The Herd with Colin CowherdColin celebrates Caitlin Clark’s return from injury to score 9 points in 38 seconds and why her historic performance shows she’s just behind LeBron James and Steph Curry as the most popular basketball players in the world right now. He tells you why he was right about Ja Morant and wrong about the Thunder. NBA analyst Rachel Nichols joins the show to give the latest on the Kevin Durant trade market and which contenders are in pursuit of the 2-time Finals MVP
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Here we go.
It is a Monday, and we are live.
It's the Herd wherever you may be and however you may be listening. Thanks for making us part of your day. Jmac, it was a wild weekend tonight. By the way, Otani is pitching tonight, which is unbelievable. Also tonight, the Indiana Pacers play Oh Case. Now that's all. Let's I know, we'll have a Scott Foster segment. You're all worked up about that, but I gotta tell you so. Yeah, Yesterday the US Open didn't have a lot of juice. Again for diehard golfers, they think it's great, but most people don't know who these guys are. But I gotta tell you something. The Caitlin Clark yesterday thirty eight seconds Caitlin Clark in thirty eight seconds. I don't know what second place is. That's the greatest thirty eight seconds in WNBA history. A mesmerizing thirty eight seconds. A thirty three footer, a thirty one footer, a twenty seven footer. The WNBA three point arc is twenty two feet. It felt like you were watching history, and I'm not overstating it. Kobe's eighty one point game, Michael Jordan's switching hands, Reggie Jackson with three home runs on three pitches in the nineteen seventy seven World Series against the Dodgers. It felt like I was watching history. Yeah, I know Lebron's block was the NBA Finals. But it's interesting that you don't realize how much you miss people until they're gone. So Kaitlin Clark had played high school every week and co edge every game in the WNBA, every game, and then she misses five games and the ratings plummet fifty five percent league wide. Like it's like Saturday Night Live when they don't have a big star on. Maybe I'll catch a clip, not the show. She comes back. Caitlin Clark kent the woe Man of Steel. She was calling for the ball and right now I'm sitting there watching it and I felt like, what in the look at these shots? What in the world am I watching? Thirty three, thirty one and twenty seven feet? And you know what was funny is SGA and Aunt Edwards. The NBA is trying to peg some young guys his face of the league. They had Aunt and SGA play in the Western Conference finals and it had the lowest rating in four years. They're trying. You say, well, the markets are small. Well, Kaitlin Clark plays for the Indiana Fever. What does that matter. This goes to show that markets do not matter. That's all nonsense. As she if if Lebron James, when Lebron James was in Cleveland, we never said, well, the ratings are great. It's amazing it's in Cleveland. Stars transcends state lines. Right now, she's the biggest basketball star in the world not named Lebron and Steph. She's bigger than Jokic, she's bigger than SGA, she's bigger than Halliburton in Indiana for a terrible team a year ago. But it was a remarkable thing to watch, and she's got a little flash to it that helps She's totally unique and totally transcendent. But I'm watching live on television, and my takeaway is, oh, this is one of those like once every two or three years, Like when Lebron made that block in the finals, you're like, Oh, that's going to be an all time play, or Michael Jordan switches hands. I didn't see Kobe live with eighty one, but if you did, it probably felt like this. But I did see Reggie Jackson in seventy seven, three pitchers, three pitches, seventy seven against the Dodgers' home runs. I know it's World Series. That is the greatest thirty eight seconds and the greatest stretch what we watched this weekend in WNBA history. The league is twenty five, twenty six, twenty seven years old, however it is that's the greatest moment. I don't care about championships. Diana Tarassi Sue berd I don't care. That was the greatest moment in league history. Like other play when you're watching a spward and you're like, whoa, whoa, I mean, look at the depth on these shots, look at the it doesn't even look If you were Steph Curry, you'd be going crazy Look at that. That feels like a half court shot. Look at this stuff. Fifty five percent ratings lost when she left, she's back. I don't know what the number is for that. I would guess it's a season high ratings. Here's Caitlin Clark after.
I felt good and then I took one in transition. That's kind of like where I like to get to early and it's always good to see the ball go through the hoop. And then I came down and shot another one. Then I came down and shot another one, and so three in a row go in. So that gives you a lot of confidence. And even in the second half, I thought I felt like they all came off my hand feeling really good. So like that's what you can find confidence in as a scorer and as a shooter.
