The Herd with Colin CowherdColin analyzes the first round of the NBA draft telling you who in addition to Duke’s Cooper Flagg will make an immediate impact in their rookie seasons
He shares the 7 un-tradable players in American sports right now and why Lamar Jackson didn’t make the list
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All right, here we go. It is a Thursday, the day after the NBA Draft. Everybody's trying to size it up. 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. Jmack good to have you back. John Middlecof filled in great guy. H Jmack is back after hanging out with the kids and doing something, you know, parent and stuff. That's the way it works. And it was NBA Draft is funny because unlike the NFL Draft, it's just all projection, right, Like you're just kind of your kind of guessing because everybody's so young. I don't know how I you know, it's I don't have a I'm supposed to have really strong takes. The NBA draft is one of the things that everybody has strong takes on in My take is who can tell?
Right?
Yeah?
I mean the Brooklyn Nets had five first round picks. Everybody who's expecting a trade, they take five guys like who knows that they're gonna be next to you?
All right? So my take is there's two guys in this draft that you will see immediately, and that's because they're going to good teams. Cooper Flag in Dallas, he's gonna score eighteen to twenty a game, I think, very quickly, and he'll be on a good team. I think Dallas is really good. And I think the Jay Edgecomb who goes to the Sixers, again, it's a good roster, good GM, good coach. They're gonna he that kid jumps off the television, NBA skills, athletic trades. Those guys will play that. Dylan Harper goes number two. I think he has a great future, but I think it's gonna take him a while to kind of figure out. He's young, figure out his fit with San Antonio. But in the NFL draft, you are plugging in holes immediately, often with second, third, fourth, fifth rounders. That's why with this draft, I can't get too high. I can't get too low. I mean, for god's sakes, I'm told Portland drafted me, so who knows. Sga went eleventh, he was the finals. MVP. Jokish went second round, so did Draymond Green. Giannis went fifteenth. I think Kawhi went fifteenth. Halliburton went twelveth by Sacramento. So one or two times a year, it's not just projection, or if it is, they go to good teams, you'll see him play. But if you go back twenty years, there's only been two number one picks who have been MVPs. One's obviously Lebron and then Derreck Rose. I do think this. I thought san Antonio kind of crushed it. And my take is it used to be in the seventies and eighties, if you had a dominant center, a Wilt, a Kareem, a Bill Walton, you could win achampionship. And then and then in the eighties and nineties it was like even Michael Jordan needed a Hall of Fame level number two. You know, Shaq and Kobe, and it's Jordan and Pippen, and it's Duncan and Parker, and then you could stack teams for a few years, and the NBA didn't like that, right, Kevin Durant, Stephie people didn't like that. Now I think we've moved into a different area. I would call it the core four. Because of the new CBA and aprons, you can't stack it with all stars. You have to draft and develop. So, for instance, I would say Indiana's got Halliburton when he comes back, Pascal saukham Rim, Protector, Miles Turner, and m Hart. I think Orlando's got a really really good core for BN Caro Wagner, Jalen Suggs, and they went and got Bane from Memphis OKC Lou Dort, who I think is undrafted, Sga Chat Holmgren, and Jay Dubb. I think the Spurs now now have a really really good core for so Wemby's your size, he'll be scoring size block shots. Stefan Castle is going to be defense and distribution. And then they go get Dylan Harper number two. I think by his second year in the NBA he's going to be a real scorer. And then they got Carter Bryant. Carter Bryant's the guy I talked about for the last month. He's the one guy thinks a bit underrated in the draft. I don't know if Carter Bryant's going to be a good NBA score, But that dude is long from Arizona and he is going to defend Day one like he's disruptive. But you know, I look at international guys, I look at domestic guys eighteen years old. Remember, women mature more quickly than boys. I mean a lot of parents have a teenage son. At seventeen, are they going to be valedictorian or are you gonna be gettinghim out of juvie? You really don't know. By fifteen years old, you get a sense what your daughter is. So I don't know what to do with the NBA draft. I do think there's two guys that will come in good teams. Cooper Flag VJ. Edgecomb jump off the TV. We all watch them in March. We all know they can play because they're on good teams that will make the playoffs. Cooper will make it in Dallas, Vj'll make it in Philadelphia in the East. Here's Rick Bettino on both yesterday.
