June 30, 2025 • 57 mins
On a Monday edition of the Best Of The Doug Gottlieb Show: Doug explains what irritates him most about Lebron James opting into his contract with the Lakers for this next season.
In this installment of Love AND Hate, Doug and the crew share what they loved and hated most about the sports weekend.
Doug reacts to the news that the WNBA is expanding at least three more teams in the next three years. Doug welcomes FSR NBA Insider Ric Bucher onto the show to talk about Lebron and all of the other relevant NBA maneuvers.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
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
Foxsports Radio dot com, or stream us live every day
on the iHeartRadio app by searching FSR Booming Up America
Doug Gottlieb Show, Fox Sports Radio. How are you hey,
(00:29):
Hope you had a great weekend. Hope you listen to
my guy Dan Byer yesterday or throughout last week as
he's filling up the radio hours. He's back with us today.
Excited to have dB along. Of course, you got Jason
Stewart as a producer and my guy I was Sam
on the ones and two is welcome in. Rick Buker
(00:51):
is going to join us about twenty five after the hour.
We'll talk a little bit. Caitlin Clark. Also a new
ad with Caitlin Clark, which I'll give it my thoughts on.
We got a big football trade. Is Jalen Ramsey's now
Pittsburgh Steelers. We got all the things to get to.
Let me start with Lebron James Rich Paul is lebron
(01:13):
James agent. Rich Paul was the guy who Lebron met,
I think selling jerseys out of the back of his car, right,
so he's part of you know, started from the bottom.
Now we're here, and he had this statement to ESPN.
(01:35):
Lebron wants to compete for a championship. Paul told ESPN.
He knows the Lakers are building for the future. He
understands that, but he values a realistic chance at winning
at all. We're very appreciative of the partnership that we
had for eight years with Genie and Rob. Lincoln considered
the Lakers as a critical part of his career. We
understand the difficulty in winning now while preparing for the future.
We do want to evaluate what's best for Lebron at
this stage of his life and career. He wants to
(01:56):
make every season he has left count and the Lakers
understand that supportive of what of want what's best for him.
I will tell you how that lands with me one
word poorly, poorly, And there are lots of different ways
(02:17):
to explain why it lands poorly, but here's the easiest.
You have to match up your actions with your words.
If Lebron wants to win a championship, Well, then why
would you opt into a deal that pays you fifty
three million dollars? Because ears out really works. If you
(02:38):
want to win, you know, you got to take less
so that you can pay more to go out and
get guys on the free agent market. I mean, and
if you want to guarantee yourself a big fat paycheck,
what you can do is you can backload a contract,
do it as a player only option, and you play
a year with the Lakers and oh yeah, by the way,
(02:59):
if if it doesn't work out, you want to retire,
you know, you had them by their way out of
an opt out or whatever, or you go somewhere next year.
There's a million different things you can do. But you
can say you're appreciative of Genie and Rob Polinka. Your
actions are far different because if you're really appreciative, why
(03:22):
would you release the statement? If you really want to
win a championship, why'd you release the statement? How it
lands on me is poorly because it feels like the
Lakers and Lebron has talked about it and he always
couches it with you. I understand. Now we're building around Luca.
This is Lebron James and rich Ball pouting and trying
(03:43):
to exert some sort of leverage that doesn't actually exist.
This is no different than Lebron when he was leaving Miami,
when he was leaving Cleveland the second time leaking out
there that could be interested in the San Antonio Spurs
who had no interest in Lebron James. Because you can say, hey,
(04:04):
we're really appreciative, but the reality is, are you right?
Are you? Let me make this clear, over the past year,
just the past year alone, We'll make it thirteen months
a year. Is that? Okay? Over the past year, the
Lakers have hired a guy he co hosted a podcast
(04:27):
with as the head coach of the Lakers, and look,
I get it, I'm not that different from the JJ
Reddick higher but it's the head coach of the Lakers
and they hired him. Okay. They also drafted Bronnie James
and then all made statements like Bronnie had earned the
(04:50):
right to be a second round pick when that's not
even close too accurate. Then they played Bronnie the first
game of the season and throughout times in the NBA season. Well,
give him a guaranteed four year contract. Despite the fact
he was like, what, the fifty fifth pick in the
NBA draft, So the worst thing they did. And then
(05:13):
if you predate that, they went out and got Anthony Davis.
They overpaid for Anthony Davis. Why he was a Rich
Paul client. And when they struck out the first time round,
they went back in the offseason and went after him
and got him. Overpaid for him. Remember they got Russell
Westbrook on the LA Lakers. Why they were gonna get
(05:36):
Demarta Rosen, that was the guy. Well documented, Demarta Rosen
was going to be the third guy. But what happened
was Lebron was like, nah, we like Russell Westbrook better.
They overplayed for Russell Westbrook, and then midway through his
first year with the Lakers, Lebron just did what Lebron
does where he doesn't say anything negative, but he just
(06:00):
passive aggressive moves on and ultimately they moved off for
Russell Westbrook. So we overpaid for Anthony Davis, we trade
for Russell Westbrook, we hire JJ Reddick, we draft and
play Brownie James. All of these things would not have
(06:21):
happened if not for Lebron wanting thene to happen. There's
a million other things. And you have fifty three and
change million dollars on a contract, and you say you
want to win. And the only thing you say, after
having the opportunity to opt out of that rework your
deal have more money for the Lakers to play with,
(06:42):
is that's great, but we're going to keep our options open.
That sounds like the least no matter. You can say
you're grateful, but it's words, it's actions not words. And
and what you have done and what the Lakers have
(07:02):
done for you is support you the best way possible.
Remember of Lebron's seasons with the Lakers, how many of
them have ended in injury? How many seasons? How many
games does he played in the regular season? You remember
when he started playing a ton of games in the
(07:23):
regular season, that was the year he was going for
the all times scoring mark. And so if you ask
Lebron about he would Lebron I get He's the most selfish,
unselfish guy there is. Yeah, he likes to pass the ball,
but he likes to pass the ball because he wants
(07:45):
you to score and get the assist and he wants
it to be about Lebron. His agent tries to make
this about leverage that they don't have. Look, if you
really want to challenge Lakers to going out and making
a championship team, Lebron's gonna opt out. He's gonna see
what the Lakers do. He's willing to take less money
(08:07):
if their plan makes sense. That's not what he says.
He says, we're gonna take your money and then we're
gonna think about what we want to do in the future.
And what this does is it sours so many people
on Lebron James when, as I've stated previously, in comparison
to other star athletes, right know, off the court, nonsense, none, zero.
(08:34):
But there is a transactional nature to how he approaches
playing for a team. And I've told you guys, since
he got to LA and throughout this process, you can play.
He's gonna play eight years in LA. Lebron James plays
for the Lakers, is not a Laker because what Laker
(08:57):
fans want, what Laker fans desire is Lebron James wants
to do one thing before he calls it a career,
win another championship with the Lakers. And what he said
is I want to win a championship. I don't think
we can do it with the Lakers, So why are
(09:18):
we paying you fifty three million dollars bud?
Speaker 2 (09:22):
Oh?
Speaker 1 (09:22):
Yeah, by the way, if you don't think Luca is
good enough, then how did Luca get to the finals
without you? The whole thing is a massive contradiction and
a statement of being ungrateful. And there's lots of things
that turn people off and things that turn people on.
The number one thing that turns me off in my
(09:44):
lifetime is people are not grateful. People are not appreciative.
There are no perfect human beings. Either we see the
positive things that people bring or we harp on the
negative things. And if you're appreciative of the positive, it
doesn't mean that the negatives don't exist. But at least
it gives respect for somebody working through whatever they're working
(10:06):
through while giving you the best that they have. I
just for a guy that has done so many of
the right things. This statement is so about the wrong
things to me, Byer, what do you think of Rich
Paul's statement and how it lands on you as somebody
(10:26):
who's not from La Okay, but you know LA sports fans,
the Lakers and the sports world at large.
Speaker 3 (10:35):
Yeah, this topic is so many different ways to tackle it,
and I am not opposite yours. If you're at noon
or twelve o'clock, I'm maybe at ten o'clock on it.
When I read it, it felt like Rich Paul was
trying to take the narrative away from the Lakers. And
(10:57):
how I read it was prior to the team acquiring
Luka Doncicch, it had been all about Lebron stuff that
you laid out, even to the fact of hiring JJ Reddick. Well,
now Luca comes along, and I'm sure the Lakers and
Lebron had discussions about how things are going to go.
But if there was no Luca, why wouldn't Lebron just
(11:19):
sign another one on one deal, get max money for
one hundred and five hundred and six million dollars on
a two year deal and go through this whole charade again.
And I don't mean charade that it's a farce, but
that's what he did last offseason, had the one and one,
which allowed him to have this player option that he
opted into. But to me, it seems like he wasn't
(11:41):
going to get his fifty million anywhere else and at
least this offseason, and now it allows teams a year
in advance to maybe look at things, and it allows
them a year in advance to plot where they want
to go next. But I just took the statement, Doug
is them stealing the narrative of the Lakers saying that
they don't need Lebron anymore. And I compared it to
(12:01):
a marriage. There are different types of marriages that span
the spectrum. There are those that are madly in love
and madly in love for fifty years. There are marriages
that are made out of convenience. And this was a
convenience marriage between the two sides, and when one didn't
need the other as much as the other, then it
breaks away. And I felt that that's where the Lakers
(12:22):
were coming from and saying, yeah, that one in one
deal not necessarily great for us. We're not interested. So
Lebron will opt in, get his money, and then he
can figure out where he's going to play next and
have his farewell to her.
Speaker 4 (12:33):
Then that's how I took this statement.
Speaker 1 (12:35):
Yeah, you bring up the marriage analogy. It's great if
it's the difference in if you've been married once or
married three or four times, how you view your wedding
day right, how you et your wedding day, sure, you know.
And if you've been married three times, I mean, I
don't know this one compares to the other one's wedding
(12:56):
day whatever, you've been married one time, Like, I mean,
it's literally the it's the culminating moment of two lives
joining together hopefully forever. Hm, you know, and it's it's
it's fascinating. So here's a dude who's been with a
bunch of different teams and it doesn't mean as much
(13:19):
to him, there's not the emotional connection to the Lakers.
But for the Lakers, there's an emotional connection to Lakers. Remember,
the Lakers used to play in Inglewood. Inglewood was known
as the City of champions. Only one team played out
in Inglewood. That was the Lakers. The Lakers are the
team known for championships. So you say, like, do you
(13:40):
know how offended hardcore Laker fans are. Right, let me
get this straight. You were our rival and now you
join us. You're a guy who's bounced to several teams.
You're replacing Kobe Bryant, who, though there was a time
he wanted off the team, never played for another team. Right,
(14:04):
Kobe was about one thing and one thing only, and
that's winning, killing anybody in his path. Whether he did
the right way or not, he did it with the
intent of winning. And again, always was a Laker. So
you're replacing Kobe with a guy who was a Kobe rival,
who's bounced to a bunch of teams, and throughout his
time in LA he has never really bonded with Laker
(14:27):
fans and been a Laker for life. I never want
to go anywhere else. That's what they want to hear.
I think you nailed it. In terms of Luca. I
think Luca is now the star. Lebron's a little butt
hurt over it. Well, you mean I don't get to
call the shots anymore? Like no, dude, right, wouldn't stun
(14:49):
me if there was some conversation about Bryce and they
were like, yeah, the Bronny thing, we're good, Sure, we're good,
We're good.
Speaker 3 (14:58):
It's a it seems, I don't want to say, like
a formality. But there was just so many different ways that,
so many different places you can go with all of this.
Speaker 1 (15:06):
Look again, I'm going to compare it to my job
outside of radio in coaching basketball. Like I don't get
I don't get offended when a guy. They walk in,
they want to they want to go in the portal.
They want to go in the portal. But like, hey,
we helped you with get your move your girl here,
(15:28):
We helped your family. We helped you get into school,
stay in school. We gave you everything. We we got
your thotics, we got you extra massages, we got you
an IV when you were sick. We you know, we
had a tutor come and stay. You know, like we
did this, we did that. We blah blah blah blah blah.
