The Herd with Colin CowherdThe Celtics are set up for long term success
NBA reporter Ric Bucher joins the show in studio to preview a potential closeout game 4 of the NBA Finals
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Welcome back our number two here in the Herd. It's me Jason McIntyre in for Colin Coward. He is back Monday, I'm told, But who knows. Guy's got such a baller schedule.
I don't.
He may turn up in Katman do this weekend for.
All I know.
I'm joined by Alex Kurty. I'm not trying to get us to Jason bourn line there.
Okay, okay, yeah, So I love that.
I reminded you in the first hour and you're like, oh, what are you doing this weekend? I'm like, hey, j Mackett's Father's Day weekend. You're dead right, don't matter. It's all about the moms.
Mother's Day matters, I.
Mean, but it's a great Father's Day week and for it, you got the NBA Finals tonight, which, as you mentioned, you might just be checking on your phone.
A lot going on?
Who are you a.
Lot going on? I'm a man about town, now, you know.
I'm just kidding.
Yeah, I don't have any If I told you my Friday night plans, you'd scoff.
But nobody cares about this.
Well, people do care about Are these Boston Celtics dominating the NBA Finals, folks? Listen, man, Yeah, I came on here and picked the MAVs. It wasn't a confident pick. I said I'd be careful betting on the MAVs. I had the MAVs earlier in the playoffs. I didn't love him in the finals. But what Boston has done putting Dallas in a body bag is I think gonna kind of shape the NBA going forward for the next couple of years. Similarly to how the twenty fifteen Warriors totally changed the game. And remember, people hate change. People are so dismissive of it. When those twenty fifteen Warriors hit the scene, the Splash Brothers, they had had a couple first round, flame out second round I think as well, and then they just tore through everybody.
And I will never forget.
This is what my disdain for Barclay, Sorry, Chuck and Shaq, and that inside the NBA show started. I know everybody loves it.
It's a fine show. But in twenty fifteen, in those playoffs, they.
Were like, oh, these jump shooting, soft kids, they're not all that, They're nothing special. They can't handle and Memphis went up to one, and then of course the Warriors just wipe them off the map in a heartbeat.
But there was so much disdain for that Warriors team.
I felt similarly that's what we've been seeing with these Golden With these Boston Celtics, people just aren't really respecting what they've done.
And I know people don't want to hear it. I'm sorry, Larry Bird.
Celtics in the eighties never did what these Boston Celtics are doing. I mean, they're dominating in the postseason now, fifteen and two, it's an incredible run. The regular season numbers, people forget. They won the East by fourteen games, fourteen. I know, I know there were injuries and Giannis and the Dame was new and the Sixers imploded because Embiid got hurt. Like sure, we can make all these excuses, we can go on down the list, Hey, you know who else? They made excuses for the twenty fifteen Warriors in the finals against the Cabs. Kevin Love was out busted shoulder, and Kyrie got hurt in Game one, so it was basically the Warriors against Lebron and a bunch of dudes, and the Warriors win the series. But it was like, wow, well they beat a bunch of beat up Cabs Cabs team, and I just I look at the Celtics, I'm like, okay, sure, Donovan Mitchell was out, yeah, and Hi May howkkas and Jimmy Butler and missed the Miami's years and Haliburton missed it.
I get it.
That's fine. Dallas is healthy. Dallas just took down Minnesota pretty easily.
Well.
I was just hearing ten days ago, was at stan Van Gundy just the best backcourt in NBA history. They can't get to one hundred points in the finals against the Celtics.
These Boston Celtics are built different.
And when I say that, I got a shot chart for you from Game three in the Finals. That's just staggering. This is the new NBA, folks, analytics of one. I don't care what you think about numbers.
You hate them.
The analytics are overrated, the analytics of one. Look at Boston in Game three. Look at this six mid range shots. The mid range shot officially dead. Boston and Joe Missoula have said, we're gonna do it our way. We're gonna shoot threes and suffit the rim only in the pay or threes, and it works. Dallas can't stop it, and Dallas at the other end of the court cannot handle this.
Boston defense very switchable.
I know you guys are resistant to change, and the analytics have tuned people out, and you got all these Jabbronis online.
I can't watch the NBA so many threes.
The numbers don't lie. Boston is on the verge of a sweep. The only two games they blew in the playoffs, one of them against Miami. Miami had an unbelievable they made like twenty four to three pointers and the other one similar situation. Cleveland just got unbelievably hot from deep. Other than that, Boston has steamrolled the East. I'm talking steamroll, and they're steamrolling the MAVs and the great Luca Danca too. For my money, best player in the league. I know our next guest here in a second is going to probably laugh at that.
