Will Adam Silver FIX NBA TANKING issue? + Should LeBron RETIRE? | Colin Cowherd: THE HERD

What this episode is about

The discussion centers on the perceived problems within the NBA, particularly focusing on tanking, player health, and the lengthy regular season. Critiques of Commissioner Adam Silver's leadership highlight concerns about the league's competitiveness, the impact of financial motives on game quality, and suggestions for potential reforms to enhance fan engagement and athlete welfare.

Key takeaways

• In the NBA, regular season attendance is like a Netflix series—everyone binge-watches the finale but skips the builds.
• David Stern had a king’s authority; Adam Silver is more like the cool uncle who’ll let you skip chores.
• A league needs a chieftain, not a mediator; fear fosters accountability and reduces the ‘load management’ epidemic.
• With 82 games, the NBA’s profit-driven model risks turning fans into casual observers—because who cares in a snooze-fest?
• The NBA playoffs are like a fireworks finale—grand and stunning; the regular season? Just a long wait in the dark.

Who speaks in this episode?

• Colin Cowherd (Host) · 24 min speaking
• Ethan Strauss (Guest) · 10 min speaking

What is discussed, and when

1. 0:00 – 5:00: Adam Silver, David Stern, Bill Simmons
2. 5:00 – 10:00: David Stern, Ethan Strauss, LeBron James, Ian Brady
3. 10:00 – 15:00: Hard Rock Bet, Ethan Strauss, House of Strauss
4. 15:00 – 20:00: Adam Silver, David Stern
5. 20:00 – 25:00: Ian Brady
6. 25:00 – 30:00: Ethan Strauss, LeBron James, House of Strauss
7. 30:00 – 34:02: Ethan Strauss, House of Strauss

Notable quotes from "Will Adam Silver FIX NBA TANKING issue? + Should LeBron RETIRE? | Colin Cowherd: THE HERD"

• Shooters. but this week, Bill Simmons this week and Bill's like an NBA guy. even he questioned Adam Silver's leadership on the tanking stuff on the state of the league.

  about Bill Simmons · at 0:46

• So I used to have David Stern on twice a year when I was at ESPN and we would go back and forth. I my favorite interview of the year. I've had Adam Silver on once on this network. It's one.

  about David Stern · at 1:40

• League and made it a great league. So, he had a he had a real battle on his hands. Adam Silver took over a very successful rich league. But Adam Silver is not the yell scream into a phone guy.

  about Adam Silver · at 2:45

• So, I guess to wrap a bow on this, and Ethan and I will talk about this. I think players take advantage of Silver.

  about Ethan Strauss · at 5:46

• Both are the system regardless of how good the coach is. Bruce Arens, hell of a coach. Tom Brady's Bruce, we're running my offense. Eric Spolstra, amazing coach. He and LeBron but heads. And fourth, they're both Brady and LeBron pioneers.

  about Ian Brady · at 7:56

• Hockey, so much more. All the great same game parlays, live betting, player props. Hard Rock Bet is the official sports betting partner of the Miami Heat and the Orlando Magic.…

  about Hard Rock Bet · at 14:05

• Defensive player. I don't trust him at the free throw line in big spots. He's still a top 15 20 player, but I wouldn't take him over like right now Kawawaii late in the game.…

  about LeBron James · at 26:18

Who and what is mentioned in this episode?

People

• Ethan Strauss — Person · Main guest · 5 mentions · first at 5:50
  Guest analyst providing proposed fixes for tanking and the All-Star Game, plus broader sports-business commentary (NBA, NFL QB value, MLB Dodgers).
• David Stern — Person · Referenced former commissioner / leadership foil · 10 mentions · first at 0:21
  Presented as the archetype of a feared, forceful NBA commissioner whose style allegedly reduced tanking/load management and tolerated dynasties.
• Adam Silver — Person · Referenced current commissioner / subject of critique · 9 mentions · first at 0:53
  Discussed as a smart but less intimidating commissioner whose leadership is questioned regarding tanking, load management, and All-Star Game incentives.
• LeBron James — Person · Referenced athlete / comparison anchor · 2 mentions · first at 7:26
  Used as the central example for longevity, late-career decline, and how stars should end careers; also tied to NBA load management and fan experience.
• Ian Brady — Person · Referenced athlete / comparison point · 2 mentions · first at 7:41
  Used as the NFL analogue to LeBron for longevity, control over systems/coaches, and late-career decision-making about retirement.
• Bill Simmons — Person · Referenced media commentator · 1 mention · first at 0:46
  Cited as an ‘NBA guy’ whose public doubts about Adam Silver’s leadership help motivate the segment’s critique of the league’s direction.

