The Herd with Colin CowherdThe Lakers and Knicks are heading in opposite directions after LA's wild OT win over New York. Steph Curry continued his marvelous road trip in the Warriors win over the Nets in Brooklyn
Colin doubles down on his opinion of Jayson Tatum
Thoughts on Mark Cuban's comments on the Mavericks trading Luka Doncic
Guest: Ric Bucher
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Here we go. It is a Friday, Another amazing night for Lebron James. Look, Steph Curry, you're trying to put the old guys to bed. They're staying up late, they're closing up shop late. Good show today, Buckeye coach Ryan Day, next hour, Dion Dawkins, Rick Fuker, we got a lot of stuff going on today, So uh yeah, you know where they care about the NBA, LA and New York. That's pretty good last night, right, pretty good? Yeah, that was pretty good. Well, we had said yesterday this was gonna be one of the ten to twelve games during the regular season that's gonna feel like a playoff game, and that's what it felt like. And it really was cut of symbolic of where both teams are at. The Knicks lost, even though they outplayed the Lakers, So now the Knicks are zero to ten against Boston, Cleveland, Golden State, Lakers, and OKC, and they outplayed them and they get beat by about fifteen the game. Now, last night, Ruey didn't play Austin Reeves Dot one hundred percent, so they were more fully staffed in New York and they outplayed the Lakers. But Jalen Brunson had to play out of his mind. All your starters for the Knicks are playing forty minutes, and the Lakers didn't play particularly well and they won. And this goes back to something we've talked about Tibbs and the Villanova guys and Jalen Brunson. Culture only gets you so far. I mean, Harball created a new culture with the Chargers and then they went to the playoffs Pittsburgh Steelers last decade. Great culture can't score in big games. Culture has limitations. And Carmelo Anthony talked about something last night. He said, basically, what Luca is providing for Lebron now, these great up the court passes is what Lebron was doing to Ad. So it's really freed Lebron James game up. Last night, only Luca and Lebron played particularly well, but you know, I just think Austin Reeves, Luca Lebron. You have three play initiators. One can be bad every time in New York, Jalen Brunson's bad, good luck winning, Jalen Brunson's great good luck winning against good teams, and the sign of a very good team, and you can no longer deny it, Sorry, Charles Barkley. With the Lakers, you don't even have to play well to be the good team, and Lebron makes everybody better. I mean, Jackson Hayes does not have an NBA move, he does not have an NBA post move. He's lob guy and he's shooting seventy three percent since the All Star Game, the deadline, seventy three percent. He's an NBA guys. Hey, to me, he's a skinnier version of DeAndre Jordan. He's lob guy. And when you get Lebron and Luca, who are tremendous passers, there is great value there. But he's not a true big How about Gabe Vincent? Who Gabe Vincent huge threes in overtime? Again, what you watched last night is really the truth about both these teams. The Lakers now are so good and have so many offensive weapons that Ruey cannot play. Austin Reeves doesn't play well, team doesn't play particularly well. Luca didn't shoot that well, and they beat a very good Knicks team where all their starters played forty minutes and Brunson was unbelievable. So I think you know and JJ Reddick clearly JJ Lebron and Luca are speaking the same language because it's very much a team that goes with a hot hand. It's very much a team offensively that is tweaking and kind of going with a flow. This thing is a great, great NBA regular season game, and it was a team that absolutely can get to the finals. I don't think they can beat Boston. We'll see Saturday night in a preview Lakers Celtics, we'll see. I don't think they can beat Boston. I don't think they can beat Cleveland. Maybe, but I don't think so. Two best teams in the East. West is much much better top to bottom. But it was a game between a team I think can get to the finals and challenge for a title against a team that needs another big piece to even get to the finals. Let's be honest. Last night Nick shot twenty three percent from threes. The Knick shot, you know, thirty nine percent from the floor, and that's with Brunson going off and a healthy unit. They just they're just missing a piece. And again I said this yesterday, it's great clarity. If you're a Knicks fan, I don't want to hear about officials. You're all for ten. It'd be one thing if you were five and five against the best teams. You're o for ten and the Lakers are just getting better. I wonder if the Knicks are getting slightly worse because of all the minutes Timms has the starters playing, and here's the coach.
After came down to scratch.
You know a lot of tough plays that you know, we couldn't get to a loose ball, you know, things like that, and oftentimes that's the difference. So but overall, I thought, you know, the first three and a half quarters, I thought very very good. So obviously we have to close out better.
