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Guaranteed Human today's podcast brought to you by Ferguson Home, where it all comes together. Whether you're a homeowner creating your dream space or a pro managing multiple projects, Ferguson Home is where you'll find top products by brands like LG. Visit your local showroom or visit FergusonHome.com
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Sophie Cunningham from Show Me Something. Okay, Arby's just casually pulled up with a deal that feels a little too good.
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They've got this new meat in three box for 7.99, and honestly, it's stacked with Arby's Quality favorites in a way that feels kind of ridiculous.
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Then it just keeps going because also comes with melty mozzarella sticks, crispy curly fries, and a peach cobbler roll, which is a little sweet treat and so good.
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The volume Today's show is brought to you by our presenting sponsor, American Beverage. If you think about some of the most iconic drinks in the country, the ones you grab at a barbecue, the ones you raise to celebrate your team that have been part of your story for decades. Coke, Dr. Pepper, Pepsi. There's something people don't always think about. The companies behind those brands are still making their drinks right here in the US While there's a lot of talk about bringing manufacturing back, America's beverage company never left. They're American companies making American products with American workers in America's hometown. So 275,000 men and women across all 50 states. Real jobs, good paying jobs, the kind of jobs you can raise a family on. So more than 100 years, those brands have been part of everyday lives and they're still here, still investing, still operating in communities around the country. So if you care about strong local economies and companies that walk the walk, check out the good work and what they're doing it. We deliver for America.org. All right, Jason, Tim, hoops tonight we got, we got about 45 minutes to an hour to unpack.
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We're going to start with NBA and then we're going to go to college
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basketball because I have literally sat in front of a television for 15 hours over the last two days watching the college basketball tournament.
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I just got back from a vacation
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and I highly rent recommend folks, I highly recommend folks that if you're, if you're thinking of going to the Caribbean, try Anguilla. Not a lot of cruise ships show up. You can hide.
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The hospitality is amazing.
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They have a, they don't have a big deep port. So cruise ships don't stop. And it is just a great place to take a partner. Not a lot of golf courses, one in the whole island. But if you want to take books, watch podcasts on the volume, read, drink and relax. I've never slept better in my life. And so it's, and I know you travel a lot, Jason, and you love traveling. You don't, you don't head east much. You're mostly, you're mostly Rockies. West, right?
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Yeah.
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Well, so I've been in kind of a Pacific Northwest kick lately. Spent a lot of time in Seattle, a lot of time up in Vancouver, a lot of time in Alaska now that we just moved to Colorado. I really want to spend some time in Colorado and Montana this summer. I will eventually make my way back over there. But yeah, it's okay to not have a go golf course when you're on vacation with the wife. I feel like that's a really quick way to get into some trouble.
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Absolutely. So let's start with the NBA, the Lakers. And I think a lot of when a team is losing, they listen to their coach Right. And the Lakers had lost a couple of straight, had some bad late game possessions and Luca was for the first time as a Laker getting heat. And I was one of the many people saying, I think LeBron's still great, but I don't think he fits with Luka and Austin Reaves. And they. Lebron's got rabbit ears. He reacted to it. He has played unbelievable. I think Lucas scored 30 plus in all of their wins, which I think is an NBA record. That's what the Laker account said. And so I think you and I would agree with this. We know they're a great half court offense. They have multiple ball creators outside of Marcus Smart. Everybody's an offensive player. They have length, they have shot creators, they have excellent passing. Austin Reaves has established himself. It's no longer he's a nice number four, like he's a real good playmaker. The question for us has always been okay in the NBA playoffs. It's the only professional league in this country where it's officiated differently. You don't get the whistle. You have to play collective defense almost
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every possession of second halves. And I don't know if they can
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do it, do you? And I think we've agreed on that, that they're a tremendously offensive gifted team. The rules in football and basketball over the last decade have moved to offense for both smartly to make the game more appealing. Does this Laker team gifted offensively? Do we feel differently today? Does it translate to the playoffs? Are they maybe a little more profound offensively than maybe we thought three weeks ago?
H
Yeah, I think there's been improvement on both ends of the floor. I want to start with JJ because I think the work that he's done has been really important. I mean, this was a team at one point, Colin, they had lost 12 out of 13 times against teams that had at least a 60% win percentage. Like they could not be good teams. And they were just rolling over and getting killed in those games. Now they've won five of those in a row. They've won seven straight against playoff level teams because they just beat Miami and Orlando, both of which are feisty teams. And it really comes down to a handful of complete reversals. First of all, JJ has them completely bought in. When we last talked about the Lakers, Colin, we were talking about how they cannot win in any way other than winning with their offense. They are now generating margin in several key areas. Now Pre All Star break 23rd in defense, post All Star 12th. Nothing to write home about, but Considering their personnel, that's pretty good. They're just.
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Denver won a title in that space. Remember that Jokic team? They were like 13. You don't have to be a great defensive team to win a title. You have to be competent situationally.
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That's the formula. If you have an unbelievable, unguardable offense, then you just have to be pretty good on defense. And they've established that over the last few weeks. Secondly, and this is the big one that's been shocking to me, they are generating a lot of margin scoring off of turnovers. JJ's been way more aggressive and this is what I think has been really smart because like, say you're a coach and you're trying to figure out how to get a team to play defense when you don't have good defensive personnel. You have to like track down, okay, what is the thing that we have that is a strength for our defense? And what it is is their basketball iq. They have a lot of really smart players, including Marcus Smart, LeBron James, Austin Reeves, Luka Doncic. They have a lot of really smart players. And so JJ's been way more aggressive with their coverages. They're putting two on the ball more than ever. This has put an emphasis on their defensive IQ because in the four on threes that ensue after that, it's a lot of anticipating what happens next. And they're jumping a lot of those passing lanes and they're forcing turnovers. They were 17th in steals, pre all star break, 11th post ulcer break. Then you have this incredibly fast attack and transition, something LeBron has been a huge part of pre All Star break. The Lakers were losing the points off of Turnovers battle by 1.6 per game post all star. They're plus 6.2. That is a huge margin in points off of turnovers that now is helping them build lots of margin for error in every single game. They were negative in overall fast break points pre All Star. Now they're positive post All Star. So JJ deserves a lot of credit for just getting a very offensive minded group to buy into finding ways to win games outside of their offense. But also their offense is amazing now in large part because one Luka has finally ascended to that best player in the world level of basketball. When he, when he has it going from three especially, he just brings this combination of like the Steph curry, I'm taking 12, 13 threes and what if I make seven of them kind of thing that he brings to the table. While also being as physically imposing as Jokic, as Good of a passer as Jokic and having the mid range shot making piece that Shea goes Alexander brings to the table. So Luke has been unbelievable. Austin has found his rhythm finally. He's struggled a little bit with athleticism, but table that because that's where LeBron comes in. And as, as Austin and Luka have taken so much more of the offensive load, that has finally allowed LeBron to slot into that like evolutionary Draymond Green role that we've all thought he would do at this phase in his career. But he just needed the right amount of ball handling around him to slot into that role. To LeBron's credit, for all the talk about him not doing enough of that stuff, Austin was hurt most of the season. He had no choice but to step into that role. And by the way, like in the Houston games, Austin can get a little overwhelmed against some of these athletes. Amento question did a number against Austin and those two Houston games. But then here comes LeBron. I can give you 30 against a smaller athletic team because he's so big and strong. That's where he can become more Carl Maloney and he can do his. Do his physical bully ball.
