Best of The Herd

Summary

The Herd with Colin Cowherd – “Best of The Herd”

Date: May 14, 2026
Host: Colin Cowherd
Guests: Channing Frye, Robert Mays, Jason McIntyre
Main Theme:
A timely analysis of the NBA’s playoff dynamics and culture, the significance and impact of the NFL schedule release (with an emphasis on the 49ers’ challenges), and a candid discussion of LeBron James’ reported discontent with the Lakers. The episode concludes with in-depth insights on the upcoming NBA Draft.

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NBA Playoffs: The Gap Between Regular Season and Playoffs

[01:14 – 06:19]

Key Points:

• The NBA features a larger gap between regular season and playoffs than any other sport, with stars’ dominance a pivotal separating factor.
• Colin Cowherd: Regular-season standouts can see production halved in the postseason as schemes become targeted and everyone’s prepared:
  “Jalen Duran, Detroit, 20 a game, All Star, regular season... averages now half that in the playoffs. He’s just a really good rebounder who you’d love to have on the roster…” [01:48]
• True stars remain uncontainable; even great defenders like Gary Payton couldn’t fully stop Michael Jordan, and LeBron always “gets his,” even against Finals MVP-level defense.
• The NBA is often seen as “rigged for the stars,” but it’s really about teams having multiple players who can “rise above schemes.”
  • “Fans have always thought…[that] the NBA…rig[s] the playoffs for the stars? No, the really good teams have two or three guys who can rise above schemes…” [01:40]
• Cade Cunningham (Detroit) stands out as the lone “bucket getter” for the Pistons, a deficiency that proved costly in the clutch against the Cavs.
• Commentary from Cade Cunningham after Game 5 loss reflects a grounded, competitive mindset:
  • Cade Cunningham: “If we can’t win a game on the road, how far are we really going to get in the playoffs? …That’s what we’re going to go do.” [05:56]

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The NFL Schedule Release: Why the Details Matter (49ers Focus)

[06:19 – 12:05]

Key Points:

• NFL schedule details shape teams’ fates: timing of tough games, weather, and travel are all crucial.
• The San Francisco 49ers face an “old, brittle and lead in travel” challenge:
  • Longest travel distance (38,000 miles), with games in Australia and Mexico City.
  • Roster relies on aging, injury-prone veterans (Trent Williams, Christian McCaffrey, George Kittle, etc.) and more have come aboard (Mike Evans, Christian Kirk, Dre Greenlaw returns).
  • Rams and Seahawks—division rivals—have “young, hungry” teams with unproven stars still chasing their first big contracts.
  • The Niners have missed on draft picks, lack depth, and benefited from fortunate records in “one-score games” which tend to regress.
  • Colin Cowherd:
    “I could see the Niners completely falling apart if Christian McCaffrey gets injured, if the schedule is brutal after that injury...Kyle Shanahan’s a great coach, but he has had four losing seasons in San Francisco.” [09:09]
  • Robert Mays:
    “If you go back and look at teams that we think have been poor at drafting...I think that's part of the Niners’ problem...when you combine that with maybe some of the oversized influence that the coaching staff has...and their first round picks keep getting hurt.” [10:14]
• National brand teams (49ers, Lions) are often “disrupted” by prime time scheduling, which can especially affect older players.
  • Jason McIntyre:
    “Well, the schedules come out today and I think tomorrow in headlines we will be doing some over-unders and one of the Niners or Rams is definitely on that list.” [12:05]

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LeBron James, Respect & Basketball Culture

[15:05 – 26:21]

Key Points:

• LeBron James’ reported feeling of disrespect over not receiving a game ball for breaking the “most combined wins” record prompts cultural commentary.
  • NBA media frequently “panders” to stars due to access needs; NFL media does not operate the same way.
  • Cowherd explains the football vs. basketball perception gap regarding individual accolades:
    • “In football, Tom Brady got a game ball for surpassing Peyton Manning in passing yards...that's a big deal. In basketball, passing Kareem for most points ever, that's a big deal. Most combined wins? That doesn’t feel massive.” [16:35]
  • Argues that Lakers have continually shown LeBron respect and bent team decisions to his wishes — trading for AD, taking on Westbrook, firing coaches, drafting Bronny.
    • "I don't know. That seems like a biggie. ...Every public comment since LeBron in the last year as he's turned 40 plus—'Hey, we want to have LeBron back.' They also drafted his son." [18:50]
  • Contrasts “basketball culture” (emphasis on respect and recognition) with “football culture” (emphasis on winning, less on personal accolades).
    • "Can you imagine being the boss of someone you have to give employee of the month every third month or he felt slighted?" [21:51]

Notable Quotes:

