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- [00:00]
Colin Cowherd
This is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human I'm Colin Coward from the Herd. Whether you're a seasoned small business owner or thinking about getting started, you'll definitely want to check out season four of Mind the Business small business success stories from iHeartMedia's Ruby Studio and Inuit QuickBooks. In the latest season, hosts Austin Hanquitz and Jenise Torres are talking to self starters about the ins and outs of entrepreneurship and how QuickBooks helps you to get more done in less time. You don't want to miss it. Listen to Mind the Business Small Business Success Stories on the iHeart app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
- [00:40]
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- [01:40]
Colin Cowherd
Thanks for listening to the Herd podcast. Be sure to catch us live every weekday on Fox Sports Radio and noon to 3 Eastern, 9am to noon Pacific. Find your local station for the herd@foxsportsradio.com or stream us live every day on the iHeartRadio app by searching Fox Sports Radio or FSR. Now let's get this party started.
- [02:02]
Fox Sports Radio Announcer
You're listening to FO Radio.
- [02:05]
Colin Cowherd
It is interesting we were talking about this this morning as our domestic players and and and are surging right in hockey. In basketball, the international players are sort of taking it over and we'll get into that among other things with Chris Broussard, co host. First Things first is now joining us live on a Monday. Chris, as always, Brew, it's great to see you. I want to start with the Lakers and I've said this before years and years ago. About 25 years ago, a general manager in the league said, it' getting a star, it's about getting the right star. And I think at the time he used Tim Duncan, he's like, he plays defense, he's coachable, he's about the right stuff. It's winning basketball. It's not about flash. He goes, that's the right star. And there's guys like Stevie Francis or Marbury who are marvelously talented but maybe been distracted. They weren't necessarily winning players. So I've said this about Luca. I've always said he's a better Carmelo. He's not in great shape. He's not committed on the defensive end, but he's an all time scoring threat. But Luca now has 13 technicals yesterday. It's a very average effort. He's arguing with officials. The Celtics are racing down to the other end of the floor. And that because they won the trade with the Mavericks, everybody's like, it's finished. I'm a year into Luca and I'm like, is he the best culture creator? Isn't it LeBron having another teammate who doesn't really want to, you know, Anthony Davis didn't want to get in great shape. Luka, I could argue never looks to be in great shape. Where are you on Luca the Lakers and him being the centerpiece of the culture going forward?
- [03:46]
Chris Broussard
Yeah, look, I love Luka. Early in his career I nicknamed him Luka Legend after Larry Bird. I thought he was like the a turbo version or new age version of Larry Bird. And he is great individually. But I am really beginning to question and this is, I just felt start feeling this way maybe a month ago, Colin month or two ago. I don't know if he's ever going to win a championship. And it's not because he's not individually good enough. It's because of the way he plays. He is so hard to build around because he's so ball dominant. And we've seen ball dominant players, but ball dominant players that shoot and score a lot are really tough to build around. Steve Nash, Chris Paul, they're ball dominant but they were pass first guys. Even LeBron when he was really in his prime and ball dominant, it was a challenge to build around him because he was ball dominant and shot and scored a lot. And that's what we see it with James Harden throughout his career. So I think that it's going to be challenging. And right now the Lakers just aren't built well around Luka Doncic. So they're going to have to basically scrap this team. Keep Austin Reaves, obviously, and a few others. But they got to put shooters, athletes who can defend, rebounders who, you know, all they want to do is defend and rebound or catch and shoot. That's the type of team you have to build around Luka. Maybe one other great offensive player like an Austin Reaves. He did it with Kyrie when he got to the finals and. But it's a challenge to build around a player like Luka because of the way he plays. And I'll say this, Colin, look, I think Luka Doncic is better. Not just now, but just period. He's better than Cooper flag, but I would rather have Cooper flag on my team as my young building block than Luka because Cooper plays defense. Cooper doesn't dominate the ball. He, you know, he. He plays within a system, and that allows other guys to be the best version of themselves. It's. You really can't do that with Luka unless you just. If you're a great offensive individual player by yourself. So. Look at Jalen Brunson. Nobody knew he had all this when he played with Luka, except when Luka was out and then Jalen had the ball. And so, yeah, it's. It's a challenge. I don't know if he'll win a championship as great as he is.
