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July 11, 2024 45 mins

On a Thursday edition of The Best Of The Doug Gottlieb Show: Doug defends Grant Hill and Team USA's decision to replace Kawhi Leonard with Derrick White as opposed to his Celtics' teammate Jaylen Brown. 

Doug reacts to an opinion that JJ Redick's hiring with the Lakers is racist.

Doug gives his eval of Bronny James after his second summer league outing. Doug welcomes The Athletic's Jovan Buha on to discuss Bronny, the Lakers' off-season and all of the other major headlines on the Lakers.

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Episode Transcript

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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Thanks for listening to the best of the Doug Gottlieb
Show podcast. Be sure to catch us live every weekday
three to five Eastern twelve two Pacific on Fox Sports Radio.
Find your local station for the Doug Gottlieb Show at
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(00:21):
Doug Gottlieb Show, Fox Sports Radio coming to you from
the from the tyrack dot Com studios tyrac dot com.
Well we get there, unmatched selection, fast, free shipping, free
road as protection, over ten thousand recommended dollars tiract dot com.

Speaker 2 (00:38):
It's the way that tire buying should be welcome in.

Speaker 1 (00:43):
Mm mmmmmmmm. We've got a good day for you. I'm
pretty excited about it, you know, pretty pretty excited about it.
I have just made appeel case to the NCAA with
the use of social media. I'm pretty excited about that.
We're going to talk about that during the show, for sure.

(01:05):
For sure.

Speaker 2 (01:11):
You know, Bronnie.

Speaker 1 (01:12):
James, what was it. He he's underwhelmed. I've seen that before.
Brian James is underwhelming. No, he's whelming. He's whelming. He's
just as whelming as he's ever been whelming. Let's not
act like he's doing anything other than all he's done
when he's played. I love that, Like I'm waiting for

(01:32):
Brian James to take over a game. Hey man, keep waiting.
I don't understand people who will say that Bronnie James
is somehow going to take over a game at the
professional level when he didn't take over a game in college,
and he didn't take over a game in high school.
Can somebody help me out with that? That is like

(01:54):
literally never happen. I don't truly, truly don't understand that.
We'll get to that more in a second. Let's start
with I guess it's the news today, which is Team
USA beat Team Canada. And here's one of the mistakes
that we're making. We're American sports fans. We just don't

(02:15):
understand that. We think basketball is basketball is basketball is basketball,
And the reality is that while we've had some really
good Olympic teams in the past couple of times, those
games continue to get tighter and tighter and tighter. Even
the redeemed team, if not for Kobe Bryant kind of

(02:38):
bailing us out and seemingly single handley holding off Spain
and winning the game. We might have lost that one.
And while there were some NBA players on the Spanish team,
the reality is, if you were to pick for any
NBA team, pau Gasol wouldn't have been a top five pick.

Speaker 2 (02:56):
It just wouldn't have. Rudy Fernandez didn't do much in
the NBA. It's a different style of playing a game
that many of us grew up playing. And we make
that same mistake with Canada. We start looking at all
the Canadian players like Shay Gildess, Alexander.

Speaker 1 (03:14):
We're like man Shake Guilds. Alexander, MVP candidate on one
of the bright young up and coming stars in the NBA.
Granted worst television commercial at the basketball season, but otherwise
outstanding player. You look at all the guys that they have,
the Jamal Murrays of the war like NBA champion, He's
a stud. No argument there. It is a different sport.

(03:40):
Canada is not going to win a gold medal, not
because they don't have the quote unquote talent. They have
American style talent, not international style talent. Different game, which
is interesting as it gets to why Grant Hill decided
to not take Jalen Brown part of the Olympic team. Remember,

(04:02):
Kawhi Leonard was the guy who pulled out because of injury,
and USA Basketball selected Derek White to replace Gawhi Leonard.

Speaker 2 (04:13):
Here's the head of the GM of the.

Speaker 1 (04:16):
USA men's national team, Grant Hill, when he was asked
about why they chose Derek White over Jalen Brown.

Speaker 3 (04:25):
And you have to build a team, and one of
the hardest things is leaving people off the roster that
I'm a fan of, that I look forward to watching
throughout the season, throughout the playoffs, Guys who've been finals, MVPs,
guys who've been a part of the program, Guys who've
won gold medals, Guys who I respect, admire and enjoy watching.

(04:50):
But the responsibility that I have is to put together
a team and a team that compliments each other, a
team that fits a team that will give us the
best opportunity for success.

Speaker 1 (05:04):
Yeah, of course, Uh. Jalen Brown tweeted at Nike, this
what we're doing. Obviously, Jalen Brown not a Nike guy.
USA Basketball is sponsored by Nike. Interesting, Grant Hill brought up, Hey,
you know I have my career. I was sponsored by Fila. Right,
here's Jason Tatum, Brown's teammate, asked earlier today about Jaalen Brown.

(05:24):
I'm talking about having Jalen Hare. Huh, Yeah, I mean
this is so many guys that could, you know, take
the last spot or whatever. So it is yeah, I
mean like and and if that sounds kind of weak,
it sounded weak to me as well. But he's right.

