March 19, 2018 • 47 mins
"LeBron Hater" Doug is actually starting to feel bad for LeBron after finding out Cavaliers head coach Tyronn Lue will take some time away from the team to deal with some health concerns. He thinks Virginia head coach Tony Bennett is getting unfair criticism after his team became the first ever 1-seed to lose to a 16-seed in the NCAA tournament. And Texas Tech head coach Chris Beard joins the show to talk about their run to the sweet 16 and how it compares to his time at Arkansas Little Rock.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is the best of the Dog Dot Leap Show
on Fox Sports Radio. Boom Up America, Doug Got Leave
Show Fox Sports Radio, coming to you, live and direct
from the City of Angels, Sunny Beautiful, getting ready to
host the Sweet Sixteen, which is exactly like your bracket
had it predicted, right, all of you, all of you
(00:21):
geniuses out there, had nevada. Nevada, not nevada. If you
say nevada, I click off the hearing aid. Can't hear you,
and you gotta use the side language. Loyola of Chicago,
the Ramblers, Loyola of Chicago. Uh, these are This is
exactly like you predicted. Florida State, Florida State would come
(00:44):
from twelve down to takedown Mighty Xavier Man. No coffee
to be served in Cincinnati in the near future. That's
because coffee is for closers, and both you see and
x could not close the deal. All the Dukies are alive.
Oh tell you, Oh, you got Calipari in Kentucky, and
you got Mike Sachowski and Jim be Hid whoa, oh
(01:11):
Thomas os Tim could make a shot. We'll talk about
college basketball of coming on the show. Let's get to
the news of the day. No, it's not college hoop.
I'm also going to criticize anybody who wants to criticize
Tony Bennett because you don't know what you want, and
whatever you think you want, you don't obviously want. With
Tony Bennett. Will get to that upcoming Lebron James's coach
(01:35):
Tyron Loeu, who is hands selected by Lebron James. It's
gonna take a leave of absence because you haven't been
feeling well. That heart palpitations and can't sleep, and one
report has him coughing up blood. Like what you're coughing
(01:55):
up blood? Yeah, that that's grounds for Let's go see
a doctor. Let's take a couple of day is off.
And I don't know if Tyler is the always sick
or never sick variety. For the record, I'm a never
sick sort of guy. It's just weird around my house
anytime I'm not feeling well because my daughter, one of
my daughters, and I we we call it blue eye immunity.
(02:18):
I don't know what it is. Maybe it's because I
licked the pavement in every state I visit, just so
I can collect the germs and and find antibodies or
maybe it's just something I'm built with. I don't get
sick often, but when I do, man do I feel
I feel like I feel worse than anybody else who
gets sick, as opposed to people were sick more often, Like, yeah,
I'm sick, I'm not feeling well, but I'm always sick.
(02:39):
Tyler is not feeling well, and I feel legitimately bad
for Lebron James. This feels like it's not going to
end well. Like it feels like it's going to end
maybe in the Eastern Conference Finals, even though the Raptors
who want to scream at the top of their lungs,
take us seriously, please, Okay, then beat the thunder at
(03:03):
home last night. Do that. I will take you seriously,
but I can't. On the other hand, I look at
Lebron James team and I realized that they're going to
have a substitute teacher for the foreseeable future. And this
is not like early in the season. This is not
(03:24):
even like they've had training camping. This team was put
together at the alls at the at the trade deadline,
they're eleven and a half out of first place, so
that thing's over. They're just as close to eight. They're
actually closer to eight than they are to second. Right,
(03:45):
there are only three games up in the wind column
from the Heat and the Bucks, who are the seventh
and eighth place teams. And while I don't think the
Pacers or the Sixers or even the Bucks, the Heat
probably not the Celtics, depending on how healthy they are,
can beat them in the playoffs. The fact is that
(04:06):
the war of attrition that the playoffs present could make
them more likely to fall. Now you throw in the
fact that Larry Drew is going to be their head coach,
and oh yeah, by the way, at some point in
the next couple of weeks, they'll add Kevin Love back in.
They hadn't yet established chemistry, they hadn't yet figured out
their rotation. Their defense isn't much better, they don't have
(04:30):
a secondary option outside Lebron James create shots. And you're
gonna add Kevin Love beck in, which is dicey. It
sounds really good. You're like, man, you at twenty five
games point score like, you're gonna be better. Sure, But
Kevin Love at times can give up as many as
he gets. And it's not like Kevin loves a give
Kevin love the ball and let's clear out because that
dude's gonna get us a bucket that ain't the thing.
(04:56):
So it feels like this is not going to end well.
And there's all these other parts. There's every town he
goes to puts up a billboard trying to woo Lebron James.
We don't know if this is his last go around.
What feels like he is with the Cleveland Cavaliers. We
don't know if he'll head west or head east. I
(05:18):
guess Houston's a possibility. I guess the Sixers are a possibility.
I'm guessing the Lakers are a probability. And I almost
feel a little bit bad for him. He's got to
answer all these questions. Everybody assumes he's going elsewhere. He's
got Kobe Altman, who's like a rookie general manager. He's
got Larry Drew, who no one would ever hire on
a team that you'd want to win a championship with.
(05:39):
He might have Tyrone Lou back, he might not have
Tyrone Lou. He's still getting to know all these new
players are gonna add in Kevin. I like, I kinda
feel bad for the guy on the other hand, all
of this could have essentially been avoided. Maybe you couldn't
avoided the health issues for Tyron Lou But the domino
effect again with Kyrie Irving not feeling the love from
(06:04):
Lebron James, Kyrie Irving saying, hey, I want out. And
while Lebron James may have too much pride to do it,
had he wanted Kyrie Irving on his team and believed
that his way was the right way, all he had
to do was set up a face to face because
(06:25):
it's my belief that Lebron James is probably pretty good
in the room. You know what in a room means,
right right? How good are you in a room? I
mean this is in any business in America. If you
want a job, and you gotta be good in room,
(06:45):
you just do. Whether it's at dinner, whether it's in
the boardroom, whether it's over coffee. You gotta be able
to sell yourself without selling yourself. You gotta be able
to pitch without making it sound like a pitch. You
gotta be able to close. And for Lebron James to
(07:06):
never even try and get in a room with Kyrie
Irving after it got out that Kyrie Irving wanted out,
began this, look, you can't go. I'm not even holding
it against him that he wanted to trade Kyrie Irving
after they won a championship and thought about bringing in
his buddy Chris Paul. That to me is bad management.
At the time from the Cleveland Cavaliers letting that out,
(07:27):
no one should have known. But once it got out,
once Kyrie let the team know that he wanted nothing
to do with he being on Team Lebron anymore, that's
when Lebron should have sprung into action because had that happened,
had had he not left, none of this would have happened,
(07:48):
none of it. It's the same thing as when David
Griffin was fired. It doesn't mean that that he got
David Griffin fired. But if he didn't want David Griffin fired,
he could have gone in and saw Dan Gilbert and said,
hey man, whatever you do, don't fire David Griffin because
he goes I go. But he didn't. And for somebody
(08:09):
who likes to control every aspect of his and all
of his friends future as they rise through the ranks
of being multi multimillionaire businessmen, well, he sure took a
hands off approach on something that directly directly affects his
own performance and his team's level of competency. And oh yeah,
(08:35):
by the way, none of this would have happened, the
adding older players, the moving all these pieces around, the
stress on his head coach had at the start of
the season. He just said, Hey, I understand I could
get out of my contract at the end of this year,
but I ain't going anywhere. He could have had a
(08:55):
face to face with Kyrie. He could have saved David
Griffin's job. He could have ended all the speculations, said
I'm never leaving Cleveland ever. They can figure out the team,
I'm staying here. He didn't. I don't wish bad health
about anybody. I don't believe this is karma. I don't
believe that it could have absolutely stopped the deteriorating health
(09:18):
of Tyrone Louke considering the schedule the NBA. But sure
as hell wouldn't have hurt and it wouldn't have been
a bit as big a cluster. You know what if
other of these things would have happened. Instead, he's left
with a team that's played together for like fifteen twenty
games without Kevin Love, with a substitute teacher in a
in an improving Eastern Conference and everybody wooing him, trying
(09:40):
to get his attention, and a team fizzling before us.
I'm saying I both feel for him and put some
of the blame on him, because that's the reality of
the situation. You give me your thoughts eight seven seven
(10:01):
nine Foxes the phone number eight seven seven nine fox.
You can also hit me up on Twitter at Gottlieb
Show that includes the Syracuse Mafia who don't understand the
idea that winning three games by like six points. Uh.
While it it's deserving of credit and congratulations, it doesn't
(10:24):
change the argument of the laughable resume that the Cues
had to get into the n c A tournament. My
my arguments are called and this is a is a
very big word. Okay, whether you want to use correlating arguments,
congruent arguments, circular arguments, what makes sense for one has
(10:46):
to make sense for all. Jim beheamall join us tomorrow.
He knows he said it. What are they good? Just
made a couple more shots. But there is a genius
to the style by which he's playing and the way
in which his team is able to execute and why
the criticism of Tony Bennett for essentially the exact same
style with a different look is so far off, so
(11:08):
far off. Pretty amazing, though, pretty amazing weekend in college basketball.
Right when we thought there was parody. I'm not sure
we had any idea there was this level of parody.
And I haven't been on the radio since UNBC beat Virginia,
but I did not think a six team would be
a one, especially when they got to be by forty.
Just I didn't. I didn't see it happening. Sorry, that's
(11:33):
why they play. 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. Chris Beer joins us on The Doug
Gottlieb Show on Fox Sports Radio. Chris, how are you
doing good? Dog? Good? Hear your voice? Man likewise? Um,
what's this been like this year as opposed to the
(11:54):
Arkansas A little rock run? Good question? Um? You know,
every journey is different, every team is different. Uh. The
common thing is just so like happy just to be
still hooping. You know, the sixteen teams left and we
get to practice today. We get to be around our
guys like at the core of it, you know, like
(12:15):
that that's what it's all about. And I know that
it's such a big deal. But the bottom lineage you
get to play again, you get to practice again, you
get to you know, get on your guys one more time.
