THE HERD - Hour 1 - Spurs go up 3-2, strength of schedule in the NFL

Summary

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The Herd with Colin Cowherd

Episode Title: THE HERD - Hour 1 - Spurs go up 3-2, strength of schedule in the NFL
Date: May 13, 2026
Host: Colin Cowherd
Co-Host/Analyst: Jason McIntyre (J-Mac)
Producer/Guest Soundbites: Nick Wright, Rob Pelinka, Joel Embiid, Mike Defebo

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Episode Overview

This episode kicks off with an in-depth analysis of the NBA playoffs, particularly the Spurs’ dominance and the emergence of Victor Wembanyama (“Wemby”). Colin draws powerful parallels between this Spurs team and recent dynasties, praising their exceptional youth and talent. The show then transitions to broader discussions of strength of schedule in the NFL, the impact of front office strategies in sports, LeBron James’ legacy, the Lakers’ roster decisions, and breaking news across NBA and NFL.

Colin is joined throughout by Jason McIntyre, with notable guest inputs and relevant audio clips, presenting a lively and insight-driven hour for sports enthusiasts.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Spurs, Wemby, and NBA Youth Movements

[03:18 – 07:54]

• Wemby's Dominance Post-Ejection:

  • After being ejected, Victor Wembanyama returned with 27 points, 17 rebounds, and 3 blocks. He had the highest plus-minus and more assists than anyone on the Timberwolves, despite their roster being built to stop dominant bigs like Jokic and Wemby.
  • Gobert (4x Defensive Player of the Year) was ineffective and played off the floor:

    “Four-time Defensive Player of the Year Rudy Gobert played off the floor. He gave Jokic headaches—can’t do anything here.” (Colin, 04:25)

  • Spurs’ rotation averages just 23 years old, and they outscored Minnesota in every quarter despite the opponent's length and defensive pedigree.

• Comparisons to NFL and Dynasty Building:

  • Colin compares the Spurs’ rise to the Seahawks’ "turnover issue Super Bowl run," emphasizing their youth and potential inevitability:

    “It feels like the beginning of the end for every NBA franchise not named Oklahoma City for the next decade.” (Colin, 03:55)

  • Critical observation of young teams maturing ahead of schedule, noting OKC’s core isn’t as “young” as the Spurs’ centerpieces.

• Other Standouts:

  • Dylan Harper and Stefan Castle are rapidly improving, with Castle especially highlighted as a top two-way player.

• Anthony Edwards’ Postgame Reaction:

  “Some of the stuff that Wemby was doing, you can’t… you don’t really have too much of an answer for it. Just kinda hope he misses. But he was making.” (Anthony Edwards, quoted, 07:33)

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2. LeBron’s Legacy and Lakers' Transformation

[07:54 – 14:46]

• LeBron: Two Separate Hall of Fame Careers:

  • Even just counting his Lakers tenure, LeBron would be a Hall of Famer (“26-8-8 in the title year”), likened to Tom Brady’s “post-40” career as worthy of separate HOF induction.
  • Lakers pre-LeBron: Worst record in the NBA for five years—success post-LeBron shows his impact overcoming poor ownership and tiny staff.
  • LeBron’s adaptability compared to actors like Jack Nicholson and Meryl Streep (“good in every era, any cast, any conditions”).

    “When he went to the Lakers… he did not choose the best roster and the best front office, and he’s made it work: eight years, six playoffs.” (Colin, 12:16)

• Nick Wright Audio: LeBron & Team Building

  “If LeBron takes anything under the one year max, it's charity… He is still one of the dozen most impactful players in a series.” (Nick Wright, 11:47)

• Lakers' Poor Draft Record and Front Office Issues:

  • Lakers found undrafted gems like Caruso and Reaves but failed to draft regular contributors, compared to OKC and Spurs’ exceptional draft records.
  • Framing modern NBA as moving toward "smaller budgets, maximizing value, and deep scouting"—not just collecting stars.

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3. NBA/NFL Player Contracts and Cap Management

[14:46 – 18:10]

• Star Salaries & Team Success:

  • Jason McIntyre lists top earners (Curry, Jokic, Giannis) noting most didn't win big this year. High individual salaries don’t guarantee team success.
  • Discussion on NFL QB contracts: Team-friendly restructuring is the norm, even for great QBs—suggests NBA teams should follow suit.

• Austin Reaves’ Free Agency:

  • Reaves drawing interest from several teams. Jason and Colin debate whether he’ll chase money or take a “hometown discount.”
  • The Lakers’ challenge: balancing cap hits among LeBron, Luka, and depth pieces, trying not to repeat mistakes like letting Caruso walk.