Well, he's physically ready, he's extremely athletic, he shoots the basketball, he's a tough young man, and he's maybe one of like three players that are ready to have an impact right away for the Dallas Mavericks.
He's ready for.
The NBA and I think he'll be an impact basketball player right away.
So you faced VJ. Edgecomb from Baylor. Okay, what did you see that you like as a pro and is there anything he needs to work on as a pro?
VJ is a tremendous athlete. Fast, he plays way way above the rim. He's lightning quick in the open court. He's got an average to good jump shot. He needs a lot of work on his jump shot. But that being said, most guys when they go to the NBA from being the Klan non shooters become great shooters by the time they're in the second third year in the NBA.
So Rick Patino knows hoops. Those are the two guys. I think next year you'll see him on TV. They're on playoff teams and they'll score. I want to talk about Cooper Flag. So actually number one picks in the NBA obviously, Anthony Bennett, Markel Foltz were just big misses. But if you go to the last ten domestic number one picks, most of them hit Zion Williamson, lack maturity, Markel Foltz. I don't know what that was. John Wall to me, was never a winning player. I mean he wants like in twenty eighteen, left and they went on a five game winning streak. I thought he was just talented. But most of these guys Blake Derreck rose a d Anthony Edwards, k Mancarlo's a stud, Kyrie Irving, most of them were. And what's pretty clear. What's really clear to me, there's only one warning sign that almost ohways comes to fruition. If a guy's got an attitude. Ben Simmons very early, yikes, DeAndre Ayton very early, doesn't play well with others. This Ace Bailey guy going to Utah like wouldn't work out for teams. Looked like he was unhappy getting drafted. Like I know everybody said he could be the second best player in the draft. But I don't care about your altitude. I don't care how high you jump. If I don't like your attitude, it doesn't work. So if you start looking at number one picks international or domestic, the guys that don't work usually just aren't ready for the moment. A lot of its maturity, you know, I mean Zion, he just couldn't control his weight, his personal life. The Ace Bailey to me, looks like trouble. My guess is I like Danny Ainge alot and he was probably too good not to draft. But I think that's the one thing, the one warning sign to me, I mean, you got to have more self awareness. You have not played in the NBA, you haven't even played a summer league game. And Ace Bailey looks like he's not interested. But as far as Cooper Flag goes, this looks like another hit and even more than the NFL the number one pick in the draft. There's been a couple of misses, bad misses. Most of the time it works, and here's Cooper Flag.
Excided to be a sponge, to get down there and just learn, be surrounded by you know, Hall of Fame caliber guys and just to be able to learn from them and send him an incredible experience. I feel so blessed, you know, to be in the position I am, and just to get down there, like I said, be a sponge, learn and shining girl my game as much as I can.
Yeah, I I don't know if we're getting better at the draft. I do think, and I'll talk about this later, and I've talked about this sort of ad nauseum in the last couple of months. Day is that I do think you start looking at the picks. It was a very domestic driven draft. I think you're going to see more of that because I think what's happening the universities in America that make march Madness. The NIL is allowing them to buy the best European players at seventeen and eighteen, and the other top players in the college basketball many maybe three or four, five or sixty a year and now are staying for another year and not going to the G League because now the NIL pays more than the G League and the coaching's better. So I think last night's draft, if anything, I don't know if it's a great draft, but I do think drafts will start looking more like this. That even if it's an international player, he'll have played at Oklahoma or Illinois or Michigan or you know, Kentucky, and I think, let's be honest, that helps. It does help if you have March mad or big games at Duke or Connecticut or Arizona or Gonzaga and they make television, it helps your branding. Part of why we love sports and the NFL because Tim Tebow, whether he can play or not, comes into the NFL and he's the number one jersey seller, or Reggie Bush. And I think I think a big part of the NFL's advantage over the NBA is we love the players before they get to pro football. So I think last night's draft is the beginning of a really good trend. We'll have watched almost all these guys, even the international guys mostly will have seen them in March.
