August 28, 2017 • 33 mins
Doug tells you why Floyd Mayweather is the greatest "Con Artist" of all time. He reacts to some NFL preseason injuries and why the preseason is here to stay. Also, Doug talks to Ric Bucher from Bleacher Report about the Cavaliers-Celtics trade that is being held up due to concerns over Isaiah Thomas' health.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is the best of the Doug Gottlieb Show on
Fox Sports Radio. Boom on Up America. Doug Gottlieb Show,
Fox Sports Radio, coming live and direct from the City
of Angels. Some of you watching on Facebook Live, thousands
of you listen to us on Fox Sports Radio's hundreds
of affiliates or on serious X Same Channel eighty three,
(00:23):
as well as the I Heart app. Welcome in Hope.
You had a great weekend. This the last week of summer,
Labor Day weekend, full slate of college football. Get you
ready for the NFL Week four. The NFL preseason is
gonna be worse than ever because there's still ninety guys
and all these rosters three all of those other thirty
seven players will be the ones mostly playing in these
(00:44):
fourth exhibition games, so don't pay attention to the NFL.
We'll talk to you about preseason injuries and this nonsense
that people are discussing abounce those injuries. We'll also talk
about why the Boston Celtics are gonna smartly say no
tag backs, no tag backs and um kind of like
when my kids play slug Bug. Like yet play Slugbug,
no no take backs. Hopefully they said no take backs
(01:07):
with the Kyrie Irving Isaiah Thomas trade because Cleveland apparently
just found out that Isaiah Thomas had a hip injury.
I know Isaiah Thomas missed the last two games of
the playoffs. Who they play against? Oh that's right, the
Cleveland Cavaliers and the Calves are like, I can't believe
he's got a hip injury. Okay, we'll talk about that upcoming.
(01:30):
One of my favorite movies was ringing in my head
as I watched Floyd Mayweather pick up part Connor McGregor
in rounds four through the final round round ten. That
movie is the Usual Suspects. Remember this line, The greatest
trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he
(01:51):
didn't exist. Right, The greatest trick the world ever the
Devil ever pulled was convincing the world that he didn't exist.
And I was thinking, I've I've called Floyd Mayweather or
con Man. I think, um, that may not be an
appropriate term. Con artiste, not artist artiste. He's not an
artist like someone who's down at Venice Beach or Jones
(02:15):
Beach and campaigning your likeness really quick in like a
cartoon character. This guy is the Michael Angelo of Connarts.
He's so good that you don't even know what happened
after it happened. Connor McGregor was in the round for
ten rings, tent tent in the ring for ten rounds.
Sorry about that, dyslexica am I um in the round
(02:40):
in the ring for ten rounds and he has he
has a little bit of an idea what happened, But
still he actually think he had a shot. I don't know.
I thought I took the earlier round, was pretty handy,
had the change of style and Fred play, don't we did?
He just did he change of stop with the hands
of the wall forward. He's composed. He's not that fast,
he's not that powerful, but boy as he composed in there.
(03:00):
So he was making me tro when he was pacing
with his shots. Yeah, he's composed. He's composed. Look, I
thought Connor was great in the post post fight uh interviews, Right,
I thought I think he was. He was great, and
he made you believe that he had no idea what
just happened to him because he thought, hey, I'm I
always get a little wobbly and like he was gonna
(03:20):
bounce back, and then he was gonna knock him out.
But Flay Mayweather is so much smarter than all of you,
all of us, and definitely than Connor McGregor, that McGregor
doesn't even realize he changed styles. No, he just had
a game plan for how to make sure that you
couldn't win. He took winning off the table because the
(03:42):
only way that Connor McGregor could win, everybody said this
right was a CounterPunch a left hand, which, by the way,
this should not go unnoticed. He landed a big uppercut
in the first round. It didn't wobble Floyd Mayweather. So
anybody thinks that Connor McGregor had this incredible power advantage,
(04:02):
it wasn't there. But as the fight wore on, you
understood that Floyd knew the only way he could lose
this fight was if he walked into a left hand
and it knocked him out. And the best way to
prepare yourself for that was take away the power. I
was stunned by Showtime. I think, um, what's his name, Bernstein?
(04:25):
Who does the al Bernstein? I think he's very good.
But let me just tell you how bad Showtime was. Okay,
I don't know the play by play guy. I know
he does m M A stuff. I know he does
boxing stuff, but he has Polly mal Gianni sitting next
to him. Now, I don't remember poly magian is a
championship fighter. What I do remember him as a championship
fighter who has sparred in the ring with Connor McGregor.
(04:47):
He is the only man on earth who can speak
to what Connor McGregor was gonna bring to the table.
And never before the fight did somebody go, hey you yeah,
Polly Magianni, who most of America, not fight fans, don't
remember what's he actually like? That never happened. But let
me tell you why Floyd Mayweather is not a con man.
(05:09):
He's a con artiste artiste. First, he made you believe
that he's the greatest fighter ever. Why do you think
he's the greatest fighter, Well, he has it on his
shorts TV, the best ever. He's told you he's got
this narrative of best pound for pound fighter in boxing. No,
he's not. Triple G is a better fighter right now? Right?
Does anyone who knows any I don't know book kiss
(05:32):
about the fight game and fight guy? M M A guy,
boxing guy? Stop it? Okay, we know you know more
about your niche sport than the rest of us, But
I do know enough about it to know that everyone
thinks Triple G is better in his division than Floyd
is right now, So don't give me the best pound
for pound fighter in the world. He's not the best
pound for pound fighter at his weight class. Ever. What
(05:55):
he's great at is conning you into believing it. Because
when he fought Oscar dale o Jia, Oscar was over
the hill. When he fought Mannie Pakia many Pakia was
over the hill when he fought Canelo Alvarez is for Canelo.
Alvarez was fully mature enough to take that fight, to
win that fight, to understand the strategy it took to
win that fight. He's brilliant at when, where, and how
(06:20):
he fights his opponents. And because of the record now
fifty and know, he's got you believing there is the
greatest of all time. No, he's not no. One in
boxing things he's the greatest of all time, or even
one of the top five all time. But he's painted
a picture that would make you believe that, and then
you walk away from that fight going like the greatest
of all time. He fought a guy who's never been
(06:40):
in a boxing match before. I'm not sure what that
reassured us of, but he was smart. He had nagi.
If you've watched a friends, it's not Salmon's skin roll.
Take a listen to what he said right after the
fight about the game plan. Our game plans was to
(07:04):
take our time, go to him, let him to shoot
all his heavy shots early, and then take him out
at the end down the stretch. I mean, like, if
you go back and watch the fight, you're like, wow,
and and please stop with it's this is it's the
Do you remember when um uh, what's his name? Prior
(07:24):
now the wide receiver for the Washington Redskins, was with
the Terrell Prior was the starting quarterback of the Raiders.
When he was a quarterback for the Rigs, people like, well,
Turell Prior is not bad, Like no, no, no. Everyone
thought Terrell Prior would be a complete and utter disaster.
And because he was just okay, because he was just okay,
people like, oh no, he was bad. He just wasn't.
