J. Mack (4:30)

All right, Colin, let's get it started.

Colin Cowherd (4:35)

Every play, every stat, every storyline, I've got it all. What do you want to know?

J. Mack (4:40)

Will Fernando Mendoza be a franchise quarterback?

Colin Cowherd (4:48)

Fernando Mendoza can be a franchise quarterback because he wins from the neck up. He's accurate, he processes fast, he protects the football, and he's already shown he's comfortable in the biggest moments. But he's not the off schedule superhero type. So the team that drafts him has to give him real playmakers and a real structure. If you're expecting magic tricks, you'll be disappointed. If you want a steady, high level operator, you'll be thrilled. So tell me, do you want your quarterback to be a system driver or a system breaker? That's pretty good. Okay.

J. Mack (5:24)

Why does Colin like Sam Darnold so much?

Colin Cowherd (5:31)

Colin likes Sam Darnold because he's the ultimate tools plus toughness. Quarterback, big arm, real athlete, and he doesn't melt when the pocket gets muddy. And Collins, Always been a sucker for the guy who gets written off, takes the hits, learns, and comes back sharper. That's Darnold's whole story. Plus, when you put him with real coaching and a real structure, the ceiling shows up fast. Seattle just got the proof in the ring. That's the bet. Talent was never the issue. The environment was. Yeah, I may take tomorrow off. Give me one more.

J. Mack (6:06)

What type of college football coach would J. Mac be?

Colin Cowherd (6:13)

J. Mack as a college football coach is a culture first, CEO type. Recruiting, relationships and accountability. Then he hires a sharp play caller and lets that guy cook. He'd run a grown up program with older, tougher players because in this era of nil experiences, currency and maturity win Saturdays. And he'd be relentless about the little stuff. Practice tempo, strength, program and not beating yourself real quick. Do you see him more as an offensive head coach or a walk around program builder? Yeah, that one may have missed on, but. So it's called Sports AI. I want you to download it. It's on the Fox Sports app. Ask it any sports question. So we've been playing around with this thing. It is. It's crazy. I mean, it's. Listen, I. I've said this before. There's all these doomsday scenarios with AI And I don't believe it. My take is learn how to use it. Figure out how to accent your industry, whatever it is. I'm not getting rid of my accountant. I'm not getting rid of the people that do things well for me. I'm not moving off my Realtor. I don't care how great AI is, but if it can augment whatever you do. And that's why FOX came to me with this. They're like, this is really fun. I mean, people sitting around at home watching the game. We're doing it all the time. And you can just ask it questions about your Philadelphia Eagles or United States men's national hockey or soccer team. Asking anything you want. By the way, this. This version of me really knows soccer. I mean, it is. It cooks like that version of me is better on soccer and hockey than this version of me. And poor Rachel Nichols has to follow that good stuff. J. Mac, Rachel is joining us live and covering the NBA for 25, 30 years. That was gonna. That was something, right?

Rachel Nichols (8:13)

It has your tone. That's what's so incredible. I expected it to sound a little more robotic. It doesn't. It actually feels like talking to you. It's. That's pretty amazing.

Colin Cowherd (8:22)

Yeah. We're working on a structure in which I can take June, July and August off and just put a phone right here and make it work. Okay. So this has been an interesting week. And I kind of joked yesterday, the Lakers didn't know. When they rolled out the red carpet for Luga, it was made of red flags. And we always knew he wasn't a great defensive player. But for the record, there have been. Magic Johnson wasn't a great defensive player. Steph Curry wasn't. You build around him, but there's the jawing with the officials. There is the lack of conditioning, which has kind of a mellow feel to it. His game is a bit lopsided. It's all offense, not much in defense. But it does this week. Rachel. It surfaced for a couple of reasons, the barking and the technicals, but also that final play that J.J. redick drew up. And you start looking at analytics, Rachel. And there's an argument a year in that LeBron and Luka don't fit as well as we thought they were going to fit. What are you hearing around the league and within the Lakers?

Rachel Nichols (9:23)

Yeah, I think there is a big sort of, let's go to the summer, let's get there, let's move forward. And while the lakers have said LeBron is welcome back in the organization, it's very clear that building around Luka does not involve LeBron James.

Colin Cowherd (9:38)

Right.

