The Herd with Colin CowherdJMac steps in for Colin again to talk about why people are sick and tired of the Chiefs, the Luka Doncic press conference, what to expect from the Lakers and the Mavericks, plus his thoughts on the upcoming Super Bowl.
Guests: Albert Breer, Eddie House
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 noon 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 Cowherd on Fox Sports Radio.
Welcome to the Herd. Jason McIntyre in for yes a sick Colin Cowherd again spoke to the big guy last night. He was feeling all right and feeling better, but probably not good enough to go today, so they went back to the bullpen. Manager came and tapped me on the shoulder. Hey, j Mac, it's time for the show. We need you so I'm ready to rock and roll people. We had a productive morning meeting. I'll pull back the curtain a little bit. I am flying totally solo today as another member of the staff went home sick. We're all battling at folks. Well, this is what we do, you know, long season and we're here to play. We've got some great topics, excellent guests. I'm gonna kind of blow your mind with an NBA take in like seven minutes. But we've got to start, obviously with the NFL. The Super Bowl week is fully upon US media Day or media Night. Sorry was last night in New Orleans. You had a lot of people saying interesting stuff. You guys know how that Super Bowl media night works. It's a big scene. I saw Pete Schrager walking around with the microphone. I saw Jameis Winston working for Fox doing some stuff with our digital side. It was all fun. And I did see one interesting thing from Pat Mahomes that we're going to start the show with. And I want to just talk quickly at large dynasties. Okay, yes, I detested could not stand the Patriots dynasty.
You guys know that.
I'm a Jets fan, but it wasn't just me that didn't like the Patriots. They were disliked around the league, fans everywhere.
Nobody liked them.
Come on, how could you like a franchise that had an ornery coach? You know Bill Belichick? Initially people liked him, right he got run off in Cleveland. He did make the playoffs there, but then he got run off and it was like, ah, Belichick. Oh, this is a great story. Bill Belichick's back. And initially people liked the Patriots. Tom Brady a sixth round pick coming in for the number one pick that drew Bledsoe in his massive contract, and Brady's a great underdog story. People loved the Patriots initially. Then they got dominant. The dynasty started rolling and everybody was out on the Patriots. I can't stand him. And then you toss in Spygate, which was a real thing.
Guys.
You can look it up. You can deny.
Oh, it was no big deal.
Look it up.
The facts are not great in spy Gey.
Then you had to flake Gate, which was probably a little overblown. But at that point, people were so sick of the Patriots that they had become villains. Everybody nationwide rooted against the Patriots.
It was Boston against the.
World, you know. And they kept the dynasty rolling. So enter the Kansas City Chiefs, and last night Patrick Mahomes was asked, hey, man, you guys kind of are the villains now. And I'll get to that in a second, but here's what Mahomes said, addressing the villains label to the Chiefs.
I don't even think it's embracing me in the Villains, we embrace who we are, and now we believe we play the game the right way. We believe that we play with a lot of heart and a lot of passion for the game, and then we win football games. And then winning football games makes you a villain. We're gonna go keep going out there and doing it.
Ah, now, listen, I have been vocal against the Chiefs on this show. I'm not a huge fan of this dynasty. However, I need to be honest with you guys. I'm gonna keep it real. They are a likable team. Andy Reid. Who's more likable than Andy Reid? I mean, he looks like your neighbor. You're going on vacation. You go, hey, Andy, how you doing, buddy? You know he's got this jolly look, the big mustache. Hey, I'm going on vacation. Do you think you could like take out my trash cans and then bring them back in? Oh, yeah, no problem, Jay, I got that. That's how Andy. Those are the vibes he gives off, right, You got you've seen the memes of like the kool Aid Man and Andy Reid. He looks like Santa Claus, who doesn't like Andy Reid. Bill Belichick was this curmudgeon. He was angry at the podium, just unfriendly, not chatty, but wore that ratty hoodie with the holes in it, joked about social media without trying to be funny, never cracked a smile like Andy Reid. Much more likable than Belichick. Now Tom Brady obviously very likable. You know, cool guy. Ladies loved him, you wanted to be friends with him. Same thing with Patrick Mahomes. And listen, I don't follow a ton of athletes on Instagram, but I follow Mahomes. He's a likable dude. He's got a wife, he's got kids. He seems like a normal guy. Right, They're actually likable, So why are they villains? And again, I I'm not calling them villains. I just don't really like their dominance. I'm ready for new teams. But if you watch how they play, they were a fun, good football team. Right, They've got less fun since they lost Tyreek Hill, and they're a little less explosive. Teams started going to the two high safeties to take away the big plays, and then it's death by seven yard Patrick Mahomes scrambles or Isaac Pacheco. Carrey's the reason I'm out on them. And again, okay, this is maybe just me. Is this whole referee thing they get? And again, I'm not saying it's rigged, they do get a lot of calls every pivotal play involving a Chiefs game. Guys, no, lie, You're watching the play ends and you're looking around, where's the flag? Is there a flag?
Oh?
No?
Flag?
Wow?
It just feels like on every pivotal third or fourth down play, somehow it goes the Chief's way. And I know everybody wants to say, hey, they're buttoned up, and guys, every good team is buttoned up. Okay, They've had coaching changes like the rest of the league. At offensive coordinator, they've had guys shuffling on the offensive line, the defense, they've had a lot of changes. And this whole villain labels interesting because I'm gonna be honest with you, if the Eagles pull this off, as I think they will, are the Chiefs still villains or are the only.
Villains that they win? I just think it's good food for thought.
And I thought that was fascinating from Patrick Mahomes last night. All Right, now, I want to pivot to the NBA and this story I'm kind of sort of obsessed with. So not to give you too much of a peak behind the curtain, but our morning meeting, you know, they got all these stories that are percolating. I'll throw out an idea. People will bat around topics. Sometimes they agree, sometimes they don't. This one, Oh man, I love this story. Okay, so we all know that the player empowerment era in the NBA has been going strong for fifteen is years. Quick history note it didn't totally start with Lebron, although it kind of did so Lebron if you go back to I believe it's two thousand and six beats up or maybe two thousand and seven beats the Detroit Pistons in that heroic series where he just goes nuclear, takes them down, gets the young Calves to the finals. He basically, if you look at that Calves roster, he dragged like the equivalent of my men's basketball team to the finals. They get swept by the Spurs, but it was Lebron against the world, and Danny Ainge in Boston saw that and very quickly realized, ain't nobody Lebron.
He's too good. This guy's about to take over the league.
So the Celtics went out and got their own superteam. They built the first super team. Let's bring on Kevin Garnett, we got already got Piers. Let's bring on Ray Allen and they had the superteam. They took down Lebron. So a couple of years later, Lebron's like, shucks, Cavs can't build me a super team. I'm gonna create my own super team. And he did that in Miami, ushering in the player empowerment era, and for about the last fifteen years NBA players around the league, hey, you know what, I kind of want to play with that superstar. Come on over and a owner, I want the Max deal, and then five minutes later, I want out of here. The players controlled the league. They ran everything.
It was.
