Best of The Herd

Summary

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The Herd with Colin Cowherd — "Best of The Herd"

Date: May 13, 2026
Podcast: iHeartPodcasts and The Volume
Host: Colin Cowherd
Guests: Jason Timpf (Hoops Tonight), J. Mac (Jason McIntyre), Nick Wright (audio clip)

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Episode Overview

This “Best of” episode features Colin Cowherd’s signature energetic commentary on the NBA and NFL’s biggest storylines. The key themes include:

• The unstoppable rise of Victor Wembanyama and the new breed of NBA superteams (especially Oklahoma City and San Antonio)
• A reflection on LeBron James’ Lakers tenure—success, front office failures, and the value of stars
• A decisive ranking and analysis of the current NFL quarterback landscape
• In-depth NBA playoff analysis, GM moves, off-season rumors, and future roster hypotheticals with guest Jason Timpf

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NBA: Wembanyama, Spurs, and the League’s Inevitable Shift

Wembanyama Makes His Mark

• Opening Topic: Victor Wembanyama’s dominance post-ejection (27 pts, 17 rebs, 3 blks) signals a seismic shift in the NBA’s competitive landscape ([02:15]).
• Cowherd’s Take:
  • Compares the inevitability of Wemby’s impact to Thanos from “Avengers.”
  • “Last night felt like, to me, the beginning of the end to every NBA franchise not named Oklahoma City for the next decade.” ([02:22])
  • Notes the Spurs’ young core (Wemby, Dylan Harper, Stefan Castle—all age 20-22) outperformed more “mature” teams like the Timberwolves, stressing how rare it is for teams this young to be so dominant.
  • Gobert (four-time DPOY) rendered ineffective versus modern bigs—reflecting a wider league trend ([03:00]).

Spurs-Wolves Series Breakdown

• Colin draws parallels between the Spurs and the “young but stacked” Seahawks Super Bowl team, highlighting how potential is unlocked when young teams stop sabotaging themselves:
  • “When they don’t beat themselves, it’s inevitable.” ([06:08])
  • Spurs scored 68 points in the lane, a testament to their interior dominance against the long and athletic Wolves.

Player Development and Ascendancy

• Harper and Castle have shown transformative growth since their first NBA month ([05:40]), with Wemby “separating from everybody else” as the league’s best two-way player.
• Notable quote (Anthony Edwards postgame):
  • “Some of the stuff Wemby was doing, you can’t… you don’t really have too much of an answer for it. Just kinda hope he misses.” ([06:59])

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LeBron’s Lasting Legacy: Lakers, Contracts, Front Office

Is LeBron an All-Time Great in L.A.?

• Colin references a Tom Haberstroh article: Even if judged solely by his Laker years, LeBron is a Hall of Famer ([08:43]).
• Key Insight: LeBron’s tenure in L.A. is “very much like Tom Brady in New England… Even just the last act, he's a Hall of Famer.”

Underestimating the Challenge

• Pre-LeBron Lakers had the NBA’s worst record over five years. LeBron led them to 6 playoff appearances in 8 seasons despite a disjointed front office.
• “He overcame, and this is virtually impossible… poor owners… the worst record in the league for five years.” ([09:00])

The “Pay Cut” Debate

• Colin and Nick Wright spar (replayed quote at [11:10]):
  • Nick Wright: “If LeBron takes anything under the one-year max, it’s charity. He can give charity if he likes, but he’s still one of the dozen most impactful players in a series.”
• Colin compares NBA star contracts to NFL QBs—high salaries often don’t translate into championships (Steph Curry, Giannis, Jokic all came up short).

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NFL Quarterback Tiers: Production, Durability, Momentum

Colin’s Ranking Criteria

• Three factors: Production, Durability, Current Momentum ([17:05])
• Insightful analogy: Just like great movies, QBs need to “start hot and end well.”

Notable Exclusions (Just Missed the Top 10)

• Dak Prescott: Injuries, lack of playoff momentum
• Jalen Hurts: No current momentum, subpar offense
• Jordan Love, Trevor Lawrence, Baker Mayfield: Inconsistencies/injuries/turnovers

Cowherd’s Current Top 10 QBs ([17:44]–[25:40])

1. Josh Allen: “He’s been better than Mahomes two straight years.”
2. Patrick Mahomes: Division dominance, only recent (minor) injury
3. Caleb Williams: “Unbelievably durable… makes throws only Josh Allen can make.”
4. Justin Herbert: Most beloved locker room guy, thriving despite poor O-lines
5. Matt Stafford: “I know he’s old… he just won MVP.”
6. Joe Burrow: “I think I have him too low… you’re watching history.”
7. Lamar Jackson: Highest passer rating in NFL history.
8. Drake Maye: Young, ascending, expected step with a true #1 WR incoming
9. Jared Goff: “All he does is win” and never misses starts.
10. Sam Darnold: Highest win% over last two years when starting post-Carolina benching.

Quote:

• “If you’re talking about production, durability, and current momentum… that is your top 10 quarterbacks.” ([23:28])

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NBA Deep Dive with Jason Timpf: Spurs, Lakers, Sixers

Spurs vs. Wolves: The Wemby Problem

• Jason Timpf: “There’s a Wemby problem Minnesota just can’t solve… everything gets so much easier for the Spurs guards because they’re having to account for Wemby on those rolls.” ([27:50])
• Plus-minus stat: Spurs +44 with Wemby on the floor, –15 without him ([29:36])

Have the Lakers Failed LeBron?

• Jason Timpf’s verdict: “They've absolutely failed LeBron... He's accomplished the same as all his peers. So, I don't know how you could blame that guy.” ([31:11]–[33:15])
• Lakers only had a serious contender twice in 8 years; missteps (e.g., Westbrook trade, inactivity at trade deadlines, failure to build a balanced roster) have wasted having two stars.