• Channing Frye (on LeBron’s reaction):
  “He’d have a whole room full of trophies. He might as well get a storage unit. …There’s enough good basketball to be on! We don’t have to talk about LeBron’s feelings. He’s in Cancun somewhere chilling right now.” [24:34]

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NBA Finals & Playoff Analysis: Respect for OKC, and the Knicks' Ceiling

[26:21 – 30:33]

Key Points:

• Oklahoma City Thunder’s unconventional style, unselfish roster, and SGA’s game are “respected” deep in the league:
  • Channing Frye:
    "You gotta respect them for to get that belt off on you. I mean, think about every team that's dominated the league...OKC is the real deal, top to bottom. The biggest, most dangerous thing that they have is buy in." [26:42]
• The Knicks, with a now-versatile and empowered roster, are the East’s most dangerous team per Frye:
  • “Brunson's a ball handler and can make plays. You've got OG, a playmaker, Mikal Bridges, playmaker, Josh Hart, I can go down the line...That's what makes them dangerous now is that everyone feels empowered.” [29:15]
• East and West playoff contrasts: The East sees unexpected runs from lower seeds (e.g., Miami, Indiana), making predictions tougher.

---

NBA Draft Preview: Player Breakdowns with Channing Frye

[30:33 – 39:14]

Key Points:

• No “generational prospect” in this year’s draft like Wemby, LeBron, or Duncan, but several players could be future stars.

Player-by-Player:

• AJ DeBansa: Frye’s favorite, “pros pro since high school,” high ceiling, reliable, plays with head up, answers every question about his game and professionalism — clear top pick for Frye.
  • “Give me AJ DeBansa all day long. This dude has been a pros pro since he was in high school. …I'm excited about AJ, probably the most of anyone. He seems to me he has the highest ceiling.” [31:52, 34:10]
• Darren Peterson: Talented but streaky; concerns about team success with him on the floor.
  • “It is not a good sign when your team is better when you’re off the court.” [32:46]
• Cam Boozer: Prototypical power forward, draws a David West comparison, possibly an All-Star, always a double-digit rebounder, high trust player.
• Acuff (Arkansas): Small, prolific scorer, but size will be a “liability in the NBA,” especially on defense; would need to be paired with defensive-minded teammates to succeed.
• Caleb Wilson (Carolina): Raw but springy and athletic; Frye likes him as a rim-runner and defender, especially for a team like the Wizards.
• General draft strategy: With no “clear #1,” teams should focus on fit and immediate need.

---

Memorable Moments and Quotes

• Colin Cowherd:
  “Old injuries travel, that sounds like a 68 year old insurance salesman who drinks too much. It does not sound like a Super Bowl champion.” [10:41]

• Channing Frye:
  “There’s enough good basketball to be on. We don’t have to talk about LeBron’s feelings.” [24:34]

• On OKC:
  “This team doesn’t look bored of winning. They don’t look like they’re stopping anything.” [27:59]

• On the Upcoming Draft:
  “If he had a game ball for every time he hit 1,000 points, 2, 5, 12, 40...He’d have a whole room full of trophies.” [24:34]

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• NBA Playoffs: Regular Season vs Playoffs – [01:14 – 06:19]
• NFL Schedule and 49ers Analysis – [06:19 – 12:05]
• LeBron James, Lakers, and Respect in the NBA – [15:05 – 26:21]
• Channing Frye on NBA culture, OKC, Knicks – [26:21 – 30:33]
• 2026 NBA Draft Preview with Channing Frye – [30:33 – 39:14]

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Conclusion

This episode provided a sweeping look at the unique dynamics of the NBA postseason and its star-centric culture, used the NFL schedule release as a lens to investigate roster-building philosophies and the precariousness of aging contenders, and offered clear, engaging player evaluations ahead of the NBA Draft. With commentary that ranged from sharp critiques of LeBron to inside observations on "bucket getters" and future stars, this episode is quintessential “Herd”—opinionated, informed, and endlessly listenable.

Transcript

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[Colin Cowherd]

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[Colin Cowherd]