It was all players teaming up, players calling the shots. The owners are kind of beholding to the superstars. It's a superstar league. A funny thing happened over the weekend. Okay, Luka Doncis got traded and the reaction was universally, who the hell trades Luka Doncic? It can't just be because the GM and Michael Finley is assistant Jim thought that Luca was like, you know, fat and out of shape and didn't want to grind. You gotta run that by the owner, right, you can't just trade Luka Doncic And it really shook up the league. And twenty four hours later, guess what, dearon Fox he got shipped to San Antonio zach Levine, who apparently wasn't gonna get traded anywhere. He goes to Sacramento owners. It's almost like they've had it. They've had it with the player empowerment era. And I'm sure you guys have seen that movie Captain Phillips, right, it has Tom Hanks as he's like, you know, the captain of a cargo liner. It gets overtaken by Somali pirates and at one point in the movie and you could go watch this on YouTube, you know, they're like, who's the captain and Tom Hanks is like, I'm the captain, this is my ship. And this guy goes, no, no, no, look me in my eyes. I'm the captain. Now I'm the captain. It feels like the owners are looking their star players in the eye and saying, no more player empowerment. I'm running the show. This is my show.
I'm the billionaire now and if Luka.
Doncis can get traded, shuck shucked.
Anybody can get traded. Anybody can get traded.
I'll get you to the big name who's starting to percolate now in a second. But I bring up this player empowerment stuff because one of the guys in the morning meeting said something I just totally forgot about. So last year, the Timberwolves go to the conference finals and I get all these guys on social media saying, Jason stop with the Karl Anthony Towns to New York. It's not happening. I've been saying this for like three years. We knew he wanted to go to New York. And this guy made like a friendly bet with me on social media. I bet you he doesn't get traded. Now, they went to the conference finals, and I was like, I'll just stick with my prediction. Even though they went to the conference finals. Folks, do we forget Minnesota was in the conference finals and just traded away their second best player. Now why is that? Well, you could say they're not a great fit, but they went to the conference finals. It's because the owner didn't want to pay that luxury tax that they were going to be in for because Carl Anthony Town's a salary and Gobart and Anthony Edwards, it's like, holy cow, they traded away Carl Anthony Towns And that was kind of glossed over at the time. But Dallas. The real reason that's coming out that they didn't want to pay Luka doncis they traded him. They didn't want pay him three hundred and forty five million because it's tough to build around one guy making that much money. As a side note, NFL owners take note, quarterbacks, they're headed in this direction. You know what's happening. We saw it with Dak Prescott. He got paid. How'd the Mavericks do? Sorry, I had the cowboy the can kun and cowboys as I'm told they're called. Now, how did they do?
So?
Just file that away, NFL. What's happening in the NBA is these owners are like, these salaries are out of control.
We're not winning paying all these guys all the money.
Let's go trade Luka Doncic And I'll wrap up with this because this is the other name that emerged here in the last twenty four hours and that's Kevin Durant. Kevin Durant was in Brooklyn said get me the hell out of here. I'd like to go to Phoenix. Okay, yes, yes, Kevin, we got you. We'll let you go to Phoenix. And Kevin Durant is now sitting in Phoenix. Wait, everybody's waiting for Bradley Beale to get traded, but it doesn't look like it's gonna happen. And as a result, Phoenix sitting tenth in the West, they could miss the playoffs, miss the play in and all of a sudden, we're starting to hear Oh, everybody's calling about Kevin Durant, and you have to if you're the young owner in Phoenix, how do we get better? We might have to trade Kevin Durant. We might have to get off our second best player, because you know what, we can't miss the playoffs and pay a massive luxury tax bill because of the salaries and folks. Unbelievably, Dwayne Wade kind of sort of addressed this this week on the Why podcast. Here's his take on why Luca was traded.
This was billionaire business.
Yes, this was the top, This was this was the last Twitter fifteen years the players have decided, right, what we want to do. This was the owners, the governor's yep, the billionaires, yeah, deciding what they want to do it. So you got the top international player in LA. So the viewership, the the ticket sales, everybody you were Spain, They're all coming into LA.
We know how this.
So I'm looking at the business and I'm like, they hold up, this was an amazing business decision by billionaires. Yes, sure to say this is what I want for now and this is what we need as a league.
You guys remember when Otani went to the Dodgers. They paid all of the money. It was like, oh my god, how can they afford? This kind of worked out well, didn't it. They won the World Series merch sale through the roof, ticket sales spiking. They're printing money now the Dodgers by spending money, And I wonder did the Lakers make this move? Hey, we are set up for the future, but we just got Luca, an international superstar that's going to open a gateway to Europe for US financially. I mean, I don't know if you guys saw the reports. The Dallas Mavericks social media accounts were just hemorrhaging followers tens of thousands. I saw a report hundreds of thousands of followers. I don't know if it's official. They lost a lot of followers because they're out on They traded Luca and Dwayne Wade is totally onto something here. This was a great business move. And coming up next here on the Herd, I will tell you the next big NBA star on the move. I don't think you're gonna know Kevin Durant of the mix, but there are a couple others. Keep an eye out. That's next year on the Herd.
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays and Noone Eastern not Am Pacific on Fox Sports Radio FS one and the iHeartRadio app.
Welcome back.
We've got Albert Breer stopping by in about fifteen to twenty minutes. Albert Brier, really good guy, really plugged in. I think he's already in New Orleans at the Super Bowl. I'm sure he'll offer us some great stuff from last night at Super Bowl menight, which looked like a big time party down in New Orleans. All right, let's quickly go back to the NBA. Anthony Edwards is a young ascending star. I know this is probably the first time in the show's history we've actually mentioned the Timberwolves twice in the first hour. But Anthony Edwards, I thought he would be taken over the league. There's a new book coming out on him shortly. Anthony Edwards took the Timberwolves to the conference finals last year. It appeared to be one of these like face of the league guys, very likable individual, dunking machine scorer. Everything about Anthony Edwards is awesome, But a weird thing starting to happen again. This Luka Doncis trade really shook everybody up, and this idea that nobody's safe and owners have the power and they can move off anybody. Well, Anthony Edwards saw what happened with Luka Doncics and he talked to the media about it last night.
They say that none of it.
Nobody knew about the trade. Yeah, so that's crazy. At twenty five, they traded probably the best score in the NBA at twenty five, he didn't know about it. So there's a lot more digging somebody got to do to find out why you got traded, because you don't just trade him at twenty five he just went to the finals. You know what I'm saying, everybody three, everybody get yeah, I'm scared.
Yeah, I'm scared.
Tim, Hey, if you're gonna trade me, let me know.
Dog, when Luca got traded, anybody is able to trade at that point.
I'm scared. I like that, and that's it feels.
It felt authentic from Anthony Edwards, like I'm sure he's joking, ha ha ha. You know one of those deals.
Are you looking over your shoulder a little bit?
Listen, if you could trade Luka Doncic, why wouldn't you trade Anthony Edwards? Now, obviously Anthony Edwards is a foundational piece in Minnesota. I would say there's zero point zero percent chance of him getting moved, But post Luca, maybe you got to add like a point zero zero one chance, which brings me. By the way Luca's meeting with the media, I think like right now out here in LA they're doing the press conference. We'll have sound as soon as the good stuff comes out. But it got me thinking like who else could be moved this week? What else is happening around the league? And I touched on Kevin Durant earlier. We got like forty eight hours left. Folks, Kevin Durant would not surprise me at all if he got shipped. The interesting team is the Golden State Warriors. And I know some people are like, come on, they're not going to do that again. Listen, the Warriors needed Kevin Durant when they got him in twenty sixteen.
