Doug Gottlieb (4:52)

Correct.

Colin Cowherd (4:53)

Okay. There's a current Dukey in the NBA who is a nine time all star. He's been on the NBA second team once, two time NBA third team. He was the rookie of the year. He's won an NBA championship. And I also want to point out he's hit the big shot to win NBA championship. Are you familiar with who I'm talking about? That's Kyrie Irving. You're like wait, Kyrie Irving? Yeah. Okay, so that's a lot, right? That would be a ton to say. He's, he's better than Kyrie Irving. And again like this kid is the great white hope. He's an American born white basketball player who's Unbelievable. Okay, is he Better than a six time NBA All Star who's only 27? Meaning by the time he's done, he'll be like a 13 time NBA all star. Three time all NBA first team and he won an NBA championship. That would be Jason Tatum. So I understand that we get to, we're watching and like Cooper Flag is ever bit as good or maybe even better than possibly advertised. He's a freak, right? He's a power point guard. He can handle, he can pass, he can shoot. He is a three level scorer. I love him. But before we go, he's gonna be the Comet is gonna be the greatest dookie ever. Like I know we operate on this assumption that Grant Hill was likely to be the best Duke he ever. Unfortunately, injuries befell him. Is that right? Is that befell him? I don't know if that's actually a word, but it is for now. The reality is who. That's a big ask for a kid. Big, big, big ask for a player. Okay, so let's get to what, what really matters. I love the discussion about how basketball used to be because neither of these things are true. You know how we always sometimes will say both of these things can in fact be true? Neither of these things are true in that Giannis Antenna Kupo would not score 250 points in any sort of NBA game if he played in the 70s or 80s. I just, it's one thing to say, hey, the athletes are better and more skilled now than they've ever been and we've evolved as players. Where previously in his life Giannis would have been, he would have been a center in the NBA or a power forward. And now he's essentially a point guard. So he would not have scored 240. And you cannot tell me that watching Alabama make 25 of 51 threes that you yearned for the mid range. Man, I just miss old basketball. I don't. And I played older basketball. I watched it again. I'm not saying those guys aren't great. Matter of fact, the thing that absolutely, positively pisses me off about guys like JJ Redick is JJ Redick acts always like, well, Larry Bird's not one of the great three pointers of all time. Bull. It wasn't considered a great shot, but when he shot the ball, he was the best at doing it for a star player. So if Al Horford can go from making 10 threes his first six years in the NBA to being a high level three point shooter, do you think Larry effing Bird, who won the three point shooting contest with a shooting shirt on, shooting jacket on, and told everybody which one of you guys are coming in second. Do you think he couldn't have been an elite three point shooter again? The. The idea that Giannis would have scored 250. The arrogance of LeBron, the arrogance of JJ to act like those guys couldn't. What's the kid's term? Level up. Come on, dude. Like, Brook Lopez can shoot threes, but Michael Jordan and Chris Mullen and. And Larry Bird couldn't? Of course they could. On the other hand, I will side with the new generation and think all of you people. And I will say, you people who insist. The mid range. Where's the mid range? I don't like watching new age basketball, okay? So here's what you do. I want you to go to baseball people and go, why don't you bunt anymore? Why don't you bunt? Or, hey, let's just. Let's just go back to all the inefficient methods of doing anything, right? All the inefficients. Instead of group emails, let's hand write out notes to everyone. By the way, part of my job as a basketball coach is I do write thank you notes. My hand gets so tired. You want to talk about suburban grit, my ability to sign autographs and write notes on a regular basis. I almost feel like I'm an arthritic old man. But really, it's just my hand. I can text and tweet and do whatever for days. I can talk on the phone for hours. You asked me to write two thank you notes. I'm like, I feel like I got carpal tunnel. But would anybody like to go back to the days handwritten, everything? No. No. Hey, here's what I want you to do. Let's go back to the days of landlines and no call waiting. You remember when you got the first time you got party line. Okay, listen, cover up your mouth, don't be breathing. I'll ask her if she likes you, right? You're all a bunch of liars. It. Well, and newer doesn't always mean better, but it definitely means more efficient. More efficient is everything in business. Don't work harder, work smarter. And then there's the complete misconception of, well, it's a shot that's closer to the basket, so you got to make it at a better rate. Let me ask you something. Do you guys know what the. An elbow. The elbow jump shot is? An elbow jump shot. The elbow is where the lane line. That's where the guy stand, you know where the lane line is, right. And the free throw line come together, right? That spot. Some people call it the short 17, some people call it the elbow. I don't know what else it's called. I've always been told it's the elbow, but I've heard some people say short 17. It's a 17 foot shot from there and nobody stands on the actual elbow. So a 17 to 19 foot shot. In the NBA, the best players in the world, and I'm talking about from Kobe Bryant to Kevin Durant, but The current best NBA players, Kevin Durant, DeMar DeRozan, who's the best mid range shooter in the NBA, put it all in. All the NBA players, do you know what they shoot from the elbow from 17 to 19ft? 37% is the number. Is that an efficient shot? No. If you're going to shoot a shot inside the lane, an efficient shot is over that of 50% as opposed to 33% being the barrier for a three point shot. How do they know? Well, because they do math. Now it doesn't mean it's just like sports radio right there is gray. It doesn't mean you never take an open mid range shot. It doesn't mean you only but for the most part, 95%. I mean really, that there's actually a different percentile, Right? But if you watched last night against Alabama and I'll grant you there, they were unbelievably efficient. They shot at a rate that you I have never seen before collectively as a team at a game of that level. It was like Pleasantville. Do you remember the first part of Pleasantville when it was black and white right before it went color and every shot went in. That's what it had to feel like. If you're like BYU by Lee was like, dude, we're actually pretty good and we have no ability to stop Mark Sears in the Crimson Tide. But I'd love mid range guy to be like, hey, I, they should have. I, I didn't enjoy watching that. I want mid range jump shots. I yearn for the days of Kazi Russell dribbling and backing a guy down and shooting a finger roll from 17ft. Go back and watch old NCAA tournament games. Go back and watch old NBA games. Now of course it's not true that giannis would score 250 points because back in the 70s you would have a power forward in lane and a center in the lane. There wasn't space to just back guys down and the game was officiated. Differently as well. And again, if we put, if we put him back, then do all the former players get the diet and the weight training that he gets now and flying on private, private planes and sleeping in cryo chambers so he takes care of his body? Of course not. Even then, the bodies were big and strong. Imagine if they lift modern day weights like, are we comparing comparables? The rules are different, the outfits are different, the bodies are different, everything's different. And yet we're saying, hey, if you parachute in Giannis now against them, then with whose rules he scores 250. No, that's, that's laughably embarrassing to say, but on the other hand, let's not act like the inefficiencies of the past are something that should draw us in and make us yearn for it in the future. Just not. Nobody wants to handwrite notes anymore. They just don't. I mean, look, not everybody, apparently in Washington can handle the old group text, but generally a group text gets things done quite well. Thank you very much. Right, I'm Doug Gottlieb, in for calling. This is the Herd FOX Sports Radio iHeartradio app. This is, in case you missed it, this was LeBron earlier this week on McAfee talking about Giannis.

