THE HERD – HOUR 1 – LeBron & 76ers Win On Opening Night

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Oh, it was a thing of beauty. LeBron even playing center at the end of the first half. We are live. We got a lot on the table. NBA debuts last night. LeBron's Philadelphia opener. Sixers at the Knicks. Wherever you may be, however you may be listening, thanks for making us part of your day. So for years we've asked about Philadelphia, why are they so bad in the playoffs?

The Eastern Conference isn't any good. Why do they struggle in the playoffs?

Because they always had posers, nightclub guy, casually interested in basketball guy.

They didn't have closers. Now they had LeBron, Jalen Brown, KCP. That's 13 finals. Big shot takers, big shot makers. Think about this.

Think of all the continuity the Knicks have. All the continuity. And yet, isn't that amazing? Philadelphia's got all the new pieces, and they didn't even play that great, and they won. How are you not impressed with that? And one of the great assets of LeBron has always been moldability. He can lubricate. He is the oil to the engine. I joked this morning with the staff. He's like a great politician.

He builds basketball consensus. So last night, the big four, and we worried about this. Oh, there's only one basketball. Maxie Brown, LeBron and Embiid, 74 points, 32 rebounds, 24 assists, seven steals.

Eight blocks. That's game one. That's game one.

And I mean, just to give you an idea of the, if you're listening on radio and don't see all the box score here, LeBron had 14 points, nine rebounds, seven assists. The only thing he was selfish with was the pregame chalk. LeBron's like, I'm 41. I'm joining a bunch of young athletes.

All right.

I'm going to be the distributor in chief. And that's what he did last night.

I mean, Jalen Brown didn't have a great night, but Jalen's going to give you effort, toughness, smarts, rebounds, steal, assist. KCP was classic last night, invisible. And then all of a sudden, late in the game, two big threes. He has always been a guy that never shies away. I don't think Denver was ever as good once he left. And, you know, and then you've got, we all know that Maxie and Embiid are talented. That's never been a question.

Embiid has health issues. Maxie's terrific. But LeBron has kind of figured it out. This is the one thing with LeBron I think is really smart. There was only one place he needed to go. I kept saying, Philadelphia is the only place. In fact, the NBA is the only league and the only business in America where if you joined the best law office, you get criticized. If you were an old attorney and you joined a young, smart law office, everybody would pat you on the back and go, you go, man.

They made you a partner. In the NBA, it's like, oh, you're ring chasing.

What? I guess we're all ring chasing. Don't we all want to play with good young players? And so this to me was always the perfect fit because the Sixers are athletic enough and young enough to hide LeBron's 41 year old body on the defensive end. But the Sixers have enough young athletic closers that they will be able to finish on his distribution so they can hide his weakness and elevate his strength. And LeBron thought about joining all these teams, but we kept preaching. Philadelphia is the only one that works. It is the, and I'll show you another number last night. So, because we all worried about one ball, Brown, Maxie, Vijay Edge, Combe, Embiid, LeBron, somebody's going to get lost. So last year when the

Knicks played the Sixers, the Knicks got a basket anytime they wanted to. They averaged 120 points against the Sixers.

Last night they had 100. So what does that tell you?

It tells you the defensive adjustments, the switching by the Sixers, which people experiment in the NBA until like the trade deadline, the all-star game. You don't get great defense very early in a season. But last night, Philadelphia, LeBron's like, yeah, I'll play some center. Switchable defenders. So, I mean, considering the Knicks, I mean, it's like Thanksgiving.

You know everybody in the room.

They got all this continuity, and you're jamming all these Sixers together, and the defense was pretty good, and they didn't necessarily play great, but this is what we always said with LeBron. The moldability, the oil to the engine, one of the smartest guys ever. In a weird way, I don't know if this would have worked with LeBron 15 years ago because he would have wanted and could have scored 32 a night. But with this team, you get all the championship pedigree, and you get none of the young guy ego in the NBA and LeBron, and they all have it.

That's great. That's fine.

That's what athletes have that makes them different. But LeBron can pull back and just say, I'm going to land the plane, these possessions, I'm going to set you up, I'm going to be switchable, I'm going to be a great teammate.

So it just, I mean, it shouldn't have looked this good. It shouldn't have been this good.

