March 13, 2025 • 37 mins
Doug reacts to the news that great sports author John Feinstein has passed away at the age of 68. Doug gives out his take on the firing of Minnesota's head basketball coach and how it went down. Doug welcomes FSR Insider Mark Medina on the show to talk about the Thunder, Lebron and all of the other major headlines around the NBA. Plus, Isaac Lowenkron takes Doug through a game of "I Feel A Draft".
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
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Speaker 2 (00:43):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (00:45):
Still stunned a little bit by that news of John
Feinstein passing. Uh again, I want to do the sports
radio talkie talk thing and we will.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
But oh that's a man.
Speaker 3 (01:04):
It's a gut punch from this standpoint. So John Finstein
passed away today? Did I do the tyrach We're broadcasting
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dot COM's way tire buying should be. So we're getting
(01:25):
ready to do the show and Jason Stewart. He says, hey,
did you hear about John Feinstein? And you know, like
it's very very interesting here the I'll just give you
a little history lesson on me and then my relationship
(01:47):
on John and Jason Stewart's relationship with John. So when
I was in fourth grade, I had to go see
a reading specialist. You know, I was the classic Ada
add or now it's adhd kid right where they're like, well,
maybe we put him on Rulin because I would get
(02:09):
bored in school. I'd get up, I'd walk around the classroom,
really good at math and science, not particularly good at English.
Not a great reader, a more oral presentation sort of guy.
And so uh, the reading specialist was like, look, he
just needs to sit down and read books. And my
(02:29):
dad's big thing was like, you know, sign you got
to pass the English part of the sat Like my
dad nearly got a perfect score on the on the
math part as well, and he'd be and he.
Speaker 2 (02:38):
Is a vociferous reader. So we made it.
Speaker 3 (02:42):
He made a deal with me that I got five
bucks every time I finished a novel, and they we
would alternate between nonsports and sports novel right. So my
my non sports now, first non sports novel was The
(03:05):
Boys from Brazil by Leon URIs. You guys ever heard
of The Boys from Brazil? Leon Leon yours is incredible,
award winning best selling author. If you, guys, Jay Stu,
you ever read.
Speaker 2 (03:17):
Are familiar with the movie?
Speaker 3 (03:19):
Oh yeah became okay, so and I guess I can.
It's like a fifty or sixty year old book by
fifty year old book, right, or maybe not that old,
but it was.
Speaker 2 (03:29):
It was really fascinating if you think about it.
Speaker 3 (03:31):
The the premise was that Nazis had escaped Nazi Germany
to Argentina and through the through the use of genetic splicing,
they had created basically Hitler clones and they were trying
to mirror Hitler's upbringing to help you know, mother Germany
(03:51):
rise again. That was I mean really like now obviously
it's like truth or stranger than fiction, and now it's like, wow,
these technicist technology probably does in fact exist. Anyway, when
I would read the sports books, my first one was
actually the autobiography of Catfish Hunter, fascinating, but I fell
(04:17):
in love with John Feinstein's work with A Season on
the Brink, which of course followed around Bob Knight in Indiana,
and it was a terrible year one in which ended
up in the NIT and it was I think the
year before they end up two years before they end
up winning a national championship. And you followed up with
(04:38):
a season inside. And later on there was Next Man Up,
which followed around the Baltimore Ravens, and each one there
was the Army Navy, one there was Forever's team. Like
you kind of go back and if you know, if
you've ever read a sports novel and you read more
than one or two, you read a Feinstein and you're like,
(04:58):
that was unbelievably thorough.
Speaker 2 (05:00):
Couldn't put it down.
Speaker 3 (05:02):
It remarkably not a well written but it was kind
of well narrated in terms of how I was written.
Because I always thought, like, I'm a big Tom Clancy guy, right,
but Tom Clancy's novels at times became too wordy and
I don't care about the exact data behind every missile
that it's like showing off how much research he had done.
But for whatever reason, I thought Feinstein did just the
(05:22):
right amount of I've done the right research, yet it's
tangible to you. So fast forward to twenty twelve and
I started. I was part of the initial launch group
to CBS Sports Radio, and we followed Jim Rome, I
believe right. That's how it was Jim Rome and then US.
(05:44):
And before Jim Rome was John Feinstein had a show
and John was let go. Well I still had the
radio job there, and I don't want to know if
we had a falling out, but they were just you know,
John was not the easiest dude in the world. Now,
(06:05):
when I say that, you're going to sound like that's
gonna sound like John was an a hole. He wasn't.
He just wasn't easy. He did not what's the term
you used, Jay Stu didn't suffer.
Speaker 4 (06:16):
What he did not suffer fools.
Speaker 2 (06:19):
No, not at all.
Speaker 3 (06:21):
And he held people people around him to a way
higher standard than most people did. And I know, and
and look what happens in this business is when you're
like that, you can get you can get coined difficult.
But difficult doesn't mean bad. Difficult just means difficult. And
I mean I just fascinating to fascinating person. Somewhere along
(06:44):
the way over the past well, you know, I've been
at Fox Sports Radio for eight years. Over the past
five years, he and I have run into each other
at various events. Back when I was the CBS, I
covered the Patriot League. I saw one of those games.
Of course, he wrote the book on the page, literally
wrote the book on the Patriot League. And then in
the last eight years we ran each other. It's the
(07:04):
Big Ten tournament, the NCAA tournament, and we had kind of,
I don't know, made amends, but there was no falling out.
It was I don't even remember what it was over,
but I think it was mostly over the fact that
John got let go and he just lashed out at
people because he was upset, which you have every right
to be upset. I didn't get you fired. I didn't
(07:25):
like none of that thing was me, But that's what
I thought. I thought that's where his bitterness kind of
came from. And Jason, I want to get to your story
about him in a second, but here's what's fascinating. Obviously,
our season did not go as planned in terms of
wins and losses. There are tons of wins and some
(07:46):
losses off the court and in the preparation and things
that we've learned, and in terms of the story, like
I still continue to contend that if you named college
basketball teams that have been covered this year, there's like five,
five or six, and we're one of.
Speaker 2 (08:02):
The five or six. Right, we're one of the five
or six.
Speaker 3 (08:06):
Your college basketball is kind of a month long sport,
but there's like five or six and we're one of
the five or six. And uh, you know, we we've done.
We have a pilot, and there's another couple of shows
for a reality show, and we have the buyers are
kind of lining up, you know, all the all of
the usuals want to have you know them follow us
(08:29):
around be embedded. And we have a production group that's
already done some of this work and it's really really
good stuff. But there's a lot that happened this year,
like man, I wish there was a camera there, or
man I don't I wish there wasn't.
Speaker 2 (08:39):
A camera there.
Speaker 3 (08:41):
But it's a it's a really fascinating story, like if
people only knew And uh, let me just make sure
I get the date right. So I texted John March fifth,
March fourth, and he texted me back March fifth. He said,
are you glad You're season is over? I said, no,
we just were figuring out playing well and starting to
(09:04):
get healthy. So we texted back and forth a little
bit and I said, what are you working on? He said,
I'm doing a book on what makes great coaches great
besides great players. I'm also teaching journalism at Longwood University.
And I said, John, do you want your next bestseller?
He said always. I said, come follow me around for
(09:26):
a year and write this story. And he said, I'll
call you, and he did. He called me earlier this
week and I was in the middle of an exit
meeting with one of my players and I pushed that
button that says can I call you back?
Speaker 2 (09:46):
And now what it says is going to call you back? Whatever?
Speaker 3 (09:48):
And I was driving today long drive last days and
on my list of calls was John and I was like, Ah,
I'm just I'm gonna do it tomorrow or I'm gonna
do it to night. And John Feinstein passed away today
is studying And.
Speaker 2 (10:07):
How old was he?
Speaker 4 (10:08):
Ja Stu sixty eight. He died at his brother's home.
He just penned an article today for The Washington Post
about Tom Izzo.
Speaker 3 (10:22):
For people who don't know, how did you get to
know John Feinstein?
Speaker 4 (10:25):
It was in this very building that I'm in right now.
He was a frequent guest host for Jim Row And
by frequent, you know, Jim often says he takes a
lot of vacation, because he gets a lot of vacation,
and we're talking like twelve weeks a year. And I
would produce those shows for guest hosts, and John Feinstein
(10:46):
was a regular of ours. So I got to know
John on a professional level and a personal level, and
you know, to say he was difficult, He's just one
of those guys that kind of demanded a certain standard,
old school and I felt privileged to being as good
grace as because of that, because I knew he could
(11:06):
be that way, and you know, he didn't suffer fools.
