The Herd with Colin CowherdJason McIntyre in for Colin
Brunson eliminates Pistons but can they beat the Celtics?
Defending JJ Redick for Lakers playoff loss
Has the NBA playoffs become too physical?
Guest: Ric Bucher
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Hello, and welcome to the Herd. It's a lovely Friday here on the Herd. Jason McIntyre in for Colin Coward. He is gallivanting in Chicago. You'll probably see him on a beach, playing volleyball or sight seeing in Chicago, doing whatever one does in Chicago.
I'm joining today by Alex Curry. We have breaking news. Alex, he just like start the show that.
As we sat down, it's like, oh, we're about to shake everything out.
Last time we did this, Michael Malone got fired, Yes, the Nuggets coach.
We were like, what the heck's going on now?
Greg Popovich stepping down as those Spurs head coach.
So every time we're.
In we get like head coach in the NBA, breaking.
News, something's going. I don't think JJ Reddick's gonna get fired. I think definitely probably say.
I'm still recovering from that.
Yes, yeah, it was traumatic to LA people out here. Well, Alex is a real LA person. I've just been here for almost nine years. Anyways, You've got a fantastic Friday show for you.
Obviously, the Greg Popovich news is huge.
We will get to that, but I gotta start with what went down last night in the NBA. Listen, Sometimes talking about the NBA, we get caught up in what's next, right, where's Kevin Duran gonna go this offseason?
Who's gonna trade for Giannis?
Hey?
Does anybody want Trey Young?
We get caught up in looking ahead, and sometimes we miss what's right in front of us and folks. Last night, we had a tremendous basketball game Nick Pistons and my main man, Jalen Brunson takes over late an absolute thriller, hits the game winning three, a walk off series winner with four seconds left. Let's without further ado, let's get right.
To the call. I an eagle on TNT.
Ticking in defensively eight seconds. Brunson stops at a time.
Marches yeah, Jerry Lynn Brugs and Berry's it. He explay by three the brugs and Berner ignited.
The Brunson Burner ignited what a call.
Now listen in my house watching this, you guys don't was born in New York.
I like to flex and talk about that.
I was going crazy. I mean, I'm with you. The kids are there in the background sewing to do homework. I'm like, this is more important, brunts and with a snatchback and I said it to my kids at the time.
Listen, guys, some things are just true.
Right Sinatra Born to sing, Hendricks, born to play the guitar. Jalen Brunson, born for clutch basketball moments. He just last week was announced the clutch NBA Player of the Year award. He shot an unbelievable sixty four percent in the final thirty.
Seconds of games this year. It's just what he does.
And as a longtime mixt right, I was became a Knicks fan in the in the Patrick Ewing era, Right, you had Alan Houston was tremendous, Charles Oakley, everybody loved the oak Tree.
John Starks was one of my favorite players.
Obviously, I love Jeremy Lynn for like, you know, the eight minutes he was running the show in New York. Yes, I did like Carmelo Anthony a lot, but the reality is Jalen Brunson at this point is rapidly climbing like best Knicks player ever. He's on that list and rising. I know, I know Willis Reid won a championship. I think it was the ice age. I'm not sure, Alex. It could have been the horse and Buggy era when Willis.
Reid won that championship.
But let's be real, Brunson's doing it now and he is. I think what we love about him is that a lot like Steph Curry. Right, Steph Curry an undersized player below the rim, and he's just dominating and unstoppable. Brunson is similar right in an era of high flying dunks and ridiculous athleticism. Here's this, you know, six foot one guard with a killer mid range who's kind of simultaneously impossible to guard and impossible to not root for, even if you're not a Knicks fan. Everything about Brunson screams, man, I love this guy. So the Detroit crowd had been getting on his case all series. They're chanting flop or flop or and one of our guys in the morning meetings said there was a billboard erected in Detroit that called him a mother flopper. Listen, the Detroit fans were riding Brunson hard all series.
So when you watch that.
Video, you see after the three turns to the crowd puts up, you know, the three fingers to signal I just hit a three and blows a kiss to the Detroit crawd. Hey, guys, have a great offseason, enjoy it. Here's my forty piece. We'll be moving on to play the Celtics.
Here's Tom Thibodeau after the game talking.
About that nasty snatch back by Brunson and splashing the three.
Jail and shot.
What can you say?
You know timely, you know he's at his best when as best is needed.
He's done it all year.
That's what makes him special.
The Knicks Pistons series, guys, by the way, last four games, Knicks one by two, Knicks one by one, Piston's one by three, Nicks one by three.
In an absolute thriller.
