Colin Cowherd Podcast Prime Cuts - Mavericks Weren’t Close, Nick Wright On The Lakers Incompetence, Which NFL Teams Can Win A Title

Who do you like to win? At the volume? You know Daniel Cormier will give your heads up on that stuff. Middle cough on golf, basketball, football will.

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it becomes very Luca dominant, I thought, he looked. I thought you were getting about eighty percent of Luca in this finals, and and some of that's just when you're the guy and it's little Jalen Brunson It's like Jalen's great, but there are limitations to you know, when Jalen went on that forty point run, You're like, this isn't gonna end well, Like he's just you can't. You can't be that dominant. You have to be able to you know. And that's why the Celtics work is that Tatum wasn't

good in the first two games. He and Brown were both good. In Game three tonight, Tatum was superior. I mean, there were Knights that Derek White, I mean presser before the half, like it's symphonic watching Boston. They're just handing the baton off man Luca. He had that baton out multiple times and nobody grabbed it, and I thought he looked And that's I agree with you. Oka sees only getting better. Denver's already favored. Boston's not getting significantly worse

six percent. And by the way, keep your on what Houston's doing. They had a strips this year. You're like, oh, yeah, they're probably a veteran away. So listen, we've seen this before. It's like in the NFL, the loser of the Super Bowl, like most of the time doesn't farewell. Like this felt like a magical moment in time for Dallas. But there's some real flaws here. We would both acknowledge that it

is too Luca dependent. That's what it feels. It does feel like that Cavs team that was really very Lebron dependent played with great energy. If you remember Zill Goscas, I mean, they played with tremendous energy. Lebron was captivating, they had streaky shooters on the wing. But then you watch them against San Antonio and you're like, all right, they you know, five of the best six players are all Spurs. And that's how I felt in this series.

was a pretty favorable matchup for you. And then also that Memphis team, young John Morant driving into Anthony Davis, all series was obviously not going to work. So it's like you got a couple of favorable matchups, then you ran into a real championship level team in Denver and

you got your ass kicked. So you're not close, right, right, So when I look at the Dallas piece, this is what I think about, Like when the circumstances are favorable, meaning like when Luca has obvious mismatches, he can pick at the entire series, and then on the other end of the floor, when they can really load up the strong side and keep their rim protectors at the rim and hide Luca on the opposite end of the floor,

they can get stops. But where I get concerned is how many times in NBA history have we seen a team led by two stars that are both at least combining for two bad defensive players that go win the title. It's exceedingly rare, and so yeah, one of the things that I wonder I shouldn't say exceedingly rat can't.

Let's go back to the Celtics, very deserving. Don't forget they had a dominant record. They lost to Denver, but they had a dominant record against the West, even more dominating against the East. Flushed through the Eastern Conference playoffs and the finals. So you know there are these teams too that you know, we're so used to dynasties in the NBA. I was talking to Chris bruce Hard today. We were talking about teams that won a championship that

weren't a dynasty, but they were great teams. And one of the first ones was the Jerry West, Gail Goodrich, Wilt Chamberlain. Remember that thirty three game winning streak Laker team that I think beat the Knicks and won a championship. Now, they didn't reel off a lot of them, but in a singular season that was an older Wilt. That's one

of the greatest teams of all time. There was a seventy six Ers team that had Moses Malone joined Julius Irving and they were kind of missing a dominating interior scoring presence and for a year or two, Jesus, I remember those Sixers well, like Malone was. It's just hard to exp Moses Malone. If you ever saw him play, nobody discusses him. He was as dominating a rebounder as I've ever seen in the history of basketball, with doctor J and good guard play. And I think Boston falls

into that group. So right now, like we thought Denver was gonna run off two or three Boston in a single season like that, West good Rich Will team or the Moses Malone Doctor j T for a season lightning in a bottle health spectacular. You know, just just flush through the playoffs. The question will become they will play with a champion swagger next year. They probably won't be as relentless in the regular season. This is, you know, kind of predictable. They'll they'll be you know, they'll have

their little swoons and won't be. But I do think there's a chance it's a back to back championship because cross your fingers on poor Zingis's health. You know they're bringing the guys back. You'll play with more confidence. Tatum comes into a season like, Okay, I got it, I got my money, I got my title. I think it does take pressure. I think it was building you and I said this this was Celtics had to win this after that Warriors Final where they came home and kind

