October 21, 2025 • 38 mins
Doug and the crew cover stories they didn't get to on Monday in this installment of "Tuesday Morning Quarterback". Doug welcomes sports author Yaron Weitzman onto the show to talk about his new book: A Hollywood Ending: The Dreams and Drama of the Lebron Lakers. Dan Beyer takes Doug through The Press.
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Thanks for listening to The Doug Gotleep Show podcast. Be
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Show Fox Sports Radio. Doo doo doo doo doo doo
(00:23):
doo doo doo doo doo do dood. I hope you're
having a great day. The Doug Gottleep Show broadcast live
every single day, same BAT time, same BAT channel. Plus,
we got the podcast. Plus we got the podcast only
version of the show. All you gotta do is download
it or v download podcast. We'll talk some NCAA tournament expansion,
We'll talk some ooh, we'll talk some Lebron and the
(00:46):
Lakers as your own. Whitesman has authored a new book,
Tanking to the Top, a Hollywood ending the dreams and
drama of the Lebron Lakers. Oh Tasty Taste Day. Plus
we get the press up covin It's a Tuesday, which
(01:06):
means one of my favorite segments that I didn't come
up with in the show is about to be on display.
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Com the way tire buying should be. So look, we
(01:28):
feel like there's so many NFL stories you can't cover
them all. So in an effort to cover the ones
that you may have missed but we did not, we
came up with Tuesday Morning Quarterback.
Speaker 2 (01:42):
Well, Tuesday, kid, this is Tuesday morning quarterback in the afternoon.
Mondays can be overwhelming. Tuesdays are getting to whatever we
didn't get to on Monday. Yeah, this is Tuesday morning
Quarterback in the afternoon.
Speaker 1 (01:58):
Who don't want to go out back in the apter nod?
You know, Dan, I'm gonna give you a first crack
at this thing because I know how like you just
you're watching all this game Sunday, you know, you can
only talk about so many Then Monday we get to
the leads. Whatever there's you have so much that ends
up on the cutting room floor. What's the one story
(02:19):
that you most think we have missed collectively as national media,
and you want.
Speaker 3 (02:25):
To get to well, I don't know if it's categorized
as that, but I do think that it needs to
be talked about because we look at the worst teams
in the NFL, as the Jets because they're zero to seven,
or the Titans because they're one and six and fired
their head coach. Something happened on Sunday as I was
watching the early window of games and saw that the
(02:46):
Raiders in the fourth quarter had just three first downs
against the Kansas City Chiefs in their game, and I
just thought, my goodness, that is that is absurd. Kansas
City dominated that game. I saw clip yesterday of Gardner Minshew,
Chiefs backup quarterback taking a knee with two and a
(03:07):
half minutes left in that contest. Why why rub it
in even more? For Andy Reid and then Doug Last night,
when I was doing my I Want Your Flex podcast,
I went I looked at the team stats in that
game just for a second and saw, wait a second,
the Raiders ended up with only three first downs in
(03:29):
that game against Kansas City. Gino Smith had sixty seven
yards passing in that game. They held the ball for
a whopping seventeen minutes and fifty two seconds, completely outclassed
by the Chiefs. But the amazing thing is is I
think the Raiders are one of the three worst teams
(03:49):
in the National Football League and we just aren't talking
about them because of how bad the Jets have been
and the Titans firing their coach, And maybe we're clouded
by a Week one win against the Patriots, which I
think we now look back and say, how in the
world did that happen? But the Pete Carroll era to
try to turn things around is not happening. There is
(04:11):
no ground game with Chip Kelly as their offensive coordinator.
And now if you just wonder have the Raiders has
the game passed Pete Carroll and everybody by like, this
is not the start you would want if you're a
Silver and Black fan, and they do not have hope
on the way aside from brock Bauers hopefully getting healthy
for them.
Speaker 1 (04:32):
Besides that, the show.
Speaker 3 (04:38):
Third West, worst point differential in the National Football League.
Speaker 1 (04:42):
The Raiders commitment to excrement, commitment to extra.
Speaker 4 (04:50):
Jay Stoo, I think that there is a.
Speaker 1 (04:54):
Hold on, hold on, hold on, where's your signature? Line.
Speaker 4 (04:58):
Okay, well, so hold on, hold on, allow me to
explain to the listener the evolution of my line. The
evolution of my line entails one thing. It entails a
fairly lengthy introduction from Doug. So when Doug starts to
introduce me, I cut him off. But Doug, knowing that
(05:20):
I have an introductory line, goes to me very fast
with these the least amount of words for me to
cut him off on. So now the fund's over. There's
no more fun. So I'm just gonna go along with
my Tuesday Morning quarterback topic.
Speaker 2 (05:36):
Doug, I'll take it from here.
Speaker 4 (05:38):
Sorry, I had to. Okay, anybody who chose Barkley in
the top five or six picks of their fantasy draft
knows exactly where I'm coming from. Saquon Barkley was a
player that probably won you your fantasy league last season.
Remember he was I think like a second round pick.
(06:01):
Joel Shane chose to let him go to the Eagles
and all that, and became the offensive Player of the
Year and everything else. The stats this year through seven
weeks are astounding, and we're talking about, if you want
to give it contrast, we're talking about a year where
the familiar running backs are having the good seasons. Running back, yeah,
(06:25):
Christian McCaffery. We just saw Jami Gibbs last night. Last
night was awesome, James Cook, Jon Robinson dependable. And then
you throw in randoms like Rico Dowdell and Javonte Williams.
Speaker 1 (06:39):
What's the running back yet? Did you say Swift? I'm sorry.
With the Bears, he had like one hundred and twenty
seven yards rushing.
Speaker 4 (06:43):
DeAndre Swift is another yeah, But for whatever reason, Saquon
Barkley is not has not joined that collection of running
backs having amazing seasons. You could put the I guess
to blame it. Kevin Patullo. He's the new offensive coordinator
for the Eagles.
Speaker 1 (07:00):
Now listen, hold on, I'm I'm I hate interrupt, but
I'm gonna interrupt.
Speaker 4 (07:05):
Hold on, hold on.
Speaker 1 (07:06):
Do you remember the discussion everyone had. We had a
little different discussion on the running backs, and at the
end of the year last year, like, well, clearly the
owners were wrong and these guys are worth it. And
my whole point was the argument wasn't over paying guys
for a year. It wasn't really over paying guys for
two years. It was how much you would pay them
(07:26):
and for how long. The fight for Saquon Barkley was
over a second and a third year guaranteed at what amount?
And the Eagles redid his deal in the offseason. And
now here we are in the second year of what
would have been a three year deal and he's fallen off.
That's the problem. It's really hard to be really consistent
once you get into your late twenties in the NFL. Sorry,
(07:49):
go ahead, Jameson.
Speaker 4 (07:50):
But I would say that the old cliche of the
squeaky wheel the oil.
Speaker 1 (07:56):
Yeah, so much.
Speaker 4 (07:57):
Real estate, so much oxigen has been taken up over
AJ Brown and his complaints. How do we get aj involved?
And Saquan has been silent the entire time. He's been
a supportive, good teammate. He's the one after games that
talks about winning is all that matters. And just to
(08:20):
give the listener just kind of a look see of
how bad has it been. Of the twenty four running
backs who have at least seventy five carries this season,
Barkley ranks dead last three point three yards of carry.
Barkley averaged five point eight yards of carry just a
year ago. Last year, he ran for one hundred and
twenty five yards a game this year fifty two. So
(08:42):
if there is an indictment on this offense, I know
AJ Brown gets a lot of the oxygen. Kevin Patulo
needs to find a way to get Saquon Barkley loose,
because I would disagree with Doug on this. It's only
been a year. I don't think that there's been a
massive degrading of talent or speed in just a year.
(09:03):
Something's going on in this offense that isn't just Aj
Brown Oriental.
Speaker 3 (09:09):
That is correct. Their offensive line is banged up, played
without Cam Jurggens their center. There's also the Jalen Hurts
question as well, And if I'm a defense and I'm
trying to key on something, I'm keying on Saquon Barkley.
Also from a fantasy football perspective, which I think we
all have. Jalen Hurts also will take away carry's at
(09:32):
the goal line. So if Saquon isn't breaking away for
eighteen and twenty and fifty yard touchdown runs like he
did last season, then he's not going to be as
effective in the stat column or for your fantasy team.
And he also hasn't been that effective as a receiver
out of the backfield. So it's been a variety of
(09:53):
things that have caused to decline to Saquon Barkley. Then
I don't even think that we can necessarily pin on
him as being the reason.
Speaker 5 (10:01):
Sam Well, I just wanted to add on that the
the buzzards of the NFL media have moved on from
the passing game of the Eagles to the running game
the Eagles, and every every week there's some kind of
issue and whether they win or lose. But now I
understand what you guys are saying. Their offense is dysfunctional,
and so it's one week, it's something works one week
or all the weeks. I guess the running game in
(10:22):
Saquon Barkley don't work. I rolled these drops in. Can
I just say something because I think that's an interesting point.