Rachel Nichols (9:39)

And you can talk about it defensively, of course, when Luka, Austin Reaves and LeBron are all on the court, you know, it's a sieve. I mean, the defensive rating is terrible. But it's also offensively, as you point out. I mean, Luka modeled his game after LeBron's. Literally, it was LeBron's YouTube clips that Luka was watching as a teenager and as a kid. So they do a lot of the same things, frankly. And we know what kind of team you need to build around Luka. That's the team that we saw get to the NBA Finals with him. So I don't really blame some sort of the lazy plays or the not getting to the rim as much or some of the falling apart that we've seen, because I think everyone's mind on that team is we're going to fight as hard as we can, but we all know we're not Finals contenders right now. Let's get to the summer where they're going to have three first round draft picks, they're going to have more cap space, it looks like, than any other team in the league, around $50 million. And that is with resigning Austin, Reaves. That is without LeBron James, though. So if he doesn't resign with the Lakers, then all of a sudden you have the ability to really Build the kind of team around Luka that you might have envisioned when that trade was first made.

Colin Cowherd (10:48)

Yeah, it's. It's. It's. It. It. You. You try to be. You don't want to be inelegant. Moving off LeBron. He's delivered. He's been great for sales. He got him a Covid title. You know, he's always said the right stuff publicly. He's never high. You know, he may be high maintenance, but it's behind the scenes. It's certainly not in front of it, so. And I don't know if there's a right answer for this, but you're closer to it than I am. How do you move off him with some level of respect and elegance? Because he has been the face of the league for 20 years.

Rachel Nichols (11:21)

Yeah, I mean, I think they have to. If LeBron does want to come back, which it's sounding like he wants to play another season, it is hard to tell. It's up to him to make that decision. If he does want to play another season, I think there has to be a pretty serious conversation with the Lakers. Not just on money, not just on how little money they would need him to. To take, to make everything else work but roll. Right? Because as I said, when those three guys are on the court together, it doesn't work. You can't have that team, no matter who else is on the roster. You can't have a team that is closing out NBA Finals games with three defensive liabilities like that. That just won't happen. It won't work. So are you saying to LeBron, hey, man, I don't know if you're going to be on the court at the end of games all the time. And how would he feel about that? I mean, there may be a conversation that is delicate enough to have where it's clear what his role would be, team, what the salary might be, where he would sort of say, you know what? Actually, let me look and see what Cleveland's offering me, that kind of thing.

Colin Cowherd (12:18)

So you and I are on the same page in the tanking, which is, you know, and I've always felt this is that if you really privately asked most NBA stars, because it's overwhelmingly a winter league that they all want to play for about six places. Miami, Los Angeles, the Celtics, the Knicks. They want to be in big cities or where it's warmer, maybe a Houston, San Antonio that, you know, it's harder to sell. Midwest, Minnesota, Milwaukee. But if you keep adding teams, you know, all the sunny places are mostly, you know they're taken. And so I don't know how Utah builds. I mean, the truth is Stockton and Malone were drafted. Rudy Gobert and Donovan Mitchell were drafted. It's not a free agent hub either is Milwaukee. You have to draft well. So you know, if you're not giving up avenues how like it's not a transactional league much anymore. So the NBA, Rachel has kind of decided abruptly we're going to spank Indiana and Utah. And what's the reaction you're kind of getting Because Utah feels like they're being singled out.

Rachel Nichols (13:28)

I mean, Utah's tanking was pretty egregious. You sit your two best players in the fourth quarter. I think you're going to get the attention of the league that way. I don't really subscribe to the Sunshine theory quite the way you do. I mean, look, when, when Michael Jordan was with the Bulls, everyone wanted to play with the Bulls in Chicago. And Orlando still isn't like the most attractive free agent destination in the country. So I'm not sure it has as much to do with Sunshine as it does to all the extra rules that have now been put on these teams through multiple collective bargaining agreements. We have the first apron. We have the second apron. There are rules about re signing your own players. There's supermaxes. Every step along the way has made it harder for bad teams to get better and funneled them toward that draft we keep talking about. We've got to solve tanking. Tanking isn't the problem. Tanking is the symptom. The problem is bad teams need more avenues to get better.

Colin Cowherd (14:20)

Yes.