Yeah, And the other thing is the Knicks really fight, scratch and claw for baskets. They really do. They work their tails off. They play hard every night. Did you notice last night how often the Lakers they get kind of easy hoops, like it's not a very good set. They don't quite look organized and they just get baskets. And again last night it's just like, hey, Gabe, Vince, it's open, take a shot. Lebron talked about that after the win in overtime about just everybody on this roster. Luca and Lebron are the star ours. Everybody matters, though.
Has no such thing as now and key players on this team. Everybody is key, you know, and everybody steps on the floor has a row and they and they go in a mass step. And I thought I thought Bensgate was a great lift once again, and Gay was you know, single him out. He was spectacular. You know, he has played both on the defensive end and obviously with a shooting and we need it.
So we'll get a little bit of a preview potentially of the NBA Finals. I have Boston. I think they're gonna meet either the Lakers or okay See in the finals. But this idea, Charles Barkley, I'm sorry. Lakers are good, They're more interesting. Lebron and Luca is magical. It's only getting better. Luca is still not shooting great. He's still he was so inactive for so long. I don't think he has his legs quite under him. Yet he looks a little lighter, a little quicker than he did a week ago. That's what I can see. Not shooting great, he's having trouble first step, getting quite as open as he used to. But he's Luca and he's a savant offensively. But this thing's only getting better. They're going nowhere. And I mean again, Rui's not playing Austin Reeves, not one hundred percent. It's working, okay. So I feel like I've led with these two guys for the past week. So now let's get the Steph Curry. And this is the way you know, don't forget. You want to know the tours that made so much money last year, Bruce Springsteen, Madonna and the Rolling Stones. You guys can put the old ones to bed. But once again, there's a reason that when Lebron and Steph play on like Christmas or in a big Saturday night game, it's the highest rated game of the year. These guys are still great. Sometimes they get bored, sometimes they're not pushed. I felt Lebron and a D kind of like treadmill to nowhere. But now you give Steph Jimmy Butler and the show is back. If you didn't see it last night, he had forty they won again, third game, four nights. Steph with a bad ankle, but he's still put on a show.
But it's single digits and that was the goal.
When you were down twenty two, Steph from mid court? Did he coast him on that too?
Oh?
My goodness, carry from forty five feet?
Yeah, this dude's anating.
What did he just do? Every night this week? Different city. He's putting on a show. And listen the showmanship. Warriors are back. Oklahoma City's really good. It's about defense. Boston's really good. It's about roster construction. The Nuggets are about fundamentals and the Cavs are about efficiency. Warriors are about the show. And the NBA has always been better when it's got a show. It can be the Heatles, it can be Shaq and Kobe, Katie and Steph. But were you going to watch Steph play halfway through that game last night? Those Brooklyn fans, they weren't rooting for the Nets. They were Steph fans, and fans show up early to watch his warm ups. That's what a star is you always feel like you're two to four seconds away from seeing one of the greatest plays in basketball history. And you know, I'm watching him last night, and we love to bury the old guys, and they always have something left in the tank. They always do. I mean, Jason Tatum had thirty four points last night, and nobody outside of Woosta cares Steph's playing Brooklyn and New York City's a buzz and here is Steve Kerr after.
Steph just had an incredible trip, put on a show in every city. What he does, It's amazing, just the show that he puts on, the joy that he brings to so many fans who are coming to see him play in all.
These different cities.
You know, every fan base loves Steph, you know.
And there's a reason he's an incredible performer.
It's very rare that. Here's the Michael Jordan quality with Steph Curry is everybody loved Michael. I mean, yeah, and Detroit maybe your primary rival. But I I covered him when I was in Portland. I saw him play live four or five times. I saw his last game in Portland as a Wizard. Halfway through the game, you were just rooting for Michael to do something amazing and that's what Steph Curry is. And that is absolutely what Steph Curry is. You just feel like you're a moment away from an all time YouTube clip. And both Lebron and Steph have been energized because of smart moves by the front office. Just like the NFL, the great players are largely beholden to the guys upstairs making sure they construct a real team, additives not liabilities. It is great for the NBA. J Mack, we were going to go to that thing. I had a little meeting, but I gotta watch it. And the show is back for the Warriors. You know, It's funny a month ago before that, Jimmy but thing I had said on the air, I'd said, if Steph's not on the floor, they're one of the most boring teams in the league. Isn't it amazing by just adding one player. And by the way, Butler's not necessarily a similating but he has created this sort of joyfulness for Staph. Now they're back to being the show that you can't you can't wait for the games.