Is we sit there and we complain about that your
whole deal at Jason's point of AJ Brown's taking up
so much error in the room and Jalen Hurts and
how we look at him as a quarterback. Is he
a top five quarterback?
Speaker 3 (10:42):
Like they won the Super Bowl because of Saquon, Like
that's the reason why in their offensive line, But last
week against Minnesota. Guess what, both DeVante Smith and aj
Brown over one hundred yards huge games, and you would
think that everything is solved. But to Jason's point, it's
not solved. And now we're just distracted because guess what,
Brandon Graham's coming out of retirement. So when we're talking
(11:04):
about the Eagles, it feels like we're grabbing all of
the wrong points and it should just be like, get
Saquon on track, get your offensive line healthy, and then
maybe you can try to repeat, Sorry, Sam, go.
Speaker 1 (11:16):
Ahead, go ahead, Sammy jf some else.
Speaker 5 (11:21):
No, I had my own thing, but no, I mean, yeah, well,
just a pivot here. I rolled these drops in after
the Indiana fever really pushed the Las Vegas Aces, who
eventually won the WNB Championship, pushed them to overtime in
Game five of the semi finals. I rolled these drops
in because the Indian nfere would just not go away.
(11:43):
These are from a couple of my favorite movies, Batman
Forever and Austin Powers Too. Why Won't You Die Now?
I'm not wishing violence on anyone here. This is just figurative,
a fun little exercise here. The New England Patriots dominated
the NFL for twenty years, and to quote two face,
(12:06):
why won't you go away? Okay? I often think that
the gods, the cosmos of sports, the gods of deciding
who wins and who loses and who has long you know, dynasties,
that lord works in mysterious ways. I don't understand it,
(12:26):
because the Patriots dominated the NFL for twenty years, and
they were only really down for three seasons, and now
they're back with a head coach who has that twenty
year run DNA woven into his entire structure of how
he does things. And now it looks like the Patriots
are back. Okay, if you have it, twenty years of
dominating and winning what six Super Bowl titles? A lot
(12:46):
of fans, especially fans of really downtrodden organizations like the
Browns or the Bills, they say, well, why not us?
It's our time? And now it looks like the Bill's
window is closing because the Patriots are back. They're back
on top in the AFC East, and you just have
to wonder why is it. It's because of good ownership.
As long as Robert Craft is around, it seems like
the Patriots are going to be competitive, but.
Speaker 1 (13:08):
You're really you're giving, You're giving Craft.
Speaker 5 (13:10):
I think I think ownership matters a lot. We were
talked about the Eagles. Jeffrey Lowie, I think is one
of the best owners in sports. I think if your
your your owners are really invested and they're really you know,
connected with the team, that they're gonna find reasons and
ways to get your team back on top.
Speaker 1 (13:25):
And I'm help you out here. Sure owners should just
need to hire good people.
Speaker 5 (13:30):
Well but yeah, that's not but that that's hard.
Speaker 1 (13:33):
Like like Craft doesn't have anything to do with football,
and you know, they hired a guy who was completely
an app last year and you know, with the same quarterback.
They they they they managed to kind of figure it
out that.
Speaker 3 (13:46):
Though. You know, I will say, the way that Craft
is massaged their down years, though, is really that impressive.
Speaker 4 (13:52):
Very impressive.
Speaker 1 (13:53):
Yes, he's been an adult about those massages. Yes.
Speaker 5 (13:58):
So the Patriots, I mean, we don't know if they're
going to go on and win the Super Bowl or
what what Mike Rabel's coaching ten year is going to
look like in you know, five seven years.
Speaker 1 (14:06):
Their quarterback and they got they're good.
Speaker 5 (14:08):
They got a dude and you know, you just you're like,
you know, I will win two Rose Bulls in nineteen fifties,
and then they had twenty years of darkness.
Speaker 3 (14:15):
That's the suffering I'm talking about.
Speaker 4 (14:17):
And it's not fair. It's not fair that the Patriots are.
Speaker 2 (14:19):
Back on top.
Speaker 3 (14:21):
I think it's a great point.
Speaker 5 (14:22):
Good morning, Hawaii, it's ten fifteen in the morning.
Speaker 3 (14:25):
I'll say this. I actually think that they remind me
of when the Yankees when Aaron Judge was a rookie
and you're like, oh, well that could this be a
likable Yankees team? And then like that got over with
really quick. I think that this is a likable Patriots team,
but if they continue to win, that'll probably end up
ending pretty quickly.
Speaker 1 (14:42):
Why Won't You Die? I love that movie? Sam. Do
you know how much I like the Austin Powers movies?
Speaker 6 (14:50):
And not sure I've.
Speaker 5 (14:51):
Gathered you do like him because I play you know,
their his drops pretty frequently and youays seem to respond.
So we talk about Austin Powers the franchise quite a
bit on this show.
Speaker 1 (15:00):
I'm gonna there's two quarterbacks and they played last night
and it was a super super ugly game. But I
don't want to lose sight of of two things. The Texans,
there's a bunch of stuff work. You know, you have
a coach who a couple of years ago, I felt like, man,
(15:20):
they found their coat, they found their guy, like he's
their rable, played their linebacker really good, came from San Francisco,
immediately made the playoffs. And then you have this quarterback
in CJ. Stroud, who great year at Ohio State. But
there's some people myself include like is he that good
or is it they're just so much better than everybody
(15:42):
they're playing. He was just okay last year and he
was probably below average last night. Then they got Nick Chubb,
who's like at twenty nine, I don't know if he's
rushed for more than seventy yards in the game. He
hasn't broken one hundred in the game. So it's like
all these three things happening where sophomore is slump from
Stroud is kind of seemingly extended a little bit. There's
(16:07):
just not the same something from the coaching staff. And
then you know you're built around this running game and
Nick Chubb, and Nick Chubb is a shell of his
former self. No, the Texans being mid maybe hasn't been
discussed enough. And then the other side. Look again, it
was an ugly football game, ugly ugly. But Sam Donald's
(16:31):
team is five and two, and for a guy that
has been written off much like his predecessor in Seattle,
he hadn't written back then, right back. Everyone knows that
me and uh Daniel Jeremiah and to a slightly lesser extent,
Cowherd huge, Sam Donald fans huge, still holding stock, and
(16:56):
he's not the star that his stats said he was
last But he's definitely not a bum, definitely not a bust.
And I think he's plenty good enough to get that
team to the playoffs. Dan, do you disagree?
Speaker 3 (17:08):
I think there'll be a playoff team. I just thought
there were Sam Darnold moments that happened in last night's game.
They do happen a lot worried about.
Speaker 1 (17:16):
Yeah, they do happen there. It is a real thing,
and you're you're you're right to say it. I think
he's a better version of what he used to be,
but he still does regress on some level. That is
Tuesday Morning Quarterback.
Speaker 7 (17:27):
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
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Speaker 1 (17:40):
Stug Gottlieb Show here on Fox Sports Radio. Your own
Whitesman as an author new book. It's called Tanking to
the Top, a Hollywood ending the dreams and drama of
the Lebron Lakers. You may have read excerpts of the book,
which I think most notably I was reading The Ringer.
They had excerpt and it was over Russell Westbrook and
(18:03):
what broke down in their relationship. Your own joins us
now on the Doug Gottlieb Show on Fox Sports Radio.
Good to catch up with your own. Thanks so much
for your time. Hey Doug, when did you When did
when's the book start? Like? What is in the chronological
was it in terms of Lebron before he got to
the Lakers, when he arrived the Lakers? Where where do
(18:24):
we begin this story?
Speaker 2 (18:26):
Yeah?
Speaker 6 (18:26):
We begin? And thanks for having me on the way
I kind of approached it is. I don't think you
can tell the story of Lebron and his tenure of
the Lakers and what that meant for the team and
specifically Genibus to have a star without telling the history
and story of the Bus family. So, I mean, you
can spend five books just on the Bus family. But
(18:47):
we kind of start with Jerry Buss and speed through
that and the Lakers in the end of the Colbiero
where things were kind of down and the internal drama
with the Bus family and how the team was desperate
forty lifeline really and Lebron became back.
Speaker 1 (19:04):
There's always this thing with Lebron where when he comes in,
he tries to take over, right, And it was it
was pat Riley even said like, hey, that was why
they were happy, supposedly happy to be out of Lebron business.
Was there any discussion about Rich Paul, about their involvement,
about the decision making within the organization when he came
(19:26):
aboard when they were pursuing Lebron via free agency?
Speaker 6 (19:31):
I mean, so in free agency, the Lakers, but Jeanie
and the Bus family, they were all they rolled out
the red carpet for Clutch and Lebron. But that's very much.
That was very much how Genie Buss was raised in
terms of how to how to run a basketball gap.