LeBron James (15:38)

You try to tell me Giannis wouldn't.

Charles Barkley (15:39)

Be able to play an NBA game in the 70s. He wouldn't be able to do.

Colin Cowherd (15:45)

Neither would you.

Doug Gottlieb (15:46)

Neither would you.

Charles Barkley (15:47)

Giannis Antetokounmpo would have 250 points in a game in the 70s.

Colin Cowherd (15:56)

250. 250 points. Come on, dude. And by the way, LeBron, in your effort to settle scores and like, we can get into why that conversation even happened, but he'd scored 250 points, right? There's two other guys in the lane. There aren't guys standing outside the three point line because there was no three point line. The real world doesn't have all or nothing. It has a lot of gray. It's not that Giannis would have stunk or he would have scored 250 points. The truth is way more towards the middle. And while I know Giannis Wood, I mean, again, he looks like a smaller Wilt Chamberlain. Wilt Chamberlain was an unbelievable athlete. Oscar Robertson was an unbelievable athlete. The three point line had not been introduced, let alone guys being told these are better shots because of analytics. So which is it? No, we just say these things to make, make us feel better either about the past game or the current game. The reality is, if you watched Alabama play last night, there Isn't a single solitary, non mouth breathing human being that goes, you know, I know they made 25 of 51 point threes, but I just, I just wanted them to take, you know, a midi fade away a la Kobe mid range. No, no, math works. It just does. Right? Math works. It just does. Sometimes it defies the normal thought process of human beings. I'm watching that, that earthquake in Thailand earlier today, right? And you're looking at buildings swaying and not coming down or whatever, despite it's like a 7.7. And then you look at some of these old buildings built in the 1920s, 1930s, where they thought the more cement the better. Right. Because common logic would, would lead you to believe that the heavier the building, the less likely it is to crumble, correct? Yeah. Well, ask anybody in la. Those buildings are light. Those buildings sway. If there's an earthquake, they're going to move like seven or eight feet, which again, the video tells me, don't ever get on a rooftop pool, ever, Ever. Period. Stop. I don't, I don't care the likelihood of an earthquake. If there's a, if you're on a 50th floor building and there's a bunch of supermodels out there, they're in bikinis, I ain't getting that pool. I'm going to watch, I'm going to watch behind the windows because I just saw that video. But math works. It explains it. It makes it easy, it makes it more efficient. They found that lighter and oftentimes less materials move with the earthquake. I understand you think a shot closer to the basket is a better shot, right? That's common. Like, well, the closer I get, the more likely I am to make it. Yes. But when they give you another point for being two or three steps back further, it's actually better to be two or step three steps back further. Unless you're right at the rim where you have a higher percentage of making it and you can get fouled, which gives you even more efficiency. Any of these people, and that includes my friend Charles Barkley, who tells me they yearn for the olden days, are just simply trying to pat themselves in the back over how great they were. And they were great in a different era. Stop doing it. If you watched Alabama, you're like, that was pretty cool. Speaking of pretty cool, coming up next in the herd, I'm Doug Gottlieb filling in for Colin Richard Patino. He builds New Mexico into a winner and now he's in the same league as his dad. What is the process like of coaching while negotiations are happening with your agent and how much do you know? When do you know? Well, ask it all to him. That's upcoming. Next in the Herd Be sure to catch live editions of the Herd, weekdays at noon Eastern, 9am Pacific on Fox Sports Radio, FS1 and the iHeartRadio app.