Now I will say the victory pushes the Knicks to the next round. And like I'll open with, let's pump the brakes on the next round.
Okay, let's enjoy. Let's relish.
Let's roll around in this Knicks victory, this awesome series win we've.
Got all weekend.
Game one against the Celtics is not until Monday, So while you're watching the Kentucky Derby, or if you're at a beachlife festival out here on the West Coast, Alex will be there. I'll be there, like if you just enjoy the next win. I might wear my Patrick Ewing jersey tomorrow to this festival, like I'm gonna enjoy it. And you know why, because the Celtics kind of owned the Knicks. They swept them this year four to oh, and last year they won four out of five games.
Knicks have lost eight of nine to Boston. I thought the.
Matchup we'd be good. I'm not so sure anymore. Nick's really struggled against Detroit. But enjoy it, right, Let's relish that the Knicks one.
They're moving on. Jalen Bronson is a superstar.
Now I'm gonna pivot and defend an embattled coach, and that would be one JJ Reddick. Ladies and gentlemen, I'm sorry, but I cannot understand the media and the fans piling on JJ Reddick as if he's the reason the Lakers lost to the Minnesota Timberwolves in five. Yes, I was shocked. Yes, Vegas was surprised. The Lakers are favorites. But the heat that JJ Reddick has taken, I'm just I don't know where it's called.
I feel like it's misplaced.
My buddy is with the season ticket texts me that his son, who's in the same grade as my son, we.
Gotta fire JJ Reddick. People are out on Reddick.
Folks, listen, There's a lot here to chew on, but I'm gonna start here. So Reddick obviously took heat for playing his entire starting lineup the full second half of Game four, must win season on the line. So Reddick was asked about it leading up to Game five, and the press conference got a little terse. In case you forgot, here's what went down.
Is there an assistant or someone maybe that you'll lean on tonight, maybe to try to get you know, some other guys involved, if that opportunity presents.
Are you're saying that because I'm inexperienced and that was an inexperienced decision that I made. Do you think I don't talk to my assistance about substitutions every single time out.
No, I just think there's a lot of coaches lean on their assistants in those situations.
As do I every single time.
That's a weird assumption.
Now listen, if you know the history of JJ Reddick, this is not a major surprise. I happen to grow up largely in Virginia, and JJ Reddick was a big time high school player playing in like a too totally small town and he was cocky as hell.
I mean, this guy was so arrogant. He goes to duke.
Everybody hated him. He would, you know, flex on the crowd, let everybody know. Like he's just a winner. He's a money player, and I believe he's got the chop to be a great coach.
Now.
He is a little combative. He's not backing down from anybody. You know, that's what kind of made him a great player. You know, a not super athletic, you know, white guy who's not that big going in.
The NBA, having a long career of being a great player. Like he's he's going to give it back to you.
And I kind of defend him on playing his starting or his best five the entire second half of Game four. Now, yes, the Lakers did Wilton in the clutch moments in that series, unlike Jalen Brunson. Because that series against Minnesota was close. Remember the final three games. Game three four minutes left as a tie game, and the Lakers faded. Game four, Lakers up by two with ninety seconds left despite playing everybody for the entire second half, and they were leading with ninety seconds left. And then in Game four they're down three after a Rui Hachimura three with again ninety seconds left. So don't act like JJ Reddick cost them the series because he didn't bring in Gabe Vincent for two minutes in the second half.
And that's the thing I got to push back on. Guys.
Let's forget when the Lakers traded Ad for Luka Doncic, they were like, you know, not a lot to be the three seed they were looking at, Oh could they before?
Could they slide to the play in?
This was a work in progress, and even then, the Lakers bench wasn't great. Sure, Dalton connect would have a game where he goes for twenty five, but that's in the regular season against like the Spurs, Okay or the Hornets. Okay, Dulta Connect wasn't lighting it up in games that matter, and so yeah, I'm upset that he didn't play, But maybe he wasn't built for this yet.
He's a rookie.
Who's he defending? You guys are getting on Lucas case, but Dalton Connect going to defend guys. I like Gabe Vincent as much as the next guy, but gave Vincent, Jackson, Hayes, Vando. These guys were not totally ready to play in a high leverage spot against the Minnesota team that everybody undervalue. So I do believe Riddick is getting a bit of a raw deal here. So the Lakers straight for Luca, they get like what twenty five games with Luca and Lebron to work out the kinks. You know what they say in the playoffs, coaches play seven but trust six. Well, JJ played five and trusted five. He couldn't go to his bench. And you know, we got Reddick talking after the season was over about the conditioning or lack thereof of some of his players.