Speaker 8 (19:46):
Right.
Speaker 6 (19:46):
Her father was about stars and we cater to our
stars and it's Hollywood, right, And this is how it goes.
So they very much said that. I mean, it's a
great story. People kind of probably forgot it. But Contagious
Caldwell Pulp, the wig player, he's a Clutch client. He's
been the year before Lebron gets there, and he has
to serve basically in a halfway house the time for
(20:07):
I'll remember this, you are I forget what was I
don't want to be specific here, Basically the judge, they
forget away for him to play home games right with
the Lakers. Uh and and I practice and just go
sleep somewhere else in the facility in the halfway house
and the and like I think most teams they probably
would not be okay with this, but the Lakers were
very much they want to Clutch to be happy that.
(20:27):
The interesting part though is after they got him, after
they got Lebron like and it's one of the things
that was pretty surprising to me is like unpacked the reporting,
the idea that Clutch was running things. I think that
was an overstatement. I mean, you see it the year
two after Luke Waltins fired, Lebron wants the Lakers to
hire TYLERU Tyler would be a perfect candidate for them
(20:49):
at that point, you know, former Laker, which matters to them.
He gets along with Lebron, you know, the coaching obviously
a very good coach, and Lebron makes it very clear
and he wants TYLERU and the Lakers just wouldn't do
it because they didn't want to give him a con
track that was they didn't want to pay him what
Tyler's bony should get paid and Lebron you know that
the year two and you know, if Lebron was getting
the thing he wanted, that would have been perfect example
of they would have just thought him instead instead of
(21:11):
Frank Vogel.
Speaker 1 (21:12):
Yeah, it's crazy. I remember it was a it was
a three year deal and he won a four year
deal and the money wasn't huge, and then Vogel took it.
Tyler got the deal with the Clippers and the rest,
as they say, is history. What about Westbrook right the
reporting previous to year book? Okay, Iron white'sman joining us
here in the doug Outleap Show. He has written a
(21:32):
new book that's out and it's the Lakers. It's about
the Lakers and Lebron James. The book is titled Tanking
to the Top, a Hollywood ending the Lakers and the
drama of the dreams and the drama of the Lebron Lakers.
What about the Westbrook and how they ultimately traded for him,
(21:53):
because again what was reported was whether it was Buddy Healed,
Damar DeRozan, there were others that the front office supposedly wanted,
but it was Lebron James and Anthony Davis that honed
in on Russell Westbrook. What's the reality based upon your
reporting and that you've been able to write down, So.
Speaker 6 (22:14):
The reporter is the reality is they all are part
of it, and they all had a hand in it,
and then they're all trying to blame each other, right,
that's the CLDR version, Like they basically all came at
it from their own perspective. So after that season, and it's,
by the way, the part and it's interesting and I
think it gets the mistake. The mistake they made, and
I believe was so they have the bubble year and
(22:35):
they win, and the next year they start off really well, strongly.
They have Shooter and Marcus foul and they start off
stronger than they fall apart. And I think in hindsight,
we've all learned that the act the harder, crazier year
in the NBA was the year after the bubble, right
when games were back in their arenos. But we had
the season like the Lakers had seventy one days between
the end of their championship and the start of the
(22:55):
next season. And I was the year janis one walking.
The things were crazy, guys in and out for COVID
just the season was nuts and the Lakers losing the
first round with a D and Lebron but was getting hurt.
And the mistake was they react to that. They sort
of panic and react. I feel like they have to
and this is Lebron at the front office, right, this
what's happening. They all react instead of saying, you know what,
there was we had no shot. Seventy one days between
(23:17):
the seasons, like we were never gonna win. They decided
they have to go get a third star. Polinka in
the front office want a third star. Lebron wants to
as someone else. They want someone who could help maybe
carry some of the offense the juice. So Lebron holds
up him. Anthony Davis and Jared Dudley start going through
names and Bradley Beals and mar the Rozen are on
the list Westbrook too. They reach out to Westbrook at
the same time Polinka was in the off front office
talking about how much he wanted a third Scar and
(23:39):
you know the Nets like, let's talk look the Nets
Big three model, we have to beat them, and the
Lakers actually have. So Lebron's talking to Westbrook, the Lakers
start back channeling, talking to Westbrook's agent, and so it's
they're all approaching it from different angles and they end
up getting the trade, goes through it and it gets
completed at an ownership level. Genie Bus ends up executing
(23:59):
it with uh, with the Wizard's owner at that level
to kind of go through some good trade compensation. And
then it all goes horribly and they all start blaming
each other and telling, you know, say, no they brought
to us, No, they brought it in to us. So
it's that it's just to me, it's kind of telling.
It's kind of emblematic of the whole tenure, in the
whole partnership.
Speaker 1 (24:17):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (24:17):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (24:18):
The the excerpt I read was about Westbrook basically saying
the Bronze of phony right that right the the the
Malcolm X book, what's your favorite part? So many the
Godfather's my favorite movie. What's your favorite line?
Speaker 8 (24:34):
Oh?
Speaker 1 (24:34):
So many? You know, all of those things which we
laugh about the media, and but it is that that's
a real thing in league circles, or at least with
with Westbrook and how we've used him.
Speaker 6 (24:47):
For sure. But it was so funny though, because to
me it's funny so seeing that yesterday. So it's a
great story. And you know, the short version is Lebron
walks out before the Lakers are gonna have Will Smith
come speak to the group because they bring in the
famous people do that, and Lebron walks out out he
doesn't want to be there. He ends up being pulled
back in by Darwin Ham. And then what Wilson has
done and Lebron asks a million questions, is that as
it's happening, Westbrooki is growing furious just watching it and
(25:10):
later says, so a teammate, I hate that takes stuff.
I I can't stand it right. And there's a picture
you could see a picture of the Lakers posted the
team picture that day of Westbrook of the whole team
with Will Smith, and you can see westbrook'scowling there, just angry,
and he's right the part I found fascinating. And you know,
I'm in my mentions yesterday because I'm looking, because I'm vain,
obviously I'm gonna check all my mentions and most of
(25:30):
the most of the commentary is like, yeah, team Ross,
go get him Lebronz of phony, Team Ross and you can.
I have no issue with that, And there's plenty of
examples like that. The thing that's wild is the Westbrook
Lakers partnership did not fail because Lebron's a phony. It
failed because Russ played awfully. It was a horrible fit
and and showed no willingness to even attempt to adapt, right.
(25:53):
And it's just to me, it's telling that, for whatever
reason is this Lebron, a lot of fans don't not
only do not connect with him, but they're bothered by him,
and it's hard to fully explain why. And that to me,
it was just interesting seeing that yesterday that like I ad.
Speaker 1 (26:09):
No Jern, here's what we've We've talked about this a
lot on the show, and Jason, he's lived in Los
Angeles whole life, right, I grew up in southern California.
So my feeling towards Lebron and how Lakers fancy one.
It's hard because he wasn't always a rival. He wasn't
really a rival to Kobe okay, but he was a
(26:33):
star that took up attention from Kobe, and for whatever reason,
Laker fans view him as a kind of arrival and
now we got to cheer from. It's a lot like
when the Chargers came to town and they're playing in Carson, Like,
wait a second, Carson is Raider territory and now the
Rivals like our home team. That doesn't make sense. That's
a little bit of it. And I've just always felt
(26:53):
like a lot of the other things he's done, he
was it was one of his first couple of years
with the Lakers. You know, he get hurt. Then he
had the wine. Nobody does that when he's on the bench.
There was the time when they had the All Star
Game in Cleveland and he openly talked about going back
to Cleveland to end his careers. Like you're a Laker,
(27:14):
you don't do No one doesn't want to end their
career with the Lakers. And and so here's how we
worded it. He plays for the Lakers. It's gonna be
the what the second longest tenure because the combined tenures
of Cleveland. But no one who's a true Laker fan
views him as a Laker. He's simply a guy who
played for the Lakers. Does that make sense?
Speaker 6 (27:36):
You know it's not. I completely agree. And by the
way we in the book I write about the Kobe
Lebron's that kind of me like that there was always
It's not only that he was a challenger. They approached
they approached everything completely differently. So Kobe wasn't leaking and
Kobe didn't understand Lebron like that, Like Kobe wouldn't wind
up with friends Lebron. Does you know Kobe was all
enemies Lebron's buddies, guys on their teams. Lebron has interest
(27:59):
outside of the basket. Both doesn't mean he takes basketball.
You know, you can't do what he's done for longevity
and not take it seriously. But Kobe was all about basketball,
even the approach on the court, like you know, Kobe
will shoot over three guys, Lebron passed the open guy,
right and even with a Nike I read about this,
they kind of they there was different wings, right, like
if they hung out with different people, were operated by
different people. So one hundred percent you saw that when
(28:19):
Lebron came and Lakers fans are defacing murals. It's just
so interesting and weird. And the part that what Lebron
was robbed of, the fact that the twenty twenty title
happened in the bubble, would out fans and then there's
no parade. That would change everything because that's an emotional
connection point that could form things and that that did
(28:40):
not exist, and that just and that's where you're right, right,
So the the fact that his high point of the
franchise happened literally in a bubble, it changes history on
that and I do, yeah, it'd be interesting sliding doors
moment if it was like if that's if he went
the title in front of fans and it's a parade,
and I wonder if things are different.