It's fun. You know. The first game was the score
was not indicative of all the first game, right, like
final score. If you weren't watching the Stephen F game,
you're like, oh, they won by ten. They dusted them
(12:35):
off lad the whole way. And obviously, uh, you guys
know that staff really well. Um, you know all of
those most of those kids would have cut off their
pinky toe to come to come to Tech. And of
course they have a great culture there. They've been winning
now for five or six years. Uh, down down at
Stephen F. To play in Dallas in front of so
many alums. But to play such a hard fought game
(12:57):
in round one. What what was it like to out
and play Florida in the second round? He know, it's
a lot, a lot, a lot like back to backs
in the Big twelve. Um, we thought Stephen F. Austin
was like like a big twelve team. I would agree
with you. Uh, they're really good. And it's not just
about this team, it's about the tradition. And you know,
(13:18):
there was guys on the court there that had won
inta tournament games. We don't have anybody on our team
that did won an into a tournament game. So um,
I thought that game actually helped us beat Florida. You know,
I don't know if we win the second game if
we don't have a really tough game in the first one,
and basically the Stephen Foston game, I would agree that
it was like a one possession games, but it was
(13:39):
Chris Perre joining us on the Doug got Lip Show
here on Fox Sports Trade. Of course, Perdue's waiting, and
I'm sure the last team Perdue ever wants to see
is when you coach, because that was when you were
in Arkansas, a Little Rock. That was the team that
you took down. I know there. You know, there's a
lot of similar pieces, right that the seniors were all
on that team. How much of what you want to
(13:59):
do is in any way similar to what you want
to do last time he took on for Due. Uh, yeah,
definitely similarities to me because Perdue is gonna be, you know,
a team that has great size and great bigs and
whether houseplays or not, which I think you will, you know,
we're gonna have to figure out a way to contend
with that, both on offense and defense. I think to
(14:22):
two different games. Though. I don't think anybody in Indiana's
scared of me. But you know, I'm glad. I think
they're glad that Josh Hagan's and Roger Woods aren't gonna
be playing for US. Um, but you know, I won't
score basket Friday night. But um, you know our players
have to do that. But I think, you know, all
these games in the tournament or all have little subplots
and cool things and stuff, and I think this is
(14:44):
just another example. But we've had so much respect for
Matt Painter. I mean I tell people this all the time.
It's very easy for me to describe Matt like he's
the exact same guy today to me that he was
when he was an assistant in southern Illinois. You know,
like we were drinking draft beer in the back of
some bar now, you know, I mean, I guess it's
Heineken now and in the front bar. But he's still
(15:06):
the same guy, and he's been unbelievable to me. And
then I tell guys through like you know, your true
character comes out and adversity and all that that's true.
I mean, that's such an accurate statement. And when we
were fortunate enough at Little Rock to win that game,
I mean, let's be honest, we got lucky down the stretch.
We were really fortunate that thing had to go exactly
the way it did for us to win. You talked
(15:28):
about a gracious guy. I mean, like, I'll never forget it.
Like when you go to the press conference after the game,
the tournament is a holding area, and so we we
literally crossed again, and Matt's like the same. I mean,
he's just like the same guy that congratulated me, took
time out to talk to our guys, Hagan's and Roger,
and so I just had so much respect for him
on the basketball side, but also as a person. You know,
(15:48):
there's I think there's conflicting narratives, Chris. I think there's
a narrative from people in my business that cover the
sport and fans, and there's a narrative kind of inside
the sports. There's all this talk about about guys that
do it the wrong way, and for whatever reason, there's
not enough I don't know, affirmation of the success for
guys that do it the right way. You know, Like, look,
(16:10):
when you it's almost like the it's like professional lawyer,
Like there's there's millions of really good lawyers out there.
But when you say, like you're a lawyer, like, uh,
you say you're a basketball coach. Al right, Like because
of because of the scandal that has kind of put
a cloud over the sport, it feels like suddenly that
becomes a bad word. But I look at your growth
(16:33):
as a professional from incarnent Word to Abilene Christian to
North Texas to Fort Scott to Seminal State to to
McMurray to Angelo State two Little Rock uh to Tech,
and I'm like, look, this is what the sport is about.
Do it the right way. Coach ball, get guys to
play hard, win games and have a cold beer afterwards
and tell stories about it. Right, Like, what what's your
(16:55):
sense of the conflicting narratives in how the sport is
viewed and how the sport is actually practiced. Yeah, well stated,
I mean I verbalized that perfect. I think you know
what thing that comes to minds I think like you know,
like the controversy and like spicy stuff is what cells
and that's the good articles. But it's also just like
(17:15):
a pureness to like, you know, a lot of the
good parts of our game. And like, uh, my girlfriend Randy,
she watches a lot of these like uh reality shows,
and like I'd be lying to you if I didn't
tell you that sometimes I'll sit down and kind of
get engaged with them, like the housewives and stuff. And
if you look on there, I mean every one of
those uh women have something going on. I mean, none
(17:37):
of them are just like happily married. Everything's rocking around.
I mean it's like, you know, it's like just like
the spicy stuff sells. You know, the stuff is kind
of on the dark side. That's what people kind of
that's what entertains people. But I would agree with you
to me, like I'd like to watch a reality show
of like a couple of people that are married and
doing it the right way, and you know, because I
think there's beauty and that too. I mean like for me,
(18:00):
that's where real happiness comes from. And I would tell
you that in basketball too. I mean, to me, I've
been on all sides of it, you know, like I've
been like a junior college coach. I saw everybody coming
and recruit our players. And now I've competed at all
these different levels, and I'm telling you that most guys
are doing it right. I mean most of us are
out there trying to, you know, get it done. And
I mean prob and I and I put produced program
(18:22):
right there, like Matt Painterard recruited our players and we've
recruited against him. Um. And so I would tell you
that he's one of the best coaches in our game,
that that just does everything everything right. Keen Evans is
an absolute star. He's had an incredible season. Obviously, you
inherited him from from Tubby staff. Uh what about him
from a guy who watches him every day, watches every tape,
(18:44):
coaches every game. What about Keen Nevins impresses even you?
Probably the consistency, Um. You know, he's always been a
talented guy, um, but certainly last year to get himself
in the categories of junior where he's an all Big
twelve player. To me, that equals consistency. Like just the
other day when I had the ballots in front of
me and you're trying to pick the players. Every one
(19:05):
of them is a all conference talent. So what I
do is I blought the stat sheets and I start
really thinking about it, and I just look at consistency um.
You know, like to me, way to Kansas State was
an All conference player in our league because how consistent
he is. There's other guys as talented his way, but way,
to me, he's the first team All Conference guy because
as his consistency um. And I would say the same
(19:27):
thing with Keenan, Like what he's been able to do
now this year. He's getting the best teams defender, he's
getting game plans, but he's still you know, he's able
to make plays on both ends of the floor. And
and to me, ultimately, you know, I've never been in
the NBA, and I hope bill, but I would I
would assume the consistency is a big, big part of
it too. With an eighties something game season, And to me,
that's why I think Keenan Evans is an NBA player. Uh.
(19:50):
We mentioned Isaac Costs. We both operated on this assumption.
He's gonna play with that fractured double. He wanted to play,
but the brace wouldn't allow him to do so. Um,
I make the case that he looks on a basketball
floor like Ivan Drago looked in a boxing ring in
Rocky four. He's like that much bigger and more impressive
physically than anything I've ever seen. Fair assessment. I agree.
(20:11):
You know, last time I saw you in person, and
one of the last times was when we were Can't
coom Uh. Me and my daughters were there and Perdue
was in that tournament. We didn't play him, but I
had a chance to just watch the game as a fan. Um.
And yeah, he's he's a massive human being. Um and
and a really really good player and um and watching
films starting yesterday all the way up until before I
(20:34):
jumped on with you guys. Uh. But he's just kind
of a lot a lot better too. And I think
you gotta give the coaching staff credit obviously, But then
how about the player. You know, to be that good
to start and then just continuing to get better just
tells me all I know I want to know about him.
He's obviously very very competitive and loves the game. So
you know, we're preparing like he's gonna play. You know
that there's your story. At some point, your storyould be
(20:56):
a great like thirty for thirty right because you were
going to be the cat coach that you of e
than the Texas Tech thing came open. And for people
who don't know, you know, you're divorced out of three
girls and they live now driving distance away from Texas Tech.
It just kind of this is this is like one
for you for now. Texas Tech isn't a destination job
for a lot of people on Earth, but for you,
(21:16):
it absolutely is. It makes it different to to achieve
success and may be sustainable success at Tech for you.
Is that that that fair? Yeah? Absolutely? I think, uh,
you know, like there's different programs and players and coaches
having success right now, and I think that success will
lead places in different directions and human beings and different directions.
(21:40):
For us, we just want this to success to continue
to lead us to that last Monday Night and certainly
this year that would be awesome and everything has to
go right for something like that to happen. But hey,
you know, we got a chance. We're one of sixteen
teams left. We'll take our odds, but ultimately want the
success that we have this year to kind of spring
orders to next year in the year after and you know,
(22:03):
it's about recruiting. At this level, it's about players, and
then ultimately it's just about you. I think it's about
tradition to it's like, uh, you know, we just want
to be one of those teams it's not known for
the Sweet sixteen several years ago. We want to be
a team that you know gets to this point. Like
I told the guys this morning, like, you know, they're
not having a party right now in Lawrence, Kansas, or
(22:24):
in Durham, North Carolina, or in Lexington, Kentucky, because they're
in the Sweet sixteen. You know, they're getting prepared for
the next game. Their parties happened at the Final four.
So you know, as much as we all kind of
want to like have a little moment right now, I mean,
let's let's keep this thing rolling and then we'll see
if we can't get ourselves in the class of those
kinds of schools. That's what we want to do. We
(22:44):
want to be just like Keenan Evans has become consistent.
We want to be consistent with our program. But how
do you do that. I talked with Matt Painter about
this and I actually talked with Jay Right both on
this show about it in that j when he went
to the final four the first time, he said, look
what we got into homes we couldn't get too. We
have the top of caring class in the country, but
all of a sudden, we weren't getting our type of guys.
(23:05):
Matt Painters said the same thing. You go back a
couple of years ago when they struggled. They you know,
they had to get their type of guys, and they've
refocused and that's how they've they've gotten so good. How
do you balance the fact that because now Texas Tech
is back on the national map and you know, you look,
you got two stud freshmen, But how do you continue
to get your type of guys even if you can
get maybe higher tech, higher rated recruits. Yeah. I think
(23:28):
it's being true to yourself and we'll always be that
here and getting guys. You know, the love basketball. I
want to be coached and we want to play team basketball,
but certainly to get in that next kind of category
of players like we like we did with Zaire and
Jared colver Um. You know, I'm not I'm not complaining
about that. We want to coach the best players, but
we always want to get guys that fit our culture too,
(23:51):
And I think that exists because, you know, again kind
of what we're talking about earlier with the you know,
the kind of the controversy seals um. You know, obviously
think in the top Hunter top deal, you're gonna get
your guys that are kind of looking for more of
a me situation. And maybe I'm naive, Doug, Maybe I
don't know, but I still think the majority of guys
want to be coached, The majority guys want to be
on good teams. The majority guys want to play unselfish basketball.
