colin Cowher on Fox Sports Radio.

Here we go. It is a Thursday. I'm keeping track these days live in Los Angeles. It's the Herd. Wherever you may be and however you may be listening. Thanks for Megano's part of your day. So I had one of those sort of things I have to go do occasionally, like a sales dinner last night, like a business thing. So I didn't get to watch the first half Lakers Clippers, So I kind of tried to get out of their fast dropall no traffic LA at night, and I got there for the second half Lakers Clippers and Lakers. Really it was a dun for a long time. It was a dun. It was yeah, but it didn't and I was almost I was on the couch and I was thinking, I'm gonna go to bed and Lakers down like eight, and they just don't have it tonight. Paul George wasn't even playing on him, like it's a dead night. And then Lebron did something and I can say without hesitation, without hesitation, what Lebron James did last night has never been done, especially by a player in year twenty one, to literally take over a basketball game and be significantly better than anybody on the floor. Do you realize And there's twenty two games left for this regular season, Lebron has scored more points in his twenty first year this year than all other players and most are Hall of famers, all other players combined in year twenty one, KG Moses Malones and All timer Dirk, Robert Parrish, Vince Carter. And there's twenty two games left. You know, like the people, I think there's always been this, and mostly in sports you have standings. Yeah, you know who the best score was, the most touchdown passes. But we argue about Lebron and MJ. We got to stop. Michael played twelve hundred basketball games a little more than that. Lebron surpassed that seven years ago and he's still top of the league. Now. I don't think he's as good nightly as a Yo Kitcher, maybe a Janis, but on any given night or any given quarter, he is. I mean Michael Jordan at the end seven years before Lebron quit, and Lebron's got three to four more years. He's gonna sign a two to three year deal. So Michael at the end was just selling tickets for an unwatchable team in DC. Lebron scoring thirty four nineteen in the fourth to overcome a twenty one point deficit. Do you know Lebron's the second best scorer in the league in the fourth quarter to Jannis, like Michael at the end, wasn't vertical. Now, Michael may have been cooler and for a six year stretch, seven year stretch, the best ever, but you can no longer compare the two. It's like comparing Sandy Kofax, who maybe had the greatest three year stretch ever in baseball, Like comparing him to Justin Verlander, who's been a dog, who's been an ace for seventeen years. Dude just won the Cy young like three years ago. You can't compare the two apples, and Orange is different career. You just Verlander body of work, it's different. It's you know, it's like I think Robert Downey Junior is a great actor, the Avengers Oppenheim, great actor. You can't compare him to Robert De Niro. Robert De Niro won an Oscar Godfather to nineteen seventy four, two years later Taxi Driver, Top ten movie ever. This year nominated for an Oscar in A Killer of the Flower Moon. Haven't seen it yet. Pretty long, I'm told, I'm not sure if I will. That's fifty years. Robert Downey' said a hell of a nine year stretch. But I can't compare the two longevity matters. And it's not like, you know these baseball guys that everybody stumps for them to get to the Hall of Fame, and they play like sixteen years and you know, one year they led the leadan doubles and then one year they led the league hit by pitches and they're on base percentage and they may have taken steroids. You're not really sure. No, No, I mean, Lebron's been great day one, first game ever. Cavalier in Sacramento great, and he's great last night. I mean, like Michael Jordan in DC. I mean, if you really. Remember I've always said the best thirty for thirty that was never made. The documentary is the Michael Jordan Wizard years. His teammates couldn't stand him. The team was awful. I saw him play twice live. Michael was good once, not so good another time. But I mean Michael was like like like at the end, it was like going to watch your favorite classic rock band at a state fair. Oh my god, you guys, Blue Oyster, colt Oreo Speedwagon this week an original basis, Wow Wow. When Lebron is U two at the Sphere in Vegas, seven hundred bucks a ticket, standing room only. Again, it's completely different. They don't compare. It's Coofax's Verlander. A lot of things are fun and boutique and amazing, and they make good movies. Look he's doing here is silly. I mean just it's it's you know, I remember years ago when people were saying Aaron Rodgers better than Brady, and maybe his best year was and maybe for a two to three year stretch, Aaron threw a prettier ball. But you can't compare the two. It's two different careers. One guy has a trophy room, not a trophy here's Lebron after a last night's performance.