Find your next favorite dish on TikTok. 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 on a Thursday NFL schedule release day. We are live. It is the Herd. Wherever you may be and however you may be listening, whatever the platform is, appreciate it. Lot of choices out there. Channing Fry, Miles Turner on the show today. So there is a big gap, more than any professional sport in America, between regular season and playoffs in the NBA. And last night's a great example. Detroit had the game sealed and couldn't get a point with three minutes plus left. Not a point because they got one guy who can get his own basket, Kate Cunningham, and they were taking the ball away from him. And great example difference regular season playoffs is Jalen Duran, Detroit 20 A game Regular season All Star Regular season Piston Second Best Player Regular season averages now half that in the playoffs. He's just a really good rebounder who you'd love to have on the roster and he's seeking a big extension. Fans have always thought of the NBA. They rig the playoffs for the stars? No, the really good teams have two or three guys who can rise above schemes. Because when you're playing the same coaches and same teams, all your tricks, you don't have a fatigue advantage. Everybody's equally rested and they're going a mile deep on your schemes. That's why Austin Reaves isn't quite the same player. He gets hunted in the playoffs. Everybody's rested and they know every move he's got. Teams take away your strengths, they attack your weaknesses. And that's what happened. Jalen duran, really nice. 20 a game, all star in the regular season, a guy that rebounds in the playoffs. That's why Michael Jordan, 6 for 6 in the Finals, even when he faced Gary Payton. Gary Payton was the NBA's Defensive Player of the year. And the sonics had the second best defense in the NBA. And Michael Jordan against Gary Payton, 27 a night, Finals MVP. Now, Michael had to work a little harder with a glove, but he was still mvp. Andre Iguodala was the MVP of the finals. He contained LeBron. LeBron averaged 35 a game in that series. LeBron had to work a little harder for the 35. There's no containing the great players. Cade Cunningham's always going to get his. Jalen Brunson is going to get his. Right Luke, if he's healthy, he's going to get his. The great guys get theirs. The very good guys even get theirs. Jalen Duran's in the West, a guy in the east, he's really good guy in the regular season, playoffs, 10 a game. So people think going from this regular season to. To the playoffs in the NBA, it's like going from fourth grade to fifth grade. You're just using fewer crayons. It's not. That's not. It's like going from elementary school to grad school. It's even officiated differently. It is a different sport the way it's officiated, the way the schemes come down. That's why you need stars. That's why you need a Jordan or at the time of Bill Russell or a Kareem or a Magic or a Bird. You can throw everything you want at them, they'll get theirs. Bucket getters. And Detroit's got one. Said it all year. I liked him in this series because I just thought they'd kind of squeeze out the inconsistent Cavs. But guess what? Donovan Mitchell, bucket getter. James Harden, bucket getter. Evan Mobley hit a big three. Bucket getter. Detroit doesn't have any. Well, they got one, so. And that's really the difference. You saw it last night. That's why Austin Reeves, you're like so effective in March and not nearly as much in May. Different sport. NFL is not different. A little more intense. But hockey, I mean, it's intense. It's intense in the regular season. So now it's three two Cavs. Cade Cunningham, the bucket getter for Detroit, talked after tough loss.

[Cade Cunningham]

Obviously we want to protect our home court. We failed to do that. You know, being up 32 is an advantage for them. It's first of four wins, though. We know that. We've had our back against the wall before. And at the end of the day, I mean, if we can't win a game on the road, how far are we really going to get in the playoffs? How far we going to get in this league? So got to go in a game on the road. That's what we're going to go do.

[Colin Cowherd]

Listen, the Eastern Conference is weird. Last year, four seed Indiana takes it over. This year the number one seed's Detroit and they don't have a second score. A couple years ago, the Miami Heat were an eight seed. Got to the finals in the West. I feel like I know what I'm watching. I know what I'm seeing night to night, series to series, week to week. In the East, I don't now it looks like the Cavs will meet the Knicks. I'll still, I'll still hold on to my hope with Detroit grinding out a Game 6 win in Cleveland. And by the way, if it goes to a Game seven, James Harden is not a good Game seven guy. Look it up. Okay, so schedules come out tonight, officially. Now we know who everybody's playing. But schedules do matter, you know, when do you face the cluster of good teams you always want to face? A Miami when it's cooler or a Baltimore when it's warmer. You know, you don't want to face Denver early in the altitude. You don't want to go down to Miami in September. It matters. Buffalo. I'd rather play them when it's not a blizzard. So The San Francisco 49ers is the one schedule that I'm really interested how it plays out because of every schedule this year. Remember last year, niners had the second or first easiest schedule. This year they travel 38,000 miles more than any team because they play in Australia and Mexico City. And the Niners are in a weird space. Number one, indisputably third best roster in their division. That's not an argument. Rams, Seahawks, more good young players in Their prime number two is they rely heavily, more than any team in the league, maybe on older veteran players to stay healthy. Trent Williams, Christian McCaffrey, George Kittle, Bosa. The other thing is they added more older players, Mike Evans, Christian, Kirk, Dre, Greenlaw's back from Denver. So now they doubled down on old guys with injury history. And the other thing is our schedule again goes from second easiest in the league. New England, San Francisco, easiest schedules. Now it's a much tougher schedule. The other thing that worries me, and this is why the schedule matters for the Rams, for the Niners. The Rams in the Seahawks are very young, hungry rosters. A lot of the Niner stars, they're on their third big contract. They the Mike Evans, the Trent Williams, the George kd, Fred Warners, they're on their second or their third big contract. The Rams and the Seahawks have a lot of guys who haven't gotten their first big payday yet. That matters in a sport where you get tackled and you have to play through pain. The Ram roster and the Seahawk roster are young hungry with a lot of stars that have not been paid once yet. Big money because you make your big money in the NFL in your second, your third contract. So I could see the Niners completely falling APART if Christian McCaffrey gets injured, if the schedule is brutal after that injury. Remember Kyle Shanahan's a great coach, but he has had four losing seasons in San Francisco. And the other thing, I worry about them because the Rams and the Seahawks have drafted consistently much better over the last four or five years. The Niners have missed on a lot of draft picks. They were also five and one in one score games. They that never transcends year to year. Remember when the Chiefs one year were like 11 and oh and one score games and then they regressed badly last year in one score games. So I, I, this is the one team I want to see what the schedule look like looks like. And I also think, and this has been a discussion point around the draft, they have once again had a weird draft with a lot of reaches because they've missed on so many draft picks. They don't have the depth which is a real problem with, with an old, brittle, expensive roster. Here's Robert Mays.