Speaker 1 (28:55):
After best guess is this Lebron's last year?
Speaker 6 (29:00):
So my answer is to this, I don't know, but
I genuinely don't think he knows, right. I think that's
what we're kind of seeing now where he's trying to
figure out what he wants to do next. We've seen
it with the contract stuff, and he's clearly not happy
that he's on an expiring contract, and I feel like
he feels a little boxed in because he's gonna want
to do a farewell tour, but he's not going to
do it for some random team, and he wants to
(29:20):
get paid, right. He's big on I don't take pay
cuts anymore. I think he thinks he represents the player
for us like that. So if it comes down to
the Lakers and Caves, those are, to me are the
only two teams I could see him playing for. And
I genuinely I thought, honestly, I had not just of
the book coming out, and it would have been good
for me. I think, like I thought this was going
to be it. I really did, But I also assumed that,
(29:43):
and I could be wrong. I always assumed that he
would announce his final season before the season started, right
like they would just be a giant farewell tour like that.
And the fact that he hasn't done that yet makes
me think we're getting another year at least. But yeah,
that's my I don't know. I don't know.
Speaker 1 (29:56):
The book is called a Hollywood Ending, The Dreams and
dr of Lebron Lakers. Your own Weizman is the author. Hey,
so you can pick it up at wherever you get
books of course audio books as well your own great stuff. Man,
everybody's talking about it, can't wait to read it. Thank
you for being our guest.
Speaker 6 (30:13):
Thanks Doug, appreciate you good talking.
Speaker 7 (30:15):
Be sure to catch the live edition of the Doug
Gottlieb Show weekdays at three pm Eastern noon Pacific on
Fox Sports Radio in the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 1 (30:26):
Doug Gottlieb Show, Fox Sports Radio. Be sure check out
our brand new YouTube channel for the show. Just search
Doug gottlip Show on youtubegin Let's Doug Gotlieb Show. Be
sure to hit the subscribe button and don't just stop there.
Hit the thumbs up icon and comment to wait, let
me know if you agree with my takes you absolutely
hate them. Check out a brand new channel on YouTube. Again,
just search Doug Gottlieb Show and subscribe. Let's get to
(30:47):
Dan Byer with the press.
Speaker 3 (30:50):
The press, Doug. We've got a developing story in the
National foot Ball League. Okay, go it comes out of
New York and we're gonna get to the Jets in
just a second. O. Remember on Sunday when Sean Payton
(31:11):
head Go to the Broncos said this about having to
face Jackson Darts instead of well, Russell Wilson.
Speaker 8 (31:19):
You know they found a little spark with that quarterback.
I was talking to John Mayor not too long ago,
and I said, we were hoping that that change would
have happened long long after our game Well.
Speaker 1 (31:31):
Bird Bird, because Russell Wilson was the start in Wait.
Russell Wilson used to be the start in Denver for
Sean Payton to tell or info.
Speaker 3 (31:42):
Russell Wilson has responded via social media within the last
ten minutes, posting on x quote classless but not surprised.
Didn't realize you're still bounty hunting fifteen plus years later
through the media. Let's ride in another.
Speaker 1 (32:06):
Emoji, Wait he did let's.
Speaker 3 (32:08):
Ride hashtag Let's ride.
Speaker 1 (32:13):
You know what that makes me think? It makes me
think of Return of the Jedi, Return of the Jedi.
Somebody asked the question, why does it make your return?
Speaker 3 (32:25):
Why don't you tell us, Doug, why does it remind
you of Return of the Jedi?
Speaker 1 (32:29):
Because the most famous scene in Return of the Jedi
is when Luke takes Darth's mask off, and though most
of it is mechanical, there still is his father, a
person inside there's a bunch of machines. But so the
point is that Russell Wilson is a machine. He is
(32:50):
a but deep inside there there is still a person.
And he goes and he actually makes fun of himself
when he does hashtag let's ride.
Speaker 7 (33:03):
Well more than that, mister, mister, mister, I.
Speaker 1 (33:09):
Don't have I don't have a Broncos Country Let's ride.
Speaker 3 (33:13):
Yeah we do somewhere. But I do want to point
out that it took Russell Wilson almost forty eight hours
to come up with his comeback. Like I understand you
wouldn't hear it right after the game. We talked about
it yesterday, and I'll never forget the visual of Sean
Payton verbally undressing Russell Wilson on the sideline and Wilson
(33:36):
not doing anything about it, just taking it in. And
we've seen shots of bow Nicks and Sean Payton going
at it on the sideline. And so while Russ feels
that he may have got him back with this one,
it's Tuesday.
Speaker 1 (33:52):
This was Sunday, and he says, like George with jerkstore line,
can't you can't. I can't sit on it if you
had the jerk store line, you gotta go right with it.
Let's run.
Speaker 3 (34:07):
You're one of their best sellers. Uh, we all know
Constanza's next line. All right. Speaking of the Jets, it
started out today with Woody Johnson saying this about Aaron
glenn Is, head coach, and then their quarterback justin fields.
Speaker 9 (34:25):
It looks like he's turning around parts of it. You know,
it's hard when you have a quarterback with you know,
with a rating that we've got, you know is I mean,
he has the ability, but something just is not driving.
But if you look at any any head coach or
a quarterback like that, you're going to see similar results
if you across the league. You have to play consistently
(34:45):
at that position, and that's what we're going to try
to do. But we can just complete a pass, it
would look good. You know, you got to you got
to convince them that you could do something.
Speaker 1 (34:55):
If we could just complete a pass. He didn't say,
you know, sixty percent of our passes, longer passes, shorter passes.
He said, if we could just complete a pass, it,
you know, they might actually take you seriously. Now.
Speaker 3 (35:09):
On Sunday, they traveled to Cincinnati to face the Bengals
and ESPN is reporting that the Jets will make a
quarterback change as Tarrod Taylor would start in place of
Justin Field's fields went six to twelve for forty six
yards and that loss to the Panthers. Taylor came in
when ten to twenty two for one hundred and twenty
six yards was picked off twice.
Speaker 1 (35:32):
Yeah, I mean, I still, that's just such an indictment.
And the worst part is, like you said to start
the show, where Okay, so you love Aaron Glenn and
you're gonna empower him to pick the next quarterback, whereas
he picked this quarterback and he stinks. I don't know,
all right.
Speaker 3 (35:48):
According to ben Online, they have tracked GEO tagged ex
data over the last couple of days, okay, and of
the fifty states across the United States. This does not
include territories or other places. Does not include Puerto Rico.
Fifty states for the US, twenty four of those states
(36:10):
believe that Babe Ruth is the greatest player of all time.
Seven Ruth states say show Hey Otani is the greatest
of all time, while Willie Mays, Hank, Aaron Barry, Bonds,
and Ted Williams also received votes among states of being
the greatest of all time, but Babe Ruth. Almost half
(36:33):
of the states across the United States, according to geotract
data from x believe that Babe Ruth is the greatest
of all time.
Speaker 1 (36:41):
If that's a fight, you're not going to be able
to win, right, Like, if you're no matter what show
Hey does, somebody's gonna go like, well, Babe Ruth hit
more home runs than all every team in Major League
Baseball except for three and whatever. If shoe Otani stays healthy,
I just he's the top ten pitch, he's top ten hitter.
(37:02):
It's like little league stuff. He's that much better than
the opposition. He's the best I've ever seen. And that's
the press. May get out there in press.
Speaker 7 (37:12):
That was the press.
Speaker 1 (37:13):
Okay. A reminder that the podcast hour starts at the
top of the hour. You just download wherever you download podcasts,
just type in Doug Gottlieb Show. Speaking of Doug Gottlieb Show,
it's the same name Doug Gottlieb Show on YouTube. If
you want to check out our new YouTube channel which
has highlights, and of course you can get highlights from
every show and some of the shows actually do twenty
(37:34):
four to seven Live. I was watching last night in
Green Bay. I have a little balcony in my bedroom
and so I had the door open, and it was
definitely cool, almost cold, right like probably in his forties.
Last night, Dan, I'm watching baseball. I'm watching football. Tonight
I'm watching NBA basketball and it's fall and beautiful and
(37:59):
not freezing but not hot. I love October. I love October.
