January 2, 2026 • 39 mins
Adam Ausland is in for Big Ben and talks about the big New Years Day matchups in the College Football Playoffs, is joined by Law Murray of The Athletic to talk NBA, dives into the idea of teams "tanking" in the NBA, and more!
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to the best of the Ben Maler
Show podcast. Be sure to catch us live every weeknight
from two to six Eastern eleven pm to three am
Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and to find your local
station for the Benmatherlers Show at Foxsports Radio dot Com.
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Speaker 2 (00:24):
This is the best of the Ben Maler Show on
Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 3 (00:32):
Let's get things started with college football and my Ducks
and Dante Moore here in first off, there's.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
Go time, that's wrongs.
Speaker 3 (00:42):
As I said last night, Oregon has been waiting for
this moment to redeem themselves after what Ohio State did
to them at the Rules Bowl last year in the
first iteration of the College football twelve team playoff. Embarrassed themselves.
It was embarrassing for them, It was embarrassing for Dan Lanning.
(01:05):
They got smoked at the Rose Bowl and they were
the number one overall team in the country. They had
not lost a game, they had already beaten Ohio State
and last week, well a couple of weeks ago, it
was James Madison who they started off this year's tournament,
the twelve team tournament we have now in college football. Well,
James Madison wasn't exactly the team they were looking to
(01:28):
start with to get the revenge Tour underway, but it
was a good warm up, almost like a scrimmage at times,
as opposed to the like long layoff they had last
year before taking on Ohio State. So my Ducks came
out in this game today night. They were shot out
of a cannon and Chip Kelly was still the head coach.
With their up tempo offense, the Chain Gang couldn't keep
(01:51):
up with them. At first, it was brilliant against that
aggressive pin your ears back Texas Tech defense use their
aggressiveness against them and get the all out quick. They
looked unstoppable. It was like the quick quack car wash
Chain And then David Bailey sacked Dante More and they
had to settle for a field goal. Texas Tech gets
(02:12):
it back, tries their own up tempo offense and all
it did for them was lead to a punt quicker.
The Ducks get the ball back, convert a fourth and
two at midfield to Kenyon Sadiq, and then tried a
fourth and one play to run it and they got
stopped again by that great Texas Tech defense. Now, Oregon's
(02:32):
defense pretty damn good as well, as a lot of
people found out today. They got Tech to go three
and out, and while Oregon only had three points at
the end of the first quarter, they ran twenty five place.
They controlled the clock even with how good Texas Tech's
defense is. But Oregon's defense is no sloush And on
the second play of the second quarter, true freshman Brandon
(02:55):
Finny gets that first pick. Nobody talking about how good
Oregon's defense is. This was their moment to shine a
little bit. Not Morton's in the quarterback for Texas Tech.
That was just his fifth pick all season long, but
it was a bad one. Now, Texas Tech in that
front seven, they look like a damn NFL team out there,
like on All Madden Mode, that type of thing. It
(03:18):
honestly looks like the Red Raiders would beat the Las
Vegas Raiders right now.
Speaker 4 (03:21):
The Raiders suck.
Speaker 3 (03:22):
No, I'm not, that's disrespectful. It is, But the Las
Vegas Raiders are also trying to lose and tank for
the number one pick to get Fernando Mendoza. We'll talk
about him in a little bit. Oregon's best play, honestly,
in the first half was a fake punt, and it
was a great fake like Meg Ryan's fake in when
Harry met Sally rip Rob Reiner. That fake punt works
(03:45):
so well. I'm like, hey, why not do that fake
punt thing on first down, second down, third down two?
That's Oregon's best offense so far. But they get it
to Tech's two and they're going for it. After all,
if you're willing to do that at midfield, you can't
not go forward. At the two yard line, David Bailey
bats down Dante Moore's pass rolling to his right that
(04:07):
had no chance again. Bo I was especially upset at
this point because my breakfast burrito that I ordered arrived
at the same time, and I wanted to be celebrating
the feast with a touchdown, not a turnover on downs
at the goal line. I have to emotionally eat to
handle stressful games like this. Organ eventually gets the ball
(04:29):
back though, as Finny recovers a fumble by Tech, but
of course they have to settle for a field goal.
They at least didn't try to go forward again. Texas
Tech defense is the best that I have seen. I
texted my buddy at one point, I can't believe how
good this d is.
Speaker 2 (04:45):
That's not sexual.
Speaker 3 (04:46):
Texas Tech defense has organ and Dante Moore completely shook
at the line of scrimmage in that first half where
he's trying to read their defense pre snap during the
snap too, and instead he's taken the foot ball off
of his face on some of these miscues on shotgun
snaps like it was unbelievable. Texas Tech and that defense,
(05:10):
I can't say enough about them, but I can talk
about Organs defense too, because the second best defense might
be Organs against Texas Tech's offense. The Ducks are up
six to nothing at the half. Oregon at the ball
for twenty two minutes, Texas Tech just eight minutes. It
took me longer than those eight minutes to eat that
(05:31):
big ass breakfast burrito. I got so out of nowhere
at the half. Third Eye Blind and old ass Stephen
Jenkins is performing. It's not just his third eye, his
mind's eye that's blind anymore, though he's old enough where
I'm not sure if he can see for reels. Love him.
The deep cuts from Third Eye Blind, especially in the
first two albums Elite, They of course played semi Charmed
(05:54):
life though, because it's like their most catchy song, even
though it's actually about uh, crystal meth. Do you want
to get hot? Yeah, it's you.
Speaker 4 (06:03):
You want to cook crystal meth.
Speaker 3 (06:05):
This stat is crazier than doing crystal meth. Dan Lanning
is forty one and one when leading at the half,
now forty two in one. The second half starts and
the Red Raiders offense looks like the Las Vegas.
Speaker 2 (06:18):
Raiders on the Raiders suck.
Speaker 1 (06:19):
Yeah, it was bad.
Speaker 3 (06:21):
Mateo ooy Young La Young Concrete they call him. He
rips the ball away from that statue under center for
Tech and Morton and they have it at the six
and the first offensive play they run, they get their
first touchdown Jordan Davison. Ducks are up thirteen to nothing.
Here's something though, that had me furious.
Speaker 4 (06:43):
Well, now I'm getting very irritated.
Speaker 3 (06:45):
Organ gets the ball back and they go for it
on fourth and two at Tech's forty six. Dante Moore
throws a pick to Ben Roberts. Why even go for that?
You're up two scores, it's thirty to nothing, your defense
is lights out. You can stop them. You can get
the ball back with a new set of downs. Right
(07:06):
about there, Dan Lanning, what are we doing?
Speaker 4 (07:10):
The kids are playing their tail and the countess are
screwing it up.
Speaker 3 (07:13):
We've gotta have some situational awareness time and score and
field position in big games. Dan Lanning's decision making has
been questioned before by others and even himself. He apologized
in the first half were not getting more points and
just taking the chip shot field goals. But Tech they
had three first downs in their first drive in the
(07:33):
third quarter, after having three first downs total in the
first half alone. I had already ordered my victory Sunday
on door dash. Yes, I followed up the big aspirrito
with the Sunday let me eat. Okay, it's fine, Why.
Speaker 1 (07:46):
Don't you take a taste of the drink?
Speaker 4 (07:47):
There?
Speaker 3 (07:48):
That too, you are opening the door, though, I would say,
Dan Lanning, by making that move, you are opening the
door for the game to flip momentum wise. Luckily, Tech
throws a pick in the end zone on a jump ball,
and Finny has another pick their true freshman at corner,
and that pretty much all but sealed it for Oregon,
(08:08):
as they kicked another field goal that was sixteen to nothing.
And then they smoked Baron Morton once more before it
was over by a player named Blake Purchase. Somebody tweeted
this out quote. For Texas Tech to end up having
their season ended by a dude named Purchase sacking their
quarterback is peak irony.
Speaker 4 (08:32):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (08:33):
Dan Lanning, by the way, then called a time out,
ran up the score a little bit or maybe I
don't know, was working on his team and not so
much worried about your team. You don't want him to
score again. Stop him. Your defense is pretty damn good,
Texas Tech. You want to try out plays on that
defense maybe and show that you're ready for the next opponent.