Even when LeBron went to Miami with Bosh, and that was a high-functioning team with a great coach. Remember, it took him about 16, 17 games to make it work. This actually is the most talented team LeBron's ever played with, in my opinion.

Like the L.A.

Team he was on, nobody played defense. I mean, Luka, Austin aren't going to play defense. You know, the Cleveland teams he played on, he made work. But Kyrie, before he got to Cleveland, you know, people were like, is that going to work? I mean, Kyrie's best years are obviously with LeBron. The Miami team had no true center.

The point guard was Mario Chalmers. This team's really got everything. I mean, Embiid's not a great rim protector, but they've got athletes. They got switchable defenders. They have shooters. Maxie's explosive. And you just put LeBron in and it just bakes the cake. It just all kind of works. Here's LeBron after.

Another guy that can hold guys accountable because they understand and they see that the guy has gotten to the finish line. And beyond the finish line. I went through the rope. These guys that's been here is trying to be able to get to that point. Obviously this is a marathon and we're not going to do it in day one or day four or five, six, seven, whatever the case may be. But the experience that we have and the experience that we've brought to this ball club, hopefully we can translate it to to wins and more of a culture shock as well of how you prepare mentally being a champion.

Okay, Oklahoma City in the night game blew out San Antonio. It wasn't as close as the score. Wemby, one for 13, did not play well. And once again, Wemby is much better defensively. It's miles ahead of his offense. At 7'5, he's got such a high center of gravity. You can put guards on him, make him uncomfortable and move him around.

That will probably always be the case. Here's the other thing with Wemby. If you take Jokic in Denver, he's a play initiator. You can run the offense through Jokic. You can't really do that with Wemby. Wemby offensively is more of a finisher. So he needs his guards to create and to initiate offense. But Stephon Castle, sometimes OKC wouldn't.

Even guard him. The guards... for.

San Antonio are slashers and they attack the rim and they're aggressive, but right now they're not always great play initiators. And that's what Wemby needs. And, and so it's, it's, it's a, you know, whereas I look at Oklahoma city, they know who their finisher is and it's a very complimentary roster. When I look at the Spurs, there's some holes, there's some duplication and, Their offensive identity is a little odd.

I mean, Wemby didn't have a free throw or a shot in the fourth quarter as the biggest talent in the league, right? Because he's not a play initiator. SGA is a quarterback, right? It all goes through him. A football analogy is Wemby's almost a great wide receiver. He's an athletic freak, but he needs somebody to set the play out for him. I mean, I guess you can do a bubble screen or a reverse occasionally, but he needs somebody to create it for him. And that's why the San Antonio offense, and it was last night, it's very uneven. They have really bad quarters. I mean, didn't they lead the Knicks in almost every finals game? And then they go into the desert. And it's like last night.

So Wemby eventually may run the league. But if you go and look in the last 30 years who has run the league, it's a lot of play initiators.

It's Magic. It's Steph. It's Kobe. It's MJ.

It's LeBron. Even Jokic is a play initiator. He is a finisher. He's much more Kareem than Magic or LeBron. And that's why this San Antonio offense has these like droughts. You're like, hey, Dylan Harper and Stephon Castle. And he got Wemby. And you're like, eight minutes, you're like.

What is this?

And I never feel with OKC I get that. They know who their finisher is. All the players have a role. By the way, Mara from Michigan, pretty good.

Pretty good. So I guess this is the way to put it.

I trust Oklahoma City late in games on both ends. San Antonio, I trust late in games on the defensive end, but I don't have as much trust on the offensive end. And again, that's why they'll be fine in the playoffs, because they'll just shut you down late. But I think last night was a little bit of what we talked about last year is that, you.

Know, Wemby's offense is.

It it half to half you're not last night was ugly like no shots no free throws in the fourth quarter and here he is after the loss.

It's uh obvious for me I need to go back to playing the basketball I like you know it's uh I don't like, this is not the sport I like. I wasn't decisive. It's, I might be overthinking it. And I feel like it's a chance for me that what I have to do is really let go. It's not, I don't need to do more. I need to think less, probably.

That's pretty smart. Also, Oklahoma City's really good. Okay, Oklahoma City's really good. So, uh, J Mac, that was a very good opening night. I'll get into my angst with Jason Tatum.

Oh yeah. Oh, tough one.