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Yeah, I mean, the downside to being gifted offensively, and there's not a lot of them, but the Warrior Team was a great example. When they had Clay and Durant and Steph the first year, they were all in every game. I mean, they just blew through the second and third years. It's like there's nights like we'll get our points and you get caught into a cycle of, you know, defense. Even if you're Draymond Green. Defense is hard. It's hard for great defensive players. And to be great defensively collectively is rare. That's usually teams that don't have offense. That's why Oklahoma City is such a pain in the ass. They're good offensively and collectively. They give you such an effort. That's rare, right? Usually even the great spurs teams, Duncan and Bruce Bowen, gave you defense to get six, seven guys in rotation to care.
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But offense is different.
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It's easy for the great players. Offense is easy for Luka and Austin. I mean, even Rui LeBron still like beating people off the dribble. LeBron's just a bully. And so I think the downside to being as gifted as the Lakers are is that it is easy to lull yourself into. Hang around and it's tied at 88 and we'll go on a spurt. I think this is my interpretation of what Reddick has done. He has forced them to be really focused early. They don't fall into holes. He's taken these gifted offensive players and JJ was talented. I think they're a much more motivated team. Some of it is probably the criticism, And I'm sure JJ has reminded them that LeBron, you don't fit Luke. But when I watch them play, there's real. They're very intentional. The possessions really like, they come out of the half. That's my take on the Lakers. Jj, these are stars. Two of the biggest stars in the game.
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Maybe two.
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The two biggest stars, Luke and LeBron, and they're complimentary. LeBron's been a great. I mean, Luke Canard the other night, he races over to him and I do think that's the art of coaching. Phil Jackson, the art of coaching superstars. Joe Torrey with the Yankees, when he had a rod and Jeter, being able to ride them, you know, to the, you know, just enough push the buttons. And I think JJ's, you know, it's that, it's that Duke education, whatever it is. JJ is really good with stars. He's a really good. That's how I. He's great at pushing buttons.
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I think this is as good as
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Lucas played in three years. I think the last eight games, that's the best LeBron's been in two years, three years. I think there, I mean, to me, Jason, there's an art to coaching stars and not every coach can do it.
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Yeah, absolutely. I think, I think JJ has found a way to kind of resonate with each player on an individual level. Like, JJ obviously built rapport with LeBron through the podcast that they did together. JJ was Luca's teammate for a little while in Dallas. So, like, they have a little rapport from their locker room time spent together. JJ and Austin have clicked from the very beginning. I, I love that you brought up the criticism because I think that's an important part of this. Like, it has pushed all of them to another level because all of them are sick of it. They're all sick of all the stuff that's been being said. And all the criticism was valid. Maybe not all of it, but a lot of the criticism was valid. There was, there were real areas of opportunity that needed to be brought up. And so Luca, you're getting this unbelievable. Not just his own kind of individual peak. This recent last couple of weeks is like an all time NBA regular season run. He's averaging 40 over the nine game win streak. Colin, like 100.2 points in two games. Like, he's been absolutely unbelievable.
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And so, and you know it. You, you know, he's also, as you've pointed out, he's trash talking fans.
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Yes.
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So Luca is so gifted. He's moved off officials to some degree. He's moved into opponents and fans. And by the way, that's just part of basketball culture. Like, Michael did it, everybody did it, Bird did it. I mean, it's just, you know, it's it. You can't complain about that. I mean, everybody, most of our stars. Kobe Bryant chats with fans. I think, I think JJ Redick has told Luca, I don't mind the trash talk, just direct it to other people.
H
Oh, absolutely. Like, it's actually crazy because his relationship with refs was getting borderline toxic. I actually dug into the numbers because I was curious. There was a 12 game stretch around November, December where Luca was attempting 13 free throw attempts per game. Because that was what he was doing every game. It was like entirely a ref game. Every play was a ref, like a foul baiting type of. He was just along the lane line trying to draw contact and jawing with officials. And it was like producing a lot of free throw attempts, but it wasn't producing a lot of impact in terms of what he was bringing to the game. Now he's focused on making shots and talking shit, which has been amazing because not only is it way more entertaining to watch because he's got this, like, energy to him that's almost infectious, but it's also causing him to focus on all the right things because now you got to back up your trash talk, right? And so he's really like. Even when Luke Canard hit that game winner last night, everyone's mobbing Luke. And Luka Dodge is literally blowing a kiss to the crowd because he's having a moment at the crowd's expense. It's so funny, but which takes me to LeBron because I think the LeBron thing is fascinating here because LeBron, there's an energy I see with him that I think stems in a lot, in a lot of ways from the Luca piece. LeBron has won four championships, and in every single one of his four championships, maybe AD was close to his level in 2020, but LeBron was the best player in the world in 2020. He should have won MVP that year. Giannis robbed him of it. So LeBron knows you've got to be one of the guys. Like, you've got to be at a special level to hoist the trophy. I think LeBron looks over and goes this is the Luka I can win with. This is the Luca that I am actually capable of reaching this dreamed fifth ring that he wants so bad. Right? And so I'm seeing a level of focus and engagement from LeBron because I think he believes that this group has a shot now in a way that he probably hasn't felt since 2021, because he's known that either he didn't have the juice, or AD didn't have the juice because he was old and because AD had been kind of underwhelming as he entered that phase of his prime. So you have a LeBron that is doing things defensively, fighting through. Like, even that late play last night, he forced the turnover on Palo Bunchero that led to the eventual game winner. And it's like, I haven't seen LeBron flying around, denying the basketball on an inbounds play like that in forever. Some of the rotations he's making at the rim on defense, the effort that he's putting in possession to possession. LeBron is locked in. I don't know if you saw the quote from the Miami game early. Second quarter, they're down 15. JJ calls a timeout, he gets in the huddle and he's like, hey, guys, I know we're tired. And LeBron steps up and goes, I'm not tired. And all of a sudden, like, everyone's looking around like, well, if this dude's not tired, like, we've got to meet this level. There's a level of engagement with LeBron that I haven't seen in a half decade. And so it's just made this team, like, this team. Colin, this team was such a chore to watch a month ago, and now it's like, I can't wait for the Monday night game against Detroit. Like, it's just. There's so much more fun to watch now because there's an energy that is coming from the top down that is making them play with a very entertaining brand of basketball.