of laid an egg emotionally. They had to play well in this series. I thought by second quarter game too, it was like this is a mismatch. But I think next year you'll see this goes down to me is a in moment in time, A great team in a great moment, too good not to win a championship, but at times too weird to be a dynasty. I mean, Jalen Brown wins the MVP and he averaged twenty a game. You didn't neverge thirty, you didn't neverage twenty eight. He averaged twenty twenty one a game and was the MVP

for the second straight series. So historically, can we acknowledge they're a little bit of an odd eight team?

In my opinion, Steph Curry is the fifth best perimeter player that's played since nineteen eighty Like, I think he's right up there with Bird and Magic in that tier. So like these it's just funky to see a team

that is as dominant as the Celtics have been. But I think one of the things too, is this kind of stuff bears out in time, Like you know what Celtics fans, they're gonna want a certain amount of like the credit for being dominant, and like here's the thing, like you beat the you beat the cas the Heat

without Jimmy Butler, the Pacers and the Maps. So like like I'm not trying to like, but one of the things with NBA history because like people said this about the Nuggets last year, and I thought the Nuggets run was a little underrated because they went through Lebron and Ad and they went through Kadi and Devin Booker, and they went through Jimmy Butler and.

of things out. Like next year they're probably going to have to play a Milwaukee in a playoff series, or a healthy Knicks team or a team like Denver out of the Western Conference, or maybe what if Ooklahoma City makes some big trade this summer and they end up going to the finals and it ends up like NBA history is a kind of a habit of working these things out. Everything about how this team is remembered is

going to be about the big picture. So, for instance, they lose, if they lose next next year, you're gonna zoom out on a three year window here, and you're gonna be like, embarrassing loss against the Heat in the conference finals, beat four mediocre teams, then lost the following year. People will write the story of that Celtics team as

an underachieving, overly talented team. But if they go out next year and they beat better teams on their way to the Larry O'Brien, people will zoom out and be like, this is an all time great team. So like that's the thing, Like you're gonna get another crack at the table next year. It's like Jason Tatum said, gotta do it again next year. Go ahead, do it and it'll shut everybody up. Like these things get worked out with wins.

by the time. You know, if he if he's a Miami Heat, they need another not Tyler hero, they need another player. So it's this is the good thing. If you're a Miami fan, or a Knicks fan, or a Sixers fan, this is like, guys, this wasn't competitive like this. They just I mean, how many blowouts they had, like thirteen blowout wins. It's like tweaking is not beating Nobody in the East has Jokic. Okay, you don't have Yokic, so Tweaking's not gonna do it. And I think that's

that's sort of the advantages. I say this in sports all the time. The great thing about harbaught Michigan. For a Buckeye fan, it puts pressure on going and getting Chip Kelly as an offensive coordinator. It's like they're throwing, They're pushing us around three years in a row. You want your rival to be viable because it puts pressure

on your owner and your front office. And so I'm watching this game tonight and I'm thinking, if I'm a Knicks fan, you may hate Boston, but your front office, these are smart people now in New York running that franchise. You got to bring the McHale Bridges on and another guy that can drop twenty Devivingenzo's become a great catch and shoot. Guy Brunston's going to give you twenty eight.

McHale Bridges could give you twenty four and I've got to get somebody better than Mitchell Robinson in the post that can give me offense. So it's that's the upside for the Eastern Conference teams is I think Darryl Morey, the Knicks, you know, Indiana, if they can get somebody that the pressure's on. You got to add multiple pieces over the next couple years to beat these guys.

and then Boston went and got him. And then you know, like even looking at Denver, it's like they went and got KCP, they went and got Aaron Gordon, Like those are two like slam dunk moves to surround Jamal Murray, Michael Porter Junior, and Nicole Jokic. They just there. That aggression is the big piece there. Even going back to twenty twenty one, they won after they traded for Drew Holliday. The Bucks did they traded for Drew Holliday, They went

and they won the title. And so like, keep an eye on those aggressive teams this summer, the teams that add talent. There are a lot of young teams in the NBA right now that are like this close to becoming great. That Thunder team, that Orlando Magic team is probably like two years away, but they're gonna be really really good. You mentioned the Pacers. If they if they make maybe one more edition this offseason, they could be in the mix. The Knicks are obviously gonna be aggressive.