And the older I get, the more I appreciate that
about people. You just know where you stood. There was
no pretense to John, and I really did love that
about him. And I read a couple of his books,
my favorite being The Punch, which chronicled the entire episode
(11:29):
of Kermit Washington almost killing Rudy Tomjanovich in a game.
And I encourage any of our listeners to read that book.
It was fascinating. One of my good friends is Stam Brooks.
He's a executive producer, made a lot of TV movies,
an Emmy Award winning producer. He was the one that
(11:50):
produced Season on the Brink for ESPN. And Stan has
told me so many stories about how Feinstein was during
that process. Imagine that, Doug. Imagine being the person that
has to make Feinstein's book into a movie and how
difficult that may have been. But again, all these stories
are just speak to how genuine he was as a person.
(12:13):
And I really did like John.
Speaker 3 (12:17):
John Finstein was sixty eight years old in John Feinstein's honor.
I have a rant I want to make and we'll
do it right now. First, let me tell you speed
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(12:40):
your hiring process.
Speaker 2 (12:41):
Okay, here it is. Would you say.
Speaker 3 (12:46):
That a good portion of why he was how he
was is because at the end of the day, right,
there's a right way and a wrong way to do something.
That is that a fair depiction of it? Yep, yep, Okay,
there's a right way and there's a wrong way. And
I think, what's what's truly fascinating about college athletics, And
(13:13):
you know, we can get into the nil and all
that other stuff. But Ben Johnson was fired at about
midnight last night or this morning by the University of Minnesota.
Ben Johnson was the head coach. He's young, he was
an assistant Xavier at the time. It was a surprising hire.
He's a Minnesota allowed me play basketball Minnesota. He was
(13:33):
only assistant. Took over a Big ten job. And again, look,
you probably hired him to save money when they couldn't
get their initial guys they wanted to hire when Richard
Patino left went to New Mexico, and so they hired
Ben Johnson. And it started out pretty bad. Last year,
they ended up going to the n i T. Won
a game in the n i T. His entire starting lineup.
(13:54):
I believe left because that's what happens when you have
some success. Your whole team leaves, and now you have
to go and buy a team.
Speaker 2 (14:00):
That's where we are.
Speaker 3 (14:02):
I am not making a comment about whether or not
Ben should have kept his job, okay, because I don't
know any of the particulars other than they probably didn't
win enough and college head coaches, and look, I don't
make a lot of money as a college head coach,
but whatever I make, it's plenty.
Speaker 2 (14:22):
It's plenty.
Speaker 3 (14:23):
So you shouldn't feel bad for me if in you know,
four or five years, you know it doesn't work out,
and and my boss Josh Buon walks down the hallway
and says, hey, let's sit down, let's talk about it,
et cetera, et cetera. But there's a right way and
a wrong way to do something. And it's one thing
to fire a guy at midnight and announce it on
(14:45):
social media after you lose. It's a whole other thing
when it's also an alum of the school that he represents.
That doesn't mean he can't be fired. That doesn't mean
you're not within your rights to fire it. But again,
there's a right way and there's a wrong way. Why
can't you call him in this morning and say, hey, man,
(15:08):
we're gonna, we're gonna, we're gonna let you go, but
we want to give you a couple hours to call
your coaches, to call your support staff, to have a
team meeting, Okay, to make sure everybody knows the process
of what's taking place. And then why don't we come
back at noon. We'll grab some lunch, we'll sign some papers,
(15:30):
we'll shake hands like men, and.
Speaker 2 (15:32):
We'll be on our way. And we'll be on our way.
Speaker 3 (15:36):
And look again, I have nothing bad to say about
Minnesota or their athletic director or anything.
Speaker 2 (15:44):
Again. And I don't know.
Speaker 3 (15:47):
I don't know the particulars of why it was done
when it was done. I don't and I don't care. Okay,
Mark Coyle is their ad. Okay, he's been there since
twenty sixteen. I have no doubt that Mark who you know.
He's been the ad at Syracuse, at Boise State, he's
(16:08):
been at Kentucky. He knows what it looks like. He's
been in this business for years. There's a right way
and there's a wrong way. When do we get to
the place where you have an alum he's gonna get fired.
He gave him a whole cycle of four years. It's
not good enough. Why can't you just call him into
your office and have him relieve him of duties like
(16:32):
a grown up, like grown people do.
Speaker 2 (16:36):
Right.
Speaker 3 (16:36):
There is a right way in a wrong way, and
a midnight tweet, a midnight firing, just like the tarmac firing.
Speaker 2 (16:42):
With Lang Kippet. It ain't right. It ain't right.
Speaker 3 (16:46):
And this is not me saying, hey, Ben should have
kept his job. I thought Ben did a really good
job this year. I thought they're well coached. I didn't think.
You know, it's hard. You know you're going against teams
with gigantic payrolls, and like everybody's got their problems. I'm
not making commentary on it. Don't pay enough attention to
somebody else's team. I only know Ben is a good man,
and he's he's a gopher.
Speaker 2 (17:08):
It's not how you treat people. It's just not.
Speaker 3 (17:11):
And as much as you can sit there and say, hey,
the head coaches you make plenty of money, they do,
and Ben'll be fine.
Speaker 2 (17:18):
He'll get an assistant job.
Speaker 3 (17:19):
And now he's been a head coach for four years
in the Big Ten, and he'll he might be able
to get another head coaching job right now because he's
handled himself like a complete mench. He might not okay,
but he's got enough money now and he'll get money
on whatever. His buyout is a couple million dollars to
where he could probably live comfortably doing pretty much whatever
he wants and I'm sure he wants to coach, but
you have I mean, here's all the people that are
(17:41):
that are affected. You have all the gas, all of
the players, all of your support staff, like all of
their families are going.
Speaker 2 (17:50):
To lose their jobs, have to move.
Speaker 3 (17:52):
And again, it doesn't mean that it was wrong to
fire them and that we should think about all those
people before their fire.
Speaker 2 (17:57):
He don't.
Speaker 3 (17:58):
That's not how you run an athletic department. Times you
got to make hard decisions. I got to make some
hard decisions as well, with players, with coaches, with support staff,
and and and even with myself.
Speaker 2 (18:08):
Got to make hard decisions.
Speaker 3 (18:10):
But in the middle of the night, when the guy's
in a lum you're not firing for cause you know,
he didn't get a dui. It didn't beat up a woman.
There's no nonsense. They're not mclem Houskins was they were.
I mean the type of cheating they were doing back
in the day, right, But they did go to a
final four, so people were like, ah, Clem not bad. Like,
(18:33):
look that one you can do in the middle of
the night. That one you can do in the middle
of the night. This one it's just in honor of
John Feinstein, who did not suffer fools. That's not the
right way to do it, and I think everybody knows it,
and the more adults act this way, we shouldn't be
(18:56):
surprised when players don't even tell their coach, Hey, I'm
going to the portal.
Speaker 2 (19:00):
They just put in the portal.
Speaker 3 (19:01):
You find out on social media when players don't do
things the right way, you're like, oh, well, they're kids now,
But they are is they? They they see how everybody
else acts and they react as such.
Speaker 5 (19:12):
Be sure to catch the live edition of The Doug
Gottlieb Show weekdays at three pm Eastern noon Pacific on
Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 3 (19:23):
Stut Gottlieb Show here on Fox Sports Radio. Cue the
music there, Sammy, if you would, I really appreciate it.
That's because when you hear the music, he comes strutting in.
He's funky, he's cold, He's Mark Medina. He's our Fox
Sports Radio NBA insider, sad News Mark. And I know
(19:45):
obviously you have a journalistic background as well. John Feinstein
passed away today. Do you have a favorite Feinstein book?
Speaker 6 (19:53):
There's many, but yeah, Season on the Brink I think
would be the top of the list, learned a lot
about Bobby Knight, and learned a lot of just about
how you tell stories. I mean, the depths that John
Finstein would go in with being you know, entrenched with
the team and share their season's story was something that
you know, we all aspired to match but could never
(20:13):
truly do because John Feinstein was one of the kind.
Speaker 3 (20:16):
One of He was one of one of one. Okay,
let's let's get to some association stuff. It is weird
right that Lebron. I mean, I don't know how much
you tracked this every March about this time, you know,
something goes wrong. What are the expectations about with his return.
Speaker 6 (20:38):
It's a very good point that you make. There's an
ultimate fork in the road right now because there's uncertainty.