He just lined up under center and occasionally completed a
(07:47):
pass correctly. It's the power of expectations. That was not
a classic fight. They weren't standing toe to toe and
throwing blows. There wasn't one round that you say, that's
one of the best hounds I've seen all year, let
alone in the history of boxing. But people walk away
that's a great fight. Why because many of us grew
up and I had friends at my house. I was
(08:09):
in Vegas. I was like, you know what, I want
to watch it with my friends, with my kids. I
flew home, I watched my friend fightings people over and
we all walked away going there. I was better than
we thought, better than we thought. It is not good,
and it's definitely not great, but there was not one
moment to which Floyd Mayweather was not completely in charge.
It was not going according to plan, and the con
(08:32):
was so good that at the end of it, you're like,
well what happened? Carter was like, had a chance. He's
not good, he's just composed. Yeah, he had a game plan.
He knew you were bigger, longer, a little bit stronger,
and the only thought in his mind, his only way
of losing was walking into a left hand that he
wasn't expecting, and so he took away Your power brilliant
(08:55):
in its simplicity and It was like the guys in
showtime didn't even realize he wasn't throwing. He didn't throw
a punch in the first four rounds. In the first
minute of each round, he just stood there with his
hands up. He said, there were the ends up and
Connor mcgrey is like, I'm wailing away, hey, dope, we
know you're wailing away. We want you to get tired.
(09:18):
And sure it could have gone on. They could have.
They could have not called it at ten. But did
anyone think Connor McGregor had even a puncher's chance. Couldn't
keep his gloves up. He was completely exhausted in addition
to being out skilled and out quicked and outsmarted. That
was lost based upon conditioning. Fatigue makes cowards of us, all,
(09:42):
that's Vince Lombardi. Well, it also makes mortals of immortals.
And Connor McGregor couldn't even keep his hands up at
the end of the fight. Why because Floyd Mayweather, forty
years old, who reportedly had strippers at his house the
last two weeks of training eating hamburgers, comes in four
pounds underweight. Connor mcgreg or just makes weight and then
adds a bunch of weight the day of and Floyd
(10:03):
Mayweather the whole time is like, dude, I'm gonna win
this seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve. And that's exactly
what happened. Floyd tried to bet on himself if it
wouldn't happen, because he knew exactly when when you set
a plan in in place and you execute it to perfection,
and the other side, including fans fight fans worldwide, nationwide
(10:26):
in the arena, don't really know what hit him. They
just know that boy, that was a little bit better
than I thought it was gonna be. That's a great con.
That's a great con. He's not a con man. He's
not some five and dime pick your pocket. Oh I
think I felt my pocket. Move guy. He is the
Michael Angelo of con artists. He hadn't fought in two years.
(10:49):
He created a fight that the other the opponent, had
no shot. He built it up. He said he was
a little bit too old, and yet he took on
a guy who did have no shot and yet allowed
people to believe for a couple rounds, this guy may
be capable. Matter of fact, that guy thought he was capable.
The beauty was in the planning in the execution and
(11:11):
the fact that most people just said, here, here's my
hundred dollars. I don't even feel bad about giving a
hundred dollars on a fight that you knew. The ultimate
outcome the brilliant and and like, like was said in
Um Usual Suspects, the greatest trick the devil ever pulled
(11:34):
was convincing the world he didn't exist. The greatest cons
are the ones to which you don't even know what
happened after they happened. Be sure to catch live editions
of the Doug gott Leaps Show weekdays at three p m.
Eastern noon Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the I
Heart Radio app. You guys have seen this story that
(11:56):
the Cleveland Cavaliers would like the boss the Celtics to
throw something else into the pot, right, something else in
the pot? And this is like, this is negotiation, one
on one right, once you shake hands in the deal, like,
that's the deal, dude. Now, technically, because a player fails
a physical, you could nix the trade, but this one
(12:19):
would probably go through anyway because when the trade was made,
when the trade was consummated, Isaiah Thomas was hurt and
the entire league knew he was hurt. Look, the Cats
can sit there going hold on, Now we have leverage.
We can send Isaiah Thomas and uh uh and company
kind of back to your squad and like the Cells like,
(12:41):
all right, so we can send Kyie. You think Kyrie
Irving is going to go back to the Cleveland Cavaliers.
There's a no takebacks deal. Think about how it poisoned
the well when pau gasol in the mark. That's what
started the downfall of lamar Odom. Right, lamar Odom was
with the Lakers. They trade him as part of three
team deal to get Chris Paul and lamar Odom never recovered,
(13:02):
never recovered. Everyone knows Carrie and look the credit Lebron
he took the high road. How about those idiots that
burned the Boston Celtics Izaiah Thomas Jersey, You're like, oh,
you're putting out the fire like you're like putting it on.
It's got black mark side, Like just kidding. But anyone
who thinks that the Calves have some sort of leverage
on the Celtics aren't dealing with reality. This isn't the
(13:24):
Celtics trading a bad bail. This is not like you're
trading a used car and like you go, like, all right, um,
I bought a use car on cars dot com or whatever.
I used true car to find it. I used true
Car to get my used car. I gotta go pick it.
I can you come drop it off my house? Like oh,
it has no transmission, like whoa wait a second, right,
or you start driving it and like the muffler falls
(13:46):
out as you're driving at home, or it's got one
of those donut tires like you go and it's got
rims on like three wheels and there's like a doughnut on.
One time. I was like, you know, we ran over
something sharp last week. You can fix that thing up
to your car. Now. This is not the Celtics trading
a bad bail of goods to the Calves for Kyrie Irving.
That's not what this is. If you didn't think that
(14:09):
the Calves knew that Isaiah Thomas was hurt, well then
where was Idea Thomas the last two games of the
playoffs when they played against the Cavaliers. Oh yeah, remembers
Isaiah Thomas like going to miss the remainder of the season,
has a hip injury. Oh yeah, well that's why you
trade a guy who's averaging eight points a game, still
(14:32):
had a year left at a reasonable salary you could
walk away from. That's why you would trade him in
his prime, coming off the best year of his career.
So this idea that the I didn't we didn't know.
We didn't know. What do you didn't know? How's his hip?
We had hip surgery. Here's the hip. You have to
fully disclose this when a player is traded and they
(14:52):
fully disclosed it, Like wow, that kind of seems bad, Like, yeah,
it's a hip injury. Did you think there was such
thing as a good hip injury? It's not a bo
Jackson hip, but it's not a good one. So I
find it quite clever that the calves like, you know what,
throwing Jason Tatum or Jalen Brown. Yeah, no, we're not
(15:13):
gonna throw in. We're not gonna throw in two of
our primary assets that are both young under rookie contracts.
One hasn't played an NBA game. Many people think you
could be an All Star. The other one has played
one NBA season, And we're kind of building this thing
around those two guys being our hybrid three force for
years to come. How about no, we feel like we
got the better end of a trade. You felt like
you got the good end of trade. We gave you
(15:35):
Ja Crowder, Zizzit, Isaiah Thomas and the rights to the
Brooklyn Nets. Yeah. No, we're not even going to think
about That's one of those ones where Danny Angel sitting
there and every time a Cleveland area code pops up,
he's just like, they're going, They're going. Fox Sports Radio
(15:55):
has the best sports talk lineup in the nation. Catch
all of our shows at fox It's radio dot com
and within the I Heart Radio app. Can we just
stop and stop the freaking out about the preseason injuries.
Football is bad for your health. While we continue to
focus on and I rightfully so, football's long term damage
it can do on your head. As far as CTE
(16:19):
like you know what that's doing, that's taking us away
from the fact that football is just playing bad for you.