Products & tech

• House of Strauss — Product · Secondary owned · 3 mentions · first at 14:55
  Ethan Strauss's Substack and podcast, discussed during his appearance.
  The week. Download the Hard Rock Bet app and make your first deposit. And with that, Ethan Strauss, one of the best Substacks out there, House of Strauss, NBA Warriors and…

Sponsors

• Hard Rock Bet — Product · Sponsor · 3 mentions · first at 13:54
  Presenting sponsor of the show, promoting their sports betting services.

Full transcript with timestamps

0:00 Welcome to the Herds official YouTube channel. Make sure to like and subscribe. Don't forget to check out the Colin Coward podcast, all of our NFL instant reactions, and more football content. This happens every year. NFL season ends, baseball hasn't started, and we start criticizing the NBA. And the NBA is terrible. When the playoffs show up, the NBA will be very, very interesting. Even the late David Stern used to admit, nobody really watches us in the regular season. But there are some things with the NBA that I don't think are great. Uh I've said I the game is too competitive.

0:35 Too many three-point shots. I don't love that. I would change the three-point arc. That'll never happen. But I I I I would do it. I think the game's gotten very uh repetitive and you've made all these great athletes all three-point shooters. Um but um this week, Bill Simmons uh this week and and Bill's like an NBA guy. even he questioned Adam Silver's leadership on on the tanking stuff on the on the state of the league. There's like huge fundamental issues with the league. The regular season has real issues. It's too long. Guys are getting hurt too much. Everybody is making so much money. The only reason to have 82 games is because you make money from it. Everything they're doing, they're not serving the larger picture of what do fans want? How do we keep our players healthy? How do we have a competitive season from start to finish?

1:28 How do we avoid over one/4 of our league not giving a for the last two months? How do we fix this? And it's the first time I've really wondered like is do we have the right guy running the league?

1:40 Um so I used to have David Stern on twice a year when I was at ESPN and we would go back and forth. I my favorite interview of the year. I've had Adam Silver on once on this network. It's one of my favorite interviews. really smart guys. In fact, I just started reading I'm almost finished with a book called The Bookie. Uh Artman Terrace wrote a book and he talks about sitting down with David Stern and talking about the gambling stuff before it exploded. And I think Adam's really really bright, but there's a difference between David Stern.

2:09 You did not get this level of tanking. I mean, just recently the Jazz and the Pacers, NBA had to find him. And I think David Stern was loud and emotional, could be verbally abusive, and was threatening. And I've heard that from multiple sources. That's not my opinion. I've heard that from broadcast executives who were in the room with him. He was a daunting presence. Short guy, but a daunting presence. Very loud, very emotional, uh, and really had no problem getting on the phone with a GM and a coach and airing it out. Even a player, he didn't care. Um, and and in fairness, Stern took over a wobbly league and made it a great league. So, he had a he had a real battle on his hands. Adam Silver took over a very successful rich league. But Adam Silver is not the yell scream into a phone guy.

2:57 David Stern did not care about how what you thought of him. And frankly, he didn't care about the feelings. The players are paid to play play. Uh Dave Adam Silver was quoted two years ago saying, "My players are truly unhappy." Okay. Uh, so I think the one criticism of Adam Silver that is fair because I think he's I mean he got them a lot of money. They're on multiple networks. I like the NBA Cup early. I mean, it's not the biggest thing in the world, but I like the swing and there's a lot of things he's done well. Uh, he likes I don't necessarily love it. He likes the parody. Everybody can win. David Stern was much more comfortable with three or four teams separating.