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Colin Cowherd (23:20)

Doug Gottlieman for Collins the Herd fox Sports Radio iHeartradio app. Some of you may heard I'm also a head coach now in Division 1 basketball, Green Bay. So just like every other coach, I'm in portal combat mode. Portal combat, yeah. And in, in something that makes absolutely no sense. Basketball's portal open Monday and yet we still have basketball games being played on my television. It's not just the NCAA tournament. There's the, the CBI just finished. Congrats to Illinois State. I don't know, but there's the nit, which is still ongoing. And there's the, the other one, the crown that's on Fox Sports 1. I have no idea who's even going to play for those teams because so many of those kids have entered the real portal or the dark portal, which is, or the pre Portland, which is like pre boarding. How do you board a plane before you board a plane? I'm not really sure. Anyway, to help us kind of figure it out and to celebrate his new job is the now new head coach of Xavier, who is also the sitting Mountain West Conference coach of the year. He coached the Lobos to the Mountain West Conference regular season championship this year. So now formerly of New Mexico, now Xavier is Richard Patino and he joins us in the Herd on Fox Sports Radio. Richard, how are you doing?

LeBron James (24:46)

Good. Doug, how are you?

Colin Cowherd (24:48)

I'm great, man. I'm great. You know, it's interesting. We talked after you lost your job in Minnesota, and then you get a chance to go to a place like New Mexico. What was the experience like last time you switched jobs, going from Minnesota to New Mexico in terms of kind of onboarding and getting that thing going?

LeBron James (25:14)

Yeah, I would say substantially different. Right. Emotional on both sides of it. But I think more than anything, new opportunities, you know, I learned from both, you know, New Mexico, I didn't have a great feel for the area by any means and spent eight years of, you know, really enjoyed Minnesota. But Was looking forward to it, you know, so learned a lot in both and just get better and better, you know, And I think Xavier is a great opportunity and excited about it, so. But, you know, all the moving and you got kids and all that, that can be very stressful for everybody. So trying to put together a roster, trying to figure out moving and transitioning and all that, but it's a great opportunity.

Colin Cowherd (26:01)

Okay, so now you're killing it in New Mexico. You guys have an unbelievable following. Donovan Dent, an unbelievable player that had been with you for a couple years, and you're going to the NCAA tournament, and yet there's all this, you know, all of a sudden, the Xavier job comes open because Sean Miller, even though he was coaching against Texas, it seemed like everybody in the business knew he was leaving for Texas. What's that like to manage all that? Right? Because again, you're managing your roster, the potential for your future roster in New Mexico. There's whispers about this other job. Okay. And then you got to figure out, all right, my wife, kids, family, all that stuff, and potentially moving and, oh, yeah, by the way, you had your team playing in the NCAA tournament, how'd you manage all that?

LeBron James (26:43)

You know, it's a lot. I know the coaches are bad guys. I know a good friend of mine, Kevin Willard, is dealing with it right now. Whether you could, say, handle it differently or whatever, I don't know. But coaches are being put in a tough spot. I mean, not that I want people to feel sorry for us by any means, but schools are starting earlier and earlier because of the portal. You know, when people reach out. Doesn't mean that you're inn interviewing by any means, or you're spending the whole day away from your program. But you certainly want to see what, you know, these people are talking about. For the Xavier experience, it really all happened after the season. Now, I had some other kind of balls in the air, so to speak, but I was not going to leave New Mexico unless it felt right. And, you know, when Xavier reached out, that was one like, okay, I can be back closer to my family. I can be in the Big east, which I truly believe with this new model of not sharing rev share with football is an advantage. I love the Big East. I grew up with it, so it felt right. It really did. So, you know, it's all the rumors and all that, some of it's true, some of it was not, but it wasn't real hard to lock in on the season and just, you know, just. Just stay in the moment.

Colin Cowherd (27:57)

More than anything, okay, so now you take over a new job at Xavier. This is your fourth job. Right. Fourth job that you've had. What's the process like now as opposed to the other three? Right. There wasn't the full portal when you got to New Mexico. There wasn't any of this when you got to Minnesota. And obviously when you get to fiu. What's the process like now for you?