(05:47):
There's plenty of guys that could have been on that
roster that would have been a good fit that you
could have selected. Heck, you could have gone with Cooper Flagg,
who had had a great showing at the USA at
Team USA's practices. You could have gone with Zach Eaty,
who's in the NBA, has been a two time College
Basketball Player of the Year, and that would have made

(06:08):
complete sense, right, A good reward a lah Christian Latner.
But I believe he is Canadian. That's right. That's my fault.
I did blow that one. My fault. He's Canadians in
the Canadian team, we could have absorbed him. I mean
we brought in Embid. He's not playing for Cameroon anymore. Anyway,
point is good catch. By the way, Jase too, The

(06:30):
point is that. I think what happened is exactly what
Grant Hill said when he says team you'll have people
go well, that means that Jalen Brown's a bad teammate.
They don't want him. Could be?

Speaker 2 (06:46):
Could be?

Speaker 1 (06:48):
I mean, listen, it's not crazy to say that guys
didn't get along with Jalen Brown or he couldn't get
along with Steve Kerry. There is a lot of talk,
by the way in the NBA that Jalen Brown no
one playing for a white coach anymore, just a reality guy,
that he stopped listening to Steve Kerr. He has been

(07:08):
a a he's a protester, He's somebody who is extremely
progressive in his views, and he supports it with his
good works in Atlanta. I don't say that with any
sort of ill intent. I'm telling you the reality of
what people in the NBA have said is that in
terms of relating to him, communicating with him and guys

(07:28):
that he wants to play for, there's a reason that
Brad Stevens felt like it was better to kick himself upstairs.
And I think Jalen Brown and the fact that he
couldn't get Jalen Brown to take the next step in
his career was part of his frustration. And Jalen's a
great player and he is a lot like Kawhi Leonard

(07:49):
and that he brings it at both ends. But I
think the other possibility is probably the greater likelihood, and
that greater likelihood is Derek White can stay out of
the way. And oh yeah, by the way, they identified
what Derek White has in terms of defensive versatility, shot making,
and he doesn't have to have the ball in his
hands to be effective.

Speaker 2 (08:10):
I understand that.

Speaker 1 (08:11):
Kyrie Irving, based upon skill set, can sit there and
be like Isaiah Thomas, I fit the criteria. You know,
I'm gonna take it personally. That's great. But what it
tells you when you take it Derek White over at
Kyrie Irving is we want a guy who doesn't need
the ball to have a good game, who doesn't need
to dribble the ball fifteen times to make a play.

(08:33):
James Harden has plenty accomplished, He's not getting that call.
Kyrie Irving gets plenty accomplished and plenty good enough. He's
not getting that call. What are the correlations here? Those
guys drible away too much and the dribbling is not
valued in FIBA basketball. It's a lot more about ball
movement and space and then defensive versatility and the ability

(08:53):
to guard bigger players, bigger guards, guys that back you down.
It'll be just to see how effective is because he's
as good as anyone's ever been as a six foot
two ish guard. But I mean, you look, Damian Lillard
struggled last time in the Olympics. You just did, so

(09:16):
I know we want to make it out to be
all these conspiracy theories and Jalen Brown calling out Nike,
Like whatever, dude, if you think Nike made the call, Like,
does Nike really make it the call for Derek White
as supposed to Jalen Brown. That doesn't make any sense
to me. Derek White's not some signature Nike player. I

(09:40):
don't understand. It's like Steph Curry is playing in his
first Olympic Games. Now, some of it was because he's
trying to avoid illness with his wife trying to get pregnant,
and he's been hurt for other opportunities before. But the
fact is that this roster is supposed to be selective
and not everybody gets picked, and it's an impossible situation

(10:02):
for Grant Hill, and the idea that it's because of
Nike is kind of laughable.

Speaker 4 (10:10):
This is the best of the Done dot Leap Show
on Fox Sports Radio.

Speaker 1 (10:17):
What about you, Doug Gottlieb Show, Fox Sports Radio. Hop
you're having a great day, Doug gott Leap Show, broadcast
live every day from the tyrat dot com studios tyret
dot com. Well we get there, unmatched election, fast free shipping,
free road test protection for ten thousand recommended dollars. Ti
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I'm sure you have this in your profession where you

(10:38):
have people who parachute in and they see something and
they think, you know, uh, without context, it's one thing,
and it's really another.

Speaker 2 (10:47):
I don't care what profession you are.

Speaker 1 (10:48):
I guarantee that's you know, I'm in the market for
a car, and I know some of what goes on
in a car dealership, you know. But that's like me
coming in a car dealership and they're like, well, mister Godley,
you know the twenty twenty fours, and me going, hey,
I know this. Twenty twenty fours were in August. Once
you get to September and October the twenty five show up.