You know, Lebron made it clear he didn't feel like
this groin injury had the same severity as the one
he had in twenty eighteen when he then missed seventeen
consecutive games. But you pointed out a very good trend here,
Doug that basically since he's been with the Lakers, which
(20:59):
is coincide with the tail end of his career, he's
always had some injuries, and so what you've seen with
Lebron is when he's on the court, he's still playing
a high level. He's not, you know, the same player
that he was during his prime. The athleticism isn't always there,
maybe exception of this season. The defense wasn't there either,
but still alsoar caliber level. But when he has been heard,
(21:20):
his timeline to return has been delayed more than anticipated.
So as we talk right now, there's no definitive timetable
other than he's not with the team now. He's in LA,
So that means he's definitely not playing tonight's game in
Milwaukee or tomorrow's game in Denver, but that was to
be expected anyway. I'm curious on if he returns it
(21:42):
all next week when they're at home, and if not,
what the team looks like, because you would think, okay,
this is the time for Luka Dancic to make this
his own team. Everyone has had it on hands all
deck approach defensively and you know, offensively since this trade
went down. But yeah, this could be either a blessing
the Skies that he rests up before the playoffs start,
(22:05):
or could be something that all the good vibes that
started after the Luca Dons trade happened, starts going in
a downward spiral.
Speaker 3 (22:13):
Stug Gottlieb Show here on Fox Sports Radio. Yeah, it
is interesting, right, everything was smiles, everything was great. Dallas
is a mess, and now of a sudden he hurts
a groin and you're like, wait, wait a second, maybe
this is not the best team in the NBA. Speaking
of best team in the NBA, two the best met
last night. What does Oklahoma Cities win against the Celtics
(22:39):
last night do for them in the in the eyes
of people in the league.
Speaker 6 (22:44):
Yeah, I think obviously it's good when you win marquee games.
I think it was very telling that Oklahoma City has
been able to win another big game even without one
of their key players. This time it was without Jayel Williams,
but Doug Meyrick call. Earlier this season, they started the
season out with without Isaiah Hartenstein. It was fine. Then
chet Holmger missed time, it was fine. They have a
(23:05):
really great roster construction. Obviously it starts with Shay Gilgess Alexander,
but they just have so many wings that they can
throw at different teams that they've been able to offset
injuries Now, what is the win against Boston mean big picture? Yeah,
it's nice that they want undefeed against them, but as
far as what it means in the playoffs, hard to say.
(23:26):
I think and this is for the better of the league.
I think that as it stands right now, Oklahoma City, Denver, Cleveland, Boston,
they all have an equal case to be made that
they're the NBA favorite, and then it's going to come
down to which team's healthiest, which team makes best adjustments.
But that's what it seems like it's going to be,
(23:46):
Doug that that's the collision course of Eastern and Western
Conference matchups. And yeah, I think the Lakers and the Warriors, Yeah,
they've shown that they are the real deal. These trade
deadline moves with Luca Jimmy Butler, it's dramatically changed. Their
team have a chance to climb through that window if
they catch lighting in a bottle. But I think it's
really it's going to come down to those four teams,
(24:07):
and the thunder have shown that. Yeah, this idea that
they're inexperienced. I don't want to say it's not a factor,
but it's not as big of a factor compared to
all the other things that are going their way.
Speaker 3 (24:20):
Stug Gottlieb show here on Fox Sports Trader, that's the
voice of Mark Medeena or Fox Sports Radio NBA Insider.
On the other end of the coin, right, you have
teams like Utah who are openly, just openly tanking. Right
you have New Orleans, you have Washington who's just ridiculously bad.
Speaker 2 (24:44):
Can they make it a little less obvious?
Speaker 6 (24:47):
I don't think they can. I mean, what's fascinating Doug
is with this in season or not the play in tournament.
Ever since the bubble in twenty twenty, that's created a
lot of good competition at the end of the season,
but it's also exposed the extreme disparity between really good games,
the teams that are still fighting for their lives going
all in, and then the really bad teams getting even worse.
(25:10):
And so I don't know what the solution is. I
don't think any idea of, oh, let's make an inn
or a playin torment wider even more. That would cheapen
the value of having the tournament to begin with. And
that explains why some traditionalists at the beginning didn't like
it that it almost this incentivized teams to try to
(25:32):
get a playoff spot without the plan. But yeah, these
teams Washington, I would add Charlotte with exceptional LaMelo ball
making some highlight reels, and Philadelphia because they've been injured
the entire season. All those teams have been very tough
to watch. I think the only small thing is now
that Zion Williamson's back. He's put up Zion type of performances.
(25:58):
But because he's missed so much time, it's almost irrelevant.
I know that they talk about, oh yeah, just build
the habits in the next season, but it's been tough
basketball to watch with either of those five teams.
Speaker 3 (26:09):
Yeah, no question about it. Speaking of the Warriors, but
you mentioned kind of new life.
Speaker 2 (26:14):
Is this real? Can they really contend?
Speaker 4 (26:17):
Oh?
Speaker 6 (26:17):
Yeah, yeah, they really can. I mean, you look at
Jimmy Butler's numbers. He put up a triple double. He's
very efficient as a score passer, and he's hitting all
the buttons that the Warriors lacked. They didn't have a
consistent secondary score to help Steph Curry when he was
getting double teams. They weren't gain enough attempts at the
free throw line. When you look at Steph Curry's numbers,
since Jimmy Butler's been there, it's increased by about five points.
(26:40):
They've won i think, every single game, with the exception
of one game since Jimmy Butler has played with the Warriors.
So they're the real deal. But I don't think it's
enough to match up against a team like Oklahoma City
or Boston Cleveland just because they've been so dominant. But Doug,
as you know, the playoffs, it's one thing to talk
(27:01):
about how teams look on paper, how does it look
in reality? You have to always accept the fact that
teams aren't going to be at fully one hundred percent.
So I think that this is beyond Oh yeah, Steph Curry.
They have a really good thing going for them. But
if I had to make a prediction, I don't think
it's enough to win a title, but there is a
mathematical trans for it to happen.
Speaker 3 (27:22):
Let's circle back Celtics. We mentioned losing to the thunder.
Perzinga said, there's something viral that he's been dealing with.
Any idea when.
Speaker 6 (27:31):
He returns, no idea when he returns, and no idea
on what exactly this viral sickness is. And I'm a
big fan of poor Zingis, great player, has been a
great fit, but always something yeah, always something right. But
I think in defense of Boston, the sense that I
got talking to people around the league before the season,
(27:53):
during the season now, and in the finals last year
when he was coming off his injury, is that they
viewed poor Zingis as a nice comp element, but not
a necessity. So I don't think that he is going
to make or break the Celtics championship fortunes. It's going
to be about Jason Tatum, Ken Jalen Brown be consistent
every single game than anything with Porzingis. But look, it
(28:15):
could be a variable only because we're talking about Oklahoma City, Cleveland.
There's so much dominance in parody right now. But I
think when you're weighing everything, that's probably a third fourth
item on their worry list that determines their fortunes.
Speaker 2 (28:34):
Jalen Brunson, when's your back?
Speaker 6 (28:37):
That's not clear either. Only then that it's at least
one week more week. But keep in mind, Doug, that's
one more week until he gets reevaluated. So I don't
think that that's when he's going to come back. Yeah,
I think he'll be back for the playoffs. But the
problem with the Knicks is they're in third place right now.
They only have a cushion for I think for about
(28:57):
five and a half games over Milwaukee, they could lose
the third seed and carl Anthone Towns he's rounded back
into form. I think that they've had a good toughness
under Tom Thibodeau, but I don't see them getting past
the second round. And with Jalen Brunson, I would be
surprised if he's back when he's reevaluated. It's also very
(29:18):
telling that the Knicks haven't said anything on what the
grade level of his ankle sprain is, and that really
determines how severe this is. If it's a grade one,
you're only talking a few weeks, but anything beyond that
it could be, you know, a few months.
Speaker 3 (29:33):
Mark, great stuff is oys way to bring so much
insight and information. We truly appreciate thanks for a guest
on Fox, Petrinia.
Speaker 6 (29:38):
Doug appreciate you, sir.
Speaker 5 (29:39):
Be sure to catch the live edition of The Doug
Gottlieb Show weekdays at three pm Eastern noon Pacific.
Speaker 3 (29:47):
At The Doug Gottlieb Show, Fox Sports Radio. Coming to
you from the tyreg dot Com Studios top of the hour.
Uh we got don't call it a throwback Thursday. I
think you're gonna love this one because usually we go
way back. This is not that far back.