And that's fine. I get it. Luca's had a rough series. He's got to do some maturing.
But the way these Celtics are built is pretty impressive. And I will I'll close with this coward spent a lot of time this season.
It's the European takeover.
International guys run the NBA at the top. They've had a good run, Giannis Jokic, Luca. You look at the Celtics starting lineup, four Americans and Al Horford and then coming off the bench Porzingis, who's been hurt for much of this run. Let's not declare the American way of basketball dead just yet.
And with that, I want to welcome in.
Fox Sports NBA analyst Eric Bucher.
Rick's got a big.
Smile on his face, very excited. We have some good back and forth during the pandemic. We had some We did some videos for Fox Sports that yes we did what viral arguing Damian Lillard does so. Rick and I love some sparring, but I don't know. Game four tonight, do the Mavericks steal one? Do you even care?
Or are you onto the offseass I care.
Because for some of the reasons that you've stated, like where do we put this Boston Celtics team and a sweep in the finals. When was the last time a Western Conference team was swept? I want to say it was Detroit. I mean, we're going back, We're going back prior to win. I've never covered an NBA finals where a Western Conference team was swept. It's a great point. So again, but what does that mean? Does that automatically anoint a team as being an all time great as you are suggesting, and and I can't go there. Ye, Look, have we underestimated the Boston Celtics. Have we not given them their just due? I would say that that is fair, But I'm not going to look at the regular season record, or the margin of victory, or the net rating or any of those things and say this is an all time great team. I would not be surprised if this is the one and only championship this group wins, because I think that I think they're a really good team. I think they are a very well built team. But I also believe that they are taking advantage of a league that is in transition, that we've got the old guard of Steph Curry and Lebron James and some of the established great teams and players on their way out, and now we are looking for who's going to be the next great team. And we thought Denver was going to be dynastic. And I'm not discounting that Denver could get back into the mix and win another one. But I think what we have right now is we're going to test the popularity of the NBA when there is parody, because I believe that right now we have five, six, seven teams that could make a case that they are title contenders going into next season.
So let me drill down a little on the Celtics greatness And is it because the numbers say they're great and historically right, the eye test says something sort of otherwise. So is it more of an eye test not believing or is there something else?
I would say that there's a combination. Number One, the Eastern Conference was not a good conference this year. You had two teams that were outright tanking, right, I mean, the two worst teams in the league. And if you look at the difference between top teams, the Western Conference was loaded in terms of having more teams with winning records, more teams with fifty that won fifty games across the board. So Boston was the best team in the Eastern Conference. That's inflated the numbers, But I still look at the way they're composed, like as of right now, if they don't have Drew Holliday, right, if they don't have Christaps porzingis even for just the two games, I'm not sure we're here looking at a potential sweep. So do they have that nucleus? Do they have that championship caliber nucleus. I'm sure there's some people out there that are immediately going to go, well, Jalen Brown and Jason Tatum deserve to be in the category of the Kobe's and the Shacks and oh.
Real people going there.
Well, I would not be surprised if there's a sweep. There's of course the people are gonna go there. Of course they're gonna go there there, And to me, it's like Drew Holliday and they've been They remind me of the two thousand and four Detroit Pistons when they beat the Great Lakers team in terms of they had a.
Collection of really, really good players whose pieces all fit, and they were willing to share the load and defensively they were great in a multitude of ways.
Who would I don't even was Rip Hamilton on that team?
Hamilton was on that team. Kayshawn Prince was on that team, Billops, Rashid Wallace, Ben Wallace, and Chauncey Billups. Chauncey Billups was.
I think better than anybody on that team. I mean, Tatum's a three time first Team All NBA guy.
Ah, okay, but how much? How much better? My point is the weak point is. My point is that they were It was the sum of their parts that made them great. Like Jason Tatum an all time great player? Do you put me in a category or debating whether he's the best player on the team twenty eight that he's gonna have a phenomenal career. Yeah, is he gonna win multiple chances? He might not even be finals MVP? He will?
I think he's probably Brown, right.
That's right now. The odds are that Brown, the Brown's going to be.
M v P.
This fits the narrative of the twenty fifteen Warriors. See, I know you know what.
I'm so glad you brought that because you don't want finals of that. That was Andrea Gudal. That was Andre his defense on Lebron and it was and defense. Lebron still went off.