For the record, I'm not big on predicting dynasties, but
if if chet Holmgren can stay healthy and make some shots,
I think Oklahoma C is gonna repeat. Enjoy the first
night of the NBA back tomorrow on The Doug Goatlip Show,
Fox Sport Tradio
Thanks for listening to The Doug Gotleep 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 searching app as car What about your Dog Gottlieb
Show Fox Sports Radio. Doo doo doo doo doo doo
(00:23):
doo doo doo doo doo do dood. I hope you're
having a great day. The Doug Gottleep Show broadcast live
every single day, same BAT time, same BAT channel. Plus,
we got the podcast. Plus we got the podcast only
version of the show. All you gotta do is download
it or v download podcast. We'll talk some NCAA tournament expansion,
We'll talk some ooh, we'll talk some Lebron and the
(00:46):
Lakers as your own. Whitesman has authored a new book,
Tanking to the Top, a Hollywood ending the dreams and
drama of the Lebron Lakers. Oh Tasty Taste Day. Plus
we get the press up covin It's a Tuesday, which
(01:06):
means one of my favorite segments that I didn't come
up with in the show is about to be on display.
For over forty years, Tyrak has been helping customers find
the right tires for how, what and where they drive,
chip Fast and free and back by free road as protection,
with convenient installation options like mobile tire Insallation, tyret dot
Com the way tire buying should be. So look, we
(01:28):
feel like there's so many NFL stories you can't cover
them all. So in an effort to cover the ones
that you may have missed but we did not, we
came up with Tuesday Morning Quarterback.
Speaker 2 (01:42):
Well, Tuesday, kid, this is Tuesday morning quarterback in the afternoon.
Mondays can be overwhelming. Tuesdays are getting to whatever we
didn't get to on Monday. Yeah, this is Tuesday morning
Quarterback in the afternoon.
Speaker 1 (01:58):
Who don't want to go out back in the apter nod?
You know, Dan, I'm gonna give you a first crack
at this thing because I know how like you just
you're watching all this game Sunday, you know, you can
only talk about so many Then Monday we get to
the leads. Whatever there's you have so much that ends
up on the cutting room floor. What's the one story
(02:19):
that you most think we have missed collectively as national media,
and you want.
Speaker 3 (02:25):
To get to well, I don't know if it's categorized
as that, but I do think that it needs to
be talked about because we look at the worst teams
in the NFL, as the Jets because they're zero to seven,
or the Titans because they're one and six and fired
their head coach. Something happened on Sunday as I was
watching the early window of games and saw that the
(02:46):
Raiders in the fourth quarter had just three first downs
against the Kansas City Chiefs in their game, and I
just thought, my goodness, that is that is absurd. Kansas
City dominated that game. I saw clip yesterday of Gardner Minshew,
Chiefs backup quarterback taking a knee with two and a
(03:07):
half minutes left in that contest. Why why rub it
in even more? For Andy Reid and then Doug Last night,
when I was doing my I Want Your Flex podcast,
I went I looked at the team stats in that
game just for a second and saw, wait a second,
the Raiders ended up with only three first downs in
(03:29):
that game against Kansas City. Gino Smith had sixty seven
yards passing in that game. They held the ball for
a whopping seventeen minutes and fifty two seconds, completely outclassed
by the Chiefs. But the amazing thing is is I
think the Raiders are one of the three worst teams
(03:49):
in the National Football League and we just aren't talking
about them because of how bad the Jets have been
and the Titans firing their coach, And maybe we're clouded
by a Week one win against the Patriots, which I
think we now look back and say, how in the
world did that happen? But the Pete Carroll era to
try to turn things around is not happening. There is
(04:11):
no ground game with Chip Kelly as their offensive coordinator.
And now if you just wonder have the Raiders has
the game passed Pete Carroll and everybody by like, this
is not the start you would want if you're a
Silver and Black fan, and they do not have hope
on the way aside from brock Bauers hopefully getting healthy
for them.
Speaker 1 (04:32):
Besides that, the show.
Speaker 3 (04:38):
Third West, worst point differential in the National Football League.
Speaker 1 (04:42):
The Raiders commitment to excrement, commitment to extra.
Speaker 4 (04:50):
Jay Stoo, I think that there is a.
Speaker 1 (04:54):
Hold on, hold on, hold on, where's your signature? Line.
Speaker 4 (04:58):
Okay, well, so hold on, hold on, allow me to
explain to the listener the evolution of my line. The
evolution of my line entails one thing. It entails a
fairly lengthy introduction from Doug. So when Doug starts to
introduce me, I cut him off. But Doug, knowing that
(05:20):
I have an introductory line, goes to me very fast
with these the least amount of words for me to
cut him off on. So now the fund's over. There's
no more fun. So I'm just gonna go along with
my Tuesday Morning quarterback topic.
Speaker 2 (05:36):
Doug, I'll take it from here.
Speaker 4 (05:38):
Sorry, I had to. Okay, anybody who chose Barkley in
the top five or six picks of their fantasy draft
knows exactly where I'm coming from. Saquon Barkley was a
player that probably won you your fantasy league last season.
Remember he was I think like a second round pick.
(06:01):
Joel Shane chose to let him go to the Eagles
and all that, and became the offensive Player of the
Year and everything else. The stats this year through seven
weeks are astounding, and we're talking about, if you want
to give it contrast, we're talking about a year where
the familiar running backs are having the good seasons. Running back, yeah,
(06:25):
Christian McCaffery. We just saw Jami Gibbs last night. Last
night was awesome, James Cook, Jon Robinson dependable. And then
you throw in randoms like Rico Dowdell and Javonte Williams.
Speaker 1 (06:39):
What's the running back yet? Did you say Swift? I'm sorry.
With the Bears, he had like one hundred and twenty
seven yards rushing.
Speaker 4 (06:43):
DeAndre Swift is another yeah, But for whatever reason, Saquon
Barkley is not has not joined that collection of running
backs having amazing seasons. You could put the I guess
to blame it. Kevin Patullo. He's the new offensive coordinator
for the Eagles.
Speaker 1 (07:00):
Now listen, hold on, I'm I'm I hate interrupt, but
I'm gonna interrupt.
Speaker 4 (07:05):
Hold on, hold on.
Speaker 1 (07:06):
Do you remember the discussion everyone had. We had a
little different discussion on the running backs, and at the
end of the year last year, like, well, clearly the
owners were wrong and these guys are worth it. And
my whole point was the argument wasn't over paying guys
for a year. It wasn't really over paying guys for
two years. It was how much you would pay them
(07:26):
and for how long. The fight for Saquon Barkley was
over a second and a third year guaranteed at what amount?
And the Eagles redid his deal in the offseason. And
now here we are in the second year of what
would have been a three year deal and he's fallen off.
That's the problem. It's really hard to be really consistent
once you get into your late twenties in the NFL. Sorry,
(07:49):
go ahead, Jameson.
Speaker 4 (07:50):
But I would say that the old cliche of the
squeaky wheel the oil.
Speaker 1 (07:56):
Yeah, so much.
Speaker 4 (07:57):
Real estate, so much oxigen has been taken up over
AJ Brown and his complaints. How do we get aj involved?
And Saquan has been silent the entire time. He's been
a supportive, good teammate. He's the one after games that
talks about winning is all that matters. And just to
(08:20):
give the listener just kind of a look see of
how bad has it been. Of the twenty four running
backs who have at least seventy five carries this season,
Barkley ranks dead last three point three yards of carry.
Barkley averaged five point eight yards of carry just a
year ago. Last year, he ran for one hundred and
twenty five yards a game this year fifty two. So
(08:42):
if there is an indictment on this offense, I know
AJ Brown gets a lot of the oxygen. Kevin Patulo
needs to find a way to get Saquon Barkley loose,
because I would disagree with Doug on this. It's only
been a year. I don't think that there's been a
massive degrading of talent or speed in just a year.
(09:03):
Something's going on in this offense that isn't just Aj
Brown Oriental.
Speaker 3 (09:09):
That is correct. Their offensive line is banged up, played
without Cam Jurggens their center. There's also the Jalen Hurts
question as well, And if I'm a defense and I'm
trying to key on something, I'm keying on Saquon Barkley.
Also from a fantasy football perspective, which I think we
all have. Jalen Hurts also will take away carry's at
(09:32):
the goal line. So if Saquon isn't breaking away for
eighteen and twenty and fifty yard touchdown runs like he
did last season, then he's not going to be as
effective in the stat column or for your fantasy team.
And he also hasn't been that effective as a receiver
out of the backfield. So it's been a variety of
(09:53):
things that have caused to decline to Saquon Barkley. Then
I don't even think that we can necessarily pin on
him as being the reason.
Speaker 5 (10:01):
Sam Well, I just wanted to add on that the
the buzzards of the NFL media have moved on from
the passing game of the Eagles to the running game
the Eagles, and every every week there's some kind of
issue and whether they win or lose. But now I
understand what you guys are saying. Their offense is dysfunctional,
and so it's one week, it's something works one week
or all the weeks. I guess the running game in
(10:22):
Saquon Barkley don't work. I rolled these drops in. Can
I just say something because I think that's an interesting point.