Austin Reaves, Roster Moves, and Ownership

• Dialog about the need for team-friendly deals (esp. for key supporting players like Austin Reaves) and the Lakers’ long overdue investment in scouting/assistant GMs ([33:15]–[35:18]).
• “The friends and family plan is over… You have to win on the margins… Boston survived [injuries] with minimum guys, great scouting, and development.” ([45:39])

Daryl Morey & The Embiid Dilemma

• Daryl Morey’s firing tied to the Embiid extension, Paul George signing—Timpf’s view: “It really all came back to Embiid can’t stay healthy. But as much as Daryl Morey made mistakes… it was kind of just the hand of cards that Daryl was dealt.” ([36:18]–[38:07])

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NBA Rumors/Draft: Giannis, Combine Standouts, Young Guard Development

Giannis Trade Destinations

• Cowherd: “Best spot for Giannis?”
• Timpf: “The obvious place is the Boston Celtics… Jaylen Brown’s an ideal central piece for Milwaukee. For Boston, Giannis plus Tatum fixes their rim pressure and center rotation problems.” ([38:52])

NBA Draft: Cam Boozer & Caleb Wilson

• Cowherd reviews combine rumors:
  • Boozer = high floor, “safe” pick, but not as high an upside as Caleb Wilson
  • Timpf: “Where I go in a different direction with Cam is… I have a hard time seeing some of the upside. I agree, he’s by far the safest player.” ([40:56])

Young Guards: A.J. DeBonta and “Heliocentric” Offenses

• Colin worries about fit for A.J. DeBonta if paired with a high-usage PG like Trae Young ([42:00]).
  • “Ball-dominant guys can stunt the growth of a young player.”
• Timpf suggests: “AJ DeBonta needs a pass-first, run-the-offense type guard—Trey Young’s going to strangle the offense and hamper his development.” ([43:15])

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Wemby’s inevitability:
  “When they don't beat themselves, it's inevitable.” (Colin, [06:08])
• LeBron’s resilience:
  “He overcame, and this is virtually impossible to do in pro sports, poor owners.” (Colin, [09:00])
• Young core greatness:
  “The three best players in this team are 20, 21, 22… they're getting significantly better.” (Colin, [04:15])
• NBA’s new economics:
  “It’s no longer big-budget movie NBA just collect stars. It’s now independent film—what can you do for a little budget?” (Colin, [12:44])
• Timpf on front offices:
  “Way too often… that whole process has been convoluted for the Lakers and there just haven’t been enough smart, grinding people involved.” ([47:11])

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Key Timestamps

• 02:15: Wembanyama/Spurs dominance and the new NBA order
• 06:59: Anthony Edwards admits “you can’t stop Wemby”
• 11:10: Nick Wright on LeBron and pay cuts
• 17:05: Cowherd’s QB ranking methodology
• 18:00–25:40: Complete top 10 NFL QB rundown
• 27:50: Jason Timpf on the Wemby problem in Minnesota
• 31:11: Have the Lakers failed LeBron?
• 33:15: How should the Lakers approach Austin Reaves?
• 36:18: Daryl Morey’s firing and the Embiid-Paul George dilemma
• 38:52: Best landing spot for Giannis
• 40:56: NBA Combine: Cam Boozer vs. Caleb Wilson
• 42:00: AJ DeBonta’s developmental fit and the danger of “heliocentric” guards
• 45:39: Lakers start hiring more assistant GMs/scouts—the friends and family era ends
• 47:11: Timpf on the necessity of modern NBA front offices

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Tone and Style

• Energetic, irreverent, and opinionated—Colin blends bold analogies, sports history, and pop culture.
• Jason Timpf brings analytic depth and clear, well-structured arguments.
• J. Mac and Nick Wright provide rapid-fire alternate viewpoints, mostly supporting Colin’s stance with nuance.

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In Summary

This episode is a must-listen for fans eager for a sharp, sweeping take on where both the NBA and NFL are heading—featuring:

• Wembanyama as the league’s new inevitable force,
• The ever-complicated greatness and frustration of LeBron’s Lakers era,
• A bold QB ranking that prizes momentum as much as talent,
• The crucial (and often overlooked) value of front office structure and player development in building modern sports dynasties.

Transcript

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Thanks for listening to the Best of the Herd podcast. Be sure to catch us live every weekday on Fox Sports Radio and noon to 3 Eastern, 9am to noon Pacific. Find your local station for the [e-mail] or stream us live every day on the iHeartRadio app by searching Fox Sports Radio or FSR. This is the Best of the Herd with Colin Cowher on Fox Sports Radio. Here we go. It is a Wednesday. We are live NBA combines in Chicago. So are we. It's the herd. Wherever you may be, however you may be watching, listening, whatever platform, thanks for making us part of your day. Well, remember the remember in the Avengers Thanos I am inevitable that last night is Wemby off his ejection. 27.17 rebounds highest plus minus for the Spurs. 3 blocks more assists than anybody the Timberwolves have. It's inevitable. Last night felt like to me the beginning of the end to every NBA franchise. Not name Oklahoma City for the next decade. 16 points, 6 minutes assists, blocks. Minnesota is long, athletic and deep. Incredibly well coached. They're built specifically to stop a Jokic or a Wemby. Can't Rudy Gobert benched, played off the floor. Four time defensive player of the year. Rudy Gobert played off the floor. He gave Jokic headaches. Can't do anything. I mean, this team, the only thing they do occasionally is get in their own way. Wimby frustrated, gets ejected. Reminds me last year, the Seahawks. I kept saying all year they look different. Turn the sound down. Longer, faster, deeper, bigger than every team in the league. But they had this turnover issue. Remember the Seahawks? They were second in the NFL in giveaways. Then they cleaned it up in the playoffs, didn't have a turnover, flew through it and won a Super Bowl. That's what I feel like I'm watching. I mean, their top seven rotation averages 23 years old. You're not supposed to look like this. Minnesota's literally constructed to beat Biggs and they gave Jokic the best player in the world. We thought last year all sorts of trouble. Go bear. Ineffective. Played off the floor. Well, Colin Okc was young last year, not really. SGA, seventh year in the league. Hartenstein, seventh year in the league. Alex Caruso in his 30s. A lot of their key players in the rotation were men. The three best players in this team are 20, 21 and 22. Even young Shaq and Kobe the first title. It was Shaq's eighth year in the league. It was Kobe's fourth and his fourth straight playoff run. You think they're kids? They were kids with Del Harris. They weren't kids with Phil Jackson. I can't watch the spurs, who outscored Minnesota. Built to beat them in every quarter Every quarter, the maturity of Wemby, frustrated. What would he be like? Undeniable and invincible. Outscored Minnesota in every quarter. I mean think about this. Rudy Gobert, length, size, Randall Nas Reed, that, that clogs up the lane. Now they had 68 points in the lane. 68. I mean that's insane to me. And what's scary is in their three playoff losses in the much deeper, better west, two are by one possession and their best players are 20, 21, 22. All are getting significantly better. Dylan Harper does not look like today, the first month in the league, he doesn't look like the same player. I mean is Dylan Harper gonna battle for an all NBA spot next year? Stefan Castle, Wemby's the best player in the league, two way player. He's the best player right now in the league. And like he's separating from everybody else. We think of Jaylen Brown as a high end two way player. Klay Thompson for years. It's a totally different sport. Even ant one of the game superstars admitted after, we can't do anything. Some of the stuff that Wemby was