And the one the one thing that look And I live in the Bay Area, so I've had to live with this. If they don't get Kevin Durant, they're not a dynasty. If they don't get Kevin Durant, they don't win back to back championships and three out of in four years, they don't do all that they did. So if you're comparing the Boston Celtics to that twenty fifteen Golden State Warriors team, are they going to become dynastic without a the insertion of a Kevin Durant type player?
Can they?
As is? And keep in mind that the way the NBA salary cap is now structured, it is so punitive. I mean, it's almost impossible unless you just you want to give away your money. It's impossible to keep a great team together. It's so like the amount of tax that you pay just keeping it together is extraordinary. And the Boston Celtics, if they want to keep this group together, well they're going to have to do that.
They have him one more year for sure, and then Tatum's salary skyrockets.
Yes, Drew Holliday's kind of getting in his mid.
Thirties, but he's essentially like Draymond green Ish without the noise and cheap shots and punches and all that, Right.
I mean he guard anybody. He's been.
Drew Holliday has been indispensable. I mean he's not gonna win MVP, but man, if you had a most indispensable player, what Drew Holiday has done. Because I look Game three, Drew Holiday is not there to calm the waters, to say, hey, don't worry, we're down by one. I got Kyrie Irving. I'll go and get Derek White and an open three, like we're going to be okay. Right. If you don't have that, I'm not sure we're looking at a three zero series.
I would largely agree.
One more thing on the side, stove, Did you hear that?
I agree?
We do agree?
Well, you agree?
Sometimes? Often doesn't that agree?
Sometimes write it down, remember exactly, here's my thing.
So we're watching a Celtics team that's switchable on the perimeter. Defensively, they're not doubling. Luca Luka keeps driving into the lane and he's like, shucks, I can't get over this length.
PJ. Washington is not opening. They don't really have much.
How many teams around the league are going to look at the way the Celtics are built similarly to those Warriors and be.
Like, we need three point shooting, we need wings.
Remember when the Warriors will go to the death line up with Draymond at the five and it was like oh my, and then they know it was like jump to light speed with Kevin Durant. I just wonder, like the guy I look at I kept talking about Karl Anthony Towns.
Do the Timberwolves move off him?
I almost feel he's a Horford Porzingis type at the five, and a guy like Rudy Gobert has less value and you saw his less value against the Mass. Do teams start to shape in the way Boston has? We want to play five out Derek Lively, you were nice. It didn't really work in the series.
Yeah, there is something to that, for sure, and I think teams have been trying to do that. It's just Boston has perfected the art of what they've put together, and they've on it at a time where all these guys are in age where you can kind of grow from it so uh yeah, I having five attacking players on the floor, and honestly, it's it is what the Warriors death lineup was. Multiple playmakers, multiple dribble drivers, multiple shooters. The Boston Celtics have just have a new iteration of that. So yeah, but but everybody's looking. Look, the Dallas Mavericks are looking for more three and D quality wing defenders and a stretch for in the in the guise of christophs porzingis Yeah, that's it's what you have to have, and it's the one thing that they don't have. Maxi Kleeber looks terrified to be on the stage. Yeah, and linked look, this is what happens in the finals. It goes to your role players, like your your stars basically x each other out and then it goes down to the fire. I have six seven spots in your rotation, and who's going to win those battles? Who's going to make a contribution. Yeah, and the Boston Celtics guys have done that.
All right, let's move to the Lakers.
I think we're contractually obligated to talk Lakers every single time here on the show. So Dan Hurley was on with colhurt yesterday. Here's what he had to say about the Lakers coaching surgeon his interview.
We had some text messages and you know he uh you know, incredible uh you know message from him over the course of the weekend, just just uh, you know, talking about talking about basketball and and and some different things and and letting me know you know that uh you know that that if he was there in LA, then I'd have his support and uh just like think about that man like that. That blew my mind.
I'm a little distracted by the batman thing on his desk. Anyway, So lebron was texting with Danny Hurley over the weekend and dropped to if I'm with the Lakers.
Yeah, No, I'm not buying. I'm not buying. I'm not buying into that. I've never bought into the idea that he's leaving LA. I do think he will continue, and he's very good at this maintaining his leverage by making you guess, by making you wonder and look, if the Lakers don't find a way to acquire Bronnie James, then yeah, then then that opens the door. But I have no reason that Bronny's already working out at the Lakers facility. What what are we And it was it was the Lakers are intrigued by his athleticism, the workout come on what I like, what are we trying to do? What are we really trying to do? Are we trying to pretend that this is like this is not about Lebron wants to play with his son and we want the Lakers want Lebron to stay in a Lakers uniform. Question, so if we're going to acquire Bronny one way or the other? Like what what? What is this this idea that like they they're scouting him and like we got to determine whether we want him or not? Just can we stop the foolishness this? So it is so, but I know, but we as media, when we try to do that with a straight face, we make ourselves look like jackasses, Like what are we doing? What are we doing? What are we doing?