And you don't. You can't have an honest conversation about
leaving you just your deuces. You're out like that ain't cool, right,
(15:50):
That's what this is. We overpaid for Anthony Davis. We
didn't want Russell Westbrook. You did, and then you wanted
to get rid of Russell Westbrook. Want through all these
coaches you didn't want. Okay, Then we go and you
want to coach, We go hire JJ Reddick. Then we
draft Bronnie James. Okay, now I gotta play Brian James.
We gotta give Bronnie a four year guaranteed contract, which
(16:13):
nobody gets when you're fifty to fifth pick in the NBA.
Draft for playing a game, but he got one. Like
we did all these things. We went all in and
you were like, Yeah, it's cool, LA's fine, it's fun whatever.
And part of it is also call. The calling is bluff.
They don't think and I don't think he's going anywhere else.
(16:33):
But if he doesn't do a goodbye tour then yet, dB,
I think you are right, He'll have his goodbye tour
somewhere else.
Speaker 5 (16:40):
This is the best of the Done Dot Leap Show
on Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 1 (16:47):
Hey, what up with you? Doug got Leab Show, Fox
Sports Radio. I hope you're having the world's greatest day.
I mean that well, I mean Green Bay, Wisconsin. I'm
looking out the lake. Amazing, beautiful, flat, glassy, sunny, little
human but not so much that it's annoying. Warm but
not hot. There's a breeze, but it's not cold. It's
(17:11):
it's it's summer. It's awesome. Hope you had an awesome weekend.
I got an awesome crew. Guys. Dan Byer, thank you
to ever fixed his internet. Appreciate that. Jason Stewart and
a big Apple. I was Sam. We talked a little
bit and you heard Dan Buyer in the update, and
I don't know if this is love and hate, So
(17:32):
if I steal from you guys, we'll get to love
and hate in the second. So the WNBA is going
to expand. It did say by two thousand and thirty.
Two thousand and thirty, right, that's right, two thousand and thirty.
So it's not like it's happening next week and there's
a build up of it. But again, all of these
things work together. And my fear for the WNBA is
there's such a push for more by their players that
(17:56):
you don't necessarily understand what it means. What I'm mean is,
when you get to eighteen teams, can you keep it
within the window of time in which the season already
exists or do you have to expand because the more
they expand, if they get into that, it's like right now,
when you're undering the NBA playoffs and you have some
bleed over in terms of the network carrying it, right,
(18:16):
you'll still have ESPN, assuming there's still an ESPN deal
and you have Caitlin Clark. It's fine, but the more
teams mean longer seasons, longer seasons, longer playoffs, longer playoffs.
If you go into anywhere near September. You're dead, Right,
You're dead. Do not compete with NFL football or college football.
That for that mount you're dead. And the more team
(18:41):
ad I think obviously you want to down the product.
I don't think that matters as much as here's something
you haven't thought of, Like there are women's basketball is
more talented than used to be. I'm not into a
denial of it. The sport is better, is healthier, but
healthier does not mean healthy enough to support more teams
because now you put fifteen women on a team, and
(19:04):
the more you expand, the more you have to work
to the overseas market, and the overseas market. Does that
work with the current model? And remember many of these
women who are the most sought after for advertisers, the
most popular. If we just go the two young three
(19:26):
youngest ones, right, you had Page Beckers into Angel Rees
and obviously Caitlin Clark. What they all have in common
was they had great college careers, which elevated their visibility.
We knew who they were before to get the WNBA.
I mean more this goes on. The less we're going
to know about these people. So I'm not saying the
(19:47):
WNBA can't smartly expand, and I do like the fact
that it's a like a five year lead up, but
I also you know, you got to warn you. NHL
did it to mix results, NASCAR has done it to
mixed results, and you'll make more money, but you do
(20:09):
have the the possibility of ruining all the equity you've gained.
Let's get to love it hate.
Speaker 5 (20:17):
What did you love?
Speaker 1 (20:18):
God?
Speaker 5 (20:19):
I love you and what did you hate?
Speaker 2 (20:21):
Meet these player hays.
Speaker 1 (20:24):
Every Monday on the Doug Gottlieb Show, we go around
the room and say, hey, man, I loved it this weekend.
I love this. Our resident lover boy who watches more
sports than the rest of us is Dan Byer Dan,
whatd you love on the weekend?
Speaker 4 (20:39):
Doug?
Speaker 3 (20:39):
You know I did take a couple of vacation days
on Thursday and Friday, so mine kind of dates back
to that point. But it was an event that spanned
the weekend US Senior Open, and there was some drama
at the broad Moor between Padrig Harrington, your eventual winner,
and NBC Encorse reporter Roger Maltby. This dated back to Thursday,
(21:01):
with their confrontation coming Friday, and then Malpy trying to
clear the era give some context to what happened on Saturday.
But Padrig Harrington was mad because he hit a ball
in the in the junk, hit it in the woods,
and you have three minutes to find your golf ball.
But Roger Malty, who was following that group, did not
(21:23):
help them look for the golf ball. Now there have
been encourse reporters that have done this, but Malty's excuse was,
I'm about to do an on air report with these
with the network, so I've got a producer in my
ear saying stuff. And Padrig Harrington is still saying, you've
been in the game forty years, you know to help.
(21:44):
But it's a bigger picture to me, Doug, is when
you are golfing with someone, and you're playing with someone,
usually with your buddies, there's a line to like, how
long I'm going to help you look for your golf ball? Yes,
And that's what I get to. It's also of how
high are the weeds or the shrubs that we're looking through,
(22:06):
how high are those How much of an effort am
I going to give? And there's also the balance of
I'm someone who just feels bad that somebody would help
me look for my ball, so I'll just take a drop.
But there are other people who sit there and look
for five minutes, and I feel like you have to
show some sort of effort to it.
Speaker 4 (22:26):
It is just a it's It's.
Speaker 3 (22:28):
One of those things in golf that I think is
different with everybody on how you deal with the lost
golf ball. But Padrick Harrington was not happy with Roger Maltby,
and I thought this brought to light the dilemma that
so many of us face when either yourself or someone
else hits one out of bounds right in the head.
Speaker 6 (22:46):
A golfer, I could definitely relate to this as a goal.
As a bad golfer who's only out there because a
friend of mine was nice enough to invite me to
a round. The last thing I want to do is
take up one more second of his time. So I
will take thirty six balls to an eighteen hole golf
(23:08):
course and spend almost no time looking for my balls.
I think that's the way to do it. If if well,
still go ahead, Doug.
Speaker 1 (23:16):
No, I was gonna it was actually mine was gonna
be related to golf, and I thought you'd appreciate it.
So I but I agree with you, Like there's a basically, well,
here's what you get, Okay, there's like a general rhythm
to it. You get like one circle of looking at
it in the golf cart. If you're if you're if
you're driving the golf cart, right, you're like, yeah, we'll
go over there. I'm taking a look now. Now it
(23:38):
is your job. I think if you're playing a foursome,
to keep an eye out and point in the general
direction makes sense. Yes, keep an eye out. Yeah, I
think it. Tell me about that tree. Then you go
make one loop and they're like, all right'm good, I'm
out because he can't be slow for the people behind you.
Speaker 3 (23:54):
Also, if the if the junk is like waist high, yeah,
and you're like navigating through that, like I'll just try
to actually be like, yeah, I think it's lost, bud.
I think this one's gonna be a tough one to find.
And then just but some people just are not having it.
They will sit there and look and look. If it's
ankle high stuff, that's no problem. I'll take all the time.
And if I'm out that side of the course even better.
(24:14):
Probably not gonna walk across the entire fairway if I
sliced one and someone pull hooked it. So we're on
opposite ends, but there is there is a little dance
in helping and how much you actually help considering where someone.
Speaker 4 (24:27):
Hits the golf ball. Watch out for takes. Yes, it's
a good call.
Speaker 1 (24:31):
I always check it out, yes this time of Yeah, okay,
well this kind of relates to it. I got new clubs,
stan or at least I got my new woods. The
irons are not it. Shout out, shout out to Sean
Ruschack who he fitted me for them. And I got
some new clubs, so yeah, who set of tailor mates.
Speaker 4 (24:54):
Nice work.
Speaker 1 (24:55):
So uh so I'm playing at Oneida and uh Luke
Getsy was in the group out of us. This is
an apology to Luke Getsy, but it's a love from
the weekend. So I'm on a whole nine and I
hit a nice drive, okay, right to the two sixty
five off the tee, two fifty to the hole. So
(25:18):
Luke Getsy's they're on the on the green. So I
pull out the three wood and I'm thinking, I mean,
the best I ever hit a three wood, And you
know I used to tee off with the three wood
because I couldn't hit the driver. So like you know,
like two forty is crushing it. When I'm slinging, it's
like two thirty is great for a three wood for me,
(25:40):
great when I could hit it straight. So he's two
fifty to the to the to the to the flag
and it looks like they're putting in and all right,
So I get up. I addressed the ball. I hit it.
It lands like three feet behind him. Wow, yeah, so one.
(26:00):
I mean I crushed it too. It was straight three.
I nearly killed a guy who was a coach at
the Packers who would look really bad. He's fine, and
he was really cool. I'm like, oh my god, what
did I do? But I love I mean, it's that
everybody knows ever play golf, right, that one swing that
makes you like, yes, it's nice today. When we're done,
guess what I'm going to do. I'm going to hit balls.
Speaker 4 (26:24):
I'll tell you what.
Speaker 3 (26:24):
I would rather have your situation than be the one
to wait for them to completely clear and then chunk
at fifty yards because that is normally what happens.
Speaker 1 (26:33):
That's exactly I was. They were like, hey, don't worry
about it. We were taking too long, and he was like, no, no,
I wasn't trying to be a jerk. I thought I
had no chance of getting it to the green There
zero good work anyway, Jase dou what'd you left in
the weekend?
Speaker 6 (26:46):
You know the Dodgers have taken I think seven of
the West nine and.
Speaker 1 (26:50):
Are you gonna go real sports here? My goodness.
Speaker 6 (26:52):
Here's a good news though for Dodger fans. And I
do want to promote Ryan Berschinger, Bo Bentz and Monty Bolangios.
They do these Sick Dodgers podcast check it out rate
review Sick, and what they're going to probably say in
the next podcast is that the Dodgers are doing something
that they haven't done a whole lot of the last
twelve years, and that they're just beating up on teams
(27:14):
they should beat. The Dodgers have always had this i'm
going to play down to my opponent thing, especially in
the postseason. So they're beating teams. They just got off
of the Royals. I think they took two or three
over the weekend show. Shal hay O Tawny pitched two innings.
He threw the ball one hundred and two miles an hour.
It's the fastest pitch he's ever thrown as a baseball player.
(27:36):
So the Dodgers are getting healthy, they're bidding teams that
they're supposed to, They're in first place. There really is
nothing to complain about. And trust me, if there was,
I would that.
Speaker 1 (27:47):
I can second that he will complain about anything. That
it all right, Sam, I love it, Sam, we got.
Speaker 7 (27:57):
I love how little mine I paid to this Jake
Paul Hulu Caesar Chavez Junior fight. I paid no mind
to it at all. I heard about it Thursday or Friday,
and then I existed through the weekend. I lived through
the weekend and I completely forgot about it. And I
was actually here at FSR yesterday Sunday doing afternoon evening shows,
and I don't remember anybody even talking about it. So yeah,
(28:19):
I woke up today and then I read about the
result and all the feedback it's been getting negatively, and uh, yeah,
it's good.
Speaker 1 (28:27):
Good that I was it yesterday. It was a Saturday night.
Speaker 4 (28:29):
It was Saturday night.
Speaker 1 (28:30):
It was at the UFC fights Ron. I watched those.
Speaker 7 (28:32):
Yeah, probably a better product. It was going the the
Jake Paul Caesar Shaves Junior fight was down in Anaheim
at the Honda Center. You know, it's a couple hour
drives away, or you know, hour or two drive away,
and I was completely oblivious to it.
Speaker 1 (28:45):
I love that, m I like that as well. There
was one of the fights, one of the three rounders
the UFC was amazing. I'm trying to think which one was.
Speaker 4 (28:54):
Since when have you been a UFC guy, Doug.