    “Don’t overpay him because of guilt or 'he’s our guy'... Pay him a contract that you could, if you had to, eventually make him attractive to other teams.” (Colin, 26:59)

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4. NFL: Strength of Schedule and Its Real Impact

[19:00 – 23:09]

• Strength of Schedule Overstated for Elite/Bad Teams:

  • Bears have toughest 2026 schedule, triggering panic headlines, but Colin argues schedule only matters for middling teams.

    “If you have a brilliant head coach and a superstar quarterback, schedule does not mean that much.” (Colin, 19:14)

  • Chiefs as prime example: first-place schedules, still win Super Bowls. Bears’ “collapse” headlines dismissed.
  • Cincinnati (easy schedule, elite QB but average roster) and Detroit (above-average, solved key issues) expected to benefit most.

• College Basketball & Football Parallels:

  • Dynasties, like Duncan’s Spurs or the SEC in college football, thrive despite (or because of) tough schedules.

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5. Notable NFL/NBA News Briefs

[23:09 – 29:11]

• Austin Reaves & Lakers:
  • Rob Pelinka committed to retaining Reaves (“We want his odyssey to continue to unfold in the purple and gold.”, Rob Pelinka, 26:37)
• Cowboys Contract Issues:
  • Discussion about George Pickens and customary player contract posturing; Colin reaffirms support for Pickens’ stance, “He’s a veteran, not everybody needs to lead.”
• NFL International Games:
  • “Lions and Patriots in Germany, week 10”. Colin loves early morning Europe games (“I wake up, get on the treadmill, I got a game on. It’s awesome.”, 30:14)

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6. Daryl Morey's Exit and Front Office Realities

[30:41 – 36:30]

• Daryl Morey’s Firing from the Sixers:
  • Morey gave Embiid a $193 million extension post-major injury—it backfired (“Hurt early, hurt often…big guys don’t get healthier over time.”, Colin, 34:38).
  • Best rosters (OKC, San Antonio, Houston) built via value contracts and draft success, not big-money, high-risk stars.
  • Joel Embiid: “When it comes to bigs, hurt early, hurt often. They don’t get healthier over time.” (Colin, 34:40)
  • Embiid’s regular season availability and prioritizing MVP chase over playoff durability critiqued.

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7. Ownership, Front Offices, and Competitive Edges

[46:48 – 49:27]

• Lakers Under New Dodgers Ownership:
  • Comparing Lakers’ former “mom-and-pop” operation to the sprawling, analytics-heavy Dodgers front office ("Dodgers have four assistant GMs… that’s part of their secret sauce.”, 47:06)
  • Rob Pelinka on organizational changes:

    “We’re bringing in a biomechanics lab, new movement labs, recovery lab…a full rebuild and retool…adding to the great things that are already here but elevating it and bringing it to the next level.” (Rob Pelinka, 48:56)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Wemby and the Spurs:

  “Minneapolis is long, athletic, and deep, built to specifically stop a Jokic or a Wemby. Rudy Gobert—four-time Defensive Player of the Year—played off the floor… That’s insane to me.” (Colin Cowherd, 04:25)

• On LeBron’s Legacy:

  “That’s LeBron. Coaches, good management, rich owner, poor owner—he’s great.” (Colin, 10:59)

• On Embiid & Big-Man Injuries:

  “With bigs: hurt early, hurt often. They don’t get healthier over time. Shaq didn’t get healthier over time.” (Colin, 34:38)

• On NFL Schedules:

  “Great and awful aren’t affected by schedules. It’s slightly above, below, or average teams where it matters.” (Colin, 22:00)

• On Organizational Competitive Advantage:

  “That’s where the Dodgers separate from the Rays: front office. The Lakers didn’t have enough eyes.” (Colin, 47:06) “We’re bringing in biomechanics lab, recovery labs—a full rebuild and retool.” (Rob Pelinka, 48:56)

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Timestamps for Major Segments

| Time | Topic | |-----------|-----------------------------------------------| | 03:18 | Wemby’s ascension, Spurs dominance | | 07:54 | LeBron’s Lakers tenure, impact, & legacy | | 11:47 | Nick Wright on LeBron’s pay and value | | 14:46 | Team building, star salaries, roster depth | | 19:00 | NFL strength of schedule—who it really affects| | 23:09 | NBA/NFL quick news: Reaves, Cowboys, Euro games| | 30:41 | Daryl Morey’s dismissal, Embiid’s contract | | 46:48 | Lakers’ front office overhaul, Pelinka clip | | 48:56 | Pelinka on Dodger-driven “rebuild” |

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Tone & Style

• Colin's Tone: Energetic, analytical, consistently opinionated, often using analogies and historical perspective.
• Jason McIntyre/J-Mac: Banter-driven, playing devil’s advocate, provides contract/economics perspective and pushes on Colin’s points.