Okay, the other thing this weekend that jumped out to me, and again it wasn't the US Open. I know, all you die hard golfers, you experts on golfs, you just had a great time watching that rain delay. Let's be honest. The Tiger Rocco mediate they put on television during the rain delay, and Caitlin was far more interesting. You're not gonna admit it because you're a great golfer and a four handicap, but it didn't have a lot of juice. The other thing that was interesting over the last four or five days is the best soccer player in the history of our country is Christian Polistic. It's don't argue it. You don't have to be a soccer expert. Turn the sound down. Watch he's our Lebron, he's our MJ he's our magic. It's just different looking. If you take him out, we just don't look as good. And there's a bunch of guys missing from the Gold Cup. But I have been on team Polisic because he is decided not to play the Gold Cup. He wanted to play in a couple of the friendlies. But Mauricio Bucchettino, the managerournal get to this in a second, said naw, now we're not going to do that. You're all in or you're all out. But here's why I am for Christian Bluisik and again team USA one. As j Max said, settled down, they'll win. They did five nothing over Trinida and Tobago. Okay, fine, But as I talked about last week, for soccer players, what I Basically, if you're the best soccer player in the world, you are Lebron. What does Lebron do? He gets paid in the WNBA and then he plays in the Olympics. Did Lebron did he play in the recent Feeble World Championships?
No, he didn't.
And this is the equivalent the Gold Cup to the Feeble World Championships in basketball. Did Jokich play in those? No, he didn't play in those either. Jo Kich makes his money here in America in the NBA and then he goes and plays in the Olympics. And Lebron James makes his money in the NBA and then he goes and plays in the Olympics. Do you know who we as America said to the Feeble World Championships the equivalent of this, Josh Hart, cam Johnson, a young Tyrese Haliburton, That's who we said, Walker Kessler, Bobby Portis, That's who we said, Jalen Brunson. Bon Carroll was like twenty, this is the Gold Cup, that's what it is. And we have to be fair about this. If you're anti Polisic, he's not supporting America. Do you think Lebron doesn't sport America. Yeah he does. He ran the NBA for fifteen years and he goes to the Olympics. Now, Steph Curry didn't get to the Olympics till later because he was dominating the league and he was winning championships. But that's all this is basically Christian Pulisic is taking the NBA model. And by the way, the two most global sports are not baseball or not football or not hockey, they're soccer and basketball. In soccer and basketball and now forever, the best Europeans come over here to play. Now our best soccer because that's where the best basketball is. Now our best soccer players are good enough to go to AC Milan and be first or second in scoring for their team and dominate. And so all Politic is doing. He's following the basketball model. If Yo Kitchen Lebron aren't going to play in the FEBA World Championships, why in the world am.
I play in the Gold Cup?
Small crowds, second tier teams. I mean, we went five nothing. We didn't our best seven players and we wont five nothing. So I am team Politic on this now. I also Landon Donovan talked about this. I also do believe that we have a new coach, and the new coach has to send a message. So when Pulisic says, hey, I'll come over and play a couple of friendlies, but I don't want to play in the Gold Cup. I'm exhausted. I played fifty games in Ac Milan, and here was landon Donovan on that you.
Had to address it. He I think was ready to move on. He wanted to move on, guys. But then your best player and one of the leaders on your team doesn't interview publicly and says I want to go, but the coach wouldn't let me, and the coach didn't want me there. He had to stand up for himself. One to send a message to Christian, two to send a message to the team and the pool, but also for himself. You cannot be the coach that gets walked on by your star player. So for his future, everybody's paying attention. People are going to possibly hire him though. He can't just let his best player walk all over him like that.
He had to respond, Yes, totally agree. But if you are the best in America at anything, whatever your chosen field is in America, if you're the very best in Pulisic is in soccer. You gotta make choices cash and country Feebo. World Basketball Championship. That's not gonna make the cut. The Gold Cup. I liked watching it, but we don't have our six best players. We won five nothing I'm gonna defend. I'm on team Polisic here, all right, j Mac, I am watching Scott Foster in the reaction stayed away from this nonsense, but I am. I'm also team Scott Foster.
Oh so this shows off to a great start, right.
We got Kayln Clark phenomenal?
Did you watch that?
Yes? You my daughter who's the basketball player.