It's a physical football game out there. Like, let me
(08:55):
get this straight. Last week, people were upset with Oregon
or were doubting them because they gave up some scores
late after the game was out of hand against James Madison,
and now they're mad at Oregon for running through the
tape and continuing to play hard up sixteen nothing. Y'all
are just gonna look to criticize anything with them. I
(09:17):
don't understand it. Maybe I'm being overly sensitive. I am
wearing an Oregon Ducks hat, but you know, what Texas
Tech coach Joey McGuire said postgame quote, I hope Dan
Lanning wins the whole damn thing. They didn't seem too
bothered by it, So it looks like me and my
ducks got the last laugh here, mister peepers. It was
(09:38):
so annoying at duck Hunt, that dog laughing at you
every time you missed the ducks out there. All right,
enough of my ducktails. Time to get to Oregon's next opponent.
And we found out pretty early who would be as
the Indiana Hoosers beat down h Hoosiers. The Omama Crimson
(10:01):
tiede lost thirty eight two three at the Rose Bowl
as Fernando Mendoza went fourteen of sixteen passing with three touchdowns. Honestly,
it wasn't even that close. This was complete domination. And
what's crazy about this is Indiana became the first team
(10:23):
in the twelve team playoff with a bye to not
loseo oh, they won, all right? Indiana was not rusty
Ohio State, Texas Tech, what's your excuse this season? This
year's second year the twelve team playoff, Indiana had all
that time off too. What was Oregon's excuse last year,
(10:44):
or Georgia's or Boise States or Arizona States by teams
were zero and six in the twelve team playoff format
in the quarterfinals until Indiana came in and said, f
you're by say bye to eddieone that is playing us.
The first half of that ballgame, they're just so stout
(11:05):
up front. They force you into mistakes and eventually they're
going to capitalize on them. They were balanced on the
offensive side eighty six yards rushing, ninety three yards passing
for Indiana. Beautiful balance, and they're up seventeen to nothing
in the first half after a slow start because of
Bama mistakes, not converting on a fourth down the Ty
(11:27):
Simpson fumbled in the first half. They just they wait
for you to beat yourself, and while you're trying to
get by their defense, good luck. They're going to force
you into those mistakes. Eventually. The thing with them is,
and it's a little bit terrifying because that first game
Oregan played at Austin against Indiana, when everybody realized, oh
(11:50):
is Indiana Hoosiers are for real? Kurt Signetti is a monster,
a different type of monster. They are a machine out
there with their precision, with their attention to detail, and
just making mistake free football out there. That touchdown to
Becker from Mendoza a thing of beauty after the Ty
(12:12):
Simpson fumble, and Mendoza in the red zone has been
well perfect, I guess perfect. Yeah, he hasn't had a
turnover and he was perfect in this game as well.
They come out of the half after being up by
seventeen nothing. Some people are trying to make the example
of oh, you know, this is analogous to what happened
(12:33):
in the opening round. Bama was down seventeen to nothing
to Oklahoma. This is not Oklahoma, this is Indiana. This
is different. They get a stop, they get the surat touchdown,
and Bama is down twenty four to nothing. Now you're
down twenty four to nothing and you're Bama and they
(12:54):
ended up getting into a goal line situation where they
settled for a field goal. That's a little bit soft.
I would say, you're down twenty four to nothing, you
have to score touchdowns? Are you just trying to put
some lipstick on this pig and not get totally shut out?
You didn't want to be thirty eight to zero, thirty
(13:14):
eight to three looks so much better out there. I
cannot stand when coaches do this. And I don't know
what's gonna happen with Kaitlyn Deborr now, but coaches that
will just do enough to try not to lose too
poorly instead of trying to win the football game. Not
to channel herm Edwards here or anything, but back to
(13:35):
Kurt Signetti. The guy scares the hell out of me.
Bobby Knight would have loved him. He's a monster and
he's created one now at Indiana. Kurt Signetti is that
evil movie villain in a sports movie that sucks, but
it also sucks playing him, Like I've already seen my
Ducks loosed him once at home. Signetti is out there
(13:59):
chasing perfect. They're looking to destroy you, crush your souls
along the way. I think when they showed that stealth
bomber that flew over the stadium at the Rose ball
at the half like he was in it and gave
his players a thumbs up like, Okay, we're up seventeen,
we can do better. They did went in thirty eight
to three. So I just don't know what they're gonna
(14:21):
do against this Indiana ball club because they're now proving
it on the big stage. Last season, it was well,
they got bounced early in the playoff, but that was
just year one with Signetty. I mean, this team won
three or four games the year before he came to Indiana,
and now they look like one of the blue bloods
all of a sudden. It's incredible. And by the way,
(14:44):
I'm not hearing a damn thing from Notre Dame fans
who are saying, see, Alabama didn't belong, They shouldn't have
been here, they shouldn't have been in this spot. Look,
Alabama at least won a game in the playoff. They
beat Oklahoma Indiana. I don't know if anybody's beating them.
There's no shame in losing to Signetti and this Indiana team.
(15:05):
I'm sorry. They're trying to go like Ohio State went
last season, just buzzsaw through the playoffs. They're going for
chainsaw their leather face out there. That's how scary this
team is. But Notre Dame, you have no argument. Stop stop.
I know Bama had three losses, they still had a
(15:26):
much better win against Georgia. What was your best win?
Your best win was two losses? Close losses to Miami
and to Texas A and M and then Miami. Well
they've won two games already in the playoffs, including beating
Texas A and M.
Speaker 5 (15:42):
Who beats you. You don't get to talk dead men,
tell no tales. That's how this works. You're out. I
don't want to hear peep for mister peepers.
Speaker 3 (15:53):
How's this dog's name? By the way, and duck hunt
or Notre Dame fans right now, I'm sorry. You don't
get a leg to stand on. The argument doesn't hold water.
If you want to say you should have been in
over JMU and Tulane, fine, there's a lot of teams
that should have been in over them by you can
make a case too. The twelve team playoff is still flawed.
(16:14):
But just because now Bama finally lost and you want
to dance on their grave and say we were better
on that team by what metric? Because you had one
less loss. You also didn't play an SEC schedule. You're
still picking and choosing who you want to play every season.
You won't join a conference. Yes, you play the ACC
teams and you lost to the best one you played.
(16:35):
I just I don't understand the Golden domer stuff. It
is infuriating to see how many people will bend the
knee in this whole USC Notre Dame debate, which we
got into a little bit last night as well. It's tired.
I'm sorry.
Speaker 2 (16:49):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Ben Mellor
Show weekdays at two am Eastern eleven pm Pacific on
Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 3 (17:00):
This is Jason McIntyre.
Speaker 6 (17:01):
Join me every weekday morning on my podcast, Straight Fire
with Jason McIntyre. This isn't your typical sports pod pushing
the same tired narratives down your.
Speaker 3 (17:10):
Throat every day.
Speaker 6 (17:11):
Straight Fire gives you honest opinions on all the biggest
sports headlines, accurate stats to help you win big at
the sportsbook, and all the best guests. Do yourself a
favor and listen to Straight Fire with Jason McIntyre on
the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts.
Speaker 3 (17:27):
Or wherever you get your podcasts. Join the show right now.
Is a good friend, but an even better reporter does
it for the NBA? Does it here in Southern California
where I'm at covering both teams in LA. It's Law
Murray of the Athletic at Law Murray v nu is
(17:47):
where you find him. Yeah, and we even have the
judge dread drop for you tonight. Law La, thanks for
doing this here on Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 4 (17:57):
Thank you. Man that does done is crazy.
Speaker 3 (18:03):
We're like that here, Lorena is at least let's talk
about what happens tonight kind of crazy. The last two
weeks from Kawhi Leonard where everybody's wondering where is this
resurgence coming from? Where he's had three forty point games
over the last ten days, including forty five tonight add
into a dome as they pulled away late to put
the Utah Jazz away. What are you seeing from Kawhi?