It is nice to see a rejuvenated Curry, a rejuvenated Lebron. They're probably both going to be first Team All NBA again this year. Like Lebron is legitimately in the MVP discussion, he probably won't win it because the media loves SGA in Oklahoma City's winning like seventy games. But Lebron and Curry just it's just fun. Man.
It feels like an.
Extension from the Olympics. Remember how they were like the superstars on the team, the old guys. It feels like an extension and any I think they could probably get both going to meet in the Western Conference finals.
And this is a prime example. We've talked about this the Jason Tatum stuff this week. When you put Jason Tatum around all those old stars, he shrinks. When you put Lebron and Steph around, the star is powe. They're motivated, they want to show off to the kids. So a lot of times with these older star players far into this in Minnesota, he just needed to be inspired. You know, you forget these guys. An NBA life is not just the games. It's shoot around. It's at the hotel at three am. It is slogging in a winter league to a hotel trying to get sleep. You get up, shoot around, breakfast, it's repetition, it's tedium. It's getting taped. It's it's a lot of film. It's a lot of tape. It's a lot of boring. It's like being an attorney. You know, you watch Perry Mason or you watch La Low, Corbyn Burnsen, You're like, I want to be an attorney. Ninety percent of cases don't go in front of a judge. You're settling out of court. You think no, I mean being an attorney. It's not like on television. It is a lot it's it's accounting, it's it's just a lot of minutia. And that's what the NBA stars they love. They love playing, but ninety percent of this league is not playing. So the lebrons and the staffs, it's tedium. It's a lot of boredom. And if you give them jet fuel, it's like they're like different players in the last three weeks.
Imagine if the Lakers came to you and said, Colin, we want you to experience seventy two hours with the Lakers. You're on the flight, you're in the film room, nutrition, weightlifting, shoot around. Would you do that? I think that'd be like the most fun thing ever.
I tried doing it for twenty two years in a row.
Right, you're not digging ditches, that's for sure relative to the average person.
But I for superstars. It is hard to get on that treadmill every day fighting for a playing game.
Yeah, no, for sure.
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App HI Welcome back. Finally, Mark Cuban is addressing the you know, disastrous trade that Nico Harris and the GM made to you know, Nico Harris and the gym of the MAVs should get consideration to the Basketball Hall of Fame for special contributions to the game. I mean, the Lakers now have revitalized the NBA, which had gone through a couple of years of soft ratings and uninteresting a lot of international stars. Who's the face of the league? Well now, now the Warriors the Celtics, the Nicks, the war. You know, you got big cities now engaged. And here's Mark Cuban on the trade.
If the MAVs are going to trade Luca, that's one thing. Just get a better deal. You know, no disrespect to Anthony Davis, but you know, get three if I still believe if we had gotten four unprotected number ones and Anthony Davis and Max Christy, this would be a different conversation.
Would you ever have traded Luca?
Don't.
I'm not going to go there.
It's not it doesn't even matter.
Okay, So when Jimmy Johnson won the trade trading herschel Walker to the Vikings, it wasn't just that they gave up herschel Walker. They got eight draft picks. So it's not just about the hull, it's the yield, and they hit on their draft picks. I have no problems selling the mansion. You gotta get a windfall back. You got to get flexibility. Oklahoma City moved off Harden in Westbrook and they get draft picks. That's why Oklahoma City and Sam Presci for the last several years, have had the most flexibility in the league. You have to move off Stars, the Chiefs moved off Tyreek Hill, it happens Bengals are going to move off an edge rusher. I wouldn't, but if you're gonna do that, you want to put yourself in a position to get flexibility. I have no when when when the Pelicans moved off a D. They got brandon Ingram, they got Josh Hart, but they got three first round picks, and one of those was Zion. If Zion would have remained healthy, because he was great when he entered the league, he was he had Wilt Chair Amberland numbers. If he would have remained healthy and had his diet and body together, you wouldn't even remember Ad because Zion's games more exciting. So I don't mind moving players three first round picks a D. Austin Reeves, I wouldn't do it, but I don't think it would get lamented because you know, I mean, Luca wasn't in shape. He was heard he'd missed back to back camps. He's an awful defensive player. You're even seeing now. He's still not in great shape, but he's been in Los Angeles. Kind of the tutelage of JJ Reddick and Lebron guys who have always been in great shape when they played or if they're coaching. So it's just you got to get some Danny Ainge has moved off stars always gets flexibility. Sam Presty, same thing. That's because now they have the I think the MAVs are best off not playing a d not playing anybody, and just getting a better pick. Try to get a top ten twelve pick. You're not going to get into the lottery. You got too many wins. But I would just try to get try to salvage it because you don't control a lot of your future picks. You got your one first round of this year, and it's a pretty good draft. It's a very domestic draft. I mean, by the way, you tanked a couple of years ago and got the kid from Duke who's a very good player. Now you got fine for it, but you did a soft tank. So I mean, it happens in the NBA. But to get no flexibility and less of a player, that's how you get fired. Jmack with a.