I don't care. I hear so many just goofballs.
Oh they didn't need him. They won seventy three games. Hello. They lost in the finals to Lebron and Kyrie. They lost after being up three to win. They lost the series. They needed Kevin Durant. And it's not like Kevin Durant came on to the Warriors and was like, you know, riding shotgun. He was the MVP of the Finals two years in a row. He was the best player on the best team in for my money, in NBA history. Of course, the Warriors needed him. Well, you know who else needs him right now? The Golden State Warriors. I'm looking at the standings. Oh, look at that, Golden State is eleventh in the West. Steph Curry thirty six turns thirty seven later this year. Come on, guys, are we really gonna waste the prime final prime years of Steph Curry. We saw what he did in August at the Olympics. For my money, that was the greatest sports moment in twenty twenty four, Like Steph Curry putting everybody asleep with the unbelievable finish at the Olympics.
Spectacular.
And now he's gonna miss the freaking playoffs? What there are eleventh in the West. Jimmy Butler said he doesn't want to go there because he's not gonna sign long term. Which brings me to Kevin Durant. Why wouldn't the Warriors say, Hey, how do we get Kevin Durant? I was reading you guys know, Brian Winhorse covers the league, probably one of the best plugged in reporters out there. He used to joke, if you have a three team trade idea, you have a no team trade idea, because it's so difficult to make him work. And now he's reversed course and said, geez, with all these new salaries. I mean, the Utah Jazz got in on that Luka Donci's trade. They didn't even know about it until thirty minutes before. Hey, Jazz, by the way, you guys are taking this in the deal. You don't have to do anything. You just take this. Okay, we'll take more picks. Sure, And it's like, why couldn't you figure out a way if you're Golden State to pry Kevin Durant away? And now the question becomes with Kevin Durant want to Golden Golden State and does he have a choice. Hey, KD, you're with the Sons, they are currently tenth in the West. You're going to the Warriors, who are eleventh in the West. Why not? I mean, if you're the owner of the Phoenix Suns and you've got to make the playoffs and you've got to do something you can't stand pat nobody takes Brad Beal. Why wouldn't you move off KD and get Jimmy Butler, who's a tougher defender, more of a leader. No disrespect, KD. You know I'm a fan. I don't need KD.
Coming after me.
Yes, I'll tag him when I post this video that Wes clips off. But don't come back, Katie. I still think you can help the Warriors. I don't think y'all will winning a title. I don't know that you'd want to go back and play with Draymond Green, who was kind of a jerk to you many moons ago, and you know, sucker punch Jordan Poole and I don't know that you want to go there. But do the Warriors have anything that the heat would want? Kuminga pods like it becomes very difficult. But if I'm a Warriors, I'm working the phones and I'm gonna toss this other name, two other names in there, so number one and Anthon. You just heard Anthony Edward say nobody's safe. I'm just gonna mention him. Yannis and Milwaukee. The Bucks currently are fifth in the East. The Damian Lillard thing, we've given it a while. I don't know that it's working. I just don't. I don't know what the future holds for Dame in Milwaukee. Ain't nobody taken on Dame's contract. That's just not happening.
You can't.
It's like not quite Bradley be Old bad. But you know, Dame's a better player now than Beille. But it becomes a little owners And if you're the ownership group and you're looking around, like geez, we don't have a path to success. Middleton keeps getting injured do we just Hey, we got a title with Yannest, do we just start over? And I know it sounds stupid, but look what the Mavericks just did with Luca. Now janis obviously less of an issue fitness wise, allegedly. I'm not calling Luca fat or anything, but that's it's become clear that Mavericks shipped him for two reasons and out of shape and reluctance to work as one of them. There's none of that with Yannis. But you have to wonder, do the Bucks consider shucks, Maybe we move on from Yannis and start over and it's too late to get in the Cooper Flag sweepstakes. But it's like, I don't know. And again, I know you guys are listening, like, come on, they're not trading honest. Look around the league. Towns went to the conference finals. They shipped him, Luca went to the finals traded like things are happening. The other name I'll put out there, and his name has been out in the past, including for the Beers, although that's not happening now, is Trey Young. Trey Young a guy who hit this league like something of a comet. Remember he was taking the Hawks to the playoffs, took down the Knicks, and MSG took down Embiid and the Sixers.
Do you guys remember that?
Okay?
That was yes?
I know that Ben Simmons pass whatever and Beable was on the court at seven turnovers game seven. I don't want to hear it. And now the Hawks, by the way, are ninth in the East. They lost their budding star Jalen Johnson for the season, and if you look at that roster, they're playing dudes that and you guys know, I'm a big college basketball nerd. I don't know some of these guys on their roster, and it's like they might miss the playoffs. What's the point? And again, you know, I don't know what the market is for a small point guard like Trey Young, who really I know, he's leading the league and assists and Barkley and Shack love him. Now weird, the Hawks stink and they love Trey Young. Does Trey Young have a market? I don't know, but I think the Hawks have to ask themselves what are we doing with Trey Young. We're not a playoff team anymore, We're maybe a play in team. He's not our foundational piece. Jalen Johnson is do we reconfigure around a guy and just shoot for.
The moon next year and we move on from Trey Young.
I would keep an eye on Trey Young.
I would keep an.
Eye on Giannis. And to go back to Jimmy Butler real quick, we have some sound from Kevin Garnett. People are fired up about this Butler thing because I do believe it is kind of the end of the player empowerment era, and Jimmy Butler's kind of, you know, thinking he's still got power and he's got no juice and it's like failing miserably. The heat keeps suspending him. Here's Kevin Garnett on the Jimmy Butler situation.
When you step out of being professionally, did you step out of not you know, to your oath and holding up your inn and the bargain or you open up all this right here, bro, This is how non guarantees are going to come into our league right here, for like this, We've faught our ass off through five and system blockouts to get to a poet is no where we protect the integrity of the talent, and then that talent has a responsibility to be professional coming here and do your job.
We came here, we did our jobs, you got paid and you went home.
You go home.
As soon as you get opportunity to change that, you change it.
M Kevin Garnett very fired up about that, and listen, I have been a huge Jimmy Butler fan essentially for the last like ten years. His story is incredible. You know, had a rough family upbringing, no real offers out of high school, had to go to Juco route, ends up at Marquette, I think to sign with Marquette, he had to go to like a McDonald's to fax his letter of intent. Like it was that kind of situation for Butler basically does nothing and then kind of pops, you know, falls in the draft a little bit and just works his way up from benchwarmer in Chicago to legitimate All Star. Ends up like just the gritty nature Jimmy Butler carrying the Heat to the finals twice.
I know they didn't win.
A chip, but it's like, come on, man, Jimmy Butler is a warrior. I love his style of play. He doesn't take crap from anyone. You know, he's one of these He's like a legit dog. Like if you've got him on your team, You're gonna have a chance because he's Jimmy Butler. You know, there are legendary stories about him in Minnesota when he ran into issues with the front office and he would come into practice and say, I don't want to run with the starters. I'm gonna take these four benchwarmers and we're gonna beat their ass. And he would then go into practice and they would win the scrimmage like this.
Stories are out there.
Jimmy Butler is an absolute dog, and you think everyone would want him, but he's kind of killed his value with these actions in Miami. He thought he had the power, but the players kind of sort of have lost it right.