For me, I just kept it. I kept a consistent and I wasn't taking ali shots. I stayed in the course at the offense, you know. So my teammates did a great job and continue to find me, you know. And then I just try to dictate the tempo, dictate the game. And it was just a zone that they just can't really describe it. You wish you could stand it forever, but obviously it checks out, you know, as the game hands.

All right, So I'm one of these people. I go to work and then literally when this show is over, Jay McK and I maybe grab a smoothie, wipe the makeup off, and we're out the door in five minutes. I really do appreciate that we have excellent coffee machines, and the Murdoch families put a lot of money into the facility, and it's nice, there's no question. But I'm here to work. They pay me to work. Come in six am, grind, go on at nine Pacific, done at noon, smoothie, out the door. That's what I'm paid to do. I can appreciate facilities, but I saw this yesterday. NFL player seventeen hundred voted on teams survey of working conditions, And it is pretty embarrassing that the Commanders are dead last and had the worst NFL owner in my opinion ever in Dan Snyder. And one spot above them is the Kansas City Chiefs. That's kind of embarrassing. And the report called the treatment of families D plus, the food C minus nutritionus F for the Chiefs, locker room F training step F, ownership F minus, team travel D head coach A plus. So they like Andy Reid so Clark Hunt and they are putting I think eight hundred million dollars into the stadium and facilities. He pays his people. His head coach, highest paid coach in the league. His quarterback highest paid quarterback in the league. His defensive coordinator Chris Jones probably will be the highest paid defensive lineman soon. His defensive coordinator top two or three pay in the league, quarterback, general manager, head coach. He pays his people. A lot of owners skimp on that. Struggle with that, but they have beautiful facilities. Miami's owner was the highest graded owner, Steven Ross. Seriously, he's a real estate magnet from New York. Shocker. His Miami real estate is amazing, and he loves to show it off to all his billionaire friends. That's what a lot of owners do. I E. Jerry Jones, look at my facilities. I'd rather you take care of the players and the coaches. I'm sorry, I'm not a big facilities guy. I don't want him to be a dump. But a stadium is a workplace. Facilities are a workplace. The Cowboys have lush facilities, and they've been a soft franchise for twenty five years. Seven of the last ten Super Bowl winners the owners graded a D, so there is absolutely no correlation. In fact, the inverse is closer to the truth that great facilities equal lots of winning. Years ago, when I was a young cub sportscaster with a lot of promise and more hair, all of it brown, I worked in Las Vegas. Mike Tyson was ascending into a superstar. Mike Tyson used to work out at a gym called Johnny Toco's Ringside Jim in Vegas. As there at least once a week. I fell in love with boxing. I'm not sure it had air conditioning. It smelled like the bottom of a boat. It stunk it was hot and muggy. There was top rank Jim. It was shy and beautiful cross town. Mike Tyson liked to train at Johnny Toco's hot, dark, uncomfortable, and gave him an edge. I used to cover Oregon football. They built a new stadium. It got quiet. Old Yankee Stadium intimidated players. New Yankee Stadium has better restaurants. I'm not a facilities guy. I appreciate nice coffee machines. But there's a peach around the corner. All right, Well, Colin, why can't you have everything? Why can't you have it all? Because it's not the NBA. You don't get everything. Average players don't get great money. That's the NBA. You don't get twelve year contracts, that's baseball. The Patriots you got trophies. You didn't get the most money. Now, college facilities are often better than pro facilities because of recruiting. You