News no, no, no turns. This is the herd line news. Colin.
I haven't talked much about Aaron Rodgers in the last forty eight hours. What's happening. You say, well, apparently he really wanted to go to the Rams if they had lost Matt Stafford. Now LA's off the table, and Adam Schefter reports there is not an abundance of options for the forty one year old quarterback. Now, Rogers has been linked to the Giants, the Raiders, the Steelers, Titans, Vikings, but that's simply because there's and openings in most of those places, and Colin, there's conflicting reports everywhere. It's almost like nobody knows what Rogers is doing. You know, he's like that weirdo. He's like doing darkness.
People Wall Street and NFL gms don't like mystery. They want certainties. They want guarantees. You know when Russell Wilson, every time Russell Wilson has been in limbo, he makes sure he releases all those videos of how hard he's working out. Remember Cam Newton did a few years ago. Hey man, I'm working out down here in Charlotte finding People want certainties. Nobody likes mystery, and Aaron does, but teams don't.
So let's go through them real quick.
Do you see Aaron Rodgers going to the Raiders? Pete Carroll returns to coaching. You think they're in play because we had the odds. The Raiders are second, Giants are first. I'm not really buying the Giants anymore. I feel like it would have happened, right.
Yeah, I just I don't know. Everybody on the internet thinks this is going to happen, and I just don't see it. It doesn't feel right. It feels again once again, Aaron Rodgers going to a team where he's the savior, trying to save Da Bull's job and Joe Shane's juff. We just did that with Jets and it didn't work. Yeah, okay, So, by the way, what worked Brady going to actually a very good roster in Tampa that wasn't being a savior. Stafford coming to la he wasn't being a savior. Golf was good. It doesn't work.
Well if you get Rogers and DeVante and all of a sudden you've got Rogers, DeVante, Adams and elite neighbors. That's kind of spicy, and that you're selling tickets with that trio right now. I don't know about the offensive line. You know, we know the back end of the defense is terrible.
Ask yourself this when you think about a quarterback. Is it anytime an older quarterback passed their prime has gone to a team as a savior. That's why I defended Kirk Cousins to Atlanta. He was a savior. What he was trying to do is bistability for a year until Pennix was ready to play. He wasn't a savior. Nobody looked at him like that. So if the answer Aaron to the Giants, he's trying to save the GM and the head coach's job. That is not a good fit.
Give me a percentage on chance that Aaron Rodgers will not be on an NFL roster week one zero to one hundred.
Oh, I think it's fifty to fifty. I wow, Aaron's not going to go to a bad team. You think he's got sooner walk away from guess he's got three hundred million dollars.
What about that ego? You think he could walk away football?
I think he'll I think, you know, I think that will be placed somewhere else. I mean, Aaron, you know the old saying, listen to people. They'll tell you who they are and what they're thinking. Aaron has told us that he loves football, but he's got a lot of other interests, and the minute the season is over, Aaron Rodgers disappears. He goes up the Thousand Oaks and he works out in a training facility. He's in shape, but he's got I mean, I watched that documentary. He's reading about Greek mythology and Roman mythology on his deck. He's got a lot of interest.
So is this fifty to fifty that nobody wants him or he says I'm walking away.
I think Aaron controls this completely.
And if he does have good options, he just walks away and looks.
Like hell, and he'll be a first ballot Hall of Famer that had a really bad last landing spot. First ballot, Yeah, he'll be a first ballot Hall of Famer, an all time great Green Bay Packer. I don't put him top ten quarterback all time, but I think he's very close to that.
Not top ten. I thought he was on the top five trajectory when he was stacking MVP.