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Overall Takeaways

• The Spurs’ youthful dominance, spearheaded by Wembanyama, is already altering the NBA landscape—Colin sees “the next decade” belonging to San Antonio barring OKC.
• LeBron’s greatness is largely context-proof. His ability to lift a franchise transcends poor front office and ownership situations.
• Roster-building and cap management are more critical than ever, as is the size and quality of a sports organization’s analytics and scouting departments—“value contracts” now define contenders.
• NFL schedule hype is mostly relevant for middle-of-the-road teams, not true contenders or tankers.
• The Lakers, under Dodgers' partial ownership, are beginning a front office and infrastructure renaissance.
• Across all sports, the capability and vision of ownership and execs are as important as on-field (or on-court) talent.

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Transcript

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[Colin Cowherd]

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[Colin Cowherd]

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[Colin Cowherd]

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[Colin Cowherd]

liberty liberty liberty thanks for listening to the herd podcast be sure to catch us live every weekday on fox sports radio and noon to three eastern nine am to noon pacific find your local station for the herd at foxsportsradio dot com or stream us live every day on the iheartradio app by searching fox sports radio or fsr now let's get

[Fox Sports Radio Station Announcer]

this you're listening to fox sports radio

[Colin Cowherd]

here we go it is a wednesday we are live nba combines in chicago so are we it's the herd wherever you may be however you may be watching listening whatever platform thanks for making us part of your day well remember the remembering the avengers thanos i am inevitable that last night is wemby off his ejection twenty seven point seventeen rebounds highest plus minus for the spurs three blocks more assists than anybody the timberwolves have it's inevitable last night felt like to me the beginning of the end every nba franchise not name oklahoma city for the next decade sixteen points six minutes assists blocks minnesota is long athletic and deep incredibly well coached they're built specifically to stop a jokic or a wemby can't rudy gobert benched played off the floor four time defensive player of the year rudy gobert played off the floor he gave jokic headaches can't do anything i mean this team the only thing they do occasionally is get in their own way wemby frustrated gets ejected reminds me last year the seahawks i kept saying all year they look different turn the sound down longer faster deeper bigger than every team in the league but they had this turnover issue remember the seahawks they were second in the nfl in giveaways then they cleaned it up in the playoffs didn't have a turnover flew through it and won a super bowl that's what i feel like i'm watching i mean their their top seven rotation averages twenty three years old you're not supposed to look like this minnesota's literally constructed to beat bigs and they gave jokic the best player in the world we thought last year all sorts of trouble go bear ineffective played off the floor well colin okc was young last year not really sga seventh year in the league hartenstein seventh year in the league alex caruso in his thirties a lot of their key players in the rotation were men the three best players in this team are twenty twenty one and twenty two even young shaq and kobe the first title it was shaq's eighth year in the league it was kobe's fourth in his fourth straight playoff run you think they're kids they were kids with del harris they weren't kids with phil jackson i can't watch the spurs who outscored minnesota built to beat them in every quarter every quarter the maturity of wemby frustrated what would he be like undeniable and invincible outscored minnesota in every quarter i mean think about this rudy gobert lane size randle nas reed again that that clogs up the lane now they had sixty eight points in the lane sixty eight i mean that's insane to me and what's scary is in their three playoff losses in the much deeper better west two are by one possession and their best players are twenty twenty one twenty two all are getting significantly better dylan harper does not look like today the first month in the league he doesn't look like the same player i mean is dylan harper gonna battle for an all nba spot next year stefan castle wemby's the best player in the league two way players the best player right now in the league and like he's separating from everybody else we think of jaylen brown as a high end two way player klay thompson for years it's a totally different sport even ant one of the game superstars admitted after we can't do anything

[Guest or Analyst (NBA commentary)]

some of the stuff that wendy was doing you can't you don't really have too much of an answer for it just kind of hope he misses but he was making he came out high he made a bunch of shots i feel like we adjusted fought back fought back fought back in the game tried to dig ourself out of the hole but i mean eventually

[Colin Cowherd]