[E]

doing, you can't, you don't really have

[A]

too much of an answer for it. Just kind of hope he misses. But he was making, he came out high, he made a bunch of shots. I feel like we adjusted, fought back, fought back, fought back in the game, tried to dig ourself out of the hole.

[B]

But I mean eventually they created another

[A]

league of all the teams and all the games to basically play four time defensive player of the year, Rudy Gobert off the floor. That's like we give up. Just remember how many problems Rudy Gobert gave Jokic. Wemby's ascending, Wemby's getting better. Dylan Harper's a totally different player in the last four months. Stefan Castle again, that's one of the best two way players in the game. I'm not even mentioning other ancillary pieces. I mean you forget they have de' Aaron Fox, he was the best player on the Kings years ago. He just gets lost with his. I can't watch them and not see the Seahawks last year where, remember that game with the Seahawks where they had like Darnold had four picks and they were driving for a win against the Rams and you're like no other. If Stafford had four picks against the Seahawks, they'd that have blown them out. You're like Seattle's driving for the win. You should be getting beat by 30. That's what I feel like I'm watching when they don't beat themselves. It's inevitable. Right. Tom Haberstroke, good writer. Substack. Yahoo Sports wrote an article yesterday saying that LeBron James, just, just in his Laker career is a Hall of Famer. And you look at the numbers and 2688 in the title. Yeah, it's very much like Tom Brady in New England. There's an article many written about Brady. Just if you look at his career, 40 years old on is a Hall of Famer. And you're like, yeah, he is. Go look at the numbers. Same with LeBron. He's in LA eight years longer than you think, Right? He is a Hall of Famer. But I think the most impressive thing about his LA stay. Do you remember how bad they were pre LeBron the five previous seasons? No playoffs, hard to do in the NBA. And they had the worst record in the league for five years. Worse than the Wizards. Let me repeat. Worse than the Bulls, worse than the Wizards. That was the Lakers. He overcame, and this is virtually impossible to do in pro sports, he's overcome poor owners. The buses were among the poorest owners with a tiny staff, right? It was basically Kurt Rambis, a couple of bus kids, Jeannie Buss and Rob Polinka, former agent. Tiny, tiny staff. They went through how many coaches? Four coaches, eight years. Darvin Ham total with gave Alex Caruso away. In fact, two of the great things that the Lakers did is find Alex Caruso and Austin Reaves, undrafted. That's like the two feathers in their cap. But if you look at OKC and San Antonio, the two current best rosters overwhelmingly built through the draft, they don't draft anybody that can play. They were complete. Did no playoffs for five years. LeBron gets there eight years, six playoffs. So it's very much like I look at LeBron like I look the best actor probably in my life. And there's been dozens. Jack Nicholson good in every era. In the 70s he's doing one Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest in Chinatown. And then in the 80s he's got terms of Endearment and the Shining. And then in the 90s he's got a Few Good Men and as Good as It Gets. And then in the 2000s he's got departed. Didn't matter. The director, it didn't matter. The producer. Didn't matter what the studio was, it didn't matter. Didn't matter. The co stars were every. Every decade you're like, that's the best actor. Meryl Streep's got the same thing. That's LeBron coaches, good management, rich owner, poor owner. He's great. And I mean, that's why Nick Wright came on this week, and I asked Nick, I said, listen, he needs to take a pay cut. And Nick Wright was offended by it.

[E]

I desperately hope he comes back.

[A]

This is so. I don't know if he'll want to. I don't know if he will. I am offended on LeBron's behalf that he's the only guy that we asked to take these pay cuts. If LeBron takes anything under the one

[E]

year max, it's charity.

[A]

And he can give charity if he'd like, but he is still one of

[E]

the dozen most impactful players in a series.

[A]

There's no question about that. And even Michael Jordan, who many of you consider the goal, didn't start winning multiple playoff series, getting to conference championships, getting to finals and winning them until Phil Jackson arrived, right? Until Scotty Pippen arrived. Everybody needs help. Nobody plays on an island. Larry Bird's best team is the one that Walton played on. Magic was really good. He was really good when they, you know, got him a Michael Cooper instead of battling a Norm Nixon next to him had some similar, you know, styles, you know, like. Like Magic needed the perfect components. And LeBron goes to LA. They had the worst record in the league for five years. One of the smallest front offices bus family, all over it, friends and family, staff. Eventually they hire, you know, the late Kobe Bryant's agent. He's your general manager. He's not a personnel guy, he's not a scout. That doesn't mean they haven't done some good things, but. But that's what's impressive to me, is that when he went to the Lakers, I said this yesterday, he made a choice he did not choose. He did not choose the best roster in the best front office. And he's made it work. Eight years, six playoff appearances. As it should be noted, the two or three best GMs in the league are all now out west. And it's no longer big budget movie. NBA just collect stars. It's now independent film. What can you do for a little budget? And that. That's why the league has changed. J. Mac.