LeBron James (28:19)

Yeah, I mean, way different as it pertains to recruiting. I don't even know if you call recruiting anymore. I mean, it's just, you know, fiu. There was no transfer deal, so you really, really were trying to establish a culture and not even worry about wins and losses. And we got some good transfers that we like sitting out. Minnesota was the traditional recruiting. New Mexico. When I got here, you weren't allowed to go recruiting because of the pandemic. So we added a bunch of players off of Zooms. But those last three years were where we really excelled. Were. And I own Transfer Portal. So we've got a body of work in the new profession that we're in of even. Okay. Donovan is the number one transfer in the country right now. JT Toppin is the number one in the country out of our program. Go to Texas Tech. So I think we have a body of work of we have won in this deal. We've got some really good players that we've recruited and developed, but it's all about right now. It's about Zooms. It's about putting together your staff, you know, so we've got. It seems daunting because you're really taking over a new roster, but everybody's going to have to deal with this right now. So it's about kind of spending your money wisely and evaluating properly and, you know, just. Just turning over every stone, so to speak, and figuring out.

Colin Cowherd (29:39)

Yeah, it's super interesting you mentioned that you don't have to revenue share with football, but you also don't have maybe the revenue or possibly the reach of football. Okay. And we're watching. We're watching the haves and the have nots. Right? Like you being a part of it. Like, we're not. We're not even in the ballpark. Right. And the Mountain west is kind of in that. Curious. Has been really successful. Is, you know, New Mexico incredibly well supported. But there's always going to be a difference between New Mexico and the Big east and then a chasm between New Mexico and the SEC and Big Ten. Where do you think the Big east settles in regards to the comparison And I always of how much you have in the, in the bank.

LeBron James (30:19)

It's really, really difficult to figure that out. You know, I, I did have conversations with some schools with football and just trying. Everybody has no idea what the future holds. I think the Big east is in an amazing position of strength because they don't have a cap, you know that Nobody is spending 20.5 million on men's basketball or women's basketball. Right. So, you know, the growth opportunities for all of these programs with no football I think are phenomenal. And that was appealing. That, that was one of the main factors of, of why I took the job was because we got to build rosters and it's, it's way more transactional now than it ever is and who knows what it'll change. But I think the biggest. Yeah, you know, if they cap men's basketball at the power four level at three and a half million or whatever, and then they say that they're going to really crack down on the deals, the nil deals. I think the Big east is in a great position of strength. But it's, it's like anything else. It's about continue to grow and invest in your program because if you don't, you're going to get left behind.

Colin Cowherd (31:33)

It's one thing to compete against your dad once a year. It's a whole other thing to recruit against or, you know, portal against your dad. Right. And then coach against your dad, you know, twice a year. And obviously St. John's he flipped that thing in year two. And they, they seem to be on a different level, nil wise, than some of the other teams in the Big East. Have you thought about what this is going to be like?

LeBron James (31:55)

You know, it's only really a thing when with media, you know, it's not traditional recruiting anymore. I don't care what anybody says, it's just not so. It's maybe not as emotional like it used to be back in the old days when we started. I just think it's about, you know, how we're going to invest as we're going against my dad. Like, listen, he's, He's a young 72, but who knows how much longer he goes, you know, and I just want him to be happy when we play him two times a year. Like, I understand the hoopla that's going to go with it and that's fine, but we're both going to try to beat each other. It's no real difference. So that was not even a little bit of, I didn't even Think about it when taking this job, will you.

Colin Cowherd (32:40)

Ever get him in a quarter zip? You know, so many coaches have gone to the quarter zip. He still wears those beautiful suits. Will you ever get him in the quarter zip?

LeBron James (32:47)

Yeah, I'm not happy about that. That's the only thing that I don't like about the Big east is I know that my dad does it. I know that there's another one that wears suits in that league as well that we got to get him out of. So who knows? If Kevin Willard goes to Villanova, he wears suits as well. So we'll see. You know, that's something I'm going to band together and fight with because I love the quarter zip.

Colin Cowherd (33:12)

Yeah. Richard Patino, head coach of X. That's Xavier, the new head coach. He's the reigning Mountain West Conference coach of the year, coaching the Lobos, New Mexico to the Mountain west championship this season. He joins us in the herd. I'm Doug Gottlieb filling in for Colin. You know, again, I don't know if you find this interesting, but I do. I'm watching Alabama play last night. They make 25 out of 51 threes. And I'm thinking of your dad, right? Because your dad, when he got to Providence, he was the first one to really, really embrace the three point shot. And yet you have so many people who sit there and I feel like they say they just tell lies. Like, man, I wish I missed the old days, the mid range pull up and guys backing people down. Like, I don't know, like you got the mix of old school and new school with your dad, but your dad was the first of the truly new school. When you watch Alabama shoot 51 threes, what do you think?

LeBron James (34:05)

You know, it's interesting because obviously they've really dove right in with the three point shot. I understand the value of offensive rebounding opportunities. Obviously threes are worth more than two, but I don't know if I want to shoot a million of them if I'm shooting like 28% from them. So I kind of think every team is different. That was fascinating to watch last night for sure to see that many threes. So it's obviously working. But I've never seen that many threes taken. And it seems to try to be evolving into the more NBA model more than anything.