Speaker 2 (30:02):
You'll love it.
Speaker 3 (30:02):
Plus big injury in college basketball we shall discuss and
and Aaron Rodgers is doing his Aaron Rodgers thing. What
does that mean for the future Hall of Famer at quarterback.
We'll get to that next hour, but first let's get
to a game with Isac Lowenkron.
Speaker 5 (30:22):
This is game time on the Doug Gottlieb.
Speaker 2 (30:27):
Show, Isaac Glowing Crown. What's the game today?
Speaker 7 (30:33):
But it's a prelude to the event that Green Bay
will host for the NFL.
Speaker 6 (30:38):
I feel a draft.
Speaker 5 (30:42):
I feel a draft.
Speaker 7 (30:43):
It's potentially an actual sound effect when the NFL Draft
comes to green Bay. Anyway, the topic here an NBA
related draft. The Gang is going to draft NBA players
that we would spend good money to watch. I suppose
the definition of good money flexible depending on who is
doing the pick. But here is the order snake format.
(31:04):
It's gonna start with you, Doug, because you can't trade
a top pick to yourself, followed by Jason, myself, Sam
and then back around with the first pick in the
draft of NBA players, you would spend good money to watch.
Here is Doug gottlieb NBA players.
Speaker 2 (31:23):
I would spend good to watch h Luka doncik.
Speaker 7 (31:27):
Okay Luka, don'ta goes number one. Jason Stewart. I'm going
to stay true to my I want to be consistent.
I never want our listener to be like, but wait
a minute, you had that take about that thing that
contradicts what you just said, right, takes no doubt following
the social media account at Jason's takes.
Speaker 4 (31:48):
Yeah, I just want to be consistent for listeners, and
throughout my Caitlin Clark takes, I've been saying this, She's
the Steph Curry of women's basketball, a person that I
would go out of my way to see, and for
the sake of this exercise, I would pay good money
to see Steph Curry.
Speaker 7 (32:07):
I will go with Lebron James Sam.
Speaker 8 (32:09):
I'm gonna go with Nikola. He's the lozenge. He's the
cough drop for any team that needs a triple double.
I just want to see a guy in person, like
you know, just evade people in the way that he
does it's just so unimpressive yet impressive.
Speaker 7 (32:33):
Ironically, Luca sorry, Ironically, Nikola Jokic himself would not pay
good minute money to see Nikola Jokic play. He'd rather
go watch a horse show or something.
Speaker 4 (32:45):
I'd rather be writing my chariot. Literally.
Speaker 7 (32:48):
All right, Sam, you got the fifth pick?
Speaker 8 (32:49):
Oh boy, Okay, I'll take man. I'll take John Morant.
I think he's explosive, he's exciting. I'll put the hiss,
we'll put the pass in, the history behind it. I'll
take Jaw.
Speaker 7 (33:01):
I wouldn't pay good money to watch John Morant play,
but I would pay great money to hang out with
him after the game. Anyway, With the next pick, I
take Gosh, I can't avoid being snarky. Whatever the opposite
of retroactive is, I'm going to pre retroactively take aj
D Bonsa. He is supposed to be the number one
(33:23):
overall pick of the twenty twenty six NBA draft. He's
going to by you next year, apparently.
Speaker 3 (33:30):
So now with this, so you pay good money to
see a guy who's not gonna be in the NBAVIOR, No.
Speaker 7 (33:34):
I will be paying good money to see him in
twenty twenty six. It's kind of like a future.
Speaker 8 (33:39):
It's using a time machine.
Speaker 4 (33:40):
Yeah, it gives you time to save too exactly. That's
another pick pick.
Speaker 2 (33:45):
I think that's a blatant rules violation.
Speaker 7 (33:48):
Oh is Adam Silver gonna find me? Well, he probably is.
Jason seventh pick.
Speaker 4 (33:54):
I'm going to retroactively tell Geez retroactively tell a joke. Okay, Isaac,
serious question? And if Ja Morant put a gun to
her head to chust him. With the fifth overall pick, touche,
I'm gonna go Victor wemban Yam, even though I hate
his nickname, and I would I would say that to
his face. He needs a new nickname. Uh, I go
(34:15):
Wemby because he's just a freaking nature And.
Speaker 7 (34:18):
Doug, you got the last pick, but probably is.
Speaker 3 (34:25):
I've seen Lebrin play a lot of times and he
has not been selected, has he?
Speaker 5 (34:30):
Uh?
Speaker 7 (34:30):
No, I took I took Lebron. I took him fourth.
Speaker 2 (34:33):
Oh he took him fourth over or third?
Speaker 4 (34:34):
Sorry?
Speaker 3 (34:35):
I love watching Jalen Brunson, but it is it's like again,
it's like watching an accountant work. Like you know, it's
really precise and really good, but is it really all
that much fun to go watch?
Speaker 2 (34:46):
Uh?
Speaker 3 (34:47):
I think this comes down to one of two guys
LaMelo balls one and an huh and Anthony Edwards is
the other.
Speaker 2 (34:57):
Did anybody pick Anthony Edwards?
Speaker 7 (34:58):
No?
Speaker 2 (34:58):
No, Yeah, he's still on the board, Anthony Edwards.
Speaker 4 (35:00):
I say we accept both of those as the end
of our second and beginning of our third round.
Speaker 7 (35:05):
Okay, well we are going to go with bonus around then.
So with Doug taking those two, we got Jason, me
and then Sam to round it out.
Speaker 4 (35:16):
The front runner for the MVP right now? Has he
been taken Jog Sga?
Speaker 7 (35:22):
No?
Speaker 4 (35:22):
No, I think that speaks to Sga and the Thunder
that hasn't been taken yet. But I will take him
with the tenth overall pick.
Speaker 7 (35:32):
Yes, So then with the eleventh overall pick, I will
therefore select Yannis on tenned.
Speaker 4 (35:38):
Tempo should have trade it up.
Speaker 7 (35:39):
Sorry, you know Jason had that last pick available in
exchange for him getting to tell another joke. There's always
a deal to be had, all right, slim.
Speaker 3 (35:48):
The one thing about Gianni says you do get a
twofer right right now because you get to see Lillard
play as well.
Speaker 7 (35:53):
Oh that's a that's a good point.
Speaker 4 (35:54):
I thought you were talking about his brothers. You'd get
his bauz hm hm hmmmm.
Speaker 8 (36:04):
Man, let me think, well you have Okay, you know
what I'll just go with. I'll go with I'll go
with the ragning the best player on the raining Champs,
Jason Tatum.
Speaker 4 (36:14):
How about that?
Speaker 7 (36:16):
There you go, ironic that the front runner for the
MVP and the best player on the defending champs. Taken
so late, but welcome to the NBA in twenty twenty five.
So that is this edition of the game featuring I
Feel a Draft.
Speaker 6 (36:32):
I Feel a Draft.
Speaker 2 (36:34):
Game.
Speaker 5 (36:36):
This is game time on the Doug Gottlieb.
Speaker 3 (36:39):
Show, Stuck Got Leave Show here on Fox Sports Radio.
In truth, would any of you guys pay money to
see any of those guys play?
Speaker 4 (36:49):
I would, Yeah, you would. Curry I've never seen him,
I would.
Speaker 2 (36:52):
Oh, okay, yeah that makes sense. It's it's something Seth.
Speaker 3 (36:56):
Curry's the most amazing phenomenon where you literally think the
balls going in every Heivy shoots, You're like, yeah, why not,
Well he just kicked the ball up into the air
off the score, but yah.
Speaker 2 (37:06):
It's going.
Speaker 8 (37:07):
In the last NBA game I went to, Anthony Davis
was still playing for the Pelicans, so I got to
see him against the Clippers at then Staples Center, and
he had a great game. I still think he scored
like thirty three or something. But that's the last game
I went to. That was a while ago.
Speaker 3 (37:21):
Yeah, I went to a couple of last year. This year,
I went to a Bucks Magic game. It's a blowout,
but it was still like they're good seats and yeah,
I mean it was definitely, definitely strong in the entertainment value.
Coming up next to The Doug golemp Show Live with
the Tyreck dot Com Studios. Some people call it a throwback.
Speaker 2 (37:38):
We don't. It's next The Doug Gotleib Show, Fox Sports
Tridio
Thanks for listening to the Doug Gotlieb Show podcast. Be
sure to catch us live every weekday three to twelve
two Pacific on Fox Sports Radio. Find your local station
for the Doug Gottlieb Show at Fox Sports Radio dot com,
or stream us live every day on the iHeartRadio app by.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
Searching app as talk Boom.