3:46 He was much more comfortable. I mean, why should the Celtics, the Knicks, the Sixers, and the Lakers have to play down to Portland's economy? Like, listen, if they separate, they separate, whatever. But I think the bigger difference is any of you had a dad or a stepdad, stepparent, they're not biological, right? Adam Silver isn't officially related to players, but there's that stepdad that you'd either never want to disappoint or never want to piss off. And that was David Stern. Like you knew if you just didn't play because you weren't in the mood, David Stern would call you directly. and and be abusive to your GM, to your coach. People feared David Stern. And I know two executives that were in meetings multiple times with him. He was rough. That's not Adam Silver. And so I think what happens is is when you are a boss or a leader, if there's not five or 10% like, "Yeah, he would fire me in a second because I've

4:47 seen what he's done to people." People take advantage of you. I mean, the load management now the tanking is really I'm not sure what you do other than fines and suspensions. I don't know what you do with tanking. They've been doing it forever, but they did it a lot less with David Stern because I think they people fear David Stern. The load management so out of control now. People did it on opening night. People are doing it going into the All-Star break. I mean, David Stern was a commissioner for 30 plus years. There were only eight different champions and he didn't care.

5:21 And you loved those teams. You didn't have to live in Chicago to love the Bulls. You didn't have to live in LA to love Kobe and Shaq, right? You You didn't have to live in the town to be a fan of Bird and Male or Magic and Kareem. You didn't have to live in the town. Now, outside of the town where the champion is crowned, man. So, I I I guess to wrap a bow on this, and Ethan and I will talk about this. I think players take advantage of Silver. He's not as loud. I mean, people can say what they want about Trump and people fear Trump. I mean, people can diametrically be opposed to him in Congress.

6:06 He's threatening. Won't go through half of them or 90% of them, but there is something to the dogma and the intensity and the volume of David Stern is people didn't take advantage of him very often. And if they did, they heard it. And I I think I think this load management is a massive problem. The other night, Luca, LeBron, and Austin Reeves don't play against the Spurs. I mean, just nonsense. What if a kid What if a kid from Victorville or Palmdale goes to one game a year? That's the game he goes to. I mean, that's just not I mean, I grew up in a small town. I went to like one NBA game every four years. If if Gus Williams, downtown Freddy Brown, and Jack Sigma, whoever it was as a kid, weren't available. It's not the same game. It's not the same experience.

6:49 domin dynasties and domination. David Stern didn't care. Life's not fair. Life's not even. Why should the NBA be even? Uh John, I know you're a movie fan. I'm a movie fan. Um you're a music fan. I'm a music fan. But I want to start the show with this. I don't like my sports stars to end their careers like Elvis or Marlon Brando. I want it to look like Elway or Derek Jeter. Like that's I want it to be I like my movies, my movie stars, my athletes to have a clean, tight ending like like Elway and Jeter did it better than anybody. So LeBron last night, Lakers beat the Mavs and LeBron first 23 points of the game. He scored or assisted for the Lakers. Oldest player ever to have a triple double. He's still very very good. Nobody would dispute that. And I I I really do think LeBron and Tom Brady, their arcs are very similar. Number one is they're the most productive players in the history of their sport. Uh they got to a lot of

7:49 world championships in basketball or Super Bowls and they didn't win all of them, but they got to a lot of them. Both are the system regardless of how good the coach is. I mean, Bruce Arens, hell of a coach. Tom Brady's like, "Bruce, we're running my offense." Eric Spolstra, amazing coach. He and LeBron but heads. And fourth, they're both Brady and LeBron pioneers in longevity. And I think, you know, MJ was flashier, more beloved, and cooler. He's more Beatles. Pandemonium. LeBron's more Rolling Stones, still touring, really, really high level for a long time. And and Mahomes and Elway are a little flashier than Brady. Uh, you know, better highlights maybe than Brady. But there's a fundamental truth with LeBron. You saw it last night and with Brady in his last couple years. The more obsessed you are by it, the more disciplined you are as a professional athlete. You will be the goat. You will

8:50 be the most productive. You will dominate the record book. And there's no argument. You can say the other guy's cooler. LeBron has all the records and Brady has most of them. But I do wish LeBron would retire after the year. And I'll give you an example why. because there's a list that he makes, my list that isn't great. And I've always thought about basketball this way. How do you judge the best player? It can't be scoring average. Do you play defense? Are you a good distributor? I mean, James Harden scored a bunch of points.

9:20 He's never the best player in the league. Tim Duncan wasn't flashy. Rebounded, defended, scored. I mean, Tim Duncan's one of the seven or eight best players in terms of complete game ever. I always judge guys like this and LeBron is now 41. If there's a tie game with two and a half minutes left, two and a half minutes left. I'm counting everything. Your stamina, your free throw shooting, your offense, your defense, your distribution. Who are the 10 guys in the NBA I would take in order? And here's my list again. Two and a half minutes, multiple possessions. I'm counting all of your game. offense, defense, ball handling, stamina, free throw shooting. Number one would be Joic. He is the best player in the world. Makes every teammate better.