Colin Cowherd (34:43)

Yeah, it really does. We circle back to the nil. What is it like to be coaching and to think to your. There's that deflating feeling of, hey, look, I got my guys prepped. We're really good but that other team has 2x3x of the money we have. And the reality is, more times than not, we're just not going to be as good. That's. That's part of why everybody's moving up, players and coaches and otherwise. Fair.

LeBron James (35:07)

Yeah. I mean, I think it's definitely a concern of the have separating from the have nots. Somebody's always going to have more money than you. You've just got to do a very, very good job of spending wisely. Not easy. Right. But, you know, you've got to really, really evaluate how you're going to spend it. It's like pro sports. And it's not going to change until I don't know if Congress or whoever figures this out, because it's going to be hard to kind of limit their money. So, you know, I mean, we've beaten teams this year who had more money than we did. We've lost the teams who had less money than we did. So we're just trying to take it year by year. I always tell the players, like, our goal is certainly to win championships, but we want to increase your value, and we certainly did that with a lot of players in our program, and we were able to win.

Colin Cowherd (35:55)

Okay, most important question is you did the perfect job of leaving. You had the note on social media, you had the quotes, you had the video, you had all the different. Right. Messages. Plus you stayed through, through the full cycle. You know, you stay four years, like, all right, we've run its course. You won the league, and then you're out. All good. Did you say goodbye to Snake before you left?

LeBron James (36:16)

I. I did not say goodbye to Snake. You only normally see Snake on game day. But I'll have to reach out to him. Yeah. I mean, it is emotional. I think the time is right. You know, I think we, we did a lot of great things. You know, my daughter's going to go into high school, so the timing there is really good. And, you know, the, the uncertainty of the Mountain west was certainly a concern. And I just think in a very, very unstable profession, the Big east is about as stable the conference as you're going to get right now.

Colin Cowherd (36:48)

Yeah, well, listen, you left it better than you found it. You left it in incredible shape. Xavier is a great place that Cintas center is. It's not the Pit, but it's still an incredible home court. And obviously the Big east is an unbelievable conference. Hey, man, congrats on the new gig. Congrats on an amazing season and best of luck here in Portal. Season all right.

LeBron James (37:07)

Thank you for having me. Appreciate it.

Colin Cowherd (37:08)

All right, that's Richard Patino, the new head coach of X. That's Xavier, the Musketeers, right in the queen city of Cincinnati. And no, we didn't do the proverbial skyline chili sort of yucky yuck sort of thing. No, we did not. We not do that. We could have done Greater's ice cream, right? Oh, greater ice cream is really, really, really good. Be sure to catch live editions of the Herd, weekdays at noon Eastern, 9am Pacific.

Rich Davis (37:31)

Hey, it's Steve Covino and I'm Rich Davis. And together we're Covino and Rich on Fox Sports Radio. You can catch us weekdays from 5 to 7pm Eastern, 2 to 4 Pacific, on Fox Sports Radio. And of course, the iHeartRadio app. Why should you listen to Covino and Rich? We talk about everything. Life, sports, relationships, what's going on in the world. We have a lot of fun talking about the stories behind the stories in the world of sports and pop culture. Stories that, well, other shows don't seem to have the time to discuss. And the fact that we've been friends for the last 20 years and still work together, I mean, that says something, right? So check us out. We like to get you involved, too. Take your phone calls, chop it up, as they say. I'd say the most interactive show on Fox Sports Radio, maybe the most interactive show on planet Earth. Be sure to check out Covino and Rich live on Fox Sports radio and the iHeartradio app from 5 to 7pm Eastern, 2 to 4 Pacific. And if you miss any of the live show, just search KO Vinoenrich wherever you get your podcast. And of course, on social media, that's Covino and Rich.

Colin Cowherd (38:28)