Coming up next year on The Herd.
Luke got introduced in LA. Wait for what you hear about his departure from Dallas. Oh Boy and Albert, We're live from New Orleans.
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays and noone Easter not a im Pacific.
Hey, Steve Covino and I'm Rich David and together we're Covino and Rich on Fox Sports Radio. You could catch us weekdays from five to seven pm Eastern two to four Pacific on Fox Sports Radio. And of course the iHeartRadio app. Why should you listen to Covino and Rich. We talk about everything life, sports, relationships, what's going on in the world. We have a lot of fun talking about the stories behind the stories in the world of sports and pop culture, stories that well other shows don't seem to have the time to discuss. And the fact that we've been friends for the last twenty years and still work together, I mean that says something, right, So check us out. We like to get you involved too, take your phone calls, chop it up. As they say, I'd say, the most interactive show on Fox Sports Radio, maybe the most interactive show on planetar. Be sure to check out Covino and Rich live on Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio app from five to seven pm Eastern two to four Pacific. And if you miss any of the live show, just search Covino and Rich wherever you get your podcast, and of course on social media that's Covino and Rich.
Back here on the Herd. Albert Brier coming up in a second. But folks, luka Doncitz met the media in Los Angeles? Oh boy, oh wait to hear this. So Luca is very measured. He actually looks slim. I was expecting him to wear black to look skinnier, you know, like because of all the jokes. But Luca just met with the media and uh, oh boy, here's a veiled shot at the MAVs front office from Luka Doncic.
I'm just excited, you know, to be here to start this new journey, journey and obviously, uh, at some point I knew this was going to happen, but I would say, I always take the high road, you know. I had my amazing moments in Dollars with all my teammates, coaches and the most important defense you know, to always supported me, and it was it was an amazing.
Journey, players, coaches, fans. I knew this was gonna happen. Oh gosh, that's delicious. So I found, you know, people put stuff online and this this came from an article that the Mavericks have in August or twenty three, fired their player of health and performance coaching, and then they fired two other strength coaches and a therapist. And the common thread was all those guys were friendly with Luca. I know this sounds losory to say as a guy, but some guys are just cool guys. That everybody likes, you know, and I know people are laughing in the control room. Luca just seems like a cool guy. He's friendly, he's funny. I don't know if you guys have seen some of the clips that the MAVs used to put out of him playing like horse or one on one, Like, everybody.
Likes Luka doncic. Why didn't the front office like him?
That was the issue. They fired the people that liked Luca, right, get them out of the building. Hey, let's get some people who Luca's not tight with. And it's like it's just very ugly in Dallas and him knowing this was gonna happen and saying that, oh, that is not good. I think the clock is if it wasn't already, the clock is ticking on Nico Harrison in Dallas. Hey, by the way, if they missed the playoffs, is either GM next year.
Luca also talked about playing with Lebron.
He's a little excited.
It's just like a dream come shue, you know. I always look up to him. Uh, and there's so many learning There's so many things I can learn from him, and I'm just excited, you know, just to learn everything. You know, I get to play with him, so it's an amazing feeling.
Yeah, very excited. All right, let's get to Albert Breer live from New Orleans the Monday Morning Quarterback dot Com. Brear, what is up? You look like you're where are you chucked in?
Some some like I'm at the No, I'm at the Chiefs Hotel. I'm like outside their access and I'm sure like Dave and the guys in the studio probably aren't happy about this, like light that's coming down on me and washing me out a little bit, but I trust you can help me fight through it.
Jmax.
Yes, yes, yes, so Chiefs. What's the vibe around the team? You're in the hotel? Have you seen Taylor Swift? That's gotta be the first question.
Right, Yeah, I don't think. I don't think Taylor so I'm staying at the Maria. Le might be wrong about that, but I don't think she's staying at the Marriott.
No.
Man, Like, it's like this is a confident group, you know, and they've been here obviously five times and six years now.
That's unprecedented.
You know, you can kind of feel with them where they really know this is a business trip. They know what to expect, and they know the ins and outs of the week and kind of the way everything goes, and so, you know, I think that's their advantage is that they'll be able to take the stage without having to deal with a lot of the unknown that another team might, you know, whether it's the length of warm ups, the length of of the the introductions, a lot of the standing around, you know, during game day.
The halftime show.
They know, you know, how to prepare for every single piece of that, which you know, I know they hope allows them to hit the ground running on Sunday.
Yeah, what do you make of this? A villain's comment from Patrick Mahomes. You know, we don't mind being the villains, will embrace it.
It's weird, Albert.
Like, I don't know that people hate them. I think I think people hate their winning, but people like don't dislike Andy Reid or Patrick Mahomes.
You know, Yeah, I don't think that there's a hatred towards the individual people.
But I do think there's a little bit of that villain thing.
With the way people complain about the officiating, the way I think people have grown a little tired of them, you know, obviously all the conversation Sean Taylor Swift, which and the reality is like, if you count up all the seconds that she's actually on TV during NFL games, is it more than like the owner is.
Of the team. I mean, I probably not.
And I think a lot more people would like to see Taylor Swift than some old rich guy up in the up in the box, you know. So, And I think there's a lot of like those sorts of elements that have existed with every dynasty, you know, the Patriots dealt with it.
You're sitting there in Los Angeles.
There are a lot of people who probably aren't happy about Luca winding up there.
And think there's some sort of conspiracy afoot.
You know.
It's just with teams like this that reach this sort of plateau, you have that element of it and actually think it's good that you embrace the villain role. You know, it's really they're really right about the same point, and they're assent and their dynasty, as the Patriots were.
When they took on the villain role.
And I think really things really turned for the Patriots with Spygate, you know, and two thousand and seven was when they went from sort of being just a really good team that was respected into this like kind of dark operation, you know. And I don't know the Chiefs lover get that level of villain status, but it definitely exists to some degree. And I think it's a smart move for them all to embrace it because you know, as long as Patrick Mahomes and Andy Reid are there now, I think that'll sort of be the way that they're lucked at.
Here's one who's under more pressure in this Super Bowl, Patrick Mahomes or Jalen Hurts. And is there a case to be made for Mahomes because of the pressure of the three people, which they've been talking about for basically a calendar year now, whereas Jalen Hurts is like, I throw the ball eighteen times a game, This is no big deal. I'm carrying my briefcase. There's a business trip. Is there more pressure on Mahomes?
I don't think so. I mean, I think Mahomes. I mean to me, I look at where the Chiefs are and it's sort of your playing with house money, you know what I mean? Like I and I know they don't approach it that way, and I know there's history on the line and everything else. But you know, I think Mahomes has played so well in so many of these settings that if he were to, you know, throw an interception at the end of the game, it's not going to really affect his legacy. Where if you come into this in your jail and hurts you've had, there's gonna be your second opportunity to get there.
I don't think, you know, most people.
Would view you in that top Echelona quarterbacks where Mahomes is at the top or underneath, and you have Josh Allen, Joe Burrow and Lamar Jackson, you know, And.
So I think it's sort of for hers.
This is an opportunity to kind of elevate your legacy, elevate the way that you're looked at, elevate the way your team has looked at. There's a lot on the line, Whereas I think with the Chiefs there's problem a chance to really burnish your legacy with the three peat. But I think the way that history's gonna look at you is sort of already set in stone.