Hey?
Do you have to you want to call anyone out?
Go ahead, where let's get any buddy who hit dog hollers. Anybody who may respond to that knows that they're the ones that I'm talking about.
In reality, though, there is a scenario where I don't know Utah Jazz bosses whoever in the second round, Like we're just gonna grab Ronnie James and and mess with the Lakers. Lakers are kind of powerless unless they take him at seventeen, which will be foolish. They already blew their first round pick last year but did nothing. I mean, the guy they drafted after him, how may Hawk is? I think came right after who Chafino had like a really good season with Miami.
Rotational guy. So you like the Lakers are backed into drafting Ronnie.
I don't know if they draft him or they just sign him as an as as a free agent, Like he doesn't get drafted. I don't know how much it means to Bronni or Lebron that he gets drafted. He's not gonna get drafted in the first round. No, it would be a second round pick. And and second round pick now in the NBA draft is second day. I think there's almost more cachet if you were an undrafted player and they sign you and then they can sign you to whatever they want. They're not they're not restrained by the salary cap rules. So I I it, But all of this is really dependent on like what is Lebron and Bronnie want how what what do they want this to look like? And that's really the only question that we have we have left here and.
Well, wait, we don't have the coach solved. Think it's a formality. Reddick is the guy game. What's that is Reddick gonna automatically get it?
It feels like he is by default this is well, this is what this is, this is how this is unfolded. So they were trying to put together Reddick was at was their target, and but they wanted to put the gather a staff that would work with him. As it has been described to me. They like the way that JJ thinks that he's an out of the box thinker, and obviously his relationship with Lebron, But for the same reason, I'm not sure that that's gonna work as the head coach of the Lakers with this roster. So they want some guys on the bench that have done this before that can kind of help him with the basics of being a head coach, an NBA head coach. They couldn't get those From what I understand, they were having difficulty signing of finding those guys or getting those guys to agree to come in like a James Barrego come in and be an assistant coach with JJ. He's like yeah, he's like, I'm not. And especially for the way that the Lakers pay their assistance, which is not a whole lot, it wasn't very attractive. So they were talking to a certain reporter who's very close to the Hurlies asking are we missing anybody? Are like, is there somebody that were not thinking of? And they were told, well, you know, Dan Hurley hasn't signed his deal with Yukon, And they were like, we didn't even know he was available, We didn't even think he was that was possible. Do you think he would consider? Well, I'll find out. So that was the connection that was made, and Hurley's looking at it thinking, well, okay, if you give me a generational type deal, if I'm gonna get you, the Lakers are capable, an NBA team is capable of paying me far more than Yukon's limited I mean Yukon, if they're they're not gonna get the deal that's on the table the six years forty eight, he's gonna go above that. They're gonna find he's gonna end up getting more as a result, he's gonna get paid like Bill self, he's gonna get ten a year. But that's really that's almost beyond the resources of Yukon to do that. They're doing it because now now they have held to right the Lakers. This is my issue. I'm not convinced Dan Hurley would have worked in the NBA. Look, you watch Tate. None of their players dribble the ball more than three times. Nobody stands for more than a second or two. I don't know how you get enough NBA players to run his system. And it's in the NBA. As a head coach, you don't come in with a system. You look at your personnel and go what system do I run to fit this right? Maybe Dan can do it, but he's never had to, so I don't know if he can. And then there's the like how he treats referee like there's a lot of adjustments to be made there. But if you're the Lakers and you decide Dan Hurley is the guy that we want, then you make a deal that he can't refuse.
So they should have gone to like seventy five mil, one hundred mil.
Yes, whatever it takes, but seventy games seventy million. He's gonna get sixty million from Yukon. Why I'm gonna I'm gonna I'm gonna move across the country. I'm gonna upset my wife, who doesn't want to leave the East Coast. I'm gonna have to put up with all of the cooks in the kitchen with the Lakers. I'm probably not gonna win. Like I'm gonna put up with all of these things for an extra ten million. I'm not doing that. Now. You give me a hundred million, you give me a hundred million, I can't refuse that. I have to take. Well, that's my point. So if you believe that Dan Hurley is the answer, then go get Dan Hurley. Don't don't like you think we can get him on the cheat. You're the Lakers. Come on, you're the Los Angeles Lakes.