Speaker 1 (28:57):
I'm not. I look, I'm not gonna sit here and
lie and tell you I can quot chapter and verse UFC.
But a bunch of my guys are and I like
watching them. I just don't know nothing about it. And
I like the when they beat the crap out of
each other. And I love the striker versus a grappler
and if the guy get him to the ground. And
I don't know, I enjoyed it, enjoyed it like good fight. Bye.
(29:18):
Let's get to what we hated. So the end of
the aang, it's a good and the bad. It's the
Dan Byer and the JSTU. Right, you have the love
and the hate. Let's start with our resident hater j STU,
which eight for the weekend.
Speaker 6 (29:32):
I just picked up a bonus hate over the last hour.
So one of the things that I just can't stand.
As a guy who's been in this business for thirty years,
I don't like off the air take guy at work,
the guy who off the air just fills your ear
with takes and you're like, Okay, I do this for
a living. I don't need to have it out with
(29:52):
you and do a take session with you off air.
Sam has been doing that to me for the first
ninety minute of this show, and his take is contrary
to Doug's take on MWNBA expansion. And so now Sam
has filled two breaks with his very like passionate take
(30:13):
on the WNBA is in a good place and they
should expand. And I'm like, why don't you go to
the air with this? Yeah, Doug has talked about it
twice now and Sam has not not well on the air.
Speaker 4 (30:23):
Yeah, the name on the show is a Doug Gyley show.
Speaker 1 (30:26):
Wall Listen. This is the perfect opportunity you can hate
on my take, say I hate Doug's taken. Here's why.
Speaker 7 (30:31):
Let me just say this. I will say that the
Valkyries are one of the expansion teams. They're the thirteenth
team in the WNBA, and they're doing very well. They
have a lot of money. Fan sports been wild. So
I mean, honestly, expansion into San Francisco, into Toronto, I
think that's a very very good thing. Dan brought up that,
like Detroit and what was the other teams to getting
another Yeah, Cleveland, going back to these rocks tread cities,
(30:55):
and that's you know, you're you're you are banking on
the Golden goose, Caitlyn Clark keeping this excitement going for
the next ten years. So maybe there's some trepidation there.
But the Valkyries are a good team, and so they're
an example of expansion working in the WNBA so far.
Speaker 4 (31:13):
So I just got to keep those takes out.
Speaker 1 (31:15):
This is a totally cynical take, Sam, Yeah, but I
can tell you what I actually believe is taking place. Yes,
when you expand, Okay, for people to understand, I think
they do all those fees to get an expansion team,
where do those fees.
Speaker 4 (31:32):
Go to the other teams?
Speaker 1 (31:36):
Correct? So those owners that year after year after year
are losing money, it's like, hey, we got you, we
got three new teams. Then it will balance your books
for those three years, make you look far more profitable.
But Ultimately, though, you're still going to be losing money.
And I think that again, the amount of money you're
(31:58):
going to lose is probably bigger because what people say
as well, this will allow us to get a new
TV deal whatever, like yeah, but with every deal you're
gonna have to spend more money on the players, and
the players even now ratio wise, percentage wise, make a
gargantuan some consider the profits aren't there. So I think
it's a little bit of phony accounting, is what's gonna happen.
Speaker 4 (32:19):
I hear you on that.
Speaker 7 (32:20):
I would just say say this, like do you think
that twelve or thirteen teams is enough for the WNBA?
Speaker 4 (32:24):
I guys feel like they need more teams?
Speaker 7 (32:26):
Like are you just there's too much familiarity with playing
the same teams over and over again?
Speaker 4 (32:30):
Like I think six woke its good?
Speaker 1 (32:32):
So you've woken up going like, man, you know I
need more WNBA.
Speaker 4 (32:35):
Team's right, baby? Every day?
Speaker 1 (32:38):
Yeah, I can't say I'm there.
Speaker 3 (32:39):
God Cleveland there, Yeah, Cleveland lost their team because they
couldn't find an owner back in the day, so nobody
wanted to buy them.
Speaker 1 (32:45):
So they just nobody wants to sign up to lose money.
Speaker 4 (32:48):
The money.
Speaker 1 (32:49):
I'm good.
Speaker 7 (32:50):
The Valkyrie is a part of the Warriors ownership team
and rights they.
Speaker 1 (32:53):
Need to write off. They make a lot of money.
What do you got there, Dan Byer.
Speaker 3 (32:57):
So, Doug, this is a story that so many of
us talked about last week, and as Jason Stewart likes
to point out, we just forget about things so quickly
we move on from them. And the Kittel Martes situation
is one that Mike Carmon and I talked about yesterday
on our show, and I wanted to talk about it
because I think people have moved past it. And the
(33:18):
reason why I don't think people should move past it
is because of what it's done to katl Marte. So
this whole thing that he was basically a victim of
from the fan saying the line, which turned out to
be a mom joke. It just you did it to
the wrong person, and I feel that there should be
some consequences, but nobody realizes what Kittel Marte has been through.
(33:42):
Over the last four games since that has happened, He's
two for sixteen. He's homeward twice on homeward Saturday, on
homeward Sunday. But this is also a guy who struck
out three times in his return to Arizona, and everybody
was giving him a standing you know, ovation, walking and
welcoming him back with open arms. And while I'm sure
(34:02):
it's appreciated, it can't necessarily feel comfortable that this is
continually now being brought up in as part of the conversation.
In that game on Friday against the White Hot floor
to Marlins, could tell Martes struck out three times in
that game? How many times this season has cut? Could
tell Martes struck out three times in a game prior
to Friday, zero correct, none, struck out twice on Wednesday.
(34:28):
This has obviously affected him, and we forget about things
and how things move on. But then because we move
on from him, but the standing ovation that he gets
on Friday still probably not comfortable. White Sox putting out
a statement, putting out on the scoreboard on Wednesday probably
not comfortable. So that one interaction for people that want
(34:48):
to downplay it, It's now obviously affected him. He's was
hitting like three twenty now he's down to like three
h five in this recent slump. This obviously has had
something to do with his play, and I don't think
that we should forget about it and move on from it.
Speaker 1 (35:04):
What should what should the punishment be? Though, Dan, when
you don't know, right, like.
Speaker 4 (35:09):
Yes, I understand.
Speaker 1 (35:10):
I think it's a It's a really hard one, right
because if you watch the video, the guy clearly had
no idea about Martine. I like, unless he was really
playing it off.
Speaker 3 (35:21):
It's one of those thing like, yeah, where there's there's
a consequence because of what happened. I used yesterday with Mike,
and Mike didn't love this analogy, but I used just
of running a stop sign. How many times do you
run a stop sign and not get busted? Well, the
time that you hit someone on a bike, you know. Yeah, Like,
so there's got to be some sort of penalty. Even
(35:43):
though it was thought to be an innocent mom joke,
it doesn't like it has obviously affected him and it's
hurt Marte. I feel some sort of you know, donation,
some way to work with either the White Sox or
the Diamondbacks or major League Baseball to try to get yourself.
You shouldn't be banned for life for it. It was
an indefinite ban, But I do think that there's something
(36:04):
needs to be done and By all accounts, the fan
was remorseful when he found out about the situation. Martea
has even said that he prays for him. There seems
to be a way that they can bridge this, and
I think if you do that, you should be good.
But to just think like ah Marte is soft and
move on from it. This obviously has had an effect
on him and and the effected the Diamondbacks as a team.
Speaker 1 (36:25):
Assumingly, Okay, Sam, you want to get tweet you hate.
Speaker 7 (36:31):
Tomorrow is the first day of July, and this time
last week we were reacting to Game seven of the
w or the of the NBA Finals, I should say,
and it's tomorrow's July?
Speaker 5 (36:43):
Is it?
Speaker 7 (36:43):
Does anybody ever make the argument that July is the
best sports month? No, they don't, because it's the worst
sports month. Because we're now we have shifted past the
NBA Finals. There's no more men's basketball we do. There's
a bit of a silver lining here. Will cognitively restructure
and I will focus on my afternoon w NBA games.
(37:05):
But the month July is like, it's a weird, sort
of tweener month.
Speaker 6 (37:08):
You get to watch the Valkyries.
Speaker 7 (37:10):
I get to watch the Valkyrie I get to watch
baseball that doesn't.
Speaker 1 (37:14):
So you so you hate the month of July.
Speaker 7 (37:17):
The month of July and sports month is a tough
one to get through because we are yes, we're ramping
up for the NFL and college football, but it's just
it's slow.
Speaker 3 (37:26):
To ask you a question. What do you think of August?
Like why why isn't it August?
Speaker 7 (37:31):
They're one A, one B Because I would say this,
maybe the baseball is a little bit more meaningful. August
gets saved because first week of college football anticipation. But
it's also like people say, like I love Illinois as
the state, Well, you love Chicago because the rest of
Illinois is nothing like it is. It's Chicago, And I
feel like that would be like calbo Oasis would like
(37:52):
a word, trust me that What about Rockford?
Speaker 4 (37:56):
What about Rockford Illinois'?
Speaker 1 (37:58):
You're down playing rock Thanks?
Speaker 4 (38:00):
But no things?
Speaker 3 (38:01):
Sorry about Carbondale Cities?
Speaker 4 (38:04):
Sorry my quad cities? A normal lean? Sorry about that?
Speaker 1 (38:10):
I mean is real quick?
Speaker 4 (38:11):
Yes? Sorry?
Speaker 1 (38:12):
Okay, I I hate this act of Rich Paul. I
hate the act of Rich Paul. Like usually when you
get to the end of somebody's career, okay, usually it's
like when old people who are really really grumpy, and
he didn't like him. Like my grandma, Grandma Bernstein, Like,
she went that nice for a long time, then she
(38:33):
got really old and she was the sweetest old lady ever.
Here we are at the end of Lebron James's career,
and yeah, Lebron has bounced team to team. Yeah, Lebron
has set up super teams. Hey, Lebron hasn't always He's
had some ups, he says now generally though it's hard
to pick apart. He's had an unbelievable run, unbelievablerun He's
the all time leaning scores won for NBA, times, won
(38:56):
four m vps. He is, in the conversation, the greatest
player of all time. So what do you do in
one weekend? You wipe out any sort of good will,
any sort of good will and oh yeah, by the way,
you kind of make Lebron look petulant, right, because again
(39:18):
I don't know what their intent was, but how it
feels to us is I want to win a championship,
but you clearly think Lucas better. So I'm gonna go
elsewhere because I like being the guy and I want
to be on it, like Hey, dude, if you want
to be on a championship team and you're really the
greatest player of all time, then I don't know, why
(39:39):
don't you figure out how to make this team a
championship team. But the messaging is far different. And then
when you couple it into the they made him draft Bronny,
they made him you know, hey, we want to hire
JJ Reddick. That's my guy. Like all these things where
they acquiesced to right, they never said a word when
Lebron James showed up on the bench with the goblet
(39:59):
of wine back when he's hurt, like it is like
everybody in the organization was burst. Nobody said anything publicly, right,
but you just take all the good will and dump
it out. Unlike Kobe, who was a petulant brat for
a good amount of time, but late in his career,
people were like, you know, I love Cobe Cobs. You know,
he just changed because he knew it was his last rade.
(40:20):
He just he went very good at the end, and
he didn't act like he was very good at the end.
And because of it, and of course because there's undiminally death,
Kobe is beloved and Lebron I hope he goes in
place somewhere else, because if he does, most hardened true
Laker fans be like he on a Laker. I don't
care if he played eight years, we won one title.
(40:41):
There was a bunch of disappointment, a lot of noise,
and not a lot of substance. Crazy how one trade,
which is one of the great traits in the history
of the sport. Rob Polinka pulled it off and once
it met by by by Lebron James oh Man, I
could be next. I could be traded. Yeah, he is
jealous of Luca and Luca's treatment when he has acted
(41:05):
in this entitled way for so long, and he's entitled
because he's been great. But I don't think this is
how you end an illustrious career. And that's eleven eight.
Speaker 5 (41:21):
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.
