March 5, 2019 • 34 mins
It’s the Best of the Odd Couple with Chris Broussard and Rob Parker. On this ‘Trash Talkin Tuesday’, Chris and Rob talk about the Los Angeles Lakers and LeBron James practically having their postseason dreams crushed with a loss to the Los Angeles Clippers last night, and both Chris and Rob place the blame on the leaked trade rumors at the deadline & LeBron’s lengthy injury. Boston Celtics Superstar Kyrie Irving was recently quoted saying that he’s not a fan of all the media surrounding him as he “just wants to play basketball”…Chris and Rob aren’t feeling it and both think that Irving needs to stop worrying about the media; Former NBA GM & CBS Sports Analyst Billy King joins the show to give his perspective on these topics.
Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to the Best of the Odd Couple podcasts.
Be sure to catch us live every