Is we sit there and we complain about that your
whole deal at Jason's point of AJ Brown's taking up
so much error in the room and Jalen Hurts and
how we look at him as a quarterback. Is he
a top five quarterback?
Speaker 3 (10:42):
Like they won the Super Bowl because of Saquon, Like
that's the reason why in their offensive line, But last
week against Minnesota. Guess what, both DeVante Smith and aj
Brown over one hundred yards huge games, and you would
think that everything is solved. But to Jason's point, it's
not solved. And now we're just distracted because guess what,
Brandon Graham's coming out of retirement. So when we're talking
(11:04):
about the Eagles, it feels like we're grabbing all of
the wrong points and it should just be like, get
Saquon on track, get your offensive line healthy, and then
maybe you can try to repeat, Sorry, Sam, go.
Speaker 1 (11:16):
Ahead, go ahead, Sammy jf some else.
Speaker 5 (11:21):
No, I had my own thing, but no, I mean, yeah, well,
just a pivot here. I rolled these drops in after
the Indiana fever really pushed the Las Vegas Aces, who
eventually won the WNB Championship, pushed them to overtime in
Game five of the semi finals. I rolled these drops
in because the Indian nfere would just not go away.
(11:43):
These are from a couple of my favorite movies, Batman
Forever and Austin Powers Too. Why Won't You Die Now?
I'm not wishing violence on anyone here. This is just figurative,
a fun little exercise here. The New England Patriots dominated
the NFL for twenty years, and to quote two face,
(12:06):
why won't you go away? Okay? I often think that
the gods, the cosmos of sports, the gods of deciding
who wins and who loses and who has long you know, dynasties,
that lord works in mysterious ways. I don't understand it,
(12:26):
because the Patriots dominated the NFL for twenty years, and
they were only really down for three seasons, and now
they're back with a head coach who has that twenty
year run DNA woven into his entire structure of how
he does things. And now it looks like the Patriots
are back. Okay, if you have it, twenty years of
dominating and winning what six Super Bowl titles? A lot
(12:46):
of fans, especially fans of really downtrodden organizations like the
Browns or the Bills, they say, well, why not us?
It's our time? And now it looks like the Bill's
window is closing because the Patriots are back. They're back
on top in the AFC East, and you just have
to wonder why is it. It's because of good ownership.
As long as Robert Craft is around, it seems like
the Patriots are going to be competitive, but.
Speaker 1 (13:08):
You're really you're giving, You're giving Craft.
Speaker 5 (13:10):
I think I think ownership matters a lot. We were
talked about the Eagles. Jeffrey Lowie, I think is one
of the best owners in sports. I think if your
your your owners are really invested and they're really you know,
connected with the team, that they're gonna find reasons and
ways to get your team back on top.
Speaker 1 (13:25):
And I'm help you out here. Sure owners should just
need to hire good people.
Speaker 5 (13:30):
Well but yeah, that's not but that that's hard.
Speaker 1 (13:33):
Like like Craft doesn't have anything to do with football,
and you know, they hired a guy who was completely
an app last year and you know, with the same quarterback.
They they they they managed to kind of figure it
out that.
Speaker 3 (13:46):
Though. You know, I will say, the way that Craft
is massaged their down years, though, is really that impressive.
Speaker 4 (13:52):
Very impressive.
Speaker 1 (13:53):
Yes, he's been an adult about those massages. Yes.
Speaker 5 (13:58):
So the Patriots, I mean, we don't know if they're
going to go on and win the Super Bowl or
what what Mike Rabel's coaching ten year is going to
look like in you know, five seven years.
Speaker 1 (14:06):
Their quarterback and they got they're good.
Speaker 5 (14:08):
They got a dude and you know, you just you're like,
you know, I will win two Rose Bulls in nineteen fifties,
and then they had twenty years of darkness.
Speaker 3 (14:15):
That's the suffering I'm talking about.
Speaker 4 (14:17):
And it's not fair. It's not fair that the Patriots are.
Speaker 2 (14:19):
Back on top.
Speaker 3 (14:21):
I think it's a great point.
Speaker 5 (14:22):
Good morning, Hawaii, it's ten fifteen in the morning.
Speaker 3 (14:25):
I'll say this. I actually think that they remind me
of when the Yankees when Aaron Judge was a rookie
and you're like, oh, well that could this be a
likable Yankees team? And then like that got over with
really quick. I think that this is a likable Patriots team,
but if they continue to win, that'll probably end up
ending pretty quickly.
Speaker 1 (14:42):
Why Won't You Die? I love that movie? Sam. Do
you know how much I like the Austin Powers movies?
Speaker 6 (14:50):
And not sure I've.
Speaker 5 (14:51):
Gathered you do like him because I play you know,
their his drops pretty frequently and youays seem to respond.
So we talk about Austin Powers the franchise quite a
bit on this show.
Speaker 1 (15:00):
I'm gonna there's two quarterbacks and they played last night
and it was a super super ugly game. But I
don't want to lose sight of of two things. The Texans,
there's a bunch of stuff work. You know, you have
a coach who a couple of years ago, I felt like, man,
(15:20):
they found their coat, they found their guy, like he's
their rable, played their linebacker really good, came from San Francisco,
immediately made the playoffs. And then you have this quarterback
in CJ. Stroud, who great year at Ohio State. But
there's some people myself include like is he that good
or is it they're just so much better than everybody
(15:42):
they're playing. He was just okay last year and he
was probably below average last night. Then they got Nick Chubb,
who's like at twenty nine, I don't know if he's
rushed for more than seventy yards in the game. He
hasn't broken one hundred in the game. So it's like
all these three things happening where sophomore is slump from
Stroud is kind of seemingly extended a little bit. There's
(16:07):
just not the same something from the coaching staff. And
then you know you're built around this running game and
Nick Chubb, and Nick Chubb is a shell of his
former self. No, the Texans being mid maybe hasn't been
discussed enough. And then the other side. Look again, it
was an ugly football game, ugly ugly. But Sam Donald's
(16:31):
team is five and two, and for a guy that
has been written off much like his predecessor in Seattle,
he hadn't written back then, right back. Everyone knows that
me and uh Daniel Jeremiah and to a slightly lesser extent,
Cowherd huge, Sam Donald fans huge, still holding stock, and
(16:56):
he's not the star that his stats said he was
last But he's definitely not a bum, definitely not a bust.
And I think he's plenty good enough to get that
team to the playoffs. Dan, do you disagree?
Speaker 3 (17:08):
I think there'll be a playoff team. I just thought
there were Sam Darnold moments that happened in last night's game.
They do happen a lot worried about.
Speaker 1 (17:16):
Yeah, they do happen there. It is a real thing,
and you're you're you're right to say it. I think
he's a better version of what he used to be,
but he still does regress on some level. That is
Tuesday Morning Quarterback.
Speaker 7 (17:27):
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
the nation. Catch all of our shows at Foxsports Radio
dot Com and within the iHeartRadio app search FSR to
listen live.
Speaker 1 (17:40):
Stug Gottlieb Show here on Fox Sports Radio. Your own
Whitesman as an author new book. It's called Tanking to
the Top, a Hollywood ending the dreams and drama of
the Lebron Lakers. You may have read excerpts of the book,
which I think most notably I was reading The Ringer.
They had excerpt and it was over Russell Westbrook and
(18:03):
what broke down in their relationship. Your own joins us
now on the Doug Gottlieb Show on Fox Sports Radio.
Good to catch up with your own. Thanks so much
for your time. Hey Doug, when did you When did
when's the book start? Like? What is in the chronological
was it in terms of Lebron before he got to
the Lakers, when he arrived the Lakers? Where where do
(18:24):
we begin this story?
Speaker 2 (18:26):
Yeah?
Speaker 6 (18:26):
We begin? And thanks for having me on the way
I kind of approached it is. I don't think you
can tell the story of Lebron and his tenure of
the Lakers and what that meant for the team and
specifically Genibus to have a star without telling the history
and story of the Bus family. So, I mean, you
can spend five books just on the Bus family. But
(18:47):
we kind of start with Jerry Buss and speed through
that and the Lakers in the end of the Colbiero
where things were kind of down and the internal drama
with the Bus family and how the team was desperate
forty lifeline really and Lebron became back.
Speaker 1 (19:04):
There's always this thing with Lebron where when he comes in,
he tries to take over, right, And it was it
was pat Riley even said like, hey, that was why
they were happy, supposedly happy to be out of Lebron business.
Was there any discussion about Rich Paul, about their involvement,
about the decision making within the organization when he came
(19:26):
aboard when they were pursuing Lebron via free agency?
Speaker 6 (19:31):
I mean, so in free agency, the Lakers, but Jeanie
and the Bus family, they were all they rolled out
the red carpet for Clutch and Lebron. But that's very much.
That was very much how Genie Buss was raised in
terms of how to how to run a basketball gap.
Speaker 8 (19:46):
Right.