(24:14):
And I really believe that. I think it. The best
players that I've coached, you know, Andre Emmett was an
NBA player. Him was one of the best team players
I've ever been around. Great teammate. We had Marshall Henderson
here in Texas Tech. I recruited him and he was
sitting out here and then when we got fired, he transferred.
But you know, with everything with Marshall Henderson, I promise
you this, he was a great teammate. He wanted to
(24:36):
be coached, and I'm sure Annie Kennedy would tell you
the same thing. So we're looking forward and we're enjoying
recruiting success right now because of our team success. But
at the end of the day, we'll always be who
we are and get guys that fit all. Right. Last thing,
if you have that Final four party, okay, that means
you get to the Final four. Now we can have
a celebration. What what what local establishment in Lubbock? Would
(24:59):
you all? The watering hole of choice of Chris Beer. Well, first,
we got to hang out in San Antonio on the
way home to that when we're gonna go to the
Minger Hotel, the Minger Bar in Hotel Gary P. Nunn's
got a song about it, tradition. It's a it's a
big time google that one I entertain you. Uh. Then
when we get back to Lovock, you know again, although
we'll probably be getting invites from all the people, we
(25:21):
we gotta stay true to ourselves. Um, we gotta go
to four where we've been doing some postgame Uh, you know,
situations with our team this year, and the guys over
the lantern have been great to me. It's where I
eat late night. Um. And then there might be another
one or two, but it just kind of hesitates starting
to mention, and you know, then you piss somebody op, Yeah,
(25:41):
I understand, and are you Heineken? Now? Like, really did
you go? You go Heneken? On me? I was saying,
painter might be not me, not me? You are what well?
I mean above blah like if I have a choice
between a draft beer and a bottle, I'm going draft.
It's just me. Chris Pier draft beer at for Love
of Texas Minger Hotel in San Antonio. Hopefully we'll we'll
(26:04):
have that beer in San Antonio with you guys playing there. Uh,
safe travels to um to Boston. I know, I know
Boston not necessarily normally your cup of tea. But good
people up there up above the Mason Dixon. We'll talk soon, okay,
Chris Chris Beer joining us the duck Out Show. Fox
Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in the nation.
Catch all of our shows at Fox sports Radio dot
(26:26):
com and within the I Heart Radio app. This is
a year to which we claim that there's a scandal
ridden sport. And when you say college basketball coaches, it's
it has the same connotation as snake oil salesman. They're
all slimy, they're all dealing, you're they're all taking money.
(26:46):
That should beat for kids and putting it in their
pockets or funny linked to agents. Here's Tony Bennett, who
I believe, beyond a reasonable doubt does it the right way.
We got our butts whipped. That was not even close.
And that's first a credit to um the job Ryan
Day coach Oldham and their their offense was very hard
to guard. They shot it well. We kept getting broken down,
(27:09):
uh and did a poor job. And you know, I
told our guys we had a historic season, historic season
in terms of most wins in the a SEC. A
week ago we're cutting down the nets and the confetti's falling,
and then we make history by being the first one
seed to lose. I'm sure a lot of a lot
of people will be happy about that, and it's stings, UM,
(27:30):
But trying to tell the guys in there, you know,
this is this is life. It can't define you. Um.
You enjoyed the good times and you've gotta be able
to take the bad times when you step into the arena.
And a lot of people don't understand that. When you
step into the arena and you're in the arena, the
consequences can be historic losses, tough losses, great wins, and
(27:50):
you have to deal with it, and that's that's the job.
But we got thoroughly up play did not play well.
We had a hard time with their their mobile fours
and their four guards. And I don't know what to say,
but that is Look. He offered no excuses. Remember, they
lost their most agile power forward, DeAndre Hunter before the
tournament ever began. That hurt their lineup. Maryland Baltimore County
(28:13):
hit everything they threw their twelve and three point range,
scored fifty three points in the second half. But what
do you want coaches that make no excuses? Did he
make one? I didn't hear any He didn't point the
finger at any one player, even the players he commended
the other team and the other team's coach. We want
(28:34):
coaches that their players get better, that they play basketball
whatever you deem to be the right way, Virginia. You
might not like their style or their pace, but I
don't think anybody would ever question whether or not their
kids play hard, or play basketball the right way, or
learn to play offensive basketball. And in a year in
which we we cry that every coach is slimy and
(28:58):
sleazy and some oil salesman, here's a guy that has
perspective on a historic upset, and I read columns and
say that his style or their winds are fraudulently because
they can't win in the n c A tournament. Like, dude,
all these guys have lost in the first round of
(29:18):
a tournament. They're the first six first one to lose
to a sixteen. We see Mike Schevski's teams get undressed
by mercer VCU. You know, pick out, pick out the coach.
Roy Williams is an incredible coach. And granted they did
not lose as a one seed, but they got run
(29:39):
off the floor by Texas. Say and m yesterday run
off the floor? All right, maybe because Marylyn Baltimore County. Okay,
pick out your coach. You will find an upset. And
in a year in which we want to clean up
a sport and do things the right way, here's a
program doing things the right way. And oh yeah, by
(30:01):
the way, while the style didn't work against the personnel
of Maryland Baltimore County, it's a style that works more
often than not because of the personnel. He's able to
recruit without breaking insta rules and getting kids to go
to class. Hey, when thirty one games lost only three.
Be sure to catch live editions of The Doug Gottlieb
Show weekdays at three p m. Eastern noon Pacific on
(30:23):
Fox Sports Radio and the I Heart Radio app. And
now say Lake Travis had this to say about the
n C A Tournament. As much fun as the n
C Double A Tournament is, is it also the worst
way that any sport now picks to crown a champion.
Even if you enjoyed watching u NBC beat u v A,
(30:47):
doesn't it seem insane that U v A season, as
over as good as it was and Syracuses as crappy
as it was, is still going. I think that the
n C Double A is probably the most entertaining but
also the simultaneously worst way to crown a champion. It
makes no logical sense. We're gonna play the entire season
(31:11):
and then basically toss it all out, none of it
matters other than seating, and then we're gonna bring in
sixty eight teams and everybody has a chance to win
a title. It literally is the worst way to crown
a champion. If the goal is to get the best team,
um worst way, in most random way. I I don't
know if it's the worst way, but it is clearly
(31:35):
the most random way. The issue I would take with it,
and he's not wrong, by the way. He's not wrong,
um in terms of what I think he's trying to
say and what he's actually saying, because I don't think
it's the worst way to crown champion, because I honestly
think college football continues to be the worst way to
crown a champion, and just do just the idea that
(31:59):
a team is representative at the end of the season
of what they were at the very start of the
season is is hard to take. Um. I think baseball
is also a really tough one to remember. The Mariners
one sixteen games and we're out early in the playoffs.
It's maybe the hardest way to win a championship. You
have to be to win six games six against random teams,
(32:21):
and you lose any one of those games and you're out.
As opposed to baseball, if you're a top seed, now
you play a wild card team who has burned their
top starter, and then all you do is win that series.
When one more series you're playing for the World Series.
So it's it's difficult, it's random more random, but generally
(32:42):
the top seeds do in fact survive. Generally, they do
get it right. It's just really hard to determine at
times who's better than one another. And remember, as much
as the Virginia upset was stunning and is inarguably the
greatest upset in the history of the n c A Tournament,
it was helped by the fact at two things, Virginia
(33:02):
was without Um not just one of their most important players,
DeAndre Hunter, but also one of the most versatile players
to play against the small ball of UNBC. And the
second part is the three point line is the ultimate
equalizer UNBC twelve four when when Buffalo dominated Arizona in
(33:23):
the second half, Buffalo was fifteen of thirty from three
point range. You're gonna shoot fifty percent from three point range.
You're gonna shot more than twenty three's or thirty three.
You're gonna win almost every game ever in college basketball period.
The only team I believe to ever lose in an
n c A Tournament game when they shot fifty from
the field, forty from three, and eighty from the line
(33:46):
is Missouri when they lost in Norfolk State. Go back
and look it up. It was a remarkable shooting day
for both teams. So it is very, very random. What's
maybe more remarkable about how random it is and how
a few people point out, is it still generally works
for the best team survive. Right. It's completely random and
(34:09):
arbitrary at times, and there are crazy, fantastic upsets, but
generally Duke's there, Carolinas there, Kentucky's there now, Gonzaga has
been good forever, finally got there. Like it almost always
works to where there's three teams you thought that would
be there, and there's one team that you did, and
(34:30):
every once in a while there's the second one, there's
two and two, and occasionally there's been four one seeds.
So he's right in terms of its randomness, but still
water has a tendency to find its level. Say, Fox
Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in the nation.
Catch all of our shows at Fox sports Radio dot
(34:52):
com and within the I Heart Radio app. Let's welcome
in Chris mannocks talented writer reporter Sabbat. Really when it
comes down to what's going on in the NBA, Yahoo Sports,
he joins us on the d G Show on Fox
Sports Radio. Um, look, there's a there's a song you
want to be happy for the rest of your life. Uh,
(35:12):
get yourself an ugly wife. That's because you know, sometimes
the perioder the woman, the more of the drama. Is
that the case here with Tylu, that that the health
has to do with the stress over coaching Lebron and
all the drama with the Calves. Well, it's hard to
say exactly, but it can't help. Um. You know, since
Tyler took the job, you know, putting aside the first
(35:34):
you know, three months of it when he took that
team over and led them to a championship, it's been one,
you know, headache after another. And this year has been
just an unbelievable amount of stress on any coach, you know,
from beginning with losing Kyrie, to all the injuries they suffered,
to the the the infighting at times, and the trade.
So it's been it's been challenging, uh, you know for Tylu.
(35:54):
Now from from what I'm hearing out of Cleveland, they're
they're optimistic that this is only gonna be four or
five days to a week of Tyler being out, But
I know he's been battling this. I saw the Calves
in Portland's just a few days back. You could tell
Doug looking at him that that this season is really
worn on him. And you see that a lot of coaches,
you know, no question about it. But yeah, I just
(36:14):
remember looking at at Tie and thinking he looks just,
you know, kind of like worn down, ragged at this point.
So hopefully it's just a week, but it has been
a pretty tough season. How much does it affect How
hard is it going to be to integrate Kevin Love
into this team without Tyler? Like right, like, it's not
like this thing is this, this ship sales itself. You
(36:37):
gotta put Kevin Love in, refigure their rotation, get everybody
ready for the playoffs, and you don't have Tyler. How
much more difficult is it? Considering the timing? So I
think it makes it much more difficult. Uh, if this
was the same team that Kevin Love was coming back to,
you'd say, all right, the coach is not all that
relevant here. But you've got a whole bunch of different pieces,
and you've got pieces that are still out there coming
back at different times. I mean, Larry Nance has been
(36:59):
dealing with hamstring injury, Roddy Hood has been his back
has been tweaked a couple of times you get Thompson
potentially coming back in the next week or two, you're
gonna have guys kind of staggered coming back into the mix.