Sometimes we're just like in awe. So, I mean, she's just We were gonna go out to lunch and we had to wait until it was halftime because Kayln Clark was on fire. I mean we had twenty five and a half. But you know, Kayln Clark goes off. You talk soccer, and now you want to go to Scott Foster. Do you know how much of a gut punch the non cover was. I had plus six. I'm feeling great all game. They're up four with three minutes left and it fell apart. That was a brutal gambling beat.
And I will say this though, remember the Warriors Lebron Calves Final when the Cavs won in seven, Yes, it was six blowouts in a gray final game. This series nobody's watching, but the games have been Three of the four games have been absolutely fantastic. That was a great basketball game. But it doesn't feel as big. There's it's like the US Open yesterday when you don't know the players. It doesn't feel as big.
Ye are you gonna get in the Mount Foster?
The push off by SGA and then the travel on like the gat the shot to put them up with like two minutes Lefty, you gotta talk about that or.
Well, well we'll talk about that. I also there was a there was an NBA deal yesterday and people are freaking out, and I want to address that coming up. Don't forget Colin Wright, Colin Wrong. Top of our number two in Chicago, It's the Hurt.
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd Weekdays and Noone Eastern non a em Pacific on Fox Sports Radio FS one and the iHeartRadio app.
Here we go, Colin Wright, Colin Wrong on a Monday where Colin was right Caitlin Clark returned and the NBA was mesmerizing. It is not anti Beyonce to say Taylor Swift's tour change the economy. It is not anti WNBA to say when Caitlin Clark plays, this is an incredibly easy product to consume. They lost fifty five percent when she didn't play. She came back, you could not turn the TV off. It's not anti anything, it's pro Caitlin Clark. Where Colin was wrong, I thought I thought the thunder were in trouble, and they were for much of the game against Indiana, but in that fourth quarter they answered the bell with one of the great three minute defensive stands I have ever seen. Indiana held the one point in the final three minutes. It was one of the most impressive defensive performances for a brief stand that I've ever seen. Okase won that game. Regardless of what you think about this non call, where Colin was right, Shadora Sanders, according to Jeremy Fowler ESPN, made an impression. I don't know how great he's going to be. I do think he's a franchise quarterback. We can argue about that, but his go to is his accuracy and in camp he was insanely accurate. People can say, well, he was playing against backups, well, soaring half the quarterbacks in the NFL during camp they didn't complete seventy seven percent. Every backup quarterback in the NFL is playing against backups in camp? Why did everybody else complete sixty percent? He completed seventy seven percent?
Where Colin was right.
I did not like the New York Knicks firing TIBs. Now they're down to Mike Brown and Taylor Jenkins, who are fine. But I always believe it was a personnel issue. That's why we kept talking about all year. To the Knicks need Giannis or kd Runson and Kat are below average defenders. Mikhale Bridges is inconsistent offensively. Bottom line is the New York Knicks by firing TIBs. I think it's inarguable will now end up with the worst head coach.
Where Colin was robbed.
Okay, J Mack was right. Team us say throttled Trinidadzebago five nothing. It wasn't very pretty, but they did it. You know, I guess the sky is not falling. I didn't think it was a very pretty performance, but it's not a bad outcome considering there's a little bit of noise out around the United States men's national team, so I'll take a wrong on that.
Where Colin was right, I always thought.
John Morant was wildly entertaining, but I never thought he was a build around enfranchise guy. Spindilee doesn't shoot well early in his career, some maturity issues, and I just I think over the last three years he's hurt more and shooting more poorly. So I can like him and think he's a two or a three, But boy, when you're talking about a number one in the NBA, I got to have you play seventy five games, I got to have you there very night, and a lot of these smaller guards who don't shoot well therefore have to score at the rim, get banged up. Where Colin was right, we've had this for the last couple of years. Joe Burrow is doing what I wish Andrew Luck would have done in his career in Indie. He's calling the organization out. They are playing around with excellent pass rusher Trey Hendrickson, and Joe Burrow has no problem repeatedly saying yes, it's a problem.
Is Trey not being here. His deal not done? Is that a distraction?
Of course?
Of course, last year we had two. This year we have one, So we do have less. You'd love to have none, but you know, that's a life in the NFL. We're all support and Trey and would love for him to be back.
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Hey, we're Cavino and Rich Fox Sports Radio every day five to seven pm Eastern. But here's the thing, we never have enough time to get to everything we want to get to.
