Best of The Doug Gottlieb Show: 06/26/2020

Doug Gottlieb praises LeBron James as the most impressive player in NBA history and speaks with Hall of Fame quarterback Warren Moon about all of the hottest topics from the NFL and NBA! Plus, Doug weighs in on the “short leash” that Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski will have on Baker Mayfield and chats with The Athletic’s John Hollinger about the NBA’s plan to resume the season! 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to the best of the Doug Gottlip
Show podcast. Be sure to catch us live every weekday
from three to six pm Eastern Time, that's twelve to
three Pacific on Fox Sports Radio. Find your local station
for the Doug Gottlip Show at Fox Sports Radio dot com,
or stream us live every day on the I Heart
Radio app by searching fs R. This is the best

(00:22):
of the Doug Gotlive Show on Fox Sports Radio. Boom
Up America Doug Gottlieb Show, Fox Sports Radio. You know
it is June. Many of you are married got married

(00:44):
in June um and so if you look on people's
timelines a lot of you Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, the bird
okay you if you look at timelines and be like,
a happy anniversary to my whatever. Today is also an anniversary.

(01:08):
Are you familiar with what it's an anniversary of? Hmm?
What could it be? What could it be? What could
it be? What could it be? What could it be? Well?
Today is well, it's it's a twofold anniversary, okay, a
twofold anniversary. Eight seven seven Fox is the phone number.

(01:32):
I would tell you. I would tell you that I
do not believe, do not believe that Lebron James is
the greatest player of all time. To me, that's reserved
for Michael Jordan's. The Last Dance was a sort of
documentary sort of movie. It did help move some people
who were on the fence or just forgot or weren't alive,

(01:54):
didn't know enough about Jordan to understand the difference in
mentality and the building to finish and overcoming in championships
and etcetera. Things are different, his style is different. You
can make the argument about Lebron. I'm just telling you
from my personal perspective, Michael Jordan's is the greatest basketball
player I've ever seen play. I would also be toldly

(02:16):
honest and tell you I think Lebron probably has better
balance in his life. Some of it is because he's
let us in. Jordan didn't let us in on his family,
regardless of you know, I'm not gonna be judgmental about
Jordan having a divorce and that's why he did. I don't.
I don't, I'm not. But the point is that that
between the school he started, some of the other things

(02:37):
he's done in business, aside from his partnership with Nike
and the family unit that he has as well as
the growth of his businesses with his friends. If you
want to tell me that Lebron is a better overall man,
I'm not gonna argue with you. You've got some You've
got some pretty good ammo for that discussion. But in

(03:00):
two thousand three today, so this is seventeen years ago today,
seventeen years ago today, Lebron James was drafted into the
NBA draft. I was there. It was my first ever
excuse me, that's not true. It was my third ever

(03:22):
broadcast on on on the other network radio. And I'll
tell you the quick backstory. Okay, So when I was
in college, I would be a guest on Jim Rome Show,
which at that at the time was probably the biggest
national sports radio show. And I was also a guest

(03:45):
on a show called Todd Right All Night. And Todd
Right was very talented overnight show. I thought he was excellent.
I know both of them are guys I look up
to in the business, guys I have not so politely
stolen from in the way in which they do things.
And think, you know what I would like to I
like that. I'm gonna take that. What is it that

(04:09):
Aerosmith Aerosmith lead singer says Steven Tyler, amateurs borrow professional steel.
He's talking about in regards to music and the sounds
and things changes that people make. Same thing as true
in sports radio, right. So um, Once I was done
with college, I did become a professional basketball player in

(04:30):
the USB L, the C B A, the I B A,
the A B A, and I played in Russia and
in France and in Israel all the while. When I
would come back, I would do some local sports radio
and actually filled in twice for Todd Wright in Bristol
after another week, the first week of Sports After nine eleven,
which by the way, coincided with Tom Brady getting thrust

(04:52):
into the game because Drew Bloodsoe got knocked out of
the game. And somewhere there's an audio tape of me
saying the Patriots are done becau as they got some
guy named Tom Brady who's their starting quarterback. Thankfully, Old
Takes Exposed has not found that tape. But I had
hosted two shows for Todd Wright, and I had begged

(05:14):
and pleaded and borrowed and whatever to try and get
back on that network, and that it was like the
only national radio network and UH. While playing overseas, some
of my friends had said, Hey, did you know did
you know that ESPN got the rights of the NBA Draft.
When I came back after my second year playing, I

(05:35):
got an opportunity. I did UH games for ESPN, ESPN
Plus and the Cowboys Sports Network, had a radio show
on w w LS and Oklahoma City. And when I
got done with that season, this is the March of
two thousand three, I got a call from my basketball
agent and I went and flew and played in France

(05:55):
for a month and a half. I get back done
with France to come and work out for the Timberwolves.
I get I'm working out for the Timberwoolves and work
out against some of their guys in predraft workouts. And
I called the guy who had hired me at ESPN,
a guy named Dan Steer, and I said, Dan, I
should do the NBA Draft. My dad's an AU coach,
my brother is a college coach. I covered college basketball.

(06:16):
I know all these guys and know all these teams.
I know the foreign guys because you know, for example,
the second overall pick, Darko Milicitch, I had played against
twice the year before. When I was in Israel. He
was seventeen, playing for Hemil farm. Rozick all of this did,
in fact happen, and he said, I can't use you,

(06:38):
but maybe radio can. But I couldn't get ahold of
the bosses at radio. The only way to get ahold
of them was to go see them in person. So
I I was. I actually auditioned the Sitrue story. I
auditioned for a movie that was being made. Spike Lee's
brother was making movie and it was about, you know,

(07:00):
of some scene and pick up basketball. And I was
going to play a character of a cocky white point guard.
Easy right, But I said, look, an audition for the movie,
but you gotta fly me up there. They flew me
to New York. I did the audition. I don't think
I did very well. And then while I was there,
I went and saw the ESPN radio guys get named
chief who was the executive producer at games five, I

(07:26):
think Game five of the two thousand three NBA Final,
Steve Kirk comes of it off. The Steve Kirk comes
off the bench, hits a couple of threes, and they
essentially took back the series. Didn't play in the first half,
came In at the end of the third quarter, replaced
Tony Parker, who was only a rookie. So he says, listen,
his name is John Martin. You want to do it? Sure, Uh,

(07:49):
we'll call you. Travel next week in New York. We'll
see you. So I'll never forget this is This is
seventeen years ago. And look, I knew who all these
guys were. I knew Chris Bosh because when I was
at Oklahoma State he would come up on an official
visits from Dallas where he grew up. Obviously, I knew Darko.
Who didn't know Dwyane Wade and Dwyane Wade story. I

(08:10):
didn't actually know a ton about Carmelo Anthony because during
that n c A tournament I was in France playing basketball.
But all the college guys I really knew, and Lebron
I had known. My dad was an AU guy. I
went to some of these AU events. I watched him
play on TV. I had an opinion. But I gotta
tell you that the moment he walked into the to
the meetings and he had a press conference the day before,

(08:31):
you were like, this, dude is different. So today is
the anniversary, not just of the day Lebron was drafted,
but also of the decision. Will play for you both
in a second. But here's the case I would make
before we get to the decision. Not only his Lebron different,
but Lebron James is the first of his kind in

(08:55):
terms of basketball. Tiger Woods was the first of his
kind or of this this elk where we were told
from a very very young age he was the next
great one, and he not only achieved, but even if
Tiger Woods doesn't pass Jack, he basically has surpassed anyone's
reasonable expectations on what the next great golfer would look like.