And several of these guys have not played together. So
that's where the coach becomes instrumental, especially with limited practice
time at this stage of the season. Why I think
this does is put an enormous amount of pressure, even
(37:21):
more pressure than he's dealt with on Lebron. James Lebron
is gonna have to be the coach on the floor,
the guy that's out there integrating these pieces and letting
them know where they need to be and how to
play off each other. His his responsibility, which I think
is that, you know, maybe the highest it's been since
that two thousand seventh season when he led that Calves
team to the finals. His responsibility is just increased even more.
(37:43):
What's the like that you think they come out of
the East. I like, look, I know Toronto, give us respect,
give us. Didn't they just lose to the thunder at home?
Like I would like to pick against the cas because
of they don't have a second break you down score,
they have all this drama they gotta put Kevin Love
in the defensive numbers are still not good. You're gonna
(38:03):
depend on guys who haven't played with Lebron in the playoffs.
You don't know about but I'm struggling to find you know,
bost Kyrie Irving's out against the thunder. I don't know
when they're gonna get healthy. And even when they're healthy,
I don't think they're better than the Calves. What what
do you think that like? That is that they still
get to the finals. Well, at this point you kind
of have to start to buy it to Toronto, don't you.
(38:24):
I mean, I know they just lost and that that's fine,
But they've been the most consistent team in the conference
from day one, and from day one, I think we've
been wondering will those second unit guys start to falter?
Will we see Fred van Vleet act like an undrafted
free agent, or sim act like a back into the
first round draft pick, or delln Wright or any of
these guys Yaka Purdle. All these guys who have been
(38:45):
asked to play enhanced roles this year have been very
good since the start of the season and continue to
be even now. The offense, which I think We've all wondered,
are they going to go back and revert to that
isolation to heavy basketball that that defined this team. Really
for the last three or four years. It's been consistent
throughout and you mentioned all the flaws Cleveland has. Offensively,
They'll be better when Kevin Love comes back. I think
(39:06):
they'll be able to score with anybody. But even when
these guys come come back, including Thompson and Larry Nance Jr.
They have not been a good defensive team. No matter
who they have put in this lineup, they have not
been a good defensive team. And I just not a believer, Doug,
that you can go into the postseason and a a
switch gets flipped and all of a sudden you become
the middle of the pack defensive team. I think they're
(39:27):
gonna be exploited beginning in those early rounds, and when
they do wind up against Toronto, I think Toronto has
to be considered the favorite. I kind of tend to
agree with you. It's hard to be a flip switcher there.
And Doug, I gotta tell you, I mean we I
heat praised on Lebron all the time, and he's a
great player, having maybe one of not the best season
of his career. But I watched him pretty closely against
(39:47):
Portland's and he takes like three, four or five possessions
in a row off Defensively, He's still able to dial
it up to a tend when you put him up
against the litardar of McCollum, or you ask him to
make one play. He takes a lot of possession off
the defensive end of the floor because he needs that
energy on offense. He's still going to need that energy
on offense in the playoffs. Are we going to expect
(40:07):
him for you know, four rounds to you know, change
his defensive mindset. I just don't see it. Stub Gallan show,
Fox Sports Radio. That's the voice of Chris Man. It
sounds like the voice of reason from Yahoo Sports. I
have heard that Golden States coaching staff is concerned about
the kind of a similar scenario in terms of flipping
the switch in that look, those guys are really really good,
(40:28):
and they think they'll all be back healthy, but they're
not totally convinced that this is a good idea to
just go, like, hey, wait to the blaoffs and we'll
flip the switch. Have you heard the same I've heard
something similar. Um. I saw them a couple of times recently,
and I would say, yes, they're concerned by that, and
Steve Kerrs are pretty public about it too. I mean,
it's not like he's hiding um that sort of sentiment.
(40:50):
But what my what I gather is that there's a
greater concern about steps ankle and and the possibility tweaks
in another time during the postseason, and they know in
Golden State, they're they're only aware of the threat that
Houston faces. They believe fully healthy, they can take the Rockets,
but I think they also know that a Curry injured ankle,
that that even limits him in a series like that,
(41:10):
that might get them beat. So I think the greater
concern is making sure that Steps acent. That's why they're
willing to take you know, you know, kind of wave
of the white flag on the first overall seed and
play for number two. I think they're their number one
priorities to make sure Step is a percent when they
get to that conference files against Houston. Chris Mannox joining
us in the Doug Gottlieb Show, How Real is Portland's Yeah,
(41:31):
I'm writing something about this tomorrow and it's a good question,
And I think they're real to the point where they're
a second round team and ensure that's that's that's an
accomplishment for a team that snuck into the playoffs last year.
If they've become the third seed get to the second round,
they've got some momentum going forward. But I think they've
got kind of a ceiling with this group here. I mean,
you've got Liard and mcconovo are great. Nurkises the wild
(41:54):
card in all this. If Usip nurk is just playing
his A game, they can beat anybody in the conference,
that includes Golden State Houston. But far too often he
has had a B game or a C game. You know,
I saw him play a great game last Monday against Miami.
He was like five and in seventeen or something like that.
He was fantastic. He was dominant. Then the next night
out against an undersized Cleveland team, he was lifeless and
(42:17):
had to be pulled middle of the third quarter and
and and didn't get back into the game after that.
If Nurkic is able to develop, it's the superstar. These
sometimes looks like I think that the ceiling of the
finals for that Portland's team but I'm just not believing.
I don't think Portland's believing yet that he's there to
that point. Tend to agree with you, uh, tend to
tend to agree with you. I mean, like, look and
(42:37):
and I know they're defense. I think their second in
terms of defensive rating in the second half of the season.
That you would have to think at some point Water
finds its level. They've been a bad defensive team for
the most part with McCullum and Lillard, and they're they're
just playing kind of above their level right now. I
don't know if that actually evens out well. I mean, well,
two things. One is, I think Lillard's made far more
(42:58):
of an effort this year to come an average defensive player.
I think he's he's stepped up and he's probably playing
his best defense since he came into the league. And
Nurke it's the other part of it. I mean, when
he's struggling offensively, they still leave him out there on
the floor because of what he does in terms of
rim protection and how he that defense kind of revolves
around him. If he's able to play thirty five minutes,
I think that defense is going to be able to
(43:20):
play at the level that's played in the second half
of the season. But all comes down to how many
minutes Terry Stotts can trust Nurkics with. Does he have
to go to that front line of Zach Collins and
Ed Davis which has been finishing games lately. Does he
have to go younger, smaller? If he has to, you
can still win a first round series, But I don't
think he can beat one of those top tier teams. Uh, Glenn,
(43:40):
Big Baby Davis, your reaction go not stunned. I guess
by by all this, I mean I've seen the some
of the TMZ videos out there of Big Baby. I
had not heard that he was that deep into the
weeds with all this, But I guess I'll say I'm
not surprised. Yeah, which I guess which is less surprising? Um,
(44:00):
the weed or the Popeye's Chicken. I actually I kind
of think the weed is. No, I don't know that
the weed. I'll say the weeds less surprising because I
believe I've witnessed Popeye's Chicken in my time covering Big
Baby over the years, I have not personally witnessed the
other part of it. Um, where are we with Kawai Leonard.
(44:21):
You know, I was talking to somebody, you know, down
in the San Antonio area recently about this, and there's
a palpable frustration I think on the part of the Spurs,
because you know, they really believe he's fully healthy and
they're not gonna push him. Look at you know what
Popish said recently about reminiscing on the year that Tim
Duncan basically took the playoffs off. They still have that
(44:41):
same mindset and they still look at Kauai Leonard as
being a Spur for the next seven eight years, no
matter what people are saying about Kauai's future. But it
is it's different. I mean, back when when Duncan was
was there, they were all on the same page. They
all understood the injury and said we're not going to
risk it. Now it just seems like Kauai feels one
way and the Spurs met icle information is telling them
something completely different. So I don't know. I mean, they
(45:03):
there was optimism last week that he was gonna make
his debut on Thursday. This past Thursday, that obviously didn't happen,
And right now I think they're they're on the clock
here for when they can bring him back and still
use him in the playoffs. Eighton out of the tournament,
Badley still in the tournament. Uh do you still believe
that Aton is the number one pick? I think he is.
But asked me again in about a month and a
(45:25):
half when we get what what's these guys? Because a
lot of these gms, you know, that's a lot of
these gms, especially at the hired level guys, the guys
that are making the decisions, they're just getting kind of
their first real look at these guys. They're just getting
engaged on all these guys. You start to hear a
lot of things about a lot of different players that
all kind of crystallizes, you know, after the combine the
month or so great stuff. Chris Mannix of course read
(45:47):
his work out who Sports follow him on Twitter and
umh one last thing Mannix. If you don't know manixllent
covers uh NBA but huge boxing guy, um okay, Floyd
may went there's transitioning towards being an mm A fighter
that that just sounds like the worst idea of all time.
Explain this one to me. He's he's never going to
(46:10):
do it. He's never ever going to do it and
I know I was pretty definitive in not believing that
a McGregor fight was gonna happen, But that was strictly
over the fact that I had covered PACKI al Mayweather,
and I knew the negotiations with that side could take forever,
and Mayweather was approaching forty at that point. Uh, this
is an entirely different sports and Mayweather. If there's one
(46:31):
thing I know about him, he's not about to embarrass himself,
and he has to know that he steps into the octagon,
there's a high degree of probability that he embarrassed himself.
This is about him remaining relevant, This is about him
being talked about. The only way he gets back, he
gets into the octagon is if he is far worse
off financially than anybody even knows. I don't think he's
(46:53):
bad right now. I think he could be down the line,
But if he's worse off then we think, which I
don't believe, that's the only thing that would get him
in there. That's a great take, by the way, just
because especially it doesn't want to get embarrassed. If you
look at his last couple of fights, even when he
fought Pakiow, he didn't fight Patty until Pakio was washed right,
And I mean, like, look, he only you'll take on
(47:15):
Connor McGregor in Conor McGregor's first ever boxing match. Like
he he ain't taking a fight. He you're not gonna
take a fight. You can he has any chance of losing,
suddenly he's gonna hop into an octagon. Look at it,
Look at it this way, Doug. Since two thousand seven
when he fought Delahoya, he has never taken a risk,
at least not a significant one. Delahoya represented a big
(47:35):
risk for him because of who Oscar was and what
Floyd was at that point. Since then, look at his resume.