And you had the great point a couple weeks ago about the international young teenagers now coming to the US to play college basketball. And I think branding is also part of it, in addition to the nil And you know that trend of hey, European players at the top of the draft that nobody knows. Maybe that cycle is over and now we're transitioning back to American players. And listen, I know there's Cooper Flagg is divisive colony. People are like comparing him to Christian Leytner and stuff. I think I don't think people have watched his kid. He is unbelievable. He is and this attitude you could hear him in the interview. He's going to be dominant, and I like Dallas a lot next year.
I don't know that.
I mean, like, listen, Anthony Bennett and Markel Folts didn't work. But by and large, considering how little you've seen the guys play before draft night, I mean, a lot of these guys come out at eighteen nbaight does a pretty good job of nailing their number one picks. I mean, Blake Griffin probably he was dynamic. Maybe he's not as good as your thought, but Blake Griffin had a great career. He was one of the most talked about and commercialized players over his career. So there's not a lot of huge misses, and it's usually an attitude. Anthony Bennett's one of the few guys that we were like and I remember that draft. It was a horrible draft and nobody knew what to do with it and it just didn't work. But by and large, basketball does a pretty good job of identifying, often at fourteen years old, Kobe Lebron Luca at fourteen fifteen, way before they come into the draft, who the best player is.
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Hi, this is Jay.
I'm the producer of the Paula and Tony Fusco Show. Usually in these promos they ask you to listen to the show. I'm here to ask you please don't listen to the show. The hosts are two absolute morons who have the dumbest takes on sports imaginable. Don't listen to the show so it can get cancel.
What the hell are you doing in our studio?
Get him, Paul, Ignore that fool. Listen to the Paula and Tony Fusco Show on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcast.
He's still moving, all.
Right, welcome back. You're now entering the No Bull Zone sponsored by Credible Great rates None of the Bully. So I always think it's interesting how we cling to certain people. We have these very fond memories of certain people, and I and I think sometimes, if you're artistically beautiful, that we look past your warts. And I'll give you an example. Dan Marino's last two years in the NFL with Jimmy Johnson. He couldn't move thirty five touchdowns, thirty two picks. He was bad. It was bad, but yet you never hear about that. You never hear about Michael Jordan's wizard years. Joe Montana, who's viewed as more of a system quarterback his last two years seventeen wins, eight losses, two to one touchdown to interception ratio. Joe Montana was very good until the end. Marino was horrible at the end, even with a legendary coach. But when you talk about Montana, it's like Montana doesn't even get mentioned anymore. Well as a system and he has four Super Bowls and I think three MVPs in those Super Bowls. Marino went to one Super Bowl ended horribly and we have these just maybe the aesthetics were so beautiful. I've always found this with Brady. Tom Brady's entire career, who he's a system guy was Patriot Way. It's Belichick. Tom Brady at forty five years old was a top five quarterback and had six games of over three hundred yards to the very end. That's why he went to Tampa. And for the record, the minute he left New England Belichick, it was humiliating for Belichick. He's now coaching college football. He got fired. So but Brady was always system guy. He had to go to Tampa until everybody finally wised up and said, yeah, he's actually great. But Aaron Rodgers, like Marino, who is more beautiful to watch. Here's how he we remember him. Here's Big Ben, former Steeler great talking about Aaron being now a Steeler.
You're going to get to see one of the greatest of all time play one more season. I think it's going to be, you know, every week is going to be kind of must sy TV in a sense.
Fans of football, Yeah.
Are going to be coming out, whether it's at home on the road, because you want to get a glimpse of greatness one last time.
Yeah, he hasn't had greatness his last thirty starts. He's eleven to nineteen. He's four years younger than Brady and Tampa at the end. He's not accurate his passer ratings in the eighties. He's barely got a two to one touchdown interception ratio and a one three hundred yard game. But we met Everybody's like, oh, this thing could be beautiful. It hasn't been beautiful in the last thirty starts. He's had one big time game, so and I always feel this. We never take Montana because it wasn't as beautiful as Marino, who had two brutal years at the end. Tom Brady was magnificent until his final season forty five years old. Aaron's last three years, there's there's no beauty left, but we remember him so favorably. And uh and I mean, I'm sure he'll be fine there. But I've always felt that with Marino and Aaron that they are arguably the two prettiest passers of my lifetime. The ball comes out faster, the spirals tighter. They're good looking guys, They've got a lot of confidence, and they were unbelievable in their prime. But let's not let's not deny Marino at the end in Erin Now eleven and nineteen one, three hundred yard game. Joe Namath by the way final two seasons, seven touchdowns, twenty one picks, and the worst knees in professional sports in any league in North America. But nobody remembers that. J. Mack with the news. No, no, no, this is the head my news.