You can guess what he was talking about here, the work.
That's required in an offseason to be in championship shaped. And you know, we have a ways to go as a roster, and certainly there are individuals that were in phenomenal shape. There's certainly other ones that could have been a better shape. That's where my mind goes.
Immediately is you know, we have to get.
In championship shape.
I mean, that's extremely well said.
Notice Reddick didn't do this after game three or after game four. You don't want to do that with your superstar in the middle of a series. This is smart by JJ Reddick. Hey, guys, this is the reality. The roster stinks. Pelinka, can you get on it? And Lebron you're in great shape? Luca you're not. And it's a reality, Like you guys, don't. I'm a huge Luca fan. I said he was the best player in the league for basically the last three years. Obviously not this year because he was injured and missed like thirty games or what have you.
But yeah, he wasn't in great shape. He wasn't a great defender.
And now Reddick's letting him know that's coaching, Like that's do you want him to rip Luka Doncic three months into his Lakers tenure in the middle of a series that they're losing Now, there was a report that Reggie Miller met with Reddick before the games, as the announcers do that what's up, and he's like, I had to calm jj Reddick down. Well, you know, listen, Reggie Miller, I'm not going to be submerge his name. Yeah, he blocked me on social media like five years ago for calling him out. I'm not gonna rip the guy, but like, what are you trying to do?
Why does it have to be about you? Reggie? Nobody cares about then now uncers Dan, they don't.
It's about Reddick. Was he probably rattled? Yeah, it's his first playoff series. You think he was just a little bit shook that the favored Lakers, who were awesome to end the regular season suddenly found themselves in a big hole.
To Julius Randall and Rudy Gobert, Yeah, I think he was probably a little bit rattled. But can we take a deep breath.
I want to remind you guys real quick, when the Dallas Mavericks traded for Kyrie Irving mid season, they.
Didn't make the playoffs.
They had to tank at the end when they had no defense to keep their pick and get Derek Lively out of Duke.
Then they retooled the roster with PJ.
Washington and Daniel Gafford, and look they got to the finals. So the Lakers, you could see the parallels trade for Luka Doncic. They did not tank. They thought they could make a run. I thought they could make a run. Everybody did. It didn't work out. Now you retool the roster in the offseason. How was this so hard to figure out? Can we just lay off JJ Reddick? My god, can't. We've got to open the show defending the Lakers. So Alex, I don't know where are you on the Lakers? It was It was a weird moment for Lakers fans this week.
I think we all got excited seeing the potential of what the Lakers can really be, right because we got a couple games of the best of Lebron and Luca together absolutely taking control of the game and of teams that they're facing. But again you mentioned this as you have to remember Luca was injured for a good chunk of this season. You gave up a lot of your roster to get Luca, and they got exposed in the playoffs. Your roster gets exposed, your weak spots get exposed in the playoffs, and they did. I think they did the best that they could. But this is going to be a very closely watched off season. And now just imagine an entire healthy off season of Luca now being in the same city as Lebron and maybe training with Lebron, who was.
Like the top tier.
Take care of your body, spend a million dollars on your body.
To be in the best shape possible.
To go through that kind of a boot camp and then come back as ready as you can be for the Lakers next year is obviously what you have to keep your eye on and look for. Again, as a Laker fan, I was solutional and I got totally drawn into like, oh, they can do it. But no, it's like the only played twenty five games together.
I think breb Bron's like probably gonna take his passport so we can't go back overseas and hang out the way Yo, get done.
No, he's gonna stay here. They're going to train together. Lebron, you know, he did his normal, Like I gotta talk to the family, see what's gonna happen after the game. No, Lebron's coming back. He's going to try to run for it at least for another year with Luca and it's gonna be awesome.
All right? Coming up next or the NBA Playoffs? Too physical?
Did you see what went down last night with Denver and the Clippers?
That's next.
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays and noon Eastern non am Pacific on Fox Sports Radio FS one and the iHeartRadio app.
Welcome back, got Rick Buker here in studio.
In about twenty minutes, he's going to be doing a victory lap after the Lakers were eliminated.
You know, Rick and Lebron and their bromance.
We'll talk about Greg Popovich stepping down and as coach of the Spurs. What does it mean for women min Yama if anything. We'll do that with in herdline shortly, but I gotta quickly talk about Clippers Nuggets last night.
No, it's been a good series, not great.
And you know, I'm not gonna get on Kawhi Leonard's case because he missed a free throw late and blew the cover. Clippers won by six, the line was six. No, thanks Kawhi, But funny thing happened in the game. If you watched it closely. Nicolea jokes that large gentleman behind me forty two minutes shut a whopping two free throws. Yeah, his coach was not happy about it.