Anybody who's ever played football as a kid knows somebody
who got either a stinger or worse and got hauled
off in an ambulance. I'm sure if you played football
as a kid through high school, you saw somebody taking
off at an ambulance, or if you've been a college
fan or a high school fan. You've been to enough games.
(16:40):
I'm going to my high school. My high school plays there.
There are rival this this uh Sunday night. I'm gonna
go to that game. Anyone who's been enough. There's there's
a kid who gets hit, gets a stinger, hopefully it's
just a stinger, can't feel something on their body. Everybody
rightfully freaks out. They get taken away and we just
missed the fact that football is dangerous, it's bad for you.
(17:01):
And we freak out about Julie Edelman getting hurt and
saying this kills the Patriots. It's gonna hurt the Patriots.
Remember the Patriots, they win a Super Bowl without Rob Gronkowski,
their best offensive player. Still losing Edelman, even at this
early point in the season, even with you know, thirty
seven dudes coming off of coming off of everybody's roster,
uh this weekend, losing Edelman hurts them. But how if
(17:25):
he didn't play his third preseason game. If you take
away the preseason games, the football won't be as good.
They're still going to have just as many snaps against
another team. They'll just do it in private scrimmages and
oh yeah. By the way, it doesn't eliminate the fact
that football is not good for you. Take away two
(17:45):
preseason games and the NFL is gonna give you more
regular season games, which has played at a higher intensity
and a stronger likelihood of injury. This is what happens.
This is like the if you're really scared of playing
football and get hurt, then you shouldn't play football. I
can't believe he got hurt. I can't either. I think
it stinks. It's awful, But like all he was doing
(18:07):
was cutting and he blew out his knee. You can
cut and blow out your knee, just like Jordy Nelson
blew out his knee just running down a field. Don't
get me wrong, there are injuries. Spencer Weare's injury was
caused by it. He was fighting for more yards and
he's simply gone down. Maybe he didn't get hurt, and
maybe that doesn't happen. Maybe it doesn't happen, um if
(18:31):
they're not, if they're playing with no contact. But the
likelihood is when you tear a knee, unless you got
direct conduct contact to that knee, it was probably gonna
tear anyway. So there's just certain things you have to
do to get ready for the season, right, And if
you ask NFL teams now, they'll tell you we don't
(18:53):
know who we are until October one. Why because training
camp you don't have two days, you're not nearly as
much contact as there used to be. And even with
cutting down on the two days, you're still having injuries,
although not as great a density of injuries. You're having
these scrimmages now, which you get a lot out of.
You're gonna have some injuries there, and you have preseason
games and there have been a handful of bad injuries. This,
(19:16):
this to me, isn't any different than anything else described
on Facebook. We see something on Facebook and we think
that it happens everywhere. It's like the guy who says, well,
they know nobody pays people. Thousands of people don't pay taxes,
who are unwelfare, Like, okay, are there people that game
the system? Yeah, there's people the game every system. There
are things that are done that are bad. They're bad
(19:37):
people that do things everywhere. But when you take something
that you see and think it's a widespread problem, no
it's not. It's not. This is what happens when you
have guys. NFL linemen are over a lot of them
are over three hundred pounds right there, over three pounds.
(19:58):
Well six ft six guys at three hundred pounds, that's
not a healthy lifestyle. You're bound to get hurt. And
when you put that many three pound lineman in close
proximity to one another, somebody's gonna fall down. And when
they fall down, they might hurt somebody else. That's just
kind of the nate. That's just the physics of it.
These finally two athletes that are wide receivers. As much
(20:19):
as they have great speed, incredible athleticism, they're lean, their
motors running hot. They're a lot, you know what they're like.
NFL players or superstar athletes are no different than sports cars,
right than sports cars, And anyone who's ever had a
sport like a real sports car will tell you make
(20:41):
sure it's your third car, because they break down a lot.
They're super fun to drive, but they break down a lot.
Be sure to catch live editions of the Doug gott
Leap Show weekdays at three p m. Eastern noon Pacific
on Fox Sports Radio and the I Heart Radio app.
Let's catch up with Rick Bukeer from bleacher report. He
joins us in the Doug Gotleap Show. How are the
Calves the only people that didn't know Isaiah Thomas had
(21:03):
a bad hip? Oh? I I'm certain that they knew,
uh that he had a bad hip. I don't know
if they knew how bad the hip was and whether
the physical that he took the other day gave them
a clearer perspective on that. But I really think this
comes down to winning the press conference. Initially they won
(21:24):
the press conference. I thought it was funny how everybody
was responding to the trade and whether it was good
or it was bad, and and who got the best
of it? And and you had Danny Aines dropped that
little dime after it was announced, and everybody was talking
about it, saying, yeah, you know, I don't know if
(21:44):
Isaiah is going to be ready for the start of
the season. And did his hip situation uh factor into
making the deal? And he said some. And at that point,
the people I talked to around the league where that's
a huge red flag that he that he might not
be starting to season because it's been three months since
that injury went down, and some of the belief is
(22:07):
is the reason that he didn't have surgery. But because
if you have surgery, if you have hip surgery, it
automatically reduces what you're able to get on the free
agent market. People are not going to uh dial you
up at the same then what you do, it's a
matter of you know what, this is a ticking time
bomb now. So the belief was that he avoided the surgery,
not because it wasn't that severe, but because of the
(22:31):
message that it would send to the entire league Isaiah
being enough a unrestricted free agent next summer. So, um,
you know, the heart of it is. I think that
the Calves lost thought they won the press conference, and
then when the news got came out about Isaiah and
where he was at, they felt like, maybe we didn't
win the press conference. Let's see if we can go
back and try to win the second press comp Alright,
(22:52):
any chance to get anything more from the Celtics, I can't.
I don't see how. I don't. I don't see how
you go back on the deal now. I don't know
what the terms of it were like, we didn't hear
anything about it was on the condition of the physical
because I would have hoped that that would have been
out front and Doug you probably know this as well
(23:14):
as anyone. You know. People are like, well, he didn't
pass the physical. The physical is uh complete interpretation as
in terms of what passes and what doesn't pass. Uh,
and whether it's a prerequisite to passing the physical and
even you can have physicals where you go, We're going
to eliminate this element of this of of the body.
(23:37):
This doesn't apply to the physical if everything else checks out, Uh,
you gotta you gotta green light. And so I don't
know what the terms of the deal are, but I
have to believe that, Uh, they wouldn't have gone this
far down the road, uh if if it was contingent
upon Isaiah passing the Caps physical. Rick Buker from Bleach
(23:59):
Report joining us to Gottlieb Show, Fox Sports Radio. All right,
so who did win the trade? Oh? The Boston Celtics
hands down. Uh. First of all, anytime you get the
you get the best player in the trade. Uh, that's automatic.
I like Jay Crowder. I think he's at a reasonable price.
Is he a game changer? No? And I know everybody
(24:22):
is all excited. This is the beauty of of in
today's day and age of draft picks, particularly when you
do unprotected draft pick and then you say Brooklyn, everybody's, oh,
we're gonna get the number one picked, We're gonna get
the next franchise player. Well, first of all, number one
picks aren't always. First of all, you're not guaranteed the
(24:43):
number one pick. Brooklyn couldn't have a lot of competition
for being the worst team in the league this year.