(09:18):
He broke through color barriers. He broke through barriers of
dominating the field. Uh you know, like look, even after
as much as he hasn't been the same since the
car accident and Ellen and all the divorce and all
the shame, he did win more events than anyone on tour,
and he did just last year win the Masters like
this is. He's an incredible story. Lebron has many of

(09:41):
those same attributes in terms of success on the floor,
but but he also has been virtually flawless off the floor.
Like you can argue that it's hypocritical. His lack of
taking a stance on Hong Kong. If you like that's fine,
you can argue that his his sire to act like
he invented barbershop, talk with the shop and shut everybody

(10:05):
else down and silly, okay, But for a guy who
we were told at the age of like fifteen sixteen
that he was the next basketball icon to at least
achieve that and probably to and to go take it
from there to being in any reasonable discussion of the
greatest player of all time. Again, I don't think he's
the greatest player of all time, but it's a debate

(10:25):
that I'm willing to have. It's not like you're trying
to argue Tracy McGrady is at the level of Kobe
and Jordan's and Bird and Magic. Lebron James is legit
mentioned in that he's between the best and the fifth
or tenth best player. So it depends how historically you
want to grade it. Everybody has their own perspective. There

(10:45):
is no bad opinions unless your opinion is Tracy Mcgradyer,
Vince Cardboard, Alan iverson, etcetera. That's pretty incredible. So so
this is me giving credit two thousand three here's Lebron
James being drafted with the first pick in the two
thousand and three NBA draft. The Cleveland Cavaliers select Lebron James.

(11:17):
You fast forward, fast forward, and um, it's it's interesting,
Like we all remember where we were during that moment.
I was actually in at Madison Square Garden when it
was announced seven years later, I was very close to
where I am now. I was getting ready the next day.

(11:37):
I was filling in for Jim Rome on his TV
show Rome Is Burning, and the decision came down. Here's
Lebron the answer to the question everybody wants to know, Lebron,
what's your decision? Um? And this fall, man, this is
very tough. Um. And this fall, I'm gonna take my
town as to South Beach and UM join the Miami Heat.

(11:58):
Miami Heat. That was the conclusion you woke up with
this morning. That was the conclusion I woke up with
this morning. Okay, So Jim Gray there there had to
be some script there that he wanted to get the
conclusion you ended up He played it was almost like,
these are not the These are not the droids you're
looking for. These are not the droids you're looking for
Jim Grad did the Jedi mind trick a little bit
there at the end, And it's interesting, like now we

(12:22):
look back and it was a free agency decision unlike
any other. Of course, Dan Gilbert had that awful email,
which you know ultimately probably ruined even the the att
any sort of attempt at a reconciliation and relationship. When
Lebron came back. I don't think he's the greatest player

(12:44):
of all time, but damn, it's been an interesting career
thus far, right from the boyhood gonna be a superstar.
To remember, he had thirty in his first NBA game,
taking the Calves to the finals. You had the weird
way in which it ended where he didn't actually tell
anybody has the decision at a boys and girls club

(13:07):
in Greenwich, Connecticut, which look, I'm not gonna fault to
anybody raised two million dollars. It should be pointed out
that the one boys and girls club that didn't need
the funds raised is in Greenwich, Connecticut. But whatever I mean,
it's for some sort of decent cause it wasn't like
his money that went into his pocket. They go to Miami,
and while some would say, well that didn't accomplish what

(13:27):
he set out to, Dude. They went to four NBA finals,
they won two NBA championships, and and though he failed
in his first run against the Mavericks, he didn't in
his next two and then of course lost. Then he
went back to Cleveland, came from three one down and
won them their first championship, and now is in l
A and has a chance to help the Lakers raised

(13:47):
another band or one they haven't raised in uh what
like a decade? It's a decade ago. Uh two days
ago when they won their last championship. Uh, there's a
lot to get to with Lebron James. I do want
to make it kind of the focal point of today's show.
This amazing, This is an amazing career. What what happens

(14:11):
is and this is what happens in politics, and this
is what happens with the coronavirus, and this is what
happens everywhere is you're either one side or the other.
Because I've said continuously like Jordan was more of an alpha. Hell,
I'd probably rather have Larry Bird. Somehow I'm diminishing that
of Lebron James. I'm not. He's unbelievable he's the best

(14:33):
player of this generation. I think Kevin Durant has been
better in the past couple of years than he got hurt.
Lebron has basically with the exception of last year, and
never been hurt, which that too is part of how
remarkable this story is. Yes, he missed time and his
mid thirties with a pulled partially torn growing Okay, think
about it. Bird's career came to an end because of

(14:54):
his back, he had the heel spurs, he missed a
substantial amount of time, Magic got hurt, and then of
course mad his career was cut short because he contracted
hiv uh. Jordan's missed basically his second year in the
NBA then wasn't really hurt, but did retire twice. Like
you gotta go back through a Kevin Rant has been
hurt with the broken foot in Oklahoma City and then

(15:15):
the torn Achilles tendant. You go back, you look at
all of these all time historic greats, and Lebron's basically
never been hurt. He's got a chance to take his
third team to the NBA Finals. He now has the
Quarantine chance for Quarantine Championship. He had to comeback in
Cleveland he had that the two wins in Miami, he

(15:37):
had the one in which he took a band of
misfits to the finals when he was in Cleveland the
first time around. Like, this is an unbelievable life. And
so while I don't think he's the greatest player of
all time, you can make a good case he's the
greatest and most interesting person who ever and have the

(15:58):
most interesting career and impact career of anybody. I just
woke up today thinking like man, for seventeen years, this
dude has been a part of every single basketball discussion.
And while he hasn't always won and hasn't always come
out perfectly, when you stop, take a step back and