Doug Alibin for calling this to hurt fox sports radio iHeartradio app. I'm gonna do a Stephen A. Smith correction. Lakers are up five, so you don't foul when you're up five, it's you're up six, then you foul. That makes it even worse that why would LeBron James leave a shooter in the corner and try and help a teammate out, right? You don't. You don't do that. You switch and you keep the guy in front and you make him take a tested shot and then you don't turn the basketball over. Yesterday was opening day in Major League Baseball. Just baseball in kind of a curious place because in terms of overall talent wise, it's amazing how many young players are blowing up athleticisms back in the game. The games are shorter, they're Better. I think baseball, honestly, in terms of play is in a great place. I don't know if it's not too late, where so many think baseball's boring and it is actually the past time. But whatever, baseball, you know, leaving ESPN at the end of this year, it's just in a weird place. I think we can all kind of admit that. But it was opening day and this is, you know, like opening day part D, if you will, because obviously the Dodgers and the Cubs had opening day of their own going back to Japan. And that was like a week ago. Right. So now you have teams playing a bunch of baseball games. And yesterday I thought was the perfect embodiment of things that track. What do you, what do I mean by that? The Dodgers move themselves to three and, oh, on the year they won two in Japan and yesterday they won well, because among other things, they had Shohei Ohtani basically out toward right field. There's a jet stream there for Shohei if he wants it. On three, two, he swings and goes the opposite field, left field, drifting back toward the wall. It's gone. That's on AM5 70, the Dodgers radio network. Yeah. So on one hand you had the Dodgers, Blake Snell, who of course, I think he's one of. He's one of Cy Young, of course, he pitched Game 7 against the Dodgers back in the COVID World Series. You know, Blake Snell wins his first game as a Dodger, they get a save, they move to three and. Oh, right, the Dodgers are playing serious competitive baseball games. Then you have the Angels and you know, full disclosure, I grew up in Orange, California, in the city of Orange in Orange County. The Angels on opening day against the White Sox, who were far and away the worst team in baseball last year, not only are down 8 nothing and lose 8 one, but they actually used a position player to pitch late in the game. Like the idea that on that 45 minutes apart, the Dodgers win their home opener and the Angels not only lose, but lose to the White Sox and throw a position player day one. That's the most Angels thing ever, right? Oh, yeah. By the way, the guy that hit the three run home run for the Dodgers, he used to be an Angel. That is salt in the wound. Yep, that tracks. That definitely tracks. This is the Herd on Fox Sports Radio. I'm Doug Gottlieb filling in for Colin. Coming up next, LeBron and Stephen A. Smith. Will the beef go away? We'll discuss next on the Herd on Fox Sports radio and the iHeartradio app. Want more herd the herd streams 24 hours a day, 7 days a week within the iHeartradio app search herd to listen live or on demand whenever you'd like.

Stephen A. Smith (41:59)

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Doug Gottlieb (42:15)

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Richard Patino (45:00)

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Colin Cowherd (45:07)