Tough opener. Hey, by the way, you know, motivation is a huge thing in sports. And last year, the Spurs kicked their butts in the regular season and then beat them in the playoffs. So the Thunder are coming for blood in every matchup this year. And you could see that from the jump. This team was different. Besides the SGA travels, you know, that were not called by the refs.

No big deal. They played great. They look good. Spurs will be fine.

They'll be fine.

Well, you got to be better than fine to win a championship.

Game one of 82.

I love to do this.

NFL season's what?

17 weeks.

NBA 82. So you do the division. It's like 4.8 NBA games equals one NFL game.

Yeah.

So that was basically, what, less than one quarter of an NFL game? Let's not overreact, folks.

But that's the whole fun of the industry.

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The best young quarterbacks in football will meet here in Chicago. Drake May and the Patriots come to face Caleb Williams and the Chicago Bears.

And I saw a headline this morning. We always talk about this. If you redrafted... Who would.

You take first? I would take Caleb over Drake May. One, I think he's got more athletic horsepower. And two, in big spots, he's never thrown interceptions, high school, college, or pro. Caleb just doesn't throw them. So I would take Caleb, although I think they're both great. It's like asking what's your favorite ice cream. There's no wrong answer. New York stripper ribeye.

The meal is going to be great with either one. Right.

Again, I think they have really plus arms, big guys, incredibly coachable.

I see leadership with both.

And what's really interesting is how similar their careers have been, even though their styles aesthetically are different. Both got really bad opening coaching staffs. And both still showed a lot of promise, but they had turbulent rookie years. Then one got Ben Johnson, one gets Vrabel, and immediately one goes to the Super Bowl and one is second in the NFL in big plays. So Drake May last year, what's remarkable about Drake May, with a bad offensive line, number one completion percentage, number one passer rating. Oh, by the way, they didn't have a true number one receiver. That's remarkable.

So all the Drake May haters, you can lead this league in passer rating with a bad O-line. I don't think Brady ever had a bad offensive line. He didn't have always great ones. I don't think he ever had a bad one. One of the reasons he went to Tampa, great interior O-line. Then they drafted Tristan Wirfs. So that's pretty remarkable. And Caleb Williams, again, this is an organization that's never had a 4,000-yard quarterback. I mean, Green Bay, that's a rite of passage up north. So I think this is a prime example. Even if you're uniquely gifted, and I think Drake and Caleb are, where you land and the coach you get will change the course of everything.

I mean, Drake May, rookie year, I think he may have made a Pro Bowl as like the third quarterback, but there were some rough games. And then he gets Rabel, and it just smooths everything out. And Caleb had 20 touchdowns, six picks, but he took 68 sacks. And it's just, this goes to young people. There are certain things they're really good at. Learning new languages. Much faster than older people.

When young people take to coaching... And you can see Drake May and Caleb do. They get much better, much more quickly than older people that are set in their ways. I remember talking to a guy years ago in the auto industry. He's like, I love young salespeople. I don't have to break any bad habits. Like, I'll teach them the way I want them to sell, and I can mold them to what I want. Same with quarterbacks. It's very hard to teach an older Peyton Manning, even though he's great. Hey, we're going to do it a different way.

You know, Aaron Rodgers, he doesn't like a lot of motion. I'm going to walk to the line. I don't want motion. I don't need a lot of groupings. That's just Tom Brady later saying maybe Peyton Manning. I don't like later in career. I'm going to yell Omaha. I don't like a lot of groupings. I don't need a lot of noise and motion. Young quarterbacks, you can mold and Vrabel and Ben Johnson have done just that. Here's Drake May talking about facing one of the great peers for him, Caleb Williams Thursday.

Him in the pocket.

I don't know if I could do some of the things he can do. He's special in the way he can move and kind of you know, escape and evade pressure and, you know, throwing on the run is pretty cool to watch. So I don't know if I'm that, you know, shifty in the pocket. He can do some cool things, and he's got, you know, crazy arm talent, and it's.

Fun to watch.

This is kind of a tough spot for New England. Short week, on the road, missing multiple O-linemen. That is a really, really tough spot. I'll be at that game. And, I mean, oh, yeah, Chicago's treating it. This feels, it's got a playoff game feel. This is a big one. Thursday night, Drake May, Caleb, and your intrepid Big J journalist will be on the scene.

J-Mac with the news.