[C]

Well, listen, I respect the take on LeBron should play for one year at 60 mil or whatever the max is. Yeah, sure, that sounds great, but look at the guys. Colin making the most in the NBA. Steph Curry lost in the play in Nicola Jokic lost in the first round. And the Nuggets have to keep cutting guys. Giannis can't make the playoffs. I mean, I could go down the list.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

Anthony Davis is in street clothes like that. You pay the guy the most, you're not winning anything.

[A]

No, no, no. You and I agree on this. It's very, it's very similar to quarterbacks in the NFL. I mean, it may be Josh Allen, you just pay whatever the market Bears. But I'm, I'm looking for a team friendly deal renegotiating, giving them more guaranteed money and getting that cat pit down every single year. Even with Mahomes. Every single year.

[C]

So isn't it easy, Colin? You just say LeBron. Do you want to compete for a championship? Well, yes. Right. You want to. Okay, well, we can't budget you 30 or 40, 50 million. We need you to take a two year, $20 million a year deal. I mean, that's how it works. To compete. If you want to compete. Right?

[A]

Yeah. Okay. Are the Bears going to collapse? That's the headline. Daryl Morey, the well known popular to some GM of the Sixers out what happened there? All coming up. Be sure to catch live editions of the Herd, weekdays at noon Eastern, 9am Pacific on Fox Sports Radio, FS1 and the iHeartRadio app.

[C]

Hey, this is Jason McIntyre. Join me every weekday morning on my podcast, Straight fire with Jason McIntyre. This isn't your typical sports pod pushing the same tired narratives down your throat every day. Straight Fire gives you honest opinions on all the biggest sports headlines, accurate stats to help you win big at the sportsbook and all the best guests. Do yourself a favor and listen to Straight fire with Jason McIntyre on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