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Well, and I think, you know, LeBron is always, and I say this respectfully, is that LeBron's very aware of the media. He listens, he reads. He's one of the smartest players of my lifetime. I mean, he may be the smartest player. Magic Johnson had the ability to not be a little bit of a part time psychologist. You know, Magic had to deal with the stoicism of Kareem and, you know, the Norm Nixon stuff. Byron Scott, there was a lot of stuff. Jerry Buss, the playboy owner, you know, Magic's coming Into his own feeling his oats. Like, you know, the fabulous form, the women, the magic kind of balanced it all. It kind of showed his layered ability to be great at several factors as a teammate, right? As a player, as a spokesman. A lot of egos back then in Los Angeles with the Lakers and West and Riley and Kareem and Magic and Jerry Buss, the owner. And LeBron has that ability. LeBron understands the world's watching. The Lakers are the biggest. He didn't move to LA because they had the best ownership group and the best front office. He moved here because it was great for business and he figured he could power through it and move Anthony Davis here. So what I find interesting about this streak is that we're all pointing to Luca, but in large part, it's LeBron. His IQ is understanding. I bet you, I mean, I, I don't know this, But I bet LeBron's been unbelievable at practice. I bet he's been unbelievable on the team plane. I bet he's been unbelievable at dinner. Like, I think LeBron understands. He's like a. He's like the old Justin Verlander is a pitcher he didn't have to pitch to have value in the locker room in a playoff series. Like he'd seen every batter, every moment. And I think there's, there's a greatness. One of the things LeBron was criticized early in his career and I thought it was totally unfair. He always did the right basketball thing, he always made the right pass. It was always about winning the game. And over the nine game winning streak, you don't have to necessarily see all of it. I guarantee you LeBron behind the scenes has been magical. Coaching, practice, you know, communication dinners. Well, today's show is brought to you by our presenting sponsor, Hard Rock BET Florida Sportsbook. How much fun is this tournament been? If your bracket's already busted, I'm still hanging in. I got Florida, Michigan in the natty. But if yours is busted, don't worry, you can still call the next big upset. Turn your picks into payday and Hard Rock Bet all tournament long. Hard Rock Bet is rolling out daily dancing boosts featuring a live profit boost and a parlay profit boost every single day. That's more ways to shoot your shot and cash in with the boosted odds. And you know those heart stopping, zero on the clock moments. Now they pay Hard Rock bets giving out $25 bonus bets throughout the tourney. If a team you bet to win or cover just hits a buzzer beater. So the team you bet to win or just to cover hits a buzzer beater. If you haven't joined the Hard Rock Bet yet, now is the time. New signups can double their winnings on their first 10 bets, max 50 bucks. That means if you would have won a hundred bucks in your bet, it's 200 now, so don't sit on the bench. It's a perfect time to join. Download the Hard Rock Bet app today. We love doing business with them. Get the party started Payable and bonus bets Not a cash offer offered by
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Today's Podcast brought to you by Ferguson Home Whether you're a homeowner creating your dream space or a pro managing multiple projects, Ferguson Home is where it all comes together. Ferguson Home is designed for the way you want to shop. Experience today's top products by brands like Monogram Firsthand by visiting a Ferguson Home showroom, where you'll explore stunning displays featuring today's latest products and innovations, or browse their extended selection of products online. Ferguson Home understands that every project is made up of countless decisions, and that's why their expert consultants are committed to helping homeowners, builders, contractors and designers bring all the details together. You can count on support from start to finish, from choosing the right products to coordinating deliveries with your project schedule. Book a one on one consultation at your local Ferguson Home showroom or shop online@fergusonhome.com whether you're working on a new kitchen, a new bathroom, or a whole home remodel, you'll find the latest designs and technologies from the brands you trust at Ferguson Home. Let me talk to the guys for a second. If you're over 40, you still work out, compete, still expect results. But your energy isn't what it used to be and the weight's harder to move. You're not imagining it. Energy drops, metabolism slows, fat sticks around. Even when your habits haven't changed. That's not you losing discipline. That's your body changing and needing better support. MDrive products for years. I trust them every day. Boost and burn, one of their supplements built specifically for men over 40 struggling with energy and weight with support for healthy T levels. Designed for everyday use, not extreme dieting. Not crash fat burners, just smarter daily support. It combines clinically tested ingredients with measured stimulants, supporting metabolism and fat burn without extremes. MDrive is the number one men's health brand at Sprouts. Support your body the smart way. Go to mdrive for men.com the code is heard H E R D for 25% off your first order. Mdrive4men.com Code H E R D hey
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guys, it's Sophie Cunningham from Show Me Something. So Arby's just dropped a deal that honestly feels a little unreal.
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Yeah, it's the new meat in three box for 7 99. And it's loaded with Arby's favorites in a way that does not feel like a 799 situation.
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So here's the setup. You choose your sandwich, a classic roast beef crispy chicken or the crispy fish sandwich. Already a very strong start.