Afterward. Take a listen, Nicola gets fouled a lot.
I'm not sure what was happening tonight, but for him to shoot two free throws with the amount of contact that was going on out there was absolutely crazy. They put smalls on them. Those smalls were allowed to do whatever they want. So I'm really excited for Saturday that we're gonna be able to do the same thing with their best players.
At interim.
Coach, you're not getting the respect of the refs the way Phil Jackson used to do that. So you know, Cowhard and I occasionally will get sparring about certain topics and the whole physicality of the NBA playoffs.
That's one that he's hot on. He loves it.
He loves Oh, it's like nineties basketball all over again.
It's fantastic. Newsflash. That product sucked.
There's a reason the NBA changed the rules because the games devolved into unwatchable drek. Nobody wants to see guys fighting. This is not the movie gladiator. Guys, I'm sorry, it's basketball. Let the skilled artisans go to work, and yeah, we'll get to Steph Curry shortly. Okay, look at they put together a montage of all the beefs that have happened in the NBA playoffs. I love heated basketball. I'm not gonna use this as a referendum to talk about how much I love playing basketball. But yeah, listen, game point, you're not scoring on me. I will value you're not scoring on me, and I get that mentality. But what I don't get is Yokid, who's attacking the basket.
All night long, attempts two free throws.
The Nuggets has a team shot nine and they weren't just bombing threes.
They only shot twenty seven threes.
The MAVs, by the way, shot forty seven the other night, miss forty.
We cannot let this play continue. I get it, guys.
I totally understand you like physical, in your face skirmishes all the time. I mean, Detroit Nicks was fascinating, but it's not visually appealing basketball. Do you remember what happened in the nineties the Bulls and Jazz played a playoff game in the finals. I think it was like ninety to sixty eight. Okay, go look at some of those scores. Teams were scoring in the sixties and seventies because it's like just battles left and right.
You can't get to the basket.
Everybody's got a foot in the paint and they're just fouling the hell out of everybody.
That's not fun.
Have you guys seen the movie Cable Guy Jim Carrey, absolute classic. If you've not seen it, I demand that you watch it this weekend. There is a scene where Jim Carrey, who is the Cable Guys, playing basketball and he calls, hey, that's a travel we got to call that and they're like, what are you talking about, No, and Jim Carrey goes, oh, we're playing prison rules.
I see how it is.
And then they go into this like Jim Carrey's fouling the hell out of people, and it's like, come on, guy, And that's kind of how I feel the NBA's been in the regular season.
They call everything everything. It's like a little too much.
You couldn't breathe on somebody without a foul being called. But they've swung the pendulum far too much in the playoffs where they call nothing. I mean, do you want to see Bobby Portis and Haliburton going at it every time down the court. Do you want to see Jyllan Brooks and Jimmy Butler get in a fight, Because that's what's next. Warriors Rockets today. I'm telling you Draymond Green loves to go after European centers. He don't pick on American guys. He'll go after euros. Him and Shengoon have gotten into it. We're close to an altercation. It's been brewing. And it's funny because when I talked about this a few weeks ago, they're like, Jay, you're crazy, No way, we love it.
Guys.
People are starting to see, like this is not great basketball. You'll catch and again, I had a Clipper.
Sticket last night.
I got to push you'll kitch twice in the final ninety seconds, goes at Zuba's and gets pretty clearly foul, one across the arm. The second one was more of a questionable across the arm, and Yokich puts his arms up like where's the call? And he got nothing, and like, I don't know, I call fouls? Can we not have body check basketball?
Which is a game my.
Brother and I invented in our basement growing up, where anything goes.
You know, we're just body checking each other.
My parents didn't want to get dry wall because they knew we'd put holes in the wall. So he had like that kind of ugly wood wood fake wood paneling. I know a bunch of guys had it in the eighties and anything goes, And I feel like that's what's happening in the NBA.
I don't want to see that.
I don't want to see Stefph Curry getting fouled every time he shoots the ball.
And that's happening. Here's Steve Kerr talking about it.
Players are going to do whatever they're allowed to do. And so after every on every release, you know Steph's getting getting hit. But it's basically within the rules. So that's how the league wants it right now. And you know, I know we got thirty coaches who all think it's it's just idiotic that we allowed this. So players all over the league are just taking shots at guys shooting hands after release because they know it's not gonna be a foul.
He's not wrong.