Wow, that is huge. Going to a game. Bears, I can't wait. Friday's going to be fun. You know what else is going to be fun? Tonight, Warriors-Lakers. Lakers open the season, and Colin Luka Doncic has taken out a full-page ad in today's New York Times with a letter he wrote to fans saying, we have a special team.

We know what you expect, and we are going to do everything in our power to deliver it. Bit of a strange move, perhaps, or a sign that he's officially taken the baton from LeBron James as the leader of the Lakers. Lakers head into the season with minimal expectations. Nobody's talking about them, largely because LeBron's in Philly. I think that's a great place to be. I'm bullish about the roster. I had like a 10-minute rant on my podcast about why I think they're going to be successful.

I'll let you go first. Where are you on the Lakers heading into the season?

Who's their great defender? Who's their great Who's their great defender? Luke and Austin have a recent history. They will be hurt for stretches. Neither one's a great defender, so they need protection. There's not a lot of defensive protection. They've gotten a little bit better on the wing. I mean, I think there's just clear holes in the roster, and I think the top four or five teams don't have holes.

They've got some interesting role players now. I think they will be better defensively than last year, but they still don't have a great defensive stopper.

And I think.

You know, if Austin can give me 75 games, I would love that. Cross my fingers. I think he just keeps getting better. If Luca can give me 78 games, that'd be great. I don't think it'll happen. But I think there's holes. I like the coach. I like the offense. I think they'll be very good in the half court set.

You know, I don't I don't think Luka is a great full court. I love him in a half court set, but I think there's a certain pace they have to play at.

And I worry about their defense.

OK, so to address the stopper question, when Luka took the Mavs to the finals, Luka with Kyrie as his win man, they didn't have a defensive stopper. I mean, Derek Jones is a solid defender. P.J.

Washington.

What they had was a rim protector in Derek Lively. And now they've got that in Walker Kessler, who, when healthy, cross your fingers, has been one of the best rim protectors and offensive rebounders in the league. This team, Colin, is built just like that Mavs team. Luka is Luka. Austin Reeves is Kyrie Irving. He's not Kyrie, but he's 80% of Kyrie Irving.

But you keep referencing that team.

Luka's... Remember, Luka has aged quickly because he's not in great shape and he has had a lot of dings. So that Dallas team, when he was thinner, less injured, it was different. Remember, right now the Lakers have the 14th best odds to win the championship. And that puts them slightly above. I mean, I mean, slightly above NBA average.

I think they're going to be an average NBA team. I do think they finally have a rim protector. And I think they'll be a fun watch because Luka and Austin Reeves always are but let's not crush JJ Redick when you find that they're outclassed against the top seven or eight teams in the league.

It's weird JJ Redick is one of the most underrated coaches in the league remember that series against the Rockets last year they went into it with no Luka because he was hurt And they smashed the Rockets, who were heavily favored in that team. Redick is one of the better coaches in the league. Again, listen, I know people are on a high on Quinton Grimes. He's living in you-know-what area, Colin. The locals see him around. They love Quinton Grimes already. You got Sandro coming over from the Raptors, who's going to be your stretch four. Listen— Lakers tonight, you need to lock in. And by the way, Steph Curry is hurt already, but it sounds like he's going to be a go for Golden State. I'm not saying

lay the lumber on the Lakers here.

I want to see Yaxel Lindenborg. Is he playing tonight? That's what I want to see.

Yaxel is.

Yeah, yeah.

I want to see him. I'm excited for that.

He's good.

By the way, Mara last night looked great. Those Michigan guys, Mara didn't play a ton of minutes, but looked pretty good.

Did he not?

Very good in limited action. scary good for, uh, okay. See, all right, let's move on to Jordan love and the Packers. They have a huge one against the lions, the marquee game Sunday afternoon on Fox lions are favored by three, but Dan Campbell, man, he has noticed that Jordan love has been cooking the last few weeks. And, uh, here's Dan Campbell gassing up Jordan love of the Packers.

Offensively love, man. He makes it go. Uh, he is a secret sauce, you know, and, uh, And Watson and Golden, man, they're dangerous threats down the field, you know, and he's going to give them opportunities. That shows up every week. It presents some big challenges because these aren't guys that can track the ball. They got speed now. I mean, they got speed and they can track the ball. And the quarterback gives them a nice, pretty ball, man, lays it out there. You know, and really about 50% of these are either DPI or catches, you know, which is talk about explosive.