Not to get two x's and o's. But I don't know if it was Hasselbeck or Sanchez yesterday who had a good point, you know, left tackle had been an issue for the Chiefs, so they moved Toney out. He's been great, But for the Eagles you need interior blocking. It's paramount against You know, there are two big horses, Davis and Carter inside. Do you think the Chiefs play a little musical chairs and kick Toony back inside?
Yeah, I J Mack, I'm glad you brought that up because I think that's one of the more underrated pieces of this game and decisions to be made in this game by Andy Reid and Matt Naggie and you know, all the guys who work with the offensive line. That left tackle spot was a revolving door for much of the year, and it was a real problem. It's a credit to Joe Tooney, who's been one of the NFL's ultimate ironman. He's going for his fifth ring here, you know, one two at Brady's won two with Mahomes. For him to be able to do that and sort of stop their revolving door and stabilize, it's been amazing. But you're right to look at it like that. The Eagles have good edge guys, but they don't have a great edge guy.
And they've got Jordan Davis and Jalen Carter inside.
Jalen Carter during the playoffs has been a true game wrecord, like you could argue he really won that game at the end in the divisional round against the Rams and the Snow And so you know, if you take Toney and leave him at left tackle, then left guard becomes a hole and they've got the opportunity to match Jalen Carter up and create a mismatch there, and then you've got to handle that.
So what do you feel more comfortable with.
Do you feel more comfortable with Yanye Morris or DJ Humphreys who has been banged up but has a lot of experience at left tackle handling the edge guys, which you might still be at a disadvantage there.
But a little less so. Or do you feel like you.
Need to put Tuney out of left tackle because that's the mix that's worked and then just help with the guards on the on the on the on the defensive tackles. I think it's a it's a pivotal I think he's a pivotal decision for the Chiefs coaches to make going into this this game, and it'll be interesting to see what they do and maybe it's a mix of both. You know, maybe it's a field thing where they rotate a little bit in the first quarter and then go it's with what's working.
Yeah, I like Nolan Smith on the outside against Morris all Dave for the Eagles.
But let me that's the thing.
So we saw the Buffalo Bills struggle with the toush push badly against the Chiefs. I'm just curious, do you think that was more about what the Chiefs were doing or the Bills are just not very good at it? And I don't It probably won't apply to the Eagles, who are great at it.
No, I think it does apply to the Eagles to some degree where I think Steve Spagnolo his defense is so versatile and he's able to do so many different things with the group of guys that he has. He he said to me last year during the playoffs that this is the smartest group I've ever had. So this was during last year's playoffs, and then as I talked to him this year, he's like, and this.
Group is even smarter than that one.
You know, his point's been like his point, the point he's made to me a few times is like that, you know, He's always.
Had smart guys.
His defense requires having smart guys, but there always be like a few guys out there that are kind of iffy. The difference with these two groups he's had the last two years is that everybody knows what they're doing and what that allows for.
It allows for.
You to do different things to mess with the matchups because you can move guys around and play them in different spots, and they're smart enough to learn all the different spots and the different responsibilities, which allows you to play these situations the way that they were able.
To play them against Buffalo.
Now that said, I think we both know that stopping those short yards plays against the Eagles is a totally different kettle efficient, So I think there's a little bit of a cascading effect here. It's stopping Saquon barklay on first down, and then if you can get them in second and along, that's where you got to stop Jalen Hurts running the ball because generally that's when he runs the ball the most, and that's where he creates those third and shorts, those fourth and shorts to put them in a position to really take advantage of being.
The best team in short yards there is in football.
So I think there's a really cool like element of game within the game there where Yes, the Chiefs are better at those things than a lot of other teams, but they've got to.
Be capable of staying out of them too.
Because if you say, you say you're in four of them, you know, over the course of the game, well it's easier to say, like, let's stop three of those and maybe one gets gets biased. Then it's going to be if you've got a face eight or ten of them.
Yeah, all right, Let's look at the NFL at large. You're as plugged in as anybody talking texting Cooper Cup your best guess at some landing spots, some teams perhaps interested in Cup. And then I'm curious, it's the damage that does to the Rams and Stafford that was his boy on the team.
They were tight.
I wonder if something's a foot with the Rams that maybe we're not aware of yet.
Why are you talking about Stafford maybe moving or yep? Yeah, So I would say with Cup, like just in a vacuum, you know, things have sort of I think turned a little bit over the last year or two to some degree, like he and Pooka are great players, they're a little redundant to one another, and that they're both maybe best inside. Neither guy's a burner, and so you know, you know, when you're building an offense in the way that Sean McVay builds his offense, there's a way of doing it where you want to kind of build their basketball team and have all those guys do different things. And so as great as those two guys are individually, you know, you maybe you look at it the rams and it's like, is it a luxury to have two of them out there?
As for landing spots, I mean, I think, you know.
Cooper would be great with a young quarterback, you know, so could he be like a really good number two for Washington, right, Like imagine him with Terry McLaurin on the other side where he doesn't have to be the number one, and as a security blanket for Jaden Daniels, So maybe Jaden Daniels has to run a little bit less. That's the sort of situation where I think it will be ideal. The same way the Panthers a couple of years ago brought in Adam Dealing to try to be like, okay, like we want to give Bryce young, somebody that he can count on, a smart receiver who can do everything, then Cup can be that guy for a young quarterback. As for Stafford, I think this was really up in the air, Jmac. I mean that contract negotiation with strained last year.
It took. I mean it took the entire offseason to get it done.
They took all the guaranteed money out of twenty twenty five, move money up to twenty twenty four, and created a decision point after this year, and so by the middle of March they got a roster bonus do then they're gonna have to make a decision on what they want to do with.
Matthew Stafford going forward.
And I know this like, if I'm a team like the Pittsburgh Steelers, I'm at least calling right now to see if he's available, because I don't think it's a sure thing that he's back, in part because if he was looking for a market correction last year on his contract, chances are he's gonna be looking for the same sort of market correction again this year. And I'm not sure where the rams appetite is for that when you consider what is there seven or eight or nine quarterbacks making over fifty million dollars per year.
Right now, all right, we got a minute left. Miles Garrett. I floated Washington and the Rams as options, just guessing. How about you? Any any teams for Miles Garrett? Detroit, Yes, Detroit with Hutchison, anyone else?
I love Detroit.
I just liked the idea of look like, they've had so much positive momentum the last couple of years, right like, and everything's gone so right for them the last two years, and then they have the shocking loss of the Commanders and they lose a half dozen coaches.
Both their coordinators are gone.
It sort of feels like some of the momentum has gone the other way for them. So they have Aiden Hutchinson coming back off the injury. They're gonna pay Aiden Hutchinson, what better way to kind of make sure that he has some runway and coming back off the injury and the defense has a real strength to build off of. Then you get Aiden Hutchinson back from injury, you'll have a lame McNeil coming back from injury. And then oh, by the way, you've got Miles Garrett out there. The key for me with Miles Garrett is he's got to match up with your timeline, you know what I'm saying. So it's twenty nine years old, and you have to be a team that's in a position where you can say, over the next two years or so, we need to be in position to compete for a championship, or we risk by the time we get there, maybe this guy is starting to go downhill a little bit. The Troic is the perfect team for that, the choice right in the championship window. They've got cap space, their rosters loaded. There may not be five or six rookies that make their team next year, so their draft picks are a little bit more expendable. I love the idea of having Aiden Hutchinson and Miles Garrett opposite each other. Maybe it's sort of the same way Denver had Von Milburn and Aging DeMarcus square on the other side about a decade ago.