H Colin, you know, I know you've banned Shadoor Sanders last week, but he's back because the Cleveland Browns four quarterback situation is really percolating now. TJ. Houschbinzata was on the facility yesterday and he said it ain't gonna be Shadoor. All signs currently point to Kenny Pickett getting the week one.
Not if Kenny Pickett starts, then that shows me stefanskis Kevin Stefanski feels like his job may be on the line if he starts Shadoor. You know, he has a little leeway we can develop this guy, because if you start Kenny Pickett, it's as if we have to win out. I was told Kenny Pickett or Dylan gab were going. One of those two are gonna be the starter. I was told this a long time ago by somebody in the building.
Yeah. And I I would love to say Kevin Stefanski scause I think he's a really good coach. I think he's had to deal with a lot of nonsense. I know people that know Andrew Berry. I don't, but I have gms that really like Andrew Berry. I think Stefanski's you know, he's like an Ivy League guy super Bright had to deal with nonsense upstairs. But I mean, I think I think you have to do like the Celtics this year rebooting. Now they'll be really good because the Celtics are the Celtics. But I do think you have to go into years. You don't want to have to say it publicly. It's a reboot year for Cleveland. They have two first round picks, is I mean? I think they're better off playing Dylan Gabriel and should do early so you can show the owner. Yet, next year we're gonna draft another quarterback, despite the fact that we drafted to this year. Like I said this with Jackson Dart, next year could be a five to six first round quarterback draft. You have to convince the owner when you draft a quarterback, we're going to draft another one. So I would rather put Jackson Dart in early. Let the owner watch it and you don't have to convince him. I know, I know, we just drafted this guy. I want Dylan Gabriel and chadur to play. So the guy upstairs is like, yeah, that's not good enough to beat Joe Burrow in our division and Lamar Jackson.
Yeah.
The tough problem, Colin is, you know these coaches want veteran quarterbacks. They win with veterans. It's tough to win with rookies, especially Dylan Gabriel, a third rounder who, according to you, is just too small to see over the line. So if you start Gabriel, you're waving the white flag on the season, are you not. This ain't Jayden Daniels. Okay, this isn't Bo Nicks.
Like.
We like Dylan Gabriel, but if you start him, you're essentially saying we're not going to the playoffs. We just got to see what we got.
Well, it is Dylan Gabriel, just a slightly smaller tua. I mean, I guess is that as perfect calm that you know? Left hander, accurate, undersized moves.
Okay, tool was an elite recruit, top five pick, you know, led Alabama to the Promised Land. Like Dylan Gabriel was a good college quarterback. I don't know the compare that you can you not?
Probably not. I'm just trying. When I watch him play, I always thought, because I always watch these college guys and think, what's their pro compeh undersized moves, a little left hander, pretty accurate, So it's a pretty ball without, you know, not a guy that's gonna fire it in cold weather, windy weather up north like so I thought he was a weird choice for a cold weather team in Cleveland. Like Cleveland, if you go look at football, Brady had a big arm. Big Ben had a big arm. Flaho's got a big arm. Look at the northeast. Drake May's a guy with a big arm in northern climates. I'm not going to take an undersized guy with an average arm to what works in Miami or a dome. Drew Brees works in a dome, Drew Brees, I mean, go look at go look at green Bay historically, Jordan love Farvan, Aaron, big time arms, that's what works in cold weather.
Let me ask you, Shador, right now, it's trending toward Hey week one, he's probably gonna be inactive. Okay, they asked Deon Sanders about this in Colorado. You think he's gonna chime in. I can't believe my kids not even dressed the Cleveland colin. This is a dicey situation for Stefanski. We still have to see the preseason, but right now, with hearing this report, Picket or Gabriel, they're probably not going to have four quarterbacks week one, are they?