want to show off to kids. But even and today, if you talk and Texas football, by the way, has the bougiest facilities for the last seven eight years in college football, show me the titles, aren't they a little soft? Cowboys Longhorns, great facilities, bougie a lot of money. Wow, look at us. Where's the toughness in primetime games? I don't know. I think there's a correlation between beautiful, amazing facilities and players feeling good about themselves and the owners showing off. But you don't get it all in the NFL, when you were getting trophies in New England, you had to sacrifice pay Tom Brady did for years. That was the deal. If you want the most money at quarterback, Broncos paid Russell Wilson. How they doing now in Kansas City? Mahomes does get the big money and so does Andy Reid, and both deserve it. But this is not This sport is different. It's not college football, where facilities lure people in. In Green Bay, Aaron Rodgers always got a great offensive line and no chaos. Bet they have cooler facilities in New York with the Jets. How's that working out for you? They've gone cheap on the offensive line. It stinks for plays. He's out, You cross your fingers he doesn't get hurt again this year. I'm sorry, but it's not the NBA. You don't get everything. Average players don't get massive contracts. You don't get guaranteed deals forever. Tom Brady in his prime could have been cut Now Kansas City is adding eight hundred million dollars to it. And listen, not everybody can be Joe lakeab of the Warriors. Those facilities are a cash cow, a revenue machine. But the Bay Area is a lot wealthier than Kansas City. Twenty eight year olds in Silicon Valley are pulling down seven figures, and they'll pay nineteen bucks for a cocktail, in seventeen for a beer, and twelve fifty for pop corn the size of my small coffee cup. It's different. But one of the things I like about the NFL is there's no correlation between that stuff and winning. Seven of the ten last Super Bowl winners. Their owners got d's. But hey, we love our we love our guy in Miami, the real estate magnet showing his facilities off a real estate guy to his friends, Congratulations, I'd take a better ole line in Miami. J mackam all fired up on facilities, and I do we have here at Fox amazing upgrades and coffee machines right now. Verrett Bluestone Lane excellent. But what I like most of all is my staff is twice the size of the former place, which, by the way, I continually lost people because they wouldn't pay him a reasonable salary to produce a radio show and a TV show. They pay the people, they build the staffs, you have support. It's a tea, it's a community. I like that. I have a parking garage, but I'll park across the street for a better staff and people being treated. Years ago, I worked at local news and I'm not gonna name the news director, very fine gentleman. He loved equipment and so our staffing was small, but we had a great helicopter. Oh oh oh, you should have seen our editing bays, but we never had enough people. Our vans were the best in town. Pay the best people. Spags Andy Mahomes Kelsey reat Snead the corner. They're gonna franchise tag him. They're gonna pay McDuffie in two years. Rashi Rice is gonna get it eventually, like they're paying the people. Their scouting department, by the way, is out standing for years and years, like the Cincinnati Bengals, by the way, for years and years. Don't have a general manager. The owner does it. So it the priorities and I everybody's gonna say, why can't you do both? Because nobody gets everything. Kansas City's great, their weather's no good, their summers are hot, their winners are brutal. If you want perfect weather, come to Los Angeles. But the Chargers have been dysfunctional. You don't get everything. You don't get perfect weather. Most pay, best facilities, longest contract, all guaranteed. It doesn't work that way in the NFL. The cap is harder. Do I sound like an old curmudgeon?