(18:26):
What has changed? What should people know about this Clippers
team nationally?
Speaker 4 (18:30):
I'm saying it's supreme level magnet ball, Like he's give
him fourth quarders and he is finding a way to
make shots at a level that he works on, and
that work is never a question with me. The question
is how much do you get it? Both in general
(18:52):
as far as in actually being able to play games
and play his minutes, and then the quality of it
right like he is shooting more and that is scary.
He's that was my favorite part of what he said
over the weekend, like he's never had to do this before.
He's never been on teams that required him to play
(19:14):
like this for his team to succeed. You know, like
all those San Antonio Spurs teams. We why didn't come
into the NBA being asked to be a bucket? And
even when he got to the point where he wasn't
All Star this it was a Finals MVP before he
was an All Star, right, And like those teams had
future Hall of famers on it that were still capable
(19:36):
in very different ways of charying offense. He came into
the league with Ten Duncans, Tony Parker, monug nobody, those
three dudes very different. Even LaMarcus Audridge was on the
San Antonio Spurs before any of those dudes left the team, right,
Kawhi took the mantles playing the right way. We hear
(19:57):
that term a lot, and it's not that he's not
playing the right way now, but he's playing in a
way that if you want wins, this is how you
get them. And I think it's a huge credit to him.
It's a huge credit to that team that they still
care enough to try and make something of what was
an awful start to their season, and now they've gone
(20:17):
from an F team to a C minus team, and
that should scare people because the rest of the Western
Conference no one's you know, in terms of like the
top six or the top ten. The Clippers are going
to be relevant and as long as they avoid any
more rakes to.
Speaker 3 (20:36):
Step on, yeah, injury rakes as well. We know how
it goes with the Clippers. Unfortunately, what about the other
team in Los Angeles where the Lakers I believe have
lost four of their last five and look like one
of the worst defenses in the league over the last month. Now,
while the Brooklyn Nets have been one of the best,
the Lakers have dropped to bottom three or somewhere in
(20:57):
that range. And a lot of people, of course, it's
low level, it's surface level. They say, well, Lebron's back,
they're not winning anymore. What's the big picture of you
on this Lakers team and Lebron and if he and
Luca doncies because you've been tracking his net rating going
back to last season and just how things have changed
since he's gotten older with Lebron, but can he work
with Luca and can he still be a winning, impactful
(21:19):
player on this Lakers team.
Speaker 4 (21:22):
That's the thing. It's like, you know, you got people
who were super happy to vote for Lebron James as
an MVP candidate. We're an All NBA candidate because they
see what he's doing, they see what he's doing at
the age that he's doing it, and they see the
team that he plays for, and they want to be
attached to that, and you know that's goal. Like Lebron
(21:43):
is still a good basketball player. He's still a great
basketball player. He's still able to make shots, to make
passes and don't call Luke Bournette like Lebron can do
those things. Is it leading to advantages in games? That's
the biggest thing that I looked at last year. I
couldn't say that two years ago when Darvin Ham was
coaching the team. Lebron being on the floor still led
(22:07):
the Lakers to wins as far as you know, outscoring
opponents while he's on the floor, Like that's an objective measure.
Speaker 2 (22:15):
You know.
Speaker 4 (22:16):
I broke it down every way that I could before Luca.
After Luca got there in the playoffs, like the Lakers
were not a winning team with Lebron on the floor,
but they were when Lebron was off the floor, and
so like, they were not good this time last year.
They were outscored by seventy seven points, even though they
(22:37):
had a record that was four games over five hundred
at this point last year. Them starting fifteen and five
was huge, but it also established where the Lakers were
best as a team, and that was with Luca and
Austin playing off of each other. Those two dudes complement
each other in a way that we are not seeing
the same synergy when it's just Luca and Lebron, and
(23:00):
they have to figure that out because the Lakers are
at their works this season as far as line ups
with Luka Doncic on the floor with one other guy,
They're at their works when it's Luka and Lebron. They're
at their best when it's Luca and Austin. We saw
a version of the Lakers that was really good. And
you can talk about their schedule, you can talk about whatever.
(23:20):
I've seen. The Lakers lose some bad teams and lose
some good teams. Okay, so it's Lebron. We have to
be able to say two things at once. Lebron is
still a good basketball player, Okay, Well, Lebron is not
a player that the Lakers at this time are playing
their best basketball with while he's on the floor. And
(23:42):
if that doesn't change, then the Lakers are going to
continue to slip in the sandwich.
Speaker 3 (23:47):
NBA reporter extraordinaiy La Murray from The Athletic is joining
us here. I'm at a Moslin in for big Ben
Maller on Fox Sports Radio at La Murray, the U
was where you find him on x SO law. Why
do I feel like we could be days away from
Giannis Adnakompo trade? It just feels inevitable. He used to
being asked about it. He likes to deflect. He likes
(24:08):
to say I'm here, but that doesn't mean he's going
to be here within the next couple of months. And
they just lost to the Washington Wizards. How do you
see this playing out in Milwaukee right now?
Speaker 4 (24:19):
Yeah, I mean it's not the first time that they
lost to the Wizards either, you know, And it's I
don't want to disrespect the Wizards, because the thing about
the Wizards bad team with a bad record, but they
have thrones on that team, and they have they have
guys who if you're not prepared to play as well
(24:40):
as you need to play as if it's of any
average team, then they will beat you and it will
feel embarrassing. And Doc Rivers pointed that out when they
lost on New Year's Eve. Doc said they did not
deserve to win the game. I have another team that
I cover in LA where I've heard the very similar
(25:01):
way of saying things like that, And so I don't
look at Giannis being a guy who gets traded in
the matter of days like this is something where you know, January,
it's going to change lives in the NBA. So how
well the Bucks play is going to have a big
impact on the viability of Giannis staying there. But also
(25:25):
it's not up to Giannis all the time. It's not
even up to the Bucks. Like the Bucks can say
they're open to something, but if the appropriate deal isn't there,
then that's it. You have a bunch of these editors
and visital you know, companies who covered a sport of basketball,
and they're giving you a tap dozen trades they'd like
(25:49):
to see. They'd like to see him because they want
to be GM's. Like, the reality is John Horst has
his job, and his job isn't to trade Giannis. His
job is to find way to have the Bucks be
good and we'll see how January goes in that endeavor.
Speaker 3 (26:05):
Well, one of the teams that people have talked about
trying to make a move for you, honest, would be
in Atlanta and they got a guy in Trey Young. Well,
I don't think would be included in that trade package.
I'm not sure what Milwaukee would want that for. But
it seems like trace days are numbers in the atl
Do you see it like that? Obviously there's a contract
decision coming up.
Speaker 4 (26:25):
Yeah, I mean, I'll tell you what And Adam, I
really appreciate you let me do this while I take
my busser ride home from me good Like. I feel
like when it comes to someone like Trey, he din
had some situation because hardn't played well, he hasn't played well,
he hasn't been available. This team has arguably been better
(26:46):
without him, even though this team is not good enough, Dude,
just say hey, we don't play trade may be good,
and I think that's a scary thing for the Hons.
It's definitely unsettling for Tree Young. I think the best
thing about very Young is the fact that he had
in the player ups, so he doesn't get traded, or
he gets traded to some place he doesn't like. He
(27:09):
controls at least a year of his teacher in terms
of that. But I think the most simple thing with
Tray is more teams would want him if he was
still playing at the level that he should be in
terms of the days of his career that he did.
And that's just not happening. He's he's always been a
guy who is shooting is more dangerous because of his range,
(27:31):
not necessarily because of his efficiency. He's small, so you're
never going to be good defensively with him on the floor.
And now that float that such a weapon for him.
He's not beating guys, he's not scoring like you shoot,
and all these things make it to where he's a
lot closer to the average point guard. If he ran
up all the storry point guards at him. There's story
(27:53):
our closed to average is very young. Instead of a
guy who you know gets into the All Star Game
or someone gets hurt.
Speaker 3 (28:02):
Yeah, he's not high on my list anymore. A lot
of the advanced numbers say he's getting worse with his
efficiency too, right.