[Robert Mays]

If you go back and look at teams that we think have been poor at drafting over the last 5, 10ish years, go look at how many picks they make and I think that's part of the Niners problem. So if you're missing those first and second round picks especially high top 50 second round picks, your hit rate's going to look a little bit worse. So when you combine that with maybe some of the oversized influence that the coaching staff has, I think you get some of the results that you're talking about here combined with the fact that their first round picks keep getting hurt.

[Colin Cowherd]

Yeah, I mean if, if I said to you old injuries travel, that sounds like a 68 year old insurance salesman who drinks too much. It does not sound like a Super bowl champion. So I mean it's old, brittle and lead in travel. That, that, that, that doesn't sound like it's going to play out exceedingly well for San Francisco. J. Mac, is there a team, for instance? I like Detroit in the over. I'm interested to see that schedule. Can they get some early momentum? Now Detroit, which is a pretty big NFL brand and fun to watch, I'm going to see what the NFL does in terms of where they put them, what games, what networks they'll be in a lot of remember the better teams, as you know, Jason, they put them in these big TV games so it disrupts your week. Peyton Manning used to hate the disruptions of playing, you know, on a, on a Sunday night. But you know, Mahomes, remember a couple years ago, was it last year they were playing on every night but Tuesday.

[Jason McIntyre]

Yeah.

[Colin Cowherd]

So that can be schedules and the Niners are a huge brand and Shanahan's a rock star and George Kittle and Christian McCaffrey. So you start playing on Sunday night or Monday night or Thursday night and it starts becoming very disruptive to older players who appreciate patterns and habits. Yes, that's another thing with a Niner schedule I'm interested in.

[Jason McIntyre]

Patterns is a great word. You and I are very similar. We're schedule oriented. We like, we like to nail stuff down. Well, the schedules come out today and I think tomorrow in headlines we will be doing some over unders and one of the Niners or Rams is definitely on that list.

[Colin Cowherd]

Okay. Be sure to catch live editions of the Herd, weekdays at noon Eastern, 9am Pacific on Fox Sports Radio, FS1 and the iHeartRadio app.

[Jason McIntyre]

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 McEntire on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

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[Colin Cowherd]

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[Channing Frye]

Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes.

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[Colin Cowherd]