No, no, not at all.

I mean if you had, if you kept on, you know, pumping out Michael Jordan as you were earlier, maybe you would.

But uh, I have a reasonable take by you. Yah.

I like a good cafeteria. I'm not gonna lie, and we do, and we have them. The food options here at Foxer yeah, awes.

You see what I eat for lunch. Okay, I don't do breakfast, but.

You literally do on average, a pork loin, garlic, mashed potatoes, and a chef's salad for lunch. During the showy SMOs got a doubt that it rated restaurant downstairs.

Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays and Noone Easter non am Pacific on Fox Sports Radio FS one and the iHeartRadio app.

You know it is it is. I've said this, I always appreciated this, like I think there are certain comps, and I understand the Lebron Michael stuff, but it is weird. It has a Sandy Kofax like justin Verlander field, like Verlander's been great for It's a De Niro Robert Downey Junior, both great won won an Oscar in seventy four and may get another one here in twenty twenty four. Lebron's doing stuff. And I've said this, He's not the best consistent player in the league, but there are nights like last night he's easily the best player on the floor of two really good teams. Did it feel like that one hundred percent?

I mean, Lebron is a transcendent player, and that was a transcendent performance last night. He has never done anything like that before. That's crazy. When Lebron, who is in year twenty one, gets to something he's never even done before, you know, it is a very big deal. So that is just phenomenal what he did last night. Obviously, offensively hitting all those threes was terrific, but the fact that he played great defense. He bother Kawhi on that last shot and when they started doubling him and just kind of made it impossible for him to get to the basket. He had all the right passes to all the right teammates who he had given a ton of confidence too. So you know, I've been saying, it's like the Toby Keith line. You know, I'm not as good as I once was, but I'm as good once as I ever was, right, I mean, that's what Lebron is right now. He cannot be the Lebron of his MVP seasons in Miami every single night for eighty two games plus three months of the playoffs, But man, when he puts it out there, nobody can match in the league what he does on the nights that he is as hot as he.

Is because they have players on the roster. The Clippers that have had Kawhy's had some great postseasons. But Paul George, I think, to some degree unfairly has been criticized for his playoff performances. I think he's better than people think. Yeah, James Harden has run out of gas. Westbrook's been very hot and cold. Nobody necessarily myself included trusts the Clippers in the postseason is last night in indictment. Is there anything you watch and think, man, that felt like a playoff game at the end and they didn't have it.

I don't think so. I'm not spinning out a much larger judgment. Look, nobody should be up twenty one points in the fourth quarter and lose, no matter who you have out on the floor. But you do have to remember two of their five starters were out right, and Paul George in particular, he is a backbone of that team. He is a plus player in every game, not even by a little bit, and twenty one points is not what it used to be. In the last few years alone, the Clippers themselves have been down more than thirty points and come back to win games, and other teams around the league have done it too, So you can't look at this and be like, man, they can't handle anything anymore. But I do worry about the Clippers handling length. There are some other big teams in the Western Conference Dennesoda, Denver and the Lakers with Ad and Lebron, and I just think that this would have been a good win for them, especially without Zoo but it didn't happen. They didn't have Zubuch. I mean, we'll have to see what happens, but they do have to figure out that how to play length problem before they get to the playoffs.

One of the things I've always I've always liked players like Drew Holliday because we talk about stars and mobility in the NBA a lot, But the truth is Lebron's been mobile and successful. Kd's moved around probably should have never left the Warriors. We also talk about stars, a lot of.

Poor should have gone to the next I'm just going to keep thinking that drum.

But there's also players in this league that are wildly valuable and they don't get discussed a lot. So really, one key player changed the Bucks in Celtics, Drew Holiday. Milwaukee is not close to the same team, and Boston looks like, I mean, significantly better than the rest. I think the Celtics are much better than the rest of the East than even Denver is against the West. I think there are teams that could give Denver. I don't think anybody plays with Boston. The Milwaukee situation, they had a coach with a winning record, they got rid of him, like the doc thing. I know ESPN was unhappy he just jettisoned them. What do you make of Milwaukee and Boston? Now? Is it a Drew Holiday thing? Should we be worried in Milwaukee? I mean Giannis Rachel, he's gotten a little westernized. He was such a nice kid. Now he talks about get me this, fire this. If Milwaukee is a one and done, is Yannis there?

I mean, look, you don't win anything in professional sports by being nice. So I have no problem with Giannis knowing what he wants, asking for what he wants. That is the modern MBA. And look, I personally would not have fired Adrian Griffin with that record. Yeah, but we all know that playoff wins are different than regular season wins. And if they felt within that organization, if in the locker room among the players, they felt this guy is not a playoff coach, and we are trying for the finals. We are not trying to have a nice showing in the second round. That is I assume why they felt they needed to make a change. And we've seen so many teams right who are good regular season teams and then they just cannot handle a playoff environment. I am curious to see if the Bucks turn into sort of the opposite. They have Damian Lillard, they have Jannis and to Kompo, they have other good and in Doc Rivers. Obviously, everyone has talked about his record in seven game series, et cetera, et cetera. But he is a championship coach who is won of title. He's one big games and a lot of really hardcore playoff situations. And I'm curious to see if when the rosters are sure, you know, the bench is shortened and all the other stuff, whether that team performs better in the postseason than we have seen so far. But I will say I agree with you on the Celtics. No matter how much better than Milwaukee Bucks get. The Celtics are so clearly the class of not just the conference, but you.