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But then it keeps going because you also get melty mozzarella sticks, crispy curly fries, and a peach cobbler roll, which is a little sweet treat and so good. You genuinely need to try this.
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And there's a small drink in there too. So even though it's called meat in three, you're actually getting five items for just $7.99. That's kind of wild.
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Pick the sandwich you want, make it your own, and get it your own way.
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Available for a limited time at participating locations. While supplies last, prices may vary. Get your Meat in three box at an Arby's near you today.
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So I want to pivot into an interesting comment this week. And it wasn't a shot at LeBron, but obviously you think of LeBron when KD said Michael Jordan's bigger than basketball. And and I've always said Magic and bird saved the NBA. Michael made it global. LeBron made it mobile. And it was thinking about that. And I want your thoughts on this. First of all, your thoughts, because I have one, your thoughts on KD saying like, like Michael Jordan's above basketball. They'll always be great players. They'll never be Michael. Your thoughts.
H
Yeah I mean, like, you talked about the saving of the NBA with Magic and Bird. Like, they brought it back from the brink. But MJ was what made the sport as culturally resonant as it is now. Yeah. And, like, I know that, you know, you hear a lot of, like, LeBron vs. MJ stuff in the media. You hear a lot of LeBron vs. MJ stuff from fans. But talk to basketball players, you're not going to find a basketball player that doesn't revere Michael Jordan. Like, there's. It's just such an important part of your basketball development. Watching his footage. Like, I was a LeBron fan. I grew up a LeBron fan. LeBron's the reason I fell in love with basketball. You don't have any idea how many times I went and watched Michael Jordan's top one plays on YouTube. Like, it just the way that. That, like, shaped my entire love for the game of basketball, it's just right. There's a. There. There's a certain. There's a certain aura in a history that surrounds him that is insurmountable for even a guy like LeBron. And I think there. I think we've seen that with LeBron almost manifest in. In. I don't want to call it insecurity, because it just. It manifests in, like, a reaction from him where, like, he'll often, like, promote himself as if. As in some sort of effort to try to reach that level. But the reality is, is there is. There's a certain amount of, like, he was the first guy like that, and there will never be another first guy like that. And so Michael, also.
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There was no social media. So part of what makes Michael fascinating was that we didn't know about his private life. There weren't platforms, so you needed his basketball and his fashion. That was your gateway to knowing Michael, his basketball. You didn't know about his marriage. You didn't know about his private life. We get so much of LeBron now, right? Like, I know so much. I know where he lives. And so it doesn't feel special. It's like Jack Nicholson always had a theory. Don't go make people go to the theater to watch your work. Don't go on Johnny Carson. Don't go on Letterman. Make him go to the theater. I don't know if Michael thought about that, but you had to either buy Michael shoes or go to his game. That's how you heard, saw Michael's greatness. LeBron's everywhere. And so I do think there's. There's a mystery that that there's nothing LeBron could have done about that. It's just there's a mystery about Michael and a uniqueness where I can watch the Laker game, go to YouTube, watch the highlights, go to TikTok, watch the extra highlights. Like with Michael. Think about it. I mean, when Michael first came into the league, you couldn't watch their games. You didn't get. I mean, if he played certain nights, Michael scores 48, how do. Unless SportsCenter gave me, like, three baskets, I couldn't even watch the highlights until the playoffs. So I don't think you can. You know, I just think Michael had, in a strange way, a privacy advantage that made every time you saw him play special. That's not LeBron's fault.
H
I'd even extend that to what's happening on the court in the sense that, like, can you imagine if Michael Jordan's two Washington Wizards years took place during Twitter? And every time he took a defensive possession, every time he got back cut, every time he didn't box out, every like, like, that's the crazy part, is LeBron has had his entire, like, age, 38, 39, 40, 41 seasons, be micro analyzed on a possession to possession basis through clips on Twitter, and it's like it. The reality is, is we're seeing something completely unprecedented for a guy his age. But because it's being microanalyzed in many ways, it's like, oh, here are all the ways that LeBron's dropping the ball. Here are all the ways that LeBron is not coming through for his team. And I almost feel bad for him in that sense because I just can. I can only imagine if I micro analyzed every possession of Michael's Wizards tenure, how ugly it would have been at times.
F
Well, I've always said there's one 30 for 30. There's one great sports documentary left, and it's Michael Jordan with the Wizards. His teammates hated him, the coaches hated him. I mean, everybody's doing. They'll do Andre the giant, they'll do 30 for 30s on international soccer stars. I watched him play twice live with the Wizards, and you could. The body language of his teammates. Everybody hated him. And I also think Michael's a little like Marlon Brando. Is Marlon Brando the best actor ever? I don't know. But he's largely viewed as one of the first method actors where you go deep into the character, right? Like, and he had such influence over Pacino. Bob De Niro, you could argue Bob De Niro is greater than Marlon Brando, but Marlon Brando is considered like the start of method acting. Like, if you watch acting pre Brando and post Brando, acting's better. Post Brando, it's less mechanical. I mean, you feel like the people, which must be an incredible, daunting experience where you become the character, you live the character. And so Brando, when you talk about acting, Brando's here. And then it starts with Ralph Fiennes or Christian Bale. It starts after Brando. I don't necessarily think Christian Bale's less of an actor, but there is something to be said about Brando's the creator or the, the amplifier of method acting. Michael was not only great. I mean, there was a pre Michael, it was called David Thompson. I watched him at North Carolina state. There was Dr. J. I'll argue if you have a minute YouTube clip of every player ever. Dr. J's highlights are more amazing than Jordan's. They don't even look human. I mean, it looks like a spider playing basketball. It's like the hand size. His college stuff at UMass is like, the hell is that? I haven't even seen anything like that.
H
I've still never seen a reverse layup like the Dr. J reverse. No one can replicate it. It doesn't look any. It just looks like swoops in and
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dunks with no dribble or one dribble.
B
You're like, what?