they created another league of all the teams in all the games to basically play four time defensive player of the year rudy gobert off the floor that's like we give up just remember how many problems rudy gobert gave jokic wemby's ascending wemby's getting better dylan harper's a totally different player in the last four months stefan castle again that's one of the best two way players in the game i'm not even mentioning other ancillary pieces i mean you forget that de' aaron fox he was the best player on the kings years ago he just gets lost with this i can't watch them and not see the seahawks last year where remember that game with the seahawks where they had like darnold had four picks and they were driving for a win against the rams and you're like no other if stafford had four picks against the seahawks they'd have blown him out like seattle's driving for the win you should be getting beat by thirty that's what i feel like i'm watching when they don't beat themselves it's inevitable all right tom haberstroke good writer substack yahoo sports wrote an article yesterday saying that lebron james just just in his laker career is a hall of famer and you look at the numbers and twenty six eighty eight in the title yeah it's very much like tom brady in new england there's an article many written about brady just if you look at his career forty years old on is a hall of famer and you're like yeah he is go look at the numbers same with lebron he's in la eight years longer than you think right he is a hall of famer but i think the most impressive thing about his la stay do you remember how bad they were pre lebron the five previous seasons no playoffs hard to do in the nba and they had the worst record in the league for five years worse than the wizards let me repeat worse than the bulls worse than the wizards that was the lakers he overcame and this is virtually impossible to do in pro sports he's overcome poor owners the buses were among the poorest owners with a tiny staff right it was basically kurt rambis a couple of bus kids jeannie buss and rob polinko former agent tiny tiny staff they went through how many coaches four coaches eight years darvin ham total with gave alex caruso away in fact two of the great things that the lakers did is find alex caruso and austin reaves undrafted that's like the two feathers in their cap but if you look at okc and san antonio the two current best rosters overwhelmingly built through the draft they don't draft anybody that can play they were complete did no playoffs for five years lebron gets there eight years six playoffs so it's very much like i look at lebron like i look the best actor probably in my life and there's been dozens jack nicholson good in every era in the seventies he's doing one flew over the cuckoo's nest in chinatown and then in the eighties he's got terms of endearment and the shining and then in the nineties he's got a few good men and as good as it gets and then in the two thousands he's got departed didn't matter the director it didn't matter the producer didn't matter what the studio was it didn't matter didn't matter the co stars were every every decade you're like that's the best actor meryl streep's got the same thing that's lebron coaches good management rich owner poor owner he's great and i mean that's why nick wright came on this week and i asked nick i said listen he needs to take a pay cut and nick wright was offended by it i desperately

[Nick Wright]

hope he comes back this is so i don't know if he'll want to i don't know if he will i am offended on lebron's behalf that he's the only guy that we asked to take these pay cuts if lebron takes anything under the one year max it's charity and he can give charity if he'd like but he is still one of the dozen most impactful players in

[Colin Cowherd]

a series there's no question about that and even michael jordan who many of you consider the goat didn't start winning multiple playoff series getting to conference championships getting to finals and winning them until phil jackson arrived right until scottie pippen arrived everybody needs help nobody plays on an island larry bird's best team is the one that walton played on magic was really good he was really good when they you know got him a michael cooper instead of battling a norm nixon next to him had some similar you know styles you know like like magic needed the perfect components and lebron goes to la they had the worst record in the league for five years one of the smallest front offices bus family all over it friends and family staff eventually they hire you know the late kobe bryant's agent he's your general manager he's not a personnel guy he's not a scout that doesn't mean they haven't done some good things but that's what's impressive to me is that when he went to the lakers i said this yesterday he made a choice he did not choose he did not choose the best roster in the best front office and he's made it work eight years six playoff appearances as it should be noted the two or three best gm's in the league are all now out west and it's no longer big budget movie nba just collect stars it's now independent film what can you do for a little budget and that that's why the league has changed j mac

[Fox Sports Radio Host (likely Jason McIntyre)]

well listen i respect the take on lebron should play for one year at sixty mil or whatever the max is yeah sure that sounds great but look at the guys colin making the most in the nba steph curry lost in the play in nikola yokich lost in the first round and the nuggets have to keep cutting guys giannis can't make the playoffs i mean i could go down the list anthony davis is in street clothes like that you pay the guy the most you're not winning anything

[Colin Cowherd]

no no you and i agree on this it's very it's very similar to quarterbacks in the nfl i mean it may be josh allen you just pay whatever the market bears but i'm i'm looking for a team friendly deal renegotiating giving them more guaranteed money and getting that cat pit down every single year even with mah every single year so

[Fox Sports Radio Host (likely Jason McIntyre)]

isn't it easy colin you just say lebron do you want to compete for a championship well yes right you want to okay well we can't budget you thirty or forty fifty million we need you to take a two year twenty million dollars a year deal i mean that's how it works to compete if

[Colin Cowherd]

you want to compete right yeah okay are the bears going to collapse that's the headline daryl morey the well known popular to some gm of the sixers out what happened there all coming up

[Fox Sports Radio Station Announcer]

be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays at noon eastern nine am pacific on fox sports radio fs one and the iheartradio app hey this

[Jason McIntyre]

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[Colin Cowherd]

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[Colin Cowherd]