You know, I will say this. The great enigma in the NFL at quarterback is Jordan Love. September, you're like, is he the guy? October, he tears the league up.

I don't know why.

Now, for years, Joe Burrow, similarly, not great early. But a lot of that was Joe Burrow had injuries, did not want to play in the preseason. You could understand it. Jordan Love catches fire every October and we look up and it's like, does anybody throw a better deep ball than Jordan Love? I mean, he also has great traits.

I've seen guys stand next to tall, strong, mobile, great at the mic, doesn't want any attention. He's pretty good. I mean, you watch him. I mean, I know who they're beating matters, but he's pretty special. And the Green Bay Packers are telling you what they think of him by who they draft. They went and got Christian Watts and a speed guy, deep guy. They'll let go of Romeo Dobbs. The Packers are telling you what they think of Love. They're like, he throws the ball down the field.

It's the opposite of Bo Nix. Almost to a fault. He'll throw it deep. He loves to throw the ball down the field. Can get him into trouble. But I think he's slick.

So you're bullish on Jordan Love. I mean, it was not that long ago. that he was embarrassing himself against the Falcons on Monday Night Football. They have turned it around. It helps to face the Cowboys secondary. Now they face the Lions secondary. Lions off a bye. I'm really curious about that Detroit injury report because they've got a couple guys in the back end, Branch and Joseph. I think they're eligible to return. I'm not certain. They need them back badly. Otherwise, this could be a Packers plus three for me. Because the Lions can't get stops, Colin.

I know.

It's bad.

That defense is horrific. It feels like an over to me. It feels like a lot of points in that game.

Yeah.

Well, Josh Jacobs expected to return, so maybe once they get the lead, Packers salt it away on the ground. But, yeah, I'm probably with you there, dogging over. Final story, let's go to the Pittsburgh Steelers. We called this for months that they would be a very good surprise.

They're 4-2.

Yeah.

With a couple more wins on the docket. They've got an overseas game Sunday early. And on a podcast earlier this week, former linebacker Channing Crowder talked about Pittsburgh's recipe for success with the current version of Aaron Rodgers.

To my analogy.

Aaron Rodgers can't beat Aaron Rodgers at Green Bay. He has three and a half yards per completion right now. You see that play. That was at the line of scrimmage. You see a lot of stuff they do. Play action, get the ball out of his hands quick. He's not going to go 60 on you. He's not going to get chunk plays. So slowly work down the field. If the Steelers are successful, they're going to win these type games, overtime games, single-digit games.

This is their setup.

Get to the fourth quarter and let him have one big.

Aaron Rodgers drive.

Yeah, I think that's true. I think they have a high floor, low ceiling. Get to a game late with Aaron. The thing with Aaron, he's not going to get you in trouble a lot. The ceiling has come down, but you're not going to get in trouble. He's going to make good decisions. Everybody's been highly critical of what he's done.

I think the last two years, he's been very, very consistent. He's going to elevate over the course of a 17-game season. You're going to be a little better in the red zone, a little better on third down than you would if you had a younger quarterback without his wisdom and all these years of snaps. I do think that he doesn't move particularly well. It's almost when I watch Aaron, it feels like there are certain weeks he feels really good.

Like there are certain weeks he didn't get hit the week before. He's in the right mind frame. He's in the right mood. It's a good matchup. Um, but I, I, I think you're right. If you can be close late, he can do his magic late, but don't ask him to throw 50 times. Don't ask him to take shots and run around. That's not what he, that's not what he's built to do. He's not going to be Sam Darnold with no run game. It could get ugly. That's not what he, that's why Jalen Warren is so important for the Steelers. He can be the fastball and Aaron can be the off speed pitch.

Yeah, I'm just fascinated by how often Rodgers looks terrible, Colin. In the pocket, when he's being chased, he's like so slow. And then boom, next thing you know, they're down the field for a touchdown. It is, I looked at this, their air yards last year, he was all dink and dunk. 45th in the league in air yards, 6.2. This year, now a lot more, obviously the full season last year, so many quarterbacks played. This year he's 22nd, but 7.5 air yards. So it's way up. Now, the sample size is tiny, but I do think he can have success against the Saints. I've got the Steelers winning this game, Colin, and moving to five and two. And people are going to get excited. But just remember that back end of

the schedule. We talked about it in freaking August. There's a lot of L's, a lot of tough opponents there. It seems like the league loaded them up with easy wins. So Rodgers would actually finish the season.