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So J. Mac and I got into this discussion yesterday about Sam Darnold and I said, you know, it is hard to unsee stuff, right? It's why in movies you need momentum. You need a good first eight to 10 minutes. There are no great movies ever that were plotting and couldn't get going until like, you know, minute 24. You got to start hot and end well. Maybe your story arcs don't connect in the middle a little, but if you start well, you end well. Usual suspects probably going to be end up being a really good movie. And I said with Sam Darnold it is hard to unsee the Jets. But there's three things to me that matter for a quarterback. Because the year the league changes year to year, I'm not going to punish it too much. If you've struggled in the playoffs, it's hard to win playoff games. Go look at Bill Parcell's playoff record. It's hard to win in the playoffs. First thing I look at is production. I need touchdowns, I need yards, I need mobility. I need you to be at least at some level, elevate others. Can you get the ball to your stars at minimum production. Second thing, durability. You got to be available to play. The third thing, and this is really a key to me, what is your current momentum? Are you an ascending player. C.J. stroud is not. Are you a leader? You are loved in the locker room, you are respected, you are ascending, you are a winning player. You are going in a direction. So production, durability, and what is your current momentum? Age matters, but Matt Stafford just won the MVP at 37. I'm not saying who I'm going to build around for five years. I am saying right now, production, durability and where is your momentum? That is your top 10 quarterbacks. So I'm going to give you a few quickly who did not make the cut but I think are very, very good. But we got 32 teams and we've never had more talented quarterbacks. Okay, this is a, this is the golden age of quarterbacks. So here's a couple that won't make it a Dak Prescott's very good. He falls just outside of the top 10. He doesn't have a lot of career momentum. He's had now two major injuries, lower body injuries, 7, 9, 1 last season. Never been a great playoff quarterback. Not the end of the world. He's close, but he won't make it. Jaden Daniels. Oh, what a great rookie year. Well, he got hurt last year and that's always been his reputation. He got banged up his first year. He missed 10 games last year and he wasn't good before the injury. His passer rating was in the 80s. So I think he's super talented, but he's not going to make my top 10. This one's going to hurt. Jalen hurts no career momentum. Cannot get the ball to A.J. brown, cannot see over the middle of the field. They scored fewer points than the New York Giants last year. That a worse total offense than the Saints. He had fewer passing yards than Jacoby Brissette and he had four more starts with a stacked roster. I'm sorry folks, the momentum is not good. Another Jordan Love. I like Jordan Love a lot. He is all over the map. He gets hot, but he's been injured in back to back years. Not for a long time, but banged up and I got like eight games over 100 passer rating and six games, you know, under 90. He's too inconsistent. I also am not going to have Trevor Lawrence on the list for the same reason. Trevor just turns the ball over too much and he's very streaky. He wasn't very good to start last year. He was red hot to end it. Then he goes home, playoff game against Buffalo and there's nothing. I don't know what I get week to week. Liam Cohen essentially saved his career and I was the world's biggest Trevor Lawrence fan. And another guy that's close but won't make it is Baker Mayfield. Again, very good. Three and eight his last 11 games last year, way too many turnovers. Leads the NFL and picks since 2018. So again, Jordan, these are good quarterbacks, but they miss the cut. There's either injuries, there's inconsistencies, there's turnovers. Again, my standard is production, durability and current momentum. So here's how I would rate currently the top 10 quarterbacks in the NFL. Number one is Josh Allen. And you can say what you want about the gm. You can say what you want. They don't have a Super Bowl. I'm not going to punish him. He's been very good in the playoffs. He's won 70% of his games with a defensive head coach that most of you didn't like. Seven straight years with 10 plus wins. I'm sorry folks, he's been better than Mahomes two straight years. Patrick Mahomes would be number two despite his injury. It's the first injury of note in his career and reportedly he's going to be back in September. Each of his first seven years led the Chiefs to a division title and the AFC championship. That's very LeBron in the East. Sorry, don't get recency bias. He's amazing. Number three, Caleb Williams. Do you know what his numbers are the first two years? 47 touchdowns, 13 picks. Never hurt. Never hurt in high school, never hurt in college, never hurt in the pros. Got hit more than any quarterback in the league. Rookie year, not missing a snap. Unbelievably durable. Makes throws that only Josh Allen can make. He's number three. Number four again, not great in the playoffs. Justin Herbert, worst offensive line in the NFL. Made the playoffs. That is in saying he is beloved in the locker room. He is the most he could. You could argue he and Lamar Jackson are the most loved players in the NFL in their respective locker rooms. Missed only six starts in his career, which is confounding because he's never had a good old line. Justin Herbert, Number five, Matt Stafford. I mean listen, I know he's old, I know he's not mobile. He just won the mvp. What do you want me to say? They're favored to win the Super Bowl. I mean he's taken a bunch of mid round guys. Puka Nuku. A fifth round made him a star. So I'm not building this for five years. He is a top five quarterback in the NFL tonight, today, number six. And I think he's honestly, on any given Sunday, the best player in the league, Joe Burrow. Burrow's durability is a big problem and you want him to win more. But I will say it again, I'm not sure on a fourth and seven, trailing by four in a Super Bowl. If there's a guy I want at quarterback more than Joe Burrow, I think he is one of the great all time talents. He got saddled with a cheap owner and a minimalist front office. Highest completion percentage and third highest passer rating all time with terrible O lines. He's an insane all time talent. You have to contextualize his career. So I'll put him at six. If he had the right, if he had Stan Kroenke and Annie Reid, he'd be number one. Number seven, Lamar Jackson. First time he really got hurt. I love him. He doesn't play like anybody, he doesn't move like anybody. Second, he has the highest passer rating, two MVPs, highest passer rating in NFL history. And everybody's like, I don't know if he's a great pocket passer. I don't know the analytics guys like him. Highest win percentage by any quarterback in league history. Not to make a Super bowl again. I'm not gonna crush guys because they don't win enough playoff games. I'll elevate you if you do. I'm not gonna crush you if you don't. Number eight, Drake May. Battle line. Hit and miss run game. Got to a Super bowl. Finally gonna get A.J. brown a number one wide receiver. That's what's being reported. I think that I, I think you'll see how special he is. Led the NFL in completion percentage, yards per attempt and passer rating at 23. In. In with a bad old line in front of him. Number nine, the most disrespected player in the league, Jared Goff. All he does is win. He's the only quarterback in the league, the only one. Four straight seasons with 4,000 plus passing yards and strangely, never misses a start. He and Caleb Williams, they don't get hurt ever. High school, college pros, they don't get hurt. I've seen him get rag dolled in college. In the pros, he doesn't miss starts. Dad was a pro baseball player. Got some good genetics. Dude just take shots and is never hurt. And number 10, 35 and 10 in his last 45 starts, Sam Darnold, highest win percentage by any quarterback last two years in the league, big athletic, risk taking, no turnovers when it mattered. In the playoffs. Still 28, five different teams, one a disaster. But if you go, remember, he was benched in Carolina, came back, went 4, 2. If you take his career starting then winning his quarterback in the NFL with the second highest passer rating. So again, I think there's five or 600 guys. Dak Prescott's one of them. Baker Mayfield another one, Jordan Love, who are very good players. But if you're talking about production, durability and current momentum and I know a lot of you were saying, well, Burrows not durable Burrows absolutely the prettiest, best, clutch quarterback. I mean, I feel like it's like MJ before Pippen and Phil Jackson. You're like watching history and he just can't get the right components around him. So people will say, I have Burrow rated too high. I think I have him too low. Be sure to catch live editions of the Herd, weekdays at noon Eastern, 9am Pacific. He's the host of Hoops Tonight. Jason Timp at the volume. Of course, the combine for the NBA is here in Chicago. He's covered the NBA for years and years and we love him at the volume. He's our go to guy. All right, before I get to the Lakers, which you were a Laker blogger to start, you watch every game. You report on every game. You know that team back and forth as well as anybody. I want to start spurs and Wolves. I said earlier Thanos and the Avengers was I'm inevitable. I watched that game last night. They he played basically Rudy Gobert off the floor. This is a franchise Minnesota built to face Wimby and Jokic and they gave Jokic, who I thought as the year started, was the best player in the world. And Rudy Gobert is almost useless. Size, length, built to face Wimby. I watched last night and I went this is not supposed to happen. 20, 21 and 22. People think OKC's young SGA was in his year seven Hartenstein year seven last year. Alex Caruso is an old guy in his 30s. Like I last night I watched and I thought this is the inevitable thing. What did you see?

[E]

Yeah, there's a problem, a Wemby problem that Minnesota just can't solve. And Anthony Edwards said as much after the game. I'm not sure if you saw his presser. He's like, yeah, he's some things last night that we just frankly don't have an answer for. And you take. We've seen thankfully because of the, the, the suspension or the Ejection. We've seen two very different versions of the series. What it looks like when Wemby's out there, when he's not out there and when he's not out there. Minnesota looks bigger. They look like they have the best perimeter player in Anthony, Anthony Edwards. They look like they can get better shots by attacking the basket and getting good kick out threes. And then on the other end of the floor, they look like they have control over San Antonio's guards. But then as soon as you put Wemby out there, it fundamentally alters the entire physically profile of the physical profile of the floor for, for the spurs on defense and on offense. Like everything gets so much easier for the spurs guards because they're having to account for Wemby on those roles. Like you saw Steph Castle and Dylan Harper basically get whatever they wanted in the second half last night. And then when he's at the rim, they haven't been able to figure that out. It's allowing a lot of these traps because they're double teaming Ant out on the perimeter. But the reason why it works is because Wemby, if you were to take like a 15 foot radius all the way from the basket around in a circle, Wemby's just got that entire space under control when they're double teaming ants. So they're not even getting good shots out of the double teams. And so they can't get good shots when Wemby's on the, on the floor for their offense. And then on the other end, as long as Wemby's setting a screen and rolling, they're getting a great shot every single time. I thought the spurs missed a lot of really good looks last night, like Devin Vassell and Julian Chimpani. Wide open threes. That, that, that easily could have been a 25, 30 point game long before it got turned into a blowout late like the spurs, when Wemby's out there, they're just flat out better if you remove the blowout. The, the, the game two blowout.