I mentioned Memphis earlier. Like Memphis, this kid Gigi Jackson that they have on the wing is awesome that they discovered this year. He like slots perfectly between Jamrant Desmond Bain. They're gonna have Jaron Jackson coming back. They're gonna have a big look. They're gonna go get a center, and they're gonna have a massive frontline that could contend with Denver. As long as Jamranc can like stay healthy and available for his team, I think they could be really good.

shitty gms, average coaches. Lebron just wins championships like he just even more than Michael, who needed Pippin, who needed Phil. Lebron got every coach to the finals. It doesn't matter, and so he's the great eraser. Is that people forget how bad the Lakers were for a long stretch pre Lebron six years. Yeah, and then Lebron comes. They went in the Bubble, which was a weird year, and people forget how mostly bad they've been with Lebron. Take the

Bubble year out. I mean that's the year Harball's team was terrible and Belichick's was terrible. Like that year was.

that doesn't change your point. The point is ten.

not sure he starts for Oklahoma City. That Lebron were conning to the Lakers, Yeah, Lebron coming to the Lakers got you a COVID Bubble title for a franchise with twelve Who gives a shit In the end, it has masked a like twelve year eleven to twelve year run of large incompetency or suboptimal guidance upstirs. So again, the.

It's not my own my I have a lot of things I'm looking at. Figuring out the single best draft pick for the Lakers is not literally my only job. So to compare my how I would have done as Lakers GM went in that by that same metric, I am the GM of thirty NBA teams, thirty two NFL teams, a couple baseball teams, and doing other things. It's nonsense. Yes, I would have gotten it wrong to the Lakers job

to get it right. There's that. There is the fact that they either were too cheap or incompetent to keep Alex Caruso. They ever Lebron wanted, no question, Lebron wanted Russell Westbrook, but Lebron wanted Kyrie Irving, and they found a way to say no to that. Lebron wanted Tyleru. They found a way to say no to that. They said yes to Russell Westbrook because they wanted him to because they're about stars. And then they mortified themselves with

this coaching search. This is horrifying, man, horrifying. Danny Hurley told you he was to the point where he's talking to Lebron and the Lake. The Detroit Pistons are willing to pay Many Williams more money to not coach them, then the Lakers were willing to offer Danny Hurley to coach them. It's not They're not as serious. They are a family business that is being run by Linda Rambis, Kurt Rambis, Kobe's former agent, Rob Blenka, and Genie Buss.

And the only this is what frustrates me so much about because there's still a contingent of Laker fans that are really Kobe fans that are hostile towards Lebron. The only reason this team has not been in the wilderness since.

I'm fired. He's like, you're hefing fired. He's like, I'm fired. He's like, yeah, you're fired because either you were in on it or you were too dumb to know you were being scammed. Either way, you gotta go. That's how I feel about the Danny Hurley situation. There are two

doors you can walk through on that. Either you never actually intended to hire him and you thought having that story out there would be good pr and soften the blow of eventually hiring JJ Reddick, or you really did want to hire him and you thought eleven million dollars a year was gonna get it done. So either you were trying to run a scam on your fan base or you were too incompetent to get your guy. Either way, you're unqualified. You are unqualified, And I don't think this

is why I brought up blink up. That is in a lot of industries, man, that is a fireable offense. Oh yeah, if somebody, if you have say, I'm not going to compare you to Darbnham, that's unfair. But if if you if someone, if you get if you get fired and the company's like trust us and then publicly, very publicly goes after someone that everybody thinks, oh well that would be great. Oh they're getting costas I don't know.

a platform. If you're the only thing on the platform, it's powerful. And I think a lot of media critics say, oh, cable TV is losing its audience. The only thing that works on TV today, the only thing is sports in every four years politics, So television now is just Fox has said on Fridays we're doing sports. Weekends were sports, We're going to Fridays. In fact, if they had the Amazon Thursday Games, I think Fox would say Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday.