Yeah.

Look at that back end.

No, I think the NFL has been very intentional with its schedule.

I think that's right. I think there are times.

I mean, Sean Payton got the biggest, roughest six-game stretch. It was almost like they were punishing him for sometimes being outspoken. Whereas the Steelers, it's like, Aaron's old. They may not be great. Let's get him some early wins. Let's make it a little easier. The NFL's always been intentional with its scheduling.

Always.

They know, you know, when a rookie quarterback comes out, like they... They want to make sure. I mean, they even gave the Raiders Miami to open. So if it was Fernando Mendoza's opening start, it was a nice way to give him some success early.

Now, he didn't. I know.

Well, I do think there's chatter about Fernando maybe closing in. Well, we'll see.

We'll see.

But I got Steelers this week. Are they going to make the plays in five? There's no way you're taking the Saints.

I'm not taking the Saints this week.

I'm not.

No. All right.

Jay Mack with the news.

Well, that's the news.

And thanks for stopping by.

The Herdline News.

So, listen, man, the analytic data guys are annoying. And maybe it's because the data guys feel like they weren't good enough to be athletes, so they can feel smarter and superior taking shots at people who don't think like they do when it comes to data. Just for the record, the Rays and the Brewers are in the World Series.

They lead baseball in bunting. Analytics tells you don't bunt. So a lot of analytics, especially based on the numbers, are suggestions. They're not definitive conclusions. So there was a recently Kyle Shanahan got dragged by all the analytic mavens because, and I think this is reasonable, if it's 51-49 do something, that is a suggestion. But if it's late in game, it's three and a half hours of brutality. Your right guard is hobbled but doesn't want anybody to know. Your staff does. But he got banged up in the knee two drives earlier, and he doesn't want to advertise it.

But you don't trust the right side of your offensive line. And nobody knows that, especially not the analytics. Peyton Manning always talks about this. A nine-play, 70-yard drive, they're not all the same. Sometimes yards are really hard to come by. Sometimes it's easy. You got the wind behind you and you got a great field goal kicker. Sometimes you're the Rams and your field goal kicker, you're on your third of the year. So there's a lot of nuance, but Shanahan said this and all the analytic mavens are tearing him up.

I don't want to hear about it. If it's 51% of the time, we should go for it. I think I'm not, as I always say, I'm not sitting here playing blackjack for an hour. with no one else at the table, and eventually I'll get 51% of it right. I have this one try, and I have a feel for it. I've been doing it too long. But what I want to know from him when it's not a feel. No, this is 98%. We don't even need to talk about it.

That's common sense. By the way, Shanahan loves analytics. The Niners love analytics. Pat Murphy and the Brewers have the second largest analytic group, and they bunt a lot. all the analytic guys, they want to feel smarter. If something's 51 49, again, it's a suggestion, but football is a lot of momentum. It's a lot of nuance, especially late in games, guys over it's a hundred percent injury rate in the NFL. You think after three and a half, you see five guys being taken off the field. There's another seven guys that are banged up, but you don't want to advertise it to the edge rusher, the right tackle.

does not, and he's a pro bowler, he's having a bad Sunday, he came in with a cold, he's under the weather, you don't want anybody to know, but the coach knows and thinks we're running to the other side.

A lot of this stuff is nuance.

And so I am for analytics, but he got dragged for saying, listen, if it's 51-49, it's a suggestion. The closer the analytic numbers are, the more you consider nuance, momentum, the moment, who's my kicker, how's the O-line playing, how's my health defensively. Things change, not only week to week, half to half they change because this is the sport with all these injuries. Pat Murphy was on yesterday, the Brewers manager. Again, I think they have 50-plus people in their analytics department. Milwaukee is all on analytics, but he talked about how he uses analytics.

The analytics are very important. They drive a lot of things in life, not just in baseball business, but in a lot of businesses. But there comes a time, it's still a game of people. And it comes down to the guys in the room and their culture that they developed and how they set their standards and live up to those standards and have the awareness when things aren't going right. That's what this game's about. Winning baseball is about that.