No? No, no, no, A week crossed they'll carry two probably.
Yeah, all right, Let's move on to the NBA with the Celtics column. They've been making big moves this week, moving off Porzingis and holiday and potentially making more moves. There are reports that h Jalen Brown is floating around and Derek White maybe, but following the draft last night, listen to what Brad Stevens says. This is huge for the future of the NBA talking about the dreaded Second Apron.
I think the second Apron basketball penalties are real, and I'm not sure I've I understood how real until they were staring me in the face in the last month. So I do think that there's you know, I think that that can't be overstated. And obviously, anytime you make trade till they're tough, those are tough conversations. But I do you know, I tried my best to I've tried my best to communicate in general that you know what our priorities were that I talked about here.
So Colin, I mean, real quick, let me just give you the numbers. According to some of these capologists tractice stuff, the Celtics with those two moves got out of the repeater text and essentially saved the franchise around two hundred million dollars. Yep, okay, this is that is insanity.
Yeah, no, no, I saw the same numbers you did, and I mean clearly ownership told him yeah, and and they should have. Hey, we you got to shave two hundred million dollars off this. And for the record, I would have moved off. Poor Zingis can't trust his health. Drew Holiday got we I talked about this with John. Drew Holiday got old really fast over the last just second half of the season. So I think the moves. That's I spent some time on this yesterday. This is what Boston and does. Boston reboots and is still conference champion. Bible. I mean, I you start look at no Halliburton, Nick's gonna have a second tier coach. You start looking at injuries in the East. I never trust Philly. I think Cleveland will be good. I'm not sure Tatum's gone, but I still think that roster with Pritchard, with Derek White.
Let me get let me give you their starting lineup. Calm before you say me. Derek White and and Freddy Simon's in the back court.
Yeah, the front court is.
Jalen Brown, George Niang, and Luke Cornett. Yeah, that is not sniffing fifty wins, not even this.
This is the East forty four. Get you the third seed? Miami didn't get KD.
I mean Detroit, Detroit could be coming out to be good.
Orlando's gonna be good.
Very good.
Yeah, I don't.
I mean, listen, Peyton Pritchard obviously's good and he's gonna play a lot. But I don't like what the NBA did. Man, the second A print is total garbage. And and then and the Celtics having to guys two years after an unbelievable run, looking like they were set up for the future, and now here it is, Hey, we don't want to write a check for eighty million dollars.
No, but you know what stupid. I think the NBA is going to look more like the NFL, where it's virtually impossible. Nobody wins three in a row. It's almost impossible. Not even Brady and Belichick won back to backs. The NFL, you can't win back to back. You have to move off people. So the NBA, which is always felt like big cities coastal areas, stack rosters, win Adam Sober's like, no, No, the NFL's got it right. Eight teams every year with a chance to win. Helped plays a big factor, coaching and bench plays a big factor. That's the NFL.
The problem is the NBA has never had that. In the eighties, it was like four teams. Right in the nineties it was like two, and then the last decade it's whatever, whoever's the super team.
Remember in the eighties, the NBA was still trying to get great tea deals. Look at Magic in Michael Jordan's contracts. They made nothing in the eighties. So the reality is the league is much healthier. Seventy six I mean, think of this eleven year, seventy six billion dollars. Fine, that's that's an it's an insane number. That doesn't count what teams are gonna make in parking, in Swedes, in advertising, in radio, TV locally. So I it's just it's a different league. And I think Adam Silbers said we're gonna copy the NFL a little bit, very punitive. Anybody can win every year.
A final story, Colin is a big moment happened in the draft last night. Obviously Cooper Flag went one, but uh, the Grizzlies made a trade with the Blazers to move up to the eleventh pick and make this dramatic selection.
So the Cortland Travelazers select Colin Coward here.
Wow, Colin, Hey, congrats, you're going home to Portland. You're loving Northwest.
Well, but they traded me to Memphis. Oh that was I was very excited for about five minutes.