Of a lot of people are on trajectories. I wouldn't he may be top ten. I think he's he's somewhere around eight, nine, ten, probably, But again, Aaron's got fame. He's happy, he's older, he doesn't want any more rehab. He's got a beautiful place on the beach in Malibu. Like, what what does Aaron Rodgers need to be happy? He seems happy to me.
I think you just gave producers a segment. Is Aaron Rodgers a top ten quarterback all time? I think MVP's alone.
Well, probably like top I fringe, it's not definitive. Maybe he is. I always liked him more than far, so he probably is as far as probably in there all right.
Next story, more negative NFL news, and that's Miles Garrett. We know you requested a trade out of Cleveland. Well, he apparently requested a meeting with the the owner of the Browns.
Jimmy Haslam, to.
Talk about the situation. Haslam reportedly turned down the idea and said, I'm not meeting with you now. Miles Garrett's camp is saying, hey, he's prepared to miss some games if he's not traded. The GM and the coach have been steadfast.
We're not trading him.
I just looked up Miles Garrett's last contract day signed four years, one hundred and thirty seven million. He's got money in the bank. This is not some first round pick who's sitting out. This has got a lot of money. You can just say, I generally am not for players doing this. I am will, but when a franchise is so perpetually poorly run, I'm not blaming the coach of the GM, I'm blaming owners ownership when they're then I believe any employee in any state has a right to leave or break a contract if the organization does not live up to the standard you have delivered as a player. At some point, the Browns have to answer Miles Garrett's questions. Right, Miles Garrett, what are we doing a quarterback? What the hell's going on here? Why can't we win? We've got good players, they got a good roster. They were in the playoffs I think two years ago with Joe Flacco right coming off the benches. What does that happen? Yeah, So I was like disappointing for Miles Garrett the end, He's been amazing and I hope he gets trade. Final story, Colin is speaking of premium edge rushers. How about Trey Hendrickson. He's demanding a trade for the second straight season, but this time Cincinnati's actually saying sure, go out there and test the market. Hendrickson led the NFL in sacks with seventeen and a half. He has one year left on his deal and the Bengals are allowing him to seek out a trade partner. Now there's a report Colin that once the Bengals saw what Max Crosby got, they were.
Like, oh, we can't handle that.
We're out.
We're out on paying Trey Hendrickson. Once again, another team waiting too late to pay their guy. Pay early, beat everyone else.
Well, pay early if they're legitimately elite, and Trey Hendrickson has been for several years. Oh yes, they should have paid it. That doesn't mean you pay Brock or dak early. If you think you have a star Lamar Jackson, by all means pay him early. If you have a B plus guy whose agent wants to lecture you that he's a star, do not pay early. You push it off until the last day.
I'll focus on hendrick City here and not take the Brock purty bait. But Colin, I heard a really sharp gambling guy say, listen, you look at that defensive roster. Go look at the PFF grades for a lot of those guys. They don't have any dudes on defense.
And I just wrote this up. They gave up thirty eight.
To the Commanders, forty one to the Ravens, thirty seven to the Eagles, thirty five to the Ravens.
Who's that this cinc Tonati defense.
They can't stop anybody. They give up over thirty four points seven times a season despite having the legal le intern sacks. I think it's time to consider moving onf Trent Hendrickson.
No, I think it's time. This is what I said about Joe Burrow. Joe Burrow was cranky all season, all season long. He was upset. This is why is that He watches Lamar's roster, Josh's roster, Mahomes roster, Stafford roster, GOB's roster, hert roster, c J. Stroud's getting better roster, and he looks at his and thinks, how does Philadelphia Do they use a Swiss bank? How do they have a loaded roster? We can't keep anybody.
They moved off Jesse Bates remember him in the safety a couple of years ago.
I'm dominant and Joe Burrow is trapped. He is trapped.
I mean, listen, you can't pay Higgins Chase Burrow and hendricks Why I'm not gonna have a roster. They have nobody on offensive line, nobody on defense. Look at their defense.
Called having a bigger scouting department and being better on draft weekend.
You don't think four scouts is at LA.
Go look at the Bengals website and go look at the Eagles scouting departments. You can pay all four of those guys if you have, you know, the Niners scouting department or the Eagles scouting department, and you hit on your draft pick.
I take what I can get for for Trey Hendrickson right now, Patra I mean, I know he's awesome. I would want to keep him, but you need dudes, and they don't have any. They're safety stink, cornerback strog with all season.
Jmck of the news, Well.
That's the news, and thanks for stopping by the herd Line News.