You're now entering the no Bull zone sponsored by credible Great Rates. None of the bull. So a story that kind of came to the forefront yesterday. It's. It's really interesting. LeBron James and he. He can. He can do this. The chosen one, the king. Love LeBron. He can do this. He can fall into victimhood occasionally. He Said he's been a great guy for the league. He's been a great player. But there was a story written. And let me just say, first of all, the NFL media is much tougher on players than the NBA media, which I think panders constantly because they don't want to lose access to the four or five really truly interesting players. LeBron's been one for 20 some years. You know, there's a handful. Even the great players like Ant doesn't necessarily get a lot of clicks. LeBron does, Steph Curry does. There's a handful of stars. Wemby now will, but A writer for ESPN, Dave McMenamine, writes the story. Know him a little bit. Not that great. He said the tension. There was big tension. And it's just interesting, the wording on this. This is just my opinion on this story. The tension came to a head because LeBron doesn't feel respected by the organization. Against the Cavs in March, late March, James had just become the player with the most combined wins in NBA history. Passing Kareem. The column says it was a massive moment. I don't know a single person who said before that game, you got to watch the Lakers tonight. What's happening, it's huge. What? LeBron's going to pass Kareem for the most combined wins. That doesn't feel massive. Massive is the decision. Game 7 against the warriors, maybe surpassing Kareem for the all time points, most combined wins. Kind of feels like, you know, I mean, I know baseball is the sport of history, maybe it means more. That doesn't feel massive to me. I could be wrong, but apparently Rob Pelinka walked in and did not give LeBron the game ball. He didn't give LeBron the game ball. He gave the game ball to JJ Redick. And so LeBron feels disrespected. And I've seen several of these since he's been in Los Angeles. Here's the moment on tape. This is the difference between football culture and basketball culture. And I wish people in basketball, even that covered the sport, understood it or acknowledged it. What would be the reaction if Caleb Williams or Tom Brady or Peyton Manning or Big Ben felt disrespected and it went public, it was leaked publicly because he didn't get a game ball. We would be collectively get over it. Or if Gretzky didn't get a puck in his prime for most combined wins, get over it. It's hockey, it's football, but basketball, it's the basketball culture in America. There's this constant need to show respect. You gotta show me respect. Constant pandering. And maybe it's just as simple as you need access to, like, four or five people. You need access to Rich Paul or LeBron or WEMBY, and maybe that's what it is. But. And there'll be as many people that defend LeBron for this, not getting the game ball, then we'll criticize him for it. And I'm not really criticizing him. I'm just saying, can you imagine in football, Tom Brady? Remember when Tom Brady got a game ball for surpassing Peyton Manning and most passing yards in history? Now that's a big deal for a quarterback. Not combined wins, not most third downs, not most passing yards ever. That's like in basketball, most points ever. That's a big deal. Passing Kareem most points. That's huge. I mean, leading score in league history. That's a big deal. Or most passing yards for a quarterback. And then Belichick gave Brady a game ball. And what was remarkable about that, it was such a story because Belichick never gave Brady the ball. And for 20 years, he ate a dirt sandwich. That's football. But basketball, there's this constant belief that Rob Pelinka is supposed to wake up every day and make sure I got LeBron's back. Like LeBron, you've been in the league 23 years. You've been front and seven, front and center for 23 years. And you've been overwhelmingly beloved everywhere you've been. You've got critics, you know, welcome to the world. So does every mayor and governor and every CEO and every talk show host. But the idea the lakers are anti LeBron. Let me ask you, who did they go get when LeBron arrived? All the young guys. LeBron didn't want to play with them. Bye. Bye. They all got shipped out. Anthony Davis got shipped in. Who's Anthony Davis represented by LeBron's agent. So LeBron's agent engineered that. I don't know. That seems like a biggie. Secondly, Lakers have fired multiple coaches to get LeBron's podcast partner, JJ Redick in the fold. That seems like it's pro LeBron, Westbrook move. They brought him and bailed on him. I think LeBron had some impact on that. Something. Not saying everything, but something. And also, every public comment since LeBron in the last year has he's turned 40 plus, hey, we want to have LeBron back. They also drafted his son. Westbrook ad firing coaches, drafting his son. Every public comment is, we'd like to have LeBron back. This is the difference? You can't literally show enough respect to a basketball player or you don't like him. I'm not going to side with LeBron on this one or his agent. You don't have to say Penk is the best GM in the league. I'm not saying he is. Sam Presti is pretty darn good. There's some Danny A, There's a lot Brad Stevens. I'm not saying that, but I, I've never felt like, oh, they're just running him out of the folks. You draft a guy's kid, you get him AD you bring in Westbrook, you bail on Westbrook, you fire multiple coaches. You know, I mean every public comment we want him back. It's just to me and I, and as, as I read the article, maybe I'm just misunderstanding it. Maybe in basketball culture, most combined wins is massive. I've never once in my life known a basketball fan and I'm one thinking, I gotta watch this game. Why Bob surpassing Jim in combined wins, it doesn't now break in the all time scoring record. Absolutely. Passing yards for a quarterback passing the great Peyton Manning. Absolutely. That's game ball stuff. I totally get it. I don't know. I mean, I think LeBron's gotten a lot of game balls. I'm guessing, I don't keep track of it. I didn't know they gave him out in the NBA that regularly. Apparently they do, but I got to be honest on this one and I've supported LeBron a lot. The times I've criticized LeBron, I even defended drafting Bronnie. My take was it was a terrible draft. I mean, he's got, you know, LeBron DNA, bad draft. I knew, I knew a little bit about Bronnie from people that knew him. Good kid, works hard. I mean, he was a 61 non point guard, which doesn't exist in the NBA. But why not bring him in the fold middle of the second round? It was a bad draft. Do a solid for LeBron. But if I'm going to do, if I'm going to write down, I'll grab my yellow piece of paper and I'm going to do pro LeBron. Anti LeBron sentiment since he arrived in LA, I got Bronny AD Westbrook firing coaches, JJ Redick, public comments. As a lot of pros, I mean it's, I think it, I think it comes back to the basketball culture and the football culture. They're just different. And in the football culture it's almost. You kind of get made fun of if you Care about awards. You kind of get poked in the ribs if you really care about personal achievement. And in basketball, if you don't acknowledge it and worship it, you don't like me. That's a lot. I mean, can you imagine being the boss of somebody that you constantly had to give him employee of the month every third month or he felt slighted. I mean, at some point your contract is respect. I've said this about broadcasting. I never see my bosses. They're busy. They got stuff to deal with, like the NFL. I never see my bosses. The respect I get from my bosses. One, they leave me alone. Two, they pay me well. That's the respect. I don't need plaques. Okay, I made that. Maybe that's just me. I mean, LeBron will have made from the Lakers 347 million, arguably most of it out of his prime. That, that feels like a lot of respect to me. Maybe they should have paid him 247 and given him more game balls. Maybe dappy. I, I'm. You know, listen, I, I could just be off here. Doubt it. But I could be. Be sure to catch live editions of the Herd, weekdays at noon Eastern, 9am Pacific. Channing Fry champion in 2016. Cavs over the Warriors 13 years played with LeBron James. Love having him as a guest. He joins us now live as we got a lot of different things. So we've, we've talked about today. Actually. We've probably spent 30% of the show on the LeBron James reportedly a little miffed with his big moment. He didn't get a game ball for. You're laughing. You've been to his house before. Do you think, do you think you