A lot of those five or six teams that are
gonna vie for them five with them for the worst
record in the league. Second, you're not guaranteed the number
one pick. Uh, in any event, That's why you have
the lottery. Third, as high and bothered as people are
about Marvin Bagley and Porter, I'm talking to people in
(25:05):
the league. The reason Marvin Bagley is the undisputed number
one pick, it's because this draft isn't very good. Uh,
it's not expected to be very good. And while Marvin
Bagley has a load of talent, the idea that he's
going to be the next franchise player is just I mean,
let's spart this way, uh, Doug, look at Andrew Wiggins.
(25:26):
Are Karl, Anthony Towns, Anthony Davis, for as talented as
they are essentially, what have they done to this point?
The really franch that the franchise turning guys come into
the league and they instantly make their teams competitive for
a playoff spot. Yeah, Lebron didn't get there the first year,
but they were competitive. Carmelo got there, obviously had some pieces.
(25:48):
But I look at those guys and and all the
excuses are about the players around them. If you really
are a transformational player, the transformative player, transcendent player, then
your team is immediately competing for a playoff spot. For
as talented as those guys are, they haven't done it yet.
(26:11):
So even if Marvin Bagley reaches their level, which is
still a big if, I don't know that, you can
look at that pick and say, we're okay, we can
lose Kyrie, we can lose Lebron. We're on our way.
So I'm gonna take the four time All Star. The
guy who was able to win a championship by hitting
the biggest shot and from my money, at least going
into the into the finals, was the guy that if
my life depended on a guy being able to create
(26:33):
a shot and get one off and make it, Kyrie
Irving was my guy. That's uh Rick Buker, who I
wholeheartedly agree with. I mean, it's just I mean, it's amazing. Now, look,
they did lose some toughness, they lost some intangibles. They're
on their Their tangibles are much better than they were
last year. They are much better. But but they lost
(26:53):
They lost Avery and and as much as Isaiah. Look,
Isaiah gets a lot of credit for the school ring
what he doesn't maybe get the credit for, Like he's
a tough little sucker right here. So you you lose
that those two, You lose Avery badly and him, and
then you lose Jay Crowder, none of whom are really
top ten fifty players in the NBA, whereas Hayward and
(27:15):
and um Kyrie are. But how long do you think
it takes the Celtics to establish the type of defensive
identity poor role players to get them back to where
they're intangibles are at the level that their tangibles are now.
It's a fair question. And this is what makes it
(27:36):
complicated because because people are equating winning the trade with
the Boston Celtics are better. Um, I think they're more
talented losing Avery Bradley and Jay Crowder and to to
some extent, Isaiah Thomas, you're changing the dynamic of your team.
They're they've gone from a gritty, defensive team, uh, that
(27:58):
that had its personality esta pablished but had a finite ceiling,
to a team that's really remaking itself. Is far more talented,
but it's far more offensive oriented. I mean, Jason, Jason Tatum,
Gordon Haywards, Okay, as a two way player, I'll give
him that. Kyrie really don't think it that way, Jason Tatum,
you don't expect that way. I don't know that Al
(28:20):
Horford is is. I don't know where to put him
in the equation. So, No, they're they're changing their personality.
They're changing a lot there and and it may be
a step backward, uh in in totality, but uh, they
now have the kind of players that if you can
(28:40):
put those pieces around them that you mentioned, now you
can play for a championship. Now you have a legitimate
chance of saying in the postseason, when when if we
can play them even to the final minute, we have
the guys who can go get us a bucket. They
didn't have that before. Um, you know, no offense, Isaiah Thomas,
they didn't have that before. Now they have it. They
can get that against the best. Now they need to
(29:02):
backload and put those other pieces in. So how long
it takes them, look dude, as as it just depends
on how aggressive Danny wants to be. Because he's still
got five first round picks over the next two years.
So I mean, if he wants to go and get
those gritty guys, I guarantee you those gritty guys are
available some of the picks that he hasn't. Yeah, they
(29:23):
lost a lot, but the guys they got are are
are more readily replaceable. Um, does Cleveland making this these moves?
Does this have any effect on Lebron James future? From
what I've been told talking to people around the league.
Absolutely not. In fact, it probably has. I mean look
in talking to people who would know, Uh, there's no
(29:45):
finite decision made. Is he looking at all his options?
Is he open to to go into l A or
doing whatever? Absolutely? Has he made a determination at this point?
I don't think so. But the way Cleveland is approaching this,
they are pro watching it as if they are preparing
for him to go, and that's that if anything's gonna
(30:07):
push him out it's wait a minute, You're not trying
to maximize my ability to win a ring this year.
You're looking at the future like no, no, no, I
want to do things now, Dan Gilbert, I want you
to spend money now. I want you to spend resources now.
Don't tell me about trying to to create a longevity
(30:28):
for the for the for the team. That's not how
Lebron works. So this getting a pick, rather than trying
to get a superstar, trying to get established players, uh,
trying to get, you know, an unprotected potential first round pick.
That says to Lebron, you know what, you've got one
ft in, one foot out, So do we Dwyane Wade
plays for the Cavs this year. I would expect that
(30:52):
to be the case. Um. But that said, the big
question is going to be how much money is he
gonna give up with Chicago because they're not just that's
not the way Jerry Ryanstorff works. If you're going to
give him money back, then he'll let you go. If
you're not, he'll sit on you and let you and
(31:13):
let you stew in Chicago. Because you know Dwyane. Dwyane
worked this a little bit. He knew that he couldn't
get the money he was going to get from Chicago
anyplace else. He knew they were moving Jimmy Butler, he
knew what the deal was. He could have not exercised
the option and put himself out there on the free
agent market, but he knew he wasn't going to get
twenty million uh million in doing so, and so he
(31:36):
took the money. Well, Jerry, Ryan Store is not going
to give you the money and the freedom you're gonna
have to pay to get out. Yeah. No, I think
I think he'll lose some of the money. But I
also think he'll end up with Lebron and then he'll
probably if Lebron leaves, he'll probably follow Lebron wherever Lebron goes.
I think there would not be that would not be
the least bit surprised. What about Mellow, I have heard
(32:00):
anything new on that front, uh as far as uh,
you know, they brought in Scott Perry and and sort
of a new regime, and from everything I've heard, uh,
he's been trying to just get like get his hands
around the organization, meet everybody, talk to everybody. I know
(32:21):
that there was a report out there that he had
never you know, he had not talked to Jim Dolan.
That report was accurate at the time. From my understanding
is he he has since met with with Jim Dolan,
and so I get the sense that they're not in
this incredible rush. Look New York. New York knows at
some point they have to move him, but like starting
(32:43):
at the beginning of the season, they they don't have
that pressure on him. Houston, somebody else who's looking to
get Carmelo and make a run, they have that pressure.
And this is the beauty of having a Scott Perry
who's been around the block a couple of times, is
that he understands that he came in and changed the
dynamic immediately by rather than you know, Phil Jackson, it
was all we gotta get rid of Carmelo because he
(33:04):
because he poisoned the waters. And Scott comes in and says, hey,
you know what, We're gonna sit down and talk with Mellow.
We're gonna figure out what's best. But the two of us,
we're not just gonna move him from moving him, say
and suddenly Melos like, hey, wait a minute, no, I
want to get out of here. How can we make
this happen, so you now suddenly rather than being at odds,
now there's the opportunity to work together to make something
(33:24):
that's mutually beneficial. So I don't I don't know that
anything is gonna pop off. Um, I don't even know
if it's going to happen before training camp opens. You
would think that it would, but as of right now,
I have not heard anything that is uh, that is
on the front burners. All right, that's Rick Buko from
Bleacher Report. Coach set Course has his own show on
Serious XM Channel two. Great stuff, man, thanks so much
(33:48):
for joining us. You got it.