Can watch them on any given night they went, they go to Philadelphia. Now obviously Embiid's not there, but when you watch them on a consistent basis against Eastern teams.

They just destroy everyone. So with Boston, to me, the question isn't really are they coming out of the East. Anything can happen. And the people in Milwaukee, I mean in Miami right now, I hear you screaming at their televisions.

But wait, there's us.

Never forget us.

We've beaten Boston a couple times when accounts in the playoffs. But I really think the question for them is can they beat a Denver let's say, if that's who they match up with the finals, and those are the most likely teams to get there, and I just I don't know. I think for the Celtics it's not championship or bust, because obviously they're a young team. If they don't win this year, they're gonna be able to come back next year. I do think for the psyche of that Boston team, absolutely great.

They lost to the.

Warriors in the finals in a series the.

Fan game, they had control, yes, and they got dogged at home.

And then even that series against the Heat last year, and again no disrespect to Miami because that team we've seen just comes alive in the postseason, but they should have. Boston should have won that series and the fact that they didn't, So if they do make it to the finals again this year, I think for their sort of mental.

Who are we what can we be?

Are we a championship group? They kind of need to win this year otherwise, I wonder if they'll do a little tinkering over the summer.

Yeah, that's what I feel as well. So New York tonight plays Golden State Warriors are a fascinating team. Usually after a dynasty Michael Jordan's team, the Heatles, you kind of bought them out for a few years. They have kind of pivoted. They hit them a draft pick, kind of the next Clay Cominga's Pop Chris paul Back. They're actually really Draymond has been great. Wiggins, who was bad early now has found his role in his groove. So I like Golden State tonight in that game as somebody that is a nick fan. I thought they would now they've had injuries to Julius Randall, but I do feel it's pretty obvious when you watch them and you see a Denver or even a Lakers or a Golden State or you see a Boston, I feel like they're missing a piece, an offensive piece. Were you surprised they didn't make a move at the deadline.

I wasn't only in that there wasn't something out there that felt like to me, oh my god, we have to have this. I think the og In Andobi move, which was what a week and a half before the deadline, or or two weeks before the deadline, whatever it was was their deadline move. I think that they have more to do, though I agree with you they have a missing piece to be a championship level team.

Fortunately, they have the assets to do that.

So whether it's this summer, whether it's before an next year's trade deadline, expect them to do something big and I expect it to make a big impact.

So finally, I think Victor Webbin Yama is fascinating. I'm old school, so fine, Yeah, there's a little sambuie. It's you know these guys now, these European players come down the wing at seven to three, put it on the deck. I mean, it's it's just a whole different ballgame. You can't bottom line is you can't handcheck. So everybody gets to the basket and there's no bigs at the rim because they're all in the perimeter shooting. When you covered him, when you've been at games, what's what's the atmosphere like with you?

Yeah, so I'm just a couple of weeks ago at a game and he is just I mean, people's jaw drop on TV. He looks great, but I promise you in person, it is an entirely different experience. It looks like he can do anything he wants. He was playing against the Lakers, he made Anthony Davis look small.

I mean, Lebron said.

I looked over, and Anthony's looking like, you know, a regular sized person over there. If he played on a better team, I think he would be a strong candidate for defensive the Player of the Year right now as a rookie. And he still has more progress to go, I said. As he entered the league. I said to me, if he is able to stay healthy, he already has displayed he has the drive. If he is able to maintain that, he could be a top ten player of all time. And that is not something you say about guys who haven't played a bounce yet in the NBA. But to me it seemed obvious, and I got to say, nothing has changed my mind.

The last ye from Holmegrin, similar body type. We worry about Wemby, but more Chet home Grin. Will they be pushed around? I heard a lot of scouts say pushed around, But you watch the offensive game of Chet and Wemby and you're like these kids I mean these guys are You're talking seven footers that can put it on the deck and beat you off the dribble. It's insane.

And remember what Yannis looked like as a rookie, right, he's the before and after pictures. I mean, he looks like a totally different body and totally different person. Get Victor Weben Yama in an NBA strength and conditioning program. He's already started to put on some muscle. I expect that to continue.