(11:10):
That's when the major discounts come. But it also loses
value because they're losing the early car. But those that
has changed, new cars are more valuable, closer to sticker
than they've ever been because they don't make as many
as they used to. I don't it's a limited inventory.
They've limited the inventory, which keeps the price high. And

(11:30):
the point is, like I parachuting in a car dealership.
It ain't any different than people parashoting in on what
we do and trying to say, hey, why don't you
do this? Why don't you do that? Not understanding, not
understanding the context of it. I've said it before. You know,
so many people made fun of ESPN's halftime show during
the NBA Finals where they're on for a minute and
then they go to break and they come in, come in,

(11:52):
and they got like six minutes. They're like, why don't
they do it like TNT Because TNT's cable. It's completely
different than network TV and network TV breaks. Should they check?
Of course they should, But in the meantime, you're you
have to pay the bills. It was only a five
game series, and you know, ESPN, ABC have to get
their money back. The best way to get their money

(12:13):
back has run as many ads in content when people
want to watch as possible. I bring that up because
there's someone named doctor Umar Johnson. Have we do we
know who doctor Umar Johnson is. And I don't mean
that in a way, in a cynical way. I literally
have no idea who doctor Umar Johnson.

Speaker 5 (12:36):
His Wikipedia says that he's a doctor, and I looked
it up. He's got a PhD. There's a doctor of
clinical psychology.

Speaker 1 (12:45):
Okay, but he is.

Speaker 5 (12:46):
Wikipedia claims that he is a black activist and a
motivational speaker, and I think he's a frequent guest on
The Breakfast Club.

Speaker 1 (12:54):
Okay, and then The Breakfast Club. Not the movie The
Breakfast Club, that's right, right, But The Breakfast Club is
a radio show and podcast.

Speaker 5 (13:04):
Right radio show in New York.

Speaker 1 (13:05):
Yeah, Yeah, DJMB, Charlemagne the God and Jess Hilarious. It
is an iHeart radio show, right, iHeartRadio show. And they've
been nationally syndicated since twenty thirteen. So doctor Umar Johnson

(13:26):
was on the Breakfast Club yesterday. He had a lot
of things to say. I want you to listen to
this in its entirety and then we'll talk about it.

Speaker 6 (13:35):
I'm disappointed in Black America because I feel like they're
attacking Brownie more than JJ agree with. How the hell
is Bronnie James getting all this heat from Black America,
but JJ Reddick ain't getting all the seat.

Speaker 1 (13:48):
JJ Reddick and never won nothing.

Speaker 6 (13:50):
He ain't went nothing in college, he ain't went none
in the NBA, He won no MVP. I don't know
if he was ever first team offense or defense, maybe
once or twice, but he clearly don't have the record
of Sam Cassel. Sam Concell should have been offered that
Lakers job, and if not the Lakers job.

Speaker 1 (14:04):
One of the coaching vacancies.

Speaker 6 (14:05):
Look at all these good black assistant coaches out there
who are being overlooked for white privilege. JJ Reddick did
not earn that position. They gave it to him. But
rather than attack that, we want to attack the nineteen
year old kid. I want Lebron to play with his
son because the optics of that I think will be
very positive for young black males, and I think it
could be a small motivation for black men to do

(14:25):
more with their sons and more with our boys. So
I want to see lebron and Bronnie on the same court.

Speaker 1 (14:34):
Okay, so there's a lot to unpack there. He likes
the idea of bron and Browny on the same court
for black parents to support their black children. Okay, you
know I'm gonna disagree with it. You know I've told
you before. I think it's the Peter principal. I think
he end up doing more harm putting your kid out

(14:54):
there when he's not ready, not good enough, than you
do during good because you want to be the first
to do this. You want to force it to happen.
But again, if the organization allows you to do that,
they allow you to do that. The main issue I
would have with that is this assertion that like Sam,

(15:18):
I guess is Sam Kassell his what's the assistant with?
I guess he's with Now he's with UCLA. He's the
OUTFANSI coordiney with UCLA. Right, used to be with Washington
last year, and Eric b enemy. Sam Cassell his Eric beenemy.
That's what we're doing now A right. One example, you

(15:38):
know is that what we're doing, we're doing the Eric
being like he doesn't get jobs because he's black or something.
I don't know. I like Sam Cassell. I know that
the Lakers try to hire Sam Cassell as an assistant coach.
He turned it down because he's the head assistant with
the Boston Celtics. But but the insinuation that there's all
of these quality black assistant coaches, that white privilege is

(16:04):
having JJ Reddick and other white coaches get the job
is laughable and it's uninformed, and it's somebody who you're
a doctor of psychology, psychology, you clearly don't know anything

(16:24):
about the NBA. And what happens is you start a
narrative and like you can't go on every show and
just go like, no, that's wrong when you starts something
that's you know, I mean, there's sixteen of the thirty
coaches in the NBA are in fact black, they are,

(16:48):
so I'm not really sure. And if it's JJ Reddick
got this opportunity only because he's white and he didn't
win a championship, and he wasn't first team All Offense,
which isn't the first team All Offense knows their second team,
nor is he an MVP. Like now we're starting to
get to okay, So Joe Missoula is mixed race, never

(17:12):
played in the NBA, didn't win a championship, et cetera,
et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. Was a Division two
coach a couple of years ago, Like it, what are
your qualifications? But the insinuation that the NBA is racist
because they because JJ Reddick got the Laker job, It's

(17:33):
not even laughable. It's offensive because again, idiot on Twitter
can say this, I guess, or on Reddick can say this,
But when you're speaking into a microphone and calling everybody
and anybody racist and using terms like white privilege, like
what are you talking about? Look, I've said it before.