F
So it's like one of those things where Michael was the first basketball player. The shoes, the brand, the commercials. He wasn't the first guy that hung in the air. David Thompson. David Thompson. And Michael and Dr. J predated him. But Michael was like, good looking, brilliantly dressed, and let's be honest, 6 for 6 in the finals, it just, it's mythical. It's magical. And because we don't have a lot of Michael, I mean, there's a handful of pictures of Michael sitting in a hotel room by himself, smoking his cigar. You didn't really know what he did until tip off. You know, he was just kind of doing his own thing. So. And, and, and you are right. If he was with the Wizards, I mean, it was. He was not that vertical a player. He had a fallaway jumper with the Wizards. He wasn't jumping over dudes. He was falling back.
H
LeBron was sixth in MVP voting last year. Like, it's, it's. It. LeBron was sixth in MVP voting and like in. At age 40, like. And I just, I just can't even imagine. It's, it's all, it's. It's Crazy to me how often those two stints are compared to each other. And it's like, this is not the same. What LeBron is doing right now has never been done before.
F
So I, I got into this discussion with a friend. I didn't. I watched sports because even in Anguilla you can, you know, watch domestic tv. So I watched Thursday, Friday, I sat and watched a lot of college basketball on the beach. And I was texting a buddy about some NBA stuff and we were talking about Giannis. Giannis is so. He's a Knicks fan, my friend. And he said, what would you give up for Giannis? And I said, giannis is fascinating. Like certain people, Tom Brady and LeBron just don't get hurt much. They just age brilliantly. And because they're so committed to being in shape, I mean, it's not a coincidence. Anthony Davis got hurt a lot. He was rarely in elite shape, right?
B
And so.
F
But Giannis appears to be in great shape. He increasingly gets hurt. His game doesn't age particularly well. So I told my friend, I said, well, Giannis can't shoot outside of 16ft, so he needs the ball. Well, I don't want him taking the ball out of Brunson's hands. Like, absolutely not. So can he play off ball a lot? And I'm like, actually, the guys that can, you'd have to give up to get Giannis. And I thought I'd just kind of a thinking piece on Giannis. Not everybody ages the same. You know, we've talked about this. You and I maybe have, but Middlekop and I have about Cam Newton did not age well because he was hyper athletic. I don't think Westbrook, Westbrook has aged particularly well. Steph the shooter aged well. Kobe the shooter aged well. But hyper athletic players in all sports don't necessarily age well. And I, and I said to him, in the honest, I said, yeah, I'd give up probably three firsts, but God, I'd hate to give up og. I'd be a. But that's what, that's what Milwaukee wants. What is the value? Because when you make a trade like that, if you're giving up three first round picks, then he has to be great for those three years. You can't give up picks for four years and you get two great years. What is Giannis worth today for the next four years you run the Knicks? Jason Timf. What do you give up for him?
H
Well, the league tells you the answer to this sort of thing, right? Like, I thought it was really fascinating the Teams that were in on Giannis when he became available around the deadline, there was the one take Minnesota and set them to the side. Because that was the one team where I was like, why, why, why, why does Minnesota want Giannis? Like, you've got this 23 year old guy that is the first dude who's ever kind of replicated some of MJ's aura. Like, why are we trying to pair this dude with a mid, like an early 30s power forward that's falling apart? But you look at Golden State completely desperate. Literally no young player on the horizon that could take them into the future. Just Steph Curry, who's going to be 38 years old, who just turned 38 in March, right? And then you had Miami, who's been destined to go nowhere for the last several years, and New York, who everybody knows deep down because of Carl Anthony Towns and Jalen Brunson probably can't win, right? So like those were the other teams that were in on it, right? And like, so the lower leg injuries freaked me out a little bit. And the outside of the 2021 series where he won, wins the championship, right? In 2022, where I will say that second round series against Boston was one of my favorite star playoff performances ever because that was the year that Middleton was hurt and Giannis just almost single handedly beat that Celtics team. And Giannis deserves a ton of credit for that. But he hasn't played in the second round playoff series since then. Like he's missed playoff games with injury, he's had additional playoff rounds where he's been healthy, but hasn't been able to take his team out of the first round as recently as last year, right? So like, as we've seen time and time again, Giannis is really, really good, but he's clearly on the either the very bottom end of the top tier, superstar tier. Like you're not going to find a single GM in the league who's going to take him over Luka, Shay, Wemby, Yokich, like he's clearly below those guys, not even in the tier below. And these lower body injuries, they just keep piling up. It's calf strain here, knee injury there, calf strain here, knee injury there. And so when you factor all of that in, he is now officially an extremely high risk asset. And so you, the whole point with Golden State for example, is like they, I think they put four first round picks on the table, for example, you put four first round picks on the table for Giannis and you bring Giannis in and he Gets hurt and you lose in the second round, everyone's like, well, we had to, we had to go for it. Like. Like, what were you going to do? Lose with Steph by himself or lose with Steph with Giannis, Right? So, like, you have no real choice. Miami, again, not going anywhere. New York, if they were able to pull off a Carl Anthony town swap. Now, it's interesting, to your point, OG Anobi, you get rid of OG Anunoby and you make a move for Giannis and Giannis gets hurt. That team is getting killed with Carl Anthony Towns, Mikhail Bridges and Jalen Brunson. So the risk factor is extremely high there. Now, if I was the Knicks, I would include an og, an obi, just simply be for the same reason what I was talking about with Golden State. What do you have to lose if you're the Knicks, right? Like, yes, OG Anunoby is this deeply valuable role player, but he's a deeply valuable role player that makes a hell of a lot of money. Ties up a huge chunk of your cap. And again, if I don't, if I'm a Knicks fan, I'm looking at the east right now and I'm like, do I think we can beat Cleveland? Yeah. Do I think we can beat Boston? Yeah. Do I think we can beat Detroit? Yeah. But, like, can we beat two of them? It gets a little more sketchy. If I'm a Knicks fan, I'm not going into this playoff run thinking we're Finals bound. Like, I'm thinking maybe, like, we can. You know what I mean? So, like, at this point, if I'm the Knicks and it gets to the summertime and I have the ability to turn OG and an OBI in a first round pick into Giannis, I do it. But it's simply because of the fact that I don't think that team necessarily has any sort of clearly defined ceiling that they're missing out on if they give them up. But where I draw the line is like, Minnesota. So, for example, like, if I'm Minnesota, Jaden McDaniels keeps getting better every year he's added, he's become a very good three point shot.