Speaker 1 (41:28):
App Stug Gottlieb Show Fox Sports Radio. So if you're
old enough to remember the nineties, you're old enough to
remember when the NHL expanded and when NASCAR expanded. Right,
(41:49):
the NHL used to be Canada and it did have
the La Kings. You did have some other teams, but
they didn't have the Alis Stars. They didn't have the
Anaheim Mighty Ducks now the Ducks, the Atlanta Thrashers. Poor
(42:09):
a little liquor for the Atlanta Thrashers, the Phoenix Coyotetes
which are now the Utah or are the wooly mammoths
or something, Yeah mammoth ye yeah. The point is that
in the nineties, Wayne Gretzky moved to La and the
(42:32):
NHL was on fire. In nineteen ninety three, I was
at Lake Havasu. Lake Havasu is not actually at lake,
but regardless is the Colorado River where it's dammed up
but not actually a lake anyway. And allegedly that's old
London Bridge that they transported. But I thought London Bridge
was falling down, falling down, falling down. That didn't matter. Okay,
(42:54):
point is I was on the lake looking good, untanned,
sunburned right in high school jet skis back with the
jet skis were like stand up jet skis. They were
a lot harder back then. Okay, water skiing, this is
before people wakesurfed and everybody got off the lake, not
(43:18):
for not for a of a of Haboob, which is
a desert thunderstore. No. No, it was for the La Kings
playing in the Stanley Cup finals and everywhere Getzki went,
arenas were packed, things were celebrated. It was on Sports Center.
So what did the NHL do. Hey, we're making money,
(43:41):
let's make more, let's expand. And now they've had to
move these teams around. It's been a little embarrassing, but
generally the NHL has found its footing. Well, I take
you to the WNBA where they want to expand, add
what four teams. This is the WNBA that moved from
(44:04):
big arenas to smaller arenas that had to have a
salary cap, and they finally got it all under control
and they went from just hemorrhaging hemorrhaging money every year
and losing teams to all right, they'd stabilized. It's still
lost like forty to fifty million last year as a league,
but generally things are peaking up because of Caitlin Clark.
(44:27):
I just I don't see it. I don't see the
expansion four teams make it so all fourteen teams are thriving.
Less is more packed arenas, because what they're gonna do
and like, Look, whoever buys a franchise is gonna have
(44:48):
to throw in a bunch of money. That money will
be spread around, so these owners that have been losing
money are finally gonna have some money in their pockets.
But the game will become more watered down. More water
down means and are there other good women's professional players? Yeah,
but you know what they also are. They're also foreign born,
which means you're gonna have no different than the NBA.
(45:11):
You have more foreign players, which are harder to relate to,
harder to buy into, don't draw nearly as many people,
and they're not named Kaitlin Clark. Okay, I'm not telling
you that the WNBA can't start to go. Hey, we
got some we got some leverags. Let's get better and
better deals. We got some people watching. Okay, but you
(45:32):
got to build around Kaitlin Clark. And the second you
water it down, maybe you make Caitlin Clark into a
bigger star because she's going against lesser competition. But more
likely there's just more teams that people don't want to watch.
That's the got Leeb Show here on Fox Sports Radio.
We got a bunch to talk about with Rick Buker.
He joins us every Monday. He knows all things NBA.
He works for Fox Sports one. You can just work
(45:52):
at Fox sports dot com. Let me start with Lebron
and the Lakers, right, so let me get this. That's right.
He wants to win a championship. He's going to opt
into a deal that pays him fifty three million dollars,
but he wants to win a championship. And it feels
like that statement made by Rich Paul is saying we
(46:14):
can only win a championship elsewhere. How does it land
with you?
Speaker 8 (46:20):
It lands yes, well, I agree with your the the contradiction,
and I just look at it as trying to maintain
leverage for what that leverage may be with the Lakers
or elsewhere. I think it's more appearance sake, Like if
(46:42):
you present it as Lebron still wants to win championships
and he's looking for how can he still win championships?
Speaker 2 (46:50):
And it takes the focus.
Speaker 8 (46:52):
Off what you just said, which is and the question
that most people would have, which is, well, if you
want to win championships, how can you opt into a
contract that is going to pay you more than your
worth at least on the court right now. We can
get into the box office and the draw and all that,
but as far as championships are concerned, if that's first
(47:15):
and foremost your priority, then opting into that contract should
not have been the priority. And I don't know that
it's anything more than just trying to maintain this perspective
that the problem with whatever whatever problem the Lakers have,
Lebron is not the problem. It's it's that they don't
have enough around him. And I think that that at
(47:37):
this stage, combined with Luka, Dancic and Austin Reeves, the
way they're currently constructed is just a fallacy. Lebron has
a hand in what they have done, both good and bad,
over the last couple of years, and he's going to
be a year older, so I just I think this
(47:57):
is trying to kew perf so that Lebron doesn't look
like he's the one holding things back.
Speaker 1 (48:05):
Do you think that will work?
Speaker 5 (48:09):
No?
Speaker 8 (48:09):
I think I think now as the Lakers won, now
that they have their guy in Luka, Danci's the guy
that they're building around going forward, I don't they didn't
have much choice. Was this was Lebron's option to opt
into this contract, and and I don't know that they
really care all that much what happens a year from now.
(48:31):
If it's the money comes off that he's getting paid,
then I think that they will they will take that.
It's about the best case scenario right now, because you're
not going to trade him. There is no value in
trading Lebron James. Matching the contract. Any place that he
would go would be giving up way too many pieces
(48:53):
for a guy who's going to be a free agent
next year. And I'm sure is giving no assurances to
anyone that that he's going to stay longer, as if
you would want to do that. I mean, that's just
the hard reality is.
Speaker 2 (49:06):
And I think I saw someone else.
Speaker 8 (49:10):
Reference Bobby Marx might a referenced like, you know, if
he's a free agent, you got twenty nine teams coming
after him. I'm not sure that that's the case at
this stage. I think there are teams that are like,
you know what, we've got our plan, we're moving on.
Would love to have him. I don't even know if
you you know, you could get him at a minimum contract.
Lebron just comes with a lot of other things, And
(49:32):
so I think there's there would be a market, but
I don't know that it would be a.
Speaker 2 (49:36):
Bonanza, you know.
Speaker 1 (49:41):
I we'll talk about this a little bit. We talked
about this a little in the podcast, but I just
feel it lands on me as so ungrateful. It just does.
And here's what I mean. It's like you said, like, well,
if you if you want to win a championship, okay,
opt out, sign it to your deal, backload the deal
(50:03):
to where it's a player option or a team option
or whatever, and take less this year, try and win,
and then if you don't like it. I mean, if
it's about money, you go make money next year or
somewhere else. But hold on, dude. We hired the coach
who you did a podcast with, We drafted your son,
We guaranteed your son four years. We played him, yeah,
(50:28):
his first game when he should have been nowhere near
the NBA. We've we have been over backwards. We traded
for Anthony Davis, gave up the kitchen, saying not because
we didn't want Anthony Davis, but because you want to happen.
I feel like, yeah, this is a it's a power play,
but it's a little bit of pouting of what do
you mean you've moved on to Luca. We're the guy here,
(50:51):
and I just I feel like it feels ungrateful. And
Jays two said, we've talked about this all the time.
I know he's played for the Lakers for seven years,
but especially with this, and if he goes and plays
somewhere else at the end of next year, even if
it's Cleveland, he's not going to be seen as a
Laker by Laker fans.
Speaker 8 (51:13):
Right. Well, I'm surprised at your surprise because I just
looked through that.
Speaker 2 (51:21):
I mean, when you've always.
Speaker 8 (51:23):
Been accommodated, as Lebron has always accommodated.
Speaker 2 (51:28):
This has always worked.
Speaker 8 (51:30):
And I don't know that he has demonstrated a great
deal of gratitude in any case. He has approached as
if it is his first right to get these things
and to be treated a certain way. I mean, like
I still you know the way he left Miami. He
goes to Miami, he gets over the hump, and he
(51:54):
didn't get Pat a heads up, like Pat didn't know
it was coming when it was coming, and uh, and
the same thing in Cleveland when he left there the
first time, it was like at the last second, Rich
Paul called the Calves said, Hey, yeah, well you know
we're not. We're not We're leaving, and it puts them
(52:15):
at an incredible disadvantage. So I, I guess I just
take it for granted that that's the way that he's
going to operate.
Speaker 2 (52:25):
But I agree with you.
Speaker 8 (52:27):
I certainly think that this puts it puts far more
stress on the on the Los Angeles Lakers than I
would think is necessary.
Speaker 1 (52:37):
Let's let's move away around the lake here. Jannison tatakoupo,
Where are he in the Bucks?
Speaker 8 (52:45):
I mean, I honestly, I think he's he's he is
observing what they are and aren't doing. He wants to
know that they're still trying to make the team better.
Speaker 2 (52:54):
He wants to know that there's a plan there.
Speaker 8 (52:56):
But this idea that you know, he's he's got.
Speaker 2 (53:00):
One foot off the door.
Speaker 8 (53:02):
I just haven't gotten any indication of that.
Speaker 2 (53:04):
I think that's wishful thinking.
Speaker 8 (53:07):
If something dramatic happens where the Bucks, like, I think
the Bucks would have to tell him definitively, you know what,
we can't get to where you want us to get
to in short order. And I don't see them doing that.
So and I also don't expect that, like if they're
not a championship contender out of the gate next year,
(53:28):
that he's going to change.
Speaker 2 (53:29):
His mind and say I need to be elsewhere. I
don't get.
Speaker 8 (53:32):
Any any indication that he is so thirsty for sort
of on the Lebron James model of I'm supposed to
be playing for a championship every year and if not,
then I'm going to hold it over your head. I
do not get that from you, honest. And if he
and if he did do that, it would be the
(53:52):
first time that an international player failed. He did hold
their feet to the fire to get Damian Lillard's and
I think that, unlike a lot of guys, he recognized,
you know what, I had a part in that, and
I might have been wrong about I don't know how
that turned out. And so now he's allowing the Milwaukee
(54:14):
Bucks to do their jobs, and I commend him for
all of that.
Speaker 2 (54:17):
I'm I am.
Speaker 8 (54:18):
I will be thrilled if if my expectation comes comes true,
which is that he's going to stay in Milwaukee, because
he's one part and parcel. He's the reason, at least
partly the reason why they are where they are, and
to me, if he wins another ring there, or he
chases another ring and he gets them close, or wins
(54:40):
one that will be more than going someplace else with
absolutely no guarantee.
Speaker 2 (54:45):
That that he's going to the second one.
Speaker 1 (54:49):
The the probably most interesting thing that happened at the
draft was the Ace Bailey deal. Yeah, what are your
thoughts on how that ended up?
Speaker 8 (54:59):
Well, classic, whether it's Danny or Austin that told the trigger,
it's an it's an age trademark to say, Hey, I'm
going to do what's best and I'm not going to
get let feelings or someone's feelings dictate to me what
we do here. But I think the whole thing was
(55:21):
it doesn't leave me with a good feeling about Ace
Bailey or his representation, because while I think he's extremely talented,
the idea that he would prefer going to the Washington
Wizards over the Utah Jazz I just look.
Speaker 2 (55:39):
At those two organizations.
Speaker 8 (55:41):
I go, then you're not about what equality, how a
quality franchises run like it's about something else. It's about
your roles. And I don't know that you're good enough
to be worried about your role. I think I might
have tweeted it out there that it gives me cam
reddish vibes where supremely, supremely talented but worried about all
(56:05):
the wrong things. And when he's up there and saying, hey,
I don't worry about this. My team takes care of that,
and I'm about basketball, i'mlake. That gave me the Jay
Williams talking about his brand after he was drafted by
the Chicago Bulls before wrapping a motorcycle around a telephone pole. Dude,
(56:27):
the NBA is hard to be successful in, and there
is a handful of guys who come along and are.
Speaker 2 (56:37):
So so talented.
Speaker 8 (56:38):
No matter where they go, no matter what they do,
they are going to be a success. And even those
like a Victor Wembinyama, you know, the chances are better
that he's going to fulfill his potential because of his
combination of confidence and humility. So I just I understand
(57:01):
why Utah did it. I think they saw an asset,
They believe that the kid might grow up, didn't see
a better option for where they were picking and where
they're what their timeline is. But I you know, I
color me a skeptic of Vailey right now based on
what I've seen.