Rachel Nichols (14:21)

And to me, frankly, some of the quote solutions that are being thrown out there for tanking, it may be treating a little bit of the symptom, but it's going to make the underlying problem worse. They're talking about, oh, should we flatten the lottery odds even further? And if you don't make the playoffs, everyone has an equal chance in the draft. That's going to make the problem worse. That will make it harder for bad teams to get better. That's going to increase the Cooper flags going to Dallas sort of situation. To me, get rid of the lottery entirely. Just do it like the NFL does it. Worst team gets number one, second, third. Just like that. You're not going to have as much middle of the pack taking as we see right now. And again, that is an avenue for a bad team to get better. I think the thing that sort of is missing in this taking discussion is no team is sitting there being like you know what would be great? It would be great if we just, like, lost for six months straight, alienated our fans, taught our young guys how to lose. Let's do that. That would be fun. They're doing it because they have to, not because they want to make them not have to as much. And you're going to solve that problem.

Colin Cowherd (15:26)

The. You know, the other night, I'm watching San Antonio play Detroit, and Detroit's a team that needs another score. They're not a very good half court offensive team. You know, they're just, they're, they're. They're kind of the opposite of the Lakers, where they're tough, they play real defense, but they have, like, one guy. The Lakers play no defense. They have three creators, but they're not athletic and are not necessarily tough. But when I watch Detroit play San Antonio, I'm like, detroit's good and San Antonio is having their way with them. And I wonder if, I mean, I, if you, if you gave Wemby the MVP in that game, he didn't even score until late, and he dominated the game with assists, with steals, with blocks, with rebounds. In the air around the league right now, is there a sense that Wimby and the spurs are not only going to break up okc, but they are the team going forward for the next decade? Because, boy, when they play Detroit, you're like, man, there is a gap. And Detroit's good.

Rachel Nichols (16:33)

Absolutely. Look, Wemby is such a special player. I said it to you before he was even drafted. This guy is going to be a top 10 player of all time. I absolutely believe that he's only tracked further in that direction. But the thing about this first team is I would push back on the fact that there's only one guy they won in Toronto the other night, 10th win in a row. And Wemby, he was pretty stifled offensively. And this is what we have to watch in the playoffs, is our team's going to figure out ways to limit him offensively. What Toronto did was they really didn't let him catch the ball inside. They got in front of him on the perimeter, and the guards really stepped up and won that game. I don't think that can happen through an entire playoff series or certainly not four rounds. So it's going to be. As teams have these game plans against Wembanyama, is he. Is the coaching staff going to be able to figure ways to sort of get around those, get him out of those situations and start scoring again? And I believe that they probably will. He is Such a unique, incredible, adaptive player who has such an open mindedness to learn and try new things. I think that can be a success. So while we do say in the NBA and it's a truism for a reason that you need to play in the playoffs and get a little experience before you can win an NBA title, I think if any team could get to the NBA Finals on its first run through, it could be this spurs team. Just because Victor Webanyama is such a unique super megastar.

Colin Cowherd (17:58)

All right, let's end it with this Darren Peterson, Kansas kid. You know, I would draft him number one. I've watched him play a half dozen times, but he has missed 11 of 27 games with a cramping issue that is above and beyond a lot that we've ever seen. Yeah, and I said it earlier, it's not just a basketball issue, it is a athlete issue. If you're struggling with a mental roadblock, it could be Jordan Spieth, John Lester, the great pitcher, David Duvall, Markel Fultz, Royce White. It happens. It happens to all a lot of Americans. I wonder when you talk, because it's a stacked draft and it's just right around the corner, is it enough of a concern that it's like, okay, Boozer at Duke, the kid at byu, I mean, the first eight players are all considered immediate impact guys or impact within the first two years. Is it hurting his draft stock?

Rachel Nichols (18:53)

I think it's not yet, but it has raised a ton of questions. All the questions you guys are having, the fans are having, NBA teams have those questions too. What is really going on here? Why are you doing this? And so I think his interviews with the top teams in the draft are going to be more important than ever before. I think teams obviously are going to work them out, try to see how he might fit into their system basketball wise. But there are going to be a lot of questions for him in those conversations and how he answers them is what I think is going to decide where he ends up going in the draft. Because if he has a good answer, if he has an answer that makes sense, that doesn't point toward, as you brought up earlier, a Markelle Fultz situation, then teams are going to be like, all right, I get it now, we're going to draft him. If he can't really give them the answers that they're looking for, I do think that that will be a red flag for teams and you might not see him go number one. Those inter are going to be very important.

