The Herd with Colin CowherdJason McIntyre fills in for Colin after Luka Doncic's return to Dallas since his trade to the Lakers putting up 45 points in a win for LA. He also believes it's time for the Steelers to make a huge change and consider trading one of their franchise players. Plus, NBA insider Ric Bucher joins the show in studio to tell JMac why the Mavs were justified in trading Luka and why the Nuggets made the shocking decision to fire head coach Mike Malone.
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.
Welcome to the Herd on a beautiful Thursday out here in Los Angeles, me Jason McIntyre still in for Colin Coward now.
I haven't talked to.
Him in a couple of days. I don't know the scuba diving, parasailing. I don't know what he's doing in a clear blue water area that I'm not allowed to reveal.
But I'm joined by Alex Curry. Alex is so fired up for today's show. Oh my gosh. Last night was math would have to do you have a date? Last night talking about no Oh Luca, I don't know.
Like Luca like I felt like that was his official arrival in to the Lakers, like best game. He saw the tears, which was I started crying. I was like, oh, no, you did happening. I cry when I see other people crying. I cry at everything, Like I'm a very emotional here.
I actually vomit when I see other people vomiting, which is similar. Yet it's not.
Let's not start to start.
Let's not start the show with vomiting. Let's start with the tears. Because the tears were flowing and then the points were last night in Dallas for Luka donc It's mom man.
You know this is real.
Honestly, guys, I'm not like a starstruck individual, but I did run into Steph Curry a couple of years ago. I was like, Steph, I gotta get a photo. You know, there's only a handful of athletes I do that for, and Luka Doncic is right there at the top. I am so in awe of this guy to watch him crying pregame back in Dallas last night, sitting on the bench, and then he comes in and just starts dropping threes.
Folks.
It was a phenomenal event last night in Dallas. You don't see that often, and I'm so happy for Luka Doncic. You guys know I'm a Laker fan obviously, but watching him watch that tribute video and ps, there was a lot of skinny Luca in that tribute video.
He has pro on some weight, no doubt about it.
We'll get to Nico Harrison and why he traded him shortly, but then Luca.
Just comes out. Look at him cooking, step back three ad How you like that? It was a masterclass from Luca.
Forty five points his I guess you'd say his best game is a Laker. It's only game twenty seven, folks, that's like one third of a regular season with the Lakers. Luca was cooking all night. Lakers get the win, and I believe last night's game was pretty much a blueprint for what we'll see in the playoffs. Luca early set the tone. He's fresh. Nobody can guard him. I'm sorry, even though he's heavier than he used to be, Nobody can guard Luka Doncic.
And then you know, Luca gets his rest.
Lebron comes in late as the closer fourteen for Lebron in the fourth Lakers inch closer to that coveted third seed. And if you look at what Luca did in the first half, he had thirty one points. The MAVs starters at thirty five. Luca was phenomenal, and after the game, here's Luca talking about the tribute video and his return to Dallas.
So many emotions.
When I was watching that video, I was like, there's no way I'm playing this vie.
But you know, all my teammates time my back.
They were really supporting me.
So I really appreciate that, folks.
It was an event like we haven't seen before in sports. Okay, most of these guys who leave their franchises do it willingly, voluntarily. I want out. Lebron departs Cleveland from Miami. I'm taking my talents to South Beach. But when he went back to Cleveland, the vibe was hostile, The environment was tense.
It was like, oh, this could get ugly.
That's not anybody do anything stupid, and it was just like not a great atmosphere.
Okay.
And then Kevin Durant right starts his career in Seattle and then Oklahoma City, and then he decides I'm out. I don't want to be here anymore. And it was a smart move by Lebron to go to Miami. We agree it was a smart move by Kevin Durant to leave OKC for Golden State. Many of you disagree. I think that was a genius move by Kevin Durant. I totally agree with it. I've defended it for years. But when KD went back to Oklahoma City, he was met with venom, bile anger, all the cupcake nonsense started by his frenemie Russell Westbrook.
Folks, this is something we haven't seen before.
Luca was met with an applause the second he walked into the arena. You saw Lakers Luca jerseys on MAVs fans.
It was a crazy setting.
And again, I mean, I can't even think of anything across any sport where we've seen this before. And for Luca to thrive in that environment. After crying, I will say I loved that JJ Reddick had them give the take foul late in the game with about ninety seconds left, just so they could sub out Luca. And then it was a round of applause, right the whole arena standing ovation for Luca. He gets to the bench and Lebron is leading the Luca Luca like Austin Reeves. Lebron the whole bench, they're fired up, standing up, and the arena's backing Luca. This is Dallas it was just a chrus See. We haven't seen that before. I don't know that we'll see one of those again, and we'll get to why shortly. But I want to hear I want you to hear JJ Reddick talk about everything that encompassed Luca going home.
This is great.
The moment with a tribute video and him sitting by himself and getting to actually live that and live in the moment and allowing himself to be vulnerable, and his teammates support. Some of his teammates got emotional, some of the coaches got emotional.
It was a beautiful moment.
I thought the video was great, but I think just his ability to then go perform lights turn on. You know, he's teary eye still as we walk out on the court for the tipball. To have the emotional resolve to then go put on that kind of performance, it's superhuman.
That's a great way. JJ Reddick is so good, by the way, as the Lakers coach.