Speaker 3 (00:18):
What of America Doug Gottlieb Show, Fox Sports Radio coming
to hear from the tyrack dot com studios tyrack dot com.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Well you get there.
Speaker 3 (00:26):
Unmatched selection, fast free shipping, free road has protection over
ten thousand recommend installers tyrack dot com. It's the way
the tire buying should be.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (00:45):
Still stunned a little bit by that news of John
Feinstein passing. Uh again, I want to do the sports
radio talkie talk thing and we will.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
But oh that's a man.
Speaker 3 (01:04):
It's a gut punch from this standpoint. So John Finstein
passed away today? Did I do the tyrach We're broadcasting
from the tyrat dot com studios. Unmatched selection, fast free shipping,
free road has protection over ten thousand recommended sallars. Tyrat
dot COM's way tire buying should be. So we're getting
(01:25):
ready to do the show and Jason Stewart. He says, hey,
did you hear about John Feinstein? And you know, like
it's very very interesting here the I'll just give you
a little history lesson on me and then my relationship
(01:47):
on John and Jason Stewart's relationship with John. So when
I was in fourth grade, I had to go see
a reading specialist. You know, I was the classic Ada
add or now it's adhd kid right where they're like, well,
maybe we put him on Rulin because I would get
(02:09):
bored in school. I'd get up, I'd walk around the classroom,
really good at math and science, not particularly good at English.
Not a great reader, a more oral presentation sort of guy.
And so uh, the reading specialist was like, look, he
just needs to sit down and read books. And my
(02:29):
dad's big thing was like, you know, sign you got
to pass the English part of the sat Like my
dad nearly got a perfect score on the on the
math part as well, and he'd be and he.
Speaker 2 (02:38):
Is a vociferous reader. So we made it.
Speaker 3 (02:42):
He made a deal with me that I got five
bucks every time I finished a novel, and they we
would alternate between nonsports and sports novel right. So my
my non sports now, first non sports novel was The
(03:05):
Boys from Brazil by Leon URIs. You guys ever heard
of The Boys from Brazil? Leon Leon yours is incredible,
award winning best selling author. If you, guys, Jay Stu,
you ever read.
Speaker 2 (03:17):
Are familiar with the movie?
Speaker 3 (03:19):
Oh yeah became okay, so and I guess I can.
It's like a fifty or sixty year old book by
fifty year old book, right, or maybe not that old,
but it was.
Speaker 2 (03:29):
It was really fascinating if you think about it.
Speaker 3 (03:31):
The the premise was that Nazis had escaped Nazi Germany
to Argentina and through the through the use of genetic splicing,
they had created basically Hitler clones and they were trying
to mirror Hitler's upbringing to help you know, mother Germany
(03:51):
rise again. That was I mean really like now obviously
it's like truth or stranger than fiction, and now it's like, wow,
these technicist technology probably does in fact exist. Anyway, when
I would read the sports books, my first one was
actually the autobiography of Catfish Hunter, fascinating, but I fell
(04:17):
in love with John Feinstein's work with A Season on
the Brink, which of course followed around Bob Knight in Indiana,
and it was a terrible year one in which ended
up in the NIT and it was I think the
year before they end up two years before they end
up winning a national championship. And you followed up with
(04:38):
a season inside. And later on there was Next Man Up,
which followed around the Baltimore Ravens, and each one there
was the Army Navy, one there was Forever's team. Like
you kind of go back and if you know, if
you've ever read a sports novel and you read more
than one or two, you read a Feinstein and you're like,
(04:58):
that was unbelievably thorough.
Speaker 2 (05:00):
Couldn't put it down.
Speaker 3 (05:02):
It remarkably not a well written but it was kind
of well narrated in terms of how I was written.
Because I always thought, like, I'm a big Tom Clancy guy, right,
but Tom Clancy's novels at times became too wordy and
I don't care about the exact data behind every missile
that it's like showing off how much research he had done.
But for whatever reason, I thought Feinstein did just the
(05:22):
right amount of I've done the right research, yet it's
tangible to you. So fast forward to twenty twelve and
I started. I was part of the initial launch group
to CBS Sports Radio, and we followed Jim Rome, I
believe right. That's how it was Jim Rome and then US.
(05:44):
And before Jim Rome was John Feinstein had a show
and John was let go. Well I still had the
radio job there, and I don't want to know if
we had a falling out, but they were just you know,
John was not the easiest dude in the world. Now,
(06:05):
when I say that, you're going to sound like that's
gonna sound like John was an a hole. He wasn't.
He just wasn't easy. He did not what's the term
you used, Jay Stu didn't suffer.
Speaker 4 (06:16):
What he did not suffer fools.
Speaker 2 (06:19):
No, not at all.
Speaker 3 (06:21):
And he held people people around him to a way
higher standard than most people did. And I know, and
and look what happens in this business is when you're
like that, you can get you can get coined difficult.
But difficult doesn't mean bad. Difficult just means difficult. And
I mean I just fascinating to fascinating person. Somewhere along
(06:44):
the way over the past well, you know, I've been
at Fox Sports Radio for eight years. Over the past
five years, he and I have run into each other
at various events. Back when I was the CBS, I
covered the Patriot League. I saw one of those games.
Of course, he wrote the book on the page, literally
wrote the book on the Patriot League. And then in
the last eight years we ran each other. It's the
(07:04):
Big Ten tournament, the NCAA tournament, and we had kind of,
I don't know, made amends, but there was no falling out.
It was I don't even remember what it was over,
but I think it was mostly over the fact that
John got let go and he just lashed out at
people because he was upset, which you have every right
to be upset. I didn't get you fired. I didn't
(07:25):
like none of that thing was me, But that's what
I thought. I thought that's where his bitterness kind of
came from. And Jason, I want to get to your story
about him in a second, but here's what's fascinating. Obviously,
our season did not go as planned in terms of
wins and losses. There are tons of wins and some
(07:46):
losses off the court and in the preparation and things
that we've learned, and in terms of the story, like
I still continue to contend that if you named college
basketball teams that have been covered this year, there's like five,
five or six, and we're one of.
Speaker 2 (08:02):
The five or six. Right, we're one of the five
or six.
Speaker 3 (08:06):
Your college basketball is kind of a month long sport,
but there's like five or six and we're one of
the five or six. And uh, you know, we we've done.
We have a pilot, and there's another couple of shows
for a reality show, and we have the buyers are
kind of lining up, you know, all the all of
the usuals want to have you know them follow us
(08:29):
around be embedded. And we have a production group that's
already done some of this work and it's really really
good stuff. But there's a lot that happened this year,
like man, I wish there was a camera there, or
man I don't I wish there wasn't.
Speaker 2 (08:39):
A camera there.
Speaker 3 (08:41):
But it's a it's a really fascinating story, like if
people only knew And uh, let me just make sure
I get the date right. So I texted John March fifth,
March fourth, and he texted me back March fifth. He said,
are you glad You're season is over? I said, no,
we just were figuring out playing well and starting to
(09:04):
get healthy. So we texted back and forth a little
bit and I said, what are you working on? He said,
I'm doing a book on what makes great coaches great
besides great players. I'm also teaching journalism at Longwood University.
And I said, John, do you want your next bestseller?
He said always. I said, come follow me around for
(09:26):
a year and write this story. And he said, I'll
call you, and he did. He called me earlier this
week and I was in the middle of an exit
meeting with one of my players and I pushed that
button that says can I call you back?
Speaker 2 (09:46):
And now what it says is going to call you back? Whatever?
Speaker 3 (09:48):
And I was driving today long drive last days and
on my list of calls was John and I was like, Ah,
I'm just I'm gonna do it tomorrow or I'm gonna
do it to night. And John Feinstein passed away today
is studying And.
Speaker 2 (10:07):
How old was he?
Speaker 4 (10:08):
Ja Stu sixty eight. He died at his brother's home.
He just penned an article today for The Washington Post
about Tom Izzo.
Speaker 3 (10:22):
For people who don't know, how did you get to
know John Feinstein?
Speaker 4 (10:25):
It was in this very building that I'm in right now.
He was a frequent guest host for Jim Row And
by frequent, you know, Jim often says he takes a
lot of vacation, because he gets a lot of vacation,
and we're talking like twelve weeks a year. And I
would produce those shows for guest hosts, and John Feinstein
(10:46):
was a regular of ours. So I got to know
John on a professional level and a personal level, and
you know, to say he was difficult, He's just one
of those guys that kind of demanded a certain standard,
old school and I felt privileged to being as good
grace as because of that, because I knew he could
(11:06):
be that way, and you know, he didn't suffer fools.