Speaker 4 (28:10):
And and that's and that's the thing It's like very
young BA balions Ray has always been some guy who
can three eight offense for himself, for his teammates, and
as the shooting of efficiency has been fined from everywhere
and the turnovers zone necessarily get better, and now he's
(28:31):
a guy there's Atlanta have so many other guys who
can play with small in their games and three offense
well at leasts Stray kind of in a weird spot,
and Flint snyders of uh, there's other guys. They don't
necessarily need him to go. But if he's going to
go forward, you got the balls. He's not versatile fires
(28:53):
and seems have to acknowledged that it may be so
excited for a very young string. Why aren't you giving
up to get your young on your team and then
say that your team is better. That is very difficult
watching the configure right now.
Speaker 3 (29:09):
Oh, the show is better when La Murray is on
at La Murray v NU covers the NBA for the
athletic does it here in Southern California. Closely attached to
the Clippers and the Lakers a lot. Thanks for joining me,
Thanks for joining me on Fox Sports Radio tonight, My Fred, Thank.
Speaker 4 (29:26):
You vam appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (29:28):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Ben Maller
Show weekdays at two am Eastern eleven pm Pacific.
Speaker 3 (29:33):
I'm at a Mosland in for Big Ben Malor, and
you might know I also work for the Clippers. You
might know I love the NBA and on nights like
this where Kawhi Leonard goes for forty five and has
twenty points in the fourth quarter, and while he's thirty
four years of age, he's had three forty point games
(29:54):
in the last ten days. He's on a crazy heater
like we've never seen before. I gotta talk some NBA
with you, guys, and I even have a Draymond Green
story for next hour we'll get into because I'm getting
sick of him. But I'm sick of all the changes
they continue to make to try to fix problems, imaginary
(30:15):
ones that don't actually exist. Evening Commission, I'm looking at you,
Adam Silver. The NBA is once again trying to curb tanking.
There's too many teams losing now to be fair that
Utah Jazz tonight. I mean they were playing third stringers
and G League guys, and who am I thinking of?
(30:38):
Lloyd Markinen was out, everybody was out. Ace Bailey was out,
Keyantay George was out. If this was Charles Barklay being
asked in that game they play who you play for?
They could do that with me and I can go
pretty deep with NBA rosters and even I don't know
who some of those guys were tonight for the Utah Jazz,
(30:59):
and this whole story of tanking kind of centers around them.
The reasoning by the NBA is, well, the Utah Jazz
got fined multiple times, I think last season for tanking
and they eventually got Ace Bailey out of it. They
had guys sitting out games that were not technically hurt
(31:23):
or they couldn't I don't know, verify it with independent doctors.
John Collins miss half the season marketing it, missing a
ton of games, and they got fined. Danny Aingel's son
is the GM there. He's the president of basketball operations.
They were up to some funny business. They wanted to lose.
(31:45):
They wanted to try to get a top pick in
the draft, and they're not the only team to do this.
But the problem is they already made changes to the
draft lottery odds. This probably goes back five years now
where they flattened out the odds of the top where
there was a time where if you were the worst
team in the NBA, you had like a twenty five
(32:08):
percent chance of having the number one overall pick. The
odds the odds were pretty good. Now they've flattened them
out a little bit where if you finish top three,
you each have a seventeen percent chance. They're trying to
take away the incentive of tanking. They don't want teams
at the end of the season trying to lose, like
(32:30):
it's that episode of South Park with the Little League
Baseball going on. But here's the problem. What's happened is
some of the worst teams aren't getting top draft picks.
For instance, last season, instead of it being the Washington
Wizards or the Brooklyn Nets or the Utah Jazz, instead
(32:53):
of them owning the top picks, they went to San Antonio,
they went to down Dallas, and people were thinking there's
some conspiracy theory. The NBA was helping out Nico Harrison,
who's now fired because he got Luka Doncic to a
big market with the Lakers, so they gave him the
number one pick. Yeah, I don't think that was the case,
(33:16):
you know how I know that he got fired anyways,
I don't think he was in on anything with the
commissioner with the NBA where he put his reputation on
the line like that, because he'll forever be known as
one of the biggest dumbasses ever. I'm sorry, but it's true.
Nico Harrison, like you dumb ass what he did with
(33:37):
Luka Doncic, that should have been a fine. Well, the
NBA is finding teams for tanking. That's one of those
trades that you can never live down. But because teams
that were better and weren't tanking ended up with top picks,
and you get Cooper Flag going to a team in
Dallas that actually, if they could ever get healthy, they're
(34:00):
decently set up. Kyrie Irving I think might be back
in the next month off the ACL. We'll see. It
could depend on how they play moving forward and if
they're competitive enough. Anthony Davis, Yeah, he's he's hurt a lot.
Some probably call him what's that name they called mister Glass,
(34:20):
But they're good when he's available. Why are they getting
the top pick? These other teams that were much worse,
that had better odds didn't get top picks. They didn't
get that generational player. They didn't get Dylan Harper like
san Antonio did. San Antonio has had top picks the
(34:42):
last three years, Wemby, Stefan Castle, Dylan Harper, and now
look at him. They beat OKC three times in twelve days.
They look like their next or they're now. But all
these other teams that we're losing intentionally into institutional tanking.
(35:06):
Doesn't mean players out there on the court aren't playing hard.
You just don't put the best players out there, and
that's how you get away with it. But what it
does is the undesired effect by the commissioner is it
makes these teams go, well, we didn't get a top
pick this time, we'll get back in the draft lottery
again and have another year of trusting the process and
(35:29):
tanking because we thought we were going to get a
top pick. Oh, we didn't get it, so I guess
we'll tak again. That's what happens. That's what's happening with
Brooklyn even though they've been winning lately. That's what's happening
with the Washington Wizards. Those teams didn't end up getting
the picks. They thought they were going to get because
(35:50):
the NBA already flattened the odds, so they have worse
odds of getting them. So it keeps them in take
mode and in the same cycle over and over again.
That's kind of an issue. But the NBA also trying
to fix this. It doesn't make sense. There are some
teams that just aren't good decision makers. They aren't trying
(36:14):
to tank. They just suck because they suck. You can't
confuse every team that sucks with tanking. That's not how
it works. Like the Charlotte Hornets, they don't suck because
they're trying to get a higher draft pick. They suck
because Michael Jordan was in charge for years. They didn't
(36:34):
draft well enough. And LaMelo ball is a circus at
times doing Pete Merovich like stuff out there, and I'm
not sure, as people would say, he even knows what
the score is. Is he winning basketball player or not.
They have young guys who are learning, like Conkin Nipple,
(36:56):
like Brandon Miller. They have to take their lumps intentionally tanking.
That's not what this is. You're trying to solve sports basically,
is what the NBA is saying. We can't have any
bad teams. No, that's sports. That's how it works. Teams
make bad decisions, they have to live with it. If
(37:19):
you try to fix this imaginary problem and try to
make every team competitive, you're likely gonna have some effects
that you didn't see coming where you create something far worse.
The whole idea of tanking is an overblown issue, and
teams are starting to learn, like the Wizards and the
(37:39):
Brooklyn Nets, who have been playing their worst guys to
get a higher draft pick, that it doesn't always work
out that way since they flattened out the odds. So
eventually they might say, well, what's the point of tanking,
doesn't guarantee you the top pick anyways, let this process
play out. They just changed things five years ago. Don't
(38:03):
try to change anything again. We don't need to take
away teams' abilities to top ten protect picks and all
these things. Because here's the deal. The Utah Jazz this season,
a team that was already fined for tanking last year, Well,
they have a first round pick that is top eight protected.
(38:25):
It has to finish top eight for them to hold
on to that pick, otherwise it goes to the Oklahoma
City thunder. That's a problem, so they're incentivized to lose
to hold on to that pick, and maybe that's some
of what we saw tonight with why they played so
(38:46):
few guys, legitimate NBA players against the Clippers. The league
doesn't like that, especially in early January. They don't want
teams tanking this early. And I'm not saying that's necessarily
what Utah was doing, but they got busted last season.