10:14 Third in clutch scoring. SGA would be two. Number one in clutch scoring. He's just a bucket. They're there. I mean, he's just a bucket. I would put Victor Wanyama at number three. The best defensive player. Totally absolutely disruptive. Also, you're going to get dunks and freebies. Number four, I would put Anthony Edwards behind SGA. Number two in scoring. He can hit a three. He can handle the ball. He can make defensive stops. Number five, because he's actually playing again, is Kawhi Leonard. I mean, cross your fingers. He may not in two days, but right now he's playing, and I said this years ago, get a bucket, get a stop. He is a wizard.

10:55 There's a lot of MJ to his game. Number six would be Steph Curry. still at his age, unbelievable stamina. I don't think there's ever been an NBA player in that good of cardio shape. He is also right now three-point shooting, 46% clutch three-point shooting. That's insane. Number seven would be Cade Cunningham. He has the third most field goals in the league in clutch. He can defend. He's got size. He can ball handle. He now plays with a confidence he didn't three years ago. Kade Cunningham at seven. Colin wears Luca. I would put him eight.

11:30 Why? I don't like his stamina late in games. He's a revolving door on defense. I love him offensively, but he often doesn't include others. I'd put him eight. Number nine, I'm going to put KD on this until the day he retires. I'm sorry. Catch and shoot off a pick, dribble. Kevin Durant is somewhere between five and 10 on this list. I'll put him nine because of his age. And number 10 is not LeBron. It's Jaylen Brunson who 24-2 in the NBA was voted the clutch player. I trust him more at the free throw line than LeBron. He's not a good defensive player. He's a better ball handler. I trust his mid-range game more than LeBron. I trust his free throw shooting more than LeBron. It's the first time I've ever done this list.

12:17 LeBron's not part of it. LeBron last night. I saw LeBron live this year at Chicago. best player on the floor for about 12 minutes and then there were gaps of stamina and energy. And I like I like my actors. I I I want it to look more like a Tom Hanks. You don't see him in as many good movies because you don't see him in his many movies, but everything he does is tight and clean and good. I don't want it to end like Marlon Brando. I don't want it to look like that. LeBron next year would still be a top 15 to 18 player in the league. But I just love the way Elway and Jeter ended it.

12:54 It's just it's just so tight and clean. And I know that's just subjective and that's my opinion. I don't want an MJ ending. You got all the records. You beat him in the record books. Call it a career. You're averaging 20 a game. I think that'd be amazing. Here's LeBron last night on his longevity and his future. My game is not going anywhere. It's it's it's just it's my body. It's the it's all the other things. There's so many more factors that come with how long will I play the game. Um I don't think my game will ever suffer. If I if I decided to continue to go how long, however long that is, I just think it's like has to be here. If this goes, then my body's going to go and once my body goes, then it's a wrap.

13:40 You know, then the love goes, then the fun and all that stuff goes. He remains very good, but down the stretch, two and a half left, defense, free throw, shooting stamina, I don't think he's a top 10 player. Today's show brought to you by our presenting sponsor, Hard Rock Bet, Florida's best sports book. I know it's tough with no football, but like the song says, I will survive. Hard Rock Bet always something to bet every single night. Hoops, hockey, so much more. All the great same game parlays, live betting, player props. Hard Rock Bet is the official sports betting partner of the Miami Heat and the Orlando Magic. So, they know their basketball as well. If you haven't signed up yet for Hard Rock Bet, never been a better time. Uh, signups, double your winnings on your first 10 bets, maximum 50 bucks. If you would have won 200 bucks in your bet, make that 200.

14:32 Hard Rock Bet Sports Book only legal sports book for wherever you're in Florida or you also if you live in Arizona, Ohio, New Jersey, Indiana, Tennessee, Michigan, coming soon to more states. Hard Rock Bets got new promos daily. Whenever you're listening, just open the app, check it out any day of the week. Download the Hard Rock Bet app and make your first deposit. And with that, Ethan Strauss, uh, one of the best Substacks out there, House of Strauss, NBA Warriors and Culture podcast is joining us. So, uh, listen, tanking's been going on forever. I said about an hour ago with David Stern, you had it.