Welcome in this is the herd. Wherever you may be and however you may make this part of your day, thanks so much. I'm Doug Gottlieb in for Colin Cowherd and for the next couple of hours I want to talk sports. Where the oh we got the sweet 16 continuing on four have moved forward. What a performance from Alabama and Florida and Texas Tech and I love Duke and the dookies and, and look, I mean I can, I understand what Colin has been saying about people didn't really love the Cinderellas. Not everybody knows what they love but they do. They like the David versus Goliath. They like they again it doesn't mean that it was always great basketball with when you had one one division state tournaments like you used to have back in Indiana. Obviously that's when Mylan High school or even when you had two or three divisions but when you have like 15 divisions and everybody's a state champion, you're like come on like what are we actually doing here? And I use that because Cinderella not really having much of a fight. It's one thing if it's one thing if you have, you have high powered teams that can pay the best players to come aboard. It's a whole other thing. If the high powered teams can sit there and go like hey let's go watch the mid majors play. And then every guy they get that's pretty good. When they get to be 23, 24 and they get a year, get an extra year, then we'll will pay him to sit on the bench. Like that's just the reality of it. So to people who don't understand what's happened in college basketball you have, you have teams that have literally 30x the money of others, 40x the money of others competing in an NCAA tournament game. If you look at my bracket it is nearly flawless. And it's because all I did when I Picked my bracket as a current sitting college basketball coach, I put no money on it, right? I just went to foxwortrade.com My boss is like, you gotta do it. All right, I'll do it. I just said, hey, who's got more nil? And then obviously, once it gets to be sort of equal in nil, then I don't know, just on matchups, I picked a couple, but you're like, man, how boring. You pick four one seeds. Like, yeah, they got more money than the other teams, Duh. And they got really good coaches. Because what the SEC did about, I don't know, probably started about eight, nine, 10 years ago was first they got serious about basketball. That's serious about basketball. Auburn hired Bruce Pearl. Obviously, you look at Tennessee and they go. And, you know, you hire a guy who I think everybody respects everybody space. And as much as. As much as maybe he hasn't won an NCAA championship, he's only been to one Final Four. Rick Barnes, hell of a coach, right? I mean, you go on Rick Barnes, you have John Calipari, you kind of go through the list. You're like, even before that, when Arkansas had Eric Musselman, like Musk was had it rolled in at Nevada, they went out and spent a bunch of money on coaches, a bunch of money on facilities, a bunch of money on all the support staff. And then once you got to where you could spend your money on players, they went all in. I liken what's happened to the SEC in basketball of what's happened when Barry Bonds was on steroids, right? Like, think. Think about it. Sammy Sosa was a platoon guy who went on the juice and became a prodigious home run hitter, right? Obviously, he couldn't sustain it. He wasn't the world's greatest hitter, but he was an unbelievable weapon because he was on. Clearly on steroids. It can also prolong great careers. Roger Clemens, right? You take a Roger Clemens, one of the greatest pitchers, but he started to fade. And then all of a sudden he started juicing up. And we saw what happened in Toronto and after he left Toronto or into Toronto, and then when he came back down into the contiguous 50 states and what he did late in his career, right, it elongates your career. But then you give Barry Bonds, who was already a Hall of Famer, like one of the great hitters of any generation, he started to fade, too. You give a great hitter the best drugs, and guess what? He becomes the best hitter we've ever, ever, ever seen. He doesn't get tired his body doesn't break down. And yeah, he had 77 home runs. He probably would have had 90 if they pitched to him. That's what happened to the sec. They were already all in on basketball. You already had Kentucky, right? You already. Now you give the conference that, that has, that is in proximity to many of the best athletes and they were already trending in the way of being the best basketball conference. But what's happened? How did we go from Syracuse and Louisville and North Carolina and look, North Carolina spent a lot of money this year, but all this historic acc, what Pitt, what happened to those teams? And how'd they get left in the dust by Ole Miss? The haircut, beard. And they got huge money. So they did both. They spent that money on coaches facilities and now they spend it on players. It's Barry Bonds on steroids. Yeah, duh. You know what happened to Michigan, right? Michigan got a great coach in Dusty May and then they opened up their wallets and they went out and bought a really good team. You combined a really good coach and a really good team with a really good facilities and a really good school and guess what? They're awesome. Duh. Wasn't that hard. And Colin can say whatever he wants, but everyone's memory of the Final Four may be memories of whomever in the past, right? You may not think the Butler run because they were a top 10 team, but the Butler, Butler will never be in the Final Four again in, in this current climate because it's not that you have to beat one team that has even Butler now, one team that has, say Butler's. I don't know what their nil is. Let's say a million. Like you go against $5 million, $6 million, $7 million teams in three consecutive rounds, you're not going to. The likelihood of winning is nominal at best. And you used to be able to compete because you'd have. They'd have younger players, you'd have older players and you'd be able to have cohesion. You don't have that anymore. So again, we may say, hey, it's. The times have changed, they have. This is the current landscape. But you can't possibly say that you like it more in the early rounds of the tournament because the early rounds of the tournament were about Vermont beating Syracuse, were about Middle Tennessee State pulling upsets, East Tennessee State. Keith. Mr. Jennings, herald the show. Arseno at Weber State beating, beating North Carolina, Kent State getting to Elite 8 with Trevor Huffman as their point guard. Like you name it. Steph Curry, I Don't care how good Steph Curry. Like, Steph Curry, as good as he is, right. His last year at Davidson, he would have been at one of the ACC or SEC schools. Like, well, he comes for money. Like, do you think no matter what, like, Steph Curry is the current GM of Davidson's program. They just lost their best player to the portal. Why? Because what's the most they can pay him? A couple hundred thousand dollars. Great. He can make a million or more playing at one of the big boys. And as a college player, if you, if you know, hey, I'm never going to make a million dollars playing basketball ever. Most kids will take it. All right, let's get to the, the, the story of the week, which is LeBron James and Stephen A. Smith. I'm Doug Alibin for calling. This is the Herd on Fox Sports Radio. I, I don't know how much you guys listen to my show and I gotta never assume is the rule in sports radio. So the fact that I've said this before, if you listen to me on a daily basis, I don't apologize. It is my job to iterate and reiterate myself. I don't understand why LeBron did this. I just don't like the. I've been quiet my whole career and I'm gonna body slam Brian Windhorst because he got his first job. You know, he first got. Got his breakthrough job because of whatever was assumed about his relationship with LeBron. What is the win? What's what. What was won by LeBron James calling out Stephen A. Smith for. What do you say? His Taylor Swift tour, which. It's a great line, clearly a prepared line, but a really good line. What was won by him saying, hey, Giannis would have had 250 points. Like what. What exactly was accomplished? All it gave was some sort of credence or some sort of amplification. What a great word, right? Amplification. I'm going to win Scrabble tonight, kids. Amplification. What Stephen A. Was saying. Yeah, of course, Stephen A. Exposed himself as not like, dude, if LeBron James would have put his hands on. Would put his hands on me, I would, we would have thrown down like, stop it. You're embarrassing yourself. You're embarrassing yourself. In addition to being 10 years older than LeBron James, he's 6, 8, 260 pounds. Stop it. There's nothing worse than a fake tough guy. And then of course, he said LeBron wasn't at Kobe's funeral. Things like, my bad. Earlier today, he said Nolan Richardson God rest his soul. Nolan Richardson is the former head coach of Arkansas. They won a national championship. Nolan is very much alive and well. Yeah. Did he expose Stephen A. As being a guy who is riding the coattails of LeBron James, of who Stephen A actually is? And did Stephen A expose himself as a guy who does not do the homework, he just does the performance? Of course. But what's the win in it for LeBron? Pointing out other people's flaws like, it may feel good in the moment, but why have you had to, at the end of the day, like, you're LeBron James. They're not. You scored more points than anyone in the history of the NBA. You're not gonna. There's no fight you're gonna win. With people who believe, like myself, that Michael Jordan was the better all time player, there's no, there's no fight. Anything you do just reiterates it, right? Two nights ago, they win on a tip in. In Indy. He doesn't play particularly well offensively. But if you're, was it. What do they call them? LeBron Sexuals? You're a LeBron Sexual. You're like, see the goat. And if you're not, if you're a LeBron hater, you're like, yeah, well, that's why he doesn't take the game winning shot. But what, what, what was LeBron's need to say? I didn't sign with Nike because they had Michael Jordan. I signed with Nike because they offered more money, $90 million, or. Actually, he didn't say more money. He just said, I got $90 million. Where again, Pat McAfee, if it was a normal interview, the follow up was, what was the Adidas offer? Because if you sign for less money with Nike than you did with Adidas, well then why did you sign with Nike? Nike better, I think the answer would be, yeah, but $20 million better. Or was it because of Jordan's legacy? Why did you wear number 23? Duh. But again, what is, what is the actual win? Here's Charles Barkley with Dan Patrick earlier today on fox sports radio.