partner of the volume podcast network nfl schedule release officially tomorrow it is one of my favorite days i am there's some things i'm a real dork about it used to be college football recruiting but it's now changed with nil it doesn't mean as much and the schedule which matters to certain teams so i was looking at strength of schedule came out yesterday and the bears have the number one strength of schedule and the headline i read this morning for all thirty two teams bears facing possible collapse let me give you strength of schedule one year ago let's see who is near the top on that one oh look the bears were second and were the most improved team in the league not called the patriots folks if you have a brilliant head coach and a superstar quarterback talent schedule does not mean that much i'll give you an example the kansas city chiefs had mahomes and andy reid sean payton enter their division so did jim harbaugh they won fifteen games got to a super bowl and that was against a first place schedule if you go back two years two years ago go back two years ago you know who had the third easiest schedule the bears but they were a tire fire they were a dumpster fire because of the coaching situation so schedule matters to average teams or slightly below average teams or slightly above average teams that's where schedule matters i'll give you two teams that i think will benefit greatly from an easy schedule this year one of them is cincinnati they have a great quarterback and a great number one receiver but a pretty average roster but they have one of the easiest schedules and if you start looking at who they play well what do you know cincinnati plays a lot of rebuilding teams go either way games joe burrow with an offensive coach i like more than others is going to win some close go either way games the other is detroit okay detroit's got an above average roster but it's not the rams it's not the seahawks it's not the eagles it may not be buffalo but it's above average they solved their left tackle issue in the draft jared goff is very good go look at who the detroit lions face this year it is i mean it is made to order jets saints titans arizona miami rebuilding teams not necessarily great at quarterback so cincinnati and detroit i think one with an average roster one that's above average but not a great great team detroit oc improves a lot of weak opponents solve their left tackle issue in the draft detroit's going to be a playoff team and the other thing again schedules don't really matter for great teams or awful teams it doesn't matter who the jets play or arizona and it doesn't really matter who the rams play or the seahawks i mean if you think about it the last three nba dynasties and to me a dynasty is three titles all come from the west duncan and the spurs shaq and kobe and the golden state dynasty all come from the much tougher west the sec dominated college football for twenty years toughest schedules easily and yet they kept producing five out of six years the national champion right now the big ten has the best college football conference top to bottom and they've won three straight natties it's that great and awful aren't affected by schedules they're not it's it's slightly above slightly below or average schedules the bears are not collapsing j mac with the

[Fox Sports Radio Station Announcer]

news no no no turn on the news this is the herd line news

[Fox Sports Radio Host (likely Jason McIntyre)]

all right colin you know we love a good victory lap on this show well according to the athletic austin reeves is getting a lot of looks in free agency the jazz are interested the atlanta hawks are looking at him ah but wait wait for the kicker colin according to the athletic luka doncic has told the lakers he likes austin reaves and wants to keep him that's dan wokey's story really interesting piece that basically articulates what i've been saying austin reaves as kyrie irving and then you fill in the pieces around him just like the mavs did in twenty four yeah and then you go to the finals now where it gets interesting is is this bluster from reeves agent to drive up his price hey the jazz have money the hawks have money now it should be noted the hawks would need to make moves to free up room to get reaves the hawks have a top ten pick as well i'm not buying the atlanta stuff and i certainly am not buying the jazz stuff well

[Colin Cowherd]

again much like pro football when you got a tight cap and a punitive cab the key is not just the cost but how do you fit right if you have a rookie quarterback on a rookie deal you can overpay for people right like drake may new england right now a lot of people thought they overpaid for the eagles remember that eagles defensive lineman that came over and everybody said williams he's a little overpaid had a nice year and they're not paying drake may anything you couldn't get him if you're the chargers because what you're paying justin herbert you couldn't get him if you were the chiefs because of what you're paying chris jones and patrick mahomes so austin reeves for a team like chicago they're not paying anybody they're going to have two new starters out of the draft austin reeves to say a chicago is a very interesting proposition that's an interesting one that they need a play initiator i mean they've got josh giddy but they need another play initiator and in the draft they may end up getting like a caleb will caleb wilson who is a pogo stick and fun to watch but he's not going to be a creative play initiator and then you've got maybe mara later another big and they could have two bigs they need somebody to get to the free throw line and create plays so austin reaves has a market and if chicago brought him in they would bring him in for the full contract they need him he'd get popular his style he's tough he's physical so austin reeves like with a chicago and i'm using that because i'm a bull season in chicago that's going to have two new starters basically you know rookies with josh giddy you're like and then last year they had a top pick who's played well so you're like oh he'd fit there the lakers issue is lebron's going to get a number luke has got a massive number you know what do you twenty fifth pick you're not going to get anybody to replace deandre ayton so austin because you have to sign him to some degree you can't let him go like you did caruso well that i was going to

[Fox Sports Radio Host (likely Jason McIntyre)]

bring that up you can't let him go go chase the money like caruso did caruso was getting lowballed by the lakers in hindsight stupid he went to chicago you know how many playoff games he appeared in you know how many wins he had he was irrelevant they were a dumpster fire and it sucked then caruso had to go to okc to find some success here's rob pelinka yesterday talking about how bad they want to keep austin reaves he started his

[Rob Pelinka]

journey here as a laker and has made it very clear to us that he wants his journey to continue as a laker and we feel the same way we want his odyssey to continue to unfold in the purple and gold as you know dave there's rules and timing to all of that but i think both sides have made it abundantly clear that we want to work something out where he continues his prolific career