The NBA wants to stop it from happening again, but
they could create something far worse if they're not careful.
Thanks for listening to the best of the Ben Maler
Show podcast. Be sure to catch us live every weeknight
from two to six Eastern eleven pm to three am
Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and to find your local
station for the Benmatherlers Show at Foxsports Radio dot Com.
You can find it there or stream us live every
night on the iHeartRadio app by searching FSR.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
This is the best of the Ben Maler Show on
Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 3 (00:32):
Let's get things started with college football and my Ducks
and Dante Moore here in first off, there's.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
Go time, that's wrongs.
Speaker 3 (00:42):
As I said last night, Oregon has been waiting for
this moment to redeem themselves after what Ohio State did
to them at the Rules Bowl last year in the
first iteration of the College football twelve team playoff. Embarrassed themselves.
It was embarrassing for them, It was embarrassing for Dan Lanning.
(01:05):
They got smoked at the Rose Bowl and they were
the number one overall team in the country. They had
not lost a game, they had already beaten Ohio State
and last week, well a couple of weeks ago, it
was James Madison who they started off this year's tournament,
the twelve team tournament we have now in college football. Well,
James Madison wasn't exactly the team they were looking to
(01:28):
start with to get the revenge Tour underway, but it
was a good warm up, almost like a scrimmage at times,
as opposed to the like long layoff they had last
year before taking on Ohio State. So my Ducks came
out in this game today night. They were shot out
of a cannon and Chip Kelly was still the head coach.
With their up tempo offense, the Chain Gang couldn't keep
(01:51):
up with them. At first, it was brilliant against that
aggressive pin your ears back Texas Tech defense use their
aggressiveness against them and get the all out quick. They
looked unstoppable. It was like the quick quack car wash
Chain And then David Bailey sacked Dante More and they
had to settle for a field goal. Texas Tech gets
(02:12):
it back, tries their own up tempo offense and all
it did for them was lead to a punt quicker.
The Ducks get the ball back, convert a fourth and
two at midfield to Kenyon Sadiq, and then tried a
fourth and one play to run it and they got
stopped again by that great Texas Tech defense. Now, Oregon's
(02:32):
defense pretty damn good as well, as a lot of
people found out today. They got Tech to go three
and out, and while Oregon only had three points at
the end of the first quarter, they ran twenty five place.
They controlled the clock even with how good Texas Tech's
defense is. But Oregon's defense is no sloush And on
the second play of the second quarter, true freshman Brandon
(02:55):
Finny gets that first pick. Nobody talking about how good
Oregon's defense is. This was their moment to shine a
little bit. Not Morton's in the quarterback for Texas Tech.
That was just his fifth pick all season long, but
it was a bad one. Now, Texas Tech in that
front seven, they look like a damn NFL team out there,
like on All Madden Mode, that type of thing. It
(03:18):
honestly looks like the Red Raiders would beat the Las
Vegas Raiders right now.
Speaker 4 (03:21):
The Raiders suck.
Speaker 3 (03:22):
No, I'm not, that's disrespectful. It is, But the Las
Vegas Raiders are also trying to lose and tank for
the number one pick to get Fernando Mendoza. We'll talk
about him in a little bit. Oregon's best play, honestly,
in the first half was a fake punt, and it
was a great fake like Meg Ryan's fake in when
Harry met Sally rip Rob Reiner. That fake punt works
(03:45):
so well. I'm like, hey, why not do that fake
punt thing on first down, second down, third down two?
That's Oregon's best offense so far. But they get it
to Tech's two and they're going for it. After all,
if you're willing to do that at midfield, you can't
not go forward. At the two yard line, David Bailey
bats down Dante Moore's pass rolling to his right that
(04:07):
had no chance again. Bo I was especially upset at
this point because my breakfast burrito that I ordered arrived
at the same time, and I wanted to be celebrating
the feast with a touchdown, not a turnover on downs
at the goal line. I have to emotionally eat to
handle stressful games like this. Organ eventually gets the ball
(04:29):
back though, as Finny recovers a fumble by Tech, but
of course they have to settle for a field goal.
They at least didn't try to go forward again. Texas
Tech defense is the best that I have seen. I
texted my buddy at one point, I can't believe how
good this d is.
Speaker 2 (04:45):
That's not sexual.
Speaker 3 (04:46):
Texas Tech defense has organ and Dante Moore completely shook
at the line of scrimmage in that first half where
he's trying to read their defense pre snap during the
snap too, and instead he's taken the foot ball off
of his face on some of these miscues on shotgun
snaps like it was unbelievable. Texas Tech and that defense,
(05:10):
I can't say enough about them, but I can talk
about Organs defense too, because the second best defense might
be Organs against Texas Tech's offense. The Ducks are up
six to nothing at the half. Oregon at the ball
for twenty two minutes, Texas Tech just eight minutes. It
took me longer than those eight minutes to eat that
(05:31):
big ass breakfast burrito. I got so out of nowhere
at the half. Third Eye Blind and old ass Stephen
Jenkins is performing. It's not just his third eye, his
mind's eye that's blind anymore, though he's old enough where
I'm not sure if he can see for reels. Love him.
The deep cuts from Third Eye Blind, especially in the
first two albums Elite, They of course played semi Charmed
(05:54):
life though, because it's like their most catchy song, even
though it's actually about uh, crystal meth. Do you want
to get hot? Yeah, it's you.
Speaker 4 (06:03):
You want to cook crystal meth.
Speaker 3 (06:05):
This stat is crazier than doing crystal meth. Dan Lanning
is forty one and one when leading at the half,
now forty two in one. The second half starts and
the Red Raiders offense looks like the Las Vegas.
Speaker 2 (06:18):
Raiders on the Raiders suck.
Speaker 1 (06:19):
Yeah, it was bad.
Speaker 3 (06:21):
Mateo ooy Young La Young Concrete they call him. He
rips the ball away from that statue under center for
Tech and Morton and they have it at the six
and the first offensive play they run, they get their
first touchdown Jordan Davison. Ducks are up thirteen to nothing.
Here's something though, that had me furious.
Speaker 4 (06:43):
Well, now I'm getting very irritated.
Speaker 3 (06:45):
Organ gets the ball back and they go for it
on fourth and two at Tech's forty six. Dante Moore
throws a pick to Ben Roberts. Why even go for that?
You're up two scores, it's thirty to nothing, your defense
is lights out. You can stop them. You can get
the ball back with a new set of downs. Right
(07:06):
about there, Dan Lanning, what are we doing?
Speaker 4 (07:10):
The kids are playing their tail and the countess are
screwing it up.
Speaker 3 (07:13):
We've gotta have some situational awareness time and score and
field position in big games. Dan Lanning's decision making has
been questioned before by others and even himself. He apologized
in the first half were not getting more points and
just taking the chip shot field goals. But Tech they
had three first downs in their first drive in the
(07:33):
third quarter, after having three first downs total in the
first half alone. I had already ordered my victory Sunday
on door dash. Yes, I followed up the big aspirrito
with the Sunday let me eat. Okay, it's fine, Why.
Speaker 1 (07:46):
Don't you take a taste of the drink?
Speaker 4 (07:47):
There?
Speaker 3 (07:48):
That too, you are opening the door, though, I would say,
Dan Lanning, by making that move, you are opening the
door for the game to flip momentum wise. Luckily, Tech
throws a pick in the end zone on a jump ball,
and Finny has another pick their true freshman at corner,
and that pretty much all but sealed it for Oregon,
(08:08):
as they kicked another field goal that was sixteen to nothing.
And then they smoked Baron Morton once more before it
was over by a player named Blake Purchase. Somebody tweeted
this out quote. For Texas Tech to end up having
their season ended by a dude named Purchase sacking their
quarterback is peak irony.
Speaker 4 (08:32):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (08:33):
Dan Lanning, by the way, then called a time out,
ran up the score a little bit or maybe I
don't know, was working on his team and not so
much worried about your team. You don't want him to
score again. Stop him. Your defense is pretty damn good,
Texas Tech. You want to try out plays on that
defense maybe and show that you're ready for the next opponent.