Rachel Nichols, All right, great Cenia. She got a good one last night as the Lakers came roaring back from a twenty one point deficit, was almost turning it off. People were leaving in Lebron to Lebron. Our two, we go to NFL Combine, which there's a lot of stuff justin fields. My wife said, call it be nice to the Bears. Can you rip another team?

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Hey, I'm Doug Gottlieb.

The podcast is called All Ball. We usually talk all basketball all the time, but it's more about the stories about what made these people love their sport and all the interesting interactions along the way.

We talked to coaches, we talked to players.

We tell you stories.

You download it, you listen to it. I think you like it.

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So I saw this story the Packers. There's a story today that you know. I see this all the time. Everybody in the media wants to pay everybody. Jordan Love has a year left on his deal. Just let him play. I like Jordan Love, I don't love him yet because I don't know. Now I do my hunches. These young receivers and these young tight ends in Green Bay are terrific. They always have good old lines. They draft and develop at a high level. I think he's gonna be really good. I think they found their guy. That's my hunch. But now, every defensive coordinator, as I see this headline today, Packers need designed Jordan Love to an extension. Sooner than later, they're gonna have to pay him either way. I mean, unless you think he's gonna tank. I don't because all those young receivers and tight ends are gonna get better. Lafleur, Aaron Jones. I think they found their guy. Let him play through the rest of the season. Defensive coordinators all have film now, so I think CJ. Stroud may pull back a little, and I like him a lot. Everybody's got film, so I think from weeks three to seventeen there was about a nine to ten, you know, eleven week stretch or whatever. It was probably nine or ten weeks. I think Jordan Love really popped. I think a lot of it's Matt Lafleur. Let's be honest. Not a lot of great defenses in the NFC. The best defenses were Kansas City and Baltimore and Buffalo. A lot of the best teams in the NFC. Even the Niners defense wasn't as good they played in the division. Lions defense stunk, Bears defense was better at the end, but not great. Vikings defense was mediocre. Let's look at the Packers' schedule, Let's see who they play, Let's see the defenses. Everybody's got film, and I you know, Jordan Love. There's two quarterbacks in the NFL that I really want to watch this year. If I had to say here my top ten quarterbacks in the league and I don't know if the order's perfect, but it's somewhere around this. I would put Mahomes one, Josh Allen two. Burrows injuries concerned me, but three Lamar Jackson, who I think is remarkable, hasn't had the playoffs success. Four Matt Stafford five. He can be a tad reckless, but five. Everybody I talked to in the league loves Justin Herbert. Six. I'm a Trevor Lawrence fan, so I'd put him at seven. He was hurt last year, That's why he ran. He was bad. I would put Jared Goff at eight. Most underrated player in the league. You know, I'm a huge fan of Kyler Murray. Aaron Rodgers at ten, bad ole line off an achilles surgery. I think CJ. Stroud's gonna be good. Is it possible now that everybody has film and now he becomes sign of a guy everybody targets. Eleven. Dak Press got at about twelve. And then there's two guys in the league that I think I see a remarkably high ceiling, but I don't know. Jalen Hurts and Jordan Love. Three years of Jalen Hurts eh great and last year he was a turnover machine. Is he greater or is it Shane Steiken? I don't know. Is he greater? Is it without Shane Stike? In year one? In three? Jalen Hurts is average. I think he's good, but we may have just seen great coach, perfect fit for Jalen Hurts. I think he'll get in the twelve, and Jordan loves the other player. I think he'll get in the twelve. That division and the NFC does not have great defenses. I mean, what's the best defense in the NFC? Like people were talking about Dallas's defense. It got destroyed by Green Bay and destroyed by San Francisco. What about San Francisco's defense? Kyle Shanahan had to fire the defensive coordinator. How great