Colin Cowherd (19:46)

Yeah, Rachel Nichols, as always, love you on the show. Great seeing you.

Rachel Nichols (19:49)

Thanks.

Verizon Advertiser (19:50)

You bet.

Colin Cowherd (19:51)

By the way, another reminder. We can put it on the screen. It's called Sports AI. It's officially launched on the Fox Sports app. Download it, ask it anything you want about sports. Fox has taken a couple years worth of my shows. It's got my cadence, my sound. It's pretty cool. It's fun to play around with and, you know, maybe that's, you know, J. Mac, we may have just found another segment on this show.

Rick Carlisle (20:24)

Is that it?

Colin Cowherd (20:25)

Just. Just more of me from another angle.

J. Mack (20:28)

Well, we're not going to cut into my time with this, are we? Cut into your time?

Colin Cowherd (20:34)

Isn't it kind of amazing, though?

J. Mack (20:35)

It was scary. I'm seriously. That breakdown of Mendoza was like, oh, okay. So. I don't know, man. It's a little troubling how good that was.

Rick Carlisle (20:45)

Yeah.

Colin Cowherd (20:49)

In Chicago, it's the herd.

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Colin Cowherd (21:31)

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Colin Cowherd (22:04)

All right, two truths and a lie. Here we go.

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Colin Cowherd (22:17)

Okay, I lied.

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Colin Cowherd (24:37)

oh, the world's changing every day. Every day. Sports AI the Fox Sports app. Look it up. J Mac with the news. No, no, no, turn on the news.

Fox Sports Radio Announcer (24:50)

This is the herd.

J. Mack (24:53)

All right. AI can't answer this one. AJ Brown drama in Philadelphia Colin it continues. However, Mike Vrabel in New England knows him well, probably a high comfort level. Was asked about the possibility of an AJ Brown trade. Obviously they've been linked. Here we go.

Mike Vrabel (25:11)

Mike Vrabel we reach out and text each other during the things that happen, good to each other. And sometimes things don't go so well for, for the people that you're close with. And you text those as well. So it's been a, it's a two way street of support and reminders of what got us to where we are here today.

Colin Cowherd (25:34)

Interesting.

J. Mack (25:35)

I don't know. As almost as interesting as that bold shirt choice from Mike Rabel. The all Jean look. I don't know, Colin. It almost seems too obvious, doesn't it? Stefon Diggs is going through another drama. All that guy does every stop in the NFL. There's some issue with Stefon Diggs. I don't know that you can count on him, do you? I mean, I think you got to upgrade. If you could get A.J. brown in there, why not?

Colin Cowherd (25:56)

Well, Drake May, I mean I never understood when the Dolphins said let's get Tyreek Hill because Tua doesn't throw a great deep ball. Drake May's specialty. He's not only accurate, Drake throws a great deep ball and that's A.J. brown's specialty. There. There are a lot of people, and I mean people that I trust telling me this is not all A.J. brown. Some of it's Jalen hurts is that they don't really connect. He doesn't trust him and he can't get him the ball regularly. I think. I think you get into trouble in the NFL when you have a situation where a receiver either is saying it publicly or privately. Get me the ball. And it almost always that was DEZ Bryant and Dak and then he left and then Dak spread the ball around and Dak was just fine. Then he got Amari Cooper a total pro. I think you look at it, if you look at the history of kind of receivers that need the ball to be happy, it generally doesn't turn out well for the receiver.

J. Mack (26:56)

Yeah, but if I told you it's third year, Drake May, what can he, what can we do to get him to make the leap? The running, I guess you could maybe bolster the left tackle a little bit. The young kid Campbell struggled in the Super Bowl. The tight ends are fine. Running backs are good. I mean it's got to be wide receiver. Right. That's the one area outside of offensive line.

Colin Cowherd (27:17)

It's a very good O tackle and D end draft and New England needs both. They need a consistent pass rusher on the edge. They have to upgrade on the offensive line, specifically tackle. I think when you play in that cold weather, you're not going to be defined by, you know, a per, you know, a sideline receiver. Their receivers, I think are good enough. I think their big issue in the Super Bowls, they couldn't block the Seahawks front. That was the Super Bowl.