[Colin Cowherd]

here i don't necessarily think that matters where you start your career i think the reality is if you don't offer a contact if you don't offer him a contract he leaves you got nothing for him yeah and you already you know when dak prescott went to the cowboys they got him in the fourth round dak was highly productive and he was free for five years and he was a playoff quarterback four years so then the cowboys overpay him well the problem with that is there was a little bit of a guilt jerry loved dak dak was popular so they overpaid that and you look at the roster and you're like well they they don't really have the pieces so what you don't want to do is because dak is not josh allen right like now he's had two injuries dak has never been like a great arm talent he's a tough guy he's a great leader he's a smart guy he's a he's a franchise quarterback but the cowboys got a freebie for years and then overpaid him and my team should have paid him earlier gotten a better deal my take with the lakers is listen you did get a freebie but he was undrafted and there are very few stars in the nba like almost none that are undrafted don't overpay him because of guilt or he's our guy or we found him pay him the kind of contract that you could if you had to eventually make him attractive to other

[Fox Sports Radio Host (likely Jason McIntyre)]

teams remember he you said he started his career with the lakers so it's tough to go hey i'm an nba player i'm with the lakers okay if you start in sacramento you're like this is okay let me see what else is out there right you know you start in washington you're like i don't know you start with the lakers you don't want to go down i don't care i know his agent's going to try to get him paid but colin austin reaves south bay guy he's going to stay he's going to take a hometown discount lock it in all right let's go to the next story and that's the dallas cowboys who we just touched on george pickens decided to skip monday's voluntary workout despite he despite signing his franchise tag recently the cowboys said they will not negotiate a long term extension with him this off season steven jones said there is zero interest in trading pickens attendance is mandatory starting june

[Colin Cowherd]

sixteenth yeah this was one of the easiest predictions ever that he would not show up for the voluntary camp this is george if george pickens had a long term deal probably shows up like this is his little line in the sand i get it but you can't give him a long term contract i

[Fox Sports Radio Host (likely Jason McIntyre)]

mean we don't expect him to be any kind of leader in dallas and be like hey young guys follow my lead that's just not him that's right he's a veteran he's a not everybody

[Colin Cowherd]

is that's okay i want my quarterback to do that i don't need my wide receivers and my my guards to be that that's okay well it's not

[Fox Sports Radio Host (likely Jason McIntyre)]

bad to have multiple leaders on the

[Colin Cowherd]

team of course obviously you know all

[Fox Sports Radio Host (likely Jason McIntyre)]

right let's go to the final story colin and that is the nfl schedule is coming out tomorrow everybody very fired up yeah want to lock in tickets to games how about this the lions and patriots will play on fox in week ten in germany detroit versus the patriots should be a good game apparently they're saying this is the first triple header on a network ever yeah starting early in the morning yeah in munich

[Colin Cowherd]

i love the i i absolutely love i could be in the minority i love europe games i wake up i get on the treadmill on a sunday morning i got a game on it's awesome i love it and it's nice

[Fox Sports Radio Host (likely Jason McIntyre)]

you get two good teams right we're not exporting you know dregs of the league like the jets i mean you get lions and patriots that could be they could be number one in in each conference by week ten right so this is a good game very excited

[Colin Cowherd]

for that one yeah yeah j mac with the news well that's the news and thanks for stopping by the herd lie news so darryl morey very popular with the media because he's willing to talk to the media dm the media text the media have lunch with the media he's a great guy he got let go so listen if you take out pen and paper good things he did bad things he did there's plenty of both but he always loved stars and his biggest star got him fired he gave joel embiid an extension and that was the end of it reportedly at the time he did the knicks were interested you can look it up i would have cut ties but here's why i think josh harris the owner who's not easy to work for but he gave daryl gave embiid one hundred ninety three million dollars extension that was the max extension he did that several months after embiid i think in february of that year had parts of his meniscus taken out so a guy that missed his first two years in the nba with injuries had been struggling to be healthy they take out part of his meniscus as a three hundred pound athlete and they still gave him the extension months later embiid got that extension despite an injury plagued career he got that extension after playing thirty nine games the previous year so daryl morey did some good things he drafted well i mean j edgecomb is great maxi is fantastic love him and josh harris again as the owner is difficult but if you look at embiid's regular seasons games played since winning the mvp it's thirty eight nineteen and thirty nine and you could say to yourself well i mean you didn't see this coming he missed his first two years after being drafted because he was unhealthy and there's a i've preached this for years when it comes to bigs hurt early what does uncle colin say hurt often they don't get healthier over time shaq didn't get healthier over time three hundred pounds guys pounding on the floor running up and down both ends hurt early hurt often and the thing that's discouraging about embiid is there are a couple of years he played a lot of games remember those years when he wanted to win the mvp the year before when he lobbied for it and the year he won it those games magically he got much healthier but that's discouraging because that tells me that personal awards hardware trump playoff series wins so the two years where he really played through pain the year he wanted to win mvp and didn't and the year he wanted to win mvp and did so you know i always say love your family like your stars i think golden state's gone through this where steph increasingly is banged up not like mb but increasingly banged up very expensive still very good like mb is when he plays but it limits everything else so and and when they signed that extension one hundred ninety three million max i think the reaction from the basketball world this is i remember reading the articles was that is risky yep and it failed so in the current nba the only thing worse than not having a star is having one on a huge contract that's not available consistently and that got that got daryl morey fired if you start looking at the best rosters in the league okc san antonio houston it is value contracts and they've got some they've got a couple of those they're not the lakers with no value contracts going forward they've got some edge combs not going to make much he's a star i mean they've got some guys but the paul george deal he was a declining player and i like paul george and the embiid deal yikes and that that's thirty five percent of the cap for him and it's just starting and he's in worse shape today than three years ago so what i always think about is when you pay somebody huge money obviously the most important thing is production but there's an argument on what the second most important thing is and i'm going to say this is what it is availability i mean seriously have you ever worked at a company and you're just not sure if bob's showing up tomorrow regardless of how great bob is or nancy is it just just punctures the culture so you just don't ever really know come three thirty on game day is embiid playing it's very kawhi leonard and kawhi is an unbelievable talent here was embiid after getting knocked out swept by the knicks we just gotta