(16:19):
take a breath, you like it's kind of crazy, sort
of amazingly incredibly impressive. Impressive is the word impressive as
the word So now we're this far removed, were this
far removed from uh from the decision? Where are you
with it? How have you come around to it? I

(16:41):
said at the time that I thought it was Remember
there were shots of a Miami sports bar and there
was nobody in it. I had to go to a fanless,
you know, a place where they had won a championship,
just to play. I I thought I didn't get it,
but now I kind of do. Be sure to catch

(17:02):
the live edition of The Doug gott Leap Show weekdays
at three p m. Easter noon Pacific on Fox Sports
Radio and the I Heart Radio app. Warren Moon joined
us in The Doug Gotleap Show two thousand three. Lebron
James was drafted today two thousand ten. The decision came down,
so I started by saying, look, I'm still I've always

(17:22):
been a Jordan guy. I'm I'm I'm not coming off
of that hill uh yet and probably won't ever. I
don't know. I'm I can't evolve on opinions. But the
thing that I'm marvel at with Lebron is he's basically
been in the national spotlight for twenty years. And whether
or not he's the greatest player of all time or

(17:44):
the second, or the top five or top ten, whatever um,
he's lived up to and exceeded anyone's expectations on the floor,
and I would see exceeded anyone's reasonable expectations off the floor.
When I sit for as a as an all time
great in your own right, when I say the name
Lebron James. What comes to your mind? Just what you said, greatness. Uh,

(18:06):
the guy has been great since he stepped on the
floor as a rookie and and uh, all the expectations,
like you said that were put before him and he's
met and exceeded. So uh, he's continuing to play great.
It seems like he's even getting better. You know, he's
leading the the NBA and assists right now, he's after
him somewhere around twenty twenty seven points a ballgame. His
team has a second best record in basketball, and um,

(18:30):
the sky is the limit for the guy. Still. You know,
it just seems like he continues to to improve his game.
Every year he works on something to get better at.
This year is getting more people involved and he's doing
that on his team. So yeah, he he's a very
impressive athlete, but also even more impressive as a human
being because of his social consciousness and then all the

(18:51):
things he's doing in the business world. So he's he's
a complete Uh, he's a complete man. The way he
treats his family and and how involved he is with
his family, there's not a negative you can say about
Lebron James. Yeah, I I tend to agree with you, right,
Like I can disagree with things he says, but I
can't disagree with the person that he is. And uh,
you can't say that about I can't say about every superstar,

(19:12):
but I can definitely not say about him. Um, how
do you think like my take on the bubble and
I'm I'm taking the COVID positive tests completely out of it.
I think it's gonna be really hard to get top
level basketball warrnant. And and here's why. You forget about
the fact you're gonna have training camp, you have some
of these eight ramp up games, then you have the series,

(19:35):
but you're away from home for three months. Like that
doesn't bring out the best in guys. Um, there won't
be the crowd to pick you up. I just I
feel like, yes, we're gonna have a champion and it's
the best we can do. But I I just it's
a it feels like we won't get the best basketball
the best basketball players because three months in, at the

(19:58):
end of three months in quarantine, that's when a champion
will be decided. And I think by then those guys
will be like check, please, I gotta get away from
I gotta get away from all these guys. You know,
I think what's gonna keep these guys going is the
fact that they do have a chance to win a championship.
And there's only gonna be two teams that are gonna
be there for three months. There's gonna be a lot
of teams that are only gonna be there a few weeks,

(20:19):
and once they're out of the first round, they go home,
and in the next round, those teams go home. So
the team that hangs around for that long, for three
months of a team that's gonna have a chance to
win a championship. And I think that's what's gonna fuel
them as they go through each round that Okay, yeah,
we are quarantined, but we've made it to the next round.
And I think that's gonna fuel them to to get

(20:39):
that next step closer to possibly winning a championship. And
I think a lot of it has to do with
how you go into this whole situation. You've got to
really change your mindset of what you're going into that. Uh,
you just have to know that we're gonna be locked
down possibly for three months, um and and you just
have to go in there thinking that you can't be
thinking about doing extra things on the side, going out

(21:02):
to dinners, being with family, being with friends. You're gonna
have to be locked into your team. You're gonna have
to be locked in and maybe watching more tape working
on your game when you have all this free time. Uh,
there's a way to get it done. And this is
something we've never seen before. And I think that's one
of the problems that we've never seen a team have
to go through anything like this. And yes, it's gonna

(21:22):
be very, very difficult, but I think that, uh, that
part at the end of the rainbow, I think is
what's gonna keep guys motivated as they go through each round.
In advance, nine time pro bowler, a former All Pro,
and a Hall of Famer, Warren Moon, our guest on
the Doug Gottlib Show on Fox Sports Radio. You played
into your forties and I'm just wondering, like, and I've

(21:45):
I've told you this before, and and other people I
know in the NFL's all now their head. Your your
ball is unbelieved, like you do one of the greatest
footballs I've ever seen. It felt like it was getting longer,
Like I don't know what was your spiral and how
sharp your arm us. But how much does it change
because look, breeze, Uh, even last year, even though he

(22:06):
had the five games off because of injury, he wasn't
the same late in the year. Brady hasn't hasn't been
the same, Uh, Philip Rivers, I believe one of the
reasons there are so many turnovers last year wasn't just
the offensive line. But look, at some point, your arm,
your body is kind of shot. Um, how how hard
do you think it will be for Tom Brady, not

(22:26):
just at forty three, but also new system, a system
that demands uh, deeper throws and holding on the ball longer.
But most of for a guy who's played in his forties,
how much does it change once you once you age
playing quarterback? Yeah, those are the things I noticed the
most was fatigue that later into the season. Um as

(22:46):
as uh, you know, the season got longer, you just
didn't have not so much your arm, but it was
more your legs because you throw the ball more with
your legs than you do with your arm. And when
your legs and feeder in the proper position, you're gonna
get the velocity and in the thrust behind your throws.
And as you get older, and as you get later
into the year, you start to wear down, and so
that's something you have to really be conscious of. As

(23:09):
far as how many reps you take in practice as
the year goes on, when you get to that halfway point,
maybe you take a lot less reps and practice and
give you a second string guy more reps. UH, you
take less throws, and you maybe put yourself on a
pitch count. You got to really make sure what you're eating,
getting getting enough rest. All those different things are gonna
be important as you go into the ladder part of
the season because fatigue will take over. And now Tom