Speaker 2 (17:54):
I didn't.

Speaker 1 (17:55):
There's no one necessarily I earned the job at Green Bay.
My path is there. There's lots of different paths. If
you don't think that JJ Reddick should have gotten the job,
then you need to also say that I don't think
that Jason Kidd should have gotten the job when he
got it, or that Doc Rivers should have gotten any
of the jobs that he got. Doc Rivers was a
player and a good one. Then he became a broadcaster,

(18:16):
Then he became a head coach. There was no being
an assistant coach to anybody. Steve Kerr has been the
most successful coach the most recent dynasty. Steve Kerr was
never a coach. He was the general manager of the Suns,
and frankly, they got worse, not better when he took over.
I think that's because the owner made him take shock.
But that's regardless to the point. The point is there

(18:38):
was nothing that said he was going to be a
good NBA coach. He became a great NBA coach. Some
guys like Eric Spoltzer start through the film room.

Speaker 2 (18:47):
Now.

Speaker 1 (18:48):
Eric Spoltzer wouldn't have gotten to the film room now
for the fact his dad was a longtime GM in
the NBA. But how have we gotten to this point
to where doctor of psychology are so woke that they're
going to call the NBA, of all places, is not
one to be called to unless if you really want

(19:08):
to get down to racial biases, it's going be more
anti white than and definitely than anti black. Just call
it as it is. JJ Reddick was not an MVP.
He did not win NBA championship. But if there are
thirty NBA coaches, I would guess he had a better
NBA career than twenty eight of them. Without even looking.

(19:34):
Remember when JJ Redick was drafted, I know because I
was actually there. It's actually something I do for a living.
People clown the Orlando Magic Wow way too high for
a doochie, and it took him a while and he
came around. He ultimately lived up to that where he
was drafted, became one of the best picks in his
draft class. And I would say, like in basketball, if

(19:55):
we're honest, there's probably black privilege, and it's probably been
earned because for the most part, the game has been
dominated up until recently and still by black men. Right,
So the truth is, when you're white and trying to
make it in the NBA, it's harder because everybody thinks

(20:17):
you can't move, you can't guard, you're not tough. And
clearly fans like this fanboy who's some doctor of psychology
and can go on a wildly successful radio show and
just view lies because what he wants Brownie to play
with his dad. And again, it's all if the shoe

(20:37):
was on the other foot, right, isn't that the fair argument?
I mean, pick any player, any aging white player in
the NBA. Can you imagine if I mean, who's the
If JJ had his son when he was playing the NBA,
or we want to get to better white player. If

(21:00):
Dirk had a son late in Dirk's career when he
was hobbling around and took him year two hours of
work with his body guy just to get him ready
on a daily basis to play. If Dirk said, I
got a son, I want him to play with me,
we would have screamed at the mountaintops lebron thing. Yeah,
there's been some people pointing to nepotism, but they've actually

(21:20):
gone like, yeah, nepotism happens everywhere. Okay, so that makes it, Okay,
what are we doing? He's not good enough? This is silly.
We've dedicated way too much time. Nobody's hating on Bronnie
James Hey, and again, this is the same problem that

(21:46):
WNBA players have. Is the same problem that this doctor
is it Omar? Is that his last name?

Speaker 5 (21:53):
Doctor Umar Johnson.

Speaker 2 (21:54):
Umar Johnson, doctor Lumar Johnson.

Speaker 1 (21:56):
Same problem. It's if you want to be judged like
the rest of the world in the NBA, then as
a second round pick, so far he has looked like
a terrible draft pick.

Speaker 2 (22:10):
Again, that's if you're.

Speaker 1 (22:11):
Just judging, just if it's anybody else at fifty five
selected and he watched him play, You're like, dude, you
drafted him fifty five. A six ' one to two
guard that doesn't want any part of handling the basketball,
that wants to stand in the corner and guard the
guy in the corner like that. That's what we're doing.
That that's how it actually, that's actually a real basketball

(22:33):
piece of analysis. You know, anybody who has been associated
and I'll just tell you, I was a coach's son,
and when I was going into my freshman year, I'm
sure there were so many people thought I didn't belong
And I was playing with all these different college and
kids that were going to college and they were stars,
and every every team is like this, They're all like this.