F
Like I, I said, I said a month ago, I said, the Lakers need about three players in the off season. And then I said, before I went on vacation, I said, if you just put Jaden McDaniels on the Lakers, doesn't need the ball. Catch and shoot, excellent guard, the other team, wing defender, excellent. I'm like, if you just put him on the Laker roster, You're like, oh, that team could make the Finals. Like, like, so it's. I'm glad you mentioned it because I'm like, that guy is. There's always a player in the NBA, Klay Thompson, used to be this, that doesn't need the ball, can give you 24 on any night. That would work with every roster in the league. It was Klay Thompson for about eight years, defended, catch and shoot, good teammate, not a and would defend like real players. Jaden McDaniels has become that guy. Like he works with every roster in the league overnight.
H
Yeah, absolutely. Like in the difference between the New York thing and the Minnesota thing is like, if you really dig back in NBA history, there are exceptions. Like Boston, for example, they didn't have a real number one guy, but they had two guys that were close. Tatum and Brown were both like right there. Right? Like, if I'm New York, like Jalen Brunson is clearly off of that top tier. So, like, if I'm getting Giannis, my, my whole thought process is Giannis gives me a guy who can go against the guys in the NBA, but if I'm Minnesota, I already have that guy. He's ant. He's ascending. He's not 27, 28. Oh my gosh, we have a three year window here and then it's over. He's ascending, getting way better every year and probably in the next three to four years going to be competing for the best player in the world title. That's the type of talent that Anthony Edwards is, right? So like with Minnesota as an example, that's why, by the way, that's why San Antonio didn't call on Giannis. San Antonio's like, no thanks, we're good. You know what I mean? We got our guy, we have the roster, we have the pieces. We need to be malleable and flexible over the course of the next few seasons. I just think the line is because of his injury history and because he's never really truly been as good as the best guys. Because of that, I think I draw the line at any sort of young team that already has an ascending young superstar like Minnesota.
C
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D hey guys, it's Sophie Cunningham from Show Me Something. So Arby's just dropped a deal that honestly feels a little unreal.
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F
Foreign let's spend about 15 minutes on March Madness. I picked Florida and Michigan to meet in the final. Michigan to win. Close. I still feel really good about that. Jax Lindenberg, who's a transfer nil just a long runs the floor can hit a three six nine two forty. I mean you can tell how much better college battle. And I'm glad the announcers have brought this up because over the last three years with nil and the American economy is much bigger than the European economy. We've got about 30 guys playing college basketball that weren't around four years ago. They were staying in Europe. Well, now we just go buy them. So I mean Michigan has a front line that looks like an NBA frontline. Michigan's gigantic. That didn't exist in college basketball like five years ago. Teams used didn't look like that. Now you can just go buy Europeans. The transfer portal. You can go buy size. So I think Michigan's the best team. But Florida is really good. But the most interesting player to me is Darius Acuff from Arkansas, who is a just a hyper athletic 62 guard listed at 63 closer to 6 2. But I'm watching him with John Calipari, who's always been a great recruiter and does a pretty good job of developing players. And I'm happy for John because we've had a contentious relationship. But John can recruit and John can coach and overnight Arkansas is excellent. But as I'm watching Acuff and I mean he jumps off the television, you're watching a game, it's like what in the. That you can argue after Darren Peterson. You could take him number two. There's an absolute argument for that. Boozer's not great athletically. BYU gets bounced quick. Peterson's going number one because there's so much special. But what's interesting about Acuff small, not really a willing defender and needs the ball. And as I watched him and this is just off the cuff, but my comp is little bit of Westbrook, better shooter, but a little bit of Westbrook, little bit of Trae Young, but a bigger, strong. He's a stronger athlete. He's a stronger athlete. But my question is, would he be a good NBA teammate? Now we know the NBA doesn't go through six, two guards. You don't win titles that way. But he is probably the best athlete in college basketball and he's exhilarating to watch. He's got like, like if John Morant would have been mature, John Morant would sell out arenas. He just couldn't get his act together. How do you think Acuff as a pro works? Because I look at him and I think he could. He is not willing to defend and that's what's worn out people on Trey Young. Like he's just not even willing to D up and you know, 82 game schedule, you're giving up 38 on your end. Like it creates resentment. Like how does he translate to the NBA beyond points?
H
So the defensive question marks are real and I think that's what makes him clearly off of that top group. Like Devonson. Peterson are going to go one, two in some order. I personally would even take Devonson number one. But some people, a lot of people do have Peterson over him. But those two will go 1, 2. A lot of people are high on Boozer. I'm nowhere near as high on Boozer as everyone else. Everyone keeps telling me that Boozer is this like bully ball player that has outstanding feel, that can like see the floor. But I keep seeing him get surprised by double teams and, and turn the
F
basketball over and work in the first game of the tournament.
H
Yeah, I'm not as high on booze. That's not to say that he, he'll go no lower than 4. But like I'm not as high on Boozer as everyone else is. I, I, you could argue Acuff as high as number three. The thing with Acuff is if he didn't have these major defensive question marks, he would be a candidate for number one because he's one of the most well rounded guard prospects to ever come through college basketball. There's usually some sort of imbalance in the sense that you'll get a guard like John Morant, for example, that is an outstanding to the basket athlete but that cannot shoot. Or you'll get Trey Young who's like this outstanding passer and perimeter score, but that is extremely slight and struggles to beat people off the dribble and doesn't get to the basket much. Acuff's got all of that in spades. Like he gets to the rim six times a game, which is an enormous number. Shoots 59% when he gets there, which for a small guard in college, spacing is amazing. And then he's a dead eye shooter from every spot on the floor. He's 49% on catch and shoot threes. That's insane. 40% on pull up threes. Really solid mid range player, three to one assist. The turnover ratio, very good passing guard. Like the dude's got all of the three level scoring. And so in the modern NBA, if I'm a coach or a gm, I'm looking at it as like, is this a guy that I can run a bunch of action through a bunch of ball screens? Then the Acuff also is every bit as resilient in one on ones like straight isos as he is in ball screens. Like Trey Young, for example, needs a screen to get open. Like Trey Young's biggest question mark in the NBA is if you can switch. He's done because he can't beat people one on one. Acuff can beat people one on one. So like he is so well rounded on offense. I would take a chance on him if I was an NBA GM at number three. And I wouldn't worry too much about the defensive stuff. The main thing with the defensive stuff that gives me just, just a tiny bit of optimism is one, he does have some decent physical tools. Like he's got long arms for a small guard. Like he's got like about a 6, 5 wingspan, which isn't too bad. And he's very, very fast. The reason why that matters is NBA teams have been learning how to protect small guards in their defensive schemes for years now. And this is not Luka, where he's so slow that you can't run some of the advanced schemes to protect him. He's so fast that you can hedge and recover with him. You can trust him to make defensive rotations potentially in the future. And so I would bet on him becoming at least a guy that you can put into a defense and be okay and trust those offensive gifts to shine through.