Love him, and I saw interesting sat from ESPN. Last night was the first time Dirk Novitski attended a Dallas home game since the trade. Okay, he went to Luca's first game with the Lakers, Okay, he's now this is his first game at a Dallas at the Arena since they dealt Luca. What does that tell you? And this is the other angle I want to get to. I talked earlier this week about I'm a risk taker by nature, whether it's moving my family across the country, quitting my job to start a website. You know, obviously I like gambling. I enjoy going to Vegas. I don't know what word I would use to describe my sports gambling habits.
I like prolific, but you know, not every season is winning. I'm a risk.
Taker, and I think a lot of people in this industry are you kind of gotta you put yourself out there. I'm on National TV talking about how I love Steph Curry and Luka Dodgon's Like, this isn't normal behavior, Nor is what Nico Harrison did in Dallas trading Luka Dodgis.
Now.
We drilled down on this in the morning meeting, trying to figure out like a can they rebound from this and be like where do you go from here? If you're Nico Harrison and I started thinking about it. I was gonna have my morning donut, but it didn't show up in the dressing room this morning.
I don't know. I guess they forgot it.
You know, I've been needing some sugar energy to get fired up for the show. Cowherd's on magnesium. I've been using donuts, and I just wonder if Nico Harrison has such a bad spot right now for himself. There were fire Nico champs throughout the arena last night. It's like, Luca, Luca, we love you, Nico Harrison, Fire Nico. And then they have the video of him in the tunnel just standing their stoneface, like, oh.
My gosh, what am I going to do to dig out of this hole?
I don't know that they can get out of it and stop with the Hey, Kyrie is gonna come back from the ACL maybe by the All Star break next year. It's gonna be fine, folks. They've got Kyrie and ad As there as. They're like they're nucleus. Those are two guys who are often injured. They've played together for twenty five minutes, that's it on the court since the.
Trade, and I started to have this moment of.
Clarity and I'm like, wait a minute, Wait a minute, Nico Harrison has been a big swing guy. He took a big swing for Kyrie and it worked when he was opposite Luka Doncic.
Then the next year he goes out and gets PJ. Washington and Daniel.
Gaffert and everybody's like, I don't know about those guys. They haven't done anything.
Those swings worked. Dallas got to the finals.
Then he took a swing he didn't need to, shipping Luca to the Lakers. Lakers fans, by the way, haven't been this excited about a star coming to town since Pauga Sol was gifted to them.
Didn't we get the Statue.
Of Liberty from like Paris or something. Gosh, I probably butchered that, but it felt like that's what they're teams are just handing the Lakers star. Here's Paalga Sol, here's Luka Doncic. And I don't know if Nico has any way out of this. If this morning, I'm sure he's looking at some of the videos. I'm sure he could say I'm not paying attention. There's a video of Mark Cuban when the fire Nico chants are happening. Fans near Mark Cuban have a camera on him, and Mark Cuban's just like, what has happened since I left this organization.
As the owner.
I mean, he looked like an emperor of Rome who would like step down, and now Rome's got this new emperor and it's just not going good at all. I mean, they were in the finals less than a year ago. And I keep coming back to this. When you are a big swing guy by nature, and now your last swing is starting to be compared to the Babe Ruth trade, which is, you know, over the last one hundred years in change in sports, considered the worst trade ever.
Okay, I think the Red Sox were cursed for.
Like one hundred years. You have to sort of wonder, how does he get out of this?
And it's not going to.
Just be Oh, Kyrie's coming back. And I started to look at the salary cap and the draft picks. Dallas does have three draft picks in the first round this year. They're obviously not going to be great picks. But you start to wonder who was Kyrie's guy who followed him to Brooklyn, Kevin Durant, And I wonder if mister big swing Nico Harrison, hey man, we gotta do something. Do you make a move in this offseason for Kevin Durant, Now you could be compounding your mistake. You know, us investors, we love compound interest. Nico Harrison is the gambler who's down big and decides, hey, hey, can.
I get the car the title to my car? Let me toss that in there.
Here's my watch. And he's just trying desperately to dig out of a hole. I wonder if he makes a big swing year and goes after say Kevin Durant, Hey, kd you just want to hoop. We got Kyrie, we got ad Can you come on down. We'll give up everything not bolted down and all the draft picks give us Durant. They need to do something because at this point, this has to be a franchise low for the MAVs since you know the Roy Tarpley days back in the eighties.
That was a mess.
I won't even get into it, but I've always been a Luka Dancich fan. And to see him cry on the bench because they traded him, it's very clear people he did not want to go. I'm not saying he didn't want to go to the Lakers, but he loved it in Dallas.
He was mister Dallas.
There's videos of him with the cowboy hat on Howdy Partner, like he had embraced his new city.
They loved him.
And then one guy or the owner. There's some debate as to who was driving force, but it was pretty clear, like, hey, let's get rid of Luca and I and I get it on some level, he does look heavier than he did in his first three years when he was cooking everybody in the league. But folks, historically, this is going to go down as one of the biggest screw ups in NBA history.
I mean, you could deny it all you want.
If Luca is able to stay healthy, he's on track to be a top ten player all time.
That's just a fact.
If you look at the numbers, he is on track to be a top ten player all time. Now, obviously, will the titles come with him, We'll see. I think they're going to the finals this year. I think the Lakers with Luca Lebron Austin Reeves, they're looking at the number three seed.
And I'm sure you guys saw what else happened around the league last night.
Golden State Warriors lose at the buzzer and now in the play in it's almost like the stars are aligning for Luca and the Lakers.