This is the best of the Doug Gottlieb Show on
Fox Sports Radio. Boom on Up America. Doug Gottlieb Show,
Fox Sports Radio, coming live and direct from the City
of Angels. Some of you watching on Facebook Live, thousands
of you listen to us on Fox Sports Radio's hundreds
of affiliates or on serious X Same Channel eighty three,
(00:23):
as well as the I Heart app. Welcome in Hope.
You had a great weekend. This the last week of summer,
Labor Day weekend, full slate of college football. Get you
ready for the NFL Week four. The NFL preseason is
gonna be worse than ever because there's still ninety guys
and all these rosters three all of those other thirty
seven players will be the ones mostly playing in these
(00:44):
fourth exhibition games, so don't pay attention to the NFL.
We'll talk to you about preseason injuries and this nonsense
that people are discussing abounce those injuries. We'll also talk
about why the Boston Celtics are gonna smartly say no
tag backs, no tag backs and um kind of like
when my kids play slug Bug. Like yet play Slugbug,
no no take backs. Hopefully they said no take backs
(01:07):
with the Kyrie Irving Isaiah Thomas trade because Cleveland apparently
just found out that Isaiah Thomas had a hip injury.
I know Isaiah Thomas missed the last two games of
the playoffs. Who they play against? Oh that's right, the
Cleveland Cavaliers and the Calves are like, I can't believe
he's got a hip injury. Okay, we'll talk about that upcoming.
(01:30):
One of my favorite movies was ringing in my head
as I watched Floyd Mayweather pick up part Connor McGregor
in rounds four through the final round round ten. That
movie is the Usual Suspects. Remember this line, The greatest
trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he
(01:51):
didn't exist. Right, The greatest trick the world ever the
Devil ever pulled was convincing the world that he didn't exist.
And I was thinking, I've I've called Floyd Mayweather or
con Man. I think, um, that may not be an
appropriate term. Con artiste, not artist artiste. He's not an
artist like someone who's down at Venice Beach or Jones
(02:15):
Beach and campaigning your likeness really quick in like a
cartoon character. This guy is the Michael Angelo of Connarts.
He's so good that you don't even know what happened
after it happened. Connor McGregor was in the round for
ten rings, tent tent in the ring for ten rounds.
Sorry about that, dyslexica am I um in the round
(02:40):
in the ring for ten rounds and he has he
has a little bit of an idea what happened, But
still he actually think he had a shot. I don't know.
I thought I took the earlier round, was pretty handy,
had the change of style and Fred play, don't we did?
He just did he change of stop with the hands
of the wall forward. He's composed. He's not that fast,
he's not that powerful, but boy as he composed in there.
(03:00):
So he was making me tro when he was pacing
with his shots. Yeah, he's composed. He's composed. Look, I
thought Connor was great in the post post fight uh interviews, Right,
I thought I think he was. He was great, and
he made you believe that he had no idea what
just happened to him because he thought, hey, I'm I
always get a little wobbly and like he was gonna
(03:20):
bounce back, and then he was gonna knock him out.
But Flay Mayweather is so much smarter than all of you,
all of us, and definitely than Connor McGregor, that McGregor
doesn't even realize he changed styles. No, he just had
a game plan for how to make sure that you
couldn't win. He took winning off the table because the
(03:42):
only way that Connor McGregor could win, everybody said this
right was a CounterPunch a left hand, which, by the way,
this should not go unnoticed. He landed a big uppercut
in the first round. It didn't wobble Floyd Mayweather. So
anybody thinks that Connor McGregor had this incredible power advantage,
(04:02):
it wasn't there. But as the fight wore on, you
understood that Floyd knew the only way he could lose
this fight was if he walked into a left hand
and it knocked him out. And the best way to
prepare yourself for that was take away the power. I
was stunned by Showtime. I think, um, what's his name, Bernstein?
(04:25):
Who does the al Bernstein? I think he's very good.
But let me just tell you how bad Showtime was. Okay,
I don't know the play by play guy. I know
he does m M A stuff. I know he does
boxing stuff, but he has Polly mal Gianni sitting next
to him. Now, I don't remember poly magian is a
championship fighter. What I do remember him as a championship
fighter who has sparred in the ring with Connor McGregor.
(04:47):
He is the only man on earth who can speak
to what Connor McGregor was gonna bring to the table.
And never before the fight did somebody go, hey you yeah,
Polly Magianni, who most of America, not fight fans, don't
remember what's he actually like? That never happened. But let
me tell you why Floyd Mayweather is not a con man.
(05:09):
He's a con artiste artiste. First, he made you believe
that he's the greatest fighter ever. Why do you think
he's the greatest fighter, Well, he has it on his
shorts TV, the best ever. He's told you he's got
this narrative of best pound for pound fighter in boxing. No,
he's not. Triple G is a better fighter right now? Right?
Does anyone who knows any I don't know book kiss
(05:32):
about the fight game and fight guy? M M A guy,
boxing guy? Stop it? Okay, we know you know more
about your niche sport than the rest of us, But
I do know enough about it to know that everyone
thinks Triple G is better in his division than Floyd
is right now, So don't give me the best pound
for pound fighter in the world. He's not the best
pound for pound fighter at his weight class. Ever. What
(05:55):
he's great at is conning you into believing it. Because
when he fought Oscar dale o Jia, Oscar was over
the hill. When he fought Mannie Pakia many Pakia was
over the hill when he fought Canelo Alvarez is for Canelo.
Alvarez was fully mature enough to take that fight, to
win that fight, to understand the strategy it took to
win that fight. He's brilliant at when, where, and how
(06:20):
he fights his opponents. And because of the record now
fifty and know, he's got you believing there is the
greatest of all time. No, he's not no. One in
boxing things he's the greatest of all time, or even
one of the top five all time. But he's painted
a picture that would make you believe that, and then
you walk away from that fight going like the greatest
of all time. He fought a guy who's never been
(06:40):
in a boxing match before. I'm not sure what that
reassured us of, but he was smart. He had nagi.
If you've watched a friends, it's not Salmon's skin roll.
Take a listen to what he said right after the
fight about the game plan. Our game plans was to
(07:04):
take our time, go to him, let him to shoot
all his heavy shots early, and then take him out
at the end down the stretch. I mean, like, if
you go back and watch the fight, you're like, wow,
and and please stop with it's this is it's the
Do you remember when um uh, what's his name? Prior
(07:24):
now the wide receiver for the Washington Redskins, was with
the Terrell Prior was the starting quarterback of the Raiders.
When he was a quarterback for the Rigs, people like, well,
Turell Prior is not bad, Like no, no, no. Everyone
thought Terrell Prior would be a complete and utter disaster.
And because he was just okay, because he was just okay,
people like, oh no, he was bad. He just wasn't.
He just lined up under center and occasionally completed a
(07:47):
pass correctly. It's the power of expectations. That was not
a classic fight. They weren't standing toe to toe and
throwing blows. There wasn't one round that you say, that's
one of the best hounds I've seen all year, let
alone in the history of boxing. But people walk away
that's a great fight. Why because many of us grew
up and I had friends at my house. I was
(08:09):
in Vegas. I was like, you know what, I want
to watch it with my friends, with my kids. I
flew home, I watched my friend fightings people over and
we all walked away going there. I was better than
we thought, better than we thought. It is not good,
and it's definitely not great, but there was not one
moment to which Floyd Mayweather was not completely in charge.