Always notice with the data guys, whenever they rip a Troy Aikman or a Kyle Shanahan, what is their MO? They're dumb and I'm smart because I believe in analytics. It's always the same play. It's their only pitch, not their best pitch. You're dumb.

I'm smart.

You couldn't make the high school football team. So this is your feel superior, you know, realm pitch. They're a guide, and they're often a great guide. I love analytics. I've always said I prefer manalytics. There are moments where just give Jalen Brunson the ball. We're not shooting threes.

Just get a basket.

By the way, you notice this in baseball, where analytics over the course of a long season work.

Play the averages.

But then you get into the playoffs, and Pat Murphy's like, yeah, I'm not doing that. Because it's a one-moment decision.

Same in the NBA. The analytics tell you, shoot threes, shoot threes, shoot threes.

That's what they tell you. No twos, threes. Did you see the Celtics in the playoffs? Wouldn't they have those awful halves? Because they were totally dependent on the number. Whereas the Knicks were like, just get mid-range jumpers. Get a stop, get a bucket. So whenever I see analytic guys going after a Kyle Shanahan or an Aikman, my take is it's always the same thing.

You're dumb. I'm smart. Analytics always win. They're a suggestion.

And they're often a really strong suggestion.

If it's 70-30, go with it. But in your.

Fourth quarter, you've got a right tackle who's hiding a knee injury and is praying you don't move the other edge to his side, and the coach knows it, but the opponent doesn't know it. That's why I try to stay out of a lot of play-calling criticism. Like I'm not sitting there every weekend watching 22 film. Like you don't know the groupings. You don't know who's healthy. And by the end of a football game, at least a dozen guys who have come into that game have already left or they got banged up. Maybe not college, but pro football. So I just don't know. So I'm not going to be real snarky and judgy on that stuff.

There are coaches, Shanahan's one of them, that really, really lean.

I'm not saying you should be the Yankees. Anti-analytics.

I prefer you be the Brewers, but even the Brewers manager who's been in baseball forever is like, these are humans. It's played by humans. That's okay, too. You don't always have to be snarky because somebody says on 5149, it's more of a suggestion. I'm going to take my expertise into account here.

And then immediately the analytic guys, well, he's blown Super Bowls. He's a good coach. He's a good coach. Can we all agree on that? In Chicago, it's the herd.

Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays at noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific.

Fox-toberfest revs up this weekend. Friday, Game 1 of the World Series as the Rays take on the Brewers. Saturday, Big Noon has Indiana-Michigan. And Sunday, the NFL is back with America's Game of the Week, Packers-Lions. It's a weekend made for Fox-toberfest.

There's some good game.

I think that Indiana-Michigan game, watch out. Wolverines have a good secondary. Got a quarterback now looks more functional.

Watch out.

Watch out, Indiana. Old Fernando Mendoza's gone. Life isn't as easy, isn't it?

Interesting.

So it's only one game. It's only one game. But I've been preaching this for seven years. And I've been on an island for seven, eight years. You keep telling me Jason Tatum's Kobe and I keep telling you he's Pippen. I keep telling you he's a two. Because ones are all hyper-aggressive. Flawed but hyper-aggressive. Last night, Boston led by 22 points in the third quarter and ended up getting smoked.

How?

Because the Pistons, with role players primarily on the floor, went on a 23-0 run and Tatum was mostly on the floor. So it took exactly one game for Paul George to feel like the alpha. Now, Paul had 38 points. You know I love Paul George. If Paul George was seven years younger, I think the Celtics could win the championship.

I just don't think you're going to get more than 55 games. But it took one game to feel like, is this going to be Paul George's team a lot of the time? That doesn't mean I don't think Tatum's not smart, committed, work ethic. I've gone to three Celtic games in the last two years. He's the first guy on the floor. Committed, works hard. He's too passive. You keep telling me he's MJ, and I keep telling you he's Pippen. And I've been on this for seven years.

And I'll give you an example of this. I'll give you an example of this. So LeBron, when he doesn't trust his jump shot, which is often he attacks the basket. If the late Kobe would have a bad shooting night, he would attack the basket. This is what the stars do. All great scores are hyper aggressive because most great scores, even Curry has bad nights from the perimeter and Tatum had a bad night from the perimeter. And what does he do? He took one free throw in the game.

On a night he couldn't hit his jumper. In 38 minutes.

38 minutes.