(23:31):
is not gonna be playing in the cold Northwest. He's
gonna be playing in the UH, in the south, the
southeast where it stays warm pretty much the whole year,
and that tends to wear you down a little bit
more too, because you're in that heat and humidity a
lot longer, and your body will wear down more in
that type of weather. So those are all things he
has to be concerned about. Um Or, you're a guy

(23:52):
who a lot of people turn to because most people
believe the reason that you had to go to Canada
early in your NFL career and win all those great
cups and and be a star up there was was
the negative perception of the black quarterback in the National
Football League. So I guess my question you is, have
we are we past that point where football? As Tony

(24:14):
Romo said, football is a meritocracy right when he kind
of handed the reins to Dak Prescott a couple of
years ago. Are we to the point in your opinion,
have a guy who has actually seen racism? Um, are
we to the point where football is a meritocracy? Specifically
at the quarterback position. Yeah, I think we've turned that
corner at that position finally. And if you look at

(24:35):
the league right now, not only are there are a
lot of African American quarterbacks, but they are really flourishing
in the league. I mean you could you could arguably
say the six of the top ten quarterbacks in the
league or African American. You look at the reigning MVP
as an African American, the Super Bowl MVP is a
is a UH African American, the first overall picking the
draft and Rookie of the Year was African American, the

(24:56):
highest paid player in the league right now, and Russell Wilson,
African American soul. Not only are they playing well, but
they're flourishing. And uh uh, I'm very very proud to
see that as a guy who had, you know, my
struggles to try and get into the league and and
did fairly were once I got there. But these guys
are now coming into the league high round draft picks,

(25:16):
of being highly endorsed, at being highly paid, and that's
something that should have been happening a long time ago.
But it's finally happening, and I'm happy to see it.
Who who isn't happy to see it? It is an
amazing thing on how we've kind of how we've how
so much has changed in terms of perception obviously the
reality of the dominance of of at a position where
there was a glass ceiling for so long. Um, you've

(25:38):
long been a proponent of Cam Newton, having worked with
him on and off the field before he was drafted
in the NFL draft, and you know him so well.
Uh do you do you like this idea of Hey,
let's just sit out and somebody's gonna go down or
somebody's gonna be bad and you can become like America's

(26:00):
Allen Starter? Is that a good plan if you're Cam Newton.
You know, I think it's a pretty good plan for
him right now, because I just don't see the guy
going somewhere as they counseled in backup right now, and
he's just too good a player. First of all. I
think his personality and his ego probably wouldn't be able
to handle it. And I don't think most of the
starters in the National Football League would be able to

(26:20):
handle having Cam Newton as your backup quarterback, especially a
lot of young quarterbacks in the league right now who
are still trying to find their way in the league.
All of a sudden, you're looking over your shoulder and
former m v P is your backup. So I think
for a lot of reasons, that's one of the reasons
he's not signed is because of some of those things
we just talked about. So, yeah, if in this game

(26:41):
a guy is gonna go down, quarterbacks do go down
even though they're being protected better than they ever have been.
And I think if he sits around and waits for
the right opportunity, that opportunity is gonna come. Um. I'm
hoping he can get in front of a couple of
teams so they can at least see that he's healthy,
that they can sitting there out and talk to him,
because you know, Ham's a different personality. He's not the

(27:03):
typical quarterback you see in the national football that He's
a big personality guy. He comes with a lot of
swagger to him, and and that that isn't everybody's cup
of tea for everybody's football team. So I think he
needs to get in front of the general managers and
coaches and let people see exactly who camp he is,
because he's a really he's a really good guy. He's
a really family guy. He's one He's the guy who

(27:25):
doesn't drink a lot. You know, he does drink wine
now I see. But other than that, he's not a
big party guy. He works hard. He's just had some
unfortunate injuries over the last couple of years. Yeah, and
I think, you know, he was so dynamic as a runner,
but then you watch how Carolina used him and tried
to make him in more of a drop back pass.
I do think the teams wonder, not not just his

(27:45):
throwing motion was a little How hard is that to
fix your throwing motion because you have an arm? Did
you ever have a shouldering like I don't feel like
you ever had a shoulder injury because you threw such
a good ball. I mean that's when I talked to
one NFL jim, He's like, he wasn't throwing it right
last year. I don't care about all the other stuff.
The guy can't throw a football right, especially with his
type of you know arm, which is not crazy accurate,

(28:05):
but really really strong. That gave a lot of people pause.
How hard is that to fix? You know, it is
hard when you get to a certain stage in your career.
I had a partially torn rotator cup believer or not
one off season, and I never told anybody about it.
I just had it worked on, and we worked it
through the rehab and got it back strong again. But

(28:26):
I was at an age I think I was around
thirty five at the time, and I didn't want anybody
to know that that was going on, because you know,
when you get to a certain age, especially back then,
they started looking for your next replacement. So I kept
it to myself. Get to rehab and and and it
all worked out. But you know, Cam again, he's the
guy that trying to change his storing motion. At this

(28:46):
stage of his career, he's been in the league with
something like nine years. Um, that's something you don't really
want to try and do. If anything, you might, you
might want to shorten it a little bit if you can.
But if it's gonna affect your accuracy or anything like that,
I'd stay away from it. But there are little tweaks
maybe you can make to your to your throwing motion,
but you can't make anything major at this stage of
your career. Lakers are Clippers. Yeah, I'm I've been a

(29:11):
Laker guy all my life. I'm from Los Angeles. Um,
the Clippers are in Los Angeles. I don't know if
you know this. I mean I know why. I know
when you were coming up. They always They'll always be
the San Diego Clippers to me until they be until
they win a championship. But I really like this Clippers team.

(29:31):
I think their team is deeper than the than the
Lakers team is as far as a talent standpoint. But
I just think for some reason, because of because of
Lebron James and his experience in the play in the
playoffs and then the finals, I think he's gonna lead
that team on in the victory. But we'll have to
wait and see. But I think it would be a
great finals if there was the Clippers against the Lakers,

(29:52):
that would be the ultimate finals, even though that can't happen.
What were your health, kid? All, My health is great.
I really feel good right now. I'm you know, but
I've really been careful throughout the soul virus thing. I'm
still working out. I still throw the ball to my son,
who's a wide receiver and playing Pop Warner football, so
he keeps me active. All you gotta bring him down here.