We're a sports network, three days a primetime nonsports. And so I think what's one of the things that's interesting is that the explosion Caitlin Clark is clearly a catalyst for a business that was and let's be honest, Whereas Tiger and Connor McGregor elevated their sports, Caitlyn to some degree, Caitlin to some degree financially saved the WNBA. It was hemorrhaging money for years.

the WNBA hadn't. The WNBA was not well run. Flatly, they they had a product that could be monetized in a way that it was not. I'm not saying the teams weren't well run. I'm saying the league as far as whoever was in chards of generating revenue, there was. But the fact of the matter is whosever fault it was. It was a league that as a business was not

a highly successful one at all. It's why you could get a I think you could get a franchise for fifty million, Well you know the is the franchise fee like it? So it is it can be true that it was it had the potential, as being proven right now, to potentially be a super valuable business. But was not being treated or run as such, and I think that was an oversight maybe by the upper echelon of leadership.

And now with Caitlin, they have no choice but to adapt and evolve because there's gonna be money pouring in because there's so many more eyeballs on it now.

stronger orange for the NBA playoffs. Then it's blue. It's cool, like we got two muchs cool. And I will say that, you know, every four years World Cups, the Copas Euros, those are very good for Fox. Those getting the good numbers, they're fascinating. But I will say this selfishly, is that the WNBA has become on a fairly regular basis, it will fill a segment every day on my show, and I'm not doing it because I don't talk hockey much. I'm not doing it as a reach. And I was

thinking about that, how people get famous. Some people get famous on art. Mister Rogers got famous on decency. Some people get famous or infamous on controversy, accidental or as a law provocateur. In that, not only is Caitlin Clark a catalyst, but the racial component and the underdog being picked on as a component. And it's a little like golf, where a very insular country club, predominantly white, wealthy sport had this profoundly popular, historically fantastic player and that was

part of the Tiger story. He was new on many levels. And I do think, and I'm not saying there is a racial component to the WNBA, but every business needs a catalyst, and every business there explosion is different. Some it's controversy, some it's and so I'll use it is good.

business based off her skill talent and beauty. Flatly, she has one of the longest running hit television shows. She has you know more, I don't you know a clothing line or makeup line. I'm not all the way up to date on everything the Kardashians are doing. But she took that spark and turned it into a forest fire. And that is what I'm hoping the WNBA can do with this. You have Caitlin is the spark. The rivalry which dates back to college with Angel Reese is real

gas on that spark. The times absurd media attention is turning it into a real fire that at times the wrong things are being focused on, and it's and to go back to our bad actors on the internet stuff. There's a lot of grossness surrounded with it. But even if it's just by accident, there are a lot more eyeballs on this league enough so everyone in the sports world today was aware. Oh man, Cameron Brink tore ACL yesterday. Yeah,

like that sucks. Think about that. Two years ago, there was no if if the number if the third most famous w NBA rookie got hurt mid season. It's not like one of the biggest things that happened I'm in the sports world that day. From an attention standpoint, people now care, and I that sounded wrong. I know a lot some people care, but it has a relevance that it's a zeitgeist effect, that it happened before there are it is a bigger tint there, or it's the same

sized tint and more people are crowding in. And some of those people are real assholes, and I kind of wish they would leave, but they're here too, and so I so I agree with you. It's how I forever because I love tennis. I was hoping, like, man, can someone in the Big three tennis become like controversial or that where America cares because I would love to have some Nadal Federer Djokovic seven years ago discussions, But my

audience didn't care enough. So on the podcast, I do Nick's tennis corner during the Majors, and that's it because I respect what the audience wants. But Colin, I was on your TV show for twenty minutes on the Tuesday after the NBA Finals rapped, and we spent as much time on Caitlin Clark and Angel Rees as we did on Game five of the finals, and it was a smart programming decision because people have takes and people are invested.