You would have been the sixth highest paid coach in the league. He had to coach one damn game at this pro level.
You know what eleven the the eleven mil or whatever he would have made is about at the average. I know everybody keeps putting it like he'd be six or the top five, top ten, whatever. It's about. The when you take all of the salaries, it's about average.
So I would say your best argument is the hey, JJ, like Hurley, you're a coach, here's the staff we're gonna give you.
Like, I don't love that idea.
No, that that the reasons why. That's one of the reasons. Another reason not only are you not paying me, but you know what we're We're gonna have a say. And in terms of who's going to be on your bet, I don't like that.
Dan.
Dan's like, okay, I get to pick my coaches, like I'm treated like royalty in Yukon, like the entire state is in love with Oh it loves you. Wow, I can win. And and here's the other part, like his his ability to get a shot at another NBA job is not hurt in any way.
Bye.
By staying at Yukon, somebody will come after him again, probably on the East Coast. Who knows Nicks nets somewhere that's more convenient. He's gonna have that opportunity.
You mentioned Hurly whining. I forgot about Luca's whining in game three. It disappointed me. I'm a big Luca guy, So Lucas said yesterday, Sometimes I don't show it the right way. At the end of the day, I really want to win. I got to do a better job showing it a different way.
The floor's years right.
So this is I thought that MAVs would win because Luca has won championships before, which I could not say about the Boston Celtics. They've been choke artists in the postseason, and Luca has demonstrated since he was a teenager, I can win championships. Now, the difference is the euro In what I did not consider. The EuroLeague is not as long, the playoffs are not as long. The athletician like he's never faced this kind of grind to win a championship. But all that said, look at how Kyrie has dealt with the referees. Look at how Drew Holliday has dealt with the referees. Look at how every other great player in this series has dealt with the referees. These are the best referees in the NBA, and Luca is dismissive and challenging every single call and mocking them. Now, if you're looking for fifty to fifty calls, which I could make a case both of the last two fouls could have gone the other way, and we would be having a converse. There goes Jaalen Brown again, recklessly driving, losing the ball, get fouling, et cetera, et cetera. But these are fifty to fifty calls and he's been hammering the referees all game long. Do you think you're gonna get the benefit of the doubt? Like be smarter about what you're facing. And he hasn't been that, and I'm sure he's gonna learn that lesson. We've seen him in this playoffs. There was one game I forget which one it was where he was so nice to the referees and you know what, he got a really good question.
I think it was a game after he got a technical member and always a big story.
Yes, Ok, maybe he's putting.
His tap, he's patting them on the back. He's like he's clapping when they got good calls.
Like, look, God, Luca, I'm gonna try to defend a lot. I think there's a lot of stuff to crush the one you said, Look at how Kyrie and Drew Holliday of him traded if they're in their thirties, their veterans.
Lucas the legung guy.
But but that's but that's not how we thought of him coming in here. We've always talked about his game and his approach and his understanding of the game, being wiser than his years. Right, Yeah, he's only twenty five years old. He's acted like a twenty year old in this series, which has surprised me. I think the reason, and I give credit to the Boston Celtics. They have made this game more difficult, difficult on him than he's than anything that he's ever faced. He's mentally and physically fatigued. He cannot impact the game the way he's used to impacting it, and that has him frustrated to a level where he's acting out.
I get all of it.
But if you're asking me why the MAVs are where they are or whether he's blown this chance to win a championship, I would say no. He's been exposed as not being an NBA championship caliber player. Yet he's got to get in better shape, he's got to play better d and he's got to understand how you treat referees in order to get a good whistle. They're human nature. Yeah, and you're talking about the best NBA, the best referees that the NBA has, and he's mocking them. What do you expect You're not like, chances are any fifty to fifty call is not going to go your way. And that's what that's the position he's putting.
So we'll wrap up with Caitlin Clark. I'm sorry.
I know some people are out on the Caitlin Clark story, but it keeps getting more interesting. Yesterday, before a game in which later played poorly, in the media is basically asking her to solve racism in this country with hey, are you.
Going to step up and help out the rest of the league.
They're headhunting you, but can you kind of defend them in these culture wars on social media?
I thought Clark handled did great. I see you've got a grin. Go ahead, Ray, come on, I just laughed.
The reporter says, I know you just want to focus on basket.