(30:14):
My son is a little Pop Warner wide receiver and quarterback.
Got him working out with t J. Hushman's out of
some of the pros and high school and college kids.
Pretty awesome. Show you some video with my son. You'd
be amazed. I would not be amazed. You're a Hall
of Fame player, you're a great athlete. I would not
be amazed. I would be like, Yep, that's exactly what
I think Warn Moon Sun would look like. What he
amazes me that. That's that's fair enough. Hey man, be well,

(30:38):
let's talk soon. Thanks for joining us, Hey, thanks for
having me on to talk to you soon. The pleasure
is always always mine. That's a Warn Moon Hall of
Famer a good friend. Be sure to catch the live
edition of The Doug Gottlieb Show weekdays at three p m.
Easter noon Pacific. What Up Doug gotlip Show? Fox Sports Radio.

(31:00):
Mm m m m m m mmmm. Got a new
quote from the commissioner of the NBA which I completely
agree with, been saying it for a long time, and
now the commissioner as starting to openly agree with me.
Get to that in a moment. First though, let's uh uh,
let's let's set this up. But you know, Steve Desire
was acted surprised when I said, you know that that

(31:21):
you didn't think Colin Kaepernick when I said I didn't
think Colin Kaepernick would make a team. Now, look, I
do believe. I do believe that there's a chance if
Kaepernick were to go, for example, to Kansas City, like
kans Cities type place, because they've rehabed my fixed career.
You know, you have Pat Mahomes Kansas City and maybe Houston.

(31:41):
You know you have a guy who's not he's absolutely
the starter. First thing is that Kaepernick has to want
to play, and and wanting to play is more than
just a I want to play, like, is he willing
to get into great shape. Is he willing to take
a very small amount of money. And that's the big thing,

(32:04):
is the money. And and one of the like what
what makes everyone who had paid any attention four years
ago furious is it's like we completely overlook all of
the actual facts of what happened. He had non sports
guy coming in going like, yeah, he was ven the

(32:24):
Super Bowl and then he kneeled, and then he's out
of the league, and it's because he kneeled, Like no,
that's not actually what happened. He was in the super Bowl.
Then they went eight and eight. Then his coach got fired, right,
and one of the reason they went eight and eight
was people figured out he couldn't throw going to his left,
small hands changed, he didn't had a limited number of
arm angles. You know that he was great and great

(32:46):
Roman system, but didn't seem to fit in other systems. Look,
the Chip Kelly thing didn't work at the end, and
before that he had Tom Seula. It was a terrible year.
I don't think anybody would but he also he had
lost his job previous to that because the stories where
he wears headphones inside the facility. He just wasn't a
guy who was gregarious and a leader of men, and

(33:09):
the leadership came from afterwards, came from leading this movement.
But even when he had the kneeling, he was a
backup quarterback. To blame Gabbert. And then they go to Miami,
he wears a Castro shirt, like there's all kinds of stuff.
But but here's another part before his last year in
San Francisco, where everybody said they're gonna stink. They're gonna stink,
They're gonna stink, and your contracts gonna run out and

(33:30):
they're not gonna pick up the option, which all happened.
He could have gone to Denver, but Denver said like, look,
we'll take you. You're supposed to make four. Team will
take you at seven million. And he's like, nah, good
here they were terrible. Season was over. He went and
visited Seattle and he told Seattle, I'm a starting quarterback.

(33:50):
Well that translates into I want starting quarterback money. And
why would you even go visit Seattle? They have Russell Wilson.
Did you think they brought you into to replace Russell Wilson?
Like the whole thing is silly. Then he was said
to go to Baltimore and his girlfriend tweets out of
meme with Django unchanged, basically saying that Bashati, the owner
of the Ravens, is like a slave master. Like, okay, dude,

(34:12):
Steven Schotti is the owner of the Ravens. He hired
the first ever black general manager in the history of
the league, and obesily knew some who's one of the
most respected dudes. And the reason that Baltimore wanted him
was Flacco was starting to starting to flounder, had the
bad back and oh yeah, by the way, um Greg

(34:36):
Roman was was end up coming in and becoming their
offensive corter. He was there, and you had John Hardball
who believed in him because he played for Jim Harball.
Like you have to have connections. It's like we completely
forget about all the different things. You gotta have somebody
who believes in you, who's seen you, who's coached you.
More than just what Colin Kaepernick back in two thousand

(34:57):
thirteen was awesome, He was awesome. Twoteen, it's two thousand twenty, Like,
if Cam Newton can't get a job, what makes you
think that Colin kaeperni can't for And there's similar reasons.
Both of them were really athletic quarterbacks that went through
multiple surgeries legs and arm. Both are guys that Camus

(35:17):
scene is a much better leader than Kaepernick, but both
are kind of different sorts of personalities than the traditional
quarterback personality. I mean the traditional quarterback personality, and you're
gonna get people who will parse that and go like
you're talking about white guy, Like no, not. Russell Wilson
is a traditional quarterback personality where you say everything kind

(35:41):
of politically correct, and you're you're very close to the
front office, to the head coach. You're you're kind of
some a sort of a corporate character. You make everybody
feel good. You look good, you're attractive, you look good,
you got a good family. Like all of these guys
from Matt Ryan to Russell Wilson to you know, I
gotta go through the line, they all kind of look
the same. They all answered. They're all very innocuous answers

(36:05):
to to question, Like even Pat Mahomes, you know, wanting
to make changes, like Pat ma Holmes didn't say anything
that would raise anybody's eyebrow. That that was the big
thing with Drew Brees, Like Drew went into his flag thing,
but the interesting part is, like Drew usually says the
most innocuous stuff. Ever, that's what quarterbacks do. So I

(36:26):
know that people are like, well, why is the hoana roster?
He was? First of all this idea that you know
he's still a good quarterback. How do you know him
play and play football a long time? You know, just
there's a done bunch of dudes that have been playing
and not stop playing and improve their craft that you've
never heard of before as opposed to him, who he's
had other things going on. And then you have the leadership.

(36:50):
How much would he actually work for? What teams would
actually want him? What starter could have a backup? Who's
that popular? In terms of the social justice and and
social media world. It's a lot that goes into it.
I want to get into speaking of quarterbacks. You got
Baker Mayfield. Good first year, disappointing second year. This is

(37:11):
Mike Tannenbaum, former general manager of Miami Dolphins, of course
a longtime agent before he was a general manager. Here's
Mike Cannonbaum on ESPN earlier today on what will happen
if Baker Mayfield struggles. Let's ask the question of how
long at leash do you give him if say he
goes out first game of the season and throws let's
say three picks Ryan a very very short leash. I

(37:34):
know Kevin Stefanski really well. He's smart, he's deliberate, he's disciplined.
He will have zero compunction to bench Baker Mayfield. There's
one other interesting dynamic here, guys. It's a rookie head coach.
If Baker Mayfield has a bump in the road early
in the season, he may not say this publicly, but
I'm telling you that here's what Kevin Stefanski is thinking.