He has not taken a significant risk. He won't take
one now. Great stuff. Chris Mannocks from Yahoo spoors. Thanks Mannix,
you got Doug
This is the best of the Dog Dot Leap Show
on Fox Sports Radio. Boom Up America, Doug Got Leave
Show Fox Sports Radio, coming to you, live and direct
from the City of Angels, Sunny Beautiful, getting ready to
host the Sweet Sixteen, which is exactly like your bracket
had it predicted, right, all of you, all of you
(00:21):
geniuses out there, had nevada. Nevada, not nevada. If you
say nevada, I click off the hearing aid. Can't hear you,
and you gotta use the side language. Loyola of Chicago,
the Ramblers, Loyola of Chicago. Uh, these are This is
exactly like you predicted. Florida State, Florida State would come
(00:44):
from twelve down to takedown Mighty Xavier Man. No coffee
to be served in Cincinnati in the near future. That's
because coffee is for closers, and both you see and
x could not close the deal. All the Dukies are alive.
Oh tell you, Oh, you got Calipari in Kentucky, and
you got Mike Sachowski and Jim be Hid whoa, oh
(01:11):
Thomas os Tim could make a shot. We'll talk about
college basketball of coming on the show. Let's get to
the news of the day. No, it's not college hoop.
I'm also going to criticize anybody who wants to criticize
Tony Bennett because you don't know what you want, and
whatever you think you want, you don't obviously want. With
Tony Bennett. Will get to that upcoming Lebron James's coach
(01:35):
Tyron Loeu, who is hands selected by Lebron James. It's
gonna take a leave of absence because you haven't been
feeling well. That heart palpitations and can't sleep, and one
report has him coughing up blood. Like what you're coughing
(01:55):
up blood? Yeah, that that's grounds for Let's go see
a doctor. Let's take a couple of day is off.
And I don't know if Tyler is the always sick
or never sick variety. For the record, I'm a never
sick sort of guy. It's just weird around my house
anytime I'm not feeling well because my daughter, one of
my daughters, and I we we call it blue eye immunity.
(02:18):
I don't know what it is. Maybe it's because I
licked the pavement in every state I visit, just so
I can collect the germs and and find antibodies or
maybe it's just something I'm built with. I don't get
sick often, but when I do, man do I feel
I feel like I feel worse than anybody else who
gets sick, as opposed to people were sick more often, Like, yeah,
I'm sick, I'm not feeling well, but I'm always sick.
(02:39):
Tyler is not feeling well, and I feel legitimately bad
for Lebron James. This feels like it's not going to
end well. Like it feels like it's going to end
maybe in the Eastern Conference Finals, even though the Raptors
who want to scream at the top of their lungs,
take us seriously, please, Okay, then beat the thunder at
(03:03):
home last night. Do that. I will take you seriously,
but I can't. On the other hand, I look at
Lebron James team and I realized that they're going to
have a substitute teacher for the foreseeable future. And this
is not like early in the season. This is not
(03:24):
even like they've had training camping. This team was put
together at the alls at the at the trade deadline,
they're eleven and a half out of first place, so
that thing's over. They're just as close to eight. They're
actually closer to eight than they are to second. Right,
(03:45):
there are only three games up in the wind column
from the Heat and the Bucks, who are the seventh
and eighth place teams. And while I don't think the
Pacers or the Sixers or even the Bucks, the Heat
probably not the Celtics, depending on how healthy they are,
can beat them in the playoffs. The fact is that
(04:06):
the war of attrition that the playoffs present could make
them more likely to fall. Now you throw in the
fact that Larry Drew is going to be their head coach,
and oh yeah, by the way, at some point in
the next couple of weeks, they'll add Kevin Love back in.
They hadn't yet established chemistry, they hadn't yet figured out
their rotation. Their defense isn't much better, they don't have
(04:30):
a secondary option outside Lebron James create shots. And you're
gonna add Kevin Love beck in, which is dicey. It
sounds really good. You're like, man, you at twenty five
games point score like, you're gonna be better. Sure, But
Kevin Love at times can give up as many as
he gets. And it's not like Kevin loves a give
Kevin love the ball and let's clear out because that
dude's gonna get us a bucket that ain't the thing.
(04:56):
So it feels like this is not going to end well.
And there's all these other parts. There's every town he
goes to puts up a billboard trying to woo Lebron James.
We don't know if this is his last go around.
What feels like he is with the Cleveland Cavaliers. We
don't know if he'll head west or head east. I
(05:18):
guess Houston's a possibility. I guess the Sixers are a possibility.
I'm guessing the Lakers are a probability. And I almost
feel a little bit bad for him. He's got to
answer all these questions. Everybody assumes he's going elsewhere. He's
got Kobe Altman, who's like a rookie general manager. He's
got Larry Drew, who no one would ever hire on
a team that you'd want to win a championship with.
(05:39):
He might have Tyrone Lou back, he might not have
Tyrone Lou. He's still getting to know all these new
players are gonna add in Kevin. I like, I kinda
feel bad for the guy on the other hand, all
of this could have essentially been avoided. Maybe you couldn't
avoided the health issues for Tyron Lou But the domino
effect again with Kyrie Irving not feeling the love from
(06:04):
Lebron James, Kyrie Irving saying, hey, I want out. And
while Lebron James may have too much pride to do it,
had he wanted Kyrie Irving on his team and believed
that his way was the right way, all he had
to do was set up a face to face because
(06:25):
it's my belief that Lebron James is probably pretty good
in the room. You know what in a room means,
right right? How good are you in a room? I
mean this is in any business in America. If you
want a job, and you gotta be good in room,
(06:45):
you just do. Whether it's at dinner, whether it's in
the boardroom, whether it's over coffee. You gotta be able
to sell yourself without selling yourself. You gotta be able
to pitch without making it sound like a pitch. You
gotta be able to close. And for Lebron James to
(07:06):
never even try and get in a room with Kyrie
Irving after it got out that Kyrie Irving wanted out,
began this, look, you can't go. I'm not even holding
it against him that he wanted to trade Kyrie Irving
after they won a championship and thought about bringing in
his buddy Chris Paul. That to me is bad management.
At the time from the Cleveland Cavaliers letting that out,
(07:27):
no one should have known. But once it got out,
once Kyrie let the team know that he wanted nothing
to do with he being on Team Lebron anymore, that's
when Lebron should have sprung into action because had that happened,
had had he not left, none of this would have happened,
(07:48):
none of it. It's the same thing as when David
Griffin was fired. It doesn't mean that that he got
David Griffin fired. But if he didn't want David Griffin fired,
he could have gone in and saw Dan Gilbert and said,
hey man, whatever you do, don't fire David Griffin because
he goes I go. But he didn't. And for somebody
(08:09):
who likes to control every aspect of his and all
of his friends future as they rise through the ranks
of being multi multimillionaire businessmen, well, he sure took a
hands off approach on something that directly directly affects his
own performance and his team's level of competency. And oh yeah,
(08:35):
by the way, none of this would have happened, the
adding older players, the moving all these pieces around, the
stress on his head coach had at the start of
the season. He just said, Hey, I understand I could
get out of my contract at the end of this year,
but I ain't going anywhere. He could have had a
(08:55):
face to face with Kyrie. He could have saved David
Griffin's job. He could have ended all the speculations, said
I'm never leaving Cleveland ever. They can figure out the team,
I'm staying here. He didn't. I don't wish bad health
about anybody. I don't believe this is karma. I don't
believe that it could have absolutely stopped the deteriorating health
(09:18):
of Tyrone Louke considering the schedule the NBA. But sure
as hell wouldn't have hurt and it wouldn't have been
a bit as big a cluster. You know what if
other of these things would have happened. Instead, he's left
with a team that's played together for like fifteen twenty
games without Kevin Love, with a substitute teacher in a
in an improving Eastern Conference and everybody wooing him, trying
(09:40):
to get his attention, and a team fizzling before us.
I'm saying I both feel for him and put some
of the blame on him, because that's the reality of
the situation. You give me your thoughts eight seven seven
(10:01):
nine Foxes the phone number eight seven seven nine fox.
You can also hit me up on Twitter at Gottlieb
Show that includes the Syracuse Mafia who don't understand the
idea that winning three games by like six points. Uh.
While it it's deserving of credit and congratulations, it doesn't
(10:24):
change the argument of the laughable resume that the Cues
had to get into the n c A tournament. My
my arguments are called and this is a is a
very big word. Okay, whether you want to use correlating arguments,
congruent arguments, circular arguments, what makes sense for one has
(10:46):
to make sense for all. Jim beheamall join us tomorrow.
He knows he said it. What are they good? Just
made a couple more shots. But there is a genius
to the style by which he's playing and the way
in which his team is able to execute and why
the criticism of Tony Bennett for essentially the exact same
style with a different look is so far off, so
(11:08):
far off. Pretty amazing, though, pretty amazing weekend in college basketball.
Right when we thought there was parody. I'm not sure
we had any idea there was this level of parody.
And I haven't been on the radio since UNBC beat Virginia,
but I did not think a six team would be
a one, especially when they got to be by forty.
Just I didn't. I didn't see it happening. Sorry, that's
(11:33):
why they play. 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. Chris Beer joins us on The Doug
Gottlieb Show on Fox Sports Radio. Chris, how are you
doing good? Dog? Good? Hear your voice? Man likewise? Um,
what's this been like this year as opposed to the
(11:54):
Arkansas A little rock run? Good question? Um? You know,
every journey is different, every team is different. Uh. The
common thing is just so like happy just to be
still hooping. You know, the sixteen teams left and we
get to practice today. We get to be around our
guys like at the core of it, you know, like
(12:15):
that that's what it's all about. And I know that
it's such a big deal. But the bottom lineage you
get to play again, you get to practice again, you
get to you know, get on your guys one more time.