It's a physical football game out there. Like, let me
(08:55):
get this straight. Last week, people were upset with Oregon
or were doubting them because they gave up some scores
late after the game was out of hand against James Madison,
and now they're mad at Oregon for running through the
tape and continuing to play hard up sixteen nothing. Y'all
are just gonna look to criticize anything with them. I
(09:17):
don't understand it. Maybe I'm being overly sensitive. I am
wearing an Oregon Ducks hat, but you know, what Texas
Tech coach Joey McGuire said postgame quote, I hope Dan
Lanning wins the whole damn thing. They didn't seem too
bothered by it, So it looks like me and my
ducks got the last laugh here, mister peepers. It was
(09:38):
so annoying at duck Hunt, that dog laughing at you
every time you missed the ducks out there. All right,
enough of my ducktails. Time to get to Oregon's next opponent.
And we found out pretty early who would be as
the Indiana Hoosers beat down h Hoosiers. The Omama Crimson
(10:01):
tiede lost thirty eight two three at the Rose Bowl
as Fernando Mendoza went fourteen of sixteen passing with three touchdowns. Honestly,
it wasn't even that close. This was complete domination. And
what's crazy about this is Indiana became the first team
(10:23):
in the twelve team playoff with a bye to not
loseo oh, they won, all right? Indiana was not rusty
Ohio State, Texas Tech, what's your excuse this season? This
year's second year the twelve team playoff, Indiana had all
that time off too. What was Oregon's excuse last year,
(10:44):
or Georgia's or Boise States or Arizona States by teams
were zero and six in the twelve team playoff format
in the quarterfinals until Indiana came in and said, f
you're by say bye to eddieone that is playing us.
The first half of that ballgame, they're just so stout
(11:05):
up front. They force you into mistakes and eventually they're
going to capitalize on them. They were balanced on the
offensive side eighty six yards rushing, ninety three yards passing
for Indiana. Beautiful balance, and they're up seventeen to nothing
in the first half after a slow start because of
Bama mistakes, not converting on a fourth down the Ty
(11:27):
Simpson fumbled in the first half. They just they wait
for you to beat yourself, and while you're trying to
get by their defense, good luck. They're going to force
you into those mistakes. Eventually. The thing with them is,
and it's a little bit terrifying because that first game
Oregan played at Austin against Indiana, when everybody realized, oh
(11:50):
is Indiana Hoosiers are for real? Kurt Signetti is a monster,
a different type of monster. They are a machine out
there with their precision, with their attention to detail, and
just making mistake free football out there. That touchdown to
Becker from Mendoza a thing of beauty after the Ty
(12:12):
Simpson fumble, and Mendoza in the red zone has been
well perfect, I guess perfect. Yeah, he hasn't had a
turnover and he was perfect in this game as well.
They come out of the half after being up by
seventeen nothing. Some people are trying to make the example
of oh, you know, this is analogous to what happened
(12:33):
in the opening round. Bama was down seventeen to nothing
to Oklahoma. This is not Oklahoma, this is Indiana. This
is different. They get a stop, they get the surat touchdown,
and Bama is down twenty four to nothing. Now you're
down twenty four to nothing and you're Bama and they
(12:54):
ended up getting into a goal line situation where they
settled for a field goal. That's a little bit soft.
I would say, you're down twenty four to nothing, you
have to score touchdowns? Are you just trying to put
some lipstick on this pig and not get totally shut out?
You didn't want to be thirty eight to zero, thirty
(13:14):
eight to three looks so much better out there. I
cannot stand when coaches do this. And I don't know
what's gonna happen with Kaitlyn Deborr now, but coaches that
will just do enough to try not to lose too
poorly instead of trying to win the football game. Not
to channel herm Edwards here or anything, but back to
(13:35):
Kurt Signetti. The guy scares the hell out of me.
Bobby Knight would have loved him. He's a monster and
he's created one now at Indiana. Kurt Signetti is that
evil movie villain in a sports movie that sucks, but
it also sucks playing him, Like I've already seen my
Ducks loosed him once at home. Signetti is out there
(13:59):
chasing perfect. They're looking to destroy you, crush your souls
along the way. I think when they showed that stealth
bomber that flew over the stadium at the Rose ball
at the half like he was in it and gave
his players a thumbs up like, Okay, we're up seventeen,
we can do better. They did went in thirty eight
to three. So I just don't know what they're gonna
(14:21):
do against this Indiana ball club because they're now proving
it on the big stage. Last season, it was well,
they got bounced early in the playoff, but that was
just year one with Signetty. I mean, this team won
three or four games the year before he came to Indiana,
and now they look like one of the blue bloods
all of a sudden. It's incredible. And by the way,
(14:44):
I'm not hearing a damn thing from Notre Dame fans
who are saying, see, Alabama didn't belong, They shouldn't have
been here, they shouldn't have been in this spot. Look,
Alabama at least won a game in the playoff. They
beat Oklahoma Indiana. I don't know if anybody's beating them.
There's no shame in losing to Signetti and this Indiana team.
(15:05):
I'm sorry. They're trying to go like Ohio State went
last season, just buzzsaw through the playoffs. They're going for
chainsaw their leather face out there. That's how scary this
team is. But Notre Dame, you have no argument. Stop stop.
I know Bama had three losses, they still had a
(15:26):
much better win against Georgia. What was your best win?
Your best win was two losses? Close losses to Miami
and to Texas A and M and then Miami. Well
they've won two games already in the playoffs, including beating
Texas A and M.
Speaker 5 (15:42):
Who beats you. You don't get to talk dead men,
tell no tales. That's how this works. You're out. I
don't want to hear peep for mister peepers.
Speaker 3 (15:53):
How's this dog's name? By the way, and duck hunt
or Notre Dame fans right now, I'm sorry. You don't
get a leg to stand on. The argument doesn't hold water.
If you want to say you should have been in
over JMU and Tulane, fine, there's a lot of teams
that should have been in over them by you can
make a case too. The twelve team playoff is still flawed.
(16:14):
But just because now Bama finally lost and you want
to dance on their grave and say we were better
on that team by what metric? Because you had one
less loss. You also didn't play an SEC schedule. You're
still picking and choosing who you want to play every season.
You won't join a conference. Yes, you play the ACC
teams and you lost to the best one you played.
(16:35):
I just I don't understand the Golden domer stuff. It
is infuriating to see how many people will bend the
knee in this whole USC Notre Dame debate, which we
got into a little bit last night as well. It's tired.
I'm sorry.
Speaker 2 (16:49):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Ben Mellor
Show weekdays at two am Eastern eleven pm Pacific on
Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 3 (17:00):
This is Jason McIntyre.
Speaker 6 (17:01):
Join me every weekday morning on my podcast, Straight Fire
with Jason McIntyre. This isn't your typical sports pod pushing
the same tired narratives down your.
Speaker 3 (17:10):
Throat every day.
Speaker 6 (17:11):
Straight Fire gives you honest opinions on all the biggest
sports headlines, accurate stats to help you win big at
the sportsbook, and all the best guests. Do yourself a
favor and listen to Straight Fire with Jason McIntyre on
the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts.
Speaker 3 (17:27):
Or wherever you get your podcasts. Join the show right now.
Is a good friend, but an even better reporter does
it for the NBA? Does it here in Southern California
where I'm at covering both teams in LA. It's Law
Murray of the Athletic at Law Murray v nu is
(17:47):
where you find him. Yeah, and we even have the
judge dread drop for you tonight. Law La, thanks for
doing this here on Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 4 (17:57):
Thank you. Man that does done is crazy.
Speaker 3 (18:03):
We're like that here, Lorena is at least let's talk
about what happens tonight kind of crazy. The last two
weeks from Kawhi Leonard where everybody's wondering where is this
resurgence coming from? Where he's had three forty point games
over the last ten days, including forty five tonight add
into a dome as they pulled away late to put
the Utah Jazz away. What are you seeing from Kawhi?
(18:26):
What has changed? What should people know about this Clippers
team nationally?