Speaker 6 (19:46):
Her father was about stars and we cater to our
stars and it's Hollywood, right, And this is how it goes.
So they very much said that. I mean, it's a
great story. People kind of probably forgot it. But Contagious
Caldwell Pulp, the wig player, he's a Clutch client. He's
been the year before Lebron gets there, and he has
to serve basically in a halfway house the time for
(20:07):
I'll remember this, you are I forget what was I
don't want to be specific here, Basically the judge, they
forget away for him to play home games right with
the Lakers. Uh and and I practice and just go
sleep somewhere else in the facility in the halfway house
and the and like I think most teams they probably
would not be okay with this, but the Lakers were
very much they want to Clutch to be happy that.
(20:27):
The interesting part though is after they got him, after
they got Lebron like and it's one of the things
that was pretty surprising to me is like unpacked the reporting,
the idea that Clutch was running things. I think that
was an overstatement. I mean, you see it the year
two after Luke Waltins fired, Lebron wants the Lakers to
hire TYLERU Tyler would be a perfect candidate for them
(20:49):
at that point, you know, former Laker, which matters to them.
He gets along with Lebron, you know, the coaching obviously
a very good coach, and Lebron makes it very clear
and he wants TYLERU and the Lakers just wouldn't do
it because they didn't want to give him a con
track that was they didn't want to pay him what
Tyler's bony should get paid and Lebron you know that
the year two and you know, if Lebron was getting
the thing he wanted, that would have been perfect example
of they would have just thought him instead instead of
(21:11):
Frank Vogel.
Speaker 1 (21:12):
Yeah, it's crazy. I remember it was a it was
a three year deal and he won a four year
deal and the money wasn't huge, and then Vogel took it.
Tyler got the deal with the Clippers and the rest,
as they say, is history. What about Westbrook right the
reporting previous to year book? Okay, Iron white'sman joining us
here in the doug Outleap Show. He has written a
(21:32):
new book that's out and it's the Lakers. It's about
the Lakers and Lebron James. The book is titled Tanking
to the Top, a Hollywood ending the Lakers and the
drama of the dreams and the drama of the Lebron Lakers.
What about the Westbrook and how they ultimately traded for him,
(21:53):
because again what was reported was whether it was Buddy Healed,
Damar DeRozan, there were others that the front office supposedly wanted,
but it was Lebron James and Anthony Davis that honed
in on Russell Westbrook. What's the reality based upon your
reporting and that you've been able to write down, So.
Speaker 6 (22:14):
The reporter is the reality is they all are part
of it, and they all had a hand in it,
and then they're all trying to blame each other, right,
that's the CLDR version, Like they basically all came at
it from their own perspective. So after that season, and it's,
by the way, the part and it's interesting and I
think it gets the mistake. The mistake they made, and
I believe was so they have the bubble year and
(22:35):
they win, and the next year they start off really well, strongly.
They have Shooter and Marcus foul and they start off
stronger than they fall apart. And I think in hindsight,
we've all learned that the act the harder, crazier year
in the NBA was the year after the bubble, right
when games were back in their arenos. But we had
the season like the Lakers had seventy one days between
the end of their championship and the start of the
(22:55):
next season. And I was the year janis one walking.
The things were crazy, guys in and out for COVID
just the season was nuts and the Lakers losing the
first round with a D and Lebron but was getting hurt.
And the mistake was they react to that. They sort
of panic and react. I feel like they have to
and this is Lebron at the front office, right, this
what's happening. They all react instead of saying, you know what,
there was we had no shot. Seventy one days between
(23:17):
the seasons, like we were never gonna win. They decided
they have to go get a third star. Polinka in
the front office want a third star. Lebron wants to
as someone else. They want someone who could help maybe
carry some of the offense the juice. So Lebron holds
up him. Anthony Davis and Jared Dudley start going through
names and Bradley Beals and mar the Rozen are on
the list Westbrook too. They reach out to Westbrook at
the same time Polinka was in the off front office
talking about how much he wanted a third Scar and
(23:39):
you know the Nets like, let's talk look the Nets
Big three model, we have to beat them, and the
Lakers actually have. So Lebron's talking to Westbrook, the Lakers
start back channeling, talking to Westbrook's agent, and so it's
they're all approaching it from different angles and they end
up getting the trade, goes through it and it gets
completed at an ownership level. Genie Bus ends up executing
(23:59):
it with uh, with the Wizard's owner at that level
to kind of go through some good trade compensation. And
then it all goes horribly and they all start blaming
each other and telling, you know, say, no they brought
to us, No, they brought it in to us. So
it's that it's just to me, it's kind of telling.
It's kind of emblematic of the whole tenure, in the
whole partnership.
Speaker 1 (24:17):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (24:17):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (24:18):
The the excerpt I read was about Westbrook basically saying
the Bronze of phony right that right the the the
Malcolm X book, what's your favorite part? So many the
Godfather's my favorite movie. What's your favorite line?
Speaker 8 (24:34):
Oh?
Speaker 1 (24:34):
So many? You know, all of those things which we
laugh about the media, and but it is that that's
a real thing in league circles, or at least with
with Westbrook and how we've used him.
Speaker 6 (24:47):
For sure. But it was so funny though, because to
me it's funny so seeing that yesterday. So it's a
great story. And you know, the short version is Lebron
walks out before the Lakers are gonna have Will Smith
come speak to the group because they bring in the
famous people do that, and Lebron walks out out he
doesn't want to be there. He ends up being pulled
back in by Darwin Ham. And then what Wilson has
done and Lebron asks a million questions, is that as
it's happening, Westbrooki is growing furious just watching it and
(25:10):
later says, so a teammate, I hate that takes stuff.
I I can't stand it right. And there's a picture
you could see a picture of the Lakers posted the
team picture that day of Westbrook of the whole team
with Will Smith, and you can see westbrook'scowling there, just angry,
and he's right the part I found fascinating. And you know,
I'm in my mentions yesterday because I'm looking, because I'm vain,
obviously I'm gonna check all my mentions and most of
(25:30):
the most of the commentary is like, yeah, team Ross,
go get him Lebronz of phony, Team Ross and you can.
I have no issue with that, And there's plenty of
examples like that. The thing that's wild is the Westbrook
Lakers partnership did not fail because Lebron's a phony. It
failed because Russ played awfully. It was a horrible fit
and and showed no willingness to even attempt to adapt, right.
(25:53):
And it's just to me, it's telling that, for whatever
reason is this Lebron, a lot of fans don't not
only do not connect with him, but they're bothered by him,
and it's hard to fully explain why. And that to me,
it was just interesting seeing that yesterday that like I ad.
Speaker 1 (26:09):
No Jern, here's what we've We've talked about this a
lot on the show, and Jason, he's lived in Los
Angeles whole life, right, I grew up in southern California.
So my feeling towards Lebron and how Lakers fancy one.
It's hard because he wasn't always a rival. He wasn't
really a rival to Kobe okay, but he was a
(26:33):
star that took up attention from Kobe, and for whatever reason,
Laker fans view him as a kind of arrival and
now we got to cheer from. It's a lot like
when the Chargers came to town and they're playing in Carson, Like,
wait a second, Carson is Raider territory and now the
Rivals like our home team. That doesn't make sense. That's
a little bit of it. And I've just always felt
(26:53):
like a lot of the other things he's done, he
was it was one of his first couple of years
with the Lakers. You know, he get hurt. Then he
had the wine. Nobody does that when he's on the bench.
There was the time when they had the All Star
Game in Cleveland and he openly talked about going back
to Cleveland to end his careers. Like you're a Laker,
(27:14):
you don't do No one doesn't want to end their
career with the Lakers. And and so here's how we
worded it. He plays for the Lakers. It's gonna be
the what the second longest tenure because the combined tenures
of Cleveland. But no one who's a true Laker fan
views him as a Laker. He's simply a guy who
played for the Lakers. Does that make sense?
Speaker 6 (27:36):
You know it's not. I completely agree. And by the
way we in the book I write about the Kobe
Lebron's that kind of me like that there was always
It's not only that he was a challenger. They approached
they approached everything completely differently. So Kobe wasn't leaking and
Kobe didn't understand Lebron like that, Like Kobe wouldn't wind
up with friends Lebron. Does you know Kobe was all
enemies Lebron's buddies, guys on their teams. Lebron has interest
(27:59):
outside of the basket. Both doesn't mean he takes basketball.
You know, you can't do what he's done for longevity
and not take it seriously. But Kobe was all about basketball,
even the approach on the court, like you know, Kobe
will shoot over three guys, Lebron passed the open guy,
right and even with a Nike I read about this,
they kind of they there was different wings, right, like
if they hung out with different people, were operated by
different people. So one hundred percent you saw that when
(28:19):
Lebron came and Lakers fans are defacing murals. It's just
so interesting and weird. And the part that what Lebron
was robbed of, the fact that the twenty twenty title
happened in the bubble, would out fans and then there's
no parade. That would change everything because that's an emotional
connection point that could form things and that that did
(28:40):
not exist, and that just and that's where you're right, right,
So the the fact that his high point of the
franchise happened literally in a bubble, it changes history on
that and I do, yeah, it'd be interesting sliding doors
moment if it was like if that's if he went
the title in front of fans and it's a parade,
and I wonder if things are different.