Albert Breer Monday Morning Quarterback. Great stuff, Thank you, Albert. We are back after this one.
More Heard. 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.
Any house who I think at sixty one and in either a college or NBA game, he could get buckets. But you guys know, I love hoops. I was trying to show out for Paul Pierce, who's on a show later today. He started a pickup game out here in LA. And yes, I'm trying to crowbar my way into that bad boy because I love hoops. And last night one of the producers said, hey, what about a top ten duo list in the NBA for tomorrow. I was like, oh, hell, yes, I bang that bad boy out quickly. And then I forgot a couple of people, so we had to readjust the list. So here we go. We'll go Eddie House in like five minutes. But first, the top ten duos of the NBA today as of right now.
Now.
Listen, some people got left out, and don't be upset. There's a lot of movement in the league. I know one pairing people are gonna be ticked off about. But let's get started. Number ten, top ten duos in the league. I'm going with one Benyama and de Aaron Fox site unseen. We haven't even seen them once together. Listen, if you have any NBA list right now, you must have one bin Yama. He's a transformative player. He's a unicorn, he is a plastic man. Whatever you want to call him. He's awesome. He's shooting one legged threes. Did you guys see that? So now you pair him with a great point guard, like dearon Fox? How do you stop that pick and roll? Now it's weird. I'm a big deeron Fox guy, but there is like a negative connotation around his name. You think he's awesome. He's averaging what twenty four and twenty five points per game four the last five years, and then you look up and you're like, oh, he hasn't won a playoff series all NBA once. How good is deeron Fox? I think we're about to find out because he's gonna play with one Bin Yamba. So that's number ten, number nine Donovan Mitchell and Evan Mobley. I don't think that's gonna roll off the tongue of everybody when you guys watch this list. But they are right now number one in the East with a bullet And the only reason they're not higher is because I had some pushback in my own head when I was like, so, who's Donovan Mitchell's wing man? Is it Darius Garland who's having a fantastic season. Is it Jared Allen. I went with Mobley because he is on the come up man, This kid looks good. They finally unlocked playing MOBILEI next to Alan, Mobley's doubt developed something of a three point shots are a real threat. I don't get the whiff that this is like smoking mirrors. This is a hungry team. Donovan Mitchell's a stud. I think Mobley and Mitchell are are the ninth best duo in the NBA. All right, let's get to number eight. Another one sight unseen Kyrie and Ad. Now this is a tricky one because you know both of them are getting up there in age. Both are great, proven number twos. Right, Ad was the number two, second best player to Lebron for many years in LA. They want a title. Kyrie not a great one as we saw in Boston and wherever he was after a Brooklyn he was like the guy who got that team is not a one. Now you put him next to Luca, Oh, Kyrie different player, He's under control, and now you wonder who's the alpha in that locker room. I think that's the big question for Dallas because again I'm not bashing Kyrie, but history says he ain't an Alpha can Ad be that guy. Is he extra motivated because the Lakers shipped him. I think they're gonna be a great duo, will work together. That pick and roll is gonna be fierce. So Kyrie and Ad Number eight. Number seven, bit of a surprise entrant here Jahn Morant, John Morant and Jared Jackson junior Memphis Grizzlies. They're up to number two in the West, and Jared Jackson's having off ridiculously good year, twenty three points a game. He's been out of this world. We know John Morant now under control, cleaned up, is off the court stuff, he's been tremendous. I mean, you look at this pairing. John Morant one of ten players in the league averaging twenty and seven this season. I know people go, oh, what if they won. Listen, they've had some playoff experience. I would not be shocked if the Grizzlies were in the conference finals. They look very, very good. All right, let's get to number six. I wanted to make a case for them higher. They're my guys Brunson and Kat in New York. They it's only been half a season really working together. But Kat seems in a great spot because there's no pressure on him whatsoever. They've got a great team where Josh Hart does all the dirty work. Gosh, I love Josh Hart. Michal Bridges really a three and D guy, and then Kat just slides in and they're not asking too much from him. It's like, play a little bit of defense. You don't have to be a rim protector, just like try on defense. Kat historically has not been a great defender, and now you get a lot of open threes because Jalen Brunson is the man. I like this duo a lot. I wanted to make him higher than six. It's just tough when you see these top five let's get to number five top duos in the NBA. A lot of pushback from one of the guys, SGA and Chet. Now I know j Dubb. Some people are like, how can you not put Jay Dubb on there? Guys, he's a nice player, but Chet Holmgren is clearly the guy if they're gonna go to the finals. Here's SGA dropping somebody on the Bucks last night. I mean, Sga, he's really really good.
I know.
I call him a free throw merchant, and it pisses off all these thunder fans. Well, I should say, not all these thunder fans, like the seventeen thunder fans there are They hate when I say that Sga is really, really good. I still have some reservations about Okace in the playoffs. We'll see, but I like chet Holmger more than a lot of people. We're just seeing a little of him because of the injury. I expect big things from chet and Okac this year. All right, let's get to number four. This one you guys are gonna hate because they have not worked well. Jannis and Dame. It's been about a calendar year. It's not really working. So why the hell are they four?
Well?
Because Jannis is unbelievable. I mean, it's almost like Jokich is so good, Lucas so good. SGA's on the come up. We're forgetting. Jannis is automatic, folks. The numbers for Yannis. This is the highest scoring duo in the NBA at fifty six points per game. The chemistry doc rivers all that stuff's not there yet. But man, if they keep Jannis and yes, if you missed a segment earlier, last hour I would not be shocked if something, you know, Jannis becomes available somehow. But right now they is a deadly duo. I don't know about the Bucks in the postseason, if that makes any sense. Yannis and Dame number four. Now, I know we haven't hit on a certain pairing yet. And you guys are where are they? Where are they?
Here?
They are Jalen Brown and Jason Tatum. Now, this is a Boston team that's stacked. Porzingis right. You got Drew Holliday, I mean, Derek White. Yeah, this team is just so loaded in Boston. But for me, Tatum. You guys know, I've got a big, big Chason Tatum man crush. I would he would get my MVP voter for We're today. I know everybody's say sga or yo kitch. I just think Tatum has been unbelievable. He's an excellent basketball player. Jalen Brown, I know it's a little Lebron Wade ish and they duplicate each other, but I've got them as the third best duo.
Number two.
This one should be obvious. They've done a lot together Jokich and Murray. It is a really formidable duo, especially in the playoffs. Yokich, the Dowe European is just still unstoppable. And Jamal Murray, Jamal playoff Murray is a thing. I know, He's still never been an NBA All Star, has it, I'm sorry, has it played in an All Star game. Murray is just an excellent player, can create his own shot clutch, as Lakers fans very much know. Yeah, Jamal Murray and Jokic, without a doubt, to me, the second best duo in the league.
And here we go.