[A]

Two games by one possession.

[E]

Yeah, they are plus 44 with Wimy on the floor, minus 15 with him off. If you, if you remove that blowout in game two, like that has been a problem Minnesota cannot solve.

[A]

All right, Lakers. We've been through eight years of LeBron in LA. Have the Lakers failed LeBron?

[E]

I think they've absolutely failed LeBron. I, you know, LeBron held up his end of the bargain. He won them a title in 2020. I know a lot of People like to undercut that title, but I don't really see the reasoning for that. They started the year 24 and 3. When the season got shut down with COVID they were at a 64 win pace. That's literally the same record the Thunder had this year. Their last two wins were against the Clippers and Bucks. The two get the two teams that were the other best teams in the league, The Lakers clearly looked better. LeBron clearly looked better than Kawhi and looked better than Giannis. And then in the postseason, they went up three, one in all four series. Like they weren't even remotely threatened. It was as straightforward. This is obviously the best team in the league type of championship that we've had in the last 10 years. And for all the people who think that's a failure, you're now saying that Jason Tatum's time in the Celtics jersey was a failure, that Giannis with the Bucks was a failure, that Jokic with the Nuggets was a failure. You're saying that Dirk with the Mavs was a failure. So I'm just going to disagree with that. The real question is, should they have won more than one? And I think absolutely. They've had LeBron for eight seasons now, and I'd argue there's been two seasons where they clearly came into the season with like, this is a championship level roster. 2020 and 2021. Six out of eight years, you go in and they're like, they don't.

[C]

They're.

[E]

They have a puncher's chance maybe, but they don't really look like a championship level team. And it all started with the Russell Westbrook trade. I know people like to blame LeBron for that, but the reality is, is Rob Pelinka is the general manager of the team. It's his job not just to come to the table with ideas, but to filter ideas. GMs all the time have owners in their ears and players in their ears saying, hey, I want this guy, I want this guy, I want that guy. Your job is to explain to them why they're wrong. I sold real estate before. I did this for a living. And I had clients come to me with bad ideas all the time. And it was my job to explain to them, make sure they understood why it was a bad idea. The difference is I had no authority. If they said, no, I want to do this anyway, I had no choice but to go forward and represent their interests. Rob could have stopped this from happening, and he didn't. And to make matters worse, they've had nine cycles since then. Nine trade deadlines in summers. That's a long time to rectify your mistake, to accumulate talent and to make up for that error. And they haven't come close. The truth of the matter is, is when LeBron has been in a Lakers jersey, he has covered for and carried that team through management errors. This is a crazy stat. Since LeBron joined the Lakers, when he's been on the floor, they're outscoring teams by 1,225 points. And when he's off, they're getting outscored by 664 points. Like, do you know how hard it is to have a player that good, Mind you? And they had Anthony Davis or Luca the entire time and you have those two as your foundational players and you really had a shot to win twice. Like, I mean, Colin, they were coming into this season, year two of Luca going like it's a gap year, a gap year again. Like, what are we doing here? Like, I don't know how you could possibly feel like this is anything other than a failure, that they only got one. But in terms of LeBron and his accomplishments and what this era, like, he's accomplished the same as all of his peers. So I don't know how you could blame that guy. Like, to me, it is absolutely a fit.

[A]

J Mac thinks the Lakers are going to Austin's going to take a team friendly deal. So you can't let him walk. You did that with Caruso. You got him undrafted, you can't let him walk. Sign him, do a semi team friendly deal. So eventually, I mean, you do this with star quarterbacks in the NFL. You constantly restructure Mahomes deal to get, you know, pay him more money. So you got to get a semi team friendly deal because then like I've said this before, he'd be great in Chicago. But with Luca and LeBron, like he's a third play initiator, you need a team friendly deal. What do you do with him now?

[E]

I think again, kind of like we talked about a little bit on Monday, I think there's a certain amount of this that is just the reality of their predicament in the sense that like they need a secondary ball handler next to Luca. That's always been the build. It was Luca and Kyrie Irving, it was Luca and Jalen Brunson and they view Austin is that guy. And LeBron, unfortunately with his age, can't be that guy for the, for the future. He can, like, maybe he could fill that role for one additional year. But you better have a plan for who that other guy is. And you know, the truth is let's, let's pretend it's not Austin. Let's pretend it's Donovan Mitchell. Pretend Donovan Mitchell's a Laker. And you're like, do we re up with Donovan Mitchell this summer? You still have the same problem, which is like, okay, we got Luka, we got Donovan as our secondary guy, but we don't have any guys who can play these other three starting forward positions. And so that really is where the errors of those nine cycles that I talked about have been a problem. Because it really doesn't matter what you're doing with that secondary star if you don't have additional good players who can fill those roles. Like, for instance, Luka and kyrie. Derrick Jones Jr. Was on a vet minimum. Derek Lively was a rookie on a rookie deal, they went and traded for PJ Washington, right? So like, this is where that talent acquisition has been a problem. And I'm hoping that through Mark Walter taking over the Lakers that they're able to at least start getting some of these hits on the margins to justify that deal. Now if they can get him at like 40, that's really fair market value for a secondary guard in this league. A good secondary guard. I just think it's unfair to blame Austin. I think the issues are elsewhere on the roster.