They got the jersey there you and the Portland gear on where'd you get those pipes? Man sees you back them crazy?
I felt bad because Malika does a great job. That was one of those well's one of those moments that you regret. And of all people, she had to you and.
I have never we've never messed up a name ever on television.
Yeah, I've never done that in my career.
Yeah, it just doesn't happen.
I think there's websites dedicated to us that Malika, You're great. That's funny and uh all good. Jmack with the news, Well that's the news, and thanks for stopping by the Heard Line News. So I saw this story. Now, I don't know who this is the staff does Reporter Scoop B. Robinson on The Zach Gelb Show Tuesday, So I'm I'm a staff says, uh, legit it. Basically, he was a guest on a show Scoop was that's a very appropriate name for a guy scooping stuff, right right. I mean I got drafted by Portland scoop and scooping people. So anyway, he says, the Jason Kidd wants the next job. First of all, you'd be crazy to take the Knixt job and leave the Dallas Mavericks number one Cooper flag by midway year two. He's better than everybody on the Knicks and you're not paying him for years. Secondly, Dallas has the best front line in the NBA, and their best young guy after Ad is Derek Lively from Duke, and he's done a rookie contract. So you have massive I mean the bigs for New York. One can't score and the other can't defend. Kyrie Irving, the best small finisher in the league, will come off an injury. Clay can catch and shoot. The other thing is no James Dolan. James Dolan's pulsive doesn't mean he's a bad owner, but boy, when he was building the sphere and he wasn't paying attention to the Knicks. They got really good, really fast. So if you look around American sports, I always love it how everybody's always saying, oh, this manager wants the Yankees. There is no American city that in the last decade that has spent more money and got less for it than New York City. It can be the Giants, it can be the Brooklyn Nets, it can be the Jets, it can be the New York Mets, it can be the Yankees. Nobody spends like New York and gets less in return. So this idea that a Jason Kidd oh he is itching for this folks. The Knicks right now have very clear ceilings. Brunson and Cat on the floor is not great. Robinson can't score as a big Cat, can't defend all the Dallas guys can defend a d more than any of them. Then, and then Cooper Flag is probably our best domestic number one pick. I mean, I'd argue, honestly, is it since Lebronn seriously last twenty years, he could be as good as anybody. So this idea that New York I was talking about this this morning. I always do an NFL Super Bowl bubble, and I'm very, very high in Orlando. So and I think it's much easier to get to the championship in the East than the West. But right now, if I today my twenty twenty six NBA Championship bubble, I would have Houston, OKC, Cleveland, Minnesota, Orlando, and then I would have the t Wolves, the Celtics, and the Nuggets close. No j Mac, there's no Lakers if Austin Reeves is your third best player. And now again, I'm higher on Orlando than everybody else. I think Orlando is going to be I think Ben Carroll's going to be all NBA next year. I think Bain is exactly what they need. I am totally high in Orlando. But there I'm New York. You could say New York. New York's two best offensive players can't are both terrible defensively time out.
We need a twenty second time out here. Eliminating the Knicks and Lakers is a travesty. I demand you do this over the first of all, the Lakers were third in the West. Just a reminder with no A d. Luca missed a bunch third in the West, So you can poop poo all you want. Austin Reeves and the Knicks were two games from the NBA Finals. Colin after taking down the Celtics and the Pistons. I don't see how you can eliminate the Knicks from the ball.
The Knicks is in Minnesota, really, Oh, I think I think Ant's getting bad. I think Minnesota's best players getting better. We're the war I think the Warriors are tiny and old. In the NBA. Here's two things that no longer work. Old and small. Okay, that doesn't work.
You keep betting against Steph Curry and Lebron James. I'll take the other side.
Yeah, I mean, I mean, honestly, when your best player, and at this point, if Luca can defend, he would be their best player. He can't. So right now he gives up twenty four and scores twenty eight.
But I old.
Look around the NBA. Old doesn't work anymore. Andy's young, I mean, honestly, Orlando's young, Houston young, Okay sees young, Boston has young players. Minnesota is hitting a little bit. I mean one of Denver's problems they're too old. Denver's got to get younger. I mean they do after yo Ki just like Porter doesn't work. Jamal Murray feels like he's a tweak away from not being available. So I mean, I think by the way, Nico Harrison was asked last night about the rumor of Jason Kidd becoming the next.