Speaker 1 (57:22):
He's Rick Buker. He's never short of the opinions, but
they're based on over twenty years of covering the NBA.
The guy's the best. Buke, thanks so much for joining us.
We really appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (57:31):
My pleasures do
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
Foxsports Radio dot com, or stream us live every day
on the iHeartRadio app by searching FSR Booming Up America
Doug Gottlieb Show, Fox Sports Radio. How are you hey,
(00:29):
Hope you had a great weekend. Hope you listen to
my guy Dan Byer yesterday or throughout last week as
he's filling up the radio hours. He's back with us today.
Excited to have dB along. Of course, you got Jason
Stewart as a producer and my guy I was Sam
on the ones and two is welcome in. Rick Buker
(00:51):
is going to join us about twenty five after the hour.
We'll talk a little bit. Caitlin Clark. Also a new
ad with Caitlin Clark, which I'll give it my thoughts on.
We got a big football trade. Is Jalen Ramsey's now
Pittsburgh Steelers. We got all the things to get to.
Let me start with Lebron James Rich Paul is lebron
(01:13):
James agent. Rich Paul was the guy who Lebron met,
I think selling jerseys out of the back of his car, right,
so he's part of you know, started from the bottom.
Now we're here, and he had this statement to ESPN.
(01:35):
Lebron wants to compete for a championship. Paul told ESPN.
He knows the Lakers are building for the future. He
understands that, but he values a realistic chance at winning
at all. We're very appreciative of the partnership that we
had for eight years with Genie and Rob. Lincoln considered
the Lakers as a critical part of his career. We
understand the difficulty in winning now while preparing for the future.
We do want to evaluate what's best for Lebron at
this stage of his life and career. He wants to
(01:56):
make every season he has left count and the Lakers
understand that supportive of what of want what's best for him.
I will tell you how that lands with me one
word poorly, poorly, And there are lots of different ways
(02:17):
to explain why it lands poorly, but here's the easiest.
You have to match up your actions with your words.
If Lebron wants to win a championship, Well, then why
would you opt into a deal that pays you fifty
three million dollars? Because ears out really works. If you
(02:38):
want to win, you know, you got to take less
so that you can pay more to go out and
get guys on the free agent market. I mean, and
if you want to guarantee yourself a big fat paycheck,
what you can do is you can backload a contract,
do it as a player only option, and you play
a year with the Lakers and oh yeah, by the way,
(02:59):
if if it doesn't work out, you want to retire,
you know, you had them by their way out of
an opt out or whatever, or you go somewhere next year.
There's a million different things you can do. But you
can say you're appreciative of Genie and Rob Polinka. Your
actions are far different because if you're really appreciative, why
(03:22):
would you release the statement? If you really want to
win a championship, why'd you release the statement? How it
lands on me is poorly because it feels like the
Lakers and Lebron has talked about it and he always
couches it with you. I understand. Now we're building around Luca.
This is Lebron James and rich Ball pouting and trying
(03:43):
to exert some sort of leverage that doesn't actually exist.
This is no different than Lebron when he was leaving Miami,
when he was leaving Cleveland the second time leaking out
there that could be interested in the San Antonio Spurs
who had no interest in Lebron James. Because you can say, hey,
(04:04):
we're really appreciative, but the reality is, are you right?
Are you? Let me make this clear, over the past year,
just the past year alone, We'll make it thirteen months
a year. Is that? Okay? Over the past year, the
Lakers have hired a guy he co hosted a podcast
(04:27):
with as the head coach of the Lakers, and look,
I get it, I'm not that different from the JJ
Reddick higher but it's the head coach of the Lakers
and they hired him. Okay. They also drafted Bronnie James
and then all made statements like Bronnie had earned the
(04:50):
right to be a second round pick when that's not
even close too accurate. Then they played Bronnie the first
game of the season and throughout times in the NBA season. Well,
give him a guaranteed four year contract. Despite the fact
he was like, what, the fifty fifth pick in the
NBA draft, So the worst thing they did. And then
(05:13):
if you predate that, they went out and got Anthony Davis.
They overpaid for Anthony Davis. Why he was a Rich
Paul client. And when they struck out the first time round,
they went back in the offseason and went after him
and got him. Overpaid for him. Remember they got Russell
Westbrook on the LA Lakers. Why they were gonna get
(05:36):
Demarta Rosen, that was the guy. Well documented, Demarta Rosen
was going to be the third guy. But what happened
was Lebron was like, nah, we like Russell Westbrook better.
They overplayed for Russell Westbrook, and then midway through his
first year with the Lakers, Lebron just did what Lebron
does where he doesn't say anything negative, but he just
(06:00):
passive aggressive moves on and ultimately they moved off for
Russell Westbrook. So we overpaid for Anthony Davis, we trade
for Russell Westbrook, we hire JJ Reddick, we draft and
play Brownie James. All of these things would not have
(06:21):
happened if not for Lebron wanting thene to happen. There's
a million other things. And you have fifty three and
change million dollars on a contract, and you say you
want to win. And the only thing you say, after
having the opportunity to opt out of that rework your
deal have more money for the Lakers to play with,
(06:42):
is that's great, but we're going to keep our options open.
That sounds like the least no matter. You can say
you're grateful, but it's words, it's actions not words. And
and what you have done and what the Lakers have
(07:02):
done for you is support you the best way possible.
Remember of Lebron's seasons with the Lakers, how many of
them have ended in injury? How many seasons? How many
games does he played in the regular season? You remember
when he started playing a ton of games in the
(07:23):
regular season, that was the year he was going for
the all times scoring mark. And so if you ask
Lebron about he would Lebron I get He's the most selfish,
unselfish guy there is. Yeah, he likes to pass the ball,
but he likes to pass the ball because he wants
(07:45):
you to score and get the assist and he wants
it to be about Lebron. His agent tries to make
this about leverage that they don't have. Look, if you
really want to challenge Lakers to going out and making
a championship team, Lebron's gonna opt out. He's gonna see
what the Lakers do. He's willing to take less money
(08:07):
if their plan makes sense. That's not what he says.
He says, we're gonna take your money and then we're
gonna think about what we want to do in the future.
And what this does is it sours so many people
on Lebron James when, as I've stated previously, in comparison
to other star athletes, right know, off the court, nonsense, none, zero.
(08:34):
But there is a transactional nature to how he approaches
playing for a team. And I've told you guys, since
he got to LA and throughout this process, you can play.
He's gonna play eight years in LA. Lebron James plays
for the Lakers, is not a Laker because what Laker
(08:57):
fans want, what Laker fans desire is Lebron James wants
to do one thing before he calls it a career,
win another championship with the Lakers. And what he said
is I want to win a championship. I don't think
we can do it with the Lakers, So why are
(09:18):
we paying you fifty three million dollars bud?
Speaker 2 (09:22):
Oh?
Speaker 1 (09:22):
Yeah, by the way, if you don't think Luca is
good enough, then how did Luca get to the finals
without you? The whole thing is a massive contradiction and
a statement of being ungrateful. And there's lots of things
that turn people off and things that turn people on.
The number one thing that turns me off in my
(09:44):
lifetime is people are not grateful. People are not appreciative.
There are no perfect human beings. Either we see the
positive things that people bring or we harp on the
negative things. And if you're appreciative of the positive, it
doesn't mean that the negatives don't exist. But at least
it gives respect for somebody working through whatever they're working
(10:06):
through while giving you the best that they have. I
just for a guy that has done so many of
the right things. This statement is so about the wrong
things to me, Byer, what do you think of Rich
Paul's statement and how it lands on you as somebody
(10:26):
who's not from La Okay, but you know LA sports fans,
the Lakers and the sports world at large.
Speaker 3 (10:35):
Yeah, this topic is so many different ways to tackle it,
and I am not opposite yours. If you're at noon
or twelve o'clock, I'm maybe at ten o'clock on it.
When I read it, it felt like Rich Paul was
trying to take the narrative away from the Lakers. And
(10:57):
how I read it was prior to the team acquiring
Luka Doncicch, it had been all about Lebron stuff that
you laid out, even to the fact of hiring JJ Reddick. Well,
now Luca comes along, and I'm sure the Lakers and
Lebron had discussions about how things are going to go.
But if there was no Luca, why wouldn't Lebron just
(11:19):
sign another one on one deal, get max money for
one hundred and five hundred and six million dollars on
a two year deal and go through this whole charade again.
And I don't mean charade that it's a farce, but
that's what he did last offseason, had the one and one,
which allowed him to have this player option that he
opted into. But to me, it seems like he wasn't
(11:41):
going to get his fifty million anywhere else and at
least this offseason, and now it allows teams a year
in advance to maybe look at things, and it allows
them a year in advance to plot where they want
to go next. But I just took the statement, Doug
is them stealing the narrative of the Lakers saying that
they don't need Lebron anymore. And I compared it to
(12:01):
a marriage. There are different types of marriages that span
the spectrum. There are those that are madly in love
and madly in love for fifty years. There are marriages
that are made out of convenience. And this was a
convenience marriage between the two sides, and when one didn't
need the other as much as the other, then it
breaks away. And I felt that that's where the Lakers
(12:22):
were coming from and saying, yeah, that one in one
deal not necessarily great for us. We're not interested. So
Lebron will opt in, get his money, and then he
can figure out where he's going to play next and
have his farewell to her.
Speaker 4 (12:33):
Then that's how I took this statement.
Speaker 1 (12:35):
Yeah, you bring up the marriage analogy. It's great if
it's the difference in if you've been married once or
married three or four times, how you view your wedding
day right, how you et your wedding day, sure, you know.
And if you've been married three times, I mean, I
don't know this one compares to the other one's wedding
(12:56):
day whatever, you've been married one time, Like, I mean,
it's literally the it's the culminating moment of two lives
joining together hopefully forever. Hm, you know, and it's it's
it's fascinating. So here's a dude who's been with a
bunch of different teams and it doesn't mean as much
(13:19):
to him, there's not the emotional connection to the Lakers.
But for the Lakers, there's an emotional connection to Lakers. Remember,
the Lakers used to play in Inglewood. Inglewood was known
as the City of champions. Only one team played out
in Inglewood. That was the Lakers. The Lakers are the
team known for championships. So you say, like, do you
(13:40):
know how offended hardcore Laker fans are. Right, let me
get this straight. You were our rival and now you
join us. You're a guy who's bounced to several teams.
You're replacing Kobe Bryant, who, though there was a time
he wanted off the team, never played for another team. Right,
(14:04):
Kobe was about one thing and one thing only, and
that's winning, killing anybody in his path. Whether he did
the right way or not, he did it with the
intent of winning. And again, always was a Laker. So
you're replacing Kobe with a guy who was a Kobe rival,
who's bounced to a bunch of teams, and throughout his
time in LA he has never really bonded with Laker
(14:27):
fans and been a Laker for life. I never want
to go anywhere else. That's what they want to hear.
I think you nailed it. In terms of Luca. I
think Luca is now the star. Lebron's a little butt
hurt over it. Well, you mean I don't get to
call the shots anymore? Like no, dude, right, wouldn't stun
(14:49):
me if there was some conversation about Bryce and they
were like, yeah, the Bronny thing, we're good, Sure, we're good,
We're good.
Speaker 3 (14:58):
It's a it seems, I don't want to say, like
a formality. But there was just so many different ways that,
so many different places you can go with all of this.
Speaker 1 (15:06):
Look again, I'm going to compare it to my job
outside of radio in coaching basketball. Like I don't get
I don't get offended when a guy. They walk in,
they want to they want to go in the portal.
They want to go in the portal. But like, hey,
we helped you with get your move your girl here,
(15:28):
We helped your family. We helped you get into school,
stay in school. We gave you everything. We we got
your thotics, we got you extra massages, we got you
an IV when you were sick. We you know, we
had a tutor come and stay. You know, like we
did this, we did that. We blah blah blah blah blah.
And you don't. You can't have an honest conversation about
leaving you just your deuces. You're out like that ain't cool, right,
(15:50):
That's what this is. We overpaid for Anthony Davis. We
didn't want Russell Westbrook. You did, and then you wanted
to get rid of Russell Westbrook. Want through all these
coaches you didn't want. Okay, Then we go and you
want to coach, We go hire JJ Reddick. Then we
draft Bronnie James. Okay, now I gotta play Brian James.