It was not going according to plan, and the con
(08:32):
was so good that at the end of it, you're like,
well what happened? Carter was like, had a chance. He's
not good, he's just composed. Yeah, he had a game plan.
He knew you were bigger, longer, a little bit stronger,
and the only thought in his mind, his only way
of losing was walking into a left hand that he
wasn't expecting, and so he took away Your power brilliant
(08:55):
in its simplicity and It was like the guys in
showtime didn't even realize he wasn't throwing. He didn't throw
a punch in the first four rounds. In the first
minute of each round, he just stood there with his
hands up. He said, there were the ends up and
Connor mcgrey is like, I'm wailing away, hey, dope, we
know you're wailing away. We want you to get tired.
(09:18):
And sure it could have gone on. They could have.
They could have not called it at ten. But did
anyone think Connor McGregor had even a puncher's chance. Couldn't
keep his gloves up. He was completely exhausted in addition
to being out skilled and out quicked and outsmarted. That
was lost based upon conditioning. Fatigue makes cowards of us, all,
(09:42):
that's Vince Lombardi. Well, it also makes mortals of immortals.
And Connor McGregor couldn't even keep his hands up at
the end of the fight. Why because Floyd Mayweather, forty
years old, who reportedly had strippers at his house the
last two weeks of training eating hamburgers, comes in four
pounds underweight. Connor mcgreg or just makes weight and then
adds a bunch of weight the day of and Floyd
(10:03):
Mayweather the whole time is like, dude, I'm gonna win
this seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve. And that's exactly
what happened. Floyd tried to bet on himself if it
wouldn't happen, because he knew exactly when when you set
a plan in in place and you execute it to perfection,
and the other side, including fans fight fans worldwide, nationwide
(10:26):
in the arena, don't really know what hit him. They
just know that boy, that was a little bit better
than I thought it was gonna be. That's a great con.
That's a great con. He's not a con man. He's
not some five and dime pick your pocket. Oh I
think I felt my pocket. Move guy. He is the
Michael Angelo of con artists. He hadn't fought in two years.
(10:49):
He created a fight that the other the opponent, had
no shot. He built it up. He said he was
a little bit too old, and yet he took on
a guy who did have no shot and yet allowed
people to believe for a couple rounds, this guy may
be capable. Matter of fact, that guy thought he was capable.
The beauty was in the planning in the execution and
(11:11):
the fact that most people just said, here, here's my
hundred dollars. I don't even feel bad about giving a
hundred dollars on a fight that you knew. The ultimate
outcome the brilliant and and like, like was said in
Um Usual Suspects, the greatest trick the devil ever pulled
(11:34):
was convincing the world he didn't exist. The greatest cons
are the ones to which you don't even know what
happened after they happened. Be sure to catch live editions
of the Doug gott Leaps Show weekdays at three p m.
Eastern noon Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the I
Heart Radio app. You guys have seen this story that
(11:56):
the Cleveland Cavaliers would like the boss the Celtics to
throw something else into the pot, right, something else in
the pot? And this is like, this is negotiation, one
on one right, once you shake hands in the deal, like,
that's the deal, dude. Now, technically, because a player fails
a physical, you could nix the trade, but this one
(12:19):
would probably go through anyway because when the trade was made,
when the trade was consummated, Isaiah Thomas was hurt and
the entire league knew he was hurt. Look, the Cats
can sit there going hold on, Now we have leverage.
We can send Isaiah Thomas and uh uh and company
kind of back to your squad and like the Cells like,
(12:41):
all right, so we can send Kyie. You think Kyrie
Irving is going to go back to the Cleveland Cavaliers.
There's a no takebacks deal. Think about how it poisoned
the well when pau gasol in the mark. That's what
started the downfall of lamar Odom. Right, lamar Odom was
with the Lakers. They trade him as part of three
team deal to get Chris Paul and lamar Odom never recovered,
(13:02):
never recovered. Everyone knows Carrie and look the credit Lebron
he took the high road. How about those idiots that
burned the Boston Celtics Izaiah Thomas Jersey, You're like, oh,
you're putting out the fire like you're like putting it on.
It's got black mark side, Like just kidding. But anyone
who thinks that the Calves have some sort of leverage
on the Celtics aren't dealing with reality. This isn't the
(13:24):
Celtics trading a bad bail. This is not like you're
trading a used car and like you go, like, all right, um,
I bought a use car on cars dot com or whatever.
I used true car to find it. I used true
Car to get my used car. I gotta go pick it.
I can you come drop it off my house? Like oh,
it has no transmission, like whoa wait a second, right,
or you start driving it and like the muffler falls
(13:46):
out as you're driving at home, or it's got one
of those donut tires like you go and it's got
rims on like three wheels and there's like a doughnut on.
One time. I was like, you know, we ran over
something sharp last week. You can fix that thing up
to your car. Now. This is not the Celtics trading
a bad bail of goods to the Calves for Kyrie Irving.
That's not what this is. If you didn't think that
(14:09):
the Calves knew that Isaiah Thomas was hurt, well then
where was Idea Thomas the last two games of the
playoffs when they played against the Cavaliers. Oh yeah, remembers
Isaiah Thomas like going to miss the remainder of the season,
has a hip injury. Oh yeah, well that's why you
trade a guy who's averaging eight points a game, still
(14:32):
had a year left at a reasonable salary you could
walk away from. That's why you would trade him in
his prime, coming off the best year of his career.
So this idea that the I didn't we didn't know.
We didn't know. What do you didn't know? How's his hip?
We had hip surgery. Here's the hip. You have to
fully disclose this when a player is traded and they
(14:52):
fully disclosed it, Like wow, that kind of seems bad, Like, yeah,
it's a hip injury. Did you think there was such
thing as a good hip injury? It's not a bo
Jackson hip, but it's not a good one. So I
find it quite clever that the calves like, you know what,
throwing Jason Tatum or Jalen Brown. Yeah, no, we're not
(15:13):
gonna throw in. We're not gonna throw in two of
our primary assets that are both young under rookie contracts.
One hasn't played an NBA game. Many people think you
could be an All Star. The other one has played
one NBA season, And we're kind of building this thing
around those two guys being our hybrid three force for
years to come. How about no, we feel like we
got the better end of a trade. You felt like
you got the good end of trade. We gave you
(15:35):
Ja Crowder, Zizzit, Isaiah Thomas and the rights to the
Brooklyn Nets. Yeah. No, we're not even going to think
about That's one of those ones where Danny Angel sitting
there and every time a Cleveland area code pops up,
he's just like, they're going, They're going. Fox Sports Radio
(15:55):
has the best sports talk lineup in the nation. Catch
all of our shows at fox It's radio dot com
and within the I Heart Radio app. Can we just
stop and stop the freaking out about the preseason injuries.
Football is bad for your health. While we continue to
focus on and I rightfully so, football's long term damage
it can do on your head. As far as CTE
(16:19):
like you know what that's doing, that's taking us away
from the fact that football is just playing bad for you.
Anybody who's ever played football as a kid knows somebody
who got either a stinger or worse and got hauled
off in an ambulance. I'm sure if you played football
as a kid through high school, you saw somebody taking
off at an ambulance, or if you've been a college
fan or a high school fan. You've been to enough games.
(16:40):
I'm going to my high school. My high school plays there.