(37:55):
This is an opportunity. If I bench Baker Mayfield, They're
gonna all fall in love. And what if we said
over the last couple of years, Cleveland has underachieved as
an organization penalties, turnovers. If Mayfield gets benched, even it's
for a game or two, I promise you he'll get
the attention of that whole team. Okay, so let's go
back to the Kaepernick thing. Why did Colin Kaepernick need

(38:17):
to play in Baltimore with Greg Roman is the offensive
coordinating right the same reason. Do you know who the
backup quarterback in Cleveland is? It's case Keenum and you're like, oh,
Case Keenum, he's in Washington last year, and I remember
in Houston and whatever. Case Keenum's greatest success in the
NFL came in the postseason with the Minnesota Vikings. He
took them to the NFC Championship Game. Where did Kevin

(38:42):
Stefanski come from? The Minnesota Vikings? Now I disagree, Like, look,
Mike Tannebaum has forgotten more about the NFL than I
will ever know. But I also think that most people
understand the Case Keenum has brought in much like Nick Foles, Like, yeah,
he's won games in the system and he knows the system,
but he's brought into be kind of the quarterback coach,

(39:03):
quarterback whisper to make Baker Mayfield great. Right, Look, I
don't and I don't know how many like Case Keenum
played in the exact same system as Baker Mayfield in college.
Do you guys know that he played at Houston. He
played for six years because of injury by Houston to

(39:24):
like crazy number of yards. But Case Keenum doesn't have
what Baker Mayfield has in terms of armed talent. He
just doesn't. You know, they're both undersized, you know they're
both good athletes in the pocket, but not They're not
Russell Wilson in terms of being able to move the
pocket nearly as well. But Baker Mayfield has an exceptional
football like you, and a much better arm than case Keenum.

(39:48):
And I think that I don't agree. I think there's
no way he would have to be so bad, so
bad to get pulled because he is their franchise quarterback.
And I know that the GM didn't draft him, and
I know that the head coach didn't draft him, and
I know that Case Keenan went. But if even if
we remember correctly about that Minnesota Vikings team, they should

(40:09):
have lost at home to the New Orleans Saints if
not for one, you know, bad tackle on Stefon Diggs
where the rookie's got his head down and then he
got embarrassed against Philadelphia because outdoors he just does not
have the arm. Like that's Case Keenan just doesn't have
an arm. So do I think, Do I think at
the end of next year, if it was a bad year,

(40:31):
they could get rid of Baker Mayfood. Yeah, that's that's reasonable.
What happens You get rid of the coach and the
GM first, and then the players start to go. That's reasonable,
but I don't think. Still, my biggest fear for the
Cleveland Browns is that Stefanski runs the football too much
and ends up. You know he's got two stud wide
receivers in Oh b J and Jarvis Landry. Plus he's

(40:52):
got Austin Hooper is the pass catching tight end those
boys need to eat. I know you got Chubb and
Kareem Hunt and don oh Hilliard. You know you have
two fabulous running backs, but you better get the ball
to those dudes outside and and Austin Hooper. You paid
all that money for so. I I but I don't.

(41:12):
I don't envision Baker being anywhere near the point of
being benched. I could, I could be wrong, could be wrong.
The the NBA has tested all their players the coronavirus
and the results are in What the numbers really mean,
what the commissioner said about it. That's upcoming next. Be
sure to catch the live edition of The Doug gott
Leap Show weekdays at three p m. Easter noon Pacific.

(41:36):
John Hollinger is our guests. He's a senior UH senior
NBA columnists for The Athletic Course, The former vice president
of basketball opractions for the Grizzlies and if you like
game score, you got the Hollinger game score. It's widely
used around basketball in the analytics world. It's one of
the easiest way to tell historically how effective, how dominant,

(41:59):
how efficient a player actually was. John how Andrew joins
us in the doug Out the Show on Fox Sports Radio. Um,
what are your thoughts on the on the bubble in
terms of how this all will affect the actual level
of play? Yeah, first of all, thanks for having me,
and I'm a little concerned, especially over a period of time.

(42:21):
I mean you you pointed out obviously you've played at
a much higher level than I ever did. But uh
that if you've been there six weeks, eight weeks, like
the monotony, the malaise, like how it could have an impact.
I'm interested though, because travel is subtracted out of this,
and that's another part of this that's really hard, especially

(42:42):
at the NBA level. I think people don't realize you
go on road trips with the team. A lot of times,
you get into your hotel three am. Uh, different city, time, change,
all of that, so you don't have that factor. So
that's kind of an offsetting thing, and then obviously there's
this other thing that we don't really know how to
that or, which is these guys are being asked to

(43:02):
go zero to fifty pretty quickly after not doing a
whole lot for three months. And it's not even like
a regular offseason because they haven't been able to play
five on five in a lot of cases or get
their usual workout with their usual trainers. So this is
really new territory for everybody, it really is. Um, how
much do you think the loss of Avier Bradley will

(43:23):
hurt the Lakers? Uh, that's an interesting question. Uh. It
sort of depends how they go about replacing them. When
they slay Alex Caruso, Their their lineups have been really good.
So if he swallows up a lot of those minutes,
I think they might be okay. Uh. If they feel
like they need to move those minutes more to their
veteran guys, I would I would question that a little

(43:47):
bit and and wonder a little more about the impact
of it. But so they they begun games with him
as a as a stopper, especially against uh the the
elite guards, and you could see how it might impact
him in the series against Houston, especially not not having him,
because he'd he'd be really good to put on one
of Harden or Westboro, and so they wouldn't have that

(44:08):
element against most of the other opponents are likely to
play like against the Lake to the Clippers or the
Fox especially, I'm not sure he becomes as important. Yeah,
I listen, I think, and and look. I love Caruso.
He has shown some reluctance to even look at the
basket in some of the bigger games. He just doesn't
have a lot of and and that's the one thing
we can't account for, right, Like what does he played

(44:30):
like in the in the white hot, bright lights of
of an NBA playoff or final series. On the other hand,
we don't know what anyone will play like in what
what we assume will be the sterile environment of these
finals or these NBA playoffs. So even the data we
have and the feeling we have about Lebron's experience or

(44:51):
Kauai's experience or Paul George's experience, this will be a
completely new experience to everybody. And so I don't know
how you how you formulate or calcul what things will
look like. Yeah, I have a feeling the younger guys
are going to be a little bit of an advantage
just physically. Their ability to come back and and kind
of ramp up quickly. I think is is a little

