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Colin Cowherd (0:00)
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Oh, it is a Monday and we are gonna be loaded. Jimmie Johnson, the Hall of Famer in one hour with Colin Right, Colin Wrong. Live in Los Angeles, it's the Herd. Wherever you may be, however you may be listening, thanks for making us part of your day. And once again, I did not see any of the movies that won the Oscars last night for the ninth straight year. I used to watch all of them. Now I watch none of them. J. Mack, you know, you said, and I said, you know, you're a little ahead of yourself. It's that young man, that young stallion energy of yours. You had Luca turning the Lakers into Bill Russell's Celtics and I was like, hold on there cowboy. But I will say they leaned on Luca last night and something is happening here. You start looking at the last six or seven games with Luca. They didn't even have Austin Reeves and Rui last night and they won. And there was a brief moment as they beat the Clippers last night that we thought tech CEO billionaire Steve Ballmer would overtake the Buss family and the Lakers, Jeannie and Jim Buss were struggling to get along. Yeah, that idea has been squashed. The Lakers better today. The Lakers future much brighter last night. Luka huge first half of the Lakers once again bolt out to a lead. And the Clippers, desperate to have relevance in a star, have the unlikable Kawhi who's never available and rarely talks, and James Harden who can still give you numbers but was -18 + and -Last night. The Lakers have lovable Luca. Everybody loves Austin Reeves and Whether you love LeBron or not, you have to worship at the altar of his physicality, his biology. He is playing like he's 27 years old. And the Lakers have always understood this. And the Clippers in their growth and their ascension don't understand this. It's not just about having a star. It's about in Los Angeles, having the right star. This is not Indianapolis. This is not Orlando. There are stars everywhere. It's about having the right star. Kawhi, James Harden, come on. No, it's about having Jim Harbaugh as coach or Matt Stafford or Shohei Ortani or Luca. Luka is big, and that's. The Lakers have always done that. I mean, they've had some stars who were stoic, like Kareem, but they got him Magic, Pau Gasol, bit more stoic. And they've got Kobe. The Lakers have understood it's not just a star. It's Magic, it's Shaq, it's Kobe, it's LeBron, it's Luka, bigger than life. A lot of stars out there in the NBA that don't. Don't translate to wins. The. The other thing about the Lakers is they get stars. They're not desperate to get them. Same with the Dodgers. Dodgers and the Lakers aren't desperate for stars. They want to get stars like Freddie Freeman and Mookie Betts who win games, who are great postseason guys, who can do multiple things well. And I mean, the. Comparing the Clippers and Lakers is Six Flags to Disney. You gotta be more than roller coasters. You gotta bring more in than roller coasters. And that's the difference with The Lakers. Last 22 games, their first, second and third in every analytic that matters, first in wins. And there's so much inherent love and tradition and history with the Lakers in Los Angeles and the Dodgers that if you bring in a catalyst like a Shohei or a Luca, they're not only the biggest game in town, they're the biggest team in their sport. So they've won six straight. And give JJ Redick credit. Didn't have Austin, Reeves. Didn't have Rui. They're playing incredible defense. As Anthony Davis, arguably the best defenser in the league, left, they're playing out of their mind. He's experimenting with small ball lineups. It's got a little warriors feel to it. They don't have to have necessarily a center on the floor at all times. I know a lot of people questioned Redick, and I may have wondered if Luca was in the right shape, but last night was Luka's night and once again, the Lakers night. And here's the coach after. And it just seemed like throughout the game, when we needed a bucket, when we needed him to draw a second, third defender, at times he was able to make the right play minus the six turnovers. But he played fantastic tonight. And again, it was that. That verve and that spirit of competition, but also just something that is. Maybe it's an inner demon, I don't know. But it comes out and it's. And it's Fantastic for us when it does. Okay, this can't be overstated for a lot of places in this country. It's just about getting a star. That has never been it with the Lakers. It's not just about getting a star. Pau Gasol was the right fit for Kobe Bryant, who could be ball centric. Magic Johnson was perfect to bring out the best in Kareem. And I. I think what you're seeing with Luca and the reason they made the move, they already had AD and LeBron 2 stars, but their takeaway was Luca will be better with LeBron. Luca on the Knights. LeBron is a little tired. Luca can score 30 points and take over the game. You never knew if you were getting that with ad. AD was a star. His personality, more. More number two, little more stoic, little quieter, more reticent. But. But again, it's not just about the start. Meanwhile, the Clippers have Kawhi Leonard, who's almost never available. They give him an extension. They just want a star. Just. Just give us a star. We just don't want to be irrelevant. The Lakers are never irrelevant, so they don't have to worry about they get the right star. And that's the difference between those two organizations. Six Flags and Disney both have roller coasters. One of them is beyond that. One of them is hotels. One of them is movies. One of them is films. One of them is working the late Steve Jobs, connecting to people's hearts, not just going up and down on a roller coaster. Right. So when I'm watching Luca last time, like, once again, the Lakers do it. It's not just