- [06:21]
Colin Cowherd
Well, he's not as dynamic as he was. He's more cerebral now than he is dynamic. I mean, he came in and he was dunking 25 times a year. He's down to two or three. And now he has far more technicals than he does dunks. His game has shifted. So, you know, I never bought into Jayson Tatum, face of the league. I said, he's an all star. He'll be all NBA. He's a great player. He doesn't really have an aura like Michael Jordan had. The look and the cool and the earrings and the smile and the game. And Michael was just like once in a generation, player like that. Michael. Steph Curry's got the game and the flair and the fun. Or Shaquille, the personality and the dominance and the power. Are you surprised that the Celtics are this good? They're actually better defensively than they were with Tatum. I think some of that is everybody knows they have to play better defense now without Tatum because they're not quite as good offensively. Are you surprised, though, that Tatum gets pulled out for the year? And you watch the Celtics, you watch them yesterday, you watch them on the road, you watch them defensively Chris Brute there, they could absolutely end up in the finals again.
- [07:27]
Chris Broussard
Yeah, look, I don't think they'll get to the finals, but I am surprised at their success. Like, I thought they'd make the playoffs. I thought at best they, they would be in the hunt for, you know, home court advantage in the first round top four. But I'm shocked at how that they're the second best team in the east right now without Jason Tatum. And just look at some of the guys that are playing. This is a credit to Joe Missoula. I mean, really like Joe Missoula. This is what he says. You, we shoot threes and if you want to be on the court, you better defend your butt off. And that's what they got. They, everybody knows if I'm going to play, I have got to put forth the effort defensively and be smart and play team defense. And that's what they do. That's all they do. They defend and they shoot the three. And that is successful in today's NBA. It's not a great roster. I mean, I credit, you know, Brad Stevens and all those guys for putting it together. They got the right type of character guys and they're skilled at what the team wants to do. But it is incredible how successful they're doing. And Jaylen Brown, LeBron was right. He should be right there near the top of the MVP race.
- [08:45]
Colin Cowherd
Yeah, well, he's always been great, you know, at some. Jaylen Brown's one of those guys, he didn't go to a big basketball school, he went to Cal. Right. And then he. And then all of a sudden the Duke guy, Jayson Tatum gets the love and the front office gets the love. And you look up all these years later and you're like, jaylen Brown's putting together a Hall of Fame career. Whether you want to acknowledge it or not. People have to come to terms with the guy's been an elite two way player for a long time. So I was talking to my watch the clip over the weekend because I thought Orlando was going to be a much better team than they are. And there was a clip on Palo Bancaro and how he's not a winning player. And I started, I was talking to the staff this morning, I said, John Morant, great talent, not a winning player. Zion, great talent, not a winning player. Now bun Carl. The knock is nobody gets better when he's on the floor. And my take is international players all feel like the top international guys. They make the team better. They can play within a team construct Jokic or a Wemby? Most we can criticize Luca, but they're winning players. Is there an AAU G league, a domestic basketball problem where we're creating talent? But if you look at some of the big. I mean SGA can score, but he feels like he's a winning player.
- [10:05]
Chris Broussard
Yeah.
- [10:06]
Colin Cowherd
I mean, is it, is it a thing or is it not a thing that what's going on with many of our top domestic players now? LeBron was absolutely a winning player.
- [10:17]
Chris Broussard
Yeah.
- [10:17]
Colin Cowherd
Steph Curry, even though he's not as ball dominant, I always thought Steph is trying to get. I mean he'll pass the ball, he'll get rid of the ball quickly, he'll get out if they, if he's a winning player. What do you make of that? Ben Caro, Ja Morant, Zion. Domestic guys, talent, are they, are they worth W's?