[A]

Yeah, I like Daryl Morey. He'll dm, he'll text, he'll talk, he'll call, he'll lunch. I think in the end when he gave that extension Embiid and five, six months earlier, Embiid had meniscus removed from his knee. As a 300 pound athlete with injuries, that was a max extension that was around league circles thought of as a huge risk. And eventually I think you can say he drafted well. There's a lot of things I like about him and I also think this Josh Harris isn't the easiest owner to deal with. So it's not all Daryl. But I will say to me, the Embiid never been a fan of, missed the first two years with injuries. Like to me, you got to get your stars right in this league. You're not going to lose your job if you miss on a second round pick. If you extend a player with injuries and it's, I mean, I look at it, the Embiid signing is the reason he got fired. Is that too simple?

[E]

It's not that I don't think it's too simple. It's just, it's more just I don't See the alternative for Daryl, even with the Paul George piece of this. Because, like, so, first of all, it's like Embiid WINS MVP in 2023. Like, like he had games where he outplayed Nikola Jokic head to head multiple times. Like, there's no doubt that when Embiid is healthy, he's one of the very best players in the world. And so there's a simple, like, value proposition where if you remove him from the equation, if you allow him to walk now, what do you have? And I think that that is a lot easier said than done when it comes to letting a guy like that walk. It just, I feel like Darrell's situation was doomed from the start because not only did he have this perennial MVP candidate when he's healthy that had health issues, but then you had to do something to show him that you're contributing to the, to the building of a championship roster. So who's the best free agent available that year? Paul George. And it's like Paul George was just going to cost that much money. And, you know, Paul had a lot of health issues that were a little bit unforeseen. Like, he had his issues, he had flaws in a Clippers jersey, but he was there. He was able to play for the most part. And he just unfortunately went to Philly and completely broke down. And I remember in that off season thinking, like, well, if they don't sign Paul George, they're just, they're just not going to have any shot to win. So it's a, it's an all in type of move. That was just the most obvious thing to do. And it really all came back to the fact that Embiid can't stay healthy. And so I, as much as Daryl More, made mistakes, the Jared McCain thing, huge mistake. Shouldn't have let that guy go. I'm watching Quentin Grimes and I'm like, that should just be Jared McCain. What are we doing here? But the Embiid piece, the Paul George piece, it was kind of just the hand of cards that Darryl was dealt. I don't really see what the alternative was. Let those guys go and then you're just in the bottom of the east for all these years.

[A]

Okay, Best spot for Giannis. I mean, we, we, I think we both agree about three years ago, as the Bucks were getting really old, then they had to make a desperate move with Dame. Let Drew Holiday go, which we knew. You're like, okay, it'll solve the three point shot, but he's a tiny non defender. He's getting Old, he's got injuries, that's not going to work. He wants to play in Portland. So what happens is if you don't move a star early and they won a title. Kareem won, Lu Alcinder won one there. At the time they won one. My take was sometimes in this era of the NBA, you win a title, you see some injuries, roster's old. It may be time. Giannis privately had grumbled. Where does he fit? What works? Jalen Brown, Houston Shen Goon, Jabari Smith. Where do you see it working?

[E]

I think the obvious place is the Boston Celtics and I am nervous as to whether or not they'd even consider going this route. But if you look at the Celtics team, what were the two biggest weaknesses that stood out in this playoff run? One, their inability to pressure the rim, and two, their center rotation was not even close to good enough. Yeah, they weren't athletic enough, but they do have a lot of really good shooters, a lot of really good playmakers, a lot of really good like read and react talent that can play off of advantage, and a lot of really good perimeter athletes that can guard a little bit like their Jordan Walsh and Hugo Gonzalez. Like they have a lot of guys who can guard. So I think if you look at Jaylen Brown, who clearly really likes to be the number one guy with the basketball, he becomes a foundational player for Milwaukee to move forward with. And for the Celtics you have this opportunity to partner this rim pressuring defensive monster at center with Jason Tatum, who's a great shooter and a great playmaker with all of their jump shooting talent around, kind of rectifies two of the Celtics biggest, biggest weaknesses. And I would also argue there's a window of opportunity in the east right now. None of these teams are truly great. They don't have an OKC or a San Antonio where you're like, man, we got to play those guys every year. This is a gettable conference over the next couple of years and it strikes me as the type of all in move that makes some sense for both sides but gives the Celtics like a two to three year window where you would view them as like the perennial favorite, far and away favorite to win the conference, which anything can happen when you get to the finals.

[A]

Okay, so the combine is in Chicago. I love like Cam Boozer. I talked to a scout, two scouts actually, one Eastern Conference, one Western Conference two weeks ago, and they said Cam Boozer is fascinating. He's got a ceiling, but you know he's going to play 12 years in the NBA. Give you 18 to 20 points a game, great in the room, great leader. Like he's going to be a really nice NBA player. But is he going to be a one or a two time All Star? Caleb Wilson could be a 10 time All Star. Huge ceiling, maybe lower floor. But wow, when you watch him well at the combine, what's happened between those two?

[E]

So this stuff that is going around with Cam Boozer's speed and his athleticism has been a little bit misleading because he's been literally the fastest out of AJ DebonSA and out of the Caleb Wilson group. So like it's kind of unfair to just like target that specifically and then not also bring it up with some of these other players. To me where, where I go in a different direction with Cam is like the idea with Cam is that he's this like Jokic at the power forward position. This guy that is this a brilliant passer who can like run inverted ball screens and a guy who can like take the ball down to the block and redouble teams and make the kick out passes. And he's just this savant on the floor. He had 10 assists and 17 turnovers in the tournament this year. He shot 52% on layups in the tournament this year. So like I have a really hard time seeing some of the upside that a lot of the draft guys talk about with Cam. And so I agree with you. He's by far the safest player. If you start going down the list with AJ DeBonsa and Darren Peterson and Caleb Wilson, all three of them have like pretty substantial weaknesses that could be fail points in their career.