So Alex, you cried last night.
As a lu I'm an emotional person, and you when you followed that whole trade situation and you saw how heartbroken Luca was and shocked Luca was with the trade situation, you could tell how much it meant to him. And when you see like a big guy, an athlete who is all the media around him allow himself to get that emotional, how do you not get emotional? And it's just it again, like you were just talking about it. It's not an eco, it's the ownership. I have like a way more conspiracy theory like idea to this.
Whole trade situation.
Like it's not like you don't just it's not his weight, it's it's not like his play. He's one of the greatest like futures and players right now in the NBA. Like I think it's ownership and they own casinos and they want to build a casino complex and you're not going.
To be able to do that.
Dallas isn't letting them do.
It right now.
It's not working out, So.
You can't like threaten to move the team or try to get what you want. If you have a championship team and one of the best players in the NBA on your team, like I follow the money like that. That's where my eye is here, Like it's they're not trying to win, like it was trying to do the opposite situation. But just to go off the Lucas situation, there was a really cool stat I saw last night, and he's only the second player with a forty five point game four and against the same team in the NBA season. So it's Wilt Wilt chamber on the other only other player to do that.
The staff just notifi. I mean, we have sound of the fire Nico chance and I get fired up to dans Guys, I don't mind leading a chance on the sideline for my daughter's volleyball team. Here's a fi fire Nico chance from last night.
Dude, that is It's insane.
Do you know how awkward that is when everyone around you knows. Oh man, I'm standing next.
To the dude. Twenty five thousand people are yelling fire the blank.
He was the one who had to make the call and make the move. But there's some debate over that comes from ownership.
And you heard Mark Cuban like when he was asked about it years ago, He's like, you'll find me getting a divorce from my wife before I trade lunt like it's I.
Mean, I get it there. That's why I'm the meeting ownership this morning.
You think the owner was behind it, Yeah, and knows that the owner's smart enough.
He's just a funny guy.
Nico which loves Kyrie loves a D has known them for years.
I don't saying the money guy. They owned casinos. They are one of the richest owners.
They're going to be down to nine figures alex based on According to an ESPN story, their merches down.
The ticket sales are down, and you want.
A casino complex that finest thing that they want.
The sponsors are big matter the bad.
That's like chump change, chump change form.
Gosh, this is bad.
They want to move locations.
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays and Noone Eastern non am Pacific on Fox Sports Radio FS one and the iHeartRadio app.
Back here on the Herd, joined by the great Rick Bucher, Fox Sports NBA analyst. He's been covering the league for since Michael Jordan was a factor.
That's how long it's been. Rick, I've never seen a night.
It's always good to start the show with Shane.
I got some shade of.
Mj not you cos I've never seen a night like that before. Luca crying that dropped forty five. They want to fire the GM. I mean what he wants to ask, do you have Nico's number? Can we call him up?
I do them on the spot.
He's such a coward.
He doesn't want to meet the media once and now he's like just standing down.
I'm not going to pile on Nico one because ownership didn't want to pay the three hundred and forty five million, and he had to be the guy that did the dirty work. And you know, I'm not saying that he didn't on some level agree with the move. But and and it remains to be seen. You know, as dramatic as last night was, as impactful as it was, I will say this, it was it will go down in history as one of the most heart tugging moments in sports history because the trembling lip and the I mean that was it. The close up and the trembling lip and the tears made you realize how much Luca loved being a Dallas Maverick. And to have a great player like that, who's that tied to a franchise. That's that's what people will not forget, and that's what made it so powerful. I don't even know that he had to have a great game, but the fact that he then had forty five and did all the Luca magic things that he does, that's that's what just that buried it for him.
By the way, how was Anthony Davis last night for the MAVs? Huh? How's that trade working out for Dallas?
Why do you say that? With such a bleeve?
I like ad but you know him and play. Thompson had to be like, what do we do to deserve this? No?
Yeah, well you need Kyrie Irving to play the role. I mean, essentially, it's the Warriors without Steph Curry. And then you'd be looking at, you know, Jimmy Butler, going what did I do to deserve this? This isn't what I signed up for. So I think that's part of it. And look, the change between Luca and Anthony Davis. The thing that always bothered me and still bothers me is that we're rewriting this now with him and the Lakers that he you know, he just never became the player that Lebron needed him to be for Lebron to go win another championship.
That's out there, that's being said, like saying that.
That's the suggestion is that he was holding Lebron back offensively and now you see what Lebron is still capable of doing right well, of course, because Luca is a playmaker. Anthony Davis, you know this, this whole we're gonna play through a d and all that, and he's Lebron's gonna take a step back and Ady, he's gonna take a step forward offensively. That was never gonna work. You were asking ad b Ad to be something that he's never been. He is a defensive backbone and he's a great stretch for he can do a great offensive rebounder, but don't ask him to like orchestrate your offense because he's never done that.
It's weird. I don't know who said it. It might have been Broussard, but like.
This, people were saying that Kyrie was the best wingman ever for Lebron or most skilled player maybe, And I'm just like Lebron's never been with a playmaker like this.
Kyrie and Wade were scores. Yeah, you know, Luca's basically just carried the first half.
Luca do everything, and what happens late Lebron fourteen points in the forts because he looks fresh as a daisy and he can attack the rim and get every rebound.