- [10:38]
Chris Broussard
I think we've got two issues that address this situation. And first of all, we might find out in 2028. Colin without Steph, without LeBron. I know, I saw Kevin Durant says he wants to play in the Olympics. We might get our feelings hurt. And it's exactly what you're talking about in the Olympics. We might get our feelings hurt because our best young players good chance they don't win gold, if not even a lesser medal. But I think there's two things. Number one, I think American culture, everybody talks about AAU and stuff like that, and that has its issues, but I think it's American culture in general. If you are a 15 year old great basketball player in America, one of the best in the country, you're a celebrity. You got hundreds of thousands, if not millions of followers on social media, you are making money from nil, perhaps, and you are a celebrity and you feel like you've already made it to some degree. Now whoever's coaching you can't really coach you because you're a superstar. They're just trying to keep you on their team. You because you're their meal ticket. So if you don't pass the ball, they're not yelling at you. If you don't defend, if you take bad shots, they're not able to yell at you and coach you hard because you're afraid you might leave and go to the next team. So that's a problem. Whereas in Europe or Internationally, if you're 15 years old and a great player, you are playing on a pro team with grown men, you're not getting any playing time in the Games, you're practicing like twice a day and getting beat up by grown men in practice and the coach is coaching you hard on the fundamentals, et cetera, et cetera. And you're humble, you're still humble at 15 internationally. In America, if you're 15, you think you're all that. The second thing is our coaching in America has gotten. It's not as good as internationally. And I, when you watch the international play like in the World Games or team Olympics, you'll notice now remember 10, 15 years ago, we were playing inside out basketball and the world was playing outside. They were, we were trading two point buckets and they were getting three point buckets and we were almost losing those games and we did start losing. Now we are, when you see us play internationally, we are getting out rebounded, we are getting beat up inside. And what the international countries, they, they still shoot the three. They move. Everybody's moving. They're playing five man basketball and they still play inside as well. Yeah, we act like in America you can only play one way. So now we've gone totally the opposite. All we're doing is shooting threes. We got no really good big American big men who play inside and can punish you inside.
- [13:42]
Colin Cowherd
That's right.
- [13:43]
Chris Broussard
And so now internationally we're getting our rebounded. We're too small. All we want to do is shoot threes. You can do both. You can do both. And that's what they understand. Internationally, we play inside, we move the basketball and we shoot the three. We can do that here. We just need to play the whole game. It's frustrating as you can see from my perspective.
- [14:06]
Colin Cowherd
You're sweating. It's getting you all worked up. I want to end with this. Listen, the Pistons have played the Knicks. Now they maybe have played them more than twice. But the two times I've watched clips of it, Detroit's beaten the you know what out of the Knicks and there are times when people are bad matchups. It feels like the Knicks can't get stops when they play the Pistons. Like the Pistons have their number on the offensive end of it. Your kind of take on what's a realistic vibe for the Knicks going forth now? Halliburton's coming back next year, Tatum's coming back. Detroit's only getting better. Where do you position the Knicks going forward?
- [14:48]
Chris Broussard
Well, look, I certainly think Detroit is better. They would be my pick in the east right now. They're too tough for the Knicks and that's the Knicks problem. The Knicks are a finesse team and some of that may be on their big man Karl Anthony Towns, who's kind of a finesse player. Last couple games he's played tougher. He's going to have to play tougher for them to have a chance. Detroit. It's amazing, Colin, because this Detroit Pistons team is in the mold of all those great former Detroit champions. Right? The bad boys were defense first. Tough. We'll beat you up. And same thing with the Chauncey Billups Rasheed Wallace group. Ben Wallace that won a championship. Tough defense beat you up. That's what this team is. Same thing. And they're just too tough for the Knicks. I mean they really are. They just too darn tough for the New York Knicks. So the Knicks have a couple of months to really get tougher if they can. But that's their problem now. Anybody else in the east could they play with. They could play with Boston and beat Boston. Cleveland, I think is. Is a soft team as well. And so that's why I think Detroit will win the East. And they could have beat. Could have beat New York last year in the playoffs even though they lost in six. That was a tough series. But the Knicks going forward, that cat has to be a little tougher. I think that's the key for.
- [16:11]
Colin Cowherd
Yeah, Knicks don't get a lot of points in the paint. They don't get any bench scoring. So there's like the more ways you can score, the more ways you can win in the NBA playoffs. And the Knicks have kind of a way. It's got to be Brunson. And by the way, Karl Anthony Towns in a seven game series will have two unbelievable games. He'll be the best player on the floor in two of the games. And then he'll get weird and flaky and disappear and get into. He has more bad fouls. So you just. He's just a very inconsistent player. It's Chris Broussard. Listen, when you get Bruce sweating when you brew this. I took. I don't want to take too much your energy before you, Nick Wright drives you crazy. So it's good seeing you.