[Joel Embiid]

look at each other you know starting with me but that's where i put it on me where you know i felt like i wasn't around for you know much of the season for a lot of things and you know moving forward you know understanding what it takes you know when it comes to my body and what we have to do as a group you'd be better next year but yeah i mean i'm just disappointed that we didn't get the chance to another year no championship good luck

[Colin Cowherd]

i mean another year spurs better okc better houston may make big moves i mean knicks are the knicks going to get better may not get worse top of the hour j mac and i got into a debate yesterday and i'm saving up for the top of the hour i'm going to give it fifteen minutes i'm all fired up for it so we got into this debate yesterday on the show which is you know people never blame the employer it's always blame the employee if something doesn't go right let's fire the employee but there are many instances in pro sports where the employee the athlete or the coach just had a bad owner and i've said this before sam darnold was a great example of well he won in carolina he won big in minnesota he won a super bowl in seattle they loved him in san francisco so four places loved him i'm going to say it's the jets right and so j mack and i got into this argument that first impressions are so powerful i've always said this about c web chris weber you think of chris weber and you think timeout at michigan chris weber is a hall of famer five time and this is an injury plagued career five time all nba like chris weber was a great basketball player one of the best college players ever and an all nba guy if he had been healthier he would have been an eight nine or ten time all nba guy an all timer and even though he got banged up he was a five time all nba guy and played for a lot of bad teams sam darnold it's just hard you can't unsee the jets when he's on the bench saying i see ghosts you can't unsee it but a lot of times it's not the employee you know in pro sports you are drafted the more talented you are the higher you're drafted the worse operation you go to that's why i think kyler murray in minnesota is going to flourish who can succeed in arizona right now so at the top of the hour i said based on a series of things that i think matter production durability momentum to your career have you had a good last couple of years are you now a winning ascending quarterback where is sam darnold very interesting very discouraging if you're my partner be

[Fox Sports Radio Station Announcer]

sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays at noon eastern nine am

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[Colin Cowherd]

co benefits support for the show comes from public so it kind of feels like there's two types of investing platforms you got the old school brokerages that look like they were designed in like nineteen ninety five then you have those other platforms the ones that feel less like investing and more like a casino public is neither it's the investing platform for people who actually take this stuff seriously you know people who are serious about building their wealth because on public you can build a portfolio of stocks and options and bonds and crypto without all the bugs or the confetti retirement accounts yep high yield cash of course they even have direct indexing honestly this is what investing platform should look like modern design simple to use and customer support that actually cares go to public dot com cowherd and earn an uncapped one percent bonus when you transfer your portfolio that's public dot com calhurt ad

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[Colin Cowherd]

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[Fox Sports Radio Host (likely Jason McIntyre)]

the nfl on fox is gearing up for twenty twenty six and this year the most iconic day on the football calendar will host one of the greatest rivalries in the league as the eagles take on the cowboys thanksgiving day on fox and don't miss the full nfl schedule reveal along with expert breakdown tomorrow night at eight pm eastern on nfl