Yeah, and he's not I mean he's playing off the ball, and he's playing off of all the attention that Luca is creating. He gets to be the number two now and take advantage of that. And you got Lebron James, even at forty as your number two, you're in pretty good shape. I mean he's look, he's been around forever. He's he's really smart. I will say this, he deserves tremendous credit. I never I didn't know if Lebron could play off the ball as well as he has. But his ability to move off the ball, ability to catch and shoot, it's been very impressive.
Yeah, you know, Luka Doncics almost become a polarizing figure the way he yells at reps. He was ejected from the OKC game and I kind of did you see him last night? They were sent it to Tech last night. By the way, did you see that right before the game?
I know that's Kitect.
Did you see him during the game last night? He did not say a peep like when he did approach the referees. It was he was almost like whispering. It was yeah, that like this is this is the thing. Look, there's a lot of a lot of the reasons that the Dallas Mavericks decided we didn't want to We don't want to invest in him in the in the for the long term. We're legitimate chronic injuries. Never in shape, like gains weight in the off season, like all of those things. And I and I understand that you go to the finals against Boston and you're harping on the referees and you're not being able to defend at a high level, and you're conditioning, whether that was because of injury or whatever, all of those cost you a championship. And you come back and you're not demonstrably a different player. You're doing all the same things. You're not in shape, you get injured again, you're still harping on the referees. So if you lose a championship because of those things and you don't change. It's like, well, is he ever going to change? But here's the thing. Now that he's had this, oh I'm expendable or I don't rule the roost, like all of this may inspire him to change, but I don't know if it ever would have happened if he had stayed in the Dallas Maverick.
That's fair, I totally get that. But Rick nothing, all.
Those negatives, all that negative stuff you just said, and he still took them to the finals last year.
So it's like, oh, he's overweight. Okay, he still got them to the finals.
But they're not paying him for what he did. They're paying him the three hundred and forty five million for what he's going to do over the next five years. And that's why, as peths look the visuals last night, I'm almost ready to say, no, matter what happens, it's a bad trade because of what we saw last night. But that said, the true measure of whether of just you know, how bad this trade was is going to be determined over the next five years, not last night.
Well, it's always a great selling point. Hey give us five years. Hey, you know these tariffs that we're going to implement it's a long term play. Just be patient. Trust the process has been going for what a decade? Now, this stuff, you can't sell that to NBA fans. Hey, No you can't, No, you can't.
I want answers now. I want to get back to the championship.
Now.
I get that. I get well. And they were hoping that Kyrie, a healthy Kyrie and a d and all the other pieces that they play in there, they'd be able to they'd be able to get that done. Look, I'm not defending it. I'm just explaining the logogic behind it. And you can't forecast injuries. And I know what you're gonna say, Well, with Kyrie and Ad you can yeah, okay.
So okay, so sell me.
If you're with the Mavericks front office, you know, your boys with Nico and then this governor clown, go ahead, sell me. I'm a fan, Hey, patience, give me, give us a few years. Go ahead me let me hear it. That's just I just don't think anything is gonna play Kip.
No, you can't.
You're right, You're right, you're right. But again, it's it's I'm not trying to say the deed is done. They can't sell you on anything. At this point, I would just I'd point to a Joel Embiid, I'd point to a Zion Williamson. I would say, look, there are teams that had players not as good as Luca, But what does it matter if the guy's injured and not available and they load up on him, and then now where are you stuck? You're stuck in purgatory.
Okay, so that's why that's giant Embiid, You're right out of shape constantly, never took a team to the finals. Luca's games played seventy sixty six, sixty five sixty six. That's not like Chop Liver. That would still qualify him for all NBA. He's not missing a full season. I mean, Zion is a mess. I'm sure you saw the latest story.
Look, I'm not making a straight line comparison again to what they've done as opposed to what you're looking at going in the future. Lucas twenty five, twenty six years old. So there's two ways to look at that. One. He's twenty five and twenty six years old, and he's had the same calf injury three times within a year. Not great and missed and missed games.
Right.
The flip side is he's twenty five, twenty six years old. You know what, he's going to mature. He's going to like, he's going to get his act together, and you don't want to miss out when he gets his act.
When did you get your act together? Because I know I didn't until I was like mid thirty. It took me a little while.
Right, I'm right there with the late twenties, early thirties. Okay, but the shelf light we've you know, we've got a little more runway than an NBA player.
All right, So you were on Monday, but we did not cover it.
Mike Malone fired in dewn This NBA sees has been crazy between it has a trade, firing the Memphis coach and now firing the Nuggets coach. It sounds like the GM and the coach hated each other. I'm reading Cold War.
Oh yeah, there's no quest. The problem that Michael Malone had was as a GM texted me the morning it happened. I said, like, what's going on? Taylor Jenkins and now Mike Malone. He goes, when you don't get along with people and you're losing, you put yourself in harm's way, and Mike Malone, in spite of being there for ten years, never really cultivated any He didn't and nobody had his back. He didn't cultivate relationships, So he and Calvin Booth completely at odds from almost the start. And that worked against Mike because the guys that were that were Mike advocates in the locker room. Bruce Brown, I'm told was a Mike Malone guy, KCP was a Mike Malone guy. Like all those guys got moved along. And what happens is your ratio changes. You may have some guys in there that aren't feeling him, but as long as you have enough of them that are that are backing the coach, then you can kind of work through that. But when it becomes the ratio becomes so unbalanced. Now it's now now you got a quorum in there that are that are chirping about the coach's and then you start losing.