- [16:52]
Chris Broussard
You too, Colin.
- [16:54]
Colin Cowherd
Yeah, it's. How about that Detroit. Detroit's one of the. For years Golden State was bad. But I'm watching this ABA documentary. I'm trying to get Dr. J on the show this week. I mean it's. The documentary was so much fun for me. My mom and dad, they bought me one of those ABA basketballs. I don't know where they got it because Target didn't exist. I'm not sure Walmart did. I don't know where they got it. Maybe Sears or J.C. penney. I got one of those ABA balls. But when I was a kid on the west coast, you couldn't watch the aba. All I knew was the spurs and the Denver Nuggets in the ABA were really good. And you'd occasionally see stories in Sports Illustrated. And I knew Dr. J was unbelievable. And so Dr. J, who I'm trying to get on this week, you know, it's just so interesting to watch what has happened to basketball. There's this, this, this like international infusion of talent. And these players, the young players, as Bruce said, they don't star at 15 or 16. They play in academies. They play against older players. So it used to be international players came in soft. Now they're hardened. Now they come in like, Luka didn't play defense. He was so gifted offensively, probably just got away with it. And he was so dominant at like 16, 17 years old. But it is interesting to watch what has happened to the international players. They are taking over this league. That's why I'm saying, like, Cooper Flagg is really important for the NBA. Like, he's really important because he could buy next is by next year, is he the best domestic player? I mean, he's this good as a 19 year. You think I'm nuts? J. Mac, I'm saying by next year he should be a freshman at Duke. And he has literally as a game with no holes, can slash, catch and shoot, draw point.
- [18:52]
J. Mac
Best. How do you define best domestic player?
- [18:55]
Colin Cowherd
Well, I'm saying Steph Curry is going
- [18:57]
J. Mac
to still be playing next year. Anthony Edwards still going to be playing next year. Tatum will be fully healthy.
- [19:02]
Colin Cowherd
I think he's better. I think he will by next year be better than Tatum. I mean, ants, your argument. I think Ant's a remarkable player and can do. Ant can give you mid range, can defend, can hit threes. I think Ant's a great player.
- [19:16]
J. Mac
I mean, listen, Friday on the show, I said I would build around Cooper flag above every any American player in the league. Your audience killed me online for that. But I'm kind of with you on Cooper. But this early, you think best domestic. Wow, that's a bull statement.
- [19:29]
Colin Cowherd
When you, when you do one year of college where you're easily the best college player and then you come into the NBA and you're like getting better every month, the splits, month to month, you're like, okay, he's caught up to the speed of the league. He plays defense. He's aggressive. A lot of him is like his mindset. He's very Much an attacking player. It's like, if he's this good now, it's like Wemby. You see these big massive leaps for players like Wemby. You're like, really interesting, really good. Oh, my God, he's dominant. 40 points after three quarters. Like, it was like, it's a little bit like Tiger Woods. I can remember Tiger winning juniors. He's on the tour. You're like, man, that kid is good. And then you look up and you're like, oh, he may be the greatest player next to Jack Nicklaus I've ever seen. And you, I mean, it was like Bryce Harper, 16 years old, on the COVID of Sports, illustrate minor leagues briefly comes into the bags. And by year two, you're like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. I mean, I. Cooper Flagg is like, it's a rocket ship. And I'm telling you, even LeBron wasn't. LeBron came into the league. He didn't really have a perimeter game. He was so good in transition. He was good in the mid range game. He was an unbelievable athlete. Cooper flags the bag, as they call it. Like, he can do everything. Floaters, jumpers, three mid range drive. He's got a left hand. There's nothing he can't do.
- [20:59]
J. Mac
All right, Dr. J. Huh?
- [21:01]
Colin Cowherd
Oh, oh, yeah, we're trying to get Dr. J. I was unaware of that. That's what I was. I got lost on that. Dr. J. The great thing about the ABA special, Dr. J gets gypped. His reputation. He doesn't get the credit he deserves because three or four of his greatest years were in the aba. Yeah, his ABA highlights, and again, they didn't have a TV contract, so there's not that many ABA highlights.