that, hey, we got a famous guy. That's not it. Spielberg can get a lot of famous actors. He leans on the really, really box office draws who can draw people into a theater. That's the difference. And I thought this was interesting this weekend. So you know the 49ers. I'll get to this later. They'll be fine. But Debo Samuel got traded to the Washington commander. So this is something J. Mac and I have been talking about. I think we even talked about this December, January, like Debo was unhappy. You know, where he'd fit Washington. So this was a pretty easy one to predict. The two things that jump out to me with this deal. Number one, it's a perfect fit. So Washington's got a ton of cap space and Cliff Kingsberry's offense, which there's a lot of motion, a lot of tricks, needs a chess piece. Debo is not your classic number one receiver. He doesn't really separate, I think he's had 1,000 yard reception year and that was four years ago. He's, he's not Jamar Chase or Justin Jefferson, but Debo Samuel is a great chess piece and Shanahan is a chess master and Cliff Kingsbury as an offensive coordinator is a chess master. So Debo really works with about a half dozen teams in this league. So that's the first thing. He's a good fit. The second thing though, they only give a fifth round pick now. Think about that, a fifth round pick. Okay. The Dallas Cowboys in their division gave up a fourth round pick for quarterback Trey Lance. And basically every quarterback that Kyle Shanahan's ever had, he makes them better. Kyle Shanahan gave up on Trey Lance. The Cowboys gave up a fourth round pick for Trey Lance. It didn't play. It's third string behind Cooper Rush. They gave up a fourth round pick the Cowboys did for Jonathan Mingo, who I told you the day they did it. That's a terrible move. Mingo, by the way, last year had five catches for Dallas, like I'm telling you, moves. I'm a sportscaster. You can't just give away picks. And, and you see this in the NFL, you start making two or three great moves, you get a Jaden Daniels, you get a Debo for a fifth round pick, you get Kingsbury, he was going to be a Raider or a Bear coordinator. No, you steal Kingsbury with an aggressive deal and then you on the other side in your division, you overpay a quarterback who's a B dak and make him a plus plus money quarterback. And then you give away fourth round picks and all of a sudden, one year later, you look at the Cowboys in Washington two years ago, Cowboys are winning 12 games, Washington is a laughingstock. Today. The Debo move considered Washington's a better team, a better organization, a better quarterback on a much better deal. That's how quickly it happens in the NFL. I mean, look at the Cowboys coaching situation. It was a mess being Mike McCarthy, basically begging for a job. Got one with Dallas and said, no thanks, I'm out of here. And from what I can tell, Jerry Jones walked down the hallway at 1 Cowboy Place and said, what's your name again? Schottenheimer. I knew your father. Would you like to be coach? I mean, it was a mess. It was a Friday news dump. So that one of the things that's great about the NFL in baseball, you know, there's, it takes a while to go from awful to good. In the NBA, you got to land the right stars, it takes a while. I mean, the draft, it's a bunch of 18, 19 year old kids. They can't even get into the hotel bar. They're staying at the Ritz. But, but in the NFL, you get the coach, right? The quarterback, right? Two years of making good deals in the front office. Houston Texans laughing stock to playoff team. Washington Commanders laughing stock that they are now a better team, better quarterback, better GM Savvier coach. Oh, by the way, their coach, Dan Quinn, they stole from the Cowboys and, and it, it did not appear to be great for Dallas. So yeah, I thought this move, I mean, forget Philadelphia, they lapped the Cowboys years ago. But this, you start watching the Commanders right now. From stealing Cliff Kingsbury, who everybody, he wanted to go to Vegas and Chicago. Washington, he's a, he's more of a Texas west coast guy. Washington gets him. They draft Jaden Daniels. Remember, a lot of people thought they were going to draft Drake maybe. Nope, The Jaden Daniels move, they get an NBA ish guy, Adam Peters, the gm, make him a football guy. Now they get Debo Samuel, which, yes, it was obvious it would work. I only gave up a 5th rounder. Didn't even have to give up Jonathan Allen, a good defensive lineman in the, in the move, which, which that was rumored, didn't have to. So the Silver Star in Dallas becoming a bit of a black hole. That's what I feel like this morning. Does not take long in the NFL. Two or three missteps, overpay for a quarterback, you go from a big brand to irrelevant. That's Dallas this morning. Who by the way, Jerry did not show up, reasons unknown. To the combine. They're giving away fourth round picks. You overpay Dak. That is a third or fourth round team. If Matt Stafford would have gone to the Giants, I'd pick Dallas for last. Aaron Rodgers reportedly still in line potentially for the Giants. If that happens, I'd pick Dallas last. J. Mack, you were right on Luca and his relevance. You know what's really interesting? When JJ Reddick got the job, everybody's like, well yeah, he's got a little bit of a dooky ego. He's coaching the hell out of this team. They are, they are exper. I mean last night it's like, okay, we need more Dalton, Dalton connect. I mean we, we, we need more from other guys. You don't get Rui in the corner. You don't have Rui side, you don't have the playmaking of Austin Reeves. LeBron only gave you 17 you needed Luca to be more centralized focus of the offense. JJ Redick is becoming a coaching star. I think he's a coach of the year, without question in the NBA. By the way, when you saw the Clippers start double teaming, Luca instantly goes to the bench. Dalton cannot get in there and he.