Yeah, that's a probably some big words here, korum educating the audience. So Nuggets last night, first game without Malone. Oh that's right, I forgot.
You're a big time writer.
Russell Westbrook fewest minutes he's played in months and Jalen Pickett started and played pretty damn good. Like seven people listening to the show know who Jalen Picket is. It seems like the old versus young guys was a bit of an issue there. Malone doesn't trust the young guys like the veterans, which I get, you.
Know, yeah, no, no, no, no. I mean, look, Mike's an old school coach. Yeah, and you have a team that's in transition and it works with a guy like Jokic. You know, for those people out there that are like, well, they they wouldn't have fired they wouldn't have fired Mike without you know, Jokic's approval. And as Joki said, they came to them what they were going to do. They didn't ask him right because Jokis grew up in Serbia, Like over there, the coach is king, but it's not player empowerment. Over there, you like the organization, the coach, they run the show, and you are fortunate that you're a player. And so that's his mindset here. He wasn't about to walk into Josh Cronky's office and say hey, it's either me or him. That's just not in the DNA of any European players.
So we got about a minute left. Warriors lose it the buzzer last night.
Yeah, last week, not just lost lost to of former Warriors that they moved out in order to bring KD in.
So beat Memphis last week.
Curry goes off beat the Lakers, beat the Nuggets, and everybody's champion in Golden State as the team. All of a sudden, now they lose to the Rockets and the Spurs. Do we know if this team is dangerous.
Rick, Well, they just they have to have all hands on deck, and thirty seven year old Steph Curry being as as he is is a little troubling. They don't have a margin for error. But I would also say this for everybody out there that is taking all these games, whether it's the Lakers in OKC, or it's the Warriors losing to the Spurs or whatever, let's not lose sight of what they've done over the course of the year. For the last few games of the regular season.
That's a great point, Rick Buker, Fox Sports NBA analysts always fun stuff, always got good info.
We make a good quorum here.
Core.
I feel like I'm smarter just Rick Buker sits on the sofa.
Generally, Jay you are when I come on? Note yep coming.
Up next, which NBA players are under the most pressure of this postseason.
I'll tell you that next.
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays and noon Easter not a em 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 percent eth 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.
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Very excited.
We got a NFL draft guy coming up in five minutes.
Folks.
Some of the notes they just gave me, Holy cow, my guy, Jayleen Milroe received a second or third round grade. Hemently disagree, but I'm clearly in the minority. And wait, just wait for this Kyler Murray discussion made Okay, I just I'll just leave it at that.
Alex, how we doing. We're doing great.
Happy Master's weekend.
By the way, I haven't talked about that yet.
That's a big deal, yea Masters.
Yeah, I don't know.
I've just seen on a big golf I'm learning out about this.
This is some heavy lifting over here. I'm worried. I don't even know if I'll watching golf today.
You just need the updates.
It was so cute.
They had like family day yet yesterday and all the kids out on the cours, like dressed in the caddy outfits.
Yeah, store ball, it's fun.
Special time here.
Let me start this hour with the five players under the most pressure in these upcoming NBA playoffs.
Okay, now, this list, it was.
A difficult one to make because I had some guys in here on the staff's like, whoa, no way, no way, j Mack and uh, well let's start. We'll countdown, we'll go five to one. We'll start at number five. I think Jimmy Butler is under a fair amount of pressure in these playoffs. Forces his way out of Miami, where he took the Heat to the finals twice. Okay, initially he didn't want to go to Golden State. Then they ponied up big money and he's like, all right, I'll.
Check it out. Initially they're awesome, and Butler's kind of finding his footing.
Remember this is a locker room where he's usually an alpha, and they already have one in Draymond Green. So how does Butler fit in? He has to step up when Curry is held in check. They don't have a number two guys. Podzemski ain't hitting eight threes ever again in a game like he did against the Lakers. I think Jimmy Butler, who you guys don't have a big fan of Butler. He's under a lot of pressure in these NBA playoffs. Number four Shah Murrand Boy, just when you think John Moran has cleaned up his act. Okay, so last week he points at the Warriors bench with a gun thing for Buddy Heel and then they're told him don't do it. He does it again, and then he pretends to lobberate grenade after they told him please don't.
Do that anymore. It's like, bro, what are you doing?
John Marian got them into the playoffs several years, then he's been.
Hurt, then he's got the off court issues.
Somebody pitched me the idea that John Morant wants out of Memphis and he's starting to like make noise. Was he involved in getting their coach fired recently?
I don't know.
I don't know what's happening in Memphis, but maybe Jahn Morant's not long for that city. I think he's under a lot of pressure to at least win a series with the Grizzlies next up. And this is a divisive topic. Jason Tatum at number three. Okay, coward would happened number one. Obviously, you know that I'm a Tatum guy. I knows trainer a little bit. I'm a big Tatum fan. Before I get to the negatives, I'm gonna remind everybody he's gonna finish fourth in MVP voting, He's going to be first team All NBA and in the playoffs last year he led them in the playoffs in points, rebounds and assists, and in the finals he led them in points, rebounds and assists.
So why is he under pressure?
Jay?
Well, there is.
The situation that happened in the Olympics last year where Jason Tatum, the All NBA guy who's a perennial top five MVP candidate, kind of got benched and then in the finals he didn't win finals MVP. And if you want to draw a parallel, Steph Curry when they won their first title, did not win the MVP. It went to Andreagudala for his defense on Lebron, which is a little suspicious because Curry still had a pretty damn good series. So then they lose the next year, then Curry gets KD KD is the finals MVP, and then you have this whole like is Steph Curry really the best player.