It's fun. You know. The first game was the score
was not indicative of all the first game, right, like
final score. If you weren't watching the Stephen F game,
you're like, oh, they won by ten. They dusted them
(12:35):
off lad the whole way. And obviously, uh, you guys
know that staff really well. Um, you know all of
those most of those kids would have cut off their
pinky toe to come to come to Tech. And of
course they have a great culture there. They've been winning
now for five or six years. Uh, down down at
Stephen F. To play in Dallas in front of so
many alums. But to play such a hard fought game
(12:57):
in round one. What what was it like to out
and play Florida in the second round? He know, it's
a lot, a lot, a lot like back to backs
in the Big twelve. Um, we thought Stephen F. Austin
was like like a big twelve team. I would agree
with you. Uh, they're really good. And it's not just
about this team, it's about the tradition. And you know,
(13:18):
there was guys on the court there that had won
inta tournament games. We don't have anybody on our team
that did won an into a tournament game. So um,
I thought that game actually helped us beat Florida. You know,
I don't know if we win the second game if
we don't have a really tough game in the first one,
and basically the Stephen Foston game, I would agree that
it was like a one possession games, but it was
(13:39):
Chris Perre joining us on the Doug got Lip Show
here on Fox Sports Trade. Of course, Perdue's waiting, and
I'm sure the last team Perdue ever wants to see
is when you coach, because that was when you were
in Arkansas, a Little Rock. That was the team that
you took down. I know there. You know, there's a
lot of similar pieces, right that the seniors were all
on that team. How much of what you want to
(13:59):
do is in any way similar to what you want
to do last time he took on for Due. Uh, yeah,
definitely similarities to me because Perdue is gonna be, you know,
a team that has great size and great bigs and
whether houseplays or not, which I think you will, you know,
we're gonna have to figure out a way to contend
with that, both on offense and defense. I think to
(14:22):
two different games. Though. I don't think anybody in Indiana's
scared of me. But you know, I'm glad. I think
they're glad that Josh Hagan's and Roger Woods aren't gonna
be playing for US. Um, but you know, I won't
score basket Friday night. But um, you know our players
have to do that. But I think, you know, all
these games in the tournament or all have little subplots
and cool things and stuff, and I think this is
(14:44):
just another example. But we've had so much respect for
Matt Painter. I mean I tell people this all the time.
It's very easy for me to describe Matt like he's
the exact same guy today to me that he was
when he was an assistant in southern Illinois. You know,
like we were drinking draft beer in the back of
some bar now, you know, I mean, I guess it's
Heineken now and in the front bar. But he's still
(15:06):
the same guy, and he's been unbelievable to me. And
then I tell guys through like you know, your true
character comes out and adversity and all that that's true.
I mean, that's such an accurate statement. And when we
were fortunate enough at Little Rock to win that game,
I mean, let's be honest, we got lucky down the stretch.
We were really fortunate that thing had to go exactly
the way it did for us to win. You talked
(15:28):
about a gracious guy. I mean, like, I'll never forget it.
Like when you go to the press conference after the game,
the tournament is a holding area, and so we we
literally crossed again, and Matt's like the same. I mean,
he's just like the same guy that congratulated me, took
time out to talk to our guys, Hagan's and Roger,
and so I just had so much respect for him
on the basketball side, but also as a person. You know,
(15:48):
there's I think there's conflicting narratives, Chris. I think there's
a narrative from people in my business that cover the
sport and fans, and there's a narrative kind of inside
the sports. There's all this talk about about guys that
do it the wrong way, and for whatever reason, there's
not enough I don't know, affirmation of the success for
guys that do it the right way. You know, Like, look,
(16:10):
when you it's almost like the it's like professional lawyer,
Like there's there's millions of really good lawyers out there.
But when you say, like you're a lawyer, like, uh,
you say you're a basketball coach. Al right, Like because
of because of the scandal that has kind of put
a cloud over the sport, it feels like suddenly that
becomes a bad word. But I look at your growth
(16:33):
as a professional from incarnent Word to Abilene Christian to
North Texas to Fort Scott to Seminal State to to
McMurray to Angelo State two Little Rock uh to Tech,
and I'm like, look, this is what the sport is about.
Do it the right way. Coach ball, get guys to
play hard, win games and have a cold beer afterwards
and tell stories about it. Right, Like, what what's your
(16:55):
sense of the conflicting narratives in how the sport is
viewed and how the sport is actually practiced. Yeah, well stated,
I mean I verbalized that perfect. I think you know
what thing that comes to minds I think like you know,
like the controversy and like spicy stuff is what cells
and that's the good articles. But it's also just like
(17:15):
a pureness to like, you know, a lot of the
good parts of our game. And like, uh, my girlfriend Randy,
she watches a lot of these like uh reality shows,
and like I'd be lying to you if I didn't
tell you that sometimes I'll sit down and kind of
get engaged with them, like the housewives and stuff. And
if you look on there, I mean every one of
those uh women have something going on. I mean, none
(17:37):
of them are just like happily married. Everything's rocking around.
I mean it's like, you know, it's like just like
the spicy stuff sells. You know, the stuff is kind
of on the dark side. That's what people kind of
that's what entertains people. But I would agree with you
to me, like I'd like to watch a reality show
of like a couple of people that are married and
doing it the right way, and you know, because I
think there's beauty and that too. I mean like for me,
(18:00):
that's where real happiness comes from. And I would tell
you that in basketball too. I mean, to me, I've
been on all sides of it, you know, like I've
been like a junior college coach. I saw everybody coming
and recruit our players. And now I've competed at all
these different levels, and I'm telling you that most guys
are doing it right. I mean most of us are
out there trying to, you know, get it done. And
I mean prob and I and I put produced program
(18:22):
right there, like Matt Painterard recruited our players and we've
recruited against him. Um. And so I would tell you
that he's one of the best coaches in our game,
that that just does everything everything right. Keen Evans is
an absolute star. He's had an incredible season. Obviously, you
inherited him from from Tubby staff. Uh what about him
from a guy who watches him every day, watches every tape,
(18:44):
coaches every game. What about Keen Nevins impresses even you?
Probably the consistency, Um. You know, he's always been a
talented guy, um, but certainly last year to get himself
in the categories of junior where he's an all Big
twelve player. To me, that equals consistency. Like just the
other day when I had the ballots in front of
me and you're trying to pick the players. Every one
(19:05):
of them is a all conference talent. So what I
do is I blought the stat sheets and I start
really thinking about it, and I just look at consistency um.
You know, like to me, way to Kansas State was
an All conference player in our league because how consistent
he is. There's other guys as talented his way, but way,
to me, he's the first team All Conference guy because
as his consistency um. And I would say the same
(19:27):
thing with Keenan, Like what he's been able to do
now this year. He's getting the best teams defender, he's
getting game plans, but he's still you know, he's able
to make plays on both ends of the floor. And
and to me, ultimately, you know, I've never been in
the NBA, and I hope bill, but I would I
would assume the consistency is a big, big part of
it too. With an eighties something game season, And to me,
that's why I think Keenan Evans is an NBA player. Uh.
(19:50):
We mentioned Isaac Costs. We both operated on this assumption.
He's gonna play with that fractured double. He wanted to play,
but the brace wouldn't allow him to do so. Um,
I make the case that he looks on a basketball
floor like Ivan Drago looked in a boxing ring in
Rocky four. He's like that much bigger and more impressive
physically than anything I've ever seen. Fair assessment. I agree.
(20:11):
You know, last time I saw you in person, and
one of the last times was when we were Can't
coom Uh. Me and my daughters were there and Perdue
was in that tournament. We didn't play him, but I
had a chance to just watch the game as a fan. Um.
And yeah, he's he's a massive human being. Um and
and a really really good player and um and watching
films starting yesterday all the way up until before I
(20:34):
jumped on with you guys. Uh. But he's just kind
of a lot a lot better too. And I think
you gotta give the coaching staff credit obviously, But then
how about the player. You know, to be that good
to start and then just continuing to get better just
tells me all I know I want to know about him.
He's obviously very very competitive and loves the game. So
you know, we're preparing like he's gonna play. You know
that there's your story. At some point, your storyould be
(20:56):
a great like thirty for thirty right because you were
going to be the cat coach that you of e
than the Texas Tech thing came open. And for people
who don't know, you know, you're divorced out of three
girls and they live now driving distance away from Texas Tech.
It just kind of this is this is like one
for you for now. Texas Tech isn't a destination job
for a lot of people on Earth, but for you,
(21:16):
it absolutely is. It makes it different to to achieve
success and may be sustainable success at Tech for you.
Is that that that fair? Yeah? Absolutely? I think, uh,
you know, like there's different programs and players and coaches
having success right now, and I think that success will
lead places in different directions and human beings and different directions.
(21:40):
For us, we just want this to success to continue
to lead us to that last Monday Night and certainly
this year that would be awesome and everything has to
go right for something like that to happen. But hey,
you know, we got a chance. We're one of sixteen
teams left. We'll take our odds, but ultimately want the
success that we have this year to kind of spring
orders to next year in the year after and you know,
(22:03):
it's about recruiting. At this level, it's about players, and
then ultimately it's just about you. I think it's about
tradition to it's like, uh, you know, we just want
to be one of those teams it's not known for
the Sweet sixteen several years ago. We want to be
a team that you know gets to this point. Like
I told the guys this morning, like, you know, they're
not having a party right now in Lawrence, Kansas, or
(22:24):
in Durham, North Carolina, or in Lexington, Kentucky, because they're
in the Sweet sixteen. You know, they're getting prepared for
the next game. Their parties happened at the Final four.
So you know, as much as we all kind of
want to like have a little moment right now, I mean,
let's let's keep this thing rolling and then we'll see
if we can't get ourselves in the class of those
kinds of schools. That's what we want to do. We
(22:44):
want to be just like Keenan Evans has become consistent.
We want to be consistent with our program. But how
do you do that. I talked with Matt Painter about
this and I actually talked with Jay Right both on
this show about it in that j when he went
to the final four the first time, he said, look
what we got into homes we couldn't get too. We
have the top of caring class in the country, but
all of a sudden, we weren't getting our type of guys.
(23:05):
Matt Painters said the same thing. You go back a
couple of years ago when they struggled. They you know,
they had to get their type of guys, and they've
refocused and that's how they've they've gotten so good. How
do you balance the fact that because now Texas Tech
is back on the national map and you know, you look,
you got two stud freshmen, But how do you continue
to get your type of guys even if you can
get maybe higher tech, higher rated recruits. Yeah. I think
(23:28):
it's being true to yourself and we'll always be that
here and getting guys. You know, the love basketball. I
want to be coached and we want to play team basketball,
but certainly to get in that next kind of category
of players like we like we did with Zaire and
Jared colver Um. You know, I'm not I'm not complaining
about that. We want to coach the best players, but
we always want to get guys that fit our culture too,
(23:51):
And I think that exists because, you know, again kind
of what we're talking about earlier with the you know,
the kind of the controversy seals um. You know, obviously
think in the top Hunter top deal, you're gonna get
your guys that are kind of looking for more of
a me situation. And maybe I'm naive, Doug, Maybe I
don't know, but I still think the majority of guys
want to be coached, The majority guys want to be
on good teams. The majority guys want to play unselfish basketball.
(24:14):
And I really believe that. I think it. The best
players that I've coached, you know, Andre Emmett was an
NBA player. Him was one of the best team players
I've ever been around. Great teammate. We had Marshall Henderson
here in Texas Tech. I recruited him and he was
sitting out here and then when we got fired, he transferred.