So I sometimes it's funny. So yesterday I saw that I was trending and I laughed. Of course I was trending because of what I said about Jason Tatum. So I've never had a topic where I just give you data and facts and one city is more outraged. I don't even understand it. Yesterday, I said, you know they're ten and two when he doesn't play. That's not an opinion. I said they score eight points more a game when he doesn't play. That's not an opinion. The field goal percentage, the net rating, the three point percentage, all goes up when Jason Tatum doesn't play. Those aren't opinions. In the Eastern Conference Finals, in the NBA Finals, Jalen Brown was the MVP, not Tatum. That's not an opinion. In the Olympics, the second to last game against Serbia, coach's decision they wouldn't play him. In the gold medal game, he had two points. These are not opinions. You are trying to make him Yokich, Jannie Stephan, Lebron, and Luca I'm not. I'm just saying he's not in that class and all the numbers prove it. I mean, and by the way, you know who else proves it. Shoe companies Lebron, Steph Katie and John Morant have their own brand. Tatum doesn't. He's got a shoe under Michael's brand. So the Olympics, what did it prove? He shrinks against with great players around Eastern Conference Finals. What did it prove? What's production data proved when he doesn't play. I'm not saying he's not a star. At the NBA at any one time has two superstars, maybe three, and then about twelve stars. I'm just saying he's not in the three, he's in the twelve, and people are outraged by it. I think it's you know, that's why the face This all started with the face of the league stuff, and I think think in terms of face of the league, he's more Tim Duncan, where he's efficient, productive, good guy, excellent player, can win you championships, but there's not a lot of aura there. There's not a lot of personality. I don't think that's a criticism. So you're the one trying to get me to compare him to superstars. Has a lot of good soccer players and not a lot of messies. And Ronaldo's at any one time, the world's got two of them. Now, the world's got fifteen other great soccer stars. But at any one time in Bape Messe Ronaldo, it's got about three superstars, global stars, and this is a global league and Tatum's not a global star. I've said this before is that. We talk about Michael Jordan, he hasn't played forever. We talk about Magic and Bird and Doctor j you know who we don't talk about, Tim Duncan, Karl Malone. They are great players. Jason Tatum's gonna retire four years later, There'll be no Jason Tatum. Talk doesn't mean he's not great. You're the one jamming. I'm in to this global elite group and I'm just saying numbers don't prove it. You know, do you know what his nickname is? So? The NBA Twitter is a thing, and they make up nicknames all the time. This year, they've given seven new players nicknames. I didn't. I'm just gonna tell you what the nickname was. His nickname. Tatum's nickname the Anomaly. That's that's the nickname they gave him, The Anomaly. Does that sound like it would sell shoes? So so, so I think his nickname should be the password because he's commonly forgotten. But I'm gonna get shots for that. I threw a couple up there. All Right, we're being snarky, but I would we're just being snarky. We can have fun, right as an entertainment.
Wait, you need to read those out loud for the radio audience because they're so disrespectful.
The miss army knife, the last one is terrible. Seventy five cent. He misses in the fourth, you know missing.
I know, I know who's work that is.
I'm familiar with the somebody on our staff thought they were.
I know he's a funny guy.
But listen, whatever you can take it is so disrespectful. No, but the past word. People are putting him in this rinaldo MESSI class. I'm just saying he's more Wayne Rooney. Okay, I'm just saying he is great. Wayne Rooney was the biggest star in England. But he's not messy.
So he's a second tier star at the end.
My whole life, the NBA's had Like when I was a kid growing up, Doctor j was a star, George McGinnis was. I mean, I can name twenty guys that were great. And by the way, Shaq and Kobe were stars. Okay, those were superstars.
Okay, so your top tier stars right now, Yannis Curry.
But the top superstars globally, Steph and Lebron are one and two.
Right.
I think Luca, now that he's with the Lakers, that elevates his brand probably twenty five thirty percent. That's a superstar. Jannie is classic. Yannis is much more like Duncan. Where the NBA playoffs four years ago, when he was the best player in the league, they put him on a noon game. The NBA shoe companies tell you if you're a star, shoe companies tell you he doesn't have his own brand. John Morant does. Now John Morant blew it because of his immaturity. But the leak all these shoe companies are like Steph Lebron, MJ. They saw John Morant go. That is a sizzle.
So Anthony Edwards is a bigger star than Jason Tatum? Is that is that fair?
No, they're both stars. Neither one of those are global icons. They're not.
Yeah, I would agree with they're not.