F
Well, and the other thing is, Steph was never a defender. Magic didn't defend the good GMs in this league. When you get a literally, he'd be a top five NBA offensive player within two years in the league. I mean he's literally that special. I mean there is, there is a Westbrook feel to him. You're like, Jesus. He could play other sports. Like, he is just, he is just insane. But he can, he can shoot. And I think there is. It's instructive that you say this. He can catch and shoot. A lot of great shoot. A lot of athletic guys that can shoot are rhythm shooters. They need the ball. Right, right. Catch and shoots. An art that tells me generally if you can catch and shoot, you have good form that you like to shoot.
H
You know, your form, it's, it's very mechanical. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
F
And so that tells me, okay, he can catch and shoot a lot of great at Derrick Rose, not a catch and shoot guy in his prime. He needed to be in rhythm. Same with John wall. The good GMs know very. Dallas actually figured this out very quick with Luca. All right, we need to, we need length. We need rim protectors and length. Let's protect our star. This is what Bob Myers understood with Steph Curry. Like, we need length. That's why Kevin Durant, we all talked offense. Kevin was a great fit. Andre Iguodala. But length around Steph Curry, Clay protected him for years. You know, the Batman Robin. Clay was a great defensive player. So I just find when I watch Acuff, I just, it's just like man, stuff like this just. You just don't see players like that. This draft is really, I mean there are three guys. The first three guy, Acuff, Peterson, the BYU kid, they would be number one in the last five drafts. Like they're absolutely remarkable talents. Okay, so the number of double digit seeds winning in 2016 was 10. The last two years combined it's nine. So it's, it's obviously the nil money is allowed the Michigan and the Michigan States and the Dukes to go to like a UAB or a second tier program and just steal their one great player. So you can see it's very top heavy tournament. But I was thinking about this is that. And we're kind of banging on it.
B
College basketball.
F
I've had a blast watching the tournament. The truth is almost every sport, I mean we think of the NFL as sort of bulletproof. But for 20 years the Patriots dominated it. And then for about seven the Chiefs did. That's why this year's super bowl was so random. Is that what's happening to college basketball is what happened to Tech, it's what's happened to Hollywood over the last seven years, the Avengers dominant sequels. It's what's happened to the almost every sport unless you legislate against. It's what's happened to tennis. It's what happened during the Olympics. It's what happens to, you know, the top international soccer leagues is that the top 12 to 15% dominate. They're either better capitalized, they have geographical advantages, they have brand advantages. So everybody's kind of like, well, we don't see the upsets. And my take is, tell me the sport. We get all the upsets, right? Like, Serena dominated for two decades. And so it doesn't. To me, I always thought March Madness, there was a lot of mythology to it. You know, there wasn't a lot of 16, 15, 14, 13 twinning maybe once a weekend. Does it. Does it. Does it puncture the excitement for you? I mean, I still like watching big brands. I think there's more NBA bodies now than maybe ever. I've enjoyed the hell out of it. I don't. I watched for Kentucky, Michigan State. Like, I don't watch it for Coastal Carolina. I don't watch it for High Point. I don't. Does it bother you?
H
You still get the one or two games in the first round? Like, the Sienna Duke game, even though Sienna didn't win, was still highly entertaining. Any sort of. Any sort of singular basketball game can just get weird for one reason or another. Like Cam Boozer struggling the way that he did, or Sienna shooting as well from three as they did in the first half. Like, there's still enough variance to provide the excitement. I. I was literally talking about this with my wife yesterday. Like, I remember everybody complaining so much for so long about players getting paid, and now they're all getting paid. And I'm like, this still is awesome. I'm still. I'm still having fun. I don't know. Look at it. It still. It still is an incredible product, right? And we do have to talk about just how insane college basketball players are getting in terms of the skill and the talent level. It's just. I was watching that High Point versus Arkansas game yesterday, and I'm like, this basketball game is remarkably entertaining. And the. In the. Everybody on this floor can shoot. Everybody on the floor is a freak athlete. Everybody on the floor dribble. It's just. It's outrageous. But I think you hit the nail on the head. Like, just like in any other industry, over time, as the years go by, the. The entities at the top kind of just figure out how to dominate, right? They figure out this is what works in this industry. This is how we kill our competitors. This is how we stay in front of the changes that are taking place in the industry. Similarly in college basketball through the transfer portal especially and that nil money, the talent is just basically naturally filtering, filtering towards the top. And I would take it a step further. Like Sienna's head coach just signed a deal, he's going to become Syracuse's head coach. Right. So like the coaches filter towards the top. The same thing goes with just basketball strategy. All of the best teams have the, with the most talent, also have the best coaches. So they do all the little over time we figured out, right, like we figured out transition basketball is more efficient than half court basketball. So we should all just be pushing the ball at the floor as much as possible. We should all taking more threes. Now there are some teams that have gone against that. Florida and Arizona for example, don't take a ton of threes. So there, there are counter examples but people are shooting more threes than ever before. People are, there's more ball and player movement like the, the, the game is getting perfected at the top which is making it harder for the bottom to compete. And honestly, again as I mentioned, it's not causing the product to be any less entertaining. I, I am having so much fun watching these games. Like it's been a basketball renaissance in my house over the last few days. It's been unbelievable to watch.