There are rival this this uh Sunday night. I'm gonna
go to that game. Anyone who's been enough. There's there's
a kid who gets hit, gets a stinger, hopefully it's
just a stinger, can't feel something on their body. Everybody
rightfully freaks out. They get taken away and we just
missed the fact that football is dangerous, it's bad for you.
(17:01):
And we freak out about Julie Edelman getting hurt and
saying this kills the Patriots. It's gonna hurt the Patriots.
Remember the Patriots, they win a Super Bowl without Rob Gronkowski,
their best offensive player. Still losing Edelman, even at this
early point in the season, even with you know, thirty
seven dudes coming off of coming off of everybody's roster,
uh this weekend, losing Edelman hurts them. But how if
(17:25):
he didn't play his third preseason game. If you take
away the preseason games, the football won't be as good.
They're still going to have just as many snaps against
another team. They'll just do it in private scrimmages and
oh yeah. By the way, it doesn't eliminate the fact
that football is not good for you. Take away two
(17:45):
preseason games and the NFL is gonna give you more
regular season games, which has played at a higher intensity
and a stronger likelihood of injury. This is what happens.
This is like the if you're really scared of playing
football and get hurt, then you shouldn't play football. I
can't believe he got hurt. I can't either. I think
it stinks. It's awful, But like all he was doing
(18:07):
was cutting and he blew out his knee. You can
cut and blow out your knee, just like Jordy Nelson
blew out his knee just running down a field. Don't
get me wrong, there are injuries. Spencer Weare's injury was
caused by it. He was fighting for more yards and
he's simply gone down. Maybe he didn't get hurt, and
maybe that doesn't happen. Maybe it doesn't happen, um if
(18:31):
they're not, if they're playing with no contact. But the
likelihood is when you tear a knee, unless you got
direct conduct contact to that knee, it was probably gonna
tear anyway. So there's just certain things you have to
do to get ready for the season, right, And if
you ask NFL teams now, they'll tell you we don't
(18:53):
know who we are until October one. Why because training
camp you don't have two days, you're not nearly as
much contact as there used to be. And even with
cutting down on the two days, you're still having injuries,
although not as great a density of injuries. You're having
these scrimmages now, which you get a lot out of.
You're gonna have some injuries there, and you have preseason
games and there have been a handful of bad injuries. This,
(19:16):
this to me, isn't any different than anything else described
on Facebook. We see something on Facebook and we think
that it happens everywhere. It's like the guy who says, well,
they know nobody pays people. Thousands of people don't pay taxes,
who are unwelfare, Like, okay, are there people that game
the system? Yeah, there's people the game every system. There
are things that are done that are bad. They're bad
(19:37):
people that do things everywhere. But when you take something
that you see and think it's a widespread problem, no
it's not. It's not. This is what happens when you
have guys. NFL linemen are over a lot of them
are over three hundred pounds right there, over three pounds.
(19:58):
Well six ft six guys at three hundred pounds, that's
not a healthy lifestyle. You're bound to get hurt. And
when you put that many three pound lineman in close
proximity to one another, somebody's gonna fall down. And when
they fall down, they might hurt somebody else. That's just
kind of the nate. That's just the physics of it.
These finally two athletes that are wide receivers. As much
(20:19):
as they have great speed, incredible athleticism, they're lean, their
motors running hot. They're a lot, you know what they're like.
NFL players or superstar athletes are no different than sports cars,
right than sports cars, And anyone who's ever had a
sport like a real sports car will tell you make
(20:41):
sure it's your third car, because they break down a lot.
They're super fun to drive, but they break down a lot.
Be sure to catch live editions of the Doug gott
Leap Show weekdays at three p m. Eastern noon Pacific
on Fox Sports Radio and the I Heart Radio app.
Let's catch up with Rick Bukeer from bleacher report. He
joins us in the Doug Gotleap Show. How are the
Calves the only people that didn't know Isaiah Thomas had
(21:03):
a bad hip? Oh? I I'm certain that they knew,
uh that he had a bad hip. I don't know
if they knew how bad the hip was and whether
the physical that he took the other day gave them
a clearer perspective on that. But I really think this
comes down to winning the press conference. Initially they won
(21:24):
the press conference. I thought it was funny how everybody
was responding to the trade and whether it was good
or it was bad, and and who got the best
of it? And and you had Danny Aines dropped that
little dime after it was announced, and everybody was talking
about it, saying, yeah, you know, I don't know if
(21:44):
Isaiah is going to be ready for the start of
the season. And did his hip situation uh factor into
making the deal? And he said some. And at that point,
the people I talked to around the league where that's
a huge red flag that he that he might not
be starting to season because it's been three months since
that injury went down, and some of the belief is
(22:07):
is the reason that he didn't have surgery. But because
if you have surgery, if you have hip surgery, it
automatically reduces what you're able to get on the free
agent market. People are not going to uh dial you
up at the same then what you do, it's a
matter of you know what, this is a ticking time
bomb now. So the belief was that he avoided the surgery,
not because it wasn't that severe, but because of the
(22:31):
message that it would send to the entire league Isaiah
being enough a unrestricted free agent next summer. So, um,
you know, the heart of it is. I think that
the Calves lost thought they won the press conference, and
then when the news got came out about Isaiah and
where he was at, they felt like, maybe we didn't
win the press conference. Let's see if we can go
back and try to win the second press comp Alright,
(22:52):
any chance to get anything more from the Celtics, I can't.
I don't see how. I don't. I don't see how
you go back on the deal now. I don't know
what the terms of it were like, we didn't hear
anything about it was on the condition of the physical
because I would have hoped that that would have been
out front and Doug you probably know this as well
(23:14):
as anyone. You know. People are like, well, he didn't
pass the physical. The physical is uh complete interpretation as
in terms of what passes and what doesn't pass. Uh,
and whether it's a prerequisite to passing the physical and
even you can have physicals where you go, We're going
to eliminate this element of this of of the body.
(23:37):
This doesn't apply to the physical if everything else checks out, Uh,
you gotta you gotta green light. And so I don't
know what the terms of the deal are, but I
have to believe that, Uh, they wouldn't have gone this
far down the road, uh if if it was contingent
upon Isaiah passing the Caps physical. Rick Buker from Bleach
(23:59):
Report joining us to Gottlieb Show, Fox Sports Radio. All right,
so who did win the trade? Oh? The Boston Celtics
hands down. Uh. First of all, anytime you get the
you get the best player in the trade. Uh, that's automatic.
I like Jay Crowder. I think he's at a reasonable price.
Is he a game changer? No? And I know everybody
(24:22):
is all excited. This is the beauty of of in
today's day and age of draft picks, particularly when you
do unprotected draft pick and then you say Brooklyn, everybody's, oh,
we're gonna get the number one picked, We're gonna get
the next franchise player. Well, first of all, number one
picks aren't always. First of all, you're not guaranteed the
(24:43):
number one pick. Brooklyn couldn't have a lot of competition
for being the worst team in the league this year.
A lot of those five or six teams that are
gonna vie for them five with them for the worst
record in the league. Second, you're not guaranteed the number
one pick. Uh, in any event, That's why you have
the lottery. Third, as high and bothered as people are
about Marvin Bagley and Porter, I'm talking to people in
(25:05):
the league. The reason Marvin Bagley is the undisputed number
one pick, it's because this draft isn't very good. Uh,
it's not expected to be very good. And while Marvin
Bagley has a load of talent, the idea that he's
going to be the next franchise player is just I mean,
let's spart this way, uh, Doug, look at Andrew Wiggins.