And then ask the question that has nothing to do with basketball, like.
The audacity of I know you don't want to talk about this, but I'm going to ask you to talk about this. I look, look, there's no way to treat her fairly. The only people that are treating her fairly are the w NBA players, because you're coming in and everybody has said you are all that. And if I'm a w NBA player and everybody's saying you're gonna take over this league, I've already been here, I've already been playing, like you're gonna have to show me and I'm And this is how she's being treated by NBA w NBA players. Is is no different than any great player coming into the league. They all get tested, and particularly when they're a skilled player and they're not very strong, what are you gonna do. You're gonna be physical with them. That's that's just the nature of the game. It's not headhunting or any of that. So, look, we can't treat her fairly because we've never had a player that's had her popularity coming into the league. And so it's it's they're going to be missteps, figuring it out as they go.
And like Lebron didn't wait into social issues when he was twenty.
Two, Michael Joran, we're are we asking him? Yeah, but now we ask him all the time, and that even that it's not fair, Like, yeah, it's not great. The media's fault.
Yeah, blame the media, not us.
The media those that media. Yeah, yeah, you blame all of us. We're all guilty.
Coming up next in the Herdline News, Alex Curry has a wild story about Brady and Manning and a covert meet up from their playing days.
That's next year on the Herd One More Heard. The Herd streams twenty four hours a day, seven days a week within the iHeartRadio app, Search Herd to listen live or on demand whenever you like.
Next Thursday, Major League Baseball will celebrate the Negro Leagues with a game at the legendary Rick Whitfield. Now TOPS created this collection of trading cards honoring legends like Jackie Robinson and Willie Mays. He's heard pretty awesome and the full collection will be available next week on tops dot com. And don't forget the Giants take on the Cardinals from Rickwood Thursday on Fox.
Did you ever collect cards, d Alex back in the day.
Where now I wasn't a big card collector.
I have a couple of cards now, like I have a lot of baseball cards now, just from when I started covering baseball and having a couple like big rookie cards or they were giving them as giveaways, like the amount of baseball swag and memorabilia I have after over a decade, and like, covering the league is insane, but these are like, this is so cool.
And then when you look on the screen behind us, just like how iconic.
Rickwood Field is the oldest stadium in the United States, Like it's just it's it's gonna be a really cool, memorable moment. And the thing with all of this, I don't know if you heard, but Major League Baseball added all the Negro league stats officially to Major League Baseball stats, so now they're combined. So this is just it's a big deal this year everything major League Baseball has done to do what they should have done decades ago, but this is gonna be this is gonna be a special game.
The baseball doing smart stuff with the cross promotion. With cards, I was a massive card collector. My brother and I I mean now like.
We were nerdy.
Okay, do you have a big card right now?
I don't have any recent cards at all, but we have a lot from the eighties, like the Ken Griffy Junior upper Deck. I honestly thought, like that's gonna pay for my college tuition, So we have like four of it. And we had those hard cases similar to these, the Willie Mays and stuff. Here Darryl Strawberry, will Clark, who.
Was like one of my favorite players.
Yeah.
Would we would go to card shows, my mother and I. We would get a table so you were there. We were so nerdy and like my friends loved this and we would like I had like a cow Ripkin card and I'll never forget this guy trying to negotiate a cal Ripkin Junior rookie card to like get a steal off me.
I'm like, bro, I'm like sixteen. I don't I'm not that hard up for thirty two dollars. This is gonna be worth a lot of money.
Yeah, day, it's some We're in a safe But I'll say this, my mother in law, who watches her brother, has a massive card collection and it's in New Jersey and I'm waiting for them to hand that down to Daddy.
Bring it on over.
I love that so much. Two things.
But I actually have a Tops baseball card from when I threw out the first pitch at Angel Stadium. Had no idea until like fans started bringing it up to me to sign. I was like, where did you get this and how do I get my hands on one of these things? So I called Tops personally. I was like, can you, like, can you hook a girl up? But I have so one baseball card, not actually a baseball card. I have an NFL card that I'm not sure how valuable it is and I'm curious, but it's like our one big card that we have. It's a Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce, Tyreek Hill signed card.
Oh, all three of them?
So how'd you get it signed?
Oh?
Go, okay, top secret? Can't top secret?
I'll never tell all right.
Anyways, after the break, we'll go to Herd Line News with Alex. Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays at noon Eastern non am Pacific on Fox Sports Radio FS one and the iHeartRadio app.