Number one with a bullet Lebron and Luca. Yeah, oh you know it. You cannot wait. The best player in the NBA for me, Luka, Doncic and Lebron the ageless wonder at forty. I don't think people real he put up a triple double in MSG against the formidable Knicks and he didn't have a d I mean, look at the guy. He's flying through the lane. Lebron is still the man. Wait till Luca comes back from this CAF strain. I've got Luca and Lebron number one. Now, did Harden and Kawhi got bumped? Okay, because you know, we don't know if Kawhi is going to show up next week They're playing great right now, but we don't know what's up with Kawhi and I know people are gonna be upset about KD and Booker. I'll take it up with the Suns fans later. But now we got my main man, Eddie House joining the show. Eddie House, one of the real good shooters from his era, basketball analyst for Fox Sports Radio. Eddie, how we do with my man?
I'm doing good.
How you feeling, man, I'm excellent. There's a lot to talk about, Eddie, and your Celtics sitting pretty. They're doing great. Second in the East. They're fine. But what just happened over the weekend with Luca at traded for ad I need to know where you were when this went down in your immediate reaction.
My immediate reaction was at first, I thought like I was thinking, like Dallas won is trade.
I thought Dallas want to trade, you know, because.
They were getting somebody that they're making a push right now. I don't think that the Lakers roster is constructed to make a push for the conference finals. I don't think that that's how that roster is constructed. So many defensive deficiencies, so many holes on the defensive side of the ball. In the one place too could plug those holes was on the front line with Ad blocking shots and being there rebounding the basketball. Now they're going to have an issue with that. You know, you're gonna be leaning on Jackson Hayes. But then you also got Austin Reeds, who doesn't really play great defense.
You got Luca we all.
Know documented that he doesn't play great defense. And Lebron's defense has been declining, even though he has put possessions together, but for the most part, it's been declining.
So I looked at it and I was like, well, Dallas won because they got.
Ad for three more years. And then on top of the three years, you know, you got Kyrie over there. They got two big men that are solid, lively, he's going to be coming back.
And then also on top of.
That, Ad is going to be happening because he's gonna be able to play the four. So I looked at it in the short term, and then when I started rethinking about it in the long term, I think the Lakers won as well.
You know, so in short short term, Dallas long term.
Lakers because they can replace Lebron James with Luka Danchets, which they always have a super are.
They've never been a team without a superstar.
I don't know how long it's been that they haven't had somebody over there that was a star player. So I think both of the teams won. Is just about what side of the fence that you wan on on the winning side, because Luca could be there for ten years if they don't win the championship?
Did they win that trade?
If Ad and Kyrie is able to go to the conference finals, I would think that you would look at it and say.
Oh, okay, they kind of won that trade.
And if they're able to attract some free agents over there and try to do something again next year.
So okay, That's where I'm at with it.
Don't get me too worked up. Anie. First of all, over under one and a half titles for Luca with the Lakers.
I'm going under Oh my gosh.
Celtics fan says, under, okay, fair enough. Let me just quickly ask you on Dallas, what's your concern level with Kyrie Irving now going back into the role as the number one guy. We saw him in Boston, did not want to work with the young kids we saw him in Brooklyn. Bringing kd there did not work at all, total disaster. Now he cleaned up his act a little bit in Dallas, but that was as a clear number two to Luca. Now you look around the Dallas huddle, who's the leader on that team? And if it's Kyrie. Listen, we've seen him as the number one. It has not gone well historically.
Can I ask you a question, please? Right now? Where are you at? Are you? Are you the number one?
You in the driver seat right now, right because Colin's not there, right? But then any other time you're the number two, right, And it's all about growth, right. And what we can say is that we have seen Kyrie grow over these years, and we could look back and say, man, damn, you know, he messed up the time in Boston. Boston's fans really don't like it because of what.
He did over there. Brooklyn they feel the same way.
But in Dallas, I feel like the Dallas fans love what he's doing. You know, he went to the NBA Finals with him. I don't think that Eveland fans hate Kyrie. I think it's just the little a couple spots that he had a couple of blips in the map to where on the radar, excuse me.
Where you look at it.
He's like, Okay, yeah he could have been he could have had on it better. But he was young, and I think he's mature, you know what I'm saying. And when you have kids, you know this, Jay Mac, when you have kids, you have you mature in a different way. You go from just thinking about yourself to also thinking about like, Okay, I got to make sure I'm good. So they're good, that's the main thing. And I think that he's learned from that, so I'm not worried. I'm not worried. I think they have a good run. I think their roster right now constructed, is better than the roster in LA to make a run into playoffs.
Now.
I don't totally disagree with that. Here's my thing. The maps are actually built Eddie to really play against Okac well and against Denver. This Max Christie. He's not getting talked about, but since he went into the starting lineup, the Lakers are fifteen and eight. I'm not saying he's a lockdown defender, but he's long, he's twitchy. I think he could capably defend SGA and you've got the bigs.
We know.
Okay, C's weakness are the bigs. If Dallas is healthy, I think you're probably right. In the postseason, they can make a run.
That's all I'm trying to say. So at the end, what are we playing for. We're planning to get to the playoffs. And I have a little conspiracy theory. Okay, we just think about this, all right. So Ad waved his eight percent a trade kicker, you know about six million dollars? Okay, cool? Him and Rich Paul, they're all clutch sports. Lebron clutch sports. Maybe they know something that maybe they tipped it to the organization to where, hey, we gotta we got to start trying to figure out who's going to replace Lebron. Lebron might not be there. Here's my conspiracy theory. Lebron possibly ends up in Dallas next year.
So that's kind of spicy because he is still tight with Kyrie. They've talked about being partners. You got me there.
Once the trade happened, I started thinking like, oh, this could be a move for him to slide over there.
He plays.
Think about they still have Klayton Thompson over there, They'll have Kyrie over there.
They'll have Anthony Davis. Lebron doesn't need the money.
So he could play on a h he's not gonna get short changed now, but he's not gonna get a max deal or anything like that.
And they had the money to give a max deal to Luka Dacic. Now they look like, oh, we could give Lebron.
Oh okay, so now they can put something together and then you could piece the ancillary players around that, that that core of players right there, and they make a run for one or two years, because that's probably all that's gonna be really left for for that type of run. But that was just something that I that I came up with in my head.
I was like, man, that's kind of son.
He did.
He didn't get that trade kicker.
Yeah, so does he bring.
I don't know about all that well.
I mean, I don't know if Lebron's gone. I don't know if Bronni's still on the roster. Crazy stat from our team here, Dalton connect is twenty four, Lucas twenty five. Like that to me is kind of mind blowing. Stuff like that. That's how young Luca is and totally dominant. I am curious with you. You said the Lakers always magically end up with superstars, and you're not wrong, Magic Jabbar, Shaq, Kobe on down the list. Are you one of these guys who thinks maybe the league likes that? You know, way, Look, we got Los Angeles, we need a good team. The team in New York is finally good. Chicago's been down for two decades. We meet like Unlike the NFL, the NBA needs the big markets to have good teams. Are you alluding to something there?
No, I'm not saying that because think about it. Okay, see, he's not a big market. They got a damn good team, and they got a superstar over there as Shay gild just Alexander Kay Cunningham. Detroit is not a huge market, but they got a solid team over there, and that damn good player in k Cunningham. But the Lakers, it's just the Lakers.
It's the way that the Lakers operate business.