- [21:26]
J. Mac
So what year was that? Was that the 70s or 60s?
- [21:29]
Colin Cowherd
I started being a sports fan in 72.
- [21:31]
J. Mac
I know, I know.
- [21:31]
Colin Cowherd
I kind of. I kind of saw Dr. J for the first time. Like in 75, 76.
- [21:37]
J. Mac
Like a black and white television, maybe.
- [21:39]
Colin Cowherd
Like the ABA didn't have a TV contract. The NBA had a bad TV contract. So you heard about Dr. J, you read about him and then you started watching him and you're like, I mean, you go back to the NBA finals against Portland, mid-70s, that's when I really fell in love with the NBA. And then Dr. J went to Philadelphia and exploded.
- [22:01]
realtor.com ad voice
Yes, yes.
- [22:01]
Colin Cowherd
But I mean, so many of his great years were in the aba. And then it's like Arvidus Sabonis, like, he had his best years in Lithuania. I covered him in Portland. He was an unbelievable talent. But he was bigger and slower and heavier. And then you went back. YouTube wasn't a thing then, but I went back because I worked at a TV station in Portland and you found highlights of him when he was younger and you're like, oh my God, skinny Sabonis was. I wish I could have seen that.
- [22:28]
Fox Sports Radio Announcer
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- [23:04]
Colin Cowherd
Subscribe. Hit that thumbs up icon and comment away.
- [23:07]
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- [24:03]
Colin Cowherd
You know one of the things that was great about Team USA's win over Canada and Canada was a slight favorite but and you know that that actually I think works in the favor of American teams. When we are at an Olympic level, I think it's harder to get sometimes rich American athletes motivated hockey guys not ever the issue. But Tony Granado had been a head coach of the Olympics. He'd been a player back in Calgary. At the Olympics he'd been an assistant coach and I asked him about just just the passion that comes through the TV of the US players.
- [24:44]
Tony Granato
When you're out there and you learn what hockey is all about, you Grow up in hockey. For us, there's nothing better. Their appreciation for having an opportunity to play for your country shows and the competition when they play against their former, not their former, their current teammates. There's lots of head to head competition in this Olympics where you're going against your line mate or your defensive partner. And there was no, you know, there was no let up. I'll take it easy on you. I mean, they were, you know, running over each other. Very similar to the way the four nations Canada, US preview of the Olympics showed last year.
- [25:19]
Colin Cowherd
You know, it's funny about hockey. People have always said, you know, in Canada it gets big ratings, but it feels like it gets lost in the United States between our college football. You know, we have this massive college football labyrinth of sports. Canada doesn't, Europe doesn't. And so stuff gets lost in America. But every time you wrap a flag around hockey in this country, I'm telling you, I mean, Super Bowls don't galvanize people. I feel like sometimes the way US Playing Canada, US playing, you know, the Russians, it is remarkable. I just watched another documentary on the 1980, the Boys of 1980, the Miracle and the stuff. Still, it's absolute goosebump moments. And, you know, it's just. There is something, there is something about the grit when you go in. It's Canada's sport. They're favored. Here was Tony Granado on the grit this team showed.
- [26:20]
Tony Granato
Canada might have outplayed the U.S. at different parts of the game yesterday, but the U.S. you know, with what they have done the past few years, that's a flip a coin game when these two teams meet now, it used to not be like that. We can finally say we're as good as. We don't have to say we're better, we're as good as Canada and be proud of it. We don't have to tiptoe around anymore and say, it's Canada's game. And, you know, you know, we just play it, you know, we're good and we're darn good.
- [26:48]
Colin Cowherd
Yeah. And tip of the cap to the people at NBC. I thought the coverage was. I thought it was just great all day. I thought everybody. Kenny Albert, who I know, who is so diligent and earnest and hardworking and everybody around him was fantastic. So way to go. I haven't watched a ton of the Olympics, but there is nothing that gets me to a team, to a tv. Yesterday I was down in Florida and it was. I mean, there was nobody on golf courses during the early morning hours at 8am when it started. The Olympic coverage.