[Colin Cowherd]

network so this is very interesting the steelers and aaron rodgers he's in pittsburgh reportedly nobody can find him i find that hysterical so pro football talk had an interesting theory could aaron rodgers be seeking a commitment he'll be released by the steelers at a certain date if things go sideways so pro football talk and they've said we don't have it sourced but why and what are we waiting for money they could be arguing about certainly although it doesn't feel like aaron's been a money guy in his career he wants his independence he wants his freedom he's not necessarily just a money guy but they also drafted drew aller and have will howard and what pro football talk theorizes what if aaron what if the steelers stink early couple guys get injured and they start off two and six three and five aaron doesn't want to pass through waivers where any bad team could pick him up aaron could be seeking a commitment that he would be released before the tuesday after week nine so he would have control where he goes if things go sideways or if mike mccarthy's like listen we're three and five i'm going to go with the young guys i'm going to go with the young guys let me just say i think it's a totally reasonable demand if it's happening to aaron rodgers first he's never been a foxhole guy aaron's never been a ride or die guy even loyal green bay he kept pushing and pushing and he was passive aggressive and he disappear and he that's not who he is he's not a foxhole guy and that's not a criticism it's a reality of who he is secondly he's forty two he's never going to have leverage again use it teams use it all the time so aaron's basically saying this is my last ride and aaron's always been like kevin durant a little bit of an independent contractor in a team sport he's going to put himself first i have defended him on that i think as you get older in your career you prune your tree there's things you won't tolerate and that's where aaron is tom brady left new england he just wouldn't tolerate being disrespected by belichick and belichick controlling the draft and unable to to lure in or attract or sign or draft or develop good offensive skill players so i will defend aaron to the core on this if that is what is holding it up we all know aaron's an independent contractor in a team sport i'm with him here and basically what aaron is saying is all captain the ship but i'm not going down with it a first lifeboat i'm jumping on it and at forty two remember he came to pittsburgh for mike tomlin he did not come for mike mccarthy and they can be kumbaya publicly but i'm going to side with aaron on this you know who he is you know he's very actually upfront and mysterious at the same time he's aggressive and passive at the same time he's a complex guy but if this is what's happening and i don't know it's true but if it is i side with aaron here hey man i'm forty two this is the last run if brock purdy gets banged up kyle shanahan calls that's where i want to go mike defebo who covers the steelers on pittsburgh

[Mike Defebo (Steelers reporter)]

post tomlin after mike tomlin resigned there were some questions about could this be an opportunity to hit the reset but the steelers really have taken the exact opposite approach here they instead signed a number of aging veterans to supplement the group that they already had jamel dean they traded for michael pittman junior they extended cameron hayward so they are very much committed and more than anything else they waited on a forty two year old quarterback well past when a lot of other teams would have grown impatient

[Colin Cowherd]

move forward okay i want to talk about the lakers this is very interesting it is what we predicted when the buss family owned the lakers they were legendarily known as frugal it was palenque a former agent kurt rambas a former player and a couple of the bus kids they had a tiny front office analytics department was small and they didn't draft particularly well and with analytics now there's no cap on how many analytic guys you can have how many gm's you can have i mean right now if you look around the dodgers in baseball have four assistant general managers that's part of their secret sauce they have a huge front office and so this story was reported we showed you this in january now the lakers have added some people since january but the dodgers front office compared to the lakers that's why the lakers for years were called a mom and pop shop they just didn't have enough eyeballs enough ears in the rooms the dodgers have assistant gm's they have the biggest staff in baseball and it matters so the lakers now are planning on hiring two assistant gms one's going to do a lot of draft stuff one's going to do some analytic stuff that is a big deal this is what we predicted when the dodgers bought them forget about the players the lakers weren't good behind the scenes and this is a little bit what we've said about the cincinnati bengals this is where a rich owner like stan kroenke of the rams matters or jeffrey lurie of the eagles matters look at the eagles scouting department god why do they draft so well look at the size of it and then look at the size of the cincinnati bengals scouting department that's there's no cap on analytics guys or scouting departments that's where the eagles separate from cincinnati is the front office that's where the dodgers separate from the rays front office so the lakers have a huge brand they've been a mom and pop shop they don't have enough eyes so rob and this rob polink is an agent never been a scout kurt ramis a player he'd never been a scout the buff kids reportedly weren't bad but that's that's come on i mean you're talking about you're trying to find guys that have been scouts for thirty years so this is a big deal it's what we predict that

[Rob Pelinka]

here's rob pelinka working in collaboration with some of the dodgers folks we're bringing in a biomechanics lab new movement labs a recovery lab those things are super expensive to do and super thoughtful and that construction is going to happen this off season they're going to be redoing aspects of the court as well so it's a it's a it's a full rebuild and retool and it's adding to the great things that are already here which have led to success but elevating it and bringing it to the next

[Colin Cowherd]

level j mac is you're somebody that's got a little ownership stake and a couple of you know soccer clubs and now your guys point you know i think you've probably discovered this is so much of the success team of teams is behind the scenes the fans i always said see that guy upstairs in the dark glasses you know the owner guy like that's the guy when you have stan kroenke and you have mike brown that's the difference twice the size of the staff so that's that is that is a influence the new dodgers owner have and it will pay dividends even in this draft yep

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[Robert Smigel (Humor Me Podcast Host)]

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[Colin Cowherd]

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