Like, I didn't love that topic.
Then he won his finals MVP and everybody backed off. He's a top ten player all time. Listen, Tatum is still a young guy. He's the best player on that team. No disrespect to JB, but there is some pressure for him to act and show that he is an elite top five guy in this league, which I think he is.
Next up.
Oh, Karl Anthony Towns my main man. You guys know I'm a big Knicks fan. They're not going to run Brunson out of town.
If the Knicks lose to.
The Celtics in the second round, Bridges ain't going anywhere. They love og and Obi. There will be a fall guy if the Knicks fall apart. Now, if they get swept, it could just be Thibodeau. But I have to worry about Karl Anthony Towns, who lands in New York. Couldn't defend this share that I'm looking at here in the studio.
Can score a lot, but when you don't defend.
He was benched in the playoffs last year by the Timberwolves because he can't guard anybody. So Carl Anthony town is number two and obviously at number one, Shay Gilgess, Alexander he's gonna win the MVP.
I don't think he should.
He's a great player. We know that he gets to the line. He's mister free throw merchant. But folks, you can't win the MVP. You can't talk all the trash and dance around like okay, so he's been doing all season. You win sixty five plus games and then you shrink in the playoffs.
You will see what the path looks like. But I'm just saying it. Not now.
You're not blaming Jade Dobb. If they don't deliver, you're not blaming chet Holmd. This is going to be on the MVP, and historically guys who win the MVP don't deliver in the postseason. SGA without a doubt, under the most pressure of any player in the upcoming NBA playoffs. By the way, Trey Young just missed the list for me. All right, Let's get to our guest. He is the Athletics NFL draft analyst.
He just released The Beast, his annual guide. Dane Bruglo. Dane, how you doing, man, I'm good?
How are you, Jason?
I'm excellent. I'm fired.
Up because holy caw, you got some hot Now I don't know if they're hot takes because you watch way more film than anybody. But let's start at the top. Cam Ward almost certainly will go one to Tennessee. But do you believe he's the best player in this draft?
Best player not necessarily, but you can understand why the Titans have come to the conclusion that this is their best route to go, because if it's not cam Ward, what is their avenue to a quarterback? And so with the improvements that cam Ward has made year over year, because let's remember he was a wing ta quarterback in high school. What he did at Incarnate Word and then Washington State and in this past year Miami, he got better year over year fifty six point one percent if his completions this year were over ten yards. He has the arm, he has the looseness in the pocket, so he can create time for himself go make plays down the field. So a lot of what you want in an NFL quarterback cam Ward offers. And he's still just twenty two years old, So you think about by the time he's twenty four, twenty five. If he continues to grow at this trajectory. I think you're feeling pretty positive about the return on investment by taking him number one, because if he didn't go number one, I promise you he would go number two to Cleveland or number three to the Giants. So you can understand where the Titans come to the conclusion that cam Ward is their guy.
Yeah, I agree with most of that.
I guess the one thing I'm struggling with him, whether it's the frame, the fleet of foot in the pocket, the art where he's releasing the football. I don't have a great NFL comp for him. Who does he remind you of as an NFL quarterback?
He reminds me of a taller not as version of Kyler Murray because you see all the different arm angles. You see him win in structure but also out out of the pocket. His ability to create and move is a big part of that. But you know, he when you're we're talking about quarterbacks in the NFL Draft, it's almost like you're making a bet, right, I mean, you're making a bet that this guy can be a top fifteen quarterback in the NFL. And I think for most teams they see cam Ward as a guy that can be maybe a top twelve, top fourteen quarterbacks. That's what you're looking for. The goal shouldn't be define the next Patrick Mahomes. The goal should be, Hey, let's find a guy that's going to help us compete and let it help us get to the playoffs. Because once you get in the playoffs, anything as possible. And I think a lot of teams believe cam Ward can be that guy.
So the Browns are at two, and about two minutes ago you were like, hey, if cam Ward fell to two, perfect fit for the Browns. So let me ask you Browns quarterbacks solution situation as murky. I know there's Kirk Cousins possibly waiting in the wings, but why wouldn't they just go get Sanders. Isn't Stefanski such a good offensive mind that whoever he gets is going to work?
And that's gonna be the big question. Where does Shador land? Is it number two to the Browns, number three to the Giants, or does he fall? And look, my evaluation of Shador has been pretty consistent since the season. I think he's a late one, early two. I think for whatever reason, it's become you have to love or hate Shador and it's okay to just like him, And that's where I'm at with him, where I think he can be an NFL starter. He's smart, he's tough, he's poised, he's accurate, maybe not as accurate as seventy four percent completions would lead you to believe. Twenty eight percent of those completions are screen passes, So that's a big part of what inflated that completion percentage. But I just I wonder about the way he likes to play. Does he have the physical traits to get away with that In the NFL? The offensive line was bad, there's no question about it at Colorado, But there are a lot of times where he is running himself into sacks and he's not making the right decision from the pocket. And so there's things about his profile that really, I think he can start in the NFL. But is he really going to uplift everybody around me and carry a franchise. That's my hang up. Where, Okay, I like him, I think you can start, But am I taking him top five of overall? Because it's not just about if you miss on him as a top five pick, it's okay you're passing on Travis Hunter. Abdua Carter one of these guys in the top five. So I wouldn't be surprised if we're talking mid first round, maybe even in the twenties, and Shador Sanders is still available.