And that's why we have a brand new podcast called over Promise. You see, we're having so much fun in our two hour show. We never get to everything, honestly, because this guy is over promising things we never have time for.
Yeah, you blubber Lisa and me.
Well, you know what it's called over promise. You should be good at it because you've been over promising women for years.
Well, it's a Covino and Rich after show, and we want you to be a part of it. We're gonna be talking sports, of course, but we're also gonna talk life and relationships. And if Rich and I are arguing about something or we didn't have enough time, it will continue on our after show called over Promised.
Well, if you don't get enough Covino and Rich, make sure you check out over Promised and also Uncensored by the way, so maybe we'll go at it even a little harder. It's gonna be the best after show podcast of all time.
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And with that, Rachel Nichols is now joining us live on an unbelievable performance. And I said this earlier, it's not anti Beyonce to say Taylor Swift Tour changed the economy in LA, which it did. It's not anti Beyonce. Do you think the WNBA is actually kind of coming to terms with Okay, this is really, this is Tiger, this is MJ And then listen, I understand when she came in nobody could predict this. Nobody could predict this. Do you think the league, though, has kind of come to terms with let's ride the wave here. This is all time stuff.
Yeah.
I think this absence and then how she came back really sort of solidified all of that, because when she came into the league, obviously interests went way up and some of the finances went way up. But there was some argument that it was a little bit of you know, a rising tide lifts all boats, and the popularity of the league had been increasing anyway, and Angel Reese was also a big star coming into the league. But here we go with Caitlin Clark singularly being missing for the time she.
Was gone and ratings tanking fifty percent.
In some cases, and then also she comes back and reminds everyone how spectacular she is, and everybody's talking about the WNBA.
So if you needed to sort of have it affirmed.
To you that it is just her, that the singularity of her is what we are talking about, and her star power.
You got it.
With this absence and then the way she came back. I thought it was fascinating the way other people who have been around the league for a long time reacted to it.
Rebecca Lobo, for.
Example, she's been around the WNBA for almost three decades. She said I've never ever seen anything like this.
No, I said earlier.
I was a kid.
I remember in seventy seven Reggie Jackson getting three home runs off three pitchers on three pitches, and I can remember as a kid being like many announcers were going crazy, and there are these moments like when Michael Jordan changes hands and you're like, oh, I just saw something live. I've never seen that. When she had two thirty three footers, I'm sitting there going I'm laughing. I'm like, Okay, this is the greatest thirty eight second stretch in the history of this twenty five year plus league. Okay, so I defended Scott Foster. I think you could have called the foul, but I brought back the Brian Russell m call and I said, folks, because Russell leaned into it and Michael touched him. It looked like he shoved him. YEP. I looked at this and I thought, we're not acknowledging that Naysmith tripped over SGA's feet. So it looks egregious. It's really not. I mean, SGA's six six a buck ninety five pounds. He's not Charles Barkley powerful. Do you think the league got defense to how do you think this is landing for the league?
Look, this is a typical playoff no call at the end of an NBA Finals game, as you point out, We've seen it as far back as Michael Jordan.
There have been other examples.
I think what roiled a lot of people was there were a bunch of calls before that and so it felt like, well, if you're calling everything, you should be calling this too. And that's what I thought was missing from this game. Officiating wise, it just didn't have that consistency. It didn't have any officiating flow. They never felt like the crew kind of quite had control.
Over the game.
However, Scott Foster is one of the most respected referee in the league. I understand that fans sort of have their own opinions on him, but you can tell how the NBA feels about him by the fact that they put him on these very very key games, and in fact, you would expect him.
It's not certain yet, they haven't announced it.
If there is a Game seven, it is most likely Scott Foster will be on that game.
Which makes it even more kind of intriguing to.
Hear Rick Carlisle defending Scott Foster to all of the Pacers fans in his press conference, basically being like, it was a great he called a great game.
Scott Foster's terrific. You know.
He went on and on, and you know, I think part of it is because he feels that way. Rick's been around the league a long time, and also he knows that maybe by Game seven Scott Foster will be back.