And I also think, by the way, the other important thing what was a bummer for golf was nobody was able to carry on from Tiger. There wasn't there were you know, like, there wasn't a It was. It was purely Tiger to pinning, and the people like it was like, oh, is it gonna be rory? Is it gonna be this? It was? It was. It wasn't really anybuff with the w n b A. The hope is you have this rookie, you have all the stars are already there, and you

have this rookie class. Next year, you're gonna have Page from Yukon coming in Paige, who was supposed to be Caitlin before Caitlyn as far as like transcendent star and the young woman at USC Juju might be the best of everybody. She's clever then and then you then you're not just relying on you know, oh, this person's out for the year.

think basketball and football. If you really break down what America likes. Europe likes soccer, they just love it, and we love in America, we like our basketball and our football. You can you can develop stuff off both, and I think so I do think there's a very good chance that Caitlin will create. She is the catalyst and we will start. Now we may never have quite a quite a Tiger, but Rory's not tiger either either as Deshamba

or Brooks. But they're captivating. They move the needle. All right, let's bring in my buddy John Middlecoff, former NFL scout. His podcasts The Football One is three and Out. You know it's it's funny about I got into this conversation about quarterbacks that the last twelve years only two quarterbacks have won Super Bowls, Stars Peyton, Brady Mahomes or guys

who are talented but yet to be paid. Russell Wilson and Flacco were on the last year of their their first year contract, and then the Wentz Nick Foles team, where those guys weren't making any money. So essentially like that's it, you know, Tua Dak good quarterbacks, big money, no chance. And so I looked at all the teams. I came up with twelve quarterbacks who were either I considered like throw the ball elite fashion, and it was Stafford and Mahomes and Allen. I put Aaron Rodgers on there.

I put Lamar Jackson because I think he's elite, and Joe Burrow. Those are the six, so they're in the Super Bowl bubble. And then there were six other guys who I consider really really talented and inexpensive, all under twenty million dollars a cap. Hit Herbert, I think it was Jalen Hurts, Jordan Love, brock Purty, I'm missing somebody else, but it was that group.

I actually liked this bubble. It was you know, Ravens, Bengals, it was all the teams we like, you know Texans. I think we both agree. And Packers are young, but you wouldn't be shocked if they end up at a conference championship and Detroit was my takeaway. And I also love Dan Campbell's ability to build a culture. I don't know if you get him in a game with a Shanahan or Andy Reid if I feel so great about highly emotional Dan Campbell. So here's a franchise. I love

a quarterback. I've been higher on Goff. You and I have, I think than almost anybody in the media. Love their roster. It's a younger version of the Niners. But there are no examples of Jared Goff winning a Super Bowl that kind of pay and quarterback. And you know it wouldn't shock you if I said in five years they didn't win a Super Bowl.

of the CAF, it's a little different. But right now, on a man demand basis, I would say they easily have a top five roster because the other thing they have. I was talking to our guy, Jeff Schwartz, who Oregon Duck. He's like, do you realize that Piney Sewell is like twenty three, twenty four years old? You know the players, their young talent. That Jamier Gibbs, the wide receiver, meets running back like he's a Christian McCaffrey, Alvin Kamara, we

saw Laporta. I'mon Saint Brown. They do have a question mark.

a unique situation with him. So yeah, Dan is not mister schematic right, he's not calling the place. But he didn't lose his start coordinator and now they're defense just personnel wise, like, I think they.

mentally tough and that matters in these playoff games. Alex is just so physically limited when Andy would get him to the playoffs, Jared has more physical case. You can't run like that, but he can throw and if you can protect him. The NFC, I mean, they should have won that game, and like you said, it was a I thought it was pretty reckless by Dan Campbell with the kick of the field goals. But yeah, I think this year they got a legit chance. If you tell

me the Lions, is it inconceivable? They're the number one seed? Their division's hard, But I mean, why couldn't they win. I don't know if San Francisco is gonna win thirteen fourteen again, maybe they win eleven because them in the Rams both eleven. What if the Lions get to twelve or thirteen, have the one seed and then they get to everything's in adult.

out of these two teams it can compete with. I mean literally the offensive line, Trent Williams one side, pinas the other.