And you hear the part about thirty coaches around the league are upset with this, So I'll wrap up with this. So whatever era you're born in, you love that culture, music, movies. This is just a peek into how strange of a human I am. So we went on a flight to Japan. You know, it's like eleven hours or whatever. What movies do I fire up? Well, I've seen a lot of them. Let me fire up Back to the Future. Oh, I love that movie soundtrack epic. I'll fast forward to the good scenes. But I could watch that movie on a loop and I didn't stop there. I love eighties movies and music. I fired up Karate Kid after that. I'm not even kidding, and I fast forwarded to where the Cobra Kais would beat up Daniel and that Daniel got revenge. And I am dead serious when I say this. When he pulls off the crane kick and mister Miagi gives the nod, I almost cry.
I swear.
I love that scene that movie. I love eighties movies. I loved eighties basketball at the time. I don't like it now go back and try to watch it, guys. And like we talked about this.
In the morning meeting.
You know, there's a bunch of young guys on the stat A bunch of nineties dudes.
I'm not calling anybody out. I love these guys. They're nice and they're like, Oh, I love nineties music. It's the best.
I was like, Man, I go to pick up basketball games and whoever has the music is usually a nineties guy and it's all Sound Garden, Green Day, what they listened to when they were growing up. Okay, I can only take so much red hot chili peppers when I'm playing basketball.
Sorry, guys, So this applies to the NBA too.
You guys love physical basketball growing up because you were nine years old and you're watching guys choke out one another and fight and throw punches. That's not where we are today. That's not what the NBA should be. I'm sorry, Adam Silver freaking get a hold of this. Let's go to Alex Curry with the news.
No, no, this is the headline. News ran over.
You know, we call those comfort movies, like you have comfort TV shows and you have comfort movies. That's what you go to and it makes you feel good if you're in a.
Bad mood or something you like a kid like growing pains, like a job I have.
So I am like elf almost famous. Crazy rich Asians are my three.
You're a little Yoka that I by the way, pretty rich Asian, sneaky good.
It's my favorite airplane movie. I like that every time I get on an airplane. That's what you want to go on the airplane like they did with the shower. Come on, all right, let's start with the breaking news though, because the San Antonio Spurs have announced that Greg Papavich has stepped down from his head coaching position, transitioning to be full time president of basketball operations. I'll pop up for a mild stroke on November second of last year and never came back to coach.
Ow Kamovich has.
Been involved with the Spurs front office since May nineteen ninety four and had served as the head coach of the organization. Now, JEMC. I think we all kind of knew this was going to happen sooner than later since his health issues that happened this season. But at the end of the day, it's the end of a legendary era for the Spurs, also in a very respectful way where he's still going to be a part of the organization, but now it's time for them to find that next leader of the organization. I mean, his resume is absolutely insane. He's one of the greatest of all time. Twenty nine seasons as a head coach, twenty two straight winning seasons, five NBA Championships, three NBA Coach of the Year, Olympic Gold medal, Basketball Hall of Fame. Like it's he's checking all all the boxes.
Where do you rank him as like all time?
He has certainly top five coach of all time. I mean, I'm sure sure you could make a case that he's he's number one. It depends that filter. You want to go Phil Jackson, read Aurbach, you know, uh.
Yeah, depending on So that's who's above him in championships. You got Philled with eleven, right with nine, and then Greg tied with pat Riley with five.
So I mean, yea all the time.
But I'm curious, what do you think this means for Webbin Yama.
I mean, he's young enough, they're going to have to find the right fit. Well, that's We've seen it with so many star players. It work and not work. And you can't compare anybody to Bock because he's such a in a league of his own and such a legendary coach and it's been there for decades, so they got their work cut out for them.
Yeah, my guess is Papa Mitchell still have his fingerprints over everything.
Well, yeah, it's president of basketball operations. He's gonna help find his replacement.
And you know, this is kind of a pivotal year, year three for Wemby. I just looked at the draft.
So they have the eighth best odds to get Cooper Flag. They also have the fourteenth pick from Atlanta. Obviously Cooper Flag will be nice. Then there's gonna be talking about Yiannis. We'll get to Jannis later, like do the Spurs have some ammunition to go? Maybe get him? Give up everything? But Wemby and you know, Castle rookie of the Year. It's it's gonna be an interesting offseason. I would put the Spurs top five team in the off season and watch.
Yeah, coach Wemby, you.
Know, the full deer and Fox situation. He's a good player. Interesting stuff in Cinny.
Transition and end of a legendary era. But now, like you gotta feel excited for the future because you have star and how about like star player pop.
Lebron, Kevin Durant, Steph Curry. That whole era, I mean, the last twenty years of the NBA worker defined.