(22:58):
I mean, LaMelo ball was like this. He played with
his older brothers. He was tiny, and you're like, man,
why are they playing him? And most of us who
watch like, LaMelo's going to be better than the rest
of them because he's fearless despite the fact that he's
two or three years younger, and at the time he
was six or seven inches smaller than anybody who was
playing against. But you go around to AU tournaments and

(23:21):
this is AAU season, and you will see plenty of
these teams with star after star for star, and then
there's a kid that you're like, why is he there?
Like coaches said, coach gets him in there, and you're
always torn rid of the coach, Like, I don't really
want to coach unless my son plays, but I don't
want my son to play at a level that he's
not capable of playing at. So I don't really want
to coach unless it's a level capable of playing at.

Speaker 2 (23:43):
But I also want to be able to compete and win.

Speaker 1 (23:47):
That's basically what Lebron has done to the NBA is
he's turned it into an AAU team where we're playing
daddy ball. And I'm not somebody who thinks he stinks.
I'm just telling you he's just not at that level.
There are a myriad of levels in AU, bestman, you know,
you go these AU events at the youth level, they

(24:08):
have copper, bronze, silver, gold, and sometimes platinum, And there's
nothing wrong with being a silver player or a bronze player,
just to find the right level for you so you
can compete and maybe find a way to have the
ball go in the bucket. There's different levels of college basketball.
There's Ania Division two, Anaia, D three, D two, D one,

(24:32):
there's different levels of D one. We're a mid major.
We're a mid major. There's low majors as well. There's
high majors. There's elite, super elite high majors. That's the
YUKONSA Kansas, the Kentucky's, the Dukes, the Arizona's. I'm sure
I'm in the North Carolina's of this world. Indiana's of
this world. It's the same sport, but a different level.

(24:53):
He's not on that level. And the only retort now
is got it be racism? You knew that was coming, right,
It's so tired and so overused. Then what happens is
when real racism does exist, those of us who are

(25:15):
clearly against most people are I would say ninety eight
to ninety nine percent of people are clearly against racism,
but there's a high percentage of us who were against racism. Like, dude,
you just keep calling everything racism when it is not.
Plenty of people were critical of JJ Reddick being hired,
but there's also precedents for it working for it not working.

(25:39):
Plenty of people were critical of Ronnie James being drafted.
There are a few instances of it working. There are
plenty of instances of it not working. It doesn't have
anything to do with race and going to race as
the default argument. It's just tired and obnoxious and more

(26:00):
than anything, ridiculously and remarkably inaccurate, because whoever doctor Umar
Johnson is has failed to understand that this has happened
plenty of times in the NBA, some of them successful,
some of them not successful. I would say Steve Kurrz's
a success story. I would say Jason Kidd's a success story.
I would say Doc Rivers success story. Neither of them

(26:24):
coached a day in their life before they became a
head coach in the NBA.

Speaker 4 (26:27):
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
the nation yet. Catch all of our shows at foxsports
Radio dot com and within the iHeartRadio app.

Speaker 1 (26:39):
It's Dog Gottlieb Show, It's Fox Sports Radio. You know,
I've read several different places, Okay, I've read several different
places something about Ronnie James. Matter of fact, actually, Jay Stewt,
you brought it to my attention because you said, have
you you watched you know, when we talked to early day.

(27:01):
You're like, have you did you you know, did you
watch Bronnie play? And I said, yeah, I watched. I've
watched Brinnie play. And he said, okay, well what'd you think?
And I was like, yeah, well that's that's that's Bronnie.
That that's just Ronnie James, right to a to a t.
That's that's how he plays. That's who he is. Is

(27:22):
that right? Is that kind of who? I?

Speaker 2 (27:24):
What?

Speaker 4 (27:24):
What?

Speaker 5 (27:24):
We?

Speaker 4 (27:24):
What?

Speaker 1 (27:24):
We said?

Speaker 5 (27:25):
Pretty much? I mean I told you that I've read
in multiple places. In fact, if you google right now,
Bronnie underwhelmed in game two and you've made it pretty
clear from the beginning that you have pretty low expectations
for the kid. Anyways, so I'm guessing you don't think
he's underwhelmed.

Speaker 1 (27:45):
No, no, no, So so again, I I'm sure when
this comes out, Okay, I'm I'm actually positive that when
this comes out, one thing will happen. Okay, I'll be
called a hater, because that's that's the pushback against anybody

(28:05):
who says anything constructive in terms of criticism. But what
you hear from people, and if we'll do this a
little bit more on the podcast, we have more time.
By the way, download the Doug Gotlieb Show podcast available.
We have a podcast only version. But I was listening
to Paul Pierce today and Paul Pierce is on Undisputed
on Fox Sports One, and he's like, man, he really

(28:25):
needs to kind of take over. He's a takeover And
I've heard Skip Bayless say, yeah, he doesn't do well
with the with the selfish one on one mentality of
Summer Lake. This is this is Paul Pierce earlier today
on I Believe on Fox Sports one on Undisputed.