Do you know who took more free throws last night than Jason Tatum? He played the most minutes of anybody. Isaiah Joe took more free throw attempts. Paul Reed. Paul Rudd would have too, but he's an actor. Javante Green did. Peyton Pritchard off the bench took eight times more free throws. Peyton Pritchard isn't Jason Tatum. But he got to the free throw line eight times as much. So if you play 38 minutes, you're an elite player. And Tatum's game is beautiful.

It's fluid. It's smart. It's a beautiful game.

But if you're playing 38 minutes and you're having a terrible shooting night, attack the rim.

Get to the basket.

He is a very perimeter-based player who too often just settles. And, you know, and again, I'm not criticizing him for the bad shooting night. Everybody has him. But if you play 38 minutes... You're playing a team with one star player, Cade Cunningham, and a lot of role players on the floor. Like Wemby last night, shots off, 12 free throws. You have to attack the rim. LeBron's never really trusted his jumper.

LeBron will go through weeks in his prime where he really was into his jumper, then he loses it. And I was at some of those games, LeBron's like, I'm attacking the basket.

Steve Nash would do that.

He'd have a very brief shooting slump for a half. Nash, little Nash, left hand, right hand, go to the basket. So at this, I mean, last night, 38 minutes. And again, 0 for 7 on threes.

It happens.

It's early. I get that. I'm not criticizing the guy for having a bad shooting night. One free throw attempt. Played the most minutes, took the most shots.

34 players around the NBA last night took more free throws than Jason Tatum.

And there were only three games. Come on! Joe Mazzulla after. He got some really good looks.

I thought he, you know, got the ball where he wanted to catch and shoot above the break, two feet in the paint, missed, you know, four or five layups.

When he is struggling to make shots with looks that you like, do you want him just to keep shooting it even late in the game, or should he be looking for other things?

I mean, I think he had 11 assists.

Is that right?

I think. Yeah, so, I mean, I just want him to continue to make the right play.

If he's open, shoot it.

I don't care if he's over 10. So that's very instructive.

So on a bad shooting night, Missoula goes, look how many assists he had. So basically, instead of attacking the rim and putting it in his hands, he was really good on the assists.

I don't want you to have 11 assists. You're Jason Tatum. I don't know.

Again, it's not that 11 assists is bad, but if Jason Tatum's having a bad shooting night, I want you at the free throw line, not giving it up to Paul Reed, Javante Green.

That's not what I want. So for all.

Those people that hated The Paul George and Jalen Brown trade, obviously Jalen Brown's going to give you more consistent nights of playing.

And Jalen's very good. He's not a great analytic player.

But, I mean, Paul George kind of took the clock back. That's what Paul George can do on any given night. 38 points, absolute alpha. I think in his prime, I like Paul George much more than Jalen Brown. And they're both Hall of Fame level players. But analytically, Paul George doesn't need the ball in his hands as much to end up with a great night. Like he can just, it's a little Kevin Durant.

You can give him the.

Ball late in the shooting clock and Durant will end up with 34.

And you're like, you just didn't have the ball that much. That is a gift because a lot of the guys that score a lot need the ball a lot. And so Paul George doesn't.

He'll give you 34 points, and you gave him the ball four seconds left on the clock, and he made a play, put back.

Plays, good in transition.

So for everybody that thought Jalen Brown here, Paul George here, I would take all time. I think Paul George is the better player at his best. A longer player, it feels like to me. Doesn't have the ball in his hands, isn't dribbling the air out of the ball all the time. So it was a really, really good first night in the NBA.

Spurs.

Offense is still clunky and has droughts. Sixers, that was really good for game one. And Celtics, Tatum one free throw, 38 minutes.

Not good.

At some point, America will come to a consensus that Uncle Colin was right on this.

Hold up, Colin, can I ask you? So I just looked it up. Paul George was all NBA first team once. Jason Tatum, all NBA first team four times. Paul George has never been better than Jason Tatum.

No, no, no, than Jalen Brown.

I'm saying when the trade was made, Paul George, at his best to me, is a better player than Jalen Brown.

They're both Hall of Famers.

Okay.

But everybody that lampooned that trade and said, oh, Paul George is nothing.

Okay.

He is great.

THE HERD – HOUR 1 – LeBron & 76ers Win On Opening Night | Wemby’s Struggles vs OKC

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