15:07 But Stern was an ominous, threatening, loud presence, and like he would call GMs and coaches and players and, you know, he was brutal. He wouldn't apologize. Adam Silver, uh, more pleasant. And I think at times it feels like star players take advantage of Adam Silver. Do you have a belief, Ethan, on how to fix the tanking problem?

15:33 I do, and I have to disagree with you right off the bat. I don't think tanking has been a problem forever. I think there's a time when you were an NBA fan when it wasn't. And sometimes the old ways work better than some of these crazy bigrained ideas I'm seeing floated around out there. The NBA used to do it this way. If you missed the playoffs, you had an equal chance as every other lottery team to win the lottery. Yeah. Now, some people might say that's not fair. You know, that you're the worst team and you get the 13th pick or whatever. Yeah.

16:08 But guess what? I don't think we want to reward losing to such a degree. And let's just do on the one hand on the other hand, right?

16:15 On the one hand, maybe the worst team in the league gets the 11th or 12th pick and they stay bad. On the other hand, we have what we have now, which is a third of the league intentionally losing for months. I would say that outcome is worse. And I would say go back in time. The league made a mistake in the past when they flipped out after Orlando got consecutive number one picks and they got Shaq and they got Penny Hardway. Yeah. You know, the funny thing about that is the owners freaked out. That was objectively great for the NBA. That was a charismatic team. If that's the bad outcome, I mean, I think that they made a huge mistake way back when. I think return to the old days. You make the playoffs, you get a bigger playoff share to incentivize making the playoffs, you miss the playoffs, everybody's got the same long shot. Do it that way. Get rid of all this tanking. Um, the All-Star game and and for the record, in

17:10 fairness, the Pro Bowl's unwatchable. The only All-Star game that's any good is baseball. I I do think we've moved into a time now the All-Star game in baseball was great because you didn't see all these players in all these games. Now that I can watch any team anytime, even the baseball All-Star game doesn't feel as big. It's good. It's the best, but it doesn't feel as great. Pro Bowl's unwatchable. Uh and had was for years.

17:30 The NBA All-Star game. Um listen, could I could I say this? The players are so rich now, they just want time off. It's not solvable. Or do you have a way to fix the NBA Allstar game? I do have a way to fix the NBA All-Star game, but I don't think it's ever going to be implemented. And no, it's not Nick Wright's idea, our guy Nick Wright's idea to have the black guys play the white guys, which that that will never be implemented, but that would be interesting. That would be interesting. I guess the first thing I would say about it is this. The NBA's general problem with Adam Silver is doing too much. It's doing too much. the NBA. It's like a celebrity that gets so many plastic surgeries, a good-looking celebrity that you go, I don't even recognize this. So, the first thing I do to the All-Star game is stop with all the crazy reforms. I don't even know what this thing is right now or there's

18:24 a round robin. You know, before they had the players pick the guys, uh they had the eliming. Here's a crazy idea. Uh, you get the most popular players from the Eastern Conference and they play the most popular players from the Western Conference. It's something that makes sense to my dad. It's something I can explain to my son. Well, how do you get them to try hard? That's the thing everybody's thinking about right now. You hear about money. The All-Star game is not about money. It's about status. What I think should happen and that Adam Silver will never do is he chooses the players. he makes the selection based on what he's seen in the popularity. And if you dog it, if you loaf, well, guess what? Maybe you're not getting invited to next season's All-Star game. Because the players, they might not care about trying in the All-Star game, but they care about being an all-star. They care about having that designation. And when

19:19 Hall of Fame voting happens, that's something that they want on their mantle. So, if you have a little bit of that incentive of the commissioner's choosing the guys, we're choosing the 12 best entertainers in our sport on each team and if you're not going to be an entertainer for our sport, you're not showing up. I think that's enough incentive not to try to the point where you might get yourself hurt, but at least not to dog it, not to loaf, not to launch from 50 feet away. That's what I would do.