And by the way, Yo Kich is closer to Tim Duncan than Lebron.
If you're Jason Tatum and I say a global icon, who cares?
I'm a winner?
I go to the Eastern Conference finals of the NBA Finals every damn year.
That's what every guy in Woosta is saying today. And I'm good with it.
Yeah, And you know what else? There are ninety five percent in the league would kill to be in the piloffs like Jayson Tatum.
I agree way to win and I agree with that too.
Yeah.
The argument is people are offended when I give them actual data that the team is ten and two without him and offensively net rating field goal three point points.
That might be that he took off games against crap teens and the Celtics are gonna smoke.
Them any or it could be the truth.
I mean, what about his fifty one burger in Game seven? Oh? You forget about that one Game six in Milwaukee at like forty five. I'll never forget and listen. I don't even like the Celtics. In fact, I hate all Boston teams because I'm from New York. I love Jason Tatum a lot of Lakers sands, by the way, I thought Jason Tatum would be a Laker at some point because he's like mister coch.
This this is the classic. I'm adding contextualization. You view it as hate. Like I said, brock Purty, I'd pay forty million.
Wait, don't you think you were trending yesterday because of the hate.
No, that's not my issue. I'm just telling I'm just before.
A glazing Jason Tatum. It would not have gone viral and got two million views or whatever. Right, if you're saying he's really great, But if you're taking some shots at him, saying he's not a global icon.
No, like I said, there are no shots. There are no shots. He's closer to Duncan Karl Malone, who we don't talk about. They retired two minutes later. They're not a topic. Dominique Wilkins retires. By the way, Dominique Wilkins never made the Dream Team. Great player, never made the Dream Team ever made then, Bully, but Scotty Pippen did because Scottie Pippen was Robin to Batman on the world's best team. Scotty, I mean, so again, Scotty Pippen is one of those players. He's not as good as Tatum. Tatum's better than Scotty Pitchen. Oh no, no, well, Scotty's Goodty, But the difference is Michael. They were the rolling stones that the Bulls were this un the biggest basketball brand I think in my lifetime. They were the only team that surpassed any Celtic team or any Laker team. Was Michael Joe.
Well, you could argue that modern teams right now, with the global reach of social media and TV games, that the teams now are way more popular than they were in the nineties.
I'm just saying relative to the era and so that this idea about Jason Tatum, I'm just giving you data. Don't let facts get in the way of feelings. I'm just giving you the data points you're getting worked up over it. I'm just saying he's not lebron He's not Steph he's not Messy, he's not Ronaldo, he's not Peley in his prime, you know. I mean, he's not Madonna or Bruce or the Stones. What he would be he would be a multi Grammy winning band Weezer.
I love Weeza first.
Better than Weezer, really good? Okay, come on, I love Tatum, and yesterday I said he reminds me a little of Clay Thompson. Again, he's better than Clay Thompson. But Clay Thompson played alongside a player who who often in the biggest games, Klay Thompson felt like the second best player. Good God, every time Jalen and Tatum Murney's Big Series last year, it was Brown taking the shots. Now, I think Tatum's better than Jalen Brown, not as much as people think. I think it's closer than you think. But Tatum's better, but just it's not perfectly analogous. But I do think he's got more of a Karl Malone. Tim Duncan Jokich is fascinating because he's easily the best player in the league and he has no brand and doesn't want it one. So Tatum wants it.
Well, how do you know he wants it?
Tatum has said I check all the boxes. Like last week in the story he said, I could be the face of the league. I mean, you know what's funny about it? If I'll give you an example, go back to Duke. So when he was at Duke, Jason Tatum. Did he lead him in scoring?
No?
Wasn't it Luke Kennard. What was he the most talked about player? No, that was Grayson Allen. Well who was the star Mike Sherzewsky, he was the fool on Duke. No, I mean no, no, Grayson Allen was the most controversial and talked about. I think I don't think he was the leading scorer and Shash Chefsky was always the star of Duke.
Yeah, I don't totally. All I remember is coach k is the last guy to stop Jason Tatum basically couldn't get out of opening weekend though in the NCAA tournament.
I remember that brutal law. Take a break. More on this next to her.
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Yay, let's start. Rick Buker's joining us. Let's start. Lakers didn't play particular pretty well, ruiy out Austin Reeves still not one hundred percent clearly? What did the win prove last night for the doubters of the Lakers?
Number one, it.