was it? So I just my take is everybody's in a rush to pay everybody. Jordan Love's got a year left. They're gonna have to pay him either way. But let's let's let's give me about seven to eight more games. Let me see against the best teams. And I feel those same way with Jalen Hurts. With brock Perty, I think I've seen the ceiling. It's pretty good. But I think Jordan Love and Jalen Hurts. I've seen like wow, stuff like whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa whoa. That's top six to seven stuff in the league. But with Jalen Hurts after this turnover pleg season, he didn't look very good from the pocket. Greg co Sell talked about it. He didn't look very good from the pocket. Now, I know you're saying to h I have Tua right outside the top twelve. I don't think Tua can throw the ball down the field when it gets windy or wet. I think everybody on my list beyond Tua can. So I don't see a special athlete with Tua. I don't see a big arm with Tua. I watched him in Kansas City when it was windy. He could not throw the ball down the field. I think Tua's more about the weapons and the coach than Tua. He's fine, I get it. Here's the other thing I saw today. This was interesting. So seventeen hundred players voted. Seventeen hundred players in the NFL voted on They gave grades to owners and facilities and coaches and blah blah blah. So what was interesting is how good the grades were by NFL players for the coaches. So three coaches got an A plus, Andy Reid, Kevin Stefanski, Dan Campbell, nine coaches, including Frank Reich, got an A. Seven got an A minus. So sixty five percent of the players in the league there were only three head coaches worse than a B minus. Now, think about that. For some reason, I don't necessarily know why, never really thought about it, but this did kind of make me think about it this morning. Are football players conditioned to like their coach? Because NBA guys, all they do is blame their coach. Steve Kerr best coach in the league. Maybe he and Kadi at odds. Eric Spoulstra, maybe he's the best coach in the league. He and Lebron at odds. Pop maybe he's the best coach in the league. He and Kawhi were at odds. Kyrie once said Irving, I don't even need a coach. Basketball culture is different. If you don't get your shots, you don't like the coach. Adrian Griffin was thirty and thirteen in Milwaukee and they let him go. David Blatt in Cleveland, thirty and eleven, number one seed. Lebron didn't like him fired Doc River. He won almost twice as many games as he lost. The Bucks were the number one seed last season. They fired Budenholden Budenholzer in the off season. Dwayne Casey was head coach of the year head coach of the Year in Toronto. They fired him in the off season. One year so. I mean, yet, in the NFL only three coaches with seventeen hundred players, three were worse than a B minus B minus pretty good grade. So in Chicago Matt eberflus is ten and twenty four star receiver DJ Moore, I want that guy back. So it's just different. The basketball culture is I get my shots and looks or blame the coach for some reason. I don't know what it is. Football players tend to be more conditioned to like their coach. And what's interesting is that basketball coaches in the NBA virtually never yell at players. That's a no note. Coaches bark at players, and yet that tough coaching draws them closer. Isn't that interesting? I mean, football coaches use volume all the time. You're watching this Dynasty on Apple TV. I mean, Belichick dog cusses star players constantly. Andy Reid is known as the last NFL coach that practices hard. They practice in that summer heat hard in Kansas City. They keep the shells on. They hit. Andy barks. Players bark back at Andy. Reid Mahomes has barked in him. Travis Kelsey's barked at him. People bark at Andy. He barks back. He got an A plus. NBA coaches coddle players. Maybe they shouldn't. It is interesting, right, It's the tough love thing. If a coach barks, at least he shows he cares. But football, which is all over the land, college, pro, high school bark loud volume. Football players love their coaches. Basketball stars can't stand theirs. Number one Seeds fired, coach of the year fired. Look at Milwaukee, now they had a coach, they were winning, they got rid of him. It's weird, right, It's different.