Speaker 1 (28:55):
After best guess is this Lebron's last year?
Speaker 6 (29:00):
So my answer is to this, I don't know, but
I genuinely don't think he knows, right. I think that's
what we're kind of seeing now where he's trying to
figure out what he wants to do next. We've seen
it with the contract stuff, and he's clearly not happy
that he's on an expiring contract, and I feel like
he feels a little boxed in because he's gonna want
to do a farewell tour, but he's not going to
do it for some random team, and he wants to
(29:20):
get paid, right. He's big on I don't take pay
cuts anymore. I think he thinks he represents the player
for us like that. So if it comes down to
the Lakers and Caves, those are, to me are the
only two teams I could see him playing for. And
I genuinely I thought, honestly, I had not just of
the book coming out, and it would have been good
for me. I think, like I thought this was going
to be it. I really did, But I also assumed that,
(29:43):
and I could be wrong. I always assumed that he
would announce his final season before the season started, right
like they would just be a giant farewell tour like that.
And the fact that he hasn't done that yet makes
me think we're getting another year at least. But yeah,
that's my I don't know. I don't know.
Speaker 1 (29:56):
The book is called a Hollywood Ending, The Dreams and
dr of Lebron Lakers. Your own Weizman is the author. Hey,
so you can pick it up at wherever you get
books of course audio books as well your own great stuff. Man,
everybody's talking about it, can't wait to read it. Thank
you for being our guest.
Speaker 6 (30:13):
Thanks Doug, appreciate you good talking.
Speaker 7 (30:15):
Be sure to catch the live edition of the Doug
Gottlieb Show weekdays at three pm Eastern noon Pacific on
Fox Sports Radio in the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 1 (30:26):
Doug Gottlieb Show, Fox Sports Radio. Be sure check out
our brand new YouTube channel for the show. Just search
Doug gottlip Show on youtubegin Let's Doug Gotlieb Show. Be
sure to hit the subscribe button and don't just stop there.
Hit the thumbs up icon and comment to wait, let
me know if you agree with my takes you absolutely
hate them. Check out a brand new channel on YouTube. Again,
just search Doug Gottlieb Show and subscribe. Let's get to
(30:47):
Dan Byer with the press.
Speaker 3 (30:50):
The press, Doug. We've got a developing story in the
National foot Ball League. Okay, go it comes out of
New York and we're gonna get to the Jets in
just a second. O. Remember on Sunday when Sean Payton
(31:11):
head Go to the Broncos said this about having to
face Jackson Darts instead of well, Russell Wilson.
Speaker 8 (31:19):
You know they found a little spark with that quarterback.
I was talking to John Mayor not too long ago,
and I said, we were hoping that that change would
have happened long long after our game Well.
Speaker 1 (31:31):
Bird Bird, because Russell Wilson was the start in Wait.
Russell Wilson used to be the start in Denver for
Sean Payton to tell or info.
Speaker 3 (31:42):
Russell Wilson has responded via social media within the last
ten minutes, posting on x quote classless but not surprised.
Didn't realize you're still bounty hunting fifteen plus years later
through the media. Let's ride in another.
Speaker 1 (32:06):
Emoji, Wait he did let's.
Speaker 3 (32:08):
Ride hashtag Let's ride.
Speaker 1 (32:13):
You know what that makes me think? It makes me
think of Return of the Jedi, Return of the Jedi.
Somebody asked the question, why does it make your return?
Speaker 3 (32:25):
Why don't you tell us, Doug, why does it remind
you of Return of the Jedi?
Speaker 1 (32:29):
Because the most famous scene in Return of the Jedi
is when Luke takes Darth's mask off, and though most
of it is mechanical, there still is his father, a
person inside there's a bunch of machines. But so the
point is that Russell Wilson is a machine. He is
(32:50):
a but deep inside there there is still a person.
And he goes and he actually makes fun of himself
when he does hashtag let's ride.
Speaker 7 (33:03):
Well more than that, mister, mister, mister, I.
Speaker 1 (33:09):
Don't have I don't have a Broncos Country Let's ride.
Speaker 3 (33:13):
Yeah we do somewhere. But I do want to point
out that it took Russell Wilson almost forty eight hours
to come up with his comeback. Like I understand you
wouldn't hear it right after the game. We talked about
it yesterday, and I'll never forget the visual of Sean
Payton verbally undressing Russell Wilson on the sideline and Wilson
(33:36):
not doing anything about it, just taking it in. And
we've seen shots of bow Nicks and Sean Payton going
at it on the sideline. And so while Russ feels
that he may have got him back with this one,
it's Tuesday.
Speaker 1 (33:52):
This was Sunday, and he says, like George with jerkstore line,
can't you can't. I can't sit on it if you
had the jerk store line, you gotta go right with it.
Let's run.
Speaker 3 (34:07):
You're one of their best sellers. Uh, we all know
Constanza's next line. All right. Speaking of the Jets, it
started out today with Woody Johnson saying this about Aaron
glenn Is, head coach, and then their quarterback justin fields.
Speaker 9 (34:25):
It looks like he's turning around parts of it. You know,
it's hard when you have a quarterback with you know,
with a rating that we've got, you know is I mean,
he has the ability, but something just is not driving.
But if you look at any any head coach or
a quarterback like that, you're going to see similar results
if you across the league. You have to play consistently
(34:45):
at that position, and that's what we're going to try
to do. But we can just complete a pass, it
would look good. You know, you got to you got
to convince them that you could do something.
Speaker 1 (34:55):
If we could just complete a pass. He didn't say,
you know, sixty percent of our passes, longer passes, shorter passes.
He said, if we could just complete a pass, it,
you know, they might actually take you seriously. Now.
Speaker 3 (35:09):
On Sunday, they traveled to Cincinnati to face the Bengals
and ESPN is reporting that the Jets will make a
quarterback change as Tarrod Taylor would start in place of
Justin Field's fields went six to twelve for forty six
yards and that loss to the Panthers. Taylor came in
when ten to twenty two for one hundred and twenty
six yards was picked off twice.
Speaker 1 (35:32):
Yeah, I mean, I still, that's just such an indictment.
And the worst part is, like you said to start
the show, where Okay, so you love Aaron Glenn and
you're gonna empower him to pick the next quarterback, whereas
he picked this quarterback and he stinks. I don't know,
all right.
Speaker 3 (35:48):
According to ben Online, they have tracked GEO tagged ex
data over the last couple of days, okay, and of
the fifty states across the United States. This does not
include territories or other places. Does not include Puerto Rico.
Fifty states for the US, twenty four of those states
(36:10):
believe that Babe Ruth is the greatest player of all time.
Seven Ruth states say show Hey Otani is the greatest
of all time, while Willie Mays, Hank, Aaron Barry, Bonds,
and Ted Williams also received votes among states of being
the greatest of all time, but Babe Ruth. Almost half
(36:33):
of the states across the United States, according to geotract
data from x believe that Babe Ruth is the greatest
of all time.
Speaker 1 (36:41):
If that's a fight, you're not going to be able
to win, right, Like, if you're no matter what show
Hey does, somebody's gonna go like, well, Babe Ruth hit
more home runs than all every team in Major League
Baseball except for three and whatever. If shoe Otani stays healthy,
I just he's the top ten pitch, he's top ten hitter.
(37:02):
It's like little league stuff. He's that much better than
the opposition. He's the best I've ever seen. And that's
the press. May get out there in press.
Speaker 7 (37:12):
That was the press.
Speaker 1 (37:13):
Okay. A reminder that the podcast hour starts at the
top of the hour. You just download wherever you download podcasts,
just type in Doug Gottlieb Show. Speaking of Doug Gottlieb Show,
it's the same name Doug Gottlieb Show on YouTube. If
you want to check out our new YouTube channel which
has highlights, and of course you can get highlights from
every show and some of the shows actually do twenty
(37:34):
four to seven Live. I was watching last night in
Green Bay. I have a little balcony in my bedroom
and so I had the door open, and it was
definitely cool, almost cold, right like probably in his forties.
Last night, Dan, I'm watching baseball. I'm watching football. Tonight
I'm watching NBA basketball and it's fall and beautiful and
(37:59):
not freezing but not hot. I love October. I love October.
For the record, I'm not big on predicting dynasties, but
if if chet Holmgren can stay healthy and make some shots,
I think Oklahoma C is gonna repeat. Enjoy the first
night of the NBA back tomorrow on The Doug Goatlip Show,
Fox Sport Tradio
Host
Doug Gottlieb
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