[Channing Frye]

don't come up guys, like, how much more stuff does the man need to acknowledge that, that he played good? Like how many. If he had a game ball for every time he hit 1,000 points, 2, 5, 12, 40. He'd have a whole room full of trophies. He might as well get a storage unit. What does he need that, that basketball for? I mean, let's be real now. We're just making up stuff. There's enough good basketball to be on. We don't have to talk about LeBron's feelings. He's in Cancun somewhere chilling right now. So we should be talking about the teams that are playing

[Colin Cowherd]

the. How do you think they handle his contract though? What do you think they do with it?

[Channing Frye]

You know what I think for LeBron, he should be patient. He should enjoy this time off with his family, really see what he wants to do going into next year. I know I said this on road trip and I was like, AR and Luke are the worst defensive backcourt I think you could put together defensively. So I think until you could address those issues, is Luka going to be healthy? Do you trust AR enough in the playoffs that he's your guy? And also, who are you going to go get that's better than him? Who are you going to go get that's better than a third option? LeBron. And then all of a sudden your two best players go down and that third option turns into the first option. You win a first round series. So I mean, I think for LeBron, he should just be patient. See what happens with that team. They have some, I think some glaring holes that they need to adjust even if they think they want to even go for it next year. And he needs to sit down and see what, what they're going to do with, with Austin and how Luke is feeling. But just be patient. If I was him, he got options.

[Colin Cowherd]

There's a lot of different ways to be a champion. We're going through a 1970 run of a different team every year. OKC is going to be favored to win back to back, and that kind of puts them in a different class. Do you think they're respected their style? You know, SGA is not a vertical player. He's not physical dominate. Do you think they're respected by players in the league?

[Channing Frye]

Yeah. Or else you getting, you getting drubbed by 50. You got to respect them for, to get that belt off on you. I mean, think about every team that's dominated the league. There's always been something wrong, right? Joel Embiid gets mvp. He's foul baiting. James Harden gets mvp. He's foul baiting. Giannis takes too long on his free throws. I mean, Jokic, he doesn't really play defense. When you're the mvp, people are going to nitpick your game. SGA is the real deal and OKC is the real deal, top to bottom. I think the biggest, most dangerous thing that they have is, is buy in, right? You can have a bench, but if the bench ain't bought in to allowing your stars to be stars. Guys come in and they star in their role and then they, they excel as a team defensively, which means they're bought into schemes and their roles and what is required to win. This team doesn't look bored of winning. They don't look like they're stopping anything. SGA style has worked. And until somebody's figured out a way to stop it. I'm going to keep going. Right. I mean, it's not. I think one thing that I do appreciate about where the league is now is like, if you look at the top five or six players, no two of them are the same.

[Colin Cowherd]

Yeah.

[Channing Frye]

They don't have two guys that play. And that's awesome and I love it. And so it just shows you where the league is at. It shows you these guys are, are starting to have a little bit more artistry to their game and not just workout guys. We're going in an era of that. But now, man, we got some absolute Hoopers and some demons out there. So if you want to complain about his free throws and stop falling.

[Colin Cowherd]

Yeah, the. It's interesting. I, I've said the last couple years, I. It's hard for me to understand the east in the West. I know how good OKC is. I know how good the roster is at Minnesota. I know what San Antonio is. I know what Denver is and isn't in the west, four seed Indiana wins it. And then the year before, eight seed the east, eight seed Miami wins it. This year, Detroit doesn't have a number two score and they are number one. Like, I don't know if that. What do I make of the Knicks? But if you look at the Knicks, I will say this very complimentary roster. They got defensive guys, McHale, OG Hart, Robinson, they've got kind of offensive leaning guys. Brunson and Cat, they've got a lot. I mean, Lakers are all offense. The Knicks got a bunch of stuff. Do you believe in it? But it's hard to judge against Eastern Conference playoff teams. Do you think the Knicks match up with the spurs or okc?