Coach, since it keeps being asked, since the rumors are still out there, just wanted to see if you can conclusively say that.
Jak is going to be the head coach next season. Are the rumors still out there about Jakid?
Apparently?
Oh okay, I thought I sent him down.
Yes, he will be the he will be the coast next year.
Yeah.
I forget the state tax, it's a winter league, the weather, forget the obvious stuffs, like Dallas is I think Dallas is going to compete. I mean Dallas is going to compete for the Western Conference finals with Houston Denver maybe. Okay, see, I think they're that good. I still think the Spurs are a full year away. Coming up next a comment. I really like Stanyon Cronkey, who owns the Rams. His son now is one of the Denver Nuggets. He made a comment two days ago and it got me thinking about who is truly untradeable in American sports, completely untradable that.
Next be sure to catch live editions of The Herd Weekdays and Noone Easter Not a Empacific.
To twenty twenty six continue Sunday on Fox with the Gold Cup Quarterfinal as the US ven's national team takes on Costa Rica. No Easy Path, No Second Chances covers week in Sunday at six Eastern on Fox.
Okay, now, you were very good. You were a little bit of a soothsayer on the team USA. You said, Colin, slow down, We're gonna fly through the group stage. What are you predicting for Costa Rica? There's a much better team. Give me your thoughts.
Can I just say it for tomorrow? We have a good segment here. I want to get to it.
Okay, okay, okay. So yesterday there was you know, sometimes you just shouldn't bring stuff up. You could be on a date, you could be in a business meeting, you could be in the back of an uber like certain things just don't bring up into the conversation. There's trigger words, there's things that frighten people. So Stan Kronky owns The Rams Great owner Josh Kronky also owns The Nuggets. R. Cronky's his son. He's kind of running day to day. The Nuggets president, he's running things. So he was talking about you know, this was pre draft, and he had this to say, frightening for us.
As an organization going into that second aprit is not necessarily something that we're scared of. I think that there are rules around it that we needed to be very careful of. With our injury history. The wrong person gets injured and very quickly you're into scenario where that I never want to have to contemplate. And at the trading number fifteen.
Don't bring that up in front of a microphone, not for like nine more years. He's the best player in the NBA. That's one of those things. Don't even complict. You just gave sports talk radio and Denver four weeks of off season chatter Broncos and Jokisch is getting traded, Like, don't say that. And I was saying this. So I was talking to the staff yesterday after the show and I said, oh, you'd be amazed how few players are completely untradeable. So I have the significant seven cannot trade them. Number one is Caitlin Clark literally moved merchandise up five hundred and fifty percent for the league. She is not only the face of the WNBA, she's the greatest face, the most popular face ever. If Indiana moved off her, and I'm not joking here, I think the fan base would absolutely revolt. She's turned the fever in the league around untradeable Number two Patrick Mahomes. It's not that he's just talented. He's the only guy in the last twenty years. You're gonna surpass Brady here like the worst serious here like Brady picked up the greatest of all time a long time ago, right like is he the guy unbelievably marketed Kansas City was swimming an average even with Alex Smith and Andy Reid A one and dinner. Can't trade him. Most talented quarterback probably and come from behind quarterback even better than Lway. Second most untradable American athlete and a good guy. Number three show Heyo Tani. I'm sorry. His connection to the Pacific rim. He drives road attendance. He is better than Babe. He is the best, most talented baseball player in the history of the sport in a market that has I think is Dodger Stadium the biggest stadium in baseball, It's certainly close. It's like fifty six, fifty seven thousand. He makes Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. We live in an event era. He makes every Dodger game an event completely untradable show. Heyo Tani. Number four is the world's best basketball player. The joker Listen. Denver's a football town. The fact that they have the best basketball player in the world. Can't trade him. I mean, best passing big, best shooting big, one of the best scoring bigs. Elevates your roster and when your coach got fired. He became sort of a surrogate coast for the Nuggets. I mean they took Oklahoma City