Yeah. I you know, I said this earlier. If you end up officiating Super Bowls and World Cups over and over, they're not doing it because of some league wide conspiracy. They view you as able to handle the situation. I love what Orlando did in the trade and the reason I love it because I think, I honestly think we still have a ways to go for the trade deadline. Yeah, I mean right, So why do they do it now? Because I think they watched the Indiana Pacers and they go, we can do that, and they've got three guys they love, but they need another. They didn't shoot the ball worth a darn all year. This is their hole. But I think there's a little Pacers influence here, Rachel, that they're young and they're like, why can't we do that?
Absolutely?
Absolutely, I agree with you, and I think also, look that Jason Tatum injury means that the big bad Celtics, who seem like such a mature, complete veteran team, aren't going to be around. It feels like the conference is going to be wide open next year because if you look at the other team that did so well during this season, the Cleveland Cavaliers, well they were knocked out much earlier than expected. So it definitely feels like the East could be anyone's game. And there is an Orlando component of why not us? To me, this trade is going to be very interesting. Is it going to end up being a Pascal Siakam like trade where people at the time will say, oh, man, they overpaid, but then obviously this guy turned out to be the Eastern Conference Finals MVP and has been key to this finals run. Or is it going to be more like McHale Bridges, who at least so far hasn't quite justified the amount of Hall that the Knicks had to give up, And we'll just see. Desmond Bin is a terrific fit for this team, as you pointed out their terrible three point shooting team.
He does that very well.
He compliments a lot of the other things that their players do. He's going to bring a maturity to the team. It's a great, great trade in terms of a great fit.
We'll just have to see.
Did they overpay a little bit Mickael Bridges style or was this absolutely the thing that solidifies them and puts them over the edge Pascal Siakam style.
We'll have to find out for the record.
Some people said they gave up too much in the trade, but I mean, it wasn't that five first rounders from Michale Bridges, Rudy Gobaer gave up nine picks. I have no problem with the Hall. I mean, obviously Memphis is now rebuilding. They should, they can't compete at the highest levels in the West. But it did make me think about KD and I thought, well, Desmond Bain is in his prime, twenty a night, excellent three point shooter. What do you think the market for KD is? Now? You know this league, it's comps. So if you're getting four first rounders, what is the market for KD?
It really depends on who wants to pay him. Because he's due for an extension, right so he's given them sort of a preferred teams reportedly. I think that Phoenix will take that into consideration. But if they can get a better deal somewhere else, I think they'll take it because they are so in need of assets. That being said, could someone offer them a better deal If KD isn't going to re sign with them, if he's not going to sign that extension, how much do you want to give up? So that's really the full room that this is depending on. Is is it a place that KD will sign an extension and therefore justify a higher offer. If it's not, then it's going to be hard for them to gin up a market because now that it's out there which teams he's interested in, those teams feel like, great, we've got an advantage here. We don't have to give up as much. So there's just a lot of politics that go on with the trade like this.
Finally, the Knicks as predicted firing cautionary tale that you better have a backup plan. I mean, I'm hearing top college basketball coaches have retired Jay Wright or not interested Calipari. The top teams in the NBA, according to a story I read this morning, used profanity and hung up on the Knicks. Who's the leading candidate. I mean, they don't have to hurry, they're not in their rush. Who's the leading candidate for the next job.
Well, officially the leading candidates right now are Taylor Jenkins, who I think will be the first person interviewed, and Mike Brown, who will also get an interview. There's a lingering question about Jason Kidd because even though Dallas was one of those teams that said absolutely not, we do not give you permission to talk about him, there's a question, especially post Luca trade, and also how much money New York can offer Jason to see if there is a point he will go to the Mavericks and say I'm out, I don't want to be here anymore. And if that happens, it's going to make it hard to work with him in Dallas going forward, and they would maybe consider granding permission. They would maybe consider making some sort of trade the way Jason Kidd was traded frankly from Milwaukee to Brooklyn a long time ago. So that's sort of the nebulous cloud that's hanging overall of this. No one's really heard from Jason about what he might want to do, but as of now, Dallas has said no way, and there's no movement on that as of now, so that leaves Taylor Jenkins Mike Brown is the two leading candidates.
Rachel Nichols as always on a Monday, it's a great scene, Rach.
Thank you.
Great to see you all right Indy tonight in Game five, which has been a stellar series. The games have been intense, and we sort of said coming into the series, the all time great defensive team plus the NBA leading scorer and the fastest tempo in the league. Those are classic matchups and at three out of four games have been absolutely great. Live in Chicago, it's the Herd.