But you know, with everything with Marshall Henderson, I promise
you this, he was a great teammate. He wanted to
(24:36):
be coached, and I'm sure Annie Kennedy would tell you
the same thing. So we're looking forward and we're enjoying
recruiting success right now because of our team success. But
at the end of the day, we'll always be who
we are and get guys that fit all. Right. Last thing,
if you have that Final four party, okay, that means
you get to the Final four. Now we can have
a celebration. What what what local establishment in Lubbock? Would
(24:59):
you all? The watering hole of choice of Chris Beer. Well, first,
we got to hang out in San Antonio on the
way home to that when we're gonna go to the
Minger Hotel, the Minger Bar in Hotel Gary P. Nunn's
got a song about it, tradition. It's a it's a
big time google that one I entertain you. Uh. Then
when we get back to Lovock, you know again, although
we'll probably be getting invites from all the people, we
(25:21):
we gotta stay true to ourselves. Um, we gotta go
to four where we've been doing some postgame Uh, you know,
situations with our team this year, and the guys over
the lantern have been great to me. It's where I
eat late night. Um. And then there might be another
one or two, but it just kind of hesitates starting
to mention, and you know, then you piss somebody op, Yeah,
(25:41):
I understand, and are you Heineken? Now? Like, really did
you go? You go Heneken? On me? I was saying,
painter might be not me, not me? You are what well?
I mean above blah like if I have a choice
between a draft beer and a bottle, I'm going draft.
It's just me. Chris Pier draft beer at for Love
of Texas Minger Hotel in San Antonio. Hopefully we'll we'll
(26:04):
have that beer in San Antonio with you guys playing there. Uh,
safe travels to um to Boston. I know, I know
Boston not necessarily normally your cup of tea. But good
people up there up above the Mason Dixon. We'll talk soon, okay,
Chris Chris Beer joining us the duck Out Show. Fox
Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in the nation.
Catch all of our shows at Fox sports Radio dot
(26:26):
com and within the I Heart Radio app. This is
a year to which we claim that there's a scandal
ridden sport. And when you say college basketball coaches, it's
it has the same connotation as snake oil salesman. They're
all slimy, they're all dealing, you're they're all taking money.
(26:46):
That should beat for kids and putting it in their
pockets or funny linked to agents. Here's Tony Bennett, who
I believe, beyond a reasonable doubt does it the right way.
We got our butts whipped. That was not even close.
And that's first a credit to um the job Ryan
Day coach Oldham and their their offense was very hard
to guard. They shot it well. We kept getting broken down,
(27:09):
uh and did a poor job. And you know, I
told our guys we had a historic season, historic season
in terms of most wins in the a SEC. A
week ago we're cutting down the nets and the confetti's falling,
and then we make history by being the first one
seed to lose. I'm sure a lot of a lot
of people will be happy about that, and it's stings, UM,
(27:30):
But trying to tell the guys in there, you know,
this is this is life. It can't define you. Um.
You enjoyed the good times and you've gotta be able
to take the bad times when you step into the arena.
And a lot of people don't understand that. When you
step into the arena and you're in the arena, the
consequences can be historic losses, tough losses, great wins, and
(27:50):
you have to deal with it, and that's that's the job.
But we got thoroughly up play did not play well.
We had a hard time with their their mobile fours
and their four guards. And I don't know what to say,
but that is Look. He offered no excuses. Remember, they
lost their most agile power forward, DeAndre Hunter before the
tournament ever began. That hurt their lineup. Maryland Baltimore County
(28:13):
hit everything they threw their twelve and three point range,
scored fifty three points in the second half. But what
do you want coaches that make no excuses? Did he
make one? I didn't hear any He didn't point the
finger at any one player, even the players he commended
the other team and the other team's coach. We want
(28:34):
coaches that their players get better, that they play basketball
whatever you deem to be the right way, Virginia. You
might not like their style or their pace, but I
don't think anybody would ever question whether or not their
kids play hard, or play basketball the right way, or
learn to play offensive basketball. And in a year in
which we we cry that every coach is slimy and
(28:58):
sleazy and some oil salesman, here's a guy that has
perspective on a historic upset, and I read columns and
say that his style or their winds are fraudulently because
they can't win in the n c A tournament. Like, dude,
all these guys have lost in the first round of
(29:18):
a tournament. They're the first six first one to lose
to a sixteen. We see Mike Schevski's teams get undressed
by mercer VCU. You know, pick out, pick out the coach.
Roy Williams is an incredible coach. And granted they did
not lose as a one seed, but they got run
(29:39):
off the floor by Texas. Say and m yesterday run
off the floor? All right, maybe because Marylyn Baltimore County. Okay,
pick out your coach. You will find an upset. And
in a year in which we want to clean up
a sport and do things the right way, here's a
program doing things the right way. And oh yeah, by
(30:01):
the way, while the style didn't work against the personnel
of Maryland Baltimore County, it's a style that works more
often than not because of the personnel. He's able to
recruit without breaking insta rules and getting kids to go
to class. Hey, when thirty one games lost only three.
Be sure to catch live editions of The Doug Gottlieb
Show weekdays at three p m. Eastern noon Pacific on
(30:23):
Fox Sports Radio and the I Heart Radio app. And
now say Lake Travis had this to say about the
n C A Tournament. As much fun as the n
C Double A Tournament is, is it also the worst
way that any sport now picks to crown a champion.
Even if you enjoyed watching u NBC beat u v A,
(30:47):
doesn't it seem insane that U v A season, as
over as good as it was and Syracuses as crappy
as it was, is still going. I think that the
n C Double A is probably the most entertaining but
also the simultaneously worst way to crown a champion. It
makes no logical sense. We're gonna play the entire season
(31:11):
and then basically toss it all out, none of it
matters other than seating, and then we're gonna bring in
sixty eight teams and everybody has a chance to win
a title. It literally is the worst way to crown
a champion. If the goal is to get the best team,
um worst way, in most random way. I I don't
know if it's the worst way, but it is clearly
(31:35):
the most random way. The issue I would take with it,
and he's not wrong, by the way. He's not wrong,
um in terms of what I think he's trying to
say and what he's actually saying, because I don't think
it's the worst way to crown champion, because I honestly
think college football continues to be the worst way to
crown a champion, and just do just the idea that
(31:59):
a team is representative at the end of the season
of what they were at the very start of the
season is is hard to take. Um. I think baseball
is also a really tough one to remember. The Mariners
one sixteen games and we're out early in the playoffs.
It's maybe the hardest way to win a championship. You
have to be to win six games six against random teams,
(32:21):
and you lose any one of those games and you're out.
As opposed to baseball, if you're a top seed, now
you play a wild card team who has burned their
top starter, and then all you do is win that series.
When one more series you're playing for the World Series.
So it's it's difficult, it's random more random, but generally
(32:42):
the top seeds do in fact survive. Generally, they do
get it right. It's just really hard to determine at
times who's better than one another. And remember, as much
as the Virginia upset was stunning and is inarguably the
greatest upset in the history of the n c A Tournament,
it was helped by the fact at two things, Virginia
(33:02):
was without Um not just one of their most important players,
DeAndre Hunter, but also one of the most versatile players
to play against the small ball of UNBC. And the
second part is the three point line is the ultimate
equalizer UNBC twelve four when when Buffalo dominated Arizona in
(33:23):
the second half, Buffalo was fifteen of thirty from three
point range. You're gonna shoot fifty percent from three point range.
You're gonna shot more than twenty three's or thirty three.
You're gonna win almost every game ever in college basketball period.
The only team I believe to ever lose in an
n c A Tournament game when they shot fifty from
the field, forty from three, and eighty from the line
(33:46):
is Missouri when they lost in Norfolk State. Go back
and look it up. It was a remarkable shooting day
for both teams. So it is very, very random. What's
maybe more remarkable about how random it is and how
a few people point out, is it still generally works
for the best team survive. Right. It's completely random and
(34:09):
arbitrary at times, and there are crazy, fantastic upsets, but
generally Duke's there, Carolinas there, Kentucky's there now, Gonzaga has
been good forever, finally got there. Like it almost always
works to where there's three teams you thought that would
be there, and there's one team that you did, and
(34:30):
every once in a while there's the second one, there's
two and two, and occasionally there's been four one seeds.
So he's right in terms of its randomness, but still
water has a tendency to find its level. Say, Fox
Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in the nation.
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(34:52):
com and within the I Heart Radio app. Let's welcome
in Chris mannocks talented writer reporter Sabbat. Really when it
comes down to what's going on in the NBA, Yahoo Sports,
he joins us on the d G Show on Fox
Sports Radio. Um, look, there's a there's a song you
want to be happy for the rest of your life. Uh,
(35:12):
get yourself an ugly wife. That's because you know, sometimes
the perioder the woman, the more of the drama. Is
that the case here with Tylu, that that the health
has to do with the stress over coaching Lebron and
all the drama with the Calves. Well, it's hard to
say exactly, but it can't help. Um. You know, since
Tyler took the job, you know, putting aside the first
(35:34):
you know, three months of it when he took that
team over and led them to a championship, it's been one,
you know, headache after another. And this year has been
just an unbelievable amount of stress on any coach, you know,
from beginning with losing Kyrie, to all the injuries they suffered,
to the the the infighting at times, and the trade.
So it's been it's been challenging, uh, you know for Tylu.
(35:54):
Now from from what I'm hearing out of Cleveland, they're
they're optimistic that this is only gonna be four or
five days to a week of Tyler being out, But
I know he's been battling this. I saw the Calves
in Portland's just a few days back. You could tell
Doug looking at him that that this season is really
worn on him. And you see that a lot of coaches,
you know, no question about it. But yeah, I just
(36:14):
remember looking at at Tie and thinking he looks just,
you know, kind of like worn down, ragged at this point.
So hopefully it's just a week, but it has been
a pretty tough season. How much does it affect How
hard is it going to be to integrate Kevin Love
into this team without Tyler? Like right, like, it's not
like this thing is this, this ship sales itself. You
(36:37):
gotta put Kevin Love in, refigure their rotation, get everybody
ready for the playoffs, and you don't have Tyler. How
much more difficult is it? Considering the timing? So I
think it makes it much more difficult. Uh, if this
was the same team that Kevin Love was coming back to,
you'd say, all right, the coach is not all that
relevant here. But you've got a whole bunch of different pieces,
and you've got pieces that are still out there coming
back at different times. I mean, Larry Nance has been
(36:59):
dealing with hamstring injury, Roddy Hood has been his back
has been tweaked a couple of times you get Thompson
potentially coming back in the next week or two, you're
gonna have guys kind of staggered coming back into the mix.