We gotta give Bronnie a four year guaranteed contract, which
(16:13):
nobody gets when you're fifty to fifth pick in the NBA.
Draft for playing a game, but he got one. Like
we did all these things. We went all in and
you were like, Yeah, it's cool, LA's fine, it's fun whatever.
And part of it is also call. The calling is bluff.
They don't think and I don't think he's going anywhere else.
(16:33):
But if he doesn't do a goodbye tour then yet, dB,
I think you are right, He'll have his goodbye tour
somewhere else.
Speaker 5 (16:40):
This is the best of the Done Dot Leap Show
on Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 1 (16:47):
Hey, what up with you? Doug got Leab Show, Fox
Sports Radio. I hope you're having the world's greatest day.
I mean that well, I mean Green Bay, Wisconsin. I'm
looking out the lake. Amazing, beautiful, flat, glassy, sunny, little
human but not so much that it's annoying. Warm but
not hot. There's a breeze, but it's not cold. It's
(17:11):
it's it's summer. It's awesome. Hope you had an awesome weekend.
I got an awesome crew. Guys. Dan Byer, thank you
to ever fixed his internet. Appreciate that. Jason Stewart and
a big Apple. I was Sam. We talked a little
bit and you heard Dan Buyer in the update, and
I don't know if this is love and hate, So
(17:32):
if I steal from you guys, we'll get to love
and hate in the second. So the WNBA is going
to expand. It did say by two thousand and thirty.
Two thousand and thirty, right, that's right, two thousand and thirty.
So it's not like it's happening next week and there's
a build up of it. But again, all of these
things work together. And my fear for the WNBA is
there's such a push for more by their players that
(17:56):
you don't necessarily understand what it means. What I'm mean is,
when you get to eighteen teams, can you keep it
within the window of time in which the season already
exists or do you have to expand because the more
they expand, if they get into that, it's like right now,
when you're undering the NBA playoffs and you have some
bleed over in terms of the network carrying it, right,
(18:16):
you'll still have ESPN, assuming there's still an ESPN deal
and you have Caitlin Clark. It's fine, but the more
teams mean longer seasons, longer seasons, longer playoffs, longer playoffs.
If you go into anywhere near September. You're dead, Right,
You're dead. Do not compete with NFL football or college football.
That for that mount you're dead. And the more team
(18:41):
ad I think obviously you want to down the product.
I don't think that matters as much as here's something
you haven't thought of, Like there are women's basketball is
more talented than used to be. I'm not into a
denial of it. The sport is better, is healthier, but
healthier does not mean healthy enough to support more teams
because now you put fifteen women on a team, and
(19:04):
the more you expand, the more you have to work
to the overseas market, and the overseas market. Does that
work with the current model? And remember many of these
women who are the most sought after for advertisers, the
most popular. If we just go the two young three
(19:26):
youngest ones, right, you had Page Beckers into Angel Rees
and obviously Caitlin Clark. What they all have in common
was they had great college careers, which elevated their visibility.
We knew who they were before to get the WNBA.
I mean more this goes on. The less we're going
to know about these people. So I'm not saying the
(19:47):
WNBA can't smartly expand, and I do like the fact
that it's a like a five year lead up, but
I also you know, you got to warn you. NHL
did it to mix results, NASCAR has done it to
mixed results, and you'll make more money, but you do
(20:09):
have the the possibility of ruining all the equity you've gained.
Let's get to love it hate.
Speaker 5 (20:17):
What did you love?
Speaker 1 (20:18):
God?
Speaker 5 (20:19):
I love you and what did you hate?
Speaker 2 (20:21):
Meet these player hays.
Speaker 1 (20:24):
Every Monday on the Doug Gottlieb Show, we go around
the room and say, hey, man, I loved it this weekend.
I love this. Our resident lover boy who watches more
sports than the rest of us is Dan Byer Dan,
whatd you love on the weekend?
Speaker 4 (20:39):
Doug?
Speaker 3 (20:39):
You know I did take a couple of vacation days
on Thursday and Friday, so mine kind of dates back
to that point. But it was an event that spanned
the weekend US Senior Open, and there was some drama
at the broad Moor between Padrig Harrington, your eventual winner,
and NBC Encorse reporter Roger Maltby. This dated back to Thursday,
(21:01):
with their confrontation coming Friday, and then Malpy trying to
clear the era give some context to what happened on Saturday.
But Padrig Harrington was mad because he hit a ball
in the in the junk, hit it in the woods,
and you have three minutes to find your golf ball.
But Roger Malty, who was following that group, did not
(21:23):
help them look for the golf ball. Now there have
been encourse reporters that have done this, but Malty's excuse was,
I'm about to do an on air report with these
with the network, so I've got a producer in my
ear saying stuff. And Padrig Harrington is still saying, you've
been in the game forty years, you know to help.
(21:44):
But it's a bigger picture to me, Doug, is when
you are golfing with someone, and you're playing with someone,
usually with your buddies, there's a line to like, how
long I'm going to help you look for your golf ball? Yes,
And that's what I get to. It's also of how
high are the weeds or the shrubs that we're looking through,
(22:06):
how high are those How much of an effort am
I going to give? And there's also the balance of
I'm someone who just feels bad that somebody would help
me look for my ball, so I'll just take a drop.
But there are other people who sit there and look
for five minutes, and I feel like you have to
show some sort of effort to it.
Speaker 4 (22:26):
It is just a it's It's.
Speaker 3 (22:28):
One of those things in golf that I think is
different with everybody on how you deal with the lost
golf ball. But Padrick Harrington was not happy with Roger Maltby,
and I thought this brought to light the dilemma that
so many of us face when either yourself or someone
else hits one out of bounds right in the head.
Speaker 6 (22:46):
A golfer, I could definitely relate to this as a goal.
As a bad golfer who's only out there because a
friend of mine was nice enough to invite me to
a round. The last thing I want to do is
take up one more second of his time. So I
will take thirty six balls to an eighteen hole golf
(23:08):
course and spend almost no time looking for my balls.
I think that's the way to do it. If if well,
still go ahead, Doug.
Speaker 1 (23:16):
No, I was gonna it was actually mine was gonna
be related to golf, and I thought you'd appreciate it.
So I but I agree with you, Like there's a basically, well,
here's what you get, Okay, there's like a general rhythm
to it. You get like one circle of looking at
it in the golf cart. If you're if you're if
you're driving the golf cart, right, you're like, yeah, we'll
go over there. I'm taking a look now. Now it
(23:38):
is your job. I think if you're playing a foursome,
to keep an eye out and point in the general
direction makes sense. Yes, keep an eye out. Yeah, I
think it. Tell me about that tree. Then you go
make one loop and they're like, all right'm good, I'm
out because he can't be slow for the people behind you.
Speaker 3 (23:54):
Also, if the if the junk is like waist high, yeah,
and you're like navigating through that, like I'll just try
to actually be like, yeah, I think it's lost, bud.
I think this one's gonna be a tough one to find.
And then just but some people just are not having it.
They will sit there and look and look. If it's
ankle high stuff, that's no problem. I'll take all the time.
And if I'm out that side of the course even better.
(24:14):
Probably not gonna walk across the entire fairway if I
sliced one and someone pull hooked it. So we're on
opposite ends, but there is there is a little dance
in helping and how much you actually help considering where someone.
Speaker 4 (24:27):
Hits the golf ball. Watch out for takes. Yes, it's
a good call.
Speaker 1 (24:31):
I always check it out, yes this time of Yeah, okay,
well this kind of relates to it. I got new clubs,
stan or at least I got my new woods. The
irons are not it. Shout out, shout out to Sean
Ruschack who he fitted me for them. And I got
some new clubs, so yeah, who set of tailor mates.
Speaker 4 (24:54):
Nice work.
Speaker 1 (24:55):
So uh so I'm playing at Oneida and uh Luke
Getsy was in the group out of us. This is
an apology to Luke Getsy, but it's a love from
the weekend. So I'm on a whole nine and I
hit a nice drive, okay, right to the two sixty
five off the tee, two fifty to the hole. So
(25:18):
Luke Getsy's they're on the on the green. So I
pull out the three wood and I'm thinking, I mean,
the best I ever hit a three wood, And you
know I used to tee off with the three wood
because I couldn't hit the driver. So like you know,
like two forty is crushing it. When I'm slinging, it's
like two thirty is great for a three wood for me,
(25:40):
great when I could hit it straight. So he's two
fifty to the to the to the to the flag
and it looks like they're putting in and all right,
So I get up. I addressed the ball. I hit it.
It lands like three feet behind him. Wow, yeah, so one.
(26:00):
I mean I crushed it too. It was straight three.
I nearly killed a guy who was a coach at
the Packers who would look really bad. He's fine, and
he was really cool. I'm like, oh my god, what
did I do? But I love I mean, it's that
everybody knows ever play golf, right, that one swing that
makes you like, yes, it's nice today. When we're done,
guess what I'm going to do. I'm going to hit balls.
Speaker 4 (26:24):
I'll tell you what.
Speaker 3 (26:24):
I would rather have your situation than be the one
to wait for them to completely clear and then chunk
at fifty yards because that is normally what happens.
Speaker 1 (26:33):
That's exactly I was. They were like, hey, don't worry
about it. We were taking too long, and he was like, no, no,
I wasn't trying to be a jerk. I thought I
had no chance of getting it to the green There
zero good work anyway, Jase dou what'd you left in
the weekend?
Speaker 6 (26:46):
You know the Dodgers have taken I think seven of
the West nine and.
Speaker 1 (26:50):
Are you gonna go real sports here? My goodness.
Speaker 6 (26:52):
Here's a good news though for Dodger fans. And I
do want to promote Ryan Berschinger, Bo Bentz and Monty Bolangios.
They do these Sick Dodgers podcast check it out rate
review Sick, and what they're going to probably say in
the next podcast is that the Dodgers are doing something
that they haven't done a whole lot of the last
twelve years, and that they're just beating up on teams
(27:14):
they should beat. The Dodgers have always had this i'm
going to play down to my opponent thing, especially in
the postseason. So they're beating teams. They just got off
of the Royals. I think they took two or three
over the weekend show. Shal hay O Tawny pitched two innings.
He threw the ball one hundred and two miles an hour.
It's the fastest pitch he's ever thrown as a baseball player.
(27:36):
So the Dodgers are getting healthy, they're bidding teams that
they're supposed to, They're in first place. There really is
nothing to complain about. And trust me, if there was,
I would that.
Speaker 1 (27:47):
I can second that he will complain about anything. That
it all right, Sam, I love it, Sam, we got.
Speaker 7 (27:57):
I love how little mine I paid to this Jake
Paul Hulu Caesar Chavez Junior fight. I paid no mind
to it at all. I heard about it Thursday or Friday,
and then I existed through the weekend. I lived through
the weekend and I completely forgot about it. And I
was actually here at FSR yesterday Sunday doing afternoon evening shows,
and I don't remember anybody even talking about it. So yeah,
(28:19):
I woke up today and then I read about the
result and all the feedback it's been getting negatively, and uh, yeah,
it's good.
Speaker 1 (28:27):
Good that I was it yesterday. It was a Saturday night.
Speaker 4 (28:29):
It was Saturday night.
Speaker 1 (28:30):
It was at the UFC fights Ron. I watched those.
Speaker 7 (28:32):
Yeah, probably a better product. It was going the the
Jake Paul Caesar Shaves Junior fight was down in Anaheim
at the Honda Center. You know, it's a couple hour
drives away, or you know, hour or two drive away,
and I was completely oblivious to it.
Speaker 1 (28:45):
I love that, m I like that as well. There
was one of the fights, one of the three rounders
the UFC was amazing. I'm trying to think which one was.
Speaker 4 (28:54):
Since when have you been a UFC guy, Doug.
Speaker 1 (28:57):
I'm not. I look, I'm not gonna sit here and
lie and tell you I can quot chapter and verse UFC.
But a bunch of my guys are and I like
watching them. I just don't know nothing about it. And
I like the when they beat the crap out of
each other. And I love the striker versus a grappler
and if the guy get him to the ground. And
I don't know, I enjoyed it, enjoyed it like good fight. Bye.