Charles Barkley (58:25)

LeBron, he's too big to be that type of bully. The bully Stephen A. And to bully Brian Winhorse. Brian Woodhouse is a sweet person, man. He's just trying to do his thing. And I've always liked LeBron, but him being a bully, it turned me off. Dan. But I will say that Stephen A, the way he reacted was so lame and weak. LeBron, like I say, I blame him for starting the bullying going on Pat's show just bullying people. But the way Stephen A. Reacted going on Gilbert's podcast, talking tough. And I said, come on man, you're better than that. So there's only, there's only losers in this scenario, Correct?

Colin Cowherd (59:10)

Correct. Tell you a story real quick. Okay. And I'm not LeBron James. Matter of fact, I'm the opposite of LeBron James. Even when I worked on ESPN covering college basketball. But a lesson that I learned a long time ago, I was doing halftime of the ACC tournament and Mike Krzyzewski, Coach K, was the coach of Duke. And I think they were playing Maryland at the time. And at halftime they interviewed Chris Collins, who's now Northwestern's head coach, was then the associate head coach. And they come to us in studio and I immediately said, and Duke was like losing by two points. Why do we hear from Chris Collins? Because everybody at that point in time, I think only CBS would get Coach K at halftime. Remember, it's two questions. What do you think of the first half, Coach? What are you gonna do the second half? Thanks, Coach. Right. That's all you really ask. But they're down two points. And the sideline reporter goes to Chris Collins. And Chris Collins gives two really good answers. And they come back to studio and I said like, why? Why are we hearing from an assistant coach, not from Coach K? And there's a guy named Scott Reese. And Scott was our, our host at the time. Scott's like, well, what's the matter with that? I was like, well, because when you go into the locker room, unless it's that assistant scout, you don't hear from all the other assistants. The assistants may make suggestions, but the head coach makes the substitutions, makes the final decisions. And oh yeah, by the way, he's Mike freaking Krzyzewski's coach of Team USA Basketball. He's the most successful modern day basketball coach in the history of the sport. Yeah, I'd like to ask him two questions. Or you have to like, I'm not going to do the interview if we can't hear from Coach K. So we get done with the segment, we go to break and there's a red phone behind me. And the man that hired me at ESPN is a guy named Dan Steer. Dan Steers nickname is the Vision. Because the Vision sees things other people do not. So the Vision calls me and he says, what the f are you doing? I was like, I just did halftime Vision. Like, what? Why are you calling out Duke and calling out Coach K for not doing an interview? It was already pre agreed that we're. I was like, I, I understand, but like, why wouldn't Coach K, like, coach, we want to hear from Coach K. And he asked me the same question I would ask LeBron James, what's the win? What was the win in what you just said? And does this is the squeeze worth the juice? What was the win? What was the win in LeBron James going on McAfee? Like, if it was to tweak Stephen A. Smith, instead of confronting him at the Laker game, he should have pretended like he doesn't exist at the Laker game, Right? Giving credence, and I've said this back when I was doing halftime of games, when Bayheim would call me out, when any other coach, when the Big Ten commissioner would call me out long time ago, like, by giving credence to the things I say. And also instead of. And here's where I will credit LeBron that he didn't assassinate Stephen A's character, he just assassinated his takes. Right? Did he fib about it? Sure. Right. He can't take constructive criticism of Bronny James because all I've offered up is constructive criticism of Ronnie James. And he tweeted at me, so he clearly can't take it. But the easiest thing, if you want somebody to go away and you're somebody super powerful, pretend like they don't exist. And instead LeBron fed the beast. Fed the beast.

Richard Patino (63:10)

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Doug Gottlieb (63:36)

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Steve Covino (64:56)

When it's tip off time at my house, there are a few things that are must haves on my checklist. My fellow friends and fans. Check my favorite jersey. It is good luck. Check an iconic drink that's a fan favorite?

Colin Cowherd (65:08)

Check.

Steve Covino (65:08)

Hypnotic can turn any cocktail into an iconic creation. With its game changing color and tropical flavor, Hypnotic should be in everyone's starting five. I consider Hypnotic the point guard on my game day roster because not only is it versatile, like having it on the rocks or as a base for cocktails, it also finishes smooth. So grab a bottle of Hypnotic and make your next basketball watch party Iconic. Enjoy the vibrant taste with friends and turn every game into a memorable celebration. Hypnotic where every sip is a slam dunk. Hypnotic Liqueur Bardstown, Kentucky 17% alcohol by volume Hypnotic reminds you to think wisely, drink wisely.