[Channing Frye]

I think they match up better with both teams. To be real, I think when you have Cat, I think people obviously Cat's antics at times overshadow like how freaking good this dude is. I think you look at the Knicks and what they've done is they've empowered everyone. Right when Tibbs was there, he had his seven guys and they knew what they were doing and they were locked down defensively, but they didn't have any versatility when it came to offensive defensive sets. Would they go on a zone? Are they going to play a guy coming off the bench? But now you look at this team and each guy has the green light to go out there and make plays for each other. Brunson's a ball handler and can make plays. You got, you know, OG is a playmaker. You got Mikhail Bridges, playmaker, Josh Hart, I go down the line and that's what makes them dangerous now is that everyone feels empowered and that they contributed to them, to their success. It's not. Let's just watch Jalen Brunson. I think to me the question is Jalen Brunson is going to have to guard if he plays OKC and if he plays the Spurs. And so they're not going to be able to hide him anywhere because they got some dogs offensively going downhill. But, but I think the versatility both that, that the Knicks have is going to give them a really good opportunity for, to make it to the NBA Finals.

[Colin Cowherd]

So I gotta ask you, the NBA drafts in a month and it's, it's really interesting about five weeks and there's no Cooper flag, Wemby Duncan, LeBron Magic. There's not that. But I think there it's more of like AJ Devonson, Darren Peterson are more like Cade Cunningham or Ant. They're going to be really, really good players for a long time, but they're not going to change the fabric. They're not going to. None of them is going to go to the finals nine years in a row like LeBron.

[Cade Cunningham]

Right.

[Colin Cowherd]

Or dominate like Wimy could. Let me ask you this. Darren Peterson has faced debona three times and outplayed. Yeah. When I watched Darren play, he reminded me of young Kobe, more polished offensive game than debona. I mean he's ready to score 24 a night in the NBA looks like, but missed 11 games. Kind of plays in a silo. But let's just stay on the cramping, the mental stuff. Listen, I've watched Markel Fultz, Ben Simmons, Royce White, great players. And I, you know, the game is, is rough emotionally, especially when you're young and it's, it's a, it's the phone world. Now you're, you're reading about the criticisms.

[Channing Frye]

Right, Right, right.

[Colin Cowherd]

Would you take DebonSA over Darren Peterson based on 20 out of 20 times?

[Channing Frye]

Not even close to.

[Colin Cowherd]

You take debauch.

[Channing Frye]

I don't think it's close. What? Oh my God, yes. Listen, that dude is a. I've watched both of them in person. I've watched Darren Peterson, I went to Arizona. I've watched those games. I've watched the Bancet play. Give me AJ Debancer all day long. This dude has been a pros pro since he was in high school. You got to think what he was doing at byu and they were missing their second best score this year. You look at his package you look at how he approaches the game. There was not a question that somebody has asked about his game, his attitude, his professionalism that he did not answer. For me, for me personally, I like his size. I like the fact that he plays basketball with his head up. I like that he understands his opportunity and he doesn't waver from his goal. Right. I think there's, you know, obviously everyone's going to have, you know, like Darren Peterson had his struggles this year, right? Kansas was a very good team. It is not a good sign when your team is better when you're off the court.

[Colin Cowherd]

That's true.

[Channing Frye]

So to me, to me, just in that situation, is he a good basketball player? For sure. I have seen more consistent greatness from AJ DeBancer than I have Darren Peterson. Because there's a lot of what ifs. What is AJ DeBance's what if?

[Robert Mays]

Exactly.

[Colin Cowherd]

He's not a. Yeah, he's not a catch and shoot guy, but Guy. I mean, Ray Allen, okay, hey, guess What?

[Channing Frye]

We got 82 games for you to be a catch and shoot guy. Listen, stop. If that's it, that's your only what if. Give me 100 of those dudes. If you only got one skill, what if is. You can't. You're not a standstill shooter.

[Colin Cowherd]

Because guess what?

[Channing Frye]

He's never, he's always had the ball in his hands. He's always been a star. He's always been like the most talented guy. So now you put him with playmakers. Now imagine him getting the ball from. I don't know. He goes to Utah and he's playing with Laurie Marketen, right? And all of a sudden he's coming off a pin down and he catches. You think he's not going to be great at coming off pin downs at that size, at that length, Right. He's. He's been a pillar of that Utah community for the last two, three years. Like, I mean, I'm. I'm excited about A.J. probably the most of anyone. He seems to me he has the highest ceiling.