(29:18):
Let's get to what we hated. So the end of
the aang, it's a good and the bad. It's the
Dan Byer and the JSTU. Right, you have the love
and the hate. Let's start with our resident hater j STU,
which eight for the weekend.
Speaker 6 (29:32):
I just picked up a bonus hate over the last hour.
So one of the things that I just can't stand.
As a guy who's been in this business for thirty years,
I don't like off the air take guy at work,
the guy who off the air just fills your ear
with takes and you're like, Okay, I do this for
a living. I don't need to have it out with
(29:52):
you and do a take session with you off air.
Sam has been doing that to me for the first
ninety minute of this show, and his take is contrary
to Doug's take on MWNBA expansion. And so now Sam
has filled two breaks with his very like passionate take
(30:13):
on the WNBA is in a good place and they
should expand. And I'm like, why don't you go to
the air with this? Yeah, Doug has talked about it
twice now and Sam has not not well on the air.
Speaker 4 (30:23):
Yeah, the name on the show is a Doug Gyley show.
Speaker 1 (30:26):
Wall Listen. This is the perfect opportunity you can hate
on my take, say I hate Doug's taken. Here's why.
Speaker 7 (30:31):
Let me just say this. I will say that the
Valkyries are one of the expansion teams. They're the thirteenth
team in the WNBA, and they're doing very well. They
have a lot of money. Fan sports been wild. So
I mean, honestly, expansion into San Francisco, into Toronto, I
think that's a very very good thing. Dan brought up that,
like Detroit and what was the other teams to getting
another Yeah, Cleveland, going back to these rocks tread cities,
(30:55):
and that's you know, you're you're you are banking on
the Golden goose, Caitlyn Clark keeping this excitement going for
the next ten years. So maybe there's some trepidation there.
But the Valkyries are a good team, and so they're
an example of expansion working in the WNBA so far.
Speaker 4 (31:13):
So I just got to keep those takes out.
Speaker 1 (31:15):
This is a totally cynical take, Sam, Yeah, but I
can tell you what I actually believe is taking place. Yes,
when you expand, Okay, for people to understand, I think
they do all those fees to get an expansion team,
where do those fees.
Speaker 4 (31:32):
Go to the other teams?
Speaker 1 (31:36):
Correct? So those owners that year after year after year
are losing money, it's like, hey, we got you, we
got three new teams. Then it will balance your books
for those three years, make you look far more profitable.
But Ultimately, though, you're still going to be losing money.
And I think that again, the amount of money you're
(31:58):
going to lose is probably bigger because what people say
as well, this will allow us to get a new
TV deal whatever, like yeah, but with every deal you're
gonna have to spend more money on the players, and
the players even now ratio wise, percentage wise, make a
gargantuan some consider the profits aren't there. So I think
it's a little bit of phony accounting, is what's gonna happen.
Speaker 4 (32:19):
I hear you on that.
Speaker 7 (32:20):
I would just say say this, like do you think
that twelve or thirteen teams is enough for the WNBA?
Speaker 4 (32:24):
I guys feel like they need more teams?
Speaker 7 (32:26):
Like are you just there's too much familiarity with playing
the same teams over and over again?
Speaker 4 (32:30):
Like I think six woke its good?
Speaker 1 (32:32):
So you've woken up going like, man, you know I
need more WNBA.
Speaker 4 (32:35):
Team's right, baby? Every day?
Speaker 1 (32:38):
Yeah, I can't say I'm there.
Speaker 3 (32:39):
God Cleveland there, Yeah, Cleveland lost their team because they
couldn't find an owner back in the day, so nobody
wanted to buy them.
Speaker 1 (32:45):
So they just nobody wants to sign up to lose money.
Speaker 4 (32:48):
The money.
Speaker 1 (32:49):
I'm good.
Speaker 7 (32:50):
The Valkyrie is a part of the Warriors ownership team
and rights they.
Speaker 1 (32:53):
Need to write off. They make a lot of money.
What do you got there, Dan Byer.
Speaker 3 (32:57):
So, Doug, this is a story that so many of
us talked about last week, and as Jason Stewart likes
to point out, we just forget about things so quickly
we move on from them. And the Kittel Martes situation
is one that Mike Carmon and I talked about yesterday
on our show, and I wanted to talk about it
because I think people have moved past it. And the
(33:18):
reason why I don't think people should move past it
is because of what it's done to katl Marte. So
this whole thing that he was basically a victim of
from the fan saying the line, which turned out to
be a mom joke. It just you did it to
the wrong person, and I feel that there should be
some consequences, but nobody realizes what Kittel Marte has been through.
(33:42):
Over the last four games since that has happened, He's
two for sixteen. He's homeward twice on homeward Saturday, on
homeward Sunday. But this is also a guy who struck
out three times in his return to Arizona, and everybody
was giving him a standing you know, ovation, walking and
welcoming him back with open arms. And while I'm sure
(34:02):
it's appreciated, it can't necessarily feel comfortable that this is
continually now being brought up in as part of the conversation.
In that game on Friday against the White Hot floor
to Marlins, could tell Martes struck out three times in
that game? How many times this season has cut? Could
tell Martes struck out three times in a game prior
to Friday, zero correct, none, struck out twice on Wednesday.
(34:28):
This has obviously affected him, and we forget about things
and how things move on. But then because we move
on from him, but the standing ovation that he gets
on Friday still probably not comfortable. White Sox putting out
a statement, putting out on the scoreboard on Wednesday probably
not comfortable. So that one interaction for people that want
(34:48):
to downplay it, It's now obviously affected him. He's was
hitting like three twenty now he's down to like three
h five in this recent slump. This obviously has had
something to do with his play, and I don't think
that we should forget about it and move on from it.
Speaker 1 (35:04):
What should what should the punishment be? Though, Dan, when
you don't know, right, like.
Speaker 4 (35:09):
Yes, I understand.
Speaker 1 (35:10):
I think it's a It's a really hard one, right
because if you watch the video, the guy clearly had
no idea about Martine. I like, unless he was really
playing it off.
Speaker 3 (35:21):
It's one of those thing like, yeah, where there's there's
a consequence because of what happened. I used yesterday with Mike,
and Mike didn't love this analogy, but I used just
of running a stop sign. How many times do you
run a stop sign and not get busted? Well, the
time that you hit someone on a bike, you know. Yeah, Like,
so there's got to be some sort of penalty. Even
(35:43):
though it was thought to be an innocent mom joke,
it doesn't like it has obviously affected him and it's
hurt Marte. I feel some sort of you know, donation,
some way to work with either the White Sox or
the Diamondbacks or major League Baseball to try to get yourself.
You shouldn't be banned for life for it. It was
an indefinite ban, But I do think that there's something
(36:04):
needs to be done and By all accounts, the fan
was remorseful when he found out about the situation. Martea
has even said that he prays for him. There seems
to be a way that they can bridge this, and
I think if you do that, you should be good.
But to just think like ah Marte is soft and
move on from it. This obviously has had an effect
on him and and the effected the Diamondbacks as a team.
Speaker 1 (36:25):
Assumingly, Okay, Sam, you want to get tweet you hate.
Speaker 7 (36:31):
Tomorrow is the first day of July, and this time
last week we were reacting to Game seven of the
w or the of the NBA Finals, I should say,
and it's tomorrow's July?
Speaker 5 (36:43):
Is it?
Speaker 7 (36:43):
Does anybody ever make the argument that July is the
best sports month? No, they don't, because it's the worst
sports month. Because we're now we have shifted past the
NBA Finals. There's no more men's basketball we do. There's
a bit of a silver lining here. Will cognitively restructure
and I will focus on my afternoon w NBA games.
(37:05):
But the month July is like, it's a weird, sort
of tweener month.
Speaker 6 (37:08):
You get to watch the Valkyries.
Speaker 7 (37:10):
I get to watch the Valkyrie I get to watch
baseball that doesn't.
Speaker 1 (37:14):
So you so you hate the month of July.
Speaker 7 (37:17):
The month of July and sports month is a tough
one to get through because we are yes, we're ramping
up for the NFL and college football, but it's just
it's slow.
Speaker 3 (37:26):
To ask you a question. What do you think of August?
Like why why isn't it August?
Speaker 7 (37:31):
They're one A, one B Because I would say this,
maybe the baseball is a little bit more meaningful. August
gets saved because first week of college football anticipation. But
it's also like people say, like I love Illinois as
the state, Well, you love Chicago because the rest of
Illinois is nothing like it is. It's Chicago, And I
feel like that would be like calbo Oasis would like
(37:52):
a word, trust me that What about Rockford?
Speaker 4 (37:56):
What about Rockford Illinois'?
Speaker 1 (37:58):
You're down playing rock Thanks?
Speaker 4 (38:00):
But no things?
Speaker 3 (38:01):
Sorry about Carbondale Cities?
Speaker 4 (38:04):
Sorry my quad cities? A normal lean? Sorry about that?
Speaker 1 (38:10):
I mean is real quick?
Speaker 4 (38:11):
Yes? Sorry?
Speaker 1 (38:12):
Okay, I I hate this act of Rich Paul. I
hate the act of Rich Paul. Like usually when you
get to the end of somebody's career, okay, usually it's
like when old people who are really really grumpy, and
he didn't like him. Like my grandma, Grandma Bernstein, Like,
she went that nice for a long time, then she
(38:33):
got really old and she was the sweetest old lady ever.
Here we are at the end of Lebron James's career,
and yeah, Lebron has bounced team to team. Yeah, Lebron
has set up super teams. Hey, Lebron hasn't always He's
had some ups, he says now generally though it's hard
to pick apart. He's had an unbelievable run, unbelievablerun He's
the all time leaning scores won for NBA, times, won
(38:56):
four m vps. He is, in the conversation, the greatest
player of all time. So what do you do in
one weekend? You wipe out any sort of good will,
any sort of good will and oh yeah, by the way,
you kind of make Lebron look petulant, right, because again
(39:18):
I don't know what their intent was, but how it
feels to us is I want to win a championship,
but you clearly think Lucas better. So I'm gonna go
elsewhere because I like being the guy and I want
to be on it, like Hey, dude, if you want
to be on a championship team and you're really the
greatest player of all time, then I don't know, why
(39:39):
don't you figure out how to make this team a
championship team. But the messaging is far different. And then
when you couple it into the they made him draft Bronny,
they made him you know, hey, we want to hire
JJ Reddick. That's my guy. Like all these things where
they acquiesced to right, they never said a word when
Lebron James showed up on the bench with the goblet
(39:59):
of wine back when he's hurt, like it is like
everybody in the organization was burst. Nobody said anything publicly, right,
but you just take all the good will and dump
it out. Unlike Kobe, who was a petulant brat for
a good amount of time, but late in his career,
people were like, you know, I love Cobe Cobs. You know,
he just changed because he knew it was his last rade.
(40:20):
He just he went very good at the end, and
he didn't act like he was very good at the end.
And because of it, and of course because there's undiminally death,
Kobe is beloved and Lebron I hope he goes in
place somewhere else, because if he does, most hardened true
Laker fans be like he on a Laker. I don't
care if he played eight years, we won one title.
(40:41):
There was a bunch of disappointment, a lot of noise,
and not a lot of substance. Crazy how one trade,
which is one of the great traits in the history
of the sport. Rob Polinka pulled it off and once
it met by by by Lebron James oh Man, I
could be next. I could be traded. Yeah, he is
jealous of Luca and Luca's treatment when he has acted
(41:05):
in this entitled way for so long, and he's entitled
because he's been great. But I don't think this is
how you end an illustrious career. And that's eleven eight.
Speaker 5 (41:21):
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.