And several of these guys have not played together. So
that's where the coach becomes instrumental, especially with limited practice
time at this stage of the season. Why I think
this does is put an enormous amount of pressure, even
(37:21):
more pressure than he's dealt with on Lebron. James Lebron
is gonna have to be the coach on the floor,
the guy that's out there integrating these pieces and letting
them know where they need to be and how to
play off each other. His his responsibility, which I think
is that, you know, maybe the highest it's been since
that two thousand seventh season when he led that Calves
team to the finals. His responsibility is just increased even more.
(37:43):
What's the like that you think they come out of
the East. I like, look, I know Toronto, give us respect,
give us. Didn't they just lose to the thunder at home?
Like I would like to pick against the cas because
of they don't have a second break you down score,
they have all this drama they gotta put Kevin Love
in the defensive numbers are still not good. You're gonna
(38:03):
depend on guys who haven't played with Lebron in the playoffs.
You don't know about but I'm struggling to find you know,
bost Kyrie Irving's out against the thunder. I don't know
when they're gonna get healthy. And even when they're healthy,
I don't think they're better than the Calves. What what
do you think that like? That is that they still
get to the finals. Well, at this point you kind
of have to start to buy it to Toronto, don't you.
(38:24):
I mean, I know they just lost and that that's fine,
But they've been the most consistent team in the conference
from day one, and from day one, I think we've
been wondering will those second unit guys start to falter?
Will we see Fred van Vleet act like an undrafted
free agent, or sim act like a back into the
first round draft pick, or delln Wright or any of
these guys Yaka Purdle. All these guys who have been
(38:45):
asked to play enhanced roles this year have been very
good since the start of the season and continue to
be even now. The offense, which I think We've all wondered,
are they going to go back and revert to that
isolation to heavy basketball that that defined this team. Really
for the last three or four years. It's been consistent
throughout and you mentioned all the flaws Cleveland has. Offensively,
They'll be better when Kevin Love comes back. I think
(39:06):
they'll be able to score with anybody. But even when
these guys come come back, including Thompson and Larry Nance Jr.
They have not been a good defensive team. No matter
who they have put in this lineup, they have not
been a good defensive team. And I just not a believer, Doug,
that you can go into the postseason and a a
switch gets flipped and all of a sudden you become
the middle of the pack defensive team. I think they're
(39:27):
gonna be exploited beginning in those early rounds, and when
they do wind up against Toronto, I think Toronto has
to be considered the favorite. I kind of tend to
agree with you. It's hard to be a flip switcher there.
And Doug, I gotta tell you, I mean we I
heat praised on Lebron all the time, and he's a
great player, having maybe one of not the best season
of his career. But I watched him pretty closely against
(39:47):
Portland's and he takes like three, four or five possessions
in a row off Defensively, He's still able to dial
it up to a tend when you put him up
against the litardar of McCollum, or you ask him to
make one play. He takes a lot of possession off
the defensive end of the floor because he needs that
energy on offense. He's still going to need that energy
on offense in the playoffs. Are we going to expect
(40:07):
him for you know, four rounds to you know, change
his defensive mindset. I just don't see it. Stub Gallan show,
Fox Sports Radio. That's the voice of Chris Man. It
sounds like the voice of reason from Yahoo Sports. I
have heard that Golden States coaching staff is concerned about
the kind of a similar scenario in terms of flipping
the switch in that look, those guys are really really good,
(40:28):
and they think they'll all be back healthy, but they're
not totally convinced that this is a good idea to
just go, like, hey, wait to the blaoffs and we'll
flip the switch. Have you heard the same I've heard
something similar. Um. I saw them a couple of times recently,
and I would say, yes, they're concerned by that, and
Steve Kerrs are pretty public about it too. I mean,
it's not like he's hiding um that sort of sentiment.
(40:50):
But what my what I gather is that there's a
greater concern about steps ankle and and the possibility tweaks
in another time during the postseason, and they know in
Golden State, they're they're only aware of the threat that
Houston faces. They believe fully healthy, they can take the Rockets,
but I think they also know that a Curry injured ankle,
that that even limits him in a series like that,
(41:10):
that might get them beat. So I think the greater
concern is making sure that Steps acent. That's why they're
willing to take you know, you know, kind of wave
of the white flag on the first overall seed and
play for number two. I think they're their number one
priorities to make sure Step is a percent when they
get to that conference files against Houston. Chris Mannox joining
us in the Doug Gottlieb Show, How Real is Portland's Yeah,
(41:31):
I'm writing something about this tomorrow and it's a good question,
And I think they're real to the point where they're
a second round team and ensure that's that's that's an
accomplishment for a team that snuck into the playoffs last year.
If they've become the third seed get to the second round,
they've got some momentum going forward. But I think they've
got kind of a ceiling with this group here. I mean,
you've got Liard and mcconovo are great. Nurkises the wild
(41:54):
card in all this. If Usip nurk is just playing
his A game, they can beat anybody in the conference,
that includes Golden State Houston. But far too often he
has had a B game or a C game. You know,
I saw him play a great game last Monday against Miami.
He was like five and in seventeen or something like that.
He was fantastic. He was dominant. Then the next night
out against an undersized Cleveland team, he was lifeless and
(42:17):
had to be pulled middle of the third quarter and
and and didn't get back into the game after that.
If Nurkic is able to develop, it's the superstar. These
sometimes looks like I think that the ceiling of the
finals for that Portland's team but I'm just not believing.
I don't think Portland's believing yet that he's there to
that point. Tend to agree with you, uh, tend to
tend to agree with you. I mean, like, look and
(42:37):
and I know they're defense. I think their second in
terms of defensive rating in the second half of the season.
That you would have to think at some point Water
finds its level. They've been a bad defensive team for
the most part with McCullum and Lillard, and they're they're
just playing kind of above their level right now. I
don't know if that actually evens out well. I mean, well,
two things. One is, I think Lillard's made far more
(42:58):
of an effort this year to come an average defensive player.
I think he's he's stepped up and he's probably playing
his best defense since he came into the league. And
Nurke it's the other part of it. I mean, when
he's struggling offensively, they still leave him out there on
the floor because of what he does in terms of
rim protection and how he that defense kind of revolves
around him. If he's able to play thirty five minutes,
I think that defense is going to be able to
(43:20):
play at the level that's played in the second half
of the season. But all comes down to how many
minutes Terry Stotts can trust Nurkics with. Does he have
to go to that front line of Zach Collins and
Ed Davis which has been finishing games lately. Does he
have to go younger, smaller? If he has to, you
can still win a first round series, But I don't
think he can beat one of those top tier teams. Uh, Glenn,
(43:40):
Big Baby Davis, your reaction go not stunned. I guess
by by all this, I mean I've seen the some
of the TMZ videos out there of Big Baby. I
had not heard that he was that deep into the
weeds with all this, But I guess I'll say I'm
not surprised. Yeah, which I guess which is less surprising? Um,
(44:00):
the weed or the Popeye's Chicken. I actually I kind
of think the weed is. No, I don't know that
the weed. I'll say the weeds less surprising because I
believe I've witnessed Popeye's Chicken in my time covering Big
Baby over the years, I have not personally witnessed the
other part of it. Um, where are we with Kawai Leonard.
(44:21):
You know, I was talking to somebody, you know, down
in the San Antonio area recently about this, and there's
a palpable frustration I think on the part of the Spurs,
because you know, they really believe he's fully healthy and
they're not gonna push him. Look at you know what
Popish said recently about reminiscing on the year that Tim
Duncan basically took the playoffs off. They still have that
(44:41):
same mindset and they still look at Kauai Leonard as
being a Spur for the next seven eight years, no
matter what people are saying about Kauai's future. But it
is it's different. I mean, back when when Duncan was
was there, they were all on the same page. They
all understood the injury and said we're not going to
risk it. Now it just seems like Kauai feels one
way and the Spurs met icle information is telling them
something completely different. So I don't know. I mean, they
(45:03):
there was optimism last week that he was gonna make
his debut on Thursday. This past Thursday, that obviously didn't happen,
And right now I think they're they're on the clock
here for when they can bring him back and still
use him in the playoffs. Eighton out of the tournament,
Badley still in the tournament. Uh do you still believe
that Aton is the number one pick? I think he is.
But asked me again in about a month and a
(45:25):
half when we get what what's these guys? Because a
lot of these gms, you know, that's a lot of
these gms, especially at the hired level guys, the guys
that are making the decisions, they're just getting kind of
their first real look at these guys. They're just getting
engaged on all these guys. You start to hear a
lot of things about a lot of different players that
all kind of crystallizes, you know, after the combine the
month or so great stuff. Chris Mannix of course read
(45:47):
his work out who Sports follow him on Twitter and
umh one last thing Mannix. If you don't know manixllent
covers uh NBA but huge boxing guy, um okay, Floyd
may went there's transitioning towards being an mm A fighter
that that just sounds like the worst idea of all time.
Explain this one to me. He's he's never going to
(46:10):
do it. He's never ever going to do it and
I know I was pretty definitive in not believing that
a McGregor fight was gonna happen, But that was strictly
over the fact that I had covered PACKI al Mayweather,
and I knew the negotiations with that side could take forever,
and Mayweather was approaching forty at that point. Uh, this
is an entirely different sports and Mayweather. If there's one
(46:31):
thing I know about him, he's not about to embarrass himself,
and he has to know that he steps into the octagon,
there's a high degree of probability that he embarrassed himself.
This is about him remaining relevant, This is about him
being talked about. The only way he gets back, he
gets into the octagon is if he is far worse
off financially than anybody even knows. I don't think he's
(46:53):
bad right now. I think he could be down the line,
But if he's worse off then we think, which I
don't believe, that's the only thing that would get him
in there. That's a great take, by the way, just
because especially it doesn't want to get embarrassed. If you
look at his last couple of fights, even when he
fought Pakiow, he didn't fight Patty until Pakio was washed right,
And I mean, like, look, he only you'll take on
(47:15):
Connor McGregor in Conor McGregor's first ever boxing match. Like
he he ain't taking a fight. He you're not gonna
take a fight. You can he has any chance of losing,
suddenly he's gonna hop into an octagon. Look at it,
Look at it this way, Doug. Since two thousand seven
when he fought Delahoya, he has never taken a risk,
at least not a significant one. Delahoya represented a big
(47:35):
risk for him because of who Oscar was and what
Floyd was at that point. Since then, look at his resume.
He has not taken a significant risk. He won't take
one now. Great stuff. Chris Mannocks from Yahoo spoors. Thanks Mannix,
you got Doug
Host
Doug Gottlieb
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