(45:14):
better and gives give will give most of them an advantage.
I say, this is somebody with a fair amount of
experience at being old. Um, so you know, we'll see,
but that would be my suspicion that the younger guys
will come out, especially these eight games in the first
round of that they're playing to complete the schedule, and
probably even into the first round, that that the younger

(45:35):
guys will have a leg up on the veterans. John Hollands,
you're joining us on the Doug Gotli Show, a senior
NBA columnist for The Athletic. Are you going into the bubble? No?
I think I'm gonna sit this one out. Yeah, there's um,
they're they're still working out all how all the media
will work. So a lot of that is still up
in the air. But I would I would say more

(45:57):
likely than not, I will I will not be going
down there and I'll be watching it off TV like
everyone else. Apparently there's gonna be some media presence, but
it's going to be pretty limited. I think a lot
of even a lot of the TV announcers are gonna
be calling games off the screen. Yeah. I was told
they'll be calling the games off of screen while quarantining
with the hope that by the time they get to

(46:19):
the conference finals, everybody will be cleared and then they
can kind of go and have more of a regular broadcast.
We'll we'll see if that that plan was a couple
of weeks ago when I was when I was told
about it, John Holling, you' joining us here in the
Doug Gotlip Show on Fox Sports Radio. Um, Look, the
analytics world loves the Milwaukee Bucks, but we just haven't

(46:39):
seen their their coaches, teams, or the Bucks themselves. We
haven't seen it work in the playoffs. And I will
grant you there are other factors at play here. What's
your level of confidence that the Bucks, they are one
of those younger teams, they were the dominant team in
the East that that can translate and get them to
an NBA finals in the bubble. Yeah, it's interesting because

(47:00):
they were they were humming along last year. They were
up to oh on Toronto and really had Toronto on
the ropes in Game three, and then once they kind
of let him back in, they just couldn't couldn't grab
it back, and they lost four straight games. I think
the Kauai Leonard matchup is still the one that's pretty
confounding for them if they were to play the Clippers
in the finals, because he's shown that he can guard

(47:22):
Joanna's well enough that they don't really need to send
a lot of help, and that takes away a lot
of the three pointers that the Bucks that the Bucks get,
uh and and some of their easier opportunities and puts
a lot of pressure on their secondary guys then, And
so I would worry about playing the Clippers if I
was Milwaukee. I think they're gonna have a pretty solid

(47:42):
advantage against everybody else. I think the honest is just
such a mismatch against everybody else, uh that that that
that really gives them an upper hand that that's tough
for almost any opponent to deal with. But I would
worry about the Clippers if I were now. I think
Kauai is the one guy who's shown he can really
uh take that matchup to neutral and then let the

(48:03):
other four guys kind of beat the other four Bucks.
Who is the one team in the East who you
would be least surprised if they took down the Bucks
in the playoffs. I would probably say Boston, just because
I think they can put a really good five out
there at the end of games like that. Their depth
is definitely a concern. But when you get into the

(48:26):
game six, game seven lateness series, your five best players
are playing forty plus minutes usually, so I would I
would say them, but they've gotta get by Toronto first.
I think that Boston Toronto second round series, I hope
that's what we get will be absolutely epic. I'm so
excited for that. John Holland, our guest on The Doug
Gotlip Show here on Fox Sports Radio, I mentioned that

(48:48):
today is the seventeenth anniversary of Lebron getting drafted, the
tenth anniversary of the of the decision. Um. You know,
your your game score is widely regarded as the way
to judge, uh, somebody's effectiveness and dominance in a in
a game for people who haven't who haven't, who don't
understand just how dominant and how consistently dominant Lebron has been.

(49:13):
How would you how would you kind of characterize to
the average Fan hey Man from the analytics world. Here's
who Lebron has been for seventeen years. Yeah, I mean
he's he's been the top five player in the league
every single year basically for an insanely long amount of time.
I mean, really care care a Fuels of bar is
the only one who can who can both kind of

(49:35):
the same longevity as a player at this high level
for this for this long And then his peak was
also awesome. Uh, like my player efficiency rating, the highest
rating of all time was Michael Jordan in his prime
years and then Lebron almost caught him though, um in
a couple of his years in Cleveland, and uh, you know,

(49:57):
for him to be playing at this level even now,
where he's clearly a top five MVP candidation and may
very well end up in the finals again is unbelievable. Okay,
so when when the decision came down, were you d
spre DspM when the decision came now, are you? Uh? Yeah?
I was the yeah the years from together year, but yeah,
yeah I was. Would you think that when it happened that,

(50:22):
you know, that was crazy because they kept it such
a secret. Uh, nobody totally knew what he was going
to do I was still a little shocked just because
he's he's from Ohio. You know that that That was
the one thing that really threw me. If it, if
it if it was somebody who didn't have that in
his background, I wouldn't have been a surprise. And I
was not sure he'll go to Miami or l A

(50:43):
or something. But for him to leave Cleveland like that,
being from there, I think was what made it so shocking. Yeah,
and then but now I was just saying before he
came on, I was saying how at the time it
was shocking, but then now you look back at it
and having you know, you spent some time in Miami,
you spent some time in Cleveland. If your whole life
you're in Cleveland and Akron, Ohio, you're never gone away

(51:04):
to college, and you're like, and you've only visited Miami
right as a as a millionaire four years away in
Miami does almost seem like that coming of age. I
get it actually makes it makes a lot more sense
to me now than it did at the time. That's
a really interesting perspective on it because I haven't thought
about that because most guys, obviously, when they get drafted

(51:25):
or when they when they go to college too, they
go away from home, right, Like, that's that's the usual
right of passes. That's when you go away either your
your your college or your first job. Right. And he
did neither of those things because he cut drafted out
of high school by his hometown team. So I had
I had never considered it that way. That's really interesting. Yeah,

(51:46):
and then he trying to came come back, and then
he came back to his hometown, he wins the title,
and now he's now he's a professional. Now he's trying
to set up kind of the rest of his life.
It actually, you know, when I take a breath. At
the time, I don't think I had that same perspective,
was like, why are you going to Miami? It's such
a non basketball town, such a weird fit um, and
and that it makes a lot more sense to to
to be Now John Hollands are our guest in the

(52:07):
Doug Gotlip Show, I had this thought, Look, I think
Zion has a chance to be an unbelievable player as
a small ball five, like the way the league is trending,
if he can continue to develop his perimeter shooting skills,
if he can continue to lose some weight and not
get hurt. These are big things because he hasn't played

(52:30):
a ton of time without getting hurt over the past
couple of years. Um. But I think the bubble hurts him.
And here's why. I'm willing to believe that he, like
most of these guys, stayed in shape and that he'll
have time to work on his game. But we only
saw him for nineteen games. I don't know if teams
are gonna be able to actually watch in person and scout,