seven, and they had no bench outside of Russell Westbrook, so untradeable. Number five is Josh Allen. I know he doesn't have a ring outside of Josh Allen, outside of Patrick Mahomes. Privately, if the Bills called every single team in the league and offered him, everybody except Kansas City should take him. I don't care. I don't care if it's Cincinnati. Girl's been hurt multiple times. He is the most physically gifted quarterback in the league's history. And I was an l Way Zealot. Nothing like him. Six six, two point fifty all about team jumps over linebackers. He's more talent than Mahomes he is. He's bigger, he's stronger, his arms as strong. Number five Josh Allen. Number six Aaron Judge. Aaron Judge is so great that if the Dodgers called and said you want O Tawni for Judge, they wouldn't do it. They wouldn't do it, and they shouldn't. He is so unique. He's a mountain man. He's six six sixty seven. He's a great guy. He's by far and away. He's the only guy outside of Otawni that a casual baseball fan would probably pay to see. He's got a Paul Bunyan esque kind of gravitas. Most home runs, He's already a record center most home runs in American League history for a season, sixty two. And I'm serious. If the Dodgers said we'll give you O Twni for Judge, they wouldn't move off him. He is a beloved player. And number seven, you're gonna think this is crazy. I think it's Jaden Daniels. I think he is our next superstar in the NFL. I thought last year was the greatest rookie season by far. He took all over a laughingstock for fifteen twenty years of franchise, relevance, maturity, arm movement to the nation's capital. There is an argument over the next twenty years they're going to become Kansas City in the NFC. That kid was bizarrely good as a rookie. You cannot trade him. So J Mackham only to his seven you're gonna bring up I do think there's a number eight that you're gonna jump on. I'm not gonna put it in there. Who's the first one that jumps out to. It's not on it?
Okay, So I'll throw a bunch of guys at you. We got some time here. Let me just start with the guy who just won the NBA title, right with the MVP of the league scoring leader finals. MVP wanted to he's in Hallo territory SGA. I'm just gonna start. Do you think he's tradable?
If the Denver Nuggets called and said, we'll trade you nice title, Jo Kich for SGA, you would be a moron. I get six eleven and a half, a better passer, a mountain man. The only guy in the league, Draymond Green is said in his career wave the White Flag. There is no way Anthony Davis can't defend him. Draymond can't do SGA had three bad games in the fire.
Fine, I want to lay up. I would largely agree SGA is non in this list. Okay, but if that's your measure, Jokic, would you do the trade Onondan Yama? You do that in Arpe's twenty or so fifteen years of winb Okay?
Okay. Wemby has already missed forty games with a blood club, so what forty more interesting? That's what people said about Chris bosh. Oh he went from an All Star to out of the league. Big guys get hurt, blood clots for taller players. Do I think Wemby's going to be great? Yeah, he's seven to four. Nobody is really supposed to be built to be seven to four and play the style and pace of the NBA. I think he's going to be great. But if I told you he had another injury this year, he is seven to four, so you say, well, well, well, yo, hitch, you seven feet he's two hundred and seventy five pounds. Well, I don't know.
Caitlin Clark's hurt for the second time in two weeks. Maybe maybe we had her to the list because.
There is no history of guards being heard.
Let's go Joe Burrow.
You're telling me that theer eat one more injury and you have to draft a quarterback in Cincinnati? Are you serious?
Yes, you think the Bengals would actually trade Joe Burrow.
Second game of the year acl Tel for Joe Burrow. You are drafting another quarterback.
I got a big list here. Janis He does that injury, So what other quarter are you gonna play?
Yeah, and can't hit a free throw late? No, I mean does not have a jump shot. And what if they can't get out of the first round. Since his best teammates left can get out.
Of the first round, they waited forty years after Jabbar to win a title. Giannis brought it to him. He makes them relevant.
And you can't get out of the first round in the East.
Let me hit you with Lamar Jackson, who's kind of a divisive player.
Josh Allen has lost playoff games, but has played brilliantly. The criticism of Lamar is totally fair. He has struggled in the postseason. If Buffalo called today and said, hey, Baltimore, you want Josh. You make the deal immediately, and I love Lamar. You make the deal immediately.
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