Speaker 7 (28:48):
I like what I saw his aggressiveness. You know, it
is Summer League, so Skip, I've played in Summer League.
I've watched Summer League for a lot of years. I
really don't put too much stock in it. But if
you're asking me what I see a kid that connects,
who could be serviceable. And when I watched Ronnie, you know,
he obviously displayed some great intensity. I think on the

(29:09):
defensive end. Obviously he needs to have more confidence in
his offense. I don't think he was aggressive enough. I
don't think he'd looked to take his shots. But he
has to still kind of wonder you know what his
niche is gonna be in this league, and to me,
I think he could be that three in D guy,
you know, but he has to show me a little

(29:30):
more aggressiveness. He played twenty to nine minutes, you know,
got three shots up. I need to be a little
more aggressive. And I know it's summer league, and you know,
he's the type of player that you know, maybe needs
someone to create offense for him. You know, you know
he has at times can create offense for himself. But
if he wants to establish his niche it wants to
be a guy that gets minutes in an NBA game.

(29:55):
He has to show confidence in his offense. And he
got a knockdown shots. That's what I say. You know,
being a defensive guy is all good and all, but
this NBA this is a make or mislead and you're
gonna hear this all the time. And if you can't
make shots, it's gonna be tough for you to play,
especially at the guard slot.

Speaker 1 (30:13):
Look, there's a ton of truth there to what Paul
Pierce is saying. But here's the big thing we're asking
people ask all the time. And remember I did not
play in the NBA. I played an NBA Summer league
and I'll never forget what I learned. This is a
very powerful lesson. Okay, you have to be more efficient
with everything you do, playing less time, with more difficult

(30:39):
rules against the best competition in the worlds. And look
where Bronnie. Ronnie has the opposite adjustment than most of
us have. Most people go to an NBA summer league,
and especially your first year out of college, and you
played thirty minutes a game, and so now you have
to adjust to You don't really have time to get
yourself warmed up. You got to come in ready to go.

(31:02):
If you're a shooter, you got to get ready to go,
ready to go, get buckets. You have to kind of
relearn a skill of doing it in kind of very
short order. Okay, so Bronnie doesn't have that because he
didn't play with exception of a couple of games extended minutes.
But we're asking Bronnie James to be somebody who's more
aggressive offensively, has more of an alpha mentality, is more

(31:23):
of a dominant player at the college level. And guess
what we're asking him to do something he's never done.
He's never been aggressive in college. He wasn't particularly aggressive
in high school. I don't believe he ever had over
twenty five, let alone thirty points in high school ever. Ever,
your expectations of him exceed his level of competency. This

(31:49):
is the Peter principle. It's the Peter principle, even the
idea that he could be a three three and D player.
Three and D players are almost all six ' five
to six foot nine, and the reason they're the three
and D players is they're great defensive players, but they

(32:12):
also have the capability of guarding four positions because they're
six foot eight, six foot nine with a seven foot wingspan,
not six foot one and a half with a six
foot six and a half six foot seven wingspan. He's little,
he's not particularly athletic, latterly vertically and straight line. He
is just like his dad. But we're asking me a
three and D player. It's never what he's done and

(32:33):
oh yeah, by the way, he's too small to do that.
We're asking him to have some sort of alpha mentality. Offensively,
he doesn't do that either. It's not who he is.
Why are we asking somebody to do something that he's
just not capable of. I actually believe that one thing
that benefits him is He hasn't been a selfish, go
one on one, take your own shots, take every shot

(32:55):
sort of guy. He can play off the basketball, but
that's the only thing that he does. He's too much
of a role player. He cannot break out of that.
And on one hand, Skip wants to say this style
of basketball doesn't suit him, but college did neither, and
Sierra Kanaan he wasn't a star there, So what style

(33:15):
of basketball would make him come out of some sort
of shell. Nothing, because it's not a shell. This is
who he is. The Peter principal states that a person
who is competent at their job will earn a promotion
to a position that requires a different set of skills.
If the promoted person lacks the set of skills required
for the new rule, they will be incompetent at the

(33:37):
new level and they will not be promoted again. That
is the Peter principal in a nutshell, and we all
know it from work. Guy was a great salesman. Somedenhow
becomes a sales manager and that doesn't work. Just like
Brownie James, a good prospect, a good high school player,
he was on his path to becoming a solid college player,

(33:58):
I've said all along is gone. Ducane played for Lebron's
best friend, played a bunch of minutes learn to become
an outfit. Now we're asking him to do something which
is a different skill set that has ever been required
of him previously. And he's not that guy. This is
the Peter Principal. Let's get to Isaac Low and Crown
with an update, Hilo.

Speaker 8 (34:20):
Perhaps Ronnie would be better serve getting some experience with
the Ural Great Perm like you did.

Speaker 1 (34:25):
Huh, You're a Great Perm lost one game in the
six months I was there. I'm just saying we were
one of the best teams in Europe. He would not
have seen the floor in You're a Great Perm. I
split time You're a Great Perm. That was an unbelievable
basketball team.

Speaker 8 (34:38):
I just think that the Ural Great Perm is one
of the greatest sports nicknames that we've ever not heard about.
I mean, is there a logo some guy with a mullet.