J. Mack (27:45)

Not many people can. All right, let's go to the Raiders and the number one pick. We know this like the, the draft does not have a lot of drama at the top. Everybody loves Mendoza. The Raiders have not shown their hand fully yet about Mendoza, but Clint Kubiak spoke pretty glowingly about him. I think it's a lock that they're going to take him. Here's Kubiak.

Mike Vrabel (28:04)

Colin, excited to keep, keep learning about him. And it's not just me. It's, you know, our whole coaching staff, our quarterback coach. And you know, I want all of our coaches to get involved, especially at that position. I want everybody's input. But, you know, obviously, really he's been successful, had a lot of success last year. He's won a national championship. And that's what you want, is you want a winner.

Verizon Advertiser (28:27)

Yeah.

Colin Cowherd (28:27)

Well, you also want a big guy that's committed and stays healthy with an accurate arm. And that's what you really get. The winner thing. You know, there's a lot of quarterbacks that win. You know, J.J. mcCarthy won a lot. I think what Mendoza brings to the table that a J.J. mcCarthy, for instance, didn't is that late in games, Mendoza carried his offense.

J. Mack (28:50)

Wait a minute. McCarthy won a national championship against an Alabama team in overtime. He was clutch.

Colin Cowherd (28:56)

McCarthy never carried the team. He threw for 300 yards once. That's not carrying a team. Mendoza's carrying a team. He carried them to a win over Penn State and Miami. Yeah, he's been asked in like Iowa, Oregon, tie game late. They had to throw the football. They trailed. That's, that's a whole different. JJ McCarthy turned around with the best O line in football. And Jim Harbaugh on a great defense and handed the ball to Blake Coram a lot.

J. Mack (29:27)

Yes. Okay, that's fair. But he did have a huge game against Bama in the playoff.

Colin Cowherd (29:32)

Right.

J. Mack (29:32)

You remember that one? He was.

Colin Cowherd (29:33)

So did Mendoza.

J. Mack (29:34)

Yeah, I mean, I, I do think Mendoza's probably. I'm with you. He's probably a better NFL prospect than McCarthy, right?

Colin Cowherd (29:41)

Oh, I think he's. I think he's miles. I think he's bigger. I think he's more accurate. I think he's been asked to basically carry the offense in big games. They both had a great college coach. I don't think it's. I, I think Mendoza is the only first round quarterback in this draft. I do think if you don't have to play him immediately. I could see somebody reaching 18 down on Ty Simpson. I don't see him as a day one starter. I think Ty Simpson has to say that's why the Rams late in the first round. Everybody keep saying the Rams and Ty Simpson because Stafford's going to sign a new two year deal. So that makes sense if you can learn from one of the all time great pros. I mean Stafford's preparation, work ethic are kind of legendary. Like Brady, that'd be a great place. But Mendoza to me is kind of it in this draft.

J. Mack (30:33)

Yeah, I would, I would big time agree on that one. All right, let's wrap up with some good news from the UFL column. They announced some rule changes earlier this week. One of the rules that we love here is the now one foot catches a la college football. So amazing efforts where you can't get both feet down doesn't matter, just get one foot down and it counts. I would love to see the NFL enact this. The UFL's head of officiating Dean Blandino said we look at the NFL as a partner. I just wonder if this is a test bunny for the NFL. I think it's going to be a huge hit in the ufo. Would you agree?

Colin Cowherd (31:07)

Yeah, I think, I mean, listen, remember when they altered the catch rule and the reason they altered the catch rule, you remember this, is that Roger Goodell came on this show and it's like if somebody makes an absolutely unbelievable play, you don't want to eliminate that from the sport. Right. It's, I mean like even for fantasy football players, you want people to celebrate greatness, not go to a replay and try to figure out on micro film if they had the second toe down. Yeah. So what it would do with one foot down there'd be more catches and more touchdowns. And I, I never think that's a bad thing. I want less field goals, fewer punts, fewer kickoff returns, less replay review.

J. Mack (31:55)

Like did he get his butt cheek down? Like I don't need that.

Colin Cowherd (31:57)

Yeah, no, I think that's the bottom line is it would cut but it would increase touchdowns and catches and it would shorten a lot. I mean if you think about reviews, it's usually like fumble in a pile or is he inbounds with a catch? You go a long way in speeding and ramping that up. So I'm, I'm kind of with you on this.

J. Mack (32:20)

Yeah, totally agree.