And the older I get, the more I appreciate that
about people. You just know where you stood. There was
no pretense to John, and I really did love that
about him. And I read a couple of his books,
my favorite being The Punch, which chronicled the entire episode
(11:29):
of Kermit Washington almost killing Rudy Tomjanovich in a game.
And I encourage any of our listeners to read that book.
It was fascinating. One of my good friends is Stam Brooks.
He's a executive producer, made a lot of TV movies,
an Emmy Award winning producer. He was the one that
(11:50):
produced Season on the Brink for ESPN. And Stan has
told me so many stories about how Feinstein was during
that process. Imagine that, Doug. Imagine being the person that
has to make Feinstein's book into a movie and how
difficult that may have been. But again, all these stories
are just speak to how genuine he was as a person.
(12:13):
And I really did like John.
Speaker 3 (12:17):
John Finstein was sixty eight years old in John Feinstein's honor.
I have a rant I want to make and we'll
do it right now. First, let me tell you speed
up your hiring process with Express Employment Professionals. Reduced time
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(12:40):
your hiring process.
Speaker 2 (12:41):
Okay, here it is. Would you say.
Speaker 3 (12:46):
That a good portion of why he was how he
was is because at the end of the day, right,
there's a right way and a wrong way to do something.
That is that a fair depiction of it? Yep, yep, Okay,
there's a right way and there's a wrong way. And
I think, what's what's truly fascinating about college athletics, And
(13:13):
you know, we can get into the nil and all
that other stuff. But Ben Johnson was fired at about
midnight last night or this morning by the University of Minnesota.
Ben Johnson was the head coach. He's young, he was
an assistant Xavier at the time. It was a surprising hire.
He's a Minnesota allowed me play basketball Minnesota. He was
(13:33):
only assistant. Took over a Big ten job. And again, look,
you probably hired him to save money when they couldn't
get their initial guys they wanted to hire when Richard
Patino left went to New Mexico, and so they hired
Ben Johnson. And it started out pretty bad. Last year,
they ended up going to the n i T. Won
a game in the n i T. His entire starting lineup.
(13:54):
I believe left because that's what happens when you have
some success. Your whole team leaves, and now you have
to go and buy a team.
Speaker 2 (14:00):
That's where we are.
Speaker 3 (14:02):
I am not making a comment about whether or not
Ben should have kept his job, okay, because I don't
know any of the particulars other than they probably didn't
win enough and college head coaches, and look, I don't
make a lot of money as a college head coach,
but whatever I make, it's plenty.
Speaker 2 (14:22):
It's plenty.
Speaker 3 (14:23):
So you shouldn't feel bad for me if in you know,
four or five years, you know it doesn't work out,
and and my boss Josh Buon walks down the hallway
and says, hey, let's sit down, let's talk about it,
et cetera, et cetera. But there's a right way and
a wrong way to do something. And it's one thing
to fire a guy at midnight and announce it on
(14:45):
social media after you lose. It's a whole other thing
when it's also an alum of the school that he represents.
That doesn't mean he can't be fired. That doesn't mean
you're not within your rights to fire it. But again,
there's a right way and there's a wrong way. Why
can't you call him in this morning and say, hey, man,
(15:08):
we're gonna, we're gonna, we're gonna let you go, but
we want to give you a couple hours to call
your coaches, to call your support staff, to have a
team meeting, Okay, to make sure everybody knows the process
of what's taking place. And then why don't we come
back at noon. We'll grab some lunch, we'll sign some papers,
(15:30):
we'll shake hands like men, and.
Speaker 2 (15:32):
We'll be on our way. And we'll be on our way.
Speaker 3 (15:36):
And look again, I have nothing bad to say about
Minnesota or their athletic director or anything.
Speaker 2 (15:44):
Again. And I don't know.
Speaker 3 (15:47):
I don't know the particulars of why it was done
when it was done. I don't and I don't care. Okay,
Mark Coyle is their ad. Okay, he's been there since
twenty sixteen. I have no doubt that Mark who you know.
He's been the ad at Syracuse, at Boise State, he's
(16:08):
been at Kentucky. He knows what it looks like. He's
been in this business for years. There's a right way
and there's a wrong way. When do we get to
the place where you have an alum he's gonna get fired.
He gave him a whole cycle of four years. It's
not good enough. Why can't you just call him into
your office and have him relieve him of duties like
(16:32):
a grown up, like grown people do.
Speaker 2 (16:36):
Right.
Speaker 3 (16:36):
There is a right way in a wrong way, and
a midnight tweet, a midnight firing, just like the tarmac firing.
Speaker 2 (16:42):
With Lang Kippet. It ain't right. It ain't right.
Speaker 3 (16:46):
And this is not me saying, hey, Ben should have
kept his job. I thought Ben did a really good
job this year. I thought they're well coached. I didn't think.
You know, it's hard. You know you're going against teams
with gigantic payrolls, and like everybody's got their problems. I'm
not making commentary on it. Don't pay enough attention to
somebody else's team. I only know Ben is a good man,
and he's he's a gopher.
Speaker 2 (17:08):
It's not how you treat people. It's just not.
Speaker 3 (17:11):
And as much as you can sit there and say, hey,
the head coaches you make plenty of money, they do,
and Ben'll be fine.
Speaker 2 (17:18):
He'll get an assistant job.
Speaker 3 (17:19):
And now he's been a head coach for four years
in the Big Ten, and he'll he might be able
to get another head coaching job right now because he's
handled himself like a complete mench. He might not okay,
but he's got enough money now and he'll get money
on whatever. His buyout is a couple million dollars to
where he could probably live comfortably doing pretty much whatever
he wants and I'm sure he wants to coach, but
you have I mean, here's all the people that are
(17:41):
that are affected. You have all the gas, all of
the players, all of your support staff, like all of
their families are going.
Speaker 2 (17:50):
To lose their jobs, have to move.
Speaker 3 (17:52):
And again, it doesn't mean that it was wrong to
fire them and that we should think about all those
people before their fire.
Speaker 2 (17:57):
He don't.
Speaker 3 (17:58):
That's not how you run an athletic department. Times you
got to make hard decisions. I got to make some
hard decisions as well, with players, with coaches, with support staff,
and and and even with myself.
Speaker 2 (18:08):
Got to make hard decisions.
Speaker 3 (18:10):
But in the middle of the night, when the guy's
in a lum you're not firing for cause you know,
he didn't get a dui. It didn't beat up a woman.
There's no nonsense. They're not mclem Houskins was they were.
I mean the type of cheating they were doing back
in the day, right, But they did go to a
final four, so people were like, ah, Clem not bad. Like,
(18:33):
look that one you can do in the middle of
the night. That one you can do in the middle
of the night. This one it's just in honor of
John Feinstein, who did not suffer fools. That's not the
right way to do it, and I think everybody knows it,
and the more adults act this way, we shouldn't be
(18:56):
surprised when players don't even tell their coach, Hey, I'm
going to the portal.
Speaker 2 (19:00):
They just put in the portal.
Speaker 3 (19:01):
You find out on social media when players don't do
things the right way, you're like, oh, well, they're kids now,
But they are is they? They they see how everybody
else acts and they react as such.
Speaker 5 (19:12):
Be sure to catch the live edition of The Doug
Gottlieb Show weekdays at three pm Eastern noon Pacific on
Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 3 (19:23):
Stut Gottlieb Show here on Fox Sports Radio. Cue the
music there, Sammy, if you would, I really appreciate it.
That's because when you hear the music, he comes strutting in.
He's funky, he's cold, He's Mark Medina. He's our Fox
Sports Radio NBA insider, sad News Mark. And I know
(19:45):
obviously you have a journalistic background as well. John Feinstein
passed away today. Do you have a favorite Feinstein book?
Speaker 6 (19:53):
There's many, but yeah, Season on the Brink I think
would be the top of the list, learned a lot
about Bobby Knight, and learned a lot of just about
how you tell stories. I mean, the depths that John
Finstein would go in with being you know, entrenched with
the team and share their season's story was something that
you know, we all aspired to match but could never
(20:13):
truly do because John Feinstein was one of the kind.
Speaker 3 (20:16):
One of He was one of one of one. Okay,
let's let's get to some association stuff. It is weird
right that Lebron. I mean, I don't know how much
you tracked this every March about this time, you know,
something goes wrong. What are the expectations about with his return.