- [27:21]
Fox Sports Radio Announcer
Be sure to catch live editions of the Herd, weekdays at noon Eastern, 9am Pacific.
- [27:27]
J. Mac
We got a huge top 10 on Fox. College hoops as Yoxelle Lindeborg and top ranked Michigan look to keep their dominant season rolling against freshman phenom Keaton wagler and number 10 Illinois. Friday night, 8 Eastern only on Fox.
- [27:45]
Colin Cowherd
Sam Darnold will be joining us tomorrow on the show. The one, the only Sam Darnold. And I hope, J. Mac. This illustrates the importance of loyalty that a lot of times people have a little turbulence, turbulence in their life. But I hung tough with Sam Darnold and he's going to come on the show tomorrow.
- [28:07]
J. Mac
What a win for you, buddy. Gosh, what are you going to wear? Have you thought through that? Are you going to style the hair differently because Darnold's coming by your guy?
- [28:14]
Colin Cowherd
Dude, I don't have a lot of options with my wardrobe or my hair. This is what you get. J. Mac with the news.
- [28:21]
Chris Broussard
No, no, no.
- [28:23]
Colin Cowherd
Heard on the news.
- [28:24]
Fox Sports Radio Announcer
This is the Herd line news.
- [28:27]
J. Mac
I think we touched on earlier, this Javante Williams deal In Dallas.
- [28:30]
Colin Cowherd
Yeah.
- [28:31]
J. Mac
Three years, 24 mil.
- [28:32]
Colin Cowherd
What do you make of it?
- [28:33]
J. Mac
People are going overboard. Come on, he's okay. He's not like a top 10 back. It's fine. But the bigger story is what does that mean for George Pickens, right? The wide receiver who wants all of the money. The Cowboys want to tag him and there's a report indicating, here's a shocker, that if Pickens is tagged, he will sit out the Dallas offseason program.
- [28:56]
Colin Cowherd
All right.
- [28:58]
J. Mac
You don't sound surprised. I mean, there's a guy who flamed out in Pittsburgh, right, plays great in Dallas, looking for a contract and now he's like, whoa, whoa, if I'm not, if I'm tagged, I ain't showing up this summer.
- [29:09]
Colin Cowherd
Well, he had red flags out of Georgia. Y. You know, so, yeah, I mean, it's, it's, it's. Javante Williams is talented. Denver moved off him, has had injuries. I mean, Seattle is going to move off a more productive, younger, better running back in Kenneth Walker. Like those are the hard choices you have to make. I don't think people under I've said this about the Lakers. People don't go look at the OKC roster and draft picks and cost control, how much better OKC is 1 through 8 than the Lakers. People have no idea how much better Seattle is than the Cowboys. Cowboys right now are a mess financially.
- [29:49]
Rebel.com ad voice
Yeah.
- [29:49]
Colin Cowherd
I mean, they really are. Where Are they great? They have some great play. Where are the Cowboys? Great? They're not great anywhere. Running back?
- [29:56]
J. Mac
Well, it depends what you think about quarterback. Well, is deck quarterback?
- [30:00]
Colin Cowherd
I think if George Picking comes back they're very, very high end luxury at wide receiver. But as Miami and the Dolphins prove, that doesn't mean anything in December, January and February.
- [30:10]
J. Mac
Yeah, listen many Dept. Dallas running backs, remember Tony Pollard had a great year.
- [30:15]
Colin Cowherd
Yeah, yeah.
- [30:15]
J. Mac
One good year. Great, wonderful. Javante had a good year. I don't understand the excitement. This team feels like it's hurtling toward like 8, 9 ish. 7 and 10 somewhere in that.
- [30:25]
Colin Cowherd
I think 8 and 9. Oh, I think it's going to unravel by October. I really do.
- [30:30]
J. Mac
Shoddy looking for a job after the season. Final, final note on that. David Mulaguetta is the agent for Pickens. He's the one who got Micah Parsons the hell out of Dallas. So just keep that in mind. Let's move on. Daniel Jones your guy? I think I can call him that. Right. The guy who we used to call Vanilla Vic. He had a pretty damn good half season in Indy, then got hurt. Popped his achilles in week 14. That's a wrap. According to Tom Pelissaro, the Colts and Jones are working toward a multi year extension. Obviously going to be team friendly. Given the injury, he'll probably miss half a next season. The real interesting question is what do you do with the first half of the season? Do you make a play for a Tua Colin? Do you make a play for a Kyler Murray? No, I think to tread water until DJ comes back.