Hey, we're Covino and Rich Fox Sports Radio every day five to seven pm Eastern. But here's the thing, we never have enough time to get to everything we want to get to. And that's why we have a brand new podcast called over Promised. You see, we're having so much fun in our two hour show. We never get to everything, honestly, because this guy is over promising things.
We never have time for Yeah, you blubber.
List name in me.
Well, you know what it's called over promise. You should be good at it because you've been over promising women for years.
Well, it's a Cavino and Rich after show and we want you to be a part of it. We're gonna be talking sports, of course, but we're also gonna talk life and relationships. And if Rich and I are arguing about something or we didn't have enough time, it will continue on our after show called over Promised.
Well, if you don't get enough Covino and Rich, make sure you check out over Promised and also uncensored by the way, so maybe we'll go at it even a little harder. It's gonna be the best after show podcast of all time.
There you go, over Promising. Remember you could see on YouTube, but definitely join us. Listen Over Promised with Cavino and Rich on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.
Jason McIntyre in for Colin Cowherd. Let's go to Alex Curry with the news.
No, no turn on the news. This is the headline news.
Well, Jami gods luck going on in Boston this week. But let's not talk about the Celtics. We're going to talk about Tom Brady and the Patriots, retiring his number twelve jersey earlier this week after his long career in New England. Now Paton Manning was Brady's biggest rivalry during their careers, facing each other over seventeen times, combining for nine Super Bowl and eight League MVPs, and Manning was in attendance at the ceremony and revealed a fun story about the two.
We actually got together one off season in two thousand and nine, at the height of our careers. You know, Tom's coming off at MVP season. I'm coming off at MVPC. We met in a small town in Tennessee. I said, Tom, let's get together. Let's let's kind of go real under the radar, you know, don't tell anybody we're coming in. Tom flies in on mister Kraft's plane, big and he's playing. I'm like, that is not what I said. I said, under the radar. That's against the salary cap too. I'll let's get into that. So, but we played golf together, we lifted weights together, we threw routes together.
With these high school receivers.
We took their phones.
Away, and we said, if you tell anybody that Tom Brady and I are working out together and that we're friends, We're going to.
Kill all of you.
Can you imagine being one of those high school players or just a fly on the wall to see what these two legendary players in their prime, as they said, are hanging out and working out together during the height of their rivalry. Like what are they talking about? Like are they Is it more of a respect thing? Can I learn from you? I want to observe you?
Is it?
Like we know, there's so many mind games that you can play in sports, Like maybe if you're friendly, then I can take you down on the field. Like there's so many different directions. My mind goes when I hear a story like this, But it's so it's so interesting, it's so interesting, and I love the fact that now that we're going to have Tom Brady on our Fox Sports broadcast, we're going to get more behind the scenes inside.
Stories like this. But we recently heard.
Patrick Mahomes on First Things First when he was like, Oh, when you're not playing.
Who are you watching?
And he named he's watching Josh Allen, Joe Burrow, C J. Stroud, all the top quarterbacks in his division. Could you ever imagine Mahomes like going out and having a day like this and doing a private training and a private throwing session with one of his top rivals. Like, It's just there's so many questions that I have for either Peyton or Tom about this situation.
It feels like the idea.
Fans like the idea of teams and players not like each other because there's a rivalry on the field. In the NBA, that's a big thing. Oh, I love the NBA in the eighties when the teams hated each other. Hey, guys, news flash, these guys like each other. Yeah, they're combatants on the field, but they like hanging out off the field. And Brady and Peyton getting together good stuff. I can't wait to catch passes from Brady when he's in the studio.
Here, you know, we're hanging out.
Dream big Jmack Dream.
I can run an out route with the best of them.
Go, oh gosh, you're you're a little like what men's league is getting to your head a little bit?
Maybe beat with the professionals.
Yes, yes, da, Brady Brady goes to UCLA to workout. I can pop over.
There are you just gonna like stock them and show up and now the hey man, we're colleagues, like you want to throw a new pass?
Swapping you just hitting camera following you. Jmax trying to sneak in one of them.
He's low key, no big deal, but don't need an audience.
Uh huh.
What wasn't low key was a ceremony? Did you see it? Jay z open form? Little too much on the fog machine.
Whoever was controlling that, you couldn't see him for like the first thirty seconds of his perform And then Tom delivered such a legendary speech, but like he's a goat. Would you expect anything else from Tom Brady? It was something you don't have to be special or the best. You just have to do what everyone else isn't going to do. You have to put in the effort. That is, I work hard, you're going to get the results.
So I like this story.