Speaker 1 (41:28):
App Stug Gottlieb Show Fox Sports Radio. So if you're
old enough to remember the nineties, you're old enough to
remember when the NHL expanded and when NASCAR expanded. Right,
(41:49):
the NHL used to be Canada and it did have
the La Kings. You did have some other teams, but
they didn't have the Alis Stars. They didn't have the
Anaheim Mighty Ducks now the Ducks, the Atlanta Thrashers. Poor
(42:09):
a little liquor for the Atlanta Thrashers, the Phoenix Coyotetes
which are now the Utah or are the wooly mammoths
or something, Yeah mammoth ye yeah. The point is that
in the nineties, Wayne Gretzky moved to La and the
(42:32):
NHL was on fire. In nineteen ninety three, I was
at Lake Havasu. Lake Havasu is not actually at lake,
but regardless is the Colorado River where it's dammed up
but not actually a lake anyway. And allegedly that's old
London Bridge that they transported. But I thought London Bridge
was falling down, falling down, falling down. That didn't matter. Okay,
(42:54):
point is I was on the lake looking good, untanned,
sunburned right in high school jet skis back with the
jet skis were like stand up jet skis. They were
a lot harder back then. Okay, water skiing, this is
before people wakesurfed and everybody got off the lake, not
(43:18):
for not for a of a of Haboob, which is
a desert thunderstore. No. No, it was for the La Kings
playing in the Stanley Cup finals and everywhere Getzki went,
arenas were packed, things were celebrated. It was on Sports Center.
So what did the NHL do. Hey, we're making money,
(43:41):
let's make more, let's expand. And now they've had to
move these teams around. It's been a little embarrassing, but
generally the NHL has found its footing. Well, I take
you to the WNBA where they want to expand, add
what four teams. This is the WNBA that moved from
(44:04):
big arenas to smaller arenas that had to have a
salary cap, and they finally got it all under control
and they went from just hemorrhaging hemorrhaging money every year
and losing teams to all right, they'd stabilized. It's still
lost like forty to fifty million last year as a league,
but generally things are peaking up because of Caitlin Clark.
(44:27):
I just I don't see it. I don't see the
expansion four teams make it so all fourteen teams are thriving.
Less is more packed arenas, because what they're gonna do
and like, Look, whoever buys a franchise is gonna have
(44:48):
to throw in a bunch of money. That money will
be spread around, so these owners that have been losing
money are finally gonna have some money in their pockets.
But the game will become more watered down. More water
down means and are there other good women's professional players? Yeah,
but you know what they also are. They're also foreign born,
which means you're gonna have no different than the NBA.
(45:11):
You have more foreign players, which are harder to relate to,
harder to buy into, don't draw nearly as many people,
and they're not named Kaitlin Clark. Okay, I'm not telling
you that the WNBA can't start to go. Hey, we
got some we got some leverags. Let's get better and
better deals. We got some people watching. Okay, but you
(45:32):
got to build around Kaitlin Clark. And the second you
water it down, maybe you make Caitlin Clark into a
bigger star because she's going against lesser competition. But more
likely there's just more teams that people don't want to watch.
That's the got Leeb Show here on Fox Sports Radio.
We got a bunch to talk about with Rick Buker.
He joins us every Monday. He knows all things NBA.
He works for Fox Sports one. You can just work
(45:52):
at Fox sports dot com. Let me start with Lebron
and the Lakers, right, so let me get this. That's right.
He wants to win a championship. He's going to opt
into a deal that pays him fifty three million dollars,
but he wants to win a championship. And it feels
like that statement made by Rich Paul is saying we
(46:14):
can only win a championship elsewhere. How does it land
with you?
Speaker 8 (46:20):
It lands yes, well, I agree with your the the contradiction,
and I just look at it as trying to maintain
leverage for what that leverage may be with the Lakers
or elsewhere. I think it's more appearance sake, Like if
(46:42):
you present it as Lebron still wants to win championships
and he's looking for how can he still win championships?
Speaker 2 (46:50):
And it takes the focus.
Speaker 8 (46:52):
Off what you just said, which is and the question
that most people would have, which is, well, if you
want to win championships, how can you opt into a
contract that is going to pay you more than your
worth at least on the court right now. We can
get into the box office and the draw and all that,
but as far as championships are concerned, if that's first
(47:15):
and foremost your priority, then opting into that contract should
not have been the priority. And I don't know that
it's anything more than just trying to maintain this perspective
that the problem with whatever whatever problem the Lakers have,
Lebron is not the problem. It's it's that they don't
have enough around him. And I think that that at
(47:37):
this stage, combined with Luka, Dancic and Austin Reeves, the
way they're currently constructed is just a fallacy. Lebron has
a hand in what they have done, both good and bad,
over the last couple of years, and he's going to
be a year older, so I just I think this
(47:57):
is trying to kew perf so that Lebron doesn't look
like he's the one holding things back.
Speaker 1 (48:05):
Do you think that will work?
Speaker 5 (48:09):
No?
Speaker 8 (48:09):
I think I think now as the Lakers won, now
that they have their guy in Luka, Danci's the guy
that they're building around going forward, I don't they didn't
have much choice. Was this was Lebron's option to opt
into this contract, and and I don't know that they
really care all that much what happens a year from now.
(48:31):
If it's the money comes off that he's getting paid,
then I think that they will they will take that.
It's about the best case scenario right now, because you're
not going to trade him. There is no value in
trading Lebron James. Matching the contract. Any place that he
would go would be giving up way too many pieces
(48:53):
for a guy who's going to be a free agent
next year. And I'm sure is giving no assurances to
anyone that that he's going to stay longer, as if
you would want to do that. I mean, that's just
the hard reality is.
Speaker 2 (49:06):
And I think I saw someone else.
Speaker 8 (49:10):
Reference Bobby Marx might a referenced like, you know, if
he's a free agent, you got twenty nine teams coming
after him. I'm not sure that that's the case at
this stage. I think there are teams that are like,
you know what, we've got our plan, we're moving on.
Would love to have him. I don't even know if
you you know, you could get him at a minimum contract.
Lebron just comes with a lot of other things, And
(49:32):
so I think there's there would be a market, but
I don't know that it would be a.
Speaker 2 (49:36):
Bonanza, you know.
Speaker 1 (49:41):
I we'll talk about this a little bit. We talked
about this a little in the podcast, but I just
feel it lands on me as so ungrateful. It just does.
And here's what I mean. It's like you said, like, well,
if you if you want to win a championship, okay,
opt out, sign it to your deal, backload the deal
(50:03):
to where it's a player option or a team option
or whatever, and take less this year, try and win,
and then if you don't like it. I mean, if
it's about money, you go make money next year or
somewhere else. But hold on, dude. We hired the coach
who you did a podcast with, We drafted your son,
We guaranteed your son four years. We played him, yeah,
(50:28):
his first game when he should have been nowhere near
the NBA. We've we have been over backwards. We traded
for Anthony Davis, gave up the kitchen, saying not because
we didn't want Anthony Davis, but because you want to happen.
I feel like, yeah, this is a it's a power play,
but it's a little bit of pouting of what do
you mean you've moved on to Luca. We're the guy here,
(50:51):
and I just I feel like it feels ungrateful. And
Jays two said, we've talked about this all the time.
I know he's played for the Lakers for seven years,
but especially with this, and if he goes and plays
somewhere else at the end of next year, even if
it's Cleveland, he's not going to be seen as a
Laker by Laker fans.
Speaker 8 (51:13):
Right. Well, I'm surprised at your surprise because I just
looked through that.
Speaker 2 (51:21):
I mean, when you've always.
Speaker 8 (51:23):
Been accommodated, as Lebron has always accommodated.
Speaker 2 (51:28):
This has always worked.
Speaker 8 (51:30):
And I don't know that he has demonstrated a great
deal of gratitude in any case. He has approached as
if it is his first right to get these things
and to be treated a certain way. I mean, like
I still you know the way he left Miami. He
goes to Miami, he gets over the hump, and he
(51:54):
didn't get Pat a heads up, like Pat didn't know
it was coming when it was coming, and uh, and
the same thing in Cleveland when he left there the
first time, it was like at the last second, Rich
Paul called the Calves said, Hey, yeah, well you know
we're not. We're not We're leaving, and it puts them
(52:15):
at an incredible disadvantage. So I, I guess I just
take it for granted that that's the way that he's
going to operate.
Speaker 2 (52:25):
But I agree with you.
Speaker 8 (52:27):
I certainly think that this puts it puts far more
stress on the on the Los Angeles Lakers than I
would think is necessary.
Speaker 1 (52:37):
Let's let's move away around the lake here. Jannison tatakoupo,
Where are he in the Bucks?
Speaker 8 (52:45):
I mean, I honestly, I think he's he's he is
observing what they are and aren't doing. He wants to
know that they're still trying to make the team better.
Speaker 2 (52:54):
He wants to know that there's a plan there.
Speaker 8 (52:56):
But this idea that you know, he's he's got.
Speaker 2 (53:00):
One foot off the door.
Speaker 8 (53:02):
I just haven't gotten any indication of that.
Speaker 2 (53:04):
I think that's wishful thinking.
Speaker 8 (53:07):
If something dramatic happens where the Bucks, like, I think
the Bucks would have to tell him definitively, you know what,
we can't get to where you want us to get
to in short order. And I don't see them doing that.
So and I also don't expect that, like if they're
not a championship contender out of the gate next year,
(53:28):
that he's going to change.
Speaker 2 (53:29):
His mind and say I need to be elsewhere. I
don't get.
Speaker 8 (53:32):
Any any indication that he is so thirsty for sort
of on the Lebron James model of I'm supposed to
be playing for a championship every year and if not,
then I'm going to hold it over your head. I
do not get that from you, honest. And if he
and if he did do that, it would be the
(53:52):
first time that an international player failed. He did hold
their feet to the fire to get Damian Lillard's and
I think that, unlike a lot of guys, he recognized,
you know what, I had a part in that, and
I might have been wrong about I don't know how
that turned out. And so now he's allowing the Milwaukee
(54:14):
Bucks to do their jobs, and I commend him for
all of that.
Speaker 2 (54:17):
I'm I am.
Speaker 8 (54:18):
I will be thrilled if if my expectation comes comes true,
which is that he's going to stay in Milwaukee, because
he's one part and parcel. He's the reason, at least
partly the reason why they are where they are, and
to me, if he wins another ring there, or he
chases another ring and he gets them close, or wins
(54:40):
one that will be more than going someplace else with
absolutely no guarantee.
Speaker 2 (54:45):
That that he's going to the second one.
Speaker 1 (54:49):
The the probably most interesting thing that happened at the
draft was the Ace Bailey deal. Yeah, what are your
thoughts on how that ended up?
Speaker 8 (54:59):
Well, classic, whether it's Danny or Austin that told the trigger,
it's an it's an age trademark to say, Hey, I'm
going to do what's best and I'm not going to
get let feelings or someone's feelings dictate to me what
we do here. But I think the whole thing was
(55:21):
it doesn't leave me with a good feeling about Ace
Bailey or his representation, because while I think he's extremely talented,
the idea that he would prefer going to the Washington
Wizards over the Utah Jazz I just look.
Speaker 2 (55:39):
At those two organizations.
Speaker 8 (55:41):
I go, then you're not about what equality, how a
quality franchises run like it's about something else. It's about
your roles. And I don't know that you're good enough
to be worried about your role. I think I might
have tweeted it out there that it gives me cam
reddish vibes where supremely, supremely talented but worried about all
(56:05):
the wrong things. And when he's up there and saying, hey,
I don't worry about this. My team takes care of that,
and I'm about basketball, i'mlake. That gave me the Jay
Williams talking about his brand after he was drafted by
the Chicago Bulls before wrapping a motorcycle around a telephone pole. Dude,
(56:27):
the NBA is hard to be successful in, and there
is a handful of guys who come along and are.
Speaker 2 (56:37):
So so talented.
Speaker 8 (56:38):
No matter where they go, no matter what they do,
they are going to be a success. And even those
like a Victor Wembinyama, you know, the chances are better
that he's going to fulfill his potential because of his
combination of confidence and humility. So I just I understand
(57:01):
why Utah did it. I think they saw an asset,
They believe that the kid might grow up, didn't see
a better option for where they were picking and where
they're what their timeline is. But I you know, I
color me a skeptic of Vailey right now based on
what I've seen.
Speaker 1 (57:22):
He's Rick Buker. He's never short of the opinions, but
they're based on over twenty years of covering the NBA.
The guy's the best. Buke, thanks so much for joining us.
We really appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (57:31):
My pleasures do
Host
Doug Gottlieb
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