19:49 Um, always always have great ideas. Okay. So, you know, I mean, you really covered the Warriors forever. You and uh wrote a book about it, the victory machine, the making and unmaking of the Warriors dynasty. Uh I've always felt you should love your kids like your superstar players. The Warriors fell in love with Steph Curry and they've tried to make everything work through that ecosystem. And the truth is, young players can't play with Curry and Steph Curry's offense. It hasn't worked. And now they're old and slow and small and it's just like hard. If he's not on the floor, it's hard to watch. So, the Kaminga story is one, and I and I talked about this two days ago. I was never I've never been a GLeague fan, especially G-League Ignite. Scoot Henderson, Jaylen Green, Jaylen, um the kid. Yeah. Jaylen Green, and Kaminga are are G-League Ignite. I would call it G-League ignore. Uh it was overstated.

20:40 None of there's never been a great player from GLeague. You don't get the coaching. You don't get the marketing. You don't get the development. And I think college basketball shouldn't be demonized. Um, that being said, clearly Kaminga, as he improved as a player, played less under Kerr. So, I mean, it it's like you would think he starts here, but the last three years it's like it's fewer games, it's fewer minutes, he's in the doghouse. What do you make of it? Um, they all say nice stuff. Curse has nice stuff on the way out, but like what happened, do you believe?

21:16 Okay. So, when you started with the parenting analogy, I thought it was going to be about kaminga because kaminga reminds me of something I try to tell my son all the time, which is the Roman proverb. Before you can lead, you must follow. And so, I'm reading these reports by Anthony Slater and other people that Kaminga is offended that Kerr wanted him to be an Aaron Gordon or a Shawn Marion. Well, guess what? In the NBA, before you get to be what you want to be, you've got to build a basis of what the coach needs you to be. It's not a charity. The coach needs to win. And afterwards, you can build out your game.

21:57 You can be more than useful to your coach, but it's got to start with useful to your coach. And I think a lot of these guys, okay, so here's something I was told last time I was at summer league because I was asking, is the big money screwing these guys up because there's so much money in the league? And somebody who's in ownership told me, "No, you know, it's funny. The big money is not screwing up the guys who get it. It's screwing up the guys who don't." The young guys like Kuminga who feel, "Hey, I'm just as good as this guy getting crazy money." In the new CBA structure, it's halves and have nots.

22:31 So, if you're on the outside looking in, it creates this dynamic where I think I'm a superstar already. I want the money already. It's right there. And a lot of guys, a lot of young guys, I think, are forgoing the process. And that's what that G-League Ignite thing was all about. It was guys who wanted to be a superstar right now as opposed to paying dues as opposed to getting through their paces. And I would say one more thing. I'm not saying Steve Kerr is perfect,

22:55 but I do think he's had a good track record on this. We can say Steve Kerr doesn't develop young talent. And I would say, well, who's the young guy who left the Warriors and flourished? Who was he wrong about? Is Patrick Macau putting up any triple doubles anywhere? He's been correct about these guys for the most part. I just don't think he's had the horses.

23:16 Yeah, I I don't think Kaminga ever developed a three-point shot. He's up and down in the interior. He's a lousy rebounder. I'm on I'm I think Kerr knows that. He got frustrated with a player who didn't grow and develop. Um, you know, it's people by now know this the you know, the redemptive arc of Sam Darnold. And I do think every year we learn things in pro sports and uh we'll see it with Mendoza in with the Raiders. He's going to get beat up. He's going to lose a lot of games. He's going to throw a lot of picks. And I do think I will be um and I and I think I try to do this all the time is let's not bail on young people. Young people's success is largely beholden to who are their bosses. Now, when you get to be 40 or 50, you're established. You know, Tom Brady by the end in Tampa, guys, I'm going to run the offense. So, I don't I don't really care. Um, is there anything that jumped out to you on Sam Darnold

24:08 that maybe hadn't been said or how did through your prism, how did you view it?

24:13 Well, I know you love Sam Darnold, so I don't want to denigrate him and say that he didn't turn into some great player, but I think Sam Darnold's average and I think that's okay. And I think that's what my lesson was on this whole thing. He played really well against the Rams. I I thought he was okay in the Super Bowl. Well, the advanced stats say that he was pretty average. And maybe the lesson is that we overrate the quarterback because this isn't the NBA. We act like it's the NBA and you're one of five guys. And if you're a superstar, I mean, that just means so much. I feel as though the Bills get overrated every year for their playoff chances because people act as though Josh Allen's greatness can overcome a talent deficit.