Proved that the guy that Lebron wanted Anthony Davis to be and that he has always had when he has played for titles he has in Lukadacs, he has that closer. Lebron has closed at times, but it's not what he prefers to do, and it's really not his strength. He can but you saw with Luca, Luca's not asking for permission. You don't have to convince Luca to take over again. He's going to and look if Luca doesn't have it going on. It's not like Lebron didn't do the work in the fourth quarter. But what we saw time and time again against Denver Nuggets is that Lebron had to be in that closer role and he would just run out of gas. And so now you have a guy in Luca who Lebron can do it at times, but Luca is willing able and wants to be that guy and has that capability. So I saw that, but I also saw the vulnerability of the Lakers, which Jalen Brunson was able to dribble, penetrate and get inside, and then the Knicks were winning as long as that happened. I just wonder how we would look at this game if Jalen Brunson hadn't gotten hurt and had been able to finish and the Knicks had wound up winning, because I think that was a possibility, and obviously they had the chance on the last second shot.
They played the Lakers for three and a half, right, and.
So I don't know that we would be looking at this quite through the same lens.
Well, no, I'm trying to I'm not trying to be definitive, but oh to ten against the best teams is pretty definitive, even if some of them are clote. Now they're losing big to Boston, Cleveland, they can't hang. Well, the Lakers aren't Cleveland or Boston.
So that's my whole thing, because yesterday on one of our other shows, I was asked to give my top five contenders, and I had the Lakers at five.
So I have them in that mix.
Yeah, And this is generally the feeling around the league right now, which is the Lakers are for real. But when you get a team like Boston, we get a team like Cleveland, we get a team like Oklahoma City who have multiple dribble penetrators and guys that are bigger and more athletic than Jalen Brunson.
Now you're talking about a different thing.
So what you're saying is what I believe the Lakers are closer to the Knicks than the Celtics because I believe that, and I think you'll see it Saturday night.
They're somewhere in between those two.
That's right, That's right. Yeah, And I will say this I do worry about this is that I think even the Knicks know they need another guy. I think the Karl Anthony Towns move has always felt like it's a move to get another player and they would have to move an og a cat for a first round, whatever they do, as long as you get flexibility and you make that move. And you know, I've said this about you know Nico, which is I don't mind the move if you had more flexibility with the move, because Sam Presty's moved off stars, but he always has a haul. Jimmy Johnson for herschel he got eight draft picks. You can leave the mansion. You better get a check for it, right if you're down grade and home. So the Knicks, here's what I worry about, not that they're losing to these teams. It's that forty minutes for all the starters Jalen Brunson has to put on a clinic. Is that you do feel like are we seeing their best punched because of the way they're constructed, in the way.
They're coached thousand percent, Because Jalen Brunson, you're asking him not only to be your go to closer, you're asking him to be your playmaker. You're not even asking that as Steph Curry at his best, because you've got Draymond Green, who's play making. You got Jimmy Butler who could play make now, so you're not asking him to play both of those roles. And when you ask a guy who is six two, one hundred and ninety pounds, we've simply never seen a guard. The most recent one that I thought might be able to do it was Derrick Rose, and even that was too much for him, right, So you're asking a less athletic guy in Jalen Brunson.
And I don't want to bag on him at all.
I mean, he's a massive success story and I love everything about how Jalen plays, but it is to your point, it's the construction of the team ask you're asking Jalen to basically be your offensive.
Coordinats it's James Harden, and by the end of come completely and he doesn't have James Harden's side, right, And so it's and then you have a coach.
At least with Harden, you had Mike D'Antoni, who's a pretty good offensive.
Coach and not the most grinding practices and not the most grinding practices as opposed to Tom Thibodeaux, who you're going to practice two and a half hours every.
Day and is not known as a very creative offensive coach.
How about this? Even Steve Kerr is surprised by Steph right now, do you think he is a little bit to be doing continuing to do this level at his age, like he wrote bad Ankle, three games, four.
Nights and just no.
The point that Steve was making is that we especially with Shaq, you know, bringing it up that he should be in the goat conversation, which is going too far. But you look at everything that Steph has done and to what we're just talking about with Jalen, he's basically the same size, Like it is all the window that he has to be able to get the shots off that he does and to be able to finish at the rim and do all the things that he does. For his size and his athleticism, Lebron, like, we're talking about all guys that are forty fifty pounds in genetic three four inches bigger and stronger, Like it is just astounding that he does what he does.
Rick Bueger Good stuffed hour to next