By those guys. We'll go fifteen, okay, and and they're all kind of.
Near the end in the last year or two or so, or you know, a couple, couple.
It's okay, it's it's it's.
The natural transition. Okay, Let's move to the NFL. Shodoor Sanders slide down. The draft board was historic, and now players are speaking out about it sucking your Giants Wide receiver Milik Naghbors book about the quarterback being a fifth round pick.
We all made different. So for them to judge him on just the things that he said or how you carry himself, bro, how you carry himself is all about how his dad raised him and designed They know Dion. We all know Dion.
Come around, We all know Dion.
They was just doing that just to, you know, to show how they bigger than what he wanted to stand for. So for them to do that, but I have I lost a little bit of respect.
Yeah, I'm kind of with Malik on this one. I the whole situation is still a little fishy to me, Like, even if he's not a first round pick. He definitely wasn't a fifth round pick. And I just think people were getting too much of their feelings and going around the narrative of what the media was spinning about his his cockiness and his confidence. And personally, I don't have an issue with a young superstar who you are drafting to be a leader on your team having that kind of confidence, because you're gonna need that to be a leader in a room.
I just.
Again, we don't know what was going on in these interviews. We don't know what was happening in these war rooms, in these draft rooms, what the conversations were, what were happening. But from what we see, he's never done anything wrong off the field. He seems like a stand up guy. Yeah, okay, he has confidence. I don't think there's any.
Issue with that. And he's a good player. He is a good player.
The incessant branding stuff, it seems a.
Bit much just be legendary.
I just saw it as he was running to the pool, has like be legendary on the ground.
But that's what what NIL is now, and that's what the social media that's young, these young athletes are making millions.
Of that can be your brand great, and I don't want that on my football team.
People are within their right to say that right now.
Let me ask leak neighbors saying let for them to let him slide. I lost a bit of respect. He plays for a team that lets Schador slide and then traded back in for Jackson Dark.
Ye.
So a little bit of a job is his own r it kind of right.
I think so for sure.
And so if the Giants hear that and they're like, oh, that's that's great, that's our our superstar. We already dealt with this with Odell Beckham.
I mean he had he did not have a good situation last year.
Let's just put it.
He has it.
They haven't like shown.
Him the winning ways that they are a winning way kind of a team.
Yeah, they got a lot to prove this.
Yeah, and I don't.
Blame him for that comment.
Let me go back to the branding thing.
And you are right, because even the fourth stringer in New York they Tommy Tommy Cutlets whatever his name is, he would do that Italian thing divito there.
He would do that to brandes.
Hey, this is me and then you put on T shirts and all that credit.
So I get it.
That's what it is, is that that's the era we are living.
You are your own brand.
But he's like a strong brand.
He's a nobody. Sorry, Devido, he's not a fact. I was like he got like his one shot about a shadure. Yes, like you want to be a starter. Yes, are you putting your brand above the team being legend?
Are you gonna like sell them?
I know he was being confident. Also like his teammates love him.
There was nothing bad you Like, nobody could say anything bad about him. So this was all personal opinions getting in the way of someone's work.
Let me ask you.
Did nobody say anything bad about him because they were afraid of repercussions from Dion.
Remember Diana Colorado straight up with two guys and was like, hey, you're not good enough. Hit the portal. I wonder if NFL.
Teams are like, I don't need Dion going on social media blasting us.
No, no, I mean you know what you're getting, Like Dion is one of the all time grades, Like you like that is he is who he is and he raised a great human And that's that's the that's the part that like this whole thing just seems fishy to me. But let's let's talk about Sanders's former teammate. Because the Jags made a splash early in the draft trading up to take wide receiver and cornerback Travis Hunter. Jacksonville intends to work Hunter in on the offensive side of the ball first, but the second overall pick had some of the shortest odds to win both offensive and defensive Rookie of the Year. Now, I love that they're gonna let him cook and let him play both sides. But I mean, he's definitely going to be ranked as their best cornerback and probably a top like two three of their wide receivers. But if you had to pick which one do you think he's more likely to win offensive or defensive for kid year?
I would go offensive, much better chance. Yeah, Defense, no way. Often he'll catch a lot of passes.
Yeah, JAG's defense ain't great. They'll be trailing. I mean, you could catch seventy balls for one thousand yards.
They said they intended to work him on the offensive side of the ball first, so that means he's probably gonna get a little more a little more time at wide.
Receiver offense sells tickets and I think they need that in.
Jack defence wins championships.
They're not going to defend sells tickets.
Alex with the news.
Well that's the news and thanks for stopping by The Herd Line News.