(25:26):
Are Karl, Anthony Towns, Anthony Davis, for as talented as
they are essentially, what have they done to this point?
The really franch that the franchise turning guys come into
the league and they instantly make their teams competitive for
a playoff spot. Yeah, Lebron didn't get there the first year,
but they were competitive. Carmelo got there, obviously had some pieces.
(25:48):
But I look at those guys and and all the
excuses are about the players around them. If you really
are a transformational player, the transformative player, transcendent player, then
your team is immediately competing for a playoff spot. For
as talented as those guys are, they haven't done it yet.
(26:11):
So even if Marvin Bagley reaches their level, which is
still a big if, I don't know that, you can
look at that pick and say, we're okay, we can
lose Kyrie, we can lose Lebron. We're on our way.
So I'm gonna take the four time All Star. The
guy who was able to win a championship by hitting
the biggest shot and from my money, at least going
into the into the finals, was the guy that if
my life depended on a guy being able to create
(26:33):
a shot and get one off and make it, Kyrie
Irving was my guy. That's uh Rick Buker, who I
wholeheartedly agree with. I mean, it's just I mean, it's amazing. Now, look,
they did lose some toughness, they lost some intangibles. They're
on their Their tangibles are much better than they were
last year. They are much better. But but they lost
(26:53):
They lost Avery and and as much as Isaiah. Look,
Isaiah gets a lot of credit for the school ring
what he doesn't maybe get the credit for, Like he's
a tough little sucker right here. So you you lose
that those two, You lose Avery badly and him, and
then you lose Jay Crowder, none of whom are really
top ten fifty players in the NBA, whereas Hayward and
(27:15):
and um Kyrie are. But how long do you think
it takes the Celtics to establish the type of defensive
identity poor role players to get them back to where
they're intangibles are at the level that their tangibles are now.
It's a fair question. And this is what makes it
(27:36):
complicated because because people are equating winning the trade with
the Boston Celtics are better. Um, I think they're more
talented losing Avery Bradley and Jay Crowder and to to
some extent, Isaiah Thomas, you're changing the dynamic of your team.
They're they've gone from a gritty, defensive team, uh, that
(27:58):
that had its personality esta pablished but had a finite ceiling,
to a team that's really remaking itself. Is far more talented,
but it's far more offensive oriented. I mean, Jason, Jason Tatum,
Gordon Haywards, Okay, as a two way player, I'll give
him that. Kyrie really don't think it that way, Jason Tatum,
you don't expect that way. I don't know that Al
(28:20):
Horford is is. I don't know where to put him
in the equation. So, No, they're they're changing their personality.
They're changing a lot there and and it may be
a step backward, uh in in totality, but uh, they
now have the kind of players that if you can
(28:40):
put those pieces around them that you mentioned, now you
can play for a championship. Now you have a legitimate
chance of saying in the postseason, when when if we
can play them even to the final minute, we have
the guys who can go get us a bucket. They
didn't have that before. Um, you know, no offense, Isaiah Thomas,
they didn't have that before. Now they have it. They
can get that against the best. Now they need to
(29:02):
backload and put those other pieces in. So how long
it takes them, look dude, as as it just depends
on how aggressive Danny wants to be. Because he's still
got five first round picks over the next two years.
So I mean, if he wants to go and get
those gritty guys, I guarantee you those gritty guys are
available some of the picks that he hasn't. Yeah, they
(29:23):
lost a lot, but the guys they got are are
are more readily replaceable. Um, does Cleveland making this these moves?
Does this have any effect on Lebron James future? From
what I've been told talking to people around the league.
Absolutely not. In fact, it probably has. I mean look
in talking to people who would know, Uh, there's no
(29:45):
finite decision made. Is he looking at all his options?
Is he open to to go into l A or
doing whatever? Absolutely? Has he made a determination at this point?
I don't think so. But the way Cleveland is approaching this,
they are pro watching it as if they are preparing
for him to go, and that's that if anything's gonna
(30:07):
push him out it's wait a minute, You're not trying
to maximize my ability to win a ring this year.
You're looking at the future like no, no, no, I
want to do things now, Dan Gilbert, I want you
to spend money now. I want you to spend resources now.
Don't tell me about trying to to create a longevity
(30:28):
for the for the for the team. That's not how
Lebron works. So this getting a pick, rather than trying
to get a superstar, trying to get established players, uh,
trying to get, you know, an unprotected potential first round pick.
That says to Lebron, you know what, you've got one
ft in, one foot out, So do we Dwyane Wade
plays for the Cavs this year. I would expect that
(30:52):
to be the case. Um. But that said, the big
question is going to be how much money is he
gonna give up with Chicago because they're not just that's
not the way Jerry Ryanstorff works. If you're going to
give him money back, then he'll let you go. If
you're not, he'll sit on you and let you and
(31:13):
let you stew in Chicago. Because you know Dwyane. Dwyane
worked this a little bit. He knew that he couldn't
get the money he was going to get from Chicago
anyplace else. He knew they were moving Jimmy Butler, he
knew what the deal was. He could have not exercised
the option and put himself out there on the free
agent market, but he knew he wasn't going to get
twenty million uh million in doing so, and so he
(31:36):
took the money. Well, Jerry, Ryan Store is not going
to give you the money and the freedom you're gonna
have to pay to get out. Yeah. No, I think
I think he'll lose some of the money. But I
also think he'll end up with Lebron and then he'll
probably if Lebron leaves, he'll probably follow Lebron wherever Lebron goes.
I think there would not be that would not be
the least bit surprised. What about Mellow, I have heard
(32:00):
anything new on that front, uh as far as uh,
you know, they brought in Scott Perry and and sort
of a new regime, and from everything I've heard, uh,
he's been trying to just get like get his hands
around the organization, meet everybody, talk to everybody. I know
(32:21):
that there was a report out there that he had
never you know, he had not talked to Jim Dolan.
That report was accurate at the time. From my understanding
is he he has since met with with Jim Dolan,
and so I get the sense that they're not in
this incredible rush. Look New York. New York knows at
some point they have to move him, but like starting
(32:43):
at the beginning of the season, they they don't have
that pressure on him. Houston, somebody else who's looking to
get Carmelo and make a run, they have that pressure.
And this is the beauty of having a Scott Perry
who's been around the block a couple of times, is
that he understands that he came in and changed the
dynamic immediately by rather than you know, Phil Jackson, it
was all we gotta get rid of Carmelo because he
(33:04):
because he poisoned the waters. And Scott comes in and says, hey,
you know what, We're gonna sit down and talk with Mellow.
We're gonna figure out what's best. But the two of us,
we're not just gonna move him from moving him, say
and suddenly Melos like, hey, wait a minute, no, I
want to get out of here. How can we make
this happen, so you now suddenly rather than being at odds,
now there's the opportunity to work together to make something
(33:24):
that's mutually beneficial. So I don't I don't know that
anything is gonna pop off. Um, I don't even know
if it's going to happen before training camp opens. You
would think that it would, but as of right now,
I have not heard anything that is uh, that is
on the front burners. All right, that's Rick Buko from
Bleacher Report. Coach set Course has his own show on
Serious XM Channel two. Great stuff, man, thanks so much
(33:48):
for joining us. You got it.
Host
Doug Gottlieb
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