Speaker 1 (34:49):
No Perm or pat him is actually a city. It's
on the base of the Ural Mountains, It's on the
Comma River and it's it. If you've ever watched Doctor Giovago,
the opening scenes in the city is Perm Russia.

Speaker 8 (35:09):
It's a small, small world.

Speaker 1 (35:11):
Yvan joins us. He's seen NBA reporter covering the Lakers
for the Athletic He joins us on the Doug Gottlieb
Show on Fox Sports Radio, jib on, I'm wondering inside
the Lakers, what's their reaction to the first two times
Ronnie has played in Summer League.

Speaker 9 (35:32):
I think it's been as expected. He's shown flashes of
being a good defender. This past game two steals, three blocks.
He's been something of a defensive playmaker. There's been several
other possessions he's been able to turn guys with his
hips and just you know, being big and why. Defensively,

(35:54):
there's also a viral clip last night where he was
battling a big four post position and denied an entry pass.
So like they're seeing defensively the potential that they believe
is there with him. Offensively, it's more of a work
in progress. But I think anyone expecting him to be
a scorer is misguided in terms of what his offensive
role is going to be. It's more going to be

(36:16):
operating off the ball and catching shoot opportunities. So you know,
he's struggled overall. I think he's three to thirteen through
the two games. But that's what some league's for is
is kind of ironing out those kinks and figuring out
his role. So I think overall they've been rather pleased
with the way that he's performed and him you know,

(36:36):
handling the pressure. Like I was there that first game,
and the buzz in the arena was palpable, and anytime
he touched the ball, the crowd is going crazy. And
the two loudest years of the evening were the two
buckets that he made. So like he's dealing with a
level of attention and scrutiny right now that is oncommon
for most rookies, even like top picks, and I think

(36:59):
so far he's handled it well despite obviously some quiet
offense performances, though again I think that more so speaks
to what his role will be at the NBA level.

Speaker 1 (37:08):
This is who he is, though he's not a scorer, no,
and he's for a three and D guy. He's small,
and I just you know, I mean, what's the I
guess my issue is if it's about development, then he's
got to handle the ball more, not just stand in
a corner. But he seems like he wants to stand

(37:30):
in the corner, wants to guard off the ball more
than guard on the.

Speaker 9 (37:33):
Ball, So I don't I think they view him more
as like a three and D shooting guard and more
of like one of these Patrick Beverly Davion Mitchell types,
where if you have a bigger ball handler, you can
put that guy next to them and they don't need
the ball to be effective. So like, I don't think

(37:53):
he's going to be a point guard at the next level.
I don't think he has that level of ball handling
and playmaking skills. So it is a niche fit offensively
for sure, and that potentially puts a cap on his ceiling.
But I think for him to become a point guard,
he has to show a level of ball handling and
playmaking that he has yet to show. So that's where

(38:14):
the fit offensively is certainly tricky. And like those types
of guys like a Patrick Beverley fit very well against
the James Harden, if you don't have a James Harden,
that fit isn't necessarily as natural. But I think the
biggest thing with Brownie's going to be his shooting, and
if he can become a good catch and shoot player
and both hitting threes and also attacking closeouts and if

(38:35):
guys are or closing out short, can he find ways
to still be effective? And that remains to be seen obviously,
So yeah, I mean I think they need to give
him more on the ball reps. I just don't think
if we're projecting out what he looks like in five
to seven years, I don't think he's ever going to
be a point guard. I think he's always going to
be a small shooting guard and you're probably going to

(38:57):
need a bigger guard next to him.

Speaker 1 (38:59):
I agree. I just don't think he's he does not
have any sort of mentality on the offensive end, and
I think defensively he's it's he's not great Laterally, He's
obviously very intelligent, he's pretty strong for a kid his age,
but I just you know, the higher the level of competition,
the bigger everybody gets, and it's hard to hide him.

(39:20):
Like we're compared and Patrick bevery like Patrick Beverley was
a hell of a player in college and then heads
with the Ukraine. You know where he killed everybody before
he even got a shot in the NBA. That's that's
that's not where where where Brownie is like, you got
to have a level of tenacity that I don't think
he has. All right, let's get to the rest of
the Lakers. Is this what they're going to roll out
there next year or is there some move that's yet

(39:42):
to be made.

Speaker 9 (39:44):
I think they have to make a move, you know.
I know they've been trying that, They've been aggressive in
trying to find another.

Speaker 1 (39:51):
Three and D wing.