Well, I think the majority of NBA rosters make more than the coach. In the NFL, you know, massive rosters. Not that many guys make more money than the coach. So the coach feels like I'm bigger than everyone. You know.

I mean, Matt Stafford and Aaron Donald and the Cooper Cup all make more than McVeigh and they all love mcvack.

Come on, those are like superstars.

Bill Kittle makes more, Christian McCaffrey makes.

Dog cussing guy Bill Belichick.

Well, I mean it lasted. Gronk and Brady and Edelman and these guys were making more than Bill in their.

Primestleman did sit here and say Bill did not want to pay him, and like you know, he Bill, when you win multiple Super bowl he also all the shot you can do whatever.

He sits on this couch and still calls him coach. Football coaches bark you don't get the money you want in football. You have to hit in practice, you have to play hurt. Football coaches demand a lot from their players, and yet players love them. You find me an NBA coach barking at a player holding him accountable. It's very rare, ye like eggshells constantly as.

The Lakers, who's he going to bark at?

What has Darvin Ham done as a coach? Warrant that Anthony Davis or Austin Reeves.

Okay, you say that, what is he proven? Well, Dan Campbell got fired in Atlanta? What is he proven? You don't think he's gonna bark during camp at Washington Commanders. Why do you have to prove yourself? I mean dan Quinn, excuse me, dan Quinn's gonna put dan Quinn Bark's way. He went to a super Bowl with the Falcons and fired. I know, but he went to a super Bowl. But you're saying that, what is Darvin ham dumb? Every coach in the NFL barks at players, and they don't all have super bowls, they don't all have massive resume. It's a different could. I don't know what the answer is, but in football there's a I mean, Randy Reid's a barker and they bark back and forth at each other. They love Andy Reid. Mike Tomlin suffers no fools in Pittsburgh. He calls his guys out and they love him.

Well, nobody, Mike Tomlin's bulletproof. You say anything to him. He's like, I've never had a losing record.

Well next, Mike Rabels players, Sean Payton's you say what you want about Russell Wilson. Saints players loved him. He is loud. Football coaches, whether you have a whether you have a great resume or not, they bark.

I just I'm me a guy, without a great resume. Who barks and gets away with it isn't fired in two or three years. Like Sala was a big volume guy on the forty nine er sideline.

Remember a fiery.

I don't want to say he's been neutered with the Jets, but you don't see a lot of that fire like you used to in San France.

You can't when you're like winning four or five six games a year.

It doesn't matter if you yell or not. If you win four games a year, you're fired that that yelling has nothing to do with it. You can't eber Fluse if he starts out two and five. He's one of the nicest guys in the league. He's gone NFL. You gotta win games. It's not about barking or not barking. Guys bark all the time, Coordinators bark everybody. But you know, I mean, mcvay's not known as that. Shanahan can get surly, Andy Reid can be tough, but football the culture in football is we allow that we're okay with it. Players are good with it. I mean, Brady is a great example. He took it for twenty years now. At the Andy was exhausted, but he never pushed back.

Well, you're winning.

You're winning Super Bowls every third year. It's a big deal. Like, I'll take the barking, we're gonna win titles.

Yeah, what about all the coaches in the NBA number one seeds? They won two Coach of the year fed.

Who was the head coach who won with the Bucks and was already a good Holzer. Yeah, you gotta run off won a title, run on, keep winning. Belichick won for twenty years. I want to see consistent winning. Pat Riley Bark always want.

Titles before kd at Odds, Lebron spolst Odds, Kawhi and and pop. It's a different why one is one of the more interesting ones we've ever seen.

Right, he was injured and Papvitch is like he's running through the five on five in practice. Then he doesn't want to play and they're taking shots because he's upset.

You don't think there's any difference between the cultures.

No, there's definitely a difference.

Find me the last coach of the Year in the NFL, Kevin Stefanski. Would you be surprised if be got fired in two weeks? I would, Yes, I'd be stufing Dwayne Casey, Coach of the Year fired a couple of weeks later. What in the world would we say if Kevin Stefanski got fired. We'd be like, is there something like? Was there some like totally inappropriate something in the front office.

So I guess your NBA is a is a players league, right, Well.

It's been players league forever. But my takeaway is one of the few NBA coaches that is confrontational ty Lou with the Clippers, he's confrontational. Players like him. Why Because he's confrontational. Men respect men who igno passive aggressive doesn't work for most successful guys. You don't like me, yell at me. My boss is mad at me. Yell at me, get in my face. I'll yell at you. Be confrontational. This NBA coaches are passive aggressive, they're quiet. There's leaks. Ty Lou is hard on guys, confrontational. He's really liked. I'm saying there's room for it in the NBA as long as your owners like Listen, he's got a five year deal. I'm not letting go owners. I think cave to players. Adrian Griffin top seed, off to a great start, they cave and literally hire a broadcaster, like, do you think it was going to be great?

The Herd with Colin Cowherd

The Herd with Colin Cowherd is a thought-provoking, opinionated, and topic-driven journey through th 
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