Speaker 4 (18:30):
I'm saying it's supreme level magnet ball, Like he's give
him fourth quarders and he is finding a way to
make shots at a level that he works on, and
that work is never a question with me. The question
is how much do you get it? Both in general
(18:52):
as far as in actually being able to play games
and play his minutes, and then the quality of it
right like he is shooting more and that is scary.
He's that was my favorite part of what he said
over the weekend, like he's never had to do this before.
He's never been on teams that required him to play
(19:14):
like this for his team to succeed. You know, like
all those San Antonio Spurs teams. We why didn't come
into the NBA being asked to be a bucket? And
even when he got to the point where he wasn't
All Star this it was a Finals MVP before he
was an All Star, right, And like those teams had
future Hall of famers on it that were still capable
(19:36):
in very different ways of charying offense. He came into
the league with Ten Duncans, Tony Parker, monug nobody, those
three dudes very different. Even LaMarcus Audridge was on the
San Antonio Spurs before any of those dudes left the team, right,
Kawhi took the mantles playing the right way. We hear
(19:57):
that term a lot, and it's not that he's not
playing the right way now, but he's playing in a
way that if you want wins, this is how you
get them. And I think it's a huge credit to him.
It's a huge credit to that team that they still
care enough to try and make something of what was
an awful start to their season, and now they've gone
(20:17):
from an F team to a C minus team, and
that should scare people because the rest of the Western
Conference no one's you know, in terms of like the
top six or the top ten. The Clippers are going
to be relevant and as long as they avoid any
more rakes to.
Speaker 3 (20:36):
Step on, yeah, injury rakes as well. We know how
it goes with the Clippers. Unfortunately, what about the other
team in Los Angeles where the Lakers I believe have
lost four of their last five and look like one
of the worst defenses in the league over the last month. Now,
while the Brooklyn Nets have been one of the best,
the Lakers have dropped to bottom three or somewhere in
(20:57):
that range. And a lot of people, of course, it's
low level, it's surface level. They say, well, Lebron's back,
they're not winning anymore. What's the big picture of you
on this Lakers team and Lebron and if he and
Luca doncies because you've been tracking his net rating going
back to last season and just how things have changed
since he's gotten older with Lebron, but can he work
with Luca and can he still be a winning, impactful
(21:19):
player on this Lakers team.
Speaker 4 (21:22):
That's the thing. It's like, you know, you got people
who were super happy to vote for Lebron James as
an MVP candidate. We're an All NBA candidate because they
see what he's doing, they see what he's doing at
the age that he's doing it, and they see the
team that he plays for, and they want to be
attached to that, and you know that's goal. Like Lebron
(21:43):
is still a good basketball player. He's still a great
basketball player. He's still able to make shots, to make
passes and don't call Luke Bournette like Lebron can do
those things. Is it leading to advantages in games? That's
the biggest thing that I looked at last year. I
couldn't say that two years ago when Darvin Ham was
coaching the team. Lebron being on the floor still led
(22:07):
the Lakers to wins as far as you know, outscoring
opponents while he's on the floor, Like that's an objective measure.
Speaker 2 (22:15):
You know.
Speaker 4 (22:16):
I broke it down every way that I could before Luca.
After Luca got there in the playoffs, like the Lakers
were not a winning team with Lebron on the floor,
but they were when Lebron was off the floor, and
so like, they were not good this time last year.
They were outscored by seventy seven points, even though they
(22:37):
had a record that was four games over five hundred
at this point last year. Them starting fifteen and five
was huge, but it also established where the Lakers were
best as a team, and that was with Luca and
Austin playing off of each other. Those two dudes complement
each other in a way that we are not seeing
the same synergy when it's just Luca and Lebron, and
(23:00):
they have to figure that out because the Lakers are
at their works this season as far as line ups
with Luka Doncic on the floor with one other guy,
They're at their works when it's Luka and Lebron. They're
at their best when it's Luca and Austin. We saw
a version of the Lakers that was really good. And
you can talk about their schedule, you can talk about whatever.
(23:20):
I've seen. The Lakers lose some bad teams and lose
some good teams. Okay, so it's Lebron. We have to
be able to say two things at once. Lebron is
still a good basketball player, Okay, Well, Lebron is not
a player that the Lakers at this time are playing
their best basketball with while he's on the floor. And
(23:42):
if that doesn't change, then the Lakers are going to
continue to slip in the sandwich.
Speaker 3 (23:47):
NBA reporter extraordinaiy La Murray from The Athletic is joining
us here. I'm at a Moslin in for big Ben
Maller on Fox Sports Radio at La Murray, the U
was where you find him on x SO law. Why
do I feel like we could be days away from
Giannis Adnakompo trade? It just feels inevitable. He used to
being asked about it. He likes to deflect. He likes
(24:08):
to say I'm here, but that doesn't mean he's going
to be here within the next couple of months. And
they just lost to the Washington Wizards. How do you
see this playing out in Milwaukee right now?
Speaker 4 (24:19):
Yeah, I mean it's not the first time that they
lost to the Wizards either, you know, And it's I
don't want to disrespect the Wizards, because the thing about
the Wizards bad team with a bad record, but they
have thrones on that team, and they have they have
guys who if you're not prepared to play as well
(24:40):
as you need to play as if it's of any
average team, then they will beat you and it will
feel embarrassing. And Doc Rivers pointed that out when they
lost on New Year's Eve. Doc said they did not
deserve to win the game. I have another team that
I cover in LA where I've heard the very similar
(25:01):
way of saying things like that, And so I don't
look at Giannis being a guy who gets traded in
the matter of days like this is something where you know, January,
it's going to change lives in the NBA. So how
well the Bucks play is going to have a big
impact on the viability of Giannis staying there. But also
(25:25):
it's not up to Giannis all the time. It's not
even up to the Bucks. Like the Bucks can say
they're open to something, but if the appropriate deal isn't there,
then that's it. You have a bunch of these editors
and visital you know, companies who covered a sport of basketball,
and they're giving you a tap dozen trades they'd like
(25:49):
to see. They'd like to see him because they want
to be GM's. Like, the reality is John Horst has
his job, and his job isn't to trade Giannis. His
job is to find way to have the Bucks be
good and we'll see how January goes in that endeavor.
Speaker 3 (26:05):
Well, one of the teams that people have talked about
trying to make a move for you, honest, would be
in Atlanta and they got a guy in Trey Young. Well,
I don't think would be included in that trade package.
I'm not sure what Milwaukee would want that for. But
it seems like trace days are numbers in the atl
Do you see it like that? Obviously there's a contract
decision coming up.
Speaker 4 (26:25):
Yeah, I mean, I'll tell you what And Adam, I
really appreciate you let me do this while I take
my busser ride home from me good Like. I feel
like when it comes to someone like Trey, he din
had some situation because hardn't played well, he hasn't played well,
he hasn't been available. This team has arguably been better
(26:46):
without him, even though this team is not good enough, Dude,
just say hey, we don't play trade may be good,
and I think that's a scary thing for the Hons.
It's definitely unsettling for Tree Young. I think the best
thing about very Young is the fact that he had
in the player ups, so he doesn't get traded, or
he gets traded to some place he doesn't like. He
(27:09):
controls at least a year of his teacher in terms
of that. But I think the most simple thing with
Tray is more teams would want him if he was
still playing at the level that he should be in
terms of the days of his career that he did.
And that's just not happening. He's he's always been a
guy who is shooting is more dangerous because of his range,
(27:31):
not necessarily because of his efficiency. He's small, so you're
never going to be good defensively with him on the floor.
And now that float that such a weapon for him.
He's not beating guys, he's not scoring like you shoot,
and all these things make it to where he's a
lot closer to the average point guard. If he ran
up all the storry point guards at him. There's story
(27:53):
our closed to average is very young. Instead of a
guy who you know gets into the All Star Game
or someone gets hurt.
Speaker 3 (28:02):
Yeah, he's not high on my list anymore. A lot
of the advanced numbers say he's getting worse with his
efficiency too, right.