- [31:15]
Colin Cowherd
No, I think you just play it out. This is the best, this is the best quarterback in the market, I think. You know, I think next year you obviously draft one. Not this draft, the next draft. You build, you know, you do what you do. You try to draft well. They gave up first round picks to get Sauce Gardner. Hopefully he's healthy for the entire season. So I remember, don't forget how good the Colts were in the first seven, eight weeks we watched them play the Rams and outplay the Rams in la. And if not for a wide receiver, remember, was it Mitchell down to the Jets?
- [31:48]
Chris Broussard
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- [31:48]
Colin Cowherd
I mean he really lost in that game. They were going in and I thought, I mean don't forget what they were. Daniel Jones was healthy. The Colts were excellent. I mean first eight, nine weeks, I mean excellent. The talent here is not the issue. Keeping the quarterback upright is how much
- [32:06]
J. Mac
of that was smoke and mirrors in the Shane Steichen offense.
- [32:08]
Colin Cowherd
I mean, no, I think their offensive line's good. Their run game is good. I think they're. I don't think there's any smoke and mirrors. I think they have a good coach. I think they have a good old line. I think they have playmakers. I think they have a star running back. I think they have a pass rush. I. And now they went in.
- [32:23]
J. Mac
They went all in with Gardner. They're going to lose Pearson free agency. The receiver, he's going to get paid.
- [32:27]
Colin Cowherd
This will be one of my new playoff teams next year.
- [32:29]
J. Mac
No, no, no, no. I won't let you do that. Come on, man.
- [32:32]
Colin Cowherd
Really?
- [32:33]
J. Mac
Playoffs next year.
- [32:34]
Colin Cowherd
I got a $20 bill burning a hole in my pocket. I'm putting it on the coals.
- [32:38]
J. Mac
20. So what is that? One Starbucks drink, 20 bucks.
- [32:41]
Colin Cowherd
She's two.
- [32:41]
J. Mac
High roller. Enjoy. Let me look it up. Riley Leonard, your guy is going to potentially be the starter for the first month and change in Indy.
- [32:51]
Colin Cowherd
Oh, got a little Josh Allen qualities.
- [32:54]
J. Mac
All right, final story. Speaking of busts. Just kidding. That's a little harsh. Kyle Pitts sounds like he's going to be franchise tagged, according to multiple reports. I. I don't. Listen, I don't want to bash Pitts. He was a stud coming out of college. He just hasn't lived up to top 10 hype. He's got all the tools. He looks like the part, you know, when he lines up at tight end or wide or in the slot, he just hasn't really delivered. I don't know how much you can pin on the quarterback situation in Atlanta. It's kind of been a revolving door.
- [33:23]
Colin Cowherd
It's one of those things. I. I've got a book on you. After about three years in the league, he kind of feels like a finesse guy. Blocking is optional. He has. He's a splash player. He'll have Sunday. He'll have halves.
- [33:36]
J. Mac
Yeah.
- [33:36]
Colin Cowherd
He'll have moments. He'll have series. We're like, whoa. But he came out. You know what he's always reminded me of? Andrew Wiggins that came out of Kansas, basketball player, is that you're looking at them and you're like, oh, that can't bust. And Andrew Wiggins is not a bust. He's good, but you just didn't feel like physically he was. Like he wasn't. To be a tight end in this league, you got a block, you got to have some nasty. You got to be tough. Pitts feels like he's a tweener, like he's a tight end. He's got A tight end body. But he actually, if he, if you, if he was a little faster, you'd put him at wide receiver. I just feel like he's got the Andrew Wiggins thing. I'm not denying his talent. He has his moments, but a lot of times his catches just disappear into the tapestry of a game and he has no impact. I remember going, watching when he played for. Was it Minnesota, Andrew Wiggins and I went to a couple of Laker and Clipper games, and it just so happened I always got tickets to t Wolves games. And I told Scott Shapiro, who's from Minnesota, he's on the radio staff, and I remember telling him, I'm like, dude, I've never seen anybody that scores 26 and I drive home and I can't remember any of them. Yeah, I'm like, like certain guys in the NBA, they score 24 and you can feel all of their points. Like, Jalen Brown's like that for the Celtics. Like, he. He'll get steals, dunks, he scores at the right time. He's a big moment player. And then our guys just score and you can't remember the points. And I feel like with Kyle Pitts, like, if you told me, oh, he had five catches today for 80 yards, I'm like, yeah, I think he had one in the first quarter. I don't really remember that. I'm honestly, it's not a criticism. It just. He disappears in games.