They constantly have I mean, come on, you're you're in Hollywood, you know you're in LA You're in Tinseltown. You have to have stars because that brings stars to the game, That brings people to the game. Think about this and you say, La, Well, well, damn Ant, the Clippers anti Clippers in Las.
It ain't the same. It ain't the same.
You have to have stars when you're with the Lakers. It's just the way that it's been since I can remember.
So there's some stories starting to emerge that in the Dallas locker room that Luca, despite being well liked, the front office didn't like him, maybe because of his work habits, his diet habits. I'm just curious, did you ever in your time in Boston or anywhere else, Miami, wherever, did you experience like just seeing front office being unhappy with guys like out of shape or not being in condition that were stars and the front office like being really ticked off at them.
No, because most of the guys I played with, pretty much all of the star superstar players I played with, held everybody else accountable by what they did, how they came in.
And it never happened in Miami.
Because you got weight and body fat check every week, you know where it was Monday Tuesday went every single week. You got weight and body fat. You had to be a certain weight in body fat. If you weren't, then you were doing extra running, You were doing extra things that you had to do to make sure you got to that weight and that body percent body fat percentage. But as far as like that's the thing I think if you allow your superstar player, and I think the upper management I don't think that this. I think it's the owners. The new ownership is like, hey, we're not going to allow this to happen, because the thing about it is you can't have your star player come in out of shape everybody else in shape and you don't hold him accountable. That kind of that fractures a locker room. But when you have a superstar player like a Kevin Garnett that comes in and when you walk into the gym right practice is in about an hour you come, you get there an hour before he's already on the court in the full fledh sweat. It makes you start kicking in like, oh, I got to get here a little earlier so I can put in this work. Well, if Luca's coming in and I don't know this for a fact, I don't know at all, but if he's coming in out of shape, I know that he's been coming in out of shape.
That's documented.
But if he comes in with twelve minutes left before practice, is starting then.
I mean that you know that sets a different type.
Of standard, like what kind of leadership are you having, what kind of leadership are you out there presenting?
And how can you be the leader?
We know that you're really good on the court, but it's other things that you have to do to set precedent for the rest of the team.
Yeah, all right, let me last one on the Lakers. Do you think they're done making moves because there's a lot of speculation, Hey, we don't need Austin Reeves. We've got enough ball handle who don't really defend. We need a center. We got to go get a room protector and Nick Claxton, a Miles Turner, and they package the pick they have left Reeves, Ruy, whatever the package is, to go get somebody. You think they get a room protector.
I don't think they're done, Dylan. They definitely have to go get somebody. There's some rem protect them because they have so.
Many holes on the defense.
You know, Luca's not gonna play great defense, Austin Reeve's not gonna play great defense. And also, excuse me, Lebron is up and down with his defense, possession of possession. Sometime you've quartered a quarter a half to half. But what I believe is that they're.
Gonna go out there trying to find somebody.
And like you said, if it's a Knicks Claxton or Miles Turner, I really think Miles Turner would be a good fit for him because he can kind of stretch the floor a little bit, and he could protect the rim, he remounts the basketball. He's a younger guy. Nick Claxton is a younger guy too. But if they do that, does that move the needle? And to me, that doesn't move the needle, that doesn't make them all of a sudden be like, oh yeah, they're contenders. They're gonna have to make another big time deal for a big time player. No disrespect to those guys that I'm talking about, because they all can hoop, you know what I mean.
I'm not disrespecting nobody in the league like that.
But they're going to have to get somebody that could do what Athone Davis does and that's twenty seven and twelve. And maybe you get a couple of guys that are able to put that together to make it work. But what I'm looking at right now, they rostered that ain't it.
Yeah, let me ask jim you've spent time in Miami. What the hell is Jimmy Butler's problem? Like he was such a good soldier, got them the two finals. It's all falling a part. He's getting suspended. He doesn't want to go to Golden State. He only wants to go to Phoenix. I love Jimmy Butler. I don't know what's happening. Man, how do you think this ends?
It's not gonna end good for him, as That's how I'm feeling. Knowing Pat Robby and knowing the business of basketball. When you start, you know, Pat Roddy's the godfather, so people are going to lend they hear more to him than they.
Will listen to Jimmy Butler's agent. Okay, or what's going on?
And the one thing I can say is that this has kind of been a pattern with Jimmy. You know, in every place that he's been to he has usually left disgrundled and upset. He got upset at something. But I think the main thing is that when Pat said he didn't want to trade him, it wasn't the fact that he was trying to tell him you can't go nowhere. I think it was like, no, we want you here. We're not going to trade you because we want you here. We signed you. You got another deal. I want to say, it's fifty one or fifty three million dollars for next year that he could opt into. Okay, we didn't give you extension because we don't see it, and okay, and that's fine, But they gave you a great deal.
You're about to play for fifty million dollars. And I'm not counting.
Nobody pockets looking at nobody pockets or counting nobody money. But what I'm saying is that you have an obligation when you are under contract. And I don't know if you watched any of the heat. When he came back from suspension, he took a one legged three point shot from the corner that he never takes ever. You never seen Jimmy Butler ever take a shot like that. Then he threw the ball on the entry pass straight out of bounds, and then he did had lackluster effort getting back on defense. So now it's showing me you don't really want to be here, and you're a detriment to what we're trying to do. The culture that we have, So I don't think that he helped himself, you know, in the way that he handled this.
Can Jimmy Butler still help a team, Yes he can.
So we'll wrap up with this Eddie. So Luca got traded, and Anthony Edwards was like, man, I'm scared. Nobody's safe. If Luca can get traded, maybe I'm next. Obviously, we don't think Anthony Edwards is getting traded. But I floated two names. Let's start with Kevin Durant in Phoenix. The Sons are like tenth in the West. Jimmy Butler wants to be there. You can't trade Bill. Maybe Kevin Durant get shipped. And the other one. I've been on this for a while. You know, I'm a Steph Curry guy. They're eleventh in the West. They can't pull off a trade for anybody. At some point, do the words say we got to reboot and trade Steph Curry so we can at least maximize his final years. I mean, Keaddy, you saw at the Olympics he was dominant and now he's only eleventh place team in the West.
The league can't have that.
Yeah, you can't trade Steph Curry. Man, that's a guy is I feel.
That he should.
He's one of those guys should be a lifer with that team from where he came from to where they were at when he got there, to where he put him and where they're at right now. And his and his status as a basketball player and not only a basketball player but a pillar of the community as well. Does a lot of work out there in the Bay Area, whether it be in Oakland, whether it be in San Francisco or anywhere else in the Bay Area. He does a lot of work of philanthropists work. And to me, you can't trade him and for Jimmy Butler. No, And if you try again, Jimmy Butler, now think about what you have on your team. You got two guys. You have a Draymond Green that you know could be unstable with times and does great for the team. He's perfect for what they try to do. Then you got Jimmy Butler, who could be you know, a wild card at times as well. So I don't think Steph plays well with that. I think Steph just loves to go out and play hoop and when it's all the other distractions like that's going on right now, I think that that's where it kind of does bothering. And I know Steph is getting a little older, but now he has to be a Golden State warrior for life, all right, unless he doesn't want to be.
Well, that's the Is there a way to politically pull that off? I don We'll see, all right, Eddie House, great stuff, keep up the good work, and you know, hope everything's well with your Your kids who are awesome basketball players.
Appreciate it. Man, take care