Speaker 6 (20:38):
It's a very good point that you make. There's an
ultimate fork in the road right now because there's uncertainty.
You know, Lebron made it clear he didn't feel like
this groin injury had the same severity as the one
he had in twenty eighteen when he then missed seventeen
consecutive games. But you pointed out a very good trend here,
Doug that basically since he's been with the Lakers, which
(20:59):
is coincide with the tail end of his career, he's
always had some injuries, and so what you've seen with
Lebron is when he's on the court, he's still playing
a high level. He's not, you know, the same player
that he was during his prime. The athleticism isn't always there,
maybe exception of this season. The defense wasn't there either,
but still alsoar caliber level. But when he has been heard,
(21:20):
his timeline to return has been delayed more than anticipated.
So as we talk right now, there's no definitive timetable
other than he's not with the team now. He's in LA,
So that means he's definitely not playing tonight's game in
Milwaukee or tomorrow's game in Denver, but that was to
be expected anyway. I'm curious on if he returns it
(21:42):
all next week when they're at home, and if not,
what the team looks like, because you would think, okay,
this is the time for Luka Dancic to make this
his own team. Everyone has had it on hands all
deck approach defensively and you know, offensively since this trade
went down. But yeah, this could be either a blessing
the Skies that he rests up before the playoffs start,
(22:05):
or could be something that all the good vibes that
started after the Luca Dons trade happened, starts going in
a downward spiral.
Speaker 3 (22:13):
Stug Gottlieb Show here on Fox Sports Radio. Yeah, it
is interesting, right, everything was smiles, everything was great. Dallas
is a mess, and now of a sudden he hurts
a groin and you're like, wait, wait a second, maybe
this is not the best team in the NBA. Speaking
of best team in the NBA, two the best met
last night. What does Oklahoma Cities win against the Celtics
(22:39):
last night do for them in the in the eyes
of people in the league.
Speaker 6 (22:44):
Yeah, I think obviously it's good when you win marquee games.
I think it was very telling that Oklahoma City has
been able to win another big game even without one
of their key players. This time it was without Jayel Williams,
but Doug Meyrick call. Earlier this season, they started the
season out with without Isaiah Hartenstein. It was fine. Then
chet Holmger missed time, it was fine. They have a
(23:05):
really great roster construction. Obviously it starts with Shay Gilgess Alexander,
but they just have so many wings that they can
throw at different teams that they've been able to offset
injuries Now, what is the win against Boston mean big picture? Yeah,
it's nice that they want undefeed against them, but as
far as what it means in the playoffs, hard to say.
(23:26):
I think and this is for the better of the league.
I think that as it stands right now, Oklahoma City, Denver, Cleveland, Boston,
they all have an equal case to be made that
they're the NBA favorite, and then it's going to come
down to which team's healthiest, which team makes best adjustments.
But that's what it seems like it's going to be,
(23:46):
Doug that that's the collision course of Eastern and Western
Conference matchups. And yeah, I think the Lakers and the Warriors, Yeah,
they've shown that they are the real deal. These trade
deadline moves with Luca Jimmy Butler, it's dramatically changed. Their
team have a chance to climb through that window if
they catch lighting in a bottle. But I think it's
really it's going to come down to those four teams,
(24:07):
and the thunder have shown that. Yeah, this idea that
they're inexperienced. I don't want to say it's not a factor,
but it's not as big of a factor compared to
all the other things that are going their way.
Speaker 3 (24:20):
Stug Gottlieb show here on Fox Sports Trader, that's the
voice of Mark Medeena or Fox Sports Radio NBA Insider.
On the other end of the coin, right, you have
teams like Utah who are openly, just openly tanking. Right
you have New Orleans, you have Washington who's just ridiculously bad.
Speaker 2 (24:44):
Can they make it a little less obvious?
Speaker 6 (24:47):
I don't think they can. I mean, what's fascinating Doug
is with this in season or not the play in tournament.
Ever since the bubble in twenty twenty, that's created a
lot of good competition at the end of the season,
but it's also exposed the extreme disparity between really good games,
the teams that are still fighting for their lives going
all in, and then the really bad teams getting even worse.
(25:10):
And so I don't know what the solution is. I
don't think any idea of, oh, let's make an inn
or a playin torment wider even more. That would cheapen
the value of having the tournament to begin with. And
that explains why some traditionalists at the beginning didn't like
it that it almost this incentivized teams to try to
(25:32):
get a playoff spot without the plan. But yeah, these
teams Washington, I would add Charlotte with exceptional LaMelo ball
making some highlight reels, and Philadelphia because they've been injured
the entire season. All those teams have been very tough
to watch. I think the only small thing is now
that Zion Williamson's back. He's put up Zion type of performances.
(25:58):
But because he's missed so much time, it's almost irrelevant.
I know that they talk about, oh yeah, just build
the habits in the next season, but it's been tough
basketball to watch with either of those five teams.
Speaker 3 (26:09):
Yeah, no question about it. Speaking of the Warriors, but
you mentioned kind of new life.
Speaker 2 (26:14):
Is this real? Can they really contend?
Speaker 4 (26:17):
Oh?
Speaker 6 (26:17):
Yeah, yeah, they really can. I mean, you look at
Jimmy Butler's numbers. He put up a triple double. He's
very efficient as a score passer, and he's hitting all
the buttons that the Warriors lacked. They didn't have a
consistent secondary score to help Steph Curry when he was
getting double teams. They weren't gain enough attempts at the
free throw line. When you look at Steph Curry's numbers,
since Jimmy Butler's been there, it's increased by about five points.
(26:40):
They've won i think, every single game, with the exception
of one game since Jimmy Butler has played with the Warriors.
So they're the real deal. But I don't think it's
enough to match up against a team like Oklahoma City
or Boston Cleveland just because they've been so dominant. But Doug,
as you know, the playoffs, it's one thing to talk
(27:01):
about how teams look on paper, how does it look
in reality? You have to always accept the fact that
teams aren't going to be at fully one hundred percent.
So I think that this is beyond Oh yeah, Steph Curry.
They have a really good thing going for them. But
if I had to make a prediction, I don't think
it's enough to win a title, but there is a
mathematical trans for it to happen.
Speaker 3 (27:22):
Let's circle back Celtics. We mentioned losing to the thunder.
Perzinga said, there's something viral that he's been dealing with.
Any idea when.
Speaker 6 (27:31):
He returns, no idea when he returns, and no idea
on what exactly this viral sickness is. And I'm a
big fan of poor Zingis, great player, has been a
great fit, but always something yeah, always something right. But
I think in defense of Boston, the sense that I
got talking to people around the league before the season,
(27:53):
during the season now, and in the finals last year
when he was coming off his injury, is that they
viewed poor Zingis as a nice comp element, but not
a necessity. So I don't think that he is going
to make or break the Celtics championship fortunes. It's going
to be about Jason Tatum, Ken Jalen Brown be consistent
every single game than anything with Porzingis. But look, it
(28:15):
could be a variable only because we're talking about Oklahoma City, Cleveland.
There's so much dominance in parody right now. But I
think when you're weighing everything, that's probably a third fourth
item on their worry list that determines their fortunes.
Speaker 2 (28:34):
Jalen Brunson, when's your back?
Speaker 6 (28:37):
That's not clear either. Only then that it's at least
one week more week. But keep in mind, Doug, that's
one more week until he gets reevaluated. So I don't
think that that's when he's going to come back. Yeah,
I think he'll be back for the playoffs. But the
problem with the Knicks is they're in third place right now.
They only have a cushion for I think for about
(28:57):
five and a half games over Milwaukee, they could lose
the third seed and carl Anthone Towns he's rounded back
into form. I think that they've had a good toughness
under Tom Thibodeau, but I don't see them getting past
the second round. And with Jalen Brunson, I would be
surprised if he's back when he's reevaluated. It's also very
(29:18):
telling that the Knicks haven't said anything on what the
grade level of his ankle sprain is, and that really
determines how severe this is. If it's a grade one,
you're only talking a few weeks, but anything beyond that
it could be, you know, a few months.
Speaker 3 (29:33):
Mark, great stuff is oys way to bring so much
insight and information. We truly appreciate thanks for a guest
on Fox, Petrinia.
Speaker 6 (29:38):
Doug appreciate you, sir.
Speaker 5 (29:39):
Be sure to catch the live edition of The Doug
Gottlieb Show weekdays at three pm Eastern noon Pacific.