All right, game six tonight, can the Warriors close out the Rockets? And coming up next, we'll talk to the only guy in America. That's what it says here on the script, I'm just reading who picked the Timberwolves.
To beat the Lakers? That's next.
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays and noon eastern nn am 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 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 Cavino 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 Covin on Rich wherever you get your podcasts, and of course on social media that's Covino and Rich.
All right back here on the Herd, Rick Bucher.
Joining us in studio doing his victory lot. Congratulations, but man, you love the Timberwolves and aunt look pretty good. But let's start with your guy, Greg Popovitch just announced recently he is stepping down within the I guess the last hour, stepping down as coach of the Spurs.
He's kicked up to.
The front office, which he's familiar with, and you guys have known each other for decades.
Yeah, I'm coming to trying to come to grips with this news because there's probably no NBA head coach that I knew on a more personal basis over the years. I mean he was he was an assistant coach with the Warriors when I started my career, and over the course of him going to San Antonio and running the show there, obviously had a lot of opportunity to be around that team, covering their various players, tim Manu, Tony, et cetera.
But Pop was.
Always welcoming and whenever we ran into each other, he was always the first thing he would ask me was about my family, my kids. It was always on a very personal level. The cantankerous Pop that you saw I saw completely other side when when we weren't in front of a camera.
One of them.
I have so many touch points with him, but one of them was I was doing sideline on a game and I said, you know, before the game, I said, Pop.
Listen, just tell me what can I ask that.
It's not like you're not going to You're gonna give me some answers and he goes, what do you mean? I go, Pop, every time we're on air for for the sideline in between quarter interview, it looks like you're eating glass, Like can we just find.
A way, Like can we just be like this?
And he's like, you know what, I'm sorry, I will okay. And so we get to the first quarter and the camera comes over and the light goes on and I can.
Just see him change. I can just feel it.
And sure enough, he was a bastard the same way he always was in those interviews, and you know, and that's just the way, that's just the way he was. But you know, as a person, and obviously I'm still going to see him, but the idea that I'm not going to see him on the sidelines anymore. And one of the things that really I asked him. We had a conversation shortly before he had the stroke, the first stroke, and I said, why are you still doing this? Because you're a world traveler, you have so many interests, Like you don't need to do this anymore. You've got all the money that you need. And one he said, you know, since he'd lost his wife, Like what, I'm just going to go home and look at the wall. He said, I have plenty of time in the off season to do those things. And the other part was he wanted to get Victor wembin Yama off on the right foot. If you remember early on in the season, chet Holmgren was the Rookie of the Year because our candidate. Everybody was behind that because he was playing with a lot more freedom than Victor was. Well, meanwhile, Victor and Pop were in the lab. We're in the gym, and they're like, we're gonna get your footwork down and we're going to get your fundamentals down before we start to open up the game to you. And sure enough, that's what he did, and he did that with so many players.
It's it is a sad.
Like feels like a shift in the NBA universe to think that Greg Popovitch is no longer going to be a head coach.
It's probably too early, but I'll ask it anyway.
Do you think this impacts in any way, shape or form their chances of going after Yannis this offseason?
No, I don't think this. I you know, from again sort of his mindset and we didn't talk about team plans or anything like that. But my feeling is that, you know, whatever the plans were, the plans will continue to be the Spurs and the big picture, he was just trying to get Victor in the right place coach for a couple more years and then right off of the sunset just happened a little earlier than I think he expected.
Right, let's go to my Knicks.
Jalen Brunson, mister clutch last night knocks the Pistons out before we get to the Celtics. I'm just Runson is just magnificent. Like I don't want to say he's remarkable. He's my favorite Nick ever, but he's rising up the charts without getting to the finals yet of being one of the great Knicks of all time, he's certainly up.
I know willis Reet, You don't you know, if you're a if you're a New York Nick, you don't get to the finals, So you don't you don't have to get to the finals to be an all time nick. It's it's you know, well, you consistently got us to the second round of the playoffs.
Okay, Oh damn, I mean what's the reality?
You know what?
This is?
What?
This is what drives me crazy.
About Knicks fans, like we're always on the cusp. You've been on the You're like Dallas Cowboys fans.
Okay, well that was thirty years ago. Your time in the sun was thirty years ago. Stop acting like tomorrow is going to be the day. Well, tomorrow's probably not gonna be the day to go Tomorrow, We'll tell you that. Not against the Boston Celtics. Did you see that's a wrap? The Celtics are minus one thousand.
Yeah, in this that's not great Knicks any James whatsoever. Now, Drew Holliday has a hamstring. Tatum's coming off the injury, although it didn't seem.