So last year you had Pennix as your fifty second best player, bo Nix's forty fourth, and you have Sanders Chadur at thirty four.
Those two guys went top ten.
Is there a world where Sanders still goes top ten or do you think that that ship has sailed?
Oh?
No, there's certainly a possibility, because again, he can be an NFL starter, and we know there's plenty of teams out there desperate for quarterbacks. And you know, it's always tough when you do it year to year like that, because this year's draft was a much better draft in terms of overall talent. So in this class, those two guys Pennix, bo Nicks, they would have been a little bit higher, higher than even Shador is in this year's draft, And so you know that that's kind of messes with the rankings a little bit. But you know, I understand why a team is gonna look at Shador and say, you know what, maybe he's not check every box for us, but hey, we need a starter.
He could.
Let's let's roll the dice on him, and so the Browns at two, the Giants at three, the Saints at nine. If I have to make a bet today, I say he gets through those three spots and he's outside the top ten. But you know, we'll love to see what draft day comes.
How much of this has to do with Dion and all the noise that and the chatter that's been around him and Shador all season? I mean, Dan, I gotta be honest, I haven't heard anything about cam Moore's parents. I don't know who they are. You know, I don't know much about him at all. I feel like Shadur is just in our face all the time, and so is Dion.
That's why I have the Beast right so you can look up at It tells you exactly what cam Ward's parents do for a living, and all about his background and all of that. But yeah, you know, it's it's obviously unique, right. How many quarterback prospects have we talked about where you know a dad is a high profile athlete and coach like Dion is. I don't At the end of the day, I don't think it's going to matter all that much. I think. You know, there's been a lot talked about and said about Shador, and you know, maybe he's too brash for some teams, maybe he doesn't fit with, you know, the culture they're trying to build. At the end of the day, teams want winners teams, And you think about what happened at Colorado the last two years there were one and eleven in twenty twenty two, and then the last two years with Dion and Shador there they went thirteen and eleven, So above five hundred. That's not easy to do. And so at the end of the day, the NFL, they want winners, and I think that will trump everything. And so when you look at Shador, I don't think the Dion thing's really going to factor in.
Interesting one last level on Dion, so I thought I had read that Shador's offensive coordinator was his dad, like in high school, and then they go to college and they were together, and then they go to Colorado and they're together. I believe he's been under the thumb of his dad for something like the last five or six years of football.
Maybe going back to youth football, you would.
Know, does that matter because as a GM saying, man, if I draft this guy, I know his dad wants his job in two years.
Yeah, you know it's I think Dion is happy with where he's out of Colorado. Now. If Shador is drafted by the Giants and things don't go great this year and the clean house, you can bet all we're going to hear about is Dion to the Giants. But you know, I think if you're a GM, you need to be doing what you think is best. You need to be doing. You can't really be thinking about all right, what's twenty twenty five and twenty six and twenty seven. Just draft the best quarterback. And if you believe that's Shador, then I think you have to do it. I just think when you when we keep it to the field and on the field, I think there are enough questions with him that I think teams are gonna look at it and say, look, let's let's get Travis Hunter, let's get Abdul Carter, let's get Will Campbell or left tackle, and you know, let's look at our other quarterback options. Because this is a real This is the first year since two thousand and eight we don't have a third year junior at the quarterback position. It's just a really unique quarterback class. We've got two juniors, two underclassmen, but Jalen Milroe quin yours are both four year guys. So this is just all around a really unique class.
All right, Dave, let me ask you about Jalen Milroe. So he's had his highs obviously, that Georgia game he looked phenomenal, and his low's the Oklahoma game just burned the tape. A lot of questions compare him to Anthony Richardson, which is not a good thing. I don't know, is it crazy to say I remember college Lamar at Louisville, and I'm just Jalen looks similar to him.
It could just be that.
They're skinny, tall, fast dudes. I don't know, what, do you like Milroe or not?
I mean, I do like him. I would love to draft him on Day two and develop him. But what's the price tag going to be? Do I have to draft him in the top forty in order to get him? That might be a little bit too early for me. But he's an exciting player. So I think you can understand why a team would come to the conclusion that hey, let's bet on a guy that has four to three speed. He's a decent sized player. I mean he is thick. He's two hundred and fifteen pounds at just over six foot, so he has almost like a running back build to him, and he has a really strong arm. And you set it up perfectly. You watch the Georgia game, you watch the Wisconsin game, and it's like, okay, I will, I'm all in, I can, let's work with this guy. But then you watch Michigan, you watch Oklahoma and it's like, okay, his feel from the pocket needs a lot of work. And you know, it's funny you bring up Lamar because this year for Milroe, twelve of his rushing touchdowns were ten plus yards. That's the most by a quarterback over the last twenty five years. The only one that came close was Lamar back in twenty seventeen. He had eleven. So Jaln Milroe explosive athlete with his legs, and he's also explosive with his arm. He had sixteen passing touchdowns this year. They averaged thirty three point six yards per touchdown. So this guy explosive with his legs, explosive through the air, and he's a winner. He was twenty one and six and his twenty seven starts at Alabama, he won the Academic Heisman. The comp that I keep coming back to is Jalen Hurts. You know, one of the few second round picks that has actually panned out. Jalen Milroe is kind of like a rocket fueled version of Jalen Hurts, where we to remember Hurts coming out of college was a little bit raw and it's going to take time, and there were a lot of bumps along the along the road with the Eagles before he became the Jalen Milroe we're talking about now is a Super Bowl champion. So with Milroe, if a team can be patient with him, they might have something in two three years. But what's that price tag to be where you have to draft him. That's kind of where teams are split on Jalen Milroe.