24:55 And so I think the lesson with Sam Darnold is perhaps we might even make too big a deal of the surrounding weapons quarterbacks have on offense and not a big enough deal about all the other help that allows them to win. If you've got the best defense and a good running game as the Seahawks had, that goes a long way. If you you can win with an average quarterback. We say, "Hey, this guy's not a Super Bowl level quarterback." I think a Super Bowl level quarterback is just a guy who's competent. I think we saw it this Super Bowl and I think we saw it last Super Bowl with Jaylen Herz when we were trying to make him out to be somebody that he wasn't. He was fine. And that's the lesson in the NFL. You can win with a quarterback who's fine. It doesn't have to be Momes. You just have to be great at the other stuff.

25:42 I like that take. I don't have to agree with it, but I like it. The um I was saying I was saying this Ethan Ethan Strauss joining us for the radio audience. Check him out. House of Strauss is probably my favorite podcast I listen to on a regular basis. The um I was saying on LeBron, I don't want I didn't like the way MJ's career ended. I love the way it ended for Jeter, Kobe's last game, John Elway. I don't want my actor to end like Marlon Brando, my musician to end like Elvis. LeBron is still very good. Two and a half, three minutes left in the game because his lack of stamina late. He's not the defensive player. I don't trust him at the free throw line in big spots. He's still a top 15 20 player, but I wouldn't take him over like right now Kawawaii late in the game. Joic, WBY, SGA, Ant, all that. I think it's the perfect time to go. We have great memories. It's amazing. He doesn't need the money.

26:36 Um, how do you think the Lakers ends? Andy, does it matter to you? It won't hurt LeBron's legacy, but but would you prefer a clean ending if the Lakers are like, "Yeah, we're not bringing you back." How do you think it ends? And how do you want it to end?

26:54 I believe the story is kind of run out and you're already seeing signs of it. I know you famously talked about worrying when a guy gets really into golf. I saw it reported that LeBron got a Trackman in his house. For people who don't know what that is,

27:11 that's this thing that shows you exactly how hard and where you're hitting a golf ball and how you're hitting a golf ball. Uh that's often a sign that the mind is on something other than the hardwood. So, it almost seems like he's spiritually he's spiritually removed from it. But then you've got this other thing happening which again the money is so big. I'm not saying LeBron's motivated by money. He clearly has a ton of money. But it has gotten to this point, Column, where you're walking away from, you know, 6070 million dollars a year. That's that's not nothing. So I I kind of wonder with some of these older players, some of these millennial players in the NBA, if they're all going to stick around a little too long because it's hard to walk away from this amount of money, and it's already hard to just say goodbye to the sport that you're used to. So I think that one's tough. I'd expect him to at least do

28:04 another year, get the farewell tour. LeBron likes attention. That's my expectation. I think it would be better and cleaner if we ended it now like you said, but I think we're getting at least one more season. Oh, I you know, I didn't have this written down or maybe I did. Um, I I love your macro take on this. So, if the Dodgers, my take is the outrage for the Dodgers signing Kyle Tucker is based on the Dodgers winning game seven and they start now they're stacking trophies in succession. We don't like that. We didn't love the tush push. It was outrageous and needed to be banned and then the Eagles went belly up this last year and nobody cares about the tush push, right? They weren't as good at it.

28:47 The team isn't as good. We don't like separation. We watch dynasties, but sometimes we resent them. And my take is the Kyle Tucker, who the Cubs couldn't get rid of fast enough, drew all this outrage. The Yankees and the Mets and the Blue Jays are often outspending the Dodgers, but the Mets aren't run well. The Yankees don't care as much, and the Blue Jays don't have a title. And that a lot of this with the Dodgers isn't the spending. It's that now that they put them back to back, Kyle Tucker, who's not But Mookie Bet, who's not Freddy Freeman, who not close to Otani, were bothered by the titles, not necessarily the acquisition. And I don't think baseball should have a salary cap. Mets, Cubs, Astros, Dodgers, Padres's, they're all interesting. Small market Seattle Cleveland interesting.

29:42 Where do you land on this this labor stoppage that is is is imminent because of the Kyle Tucker sighting?