- [35:15]
J. Mac
By the way, coming off fresh off vacation, the sun was good for you. You're dropping SAT vocabulary words. Tapestry. I mean, that's pretty impressive.
- [35:23]
Colin Cowherd
Coward for hour three pits of 87 eligible tight ends last year. And according to PFF, he was 85th in blocking. Like, it's like they always. Like, if you're not willing to block. Do you know how few coaches in the. And remember that guy for the Dolphins a few years ago? Was it Mike Gasecki? Yeah, I thought he was excellent, but it was like, why aren't they playing him more?
- [35:45]
J. Mac
Well, he couldn't block me coming off the edge.
- [35:47]
Colin Cowherd
That's right. That, that, that. That was the knock on Jimmy Graham when the Saints had him. And it worked with Breeze and Sean Payton and Seattle. Yeah, went and got him. He didn't fit Seattle's culture because he. Jimmy Graham's a great athlete. He didn't want to block. And I feel like Kyle Pitts is like, he's sort of in the wrong position, but he's so damn athletic. You're like, you draft him because he's just. He was like, the eighth pick. And you're like, oh, that's. I saw him at Florida. I'm like, oh, yeah, that'll work in the NFL. He just like, there's just no there there with him, Right? Yeah.
- [36:18]
J. Mac
That soft label, you know, you're not giving that to Trey McBride or, or balance.
- [36:22]
Colin Cowherd
Oh, my God.
- [36:23]
J. Mac
Yeah.
- [36:24]
Colin Cowherd
They're gonna wreck you. Yeah, yeah. J. Macklin, the Nuke.
- [36:27]
Fox Sports Radio Announcer
Well, that's the Nuke.
- [36:28]
Colin Cowherd
And thanks for stopping by. I don't think that was a bad comp. I like Andrew Wiggins. He was part of that Warrior team that won, but he just disappears in games. And you're like, he doesn't really want to put a body on it. He's not going to make a big defensive stop. But you know, he's talented. He's got a 40 inch vertical. And I watch Kyle Pitts, and once in a while you'd run a bootleg. You get it to him. He's out running everybody. You're like, man, that dude's got talent. But it's, you know, they always say you got to love football, not what football provides for you. When you watch George Kittle, you're like, that guy loves football. When I watch Colston, love them with the Bears, I'm like, that guy loves football. And they're just. And then tight ends, a position, it demands a lot. You're not only blocking guy, you have to block like Pro bowl defensive ends, nasty guys, and you got to put your hands on them. A lot of guys just don't. They just don't have the intuition or the want to do that. And the NFL, you know, in college at tight end, Iowa makes you block Utah. Kyle Whittingham, Michigan, with hardball. He made his tight ends block. You know, a lot of these Big 12 guys, they're splitting out. You get to the NFL if you're not willing to block, offensive coordinators don't want you on the field. They. They'll take a less talented tight end, put them up against the tackle and just do me a favor, put your hands on somebody. Sam Darnold tomorrow. Going to be nice to see Sam Darnold, who knows he has one loyal friend, one loyal ally in the media business. Good to see Sam. Can't wait, man. I'm just. I don't know if I'll sleep tonight. That kind of. I get all fired up for him. All right, J. Mac, you put in some good, some good work today. I appreciate it.
- [38:15]
J. Mac
I like that, that tag on the screen. Number one fan of Sam Darnold. That's Colin Cower.
- [38:23]
Colin Cowherd
We'll see you tomorrow. First things first.
- [38:32]
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Colin Cowherd
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