That was a fun one.
Okay, We're moving on to Anthony Richardson, who enters his second season after his rookie year was cut short, appearing in just four games due to a shoulder injury. Now, Richardson has some soretus in his recovery, causing him to take a break from throwing at camp, but will apparently take part in a second mini camp with his teammates.
Yeah, for sure. That's kind of like a mandatory second mini camp for us, you know, just to get back in and gorood before training count starts. You know, just just get ready for the season. Last year we did Florida. This year kind of leaving it up to fit in a trut out to be too standing where were all want to go? So he's being open for the tea now.
It's a big deal coming off any sort of major injury surgery and he only played four games and even complete the fourth game.
Last year.
He put on some way he's about it. I think it was two fifty five is what they said, which is good for a guy who likes to make contact. Hopefully he's not making as much contact with coming back from a shoulder injury, but it's positive.
You know, he's putting in the.
Extra effort to do a second mini camp to make sure that the offense is working and they're getting the reps that they need before the.
Start of the season. But what are your expectations?
Yeah, this year, well, I expect to uh, I probably shouldn't say this on TV. Draft Anthony Richardson in fantasy and then.
Win my league again. He is a gold mine in fantasy football.
So you're feeling good about it.
Oh, I love he's getting a huge fan. Okay, now I did see some you know, we'll see how it works.
You know, he's a young guy, he's got a I know he's beefing up, but Alex, I don't want you running unless it's like in the red zone for touchdown.
Yeah, you know, like in between the twenties.
Use your arm.
You want to be playing when you're thirty three, because Cam Newton he's not. You gotta win from the pocket. The rest will fall in line.
I like Richardson is a fantasy sleeper quarterback. Can you do fantasy or no?
Oh?
Yeah?
Are you taking him as like your starter?
No?
Yeah, as a starter, but later.
I love the wide receivers are running back game because they always get injured. And then if I can get like Richardson, like eighth round seventh, you wait till the eighth Well, I mean a lot of people take their quarterbacks early.
I'm a Richardson lay. I think richards is gonna be a slam Dunk big time stud this year.
Okay, okay, mister fantasy man, all right, let's move on to the UFL, where the Birmingham Sallions will take on the San Antonio Bramas for the inaugural UFL Championship Sunday on Fox.
Now.
The Stallions won the USFL title the last two seasons prior to the merger, and we'll look to win a third straight title after finishing the season with the league best record ten and one. But fun fact that one loss came at the hands of the Brahmas in Week nine, So couple things here going for the Sallions, who were looking to repeat. Their quarterback was the UFL MVP Adrian Martinez. He's looking to bounce back after he was benched in the second half of the Stallions come back win en route to get to this championship game, but their backup quarterback Matt Corral did a great job stepping up for him. So anytime you're looking to prove yourself, I feel like you always have some sort of a bounce back game.
But who are you taking here?
Well, you know this is the year of Chalk. I put this on social media.
All these people hated it, but essentially all the favorites are winning championships this year. In college women's college basketball, it was the South Carolina team undefeated Steamwolt of the stud Yukon men. In collegeops Michigan National Championship. Big favorites cover win easily. I know the Chiefs were slight underdogs, but they were come on, ka were not I mean they were slight dogs.
They they were not favorite. They were not the favorite.
The Kansas City.
They're just the best team in football. Who you said earlier, are not gonna three nine and you're saying they're the best team and fall now you're kind of going back on yourself.
And then the other one is this Boston Celtics right now? Yeah, heavy favorites. Right, they were big favorites with their steaming. This is the year of chalk. So I will go.
Stallions getting their third straight uh inaugural UFL championship.
I'm gonna go. I'm gonna roll with the Stallions too. You go go with me, I'm gonna go with you there.
Yeah, yeah, fun, that's good.
Alex Curry with the news. Well that's the news, and thanks for stopping by. The herd Line News so two hours in the books.
Final Hour will be the power Hour. We have a really good former NFL players, a guest. We have a U NBA Finals exam.
It's weird. Finals are tonight. We barely talked about it.
Have you?
Have you said who you're taking tonight?
I'm not even betting tonight, you're not betting to Are.
You gonna share it here? I don't think you've said it.
So I'm hoping.
I'm hoping the MAVs can, like at least steal one tonight, make it interesting.
And then roll along in a bit Tuesday. I believe there's just Monday.
Much time in between all of these games.
I had maps, first quarter, first half, full game, zero for three, and then I clean sweep on props, so I'm done.
Player props are good. Final Hour coming up next to