F
Yeah, I, I, I, the size of teams. I mean Cal Baptist had two seven footers like Cal Baptist which is off the freeway in Riverside, California. It's like, you know, it's like a for profit university. I went to their roster, I'm like Jesus, 7 foot 7, 2 6, 11, 6 10. I'm like what the other. Fine, we'll wrap it up with this. My friend is Mark Few. Gonzaga. I love Mark. So they got beat by Texas. They didn't shoot the three. Well, last couple years they've gotten bounced in the second round and there was a, there have been some pushback on, you know, is it time to move off? Mark Few. My take is I actually watched John Stockton in college come to my college, Eastern Washington university and score 42 points on us. I was broadcasting the game for a student station. John Condon was the other guard. Condon was his name and John Stockton. But Stockton was just 42 against Eastern Washington. I was there before Mark few. They won three tournament games and they were slightly better than 500. Now they win 86% of their games and have 45 tournament wins. And remember this is a state and a region. Montana, Idaho, Washington, Oregon. That doesn't produce a lot of high end basketball talent. Like he has to Convince kids to go to Spokane. And for the record, there was a late great sports writer named Jim Murray of the LA Times. He could have been a comedy writer. And he always had a great line about Spokane, Washington. He always said, nothing happens after Spokane at 10 in the morning. So it's like the most boring. I love it. It's great golf, but it's like for him to get international players and like transfers from big schools there. And it's just one of those things where the truth is Gonzaga still doesn't have a lot of money. And it's, it's. He had success. A lot of it was pre Nil. And I think over the last couple years where, you know, Gonzaga doesn't have a guy to give him an $8 million check. And so now it's, it's like, it's, I think not that Gonzaga, they'll continue to be just outstanding, but, but it was, what worked pre nil 3 years ago was great coaching and great culture. It won you a lot of games in the tournament. Now it's great coaching, great culture and a great bankroll.
B
And it's like sometimes it's just like
F
you go up against the team in Texas and you're like, yeah, I can see the money. I can see that. And so I don't know the pushback Mark Few is getting. It's the first Gonzaga team in 15 years that I watched and didn't like. I didn't think they were dynamic enough at guard. They were inconsistent. I mean their scoring was front court. They've never been a great defensive program. They never have that like uber athlete on the wing to shut people down. They're like a really smart, well coached culture. Good offense, good spacing, good scoring in transition, good guard play, nice balance. But your take on sort of Gonzaga's last two by Gonzaga standards, bumpy years.
H
Well, first of all, like that game could very easily have gone towards Gonzaga. Just a couple of shots go in like gym.
F
Threes.
H
Yeah, they've been, they're good. They're a good three point shooting team that couldn't hit threes. And like I actually just dug into the numbers because I was curious. Texas only generated three open catch and shoot threes in the entire game, which means they defended really well. And they went 2 for 3. Gonzaga generated 10 of them and only made 3 of them. So like it was a poor shooting game. And like, like the kid from Texas hit that Cam Camden Heidi hits that tough corner three that goes in a couple threes miss for Gonzaga, you lose that's basketball. That's how it happens sometimes, especially in single elimination. And you mentioned he's already at a recruiting disadvantage because he's trying to recruit kids up to Spokane. Now you have this nil piece and it's not like, it's not even close. Colin, like AJ Debance by himself probably made about double what his entire roster did. You know, like, like John Calipari's roster is probably 10 times as expensive as what Mark Few had up there in Gonzaga. So like the reality is, is like he's at a disadvantage. And I, I also just look at it and go, Mark Few strikes me as the kind of guy that if Gonzaga fired him, he would just retire. But if he wanted to keep coaching, oh, he could, he could go anywhere in the country.
F
Like, do you want both offered him jobs before he loves Spokane.
H
Exactly. Like I, I, I, I would just be like, I, it would just be such a gross mismanagement or gross lack of appreciation for what you have in front of you there. Like, I just, I just think he's one of the great coaches in my lifetime basketball and I think that he's making the most out of a strategic disadvantage up there in the Pacific Northwest. And I just, yeah, I couldn't believe some of the stuff that I was seeing flying around yesterday.
F
Hoops tonight. Jason Timf. Lakers on a heater. Good hour. Nice going, buddy. Good seeing you again.
H
Good to see you too, Colin. Looking forward to the rest of the season.
F
The volume.
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Sophie Cunningham from Show Me Something. Okay, Arby's just casually pulled up with a deal that feels a little too good.
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Good.
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D
And you get a small drink to round it all out. So yeah, it's called meat and three, but you're actually getting five items all for only 7.99.
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Pick the sandwich you want. Make it your way.
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The Herd with Colin Cowherd Podcast Episode: Is Lakers High-Powered Offense Enough? LeBron vs. MJ’s Legacy, Giannis Trade Value, March Madness Date: March 23, 2026
This episode of The Herd with Colin Cowherd delves into the hottest basketball topics: the Lakers’ sudden surge with their elite offense, LeBron’s evolving role and legacy compared to Michael Jordan, the complicated trade value of Giannis Antetokounmpo, and major takeaways from March Madness. Colin is joined by analyst Jason Timf for an in-depth, energetic breakdown of NBA evolutions and the state of the college game.
Key Points:
Defensive Improvements & Strategy
LeBron’s New Role
Luka’s Ascendancy
Coaching Stars & Locker Room Leadership
KD’s Comment & Analysis
Uniqueness of Jordan’s Era
LeBron Under the Microscope
Jordan = Marlon Brando Comparison
Aging Athlete Types
Trading for Giannis – What’s He Worth?
(35:22) Jason outlines that only desperate, win-now teams (e.g., Warriors, Heat, Knicks) are making heavy offers for Giannis. Young, ascending teams (e.g., Minnesota with Anthony Edwards, San Antonio with Wemby) are wise to keep their assets.
On the Knicks: “If it gets to the summertime and I have the ability to turn OG Anunoby and a first-round pick into Giannis, I do it. But… where I draw the line is like, Minnesota… because he’s never really truly been as good as the best guys.” – Jason Timf (38:50)
Valuing the Right Role Players
Roster Quality Spike
Darius Acuff Scouting
Tournament Upsets & Big Brands’ Dominance
Parity vs. Quality
The episode is rich with thoughtful breakdowns, balancing statistical rigor (especially on the Lakers and college prospects) with an appreciation for narrative, history, and culture. The tone is opinionated but insightful, with both Colin and Jason offering sharp banter and a genuine passion for the sport at all levels.
An absolute must-listen for NBA insiders, college hoops fans, or anyone pondering legacy and change in basketball.