So the one I keep coming back to is when the Packers had Rogers who would want I think two MVPs, and they went and.
Got Jordan Love.
And I'm sure you remember Jordan Love coming out interception prone, but some of the traits were there and the Packers took him and Rodgers was ticked off. Can you see a scenario where say the Rams, who have had to deal with Matthew Stafford contract squabbles the last two off seasons, and the Rams say, you know what, let's just get our guy Milroe McVeigh. Whoever McVeigh touches turns to gold, he resurrects careers. Can you see a scenario where Milroe sneaks in the first round.
I think it's possible. If I'm a betting guy, I would say there's a better chance he goes round two, but sure you could see an avenue where he goes round one. Right now, the over under on quarterbacks in the first round is two and a half. I'm taking the over on that. And it's not necessarily Milroe, but Jackson Dart from Ole, miss Oh. There are a lot of Tyler Schuck fans around the NFL. The quarterback from Louisville, your senior. He's gonna be twenty six year old rookie. Teams really like Tyler Shuck. And so there's a chance all five of these quarterbacks talking about cam wore chaud Or Sanders, Jackson Dart, Tyler Shuck and Jaln Milroe, there's a good chance all five of those are off the board in the top fifty to sixty picks. But how many will sneak into the first round? I think, you know, the Steelers are a possibility, the Rams are possibility, and then we have to talk about the Browns and the Giants. If they pass at two and three, we could easily see them move up from those early picks in the second round into that late first to get one of these guys. I think that if I had a bet right now, two weeks from the draft, I think that's probably the most likely outcome.
Interesting, well, we could close out on Jackson Dart and you know, us college football fans, we see, okay, system, Lane Kiffin, Ole Miss, that's Matt Carral, you.
Know white guy who's good. It's good. I don't know about this Jackson Dart hype. Now.
I just remember watching the season and I was like, Okay, he's good. Tyler Schuck, by the way, I don't remember anything impressive from him during the season, But again, you're watching the tape and every single step, are you really that high on Dart and Schuck?
Two guys that I would love to draft on Day two? Kind of like Milroe but we know in the NFL and with the draft, there's a quarterback bump, there's a quarterback tax where you have to draft them twenty twenty five picks earlier then probably you want to, just because there's so many other teams competing for these playoffs, for the for these quarterbacks, and you know exactly we're talking about that ole Miss offense. I came away more impressed with Lane Kiffin and the way he sets up his offense and calls the plays than I did with the quarterback. And that's not really a knock on Jackson Dart. It's just it's such a scheme or quarterback friendly scheme, that it really makes things easy for him. Fifty three percent of his snaps or play action, a lot of screens, a lot of one read. Okay, it's not there, boom. I'm gonna take off and use my legs and get six yards and you know what. That works at the college level, but he's going to be asked to do so much more at the NFL level than he was asked to do in college, and so I think he has the physical traits for it, and teams in his teammates as well. Rave about the intangibles, the competitiveness with Jackson Dart So I think that those intangibles will help him throughout the process. But at the end of the day, does he have what how long is it going to take before he can get on the field. I think it's going to take some development time. And then with Tyler Shuck, yeah, I mean he's twenty six year old, rookie, seventh year senior, not ideal. This past year at Louisville was a first time in those seven years he played more than eight games because of injuries. But he six 's four, two hundred and thirty pounds, a twitchy arm, he has a really explosive down the field, and you know, he was actually the number two recruit for Oregon way back in the day, behind Penny Sewell. So he's been in college football a long time. But if not for the age and the medical concerns, we'd be talking about Tyler Shuck as a top twenty five pick.
Smells like Brandon Whedon. I don't know if you remember that name from back in the day. Last time I forgot Abdul Carter. So there was a report that came out and I know, as we get close to the draft, you get a lot of negative stuff about his work habits at Penn State, and then you couple that with the with the injury and the surgery, and you're like, Hm, is there a world where abdul Carter maybe slides to say five as opposed to two or three?
That sounds like the team at five. Really hoping that happens, I'd be I'd be pretty shocked. I think there's a good chance we see Cam Woard go one, Travis Hunter go two to the Browns, and then Abdul Carter three to the Giants. Abdul Carter actually, I believe in New York today meeting with the Giants, who don't really have a need at past rush. You know, they paid Burns last year, they still have Keevon Thibadeau. But when you're drafting that high, you want to draft players, not positions. You want the impact guys. And so with Abdul Carter watching him what he did against Notre Dame in the playoff game with a bum shoulder and still they couldn't block him, Yeah, that's the type of guy you want to go after. And so I think that if the if the Patriots sitting there at four and Abdul Carter's stole in the board, they will be ecstatic. I just don't think he gets out of the top three. When it's all set and sounds about right, Dane Brugler the Beast.
You got to check that out. He's dominating over the athletic. Great stuff, Dane, Thanks for great fifteen minutes of NFL draft stuff.
Love it.
Yeah, anytime, Thanks, Jason, no problem.
Coming up next, the Joker Speaks, Alex will tell us what the three time MVP set about his head coach getting fired.
That's next year on the Herd.