(52:50):
but I would guess that it will be harder to
get your work in. It's a lot of games on
that body that hasn't shown the ability to withstand that
type of beating. But more than anything, teams are gonna
be able to see how you want to guard him
and adjust and make him shoot and and keep him
away from the rim. I think this. I actually think
he may struggle a little bit in the bubble. Am
I crazy? Possibly? You know it's not. It's it's that

(53:15):
it's so many games so quickly. Um. And they've been
pretty careful with him up until up until this point. Uh,
in terms of the load they put on him. I'm
I'm actually wondering how many minutes are he gonna play?
Is he going to play all eight games? And they
may end up pulling him too. It's gonna be interesting.
If they don't make up some ground here, they might

(53:37):
not even get to a playing game because they have
to finish ahead of Portland's Sacramento San Antonio and they
have to stay within four teams of the Grizzlies just
to get to a playing game for that eighth seed.
So there's there are interesting questions there about how they
can manage his minutes. But man, I mean, I don't
know if you're able to see him in preseason or not.

(53:58):
But but but before they held him out like he
they played Utah, They they played him at five like
you said, they had Rudy Cobert on him, and Gobert,
who's like the best defense player in the league, could
not deal with him at all. It was he just
it's have you seen him in person? Yeah? Yeah, I
mean now in person when he walks on the floor,
you're like kind of looks like a football player, right,

(54:18):
looks like you know, you ever go to like a
high school basketball game in December and the football guy
just got out of football and he throws on the
basketball and from like and then all of a sudden,
he's so crazy explosive and unlike, you know, like, look,
Draymond could never really score in the post. He can
score in the post. Uh, he can. He can't pass
like Draymond, but he can pass and he can handle some. Um.
I just I do wonder though, how much you know

(54:41):
those first of the eight games, the first three or four,
there'll be a feeling out. He'll probably play quite well,
but then you start to lose some of the juice
in your legs, which is most of his game right now,
and then teams adjust to you. I wonder how that
how that works? Speaking of the Grizzlies, an organization you
used to used to work for them as their vice president.
They kind of get screwed in this thing right where

(55:01):
you're letting other teams like, well, not only are we
gonna let other teams come, but they don't actually have
to surpass you in the standings to get another shot
to surpass you in the in the standings. Uh? What
what are your thoughts on how they decided the twenty
two teams instead of going with the six team. Yeah,
I actually I actually thought it was okay because so

(55:22):
the Grillies had an advantage in the standings, but their
remaining schedule was going to be a lot more difficult
than that of New Orleans and Sacramento in particular, so
their their advantage in the standings probably was made it
look a little more like they were a little more
solid in that eight spot then maybe they really were.
So I'm actually okay with this. They get too. As

(55:45):
long as they hold on to eight, they get two
shots at winning to play on playing games. And then
the other thing is if they have if they go
there are three and a half up on these seams
right now, if they finished four and a half up,
they don't have to go to a plane at all.
So if if they just have to gain one game
on these guys uh in Orlando during the state game
bubble Fest or whatever you want to call it, uh

(56:07):
and and they don't have a playing game at all,
I actually thought it was it was pretty fair to
the grouplies. I thought it was a little weird actually,
what they did in the East, where Brokin and Orlando
were pretty clearly in and now they're kind of trying
to drag the Wizards came to the race as as
best they can. Uh, I don't know. I thought that
was a little weird, and it was like Washington and

(56:27):
Phoenix are the two teams that are like, why why
are they here? Why are they doing this? I know, Well,
I think what it is is they needed exhibition games.
They needed all these guys, they needed some sort of
NBA games. So you can't go zero to a hundred.
It just it doesn't doesn't work right. You needed kind
of some ramp up there and it allows you. There's
just a disparity between the really good teams and these teams,

(56:47):
and this was a way to get just enough decent
teams kind of down there. I'm disappointed Durant and Kyrie
aren't playing UM one one one more real quick. Obviously,
Durant and Kyrie coming off of injury, how they looked
next year. What are your thoughts on Golden State and
the likelihood that they're competitive at the top of the
NBA next year. I mean, I think they'll certainly be competitive.

(57:10):
I just don't know if we'll ever see them dominate again. Uh,
with with the age and the injuries and whatnot, I
expect Curry to still be amazing. Uh, Clay Thompson and
Draymond Green on our wrong side of thirty. Now they
get Dolish gone. The rest of the supporting Cats, I
don't think is as good. They gotta they got some
work to do this offseason just to kind of keep

(57:34):
pace with the two l A teams and the you know,
you've got the Denvers in Houston to the world lurking
in there too. I think it's gonna be a lot
harder than the last five years, where let's put it
that way. Yeah, I think there's a confluence of things though,
and you tell me if I'm wrong. John Holland our
guests in the Doug Gottlieb Show. I think is that
some of an age, Yes, is some of it that

(57:56):
they they gotta you know, like when they initially took
over the league, they it was strength and numb as
they had an unbelievable bench and that has never really
been replenished. And it's gonna be hard to do so
because you have so many you know, you're so top
heavy with the salaries. But there is also the element
of the league has adjusted to their style right like
they were they they had small ball right now, Houston's

(58:17):
Houston's committed to solely small ball. Everyone's trying to We
talked about the New Orleans Pelicans like they they're gonna
have the best small ball five in the league. Maybe
not this year or next year, but in years to
come if he stays healthy. There is an element to
the league either catching up to or adjusting to or
adapting to their style. No. Yeah, I mean that it
was called the death lineup right when they moved Draymond

(58:39):
to five, and it's it's probably less deadly against teams
that are also playing smaller than it is too kind
of teams like we had in Memphis when where we
where we're playing Marcasol and Zach Randolph, the two post guys,
the whole team and they go small and just run
us into the ground. Uh that that the ability to

(58:59):
do that, it's definitely lesson because as you said, the
league has adjusted. It's a you know, COT league, like
every every UH pro sports league. Well, Johnny, do a
great job. I can't wait to read your coverage and
and here's some of your comments on the upcoming NBA
I guess regular season and bubble playoffs and championship. Thanks
so much for joining us on Fox Sports Radio. Thanks

(59:20):
for having because all right's John Hollander, who's just he's fabulous, fabulous,
um at at covering the NBA, of course, at us
mainstay in terms of the analytics world of of the NBA,
and you can read his work in The Athletic. The
San Francisco Giants apparently found a solution two empty seats.
Wait to hear what it is is Next, be sure

(59:41):
to catch the live edition of The Doug gott Leap
Show weekdays at three p m. Easter noon Pacific