Speaker 9 (39:53):
The problem is they have a lot of these mid
size salaries that just aren't attractive to rival suitors. And
it's a lot like you've gave Vincent and D'Angel Russells
and Ruey Hatchamorras and Jared Vannerbolts like these contracts don't
have a lot of value. So in some instances you
have teams asking for them to hatch a pick in

(40:15):
addition to the pick to get the other players. So
a lot of teams are asking for both of their
first round picks. They could trade twenty twenty nine, twenty
thirty one, and that is a seat price for them,
and the caliber of player that they are willing to
give up two picks for is a bit higher than
the caliber of player that they've been in talks for.
So as of now. I think at a minimum, they

(40:36):
need to do some sort of consolidation trade where they
show up the back end of the roster that they
have several guys, like talking about Bronnie Brownie's gonna be
in the G League for most of the year, He's
not going to be a rotation guy. Then you look
at Jalen Uschafino, Maxwell Lewis, a couple of their rookies
from last year. Those guys are unlikely to be rotation guys.
So you start going through the roster and all of
a sudden, it's like you'd like spots ten to fifteen

(40:58):
on this roster might not be rotation caliber guys for
a good or a team that hopes to be good.
So you need to do a couple of If you're
the Lakers, you need to do a couple of consolidation
trades to dump a couple of contracts. The names I've
heard Cam Reddish, Christian Wood with the second round pick
or two, and then you open up some roster flexibility
and then you could go sign Gary Trent Junior, a

(41:20):
Spencer Dinwiddie, or one of the top perimeter guys available
right now in free agency. So I see them doing
a marginal move at a minimum, But as of now,
it's looking like this is probably gonna be the roster,
and as it's currently constructed, I don't think this is
a true championship contender.

Speaker 1 (41:38):
No, no, I would I tend to agree with you.
And remember you're coming off a year in which, whatever
you want to think about Darvin Ham, that's probably as
healthy as Lebron and Anthony Davis have collectively been since
they've been together with the Lakers, and they still didn't
achieve achieve great thing. Jevana joining us on the Doug
Gottlieb Show here on Fox Sports Ray, Okay, what about

(42:01):
D'Angelo Russell, Like, if they're going to keep this roster together,
they're going to have to get more out of D'Angel Russell.
I know Austin Reeves didn't have a great relationship with
Darvin Ham, but Danzel Russell did. How is he going
to be better or how is he going to play
under JJ Redick.

Speaker 9 (42:17):
It's a good question. And the second that d'anngel Russell
opted in, I reported as I began hearing that they
were trying to ship him out, and then like you know,
internally there's a sense that there is a clear feeling
too and Austin reeves D'Angel Russell back court pairing because
both guys, uh, you know, have a lot of similarities
offensively in terms of like that you know that they're

(42:41):
not like Austin could get downhill and he can get
to the free throw line. But for the most part,
but both guys are finesse guards offensively and you know,
very skilled players that can score at all three levels
and are good shooters. But there's just a bit of
overlap there in terms of their skill set. And then defensively, uh,
you know, I thought Austin ramped it up toward the

(43:02):
end of the season and took on a lot of
the challenges and did about as well as he could.
But neither one is necessarily a lock. I mean, neither's
one's a lockown the defender, and I would say the
Angel Russell is a bad defender. And so when you
look at that, it's just like there's a clear ceiling
there as to like that is not a championship back
court And if the Lakers want to win a championship,

(43:22):
or at least give themselves a better shot to win
a championship. They need to split those guys up.

Speaker 1 (43:27):
Now.

Speaker 9 (43:27):
The Angel Russell is older, he has performed worse in
the last couple of postseasons in LA, and Austin Reeves
is on a great contract if you look at that,
He's gonna be making thirteen million dollars this year under
contract for a couple more years. So like he's on
a team friendly deal that is a really good value.
So between the two guys, the Lakers value Austin Reeves

(43:48):
far more than they value the Angel Russell. And you know,
for example, the trade deadline, Atlanta wanted Austin Reeves instead
of the angela Russell in a trade for dejontaet Murray.
Lakers would not includ Austin Reeves, but they were going
to include the' angelo if Atlanta would take him. So
I think at some point they need to move on
from from the Angelo, whether it's this summer or by

(44:09):
the trade deadline, just because again I think there's a
clear ceiling there. But I mean with him, it's it's
really not a matter of the regular season, because he's
coming up his best regular season in several years with LA.
It's more so the playoffs, where if you just look
at it. His shooting decreases in the playoffs, and because
he's a he's a negative defender, and because he doesn't

(44:31):
really do much else other than he's a good passer.
But like he's not rebounding, he's not doing these little
role player things in terms of screening and cutting all
this stuff. So like he's just he's a tough fit
when he's not shooting the ball well and not scoring.
So when he becomes what you know, the competition ramps
up and teams are able to play him more physically,

(44:52):
he struggles. And so I think for the Lakers it's
it's not even so much as like, you know, how
does he fit in the regular season, it's like how
can he play better in the playoffs? And they haven't
been able to figure that out, and they might not
be able to, Like I just don't know, Like D'Angelo
just might be one of those guys that just doesn't
assimilate to playoff basketball in the way that he should.
So I expect him to move on from him at

(45:14):
some point. It's just a matter of is it this
summer or potentially more likely closer to the deadline.

Speaker 1 (45:21):
Yo bomb Bouja does an outstanding job as a senior
NBA reporter cover in the LA Lakers. You're the best man.
Thank you so much for joining us.

Speaker 9 (45:28):
Appreciate it, Doug.

Speaker 4 (45:29):
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
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