Speaker 4 (28:10):
And and that's and that's the thing It's like very
young BA balions Ray has always been some guy who
can three eight offense for himself, for his teammates, and
as the shooting of efficiency has been fined from everywhere
and the turnovers zone necessarily get better, and now he's
(28:31):
a guy there's Atlanta have so many other guys who
can play with small in their games and three offense
well at leasts Stray kind of in a weird spot,
and Flint snyders of uh, there's other guys. They don't
necessarily need him to go. But if he's going to
go forward, you got the balls. He's not versatile fires
(28:53):
and seems have to acknowledged that it may be so
excited for a very young string. Why aren't you giving
up to get your young on your team and then
say that your team is better. That is very difficult
watching the configure right now.
Speaker 3 (29:09):
Oh, the show is better when La Murray is on
at La Murray v NU covers the NBA for the
athletic does it here in Southern California. Closely attached to
the Clippers and the Lakers a lot. Thanks for joining me,
Thanks for joining me on Fox Sports Radio tonight, My Fred, Thank.
Speaker 4 (29:26):
You vam appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (29:28):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Ben Maller
Show weekdays at two am Eastern eleven pm Pacific.
Speaker 3 (29:33):
I'm at a Mosland in for Big Ben Malor, and
you might know I also work for the Clippers. You
might know I love the NBA and on nights like
this where Kawhi Leonard goes for forty five and has
twenty points in the fourth quarter, and while he's thirty
four years of age, he's had three forty point games
(29:54):
in the last ten days. He's on a crazy heater
like we've never seen before. I gotta talk some NBA
with you, guys, and I even have a Draymond Green
story for next hour we'll get into because I'm getting
sick of him. But I'm sick of all the changes
they continue to make to try to fix problems, imaginary
(30:15):
ones that don't actually exist. Evening Commission, I'm looking at you,
Adam Silver. The NBA is once again trying to curb tanking.
There's too many teams losing now to be fair that
Utah Jazz tonight. I mean they were playing third stringers
and G League guys, and who am I thinking of?
(30:38):
Lloyd Markinen was out, everybody was out. Ace Bailey was out,
Keyantay George was out. If this was Charles Barklay being
asked in that game they play who you play for?
They could do that with me and I can go
pretty deep with NBA rosters and even I don't know
who some of those guys were tonight for the Utah Jazz,
(30:59):
and this whole story of tanking kind of centers around them.
The reasoning by the NBA is, well, the Utah Jazz
got fined multiple times, I think last season for tanking
and they eventually got Ace Bailey out of it. They
had guys sitting out games that were not technically hurt
(31:23):
or they couldn't I don't know, verify it with independent doctors.
John Collins miss half the season marketing it, missing a
ton of games, and they got fined. Danny Aingel's son
is the GM there. He's the president of basketball operations.
They were up to some funny business. They wanted to lose.
(31:45):
They wanted to try to get a top pick in
the draft, and they're not the only team to do this.
But the problem is they already made changes to the
draft lottery odds. This probably goes back five years now
where they flattened out the odds of the top where
there was a time where if you were the worst
team in the NBA, you had like a twenty five
(32:08):
percent chance of having the number one overall pick. The
odds the odds were pretty good. Now they've flattened them
out a little bit where if you finish top three,
you each have a seventeen percent chance. They're trying to
take away the incentive of tanking. They don't want teams
at the end of the season trying to lose, like
(32:30):
it's that episode of South Park with the Little League
Baseball going on. But here's the problem. What's happened is
some of the worst teams aren't getting top draft picks.
For instance, last season, instead of it being the Washington
Wizards or the Brooklyn Nets or the Utah Jazz, instead
(32:53):
of them owning the top picks, they went to San Antonio,
they went to down Dallas, and people were thinking there's
some conspiracy theory. The NBA was helping out Nico Harrison,
who's now fired because he got Luka Doncic to a
big market with the Lakers, so they gave him the
number one pick. Yeah, I don't think that was the case,
(33:16):
you know how I know that he got fired anyways,
I don't think he was in on anything with the
commissioner with the NBA where he put his reputation on
the line like that, because he'll forever be known as
one of the biggest dumbasses ever. I'm sorry, but it's true.
Nico Harrison, like you dumb ass what he did with
(33:37):
Luka Doncic, that should have been a fine. Well, the
NBA is finding teams for tanking. That's one of those
trades that you can never live down. But because teams
that were better and weren't tanking ended up with top picks,
and you get Cooper Flag going to a team in
Dallas that actually, if they could ever get healthy, they're
(34:00):
decently set up. Kyrie Irving I think might be back
in the next month off the ACL. We'll see. It
could depend on how they play moving forward and if
they're competitive enough. Anthony Davis, Yeah, he's he's hurt a lot.
Some probably call him what's that name they called mister Glass,
(34:20):
But they're good when he's available. Why are they getting
the top pick? These other teams that were much worse,
that had better odds didn't get top picks. They didn't
get that generational player. They didn't get Dylan Harper like
san Antonio did. San Antonio has had top picks the
(34:42):
last three years, Wemby, Stefan Castle, Dylan Harper, and now
look at him. They beat OKC three times in twelve days.
They look like their next or they're now. But all
these other teams that we're losing intentionally into institutional tanking.
(35:06):
Doesn't mean players out there on the court aren't playing hard.
You just don't put the best players out there, and
that's how you get away with it. But what it
does is the undesired effect by the commissioner is it
makes these teams go, well, we didn't get a top
pick this time, we'll get back in the draft lottery
again and have another year of trusting the process and
(35:29):
tanking because we thought we were going to get a
top pick. Oh, we didn't get it, so I guess
we'll tak again. That's what happens. That's what's happening with
Brooklyn even though they've been winning lately. That's what's happening
with the Washington Wizards. Those teams didn't end up getting
the picks. They thought they were going to get because
(35:50):
the NBA already flattened the odds, so they have worse
odds of getting them. So it keeps them in take
mode and in the same cycle over and over again.
That's kind of an issue. But the NBA also trying
to fix this. It doesn't make sense. There are some
teams that just aren't good decision makers. They aren't trying
(36:14):
to tank. They just suck because they suck. You can't
confuse every team that sucks with tanking. That's not how
it works. Like the Charlotte Hornets, they don't suck because
they're trying to get a higher draft pick. They suck
because Michael Jordan was in charge for years. They didn't
(36:34):
draft well enough. And LaMelo ball is a circus at
times doing Pete Merovich like stuff out there, and I'm
not sure, as people would say, he even knows what
the score is. Is he winning basketball player or not.
They have young guys who are learning, like Conkin Nipple,
(36:56):
like Brandon Miller. They have to take their lumps intentionally tanking.
That's not what this is. You're trying to solve sports basically,
is what the NBA is saying. We can't have any
bad teams. No, that's sports. That's how it works. Teams
make bad decisions, they have to live with it. If
(37:19):
you try to fix this imaginary problem and try to
make every team competitive, you're likely gonna have some effects
that you didn't see coming where you create something far worse.
The whole idea of tanking is an overblown issue, and
teams are starting to learn, like the Wizards and the
(37:39):
Brooklyn Nets, who have been playing their worst guys to
get a higher draft pick, that it doesn't always work
out that way since they flattened out the odds. So
eventually they might say, well, what's the point of tanking,
doesn't guarantee you the top pick anyways, let this process
play out. They just changed things five years ago. Don't
(38:03):
try to change anything again. We don't need to take
away teams' abilities to top ten protect picks and all
these things. Because here's the deal. The Utah Jazz this season,
a team that was already fined for tanking last year, Well,
they have a first round pick that is top eight protected.
(38:25):
It has to finish top eight for them to hold
on to that pick, otherwise it goes to the Oklahoma
City thunder. That's a problem, so they're incentivized to lose
to hold on to that pick, and maybe that's some
of what we saw tonight with why they played so
(38:46):
few guys, legitimate NBA players against the Clippers. The league
doesn't like that, especially in early January. They don't want
teams tanking this early. And I'm not saying that's necessarily
what Utah was doing, but they got busted last season.
The NBA wants to stop it from happening again, but
they could create something far worse if they're not careful.
Host
Ben Maller
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