The offensive line was rated seventh. I like their backs capable at tight end again, a number one receiver. I think the old lines better than people think. One of the smartest play designers and callers in the sport. The Raiders are not going to be great. The Chargers will probably take a while to get where they want to get. They're not going to be terribly explosive vertically. The Chargers can beat teams, but they're a little bit like Kansas

City last year. They're not blowing people out. They just don't. They don't.

off Jerry Judy. They went and got another receiver. I it's hard when I when you say smart coach, good offensive line, automatic wins in Division. Bo Nicks had sixty one starts. If he's capable, if he's Russell Wilson capable. I think they're like an eight win team. I'm not saying playoffs, but five Jesus John five and twelve is Carolina. It's unwatchable. I don't think Denver's gonna be unwatchable.

personnel is pretty awesome. I mean DK Metcalf's like Torell Owens. Oh, the receivers are great, yeah, Walker, they've improved the offensive line. Their defense, for a team that's drafted defense that's traded for defense, has been a knemick these last two years, which is crazy because you remove the last like three year stretch. Pete Carroll's easily one of the best defensive minds over the last thirty plus years, right, but it

it fell apart at the end. Gino Smith I'm not the biggest believer, but he has not really been their issue of just being competitive. It's their defense. They couldn't stop the soul. Well, they get the boy genius from Baltimore who easily had the best defense in the league last year. Listen, Stafford's already kind of bitching and moaning I need a little more money. And Stafford was awesome last year. But that elbow goes. We've seen what happens. If he's on the shelf.

all over him in the draft this year. I think that they are a very unique spot equipped in the future if they could ever find just even get their brock Purty or just a guy that's really good cheap contract. They would be a problem because what Mike McDaniel or Mike McDonald did these last two years and specifically last year, I mean they Colin, he embarrassed Kyle Shanahan on Christmas night.

I had a buddy on the Baltimore Raven staff. They were all calling him boy genius around the room, like he is a special defensive schematic guy, and he listened. We questioned that that side of the ball running a team, but he does inherit players everywhere on offense and we'll see. I mean, I and Grub a lot of success coaching. Now going to the NFL is a little bit different. But what he just did in Washington, a lot of NFL people are watching. I'm not shocked to John, you know.

And uh, they hired him to be the offensive coordinator. So they're a team I would say this year is going to be interesting, but they're they're a bo Knicks whoever their guy is over the next couple of years away from being like they could be a problem.

Texans and winning the division. But their quarterback has played. He's much more physically gifted and much more talented. But a little Trey Lancy, he just hasn't played much football over several years now, so you're you're very dependent on this guy. It's like, well, if he's awesome, I mean I haven't really seen him on the field. And then last year it's one thing to get hit by ray Lewis Wright or John Lynch in their prime and get

a broken shoulder or whatever. He had some injuries where you're like, I didn't even think that hit was that violent. And the thing about football is some guys are just durable. They just this guy, this guy never missed a game y fifteen years. Yeah, look at Jerry Rice's career, sixteen for sixteen, So it just goes on forever. The occasional you break a leg or whatever. But like you start

having concussions, shoulder issues. That concerns me. I'm probably gonna pick them to make the playoffs, but I can't feel good. I mean, their quarterback has played a combined I don't know how many games you played last year, three or four, and then before coming out of college he had played thirteen career games. That's the thing with this class, right.

Hens has been playing for six years. Bo Nick's sixty one career starts Caleb Williams started every game after Oklahoma told Spencer Ratler to go, you know, to the pine. JJ McCarthy like, you've seen these guys be on the field for a long time. People get very like you said with Kyler, Murray, lazy, not into it, terrifies teams. Half the leaks is out. The injury stuff is tough because you're like, well, what if just a weird couple of years stretch and then he plays seven straight years,

or what if it's just something that snowballs. You really don't know. You're just completely taking an educated guess. Half the times the doctors tell you we can't draft this guy. This guy goes on Navin eight your career and the doctor tells you to draft this guy. He's got a degenerate knee. So it's just it's tough. But that is gonna concern me picking them. But if I picked the Bengals,

isn't Joe Burrows? Yeah, wrist injury that I don't know if you read about it, it's not like a broken leg or an ACL that's basically feels like one hundred percent recovery. It's a much smaller percentage. Not arthritis, but pain and just the throbbing as you're working back from it is unavoidable. He's a quarterback, so he kind of needs to use it. I love watching the guy play, and he's the only guy in the AFC that went toe to toe with Mames and took him down on

the road. But like that, that injury is has a little baseball feel to it, where you're like, that picture was never the same, right, Yeah, I hope that's not the case, but it's it's it's scary the volume.