Colin Cowherd (32:22)

J. Mac with the news.

Fox Sports Radio Announcer (32:24)

Well, that's the news and thanks for stopping by the herd lie news.

Colin Cowherd (32:29)

I I, I've got, I thought Rachel Nichols made a really interesting point on tanking. And so I was, I was reading an article in the Athletic this morning about how Oklahoma City got Chet Holmgren by tanking and the Cavs got brawn by tanking. And what I've always felt like the bottom of the NBA, the NBA is paralyzed, completely paralyzed by tanking. And we're going to have ping pong balls and we're going to find teams that tank. The NBA's bigger problem is they make it so hard to trade. You have to have matching salaries. You don't in football, you don't in baseball. Right. Like, like baseball. Too often I hear this argument that you got to have a salary cap. No, you have to have a higher salary floor. Forcing the Pirates and the Marlins to spend 90 to $100 million. It's not about limiting what the Dodgers can do or the Cubs can do. The NBA worries so much about the bottom of the league and they've been trying to solve it since I started watching the NBA in the 70s and they've never solved it. The bottom of the NBA, my entire life has been unwatchable. What is the only. And it's often the same teams. Well, what is a way for the unwatchable bottom eight in the NBA to be watchable, to get a great player? Well, a lot of great players don't want to play in Utah. I mean, go, go. What's the biggest free agent signing in the history of the Jazz? Carlos Boozer, he would be like 19th biggest for the Lakers. A lot of guys want to play in Miami or LA and Arizona or Houston and they just do. They want to play in big cities. They want to play in a Boston or a New York or a Philadelphia. They just do. So to me, the issue with the NBA is stop being so deeply worried about tanking. It's not working like in baseball, you've got a bottom, but that's just owners who won't spend money but have it. That, that, that's a solvable problem. Have a minimum. You have to spend. It's just really possible in a, in a sport, basketball, where one or two players have the ability to alter the trajectory of a franchise. For the record, football, same thing. Get the right coach, quarterback changes your franchise. Ask the Bears or the Patriots. But I think the reason the tanking thing is, is such a hot button issue. It's like, wow. It's not, it's, it's not cheating. It's not what it, it's not cheating. It's not fixing. It's just like we're going to play more reserves late in games. Well, if that's the only way I can get Darren Peterson from Kansas, at least bad team becomes better and somebody else can be at the bottom. But I don't know. There's Rachel Nichols. She and I mostly agree on the tanking issue.

Rachel Nichols (35:49)

Tanking isn't the problem. Tanking is the symptom. The problem is bad teams need more avenues to get better. And to me, frankly, some of the, quote solutions that are being thrown out there for tanking, it may be treating a little bit of the symptoms, but it's going to make the underlying problem worse. No team is sitting there being like, you know what would be great? It would be great if we just like lost for six months straight, Alienated our fans, taught our young guys how to lose. Let's do that. That would be fun. They're doing it because they have to, not because they want to make them not have to as much. And you're going to solve that problem.

Colin Cowherd (36:28)

Yeah, the, you know, it's almost like sometimes I think it's similar, not perfectly analogous, but it's like parenting. Like I, when I had my kids, I'm not going to be paralyzed by. They may smoke pot. Like, I'd prefer they aren't wake and bakers, you know, I prefer they don't. But I'm not going to literally helicopter sneak in their rooms and sneak around. And like, if they do, you know, it's, it's. Eventually it may happen, they'll pick friends that like it. But what am I, they'll go to college. What am I going to monitor them in college? I'm just not going to lose a lot of sleep on it. I prefer, you know, I can show them, you know, you probably until your brain's completely formed at 24, 25, I'd probably stay away from it. But you know, dad a couple times in college to relieve stress, you know, once, twice. And that's my point is I just don't got to get paralyzed about that as a parent. Like, the NBA is just paralyzed with tanking. A, it's been happening forever, and B, how else is Utah because free agents aren't interested. How else is Utah a great basketball community with a great owner, a great arena. I've been to games multiple times, a great downtown. How are they going to get great? And I'll be honest with you, if you look at right now what Utah has, they're about one star player away from being really interesting well, how are they going to get Darren Peterson? I mean, so it's, People say, well, it's, it's not competitive. Sports should be competitive. No, it is competitive. You're still competing. You're just not having Laura Market and Laurie marketed on the court in the fourth quarter for a couple games. Rick. Rick Carlisle, the coach of the Indiana Pacers, he didn't like these fines handed out to his Pacers in the Jazz.