[Colin Cowherd]

Okay, now, Cam Boozer and I had a scout tell me this. He goes, he'll play for 12 years. I don't know if he makes an all star team. He's not super athletic. What do you make of that?

[Channing Frye]

You know what he reminds me of? He reminds me of like David west, but just nicer. I think his skill set is very much David West. He's going to be a very solid, traditional power forward. He is going to. He's only going to get bigger. He's only going to get stronger. He is going to be a powerhouse down there. But he's a pro. He's a pro. You think about there's never been a time since he was in junior high he has an average, a double double. So what he is going to be expected to do at that level, he's going to average 12 and 9, 14 and 9 on a good to great team. And again, he might make like his dad. He might make one or two all stars. But you're going to be like, dude, put this guy on my team. Put this guy on my team. Because he's going to make winning plays and I know I can trust him day in and day out to be a pro. And if he has like a deficiency somewhere, I know that I could coach him. Give me that guy all day, especially in today's age. I could build. That's a great Lego piece.

[Colin Cowherd]

What about that the smaller guy, Acuff from Arkansas who is just points but he is tiny. You're going to get hunted. What do you do with a guy like that? Does that size bother you?

[Channing Frye]

I'm not a believer in small. This is not anything personal to small guards. I have not seen it. I've not seen it. I've not seen a small guard who is a true guard like the one playing point all game win an NBA championship. I haven't seen him go to the NBA finals. I have not seen it in my time. To me I think this kid is great. But you got to build around that type of player. You got to have a playmaker next to him who's a defensive dog. You've got to have a five man who's like Mitchell Robinson who could switch one through five, who's going to stop. Also defensively it's going to put you in a lot of two on one situations. But if he can continue to score and if he buys into being solid defensively, I take a chance on him. I mean scoring a basketball the way he did this year was pretty impressive. I mean pretty freaking impressive. But to me he'd have to go to a Western Conference team, not an Eastern Conference team. I mean if he plays point guard, you're going to play him versus Paulo. Like it's just not. It's just not like who's he going to play against?

[Colin Cowherd]

You know how you know there's the. Caleb Wilson at Carolina is so springy. He is so, I mean just twitchy. But he's raw. What do you make a raw guy? Coming in.

[Channing Frye]

Hey, hold on one second.

[Colin Cowherd]

My dog Go ahead, take your time.

[Channing Frye]

Of course, somebody comes to the house when I'm on the show. Hey, put it this way. Caleb Wilson, give me that all day. Do I have a. If it's going to sound crazy if I'm the Wizards, I got Trey Young, I got Anthony Davis. Do I have a screen and roll big and keep his game simple. I need you to screen, roll, offensive rebound. Think about Diabate from Charlotte. Think about his impact on that team. And to me, if he's this raw, 611, seven foot guy, hey, I need you to defend, I need you to rim run, and I need you to. To play the dunker spot for Anthony Davis since he doesn't and has said for 10 years, I don't want to play to five. And now you got athleticism, you have defense, and you have a screen and roll big for Trey Young to me. And number one, I take him. If I was the Wizards.

[Colin Cowherd]

Wow.

[Channing Frye]

I know it's crazy, but you got to get what you need, right? The number one pick isn't in this draft.

[Colin Cowherd]

It's not Wemby.

[Channing Frye]

It's not Wemby. It's not Wemby. And you think like, okay, Grizzlies, they need to go for talent. Bulls need to go for talent. Clippers need to go for situational. They probably need a big. If he gets to five, I take him there at five. Nets, they need a splash somewhere. They need something. Kings need something. Hawks, they need a crazy score, defender. Mavs, who's going to work best with Cooper? Flag, Bucks, who knows what they're going to do. Warriors, they need some talent. Thunder, they can pick somebody from overseas we'll never heard of. And that dude will be an MVP in five years. I mean, I can go down the line, but it's just like, it's pretty easy, especially this draft, because no one is Wemby. You could just say, I want to fill a hole this year and keep it under the cap. There are a lot of teams that. About six of these 14 that want to win next year, where you can get a solid role player for. For cheap.

[Colin Cowherd]

Channing Fry. Great seeing you, man. As always. Love when you come on.

[Channing Frye]

Yeah, thank you. Have me on, man. Anytime.

[Colin Cowherd]

What's the dog's name, by the way? Topher.

[Channing Frye]

Like Christopher Walken, but it's Topher.

[Colin Cowherd]

All right. Hi, Topher.

[Channing Frye]

He's out here barking on his show, man. Gotta get his ass out of here.

[Colin Cowherd]

All right. Good seeing you.

[Channing Frye]

Good seeing you, too.

[Colin Cowherd]

Yeah. How about that? Caleb Williams, number one.

[Podcast Host/Announcer]

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