To bother him. Is there a whirl where the Knicks make this interesting? No?
No, no, look at look, look, And I don't mean to demean the New York Knicks, but it's just it's a really bad matchup. You got multiple guys even without Drew Holiday. You got Derek White and Peyton Pictchard can take turns on guarding, guarding Jalen Brunson. You got Jalen Brown and Jason Tatum on the wing size wise against Josh Hart and Michale Bridges or even ogn and Obi. It just the matchups don't work, can it?
Unfortunately? Can this possibly be a cat series because he's.
The toughest matchup I think for Boston, But I mean he was a visible last night.
Ten points fouled out.
I've seen Kats score sixty points in lose. So no, I'm not even if he has a great game, I don't I don't see that being the difference.
All right, let's quickly buzz through tonight Rockets Warriors game six. Yeah, you got Steve Kerr whining about the fouls on Curry. You've got the hand. Have you talked to your Golden State people, mister Bay Area. I'm assuming Curry he's going to play tonight.
Yeah, absolutely, obviously, of.
Course, yes, no question, he's gonna He's gonna play. I think it's going to It's going to be a down to the wire game, and I give the Warriors the edge in those situations simply because of their experience and the lack thereof and the absence of a true go to closer. Jalen Green has somewhat been exposed. I was I was a big believer in what I was seeing in the regular season. I was like, oh, I did not previously think he had a chance, and then he was showing me some things during the regular season. And this is the value of when you have a young team before you have to pay them the max contracts. Let me see you in the playoffs. Yeah, let me see what you are when the lights are brightest, and the Rockets are getting an opportunity to see that, not just with Jalen Green, but with Alpa and Sengoon and all of their young guns.
So benefiting. He's just inconsistent.
Yeah, well, if you're going to be a closer, you're going to be a star player.
It is all about consistency. It's just tough.
He's so young, and then you look around and you're like, oh, Sengoon's twenty two.
Also, I mean, I don't want to get too hot. Takey. Let's say the Rockets lose as you predict.
Yeah, are you trading Sheng Goon or Amen Thompson in any package for Kevin Durant not.
For Kevin Durant.
Yeah.
There you can see a lot of people.
Don't believe that Durant's got like a couple of years left. Shoon and I'm and Thompson like a decade. I don't think you're giving them up.
Yeah, No, I mean no, I'm not doing that. I love the culture that they've created. I love the the youth and how you can bring all those guys up together, and more than anything else, like this is the issue with Kevin Durant. I know, from a technical standpoint, he fills their.
Need as a closer, right, but.
He also is the biggest personality in your room, and he doesn't want to be a leader. And so Fred van Vliet has done a great job of being that orchestrator and making room, bringing along the young guys and then hitting big shots when need be. Like, do I want a better closer than Jalen Green ideally for the take next step?
Yeah?
Yes, But Kevin Durant to me, is not the anser.
What about Shane guon or Am and Thompson in a package for you? Honest? That's where it gets interesting.
That's where it gets interesting because I could see that gambit again because Gianness will will fill some leadership, but he doesn't necessarily have to be the all encompassing one, right. He's he likes being a worker. Be look at how he handled things when Damien came in. He's like, I want, I want this to be your team, right, Like no true one approaches it that way. He's sort of a magnanimous superstar. But in terms of his experience, in terms of his leadership, and this is how you approach the job that would be very intriguing because this is the problem that I have. I love San Mune's game. He's being exposed a little bit here and maybe it just is youth, but the limitations of his game are are on on the big screen.
We got a minute left. I have to ask, was it you that asked JJ Reddick the question in the pre game that set him off? I didn't love the question. No, I didn't like the way the question was asked. Yes, agreed that was the problem.
Because what he should have asked is simply ask what you want to know, which is how did you guys come to that decision? Was that your decision or was that a collective decision to play the guys the entire second half? Then you get to the heart of it rather than the kind of around the corner. Are you going to lean more on your assistant coaches?
Like what?
Just ask the question?
Yeah?
I mean I defended Reddick. I know that's not gonna be popular when I go online. You know, people get angry.
I didn't think he had that bad of.
A series, Rick like he had. No, the bench did not exist, he did.
Not have that.
He did not have that bad of a series.
For coach coaching in the playoffs for the first first, but he failed the final exam. He went and he went into the playoffs with a B plus a minus from me, he ended up with a C plus. M.
Harsh took himself greater. Rick Buker, Fox Sports, NBA analysts coming up next. The Honest Trader. Rumors are everywhere where Would he fit best? Yeah, I'm gonna float the Lakers people,