[A]

So I want to talk. I said this about A.J. deBonso. So if he goes to the Wizards. Well, Trey Young averages 19 shots a game. Not the most popular guy to play with can get you the ball late in the shot clock. Well, debonsa is one thing. There's that he's not he catch and shoot guy. Like that's what he's not. He's a shot creator. He's a creative. Hard to be that with Trey Young and when Trey Young left Atlanta, who became an all star, the young guard. By the way, we've seen this before. When James Harden left Philly, Maxi exploded.

[E]

Yes.

[A]

Like so ball dominant guys can stunt the growth of a young player. Do you worry about AJ debona? Jaylen Johnson's the kid in Atlanta. Do you worry about Devonta going to Washington and sitting there for two years behind Trey Young and watching and getting the ball late in the shot clock? Because the One knock on AJ And I think it's fair. I watched enough BYU stuff, you know, you can't give him the ball. Latent shot clock. It'd be like having Westbrook stare. If you're going to get something out of Westbrook, he needs the ball in his hands, the hops, you know. So my take is I worry a little bit that Washington Utah's a much better fit at 2 than 1 is for Washington.

[E]

You know, you just gave me an idea, Colin. Why don't, why doesn't Washington call up the Clippers and offer them Anthony Davis? Anthony Davis in a deal that involves Darius Garland? Because here's the thing. Trey Young, to your point, it's not. Trey Young is too heliocentric. He strangles the offense and that will, I think, hamper the development of a guy like AJ DeBonsa. Darius Garland is much more of a just gets the ball up the floor, quickly penetrates the defense, makes that quick pass, gets out of the way, plays off the ball quite a bit. Anthony Davis makes no sense alongside a Alex star. AJ debons, a front court. The Clippers need a center. They just traded away. If it's a Zubots, I think that they all of a sudden make a lot of sense. Like to your point about the Trey Young piece, both Trey Young and Anthony Davis don't make sense in the long term version of this team. Like they should be looking to move Trey to move Anthony Davis to continue to build around this young core. I think getting a guard. AJ does need a guard. He needs the ball, but he needs a guard. So it's the got to be the right guard. It's got to be a guard who's going to take the responsibility of helping him develop as a basketball player and helping him succeed. And that's why I think like getting like a pass first, like run the offense type of guard rather than like Trey Young. I'm going to run 40, pick and rolls again.

[A]

Defensive guard like Chris Dunn, that would

[E]

be a great example as well. Like I like kind of more in the mold of like what Drew Holiday was in his prime. Like a guard who his primary responsibility is to guard the opposing best guard and to be like, like. Yeah, exactly. So like I like the idea of partnering him with a guard who's going to help accentuate his gifts rather than take away.

[A]

Yeah, because when, I mean when Trey Young left Atlanta, Jalen Johnson, who's a forward, not a guard, but he exploded. Yeah. He was like an all star. Well, he was. Didn't get more Talented. He just got opportunities. There are certain guys in this league, they need the ball in their hands. And you know, they always say, you know, it's like they say in the NFL, you're not going to get better watching and you need snaps and you need live bullets as a quarterback, you need to get hit. Well, in the NBA, you can't give guy. A lot of guys in this league need the ball. They need to screen. Like we've talked about this, there's not that many guys in the NBA that are always going to get a great shot. They need a screen, they need a pick, you know, so I think Trey Young to me worries me with the bonsa. Oh, by the way, have you seen the new Laker owners? Do you see? Yesterday, Pelinka announced they're hiring two assistant GMs.

[E]

This is what I like to hear

[A]

call the friends and family plan is over.

[E]

You got to have guys that are digging around on the margins. You have to with, with how expensive these stars are these days and with how punitive the second apron is. You have to have a front office that is actively hunting for two, three rotation players every cycle on the margins. That is where Boston survived the entire. Everyone wants to know how Boston survived Tatum going down. They got Kata, they got Walsh, they got Hugo Gonzalez, they got Baylor, Shireman. In two summers, they pulled all of that together and were able to sustain a top two seed without Jason Tatum. You have to win on the market.

[A]

And it always, I always tell people this. David Letterman didn't write the jokes in his monologue. Writers did. He performed them. Brad Stevens isn't pulling all the levers. Like if you look at the Philadelphia Eagles and Howie Roseman, they have a huge scouting staff. The Bengals have a small one. Les Snead has a huge scouting staff. Arizona has a small one. Like, you know that when you, when you watch Jay Leno in his prime, he wasn't writing all the jokes. Like, the truth is nobody lives on an island and Rob Polink is an agent, not a scout by trade. Rambus was a player. So, I mean, you could make an argument. The Lakers scouting department got Alex Caruso and Austin Reeves undrafted. So, I mean, they, they. But the reality is the OKC in Boston with these big staffs, they just do it draft after draft after trade after trade. I mean, I saw that news yesterday with Polinka. I'm like, if I'm a Laker fan, forget Austin Reeves. That's the difference. I mean that to me, that's the difference in a winning and an average organization.

[E]

That's what we've been calling for for years. And like it's. It would be to take it back to the concept from earlier, like, Rob Pelinka should be the filter. He's the filter that all the ideas come through. He should have a vision for what he should imagine the team should look like. A vision for the culture in terms of like, this is my kind of guy in terms of personality to bring in the room. And yeah. And then as all the ideas from all of your super smart grinders, like, this is a dude who's only watching everything in Europe. This is a dude who's watching the G League. This is a dude who's watching this division, that division, this division. Like you have five teams. I want you to watch every single dude who plays minutes for them. If you find a guy that's outside of their rotation that you think is could play for us, you come to me with a case, you come to me with clips, you come to me with a case. I think this dude can play for us. Here's why. You sit there, you filter the ideas and you function as essentially that final, that final decision maker that should be the role. And way too often that that whole process has been convoluted for the Lakers and there just haven't been enough smart, grinding people involved.

[A]

Hoops tonight. Jason Temp. Good stuff. This is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human.