29:50 I'm 100% with you on this and it reminds me of something from my career as a beat writer. People they they almost forget about this, but do you remember when the Warriors added Demarcus Cousins one summer and how everybody flipped out? Indeed, it inspired the NBA owners to restructure the CBA to punish the Warriors and prevent this stacking of talent. You know what Demarcus Cousins did for the Warriors? Absolutely nothing. Absolutely nothing. He frustrated Steve Kerr even more than Jonathan Kaminga. It wasn't anything for them. But because of that impression that they were unbeatable and had such a massive edge, people flipped out about it. And I think it's the same with the Dodgers. I think it's been great for baseball. that the Dodgers are a recognizable brand and that they've been winning and I don't think that their victory is as assured as people think it is. Baseball's still got a lot of

30:45 randomness. Lot of randomness. They almost lost that game seven like you said. And look, I think it's better for the MLB that the Dodgers are competitive than these weird World Series like the Rangers versus the Diamondbacks with apologies to fans of those teams. I think it's been great for the MLB and this is one of these situations to bring this whole conversation full circle like when the NBA screwed up their whole draft lottery system where the petty resentments of owners get in the way of the best product for everybody and for the fans.

31:19 Ethan Strauss, he does such a great job. His substack, uh, read that every time one's out. Um, his podcast, The House of Strauss, uh, covers everything. big thinker and uh football season's over. We have to work a little harder. There's there's not as much juice out there in material and content. Your stuff remains just viable and interesting and good seeing you again.

31:43 H great seeing you Colin. Love being here. All right. Ethan Strauss who uh if I'm going to go on a 45minute walk, that's one of the podcasts I put in. Always makes me think. Yeah. the baseball thing pitchers catchers report this week Dodgers today is I remember the Demarcus Cousins signed with the Warriors and it's all this listen right now the Yankees are relevant the Mets are relevant the Phillies are relevant the Cubs are relevant the Dodgers are relevant the Padres's are relevant um the Astros if they're healthy will be and small market Cleveland and small market Seattle though I don't think of Seattle as small market were excellent last year and I could be wrong on this wasn't Baltimore really You know, everybody looks at, well, what about St. Louis? Well, the economy in St. Louis has died. Is that LA's fault?

32:28 I mean, you don't build leagues to protect the bottom eight teams. You should build teams for the middle class and above. And and like networks, ESPN and Fox have no responsibility or NBC to air the bottom 12 teams. The television ratings are up nationally. Why? Because you're airing these really stacked, excellent teams. So, by for the record, Milwaukee was great last year. Seattle was great last year. Cleveland was great last year. Big market DC wasn't. The Mets underwhelmed. So, it's it's and there's also, as Ethan said, there's so much randomness in baseball. Dodgers couldn't keep pitchers healthy for two years. And if if not for Dave Johnson in in one of the craziest games ever ever pulling every right lever, I mean substituting, you know, an infielder who hadn't been hitting uh Dave Roberts, excuse me. I mean, literally Dave Roberts pulled every stinking lever in game seven and they

33:29 all just happened to work. There was a randomness to it. That's why the Dodgers won the World Series because and I think I think if if Dodger fans were truly honest, the more consistent team at the plate was Toronto. I mean, for a lot of that series, I felt Toronto was the better team when they had runners on or big spots at the plate. I trusted Toronto's bats more than I did the Dodgers. And it just so happens the randomness kind of worked in the Dodgers favor.

Questions about this episode

Who speaks in "Will Adam Silver FIX NBA TANKING issue? + Should LeBron RETIRE? | Colin Cowherd: THE HERD"?

Colin Cowherd (Host), Ethan Strauss (Guest).

What is "Will Adam Silver FIX NBA TANKING issue? + Should LeBron RETIRE? | Colin Cowherd: THE HERD" about?

The discussion centers on the perceived problems within the NBA, particularly focusing on tanking, player health, and the lengthy regular season. Critiques of Commissioner Adam Silver's leadership highlight concerns about the league's competitiveness, the impact of financial motives on game quality, and suggestions for potential reforms to enhance fan engagement and athlete welfare.

What is mentioned in this The Herd with Colin Cowherd episode?

8 people, works and ideas are mentioned, including Ethan Strauss, David Stern, Adam Silver, LeBron James, Ian Brady, House of Strauss. Each one on this page links to its own page with every episode that mentions it.

How long is "Will Adam Silver FIX NBA TANKING issue? + Should LeBron RETIRE? | Colin Cowherd: THE HERD"?

The episode runs 34 min; the transcript is about 6,263 words in 52 timestamped sections.

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