Speaker 3 (29:47):
At The Doug Gottlieb Show, Fox Sports Radio. Coming to
you from the tyreg dot Com Studios top of the hour.
Uh we got don't call it a throwback Thursday. I
think you're gonna love this one because usually we go
way back. This is not that far back.
Speaker 2 (30:02):
You'll love it.
Speaker 3 (30:02):
Plus big injury in college basketball we shall discuss and
and Aaron Rodgers is doing his Aaron Rodgers thing. What
does that mean for the future Hall of Famer at quarterback.
We'll get to that next hour, but first let's get
to a game with Isac Lowenkron.
Speaker 5 (30:22):
This is game time on the Doug Gottlieb.
Speaker 2 (30:27):
Show, Isaac Glowing Crown. What's the game today?
Speaker 7 (30:33):
But it's a prelude to the event that Green Bay
will host for the NFL.
Speaker 6 (30:38):
I feel a draft.
Speaker 5 (30:42):
I feel a draft.
Speaker 7 (30:43):
It's potentially an actual sound effect when the NFL Draft
comes to green Bay. Anyway, the topic here an NBA
related draft. The Gang is going to draft NBA players
that we would spend good money to watch. I suppose
the definition of good money flexible depending on who is
doing the pick. But here is the order snake format.
(31:04):
It's gonna start with you, Doug, because you can't trade
a top pick to yourself, followed by Jason, myself, Sam
and then back around with the first pick in the
draft of NBA players, you would spend good money to watch.
Here is Doug gottlieb NBA players.
Speaker 2 (31:23):
I would spend good to watch h Luka doncik.
Speaker 7 (31:27):
Okay Luka, don'ta goes number one. Jason Stewart. I'm going
to stay true to my I want to be consistent.
I never want our listener to be like, but wait
a minute, you had that take about that thing that
contradicts what you just said, right, takes no doubt following
the social media account at Jason's takes.
Speaker 4 (31:48):
Yeah, I just want to be consistent for listeners, and
throughout my Caitlin Clark takes, I've been saying this, She's
the Steph Curry of women's basketball, a person that I
would go out of my way to see, and for
the sake of this exercise, I would pay good money
to see Steph Curry.
Speaker 7 (32:07):
I will go with Lebron James Sam.
Speaker 8 (32:09):
I'm gonna go with Nikola. He's the lozenge. He's the
cough drop for any team that needs a triple double.
I just want to see a guy in person, like
you know, just evade people in the way that he
does it's just so unimpressive yet impressive.
Speaker 7 (32:33):
Ironically, Luca sorry, Ironically, Nikola Jokic himself would not pay
good minute money to see Nikola Jokic play. He'd rather
go watch a horse show or something.
Speaker 4 (32:45):
I'd rather be writing my chariot. Literally.
Speaker 7 (32:48):
All right, Sam, you got the fifth pick?
Speaker 8 (32:49):
Oh boy, Okay, I'll take man. I'll take John Morant.
I think he's explosive, he's exciting. I'll put the hiss,
we'll put the pass in, the history behind it. I'll
take Jaw.
Speaker 7 (33:01):
I wouldn't pay good money to watch John Morant play,
but I would pay great money to hang out with
him after the game. Anyway, With the next pick, I
take Gosh, I can't avoid being snarky. Whatever the opposite
of retroactive is, I'm going to pre retroactively take aj
D Bonsa. He is supposed to be the number one
(33:23):
overall pick of the twenty twenty six NBA draft. He's
going to by you next year, apparently.
Speaker 3 (33:30):
So now with this, so you pay good money to
see a guy who's not gonna be in the NBAVIOR, No.
Speaker 7 (33:34):
I will be paying good money to see him in
twenty twenty six. It's kind of like a future.
Speaker 8 (33:39):
It's using a time machine.
Speaker 4 (33:40):
Yeah, it gives you time to save too exactly. That's
another pick pick.
Speaker 2 (33:45):
I think that's a blatant rules violation.
Speaker 7 (33:48):
Oh is Adam Silver gonna find me? Well, he probably is.
Jason seventh pick.
Speaker 4 (33:54):
I'm going to retroactively tell Geez retroactively tell a joke. Okay, Isaac,
serious question? And if Ja Morant put a gun to
her head to chust him. With the fifth overall pick, touche,
I'm gonna go Victor wemban Yam, even though I hate
his nickname, and I would I would say that to
his face. He needs a new nickname. Uh, I go
(34:15):
Wemby because he's just a freaking nature And.
Speaker 7 (34:18):
Doug, you got the last pick, but probably is.
Speaker 3 (34:25):
I've seen Lebrin play a lot of times and he
has not been selected, has he?
Speaker 5 (34:30):
Uh?
Speaker 7 (34:30):
No, I took I took Lebron. I took him fourth.
Speaker 2 (34:33):
Oh he took him fourth over or third?
Speaker 4 (34:34):
Sorry?
Speaker 3 (34:35):
I love watching Jalen Brunson, but it is it's like again,
it's like watching an accountant work. Like you know, it's
really precise and really good, but is it really all
that much fun to go watch?
Speaker 2 (34:46):
Uh?
Speaker 3 (34:47):
I think this comes down to one of two guys
LaMelo balls one and an huh and Anthony Edwards is
the other.
Speaker 2 (34:57):
Did anybody pick Anthony Edwards?
Speaker 7 (34:58):
No?
Speaker 2 (34:58):
No, Yeah, he's still on the board, Anthony Edwards.
Speaker 4 (35:00):
I say we accept both of those as the end
of our second and beginning of our third round.
Speaker 7 (35:05):
Okay, well we are going to go with bonus around then.
So with Doug taking those two, we got Jason, me
and then Sam to round it out.
Speaker 4 (35:16):
The front runner for the MVP right now? Has he
been taken Jog Sga?
Speaker 7 (35:22):
No?
Speaker 4 (35:22):
No, I think that speaks to Sga and the Thunder
that hasn't been taken yet. But I will take him
with the tenth overall pick.
Speaker 7 (35:32):
Yes, So then with the eleventh overall pick, I will
therefore select Yannis on tenned.
Speaker 4 (35:38):
Tempo should have trade it up.
Speaker 7 (35:39):
Sorry, you know Jason had that last pick available in
exchange for him getting to tell another joke. There's always
a deal to be had, all right, slim.
Speaker 3 (35:48):
The one thing about Gianni says you do get a
twofer right right now because you get to see Lillard
play as well.
Speaker 7 (35:53):
Oh that's a that's a good point.
Speaker 4 (35:54):
I thought you were talking about his brothers. You'd get
his bauz hm hm hmmmm.
Speaker 8 (36:04):
Man, let me think, well you have Okay, you know
what I'll just go with. I'll go with I'll go
with the ragning the best player on the raining Champs,
Jason Tatum.
Speaker 4 (36:14):
How about that?
Speaker 7 (36:16):
There you go, ironic that the front runner for the
MVP and the best player on the defending champs. Taken
so late, but welcome to the NBA in twenty twenty five.
So that is this edition of the game featuring I
Feel a Draft.
Speaker 6 (36:32):
I Feel a Draft.
Speaker 2 (36:34):
Game.
Speaker 5 (36:36):
This is game time on the Doug Gottlieb.
Speaker 3 (36:39):
Show, Stuck Got Leave Show here on Fox Sports Radio.
In truth, would any of you guys pay money to
see any of those guys play?
Speaker 4 (36:49):
I would, Yeah, you would. Curry I've never seen him,
I would.
Speaker 2 (36:52):
Oh, okay, yeah that makes sense. It's it's something Seth.
Speaker 3 (36:56):
Curry's the most amazing phenomenon where you literally think the
balls going in every Heivy shoots, You're like, yeah, why not,
Well he just kicked the ball up into the air
off the score, but yah.
Speaker 2 (37:06):
It's going.
Speaker 8 (37:07):
In the last NBA game I went to, Anthony Davis
was still playing for the Pelicans, so I got to
see him against the Clippers at then Staples Center, and
he had a great game. I still think he scored
like thirty three or something. But that's the last game
I went to. That was a while ago.
Speaker 3 (37:21):
Yeah, I went to a couple of last year. This year,
I went to a Bucks Magic game. It's a blowout,
but it was still like they're good seats and yeah,
I mean it was definitely, definitely strong in the entertainment value.
Coming up next to The Doug golemp Show Live with
the Tyreck dot Com Studios. Some people call it a throwback.
Speaker 2 (37:38):
We don't. It's next The Doug Gotleib Show, Fox Sports
Tridio
Host
Doug Gottlieb
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