Rick Carlisle (38:26)

During the interview process, I was not on it, but I, but I heard details. We asked them if they wanted to talk to the doctors, our doctors about it because it's something that was documented by our doctors and trainers. They said no, they didn't need to. They talked to their doctors who did not examine Erin Niecemith. And we asked them if they wanted to talk to the kid and they said no, they didn't need to. So this was, this was shocking. This was shocking to me.

Colin Cowherd (39:00)

Yeah. And I know I'm the. I'm, I'm. I. This is where I agree with Rachel. If you're gonna limit what I can do to get better, if I own or run a team, then I'm going to tank and I'm going to be a little sneaky. I'm not, I'm not cheating. I'm not betting it. It's not rigged. But I'm going to set some guys late. And, and by the way, by the time you get to January and February and March, NBA guys are all nicked up and banged up. So the NFL allows all different ways you can draft and develop. Like the packers, you can make spend 250 million in free agency. You don't have to have salaries matching. So the NFL doesn't have a tanking issue. But when you give one exit off a freeway, be shocked if everybody takes the one exit off the freeway. Live in Chicago, it's the Herd.

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Colin Cowherd (40:32)

All right, two truths and a lie. Here we go.

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Okay, I lied.

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J. Mack (43:03)

You won't want to miss this one. The World Baseball Classic Ohtani Harper Soto Judge an incredible lineup of superstars putting it all on the Line for their country March 4th through 17th on Fox and FS1.

Colin Cowherd (43:20)

So J. Mac and I have a disagreement and it's that I do believe the NBA gets it right. You cannot win a lot of their awards, including Most Valuable Player if you do not play at least 65 games. And here's now there have been exceptions in the history of the league. Bill Walton in 1977, he had injuries his entire career and there's been a couple of lockout shortened seasons where like nobody's playing that many games. But by and large, every other MVP has played at least 65 games. So if you think I'm wrong, just consider this. Two words in the MVP matter. Not just valuable. Most. That that matter. That matters a lot. The word most and then valuable. So to be the most valuable parent I can be, I have to be available a lot. So how can you argue that Jokic and SGA are the most valuable players in the league when they're actually both less valuable than they were a year ago? So SGA is less valuable to OKC this year because he's missed so many games than last year, but you want him to be the most valuable player in the league. Hell, he's less valuable this year to his own team than he was last year. Jokic is less valuable when he's not playing to the Denver Nuggets this year than he was to the Denver Nuggets last year. And you want to vote him most valuable player in the league. This is not saying that SGA this year isn't valuable or that Jokic isn't valuable. The awards called the most valuable player in the entire league. And to me, Cade Cunningham, who is carrying a bunch of 21 year olds in Detroit, he's their only really big time consistent score go to a plus player. There's about 10 great players at any one time in the league. He's one of them. I mean even Jalen Brunson, as good as he is, I mean he's got OG. Mikhail Bridges is a veteran cat can drop 30 on any occasion. Like Detroit's pretty much well coached, real physical plays, real defense and cade Cunningham scores 28. That's kind of the team. So I would give Cade Cunningham, but you can't tell me that availability doesn't matter when the award is called most valuable. And that SGA and Jokic are less valuable this year to their teams, not the league, their own teams than they were last year. So give it to Kate Cunningham. And yeah, and I think it's why, like in baseball, you've got the Cy Young and then you've got the most valuable player. And even within the Cy Young, there's been pushback through the years. Like, Paul Skeens is great, but I mean, how many games did he win? I mean, pitchers now, nobody throws a complete game. So it would be. To me, it'd be ridiculous. It wouldn't matter if it was. Sandy Koufax went 24. 3. I couldn't make him most valuable. He's pitching every fourth game and nobody throws complete games anymore. So really, I mean, the Dodgers all season long were scuffing. Why? Because teams don't throw complete games and their bullpen stunk. They blew like 23 saves. So even in baseball, you know, the pitcher gets that award. The MVP is to the guy that's playing every day. And by the way, the Thunder and Nuggets had a better record last year at this point in the season when SGA and Jokic were more available. So I, I would go. Cade Cunningham 1 Wemby 2 Jalen Brown 3. Jalen Brown is carrying a lot of guys you've never heard of.

J. Mack (47:14)

Yeah, let me, let me back up.

Colin Cowherd (47:15)

Porzingis got moved. Drew Holiday is gone. Marcus Smart the year before is gone. Tatum's not available. And the Celtics are playing great basketball. And it's mostly because Jalen Brown, who plays both ends of the floor, is. Has carried him.

J. Mack (47:28)

So let's back up and just the word valuable. So if you pull Cade off the Pistons, they're bad. If you pull SGA off the Thunder, are they bad?

Colin Cowherd (47:37)

No.

J. Mack (47:37)

If you pull Jokic off the Nuggets, are they bad?

Colin Cowherd (47:40)

They're not very good.

J. Mack (47:42)

Yeah. Okay. So by that metric. Yes. Okay. Give it to Kade. He's the most valuable to his team. But remember, this is Detroit team who's never won anything over the last 15 years. They haven't won a playoff series, I believe.

Colin Cowherd (47:53)

You can't punish Kate Cunningham because of previous incompetence.

J. Mack (47:58)

No, I'm just saying, like they're trying extra hard. Their whole team, everybody, bunch of try hards. Denver's one titles they've been. They know that this is just a dress rehearsal for the playoffs. OKC wants to go back to back. They got a lot of guys trying to fight for contracts playing time. They're not as locked in in the regular season. Detroit hasn't done a damn thing. So they're trying super hard, Colin. So I think that should play a factor. I don't know how you quantify that, but you can't look Me in the eye and say Cade Cunningham is the most valuable player.

Colin Cowherd (48:28)

I do believe he is.

J. Mack (48:29)

Oh my.

Colin Cowherd (48:30)

Well, think about this. Think about the New York Knicks, who Detroit has hammered three times.

J. Mack (48:37)

Yep.

Colin Cowherd (48:38)

Jalen Brunson's an elite score. OG can score. What's OG Average? Cat is an elite offensive player. I mean, they've got, you can name Josh Hart, Mikhail Bridges. Like the Knicks have a real basketball team with multiple offensive options and Detroit owns them. Yeah, when they're really one elite option. They're both good defensive teams. I think Detroit's more physical.

J. Mack (49:03)

So basically this similar, very similar Detroit team played the Knicks last year in the playoffs. Knicks beat him in six.

Colin Cowherd (49:09)

Okay, well, that's going to see that

J. Mack (49:11)

play out in the playoffs again.

Colin Cowherd (49:12)

This Knicks team knows Colin, the Pistons. Now think about this. The Detroit Pistons are six points better offensively when Kate Cunningham plays. Start looking at the Detroit Pistons in close games. They're winning because of Cade Cunningham. They're not winning because they have a slick half court offense. I mean, you watch them against San Antonio, it's like they got to score down lower. They just, they struggle.

J. Mack (49:42)

Yeah. Similar to the Lakers in these close games. They stink, but they're great record wise because they have Luca. They stink against the Orlando Magic, but they have Luca, one of the best guys in the league. This is tough. I mean, you couldn't even. Would you take Cade Cunningham over Luca right now to build a team?

Colin Cowherd (50:01)

I give it thought.

Fox Sports Radio Announcer (50:02)

Wow.

J. Mack (50:03)

Oh my gosh. Maybe the AI is getting to you at this point. I don't know. I'm shocked. You, you have Kate on the same level as Luka Doncic.

Colin Cowherd (50:13)

Luke is a better offensive player than almost anybody in the world. But you, you, I mean you, you have to. And you inherit a lot of other stuff. The non stop barking, not in great shape, mounting injuries, atrocious defensively. That's all part of the resume. Cade Cunningham's better defensively. Cade Cunningham is healthier. Cade's in better shape. Cade's not as good offensively, but he's. What's Cade Cunningham averaging a night?

Rick Carlisle (50:39)

He's good.

J. Mack (50:40)

He's like 25, 28. He's a top 10 player in the league. No doubt. He's excellent.

Colin Cowherd (50:44)

All right, man.

J. Mack (50:45)

Vaulting him into that.

Colin Cowherd (50:46)

And by the way, Cade Cunningham, because he's in shape, is going to age better than Luca. Luca's turning 27 in about an hour. He's already. You can see the regression athletically. Hour three coming up.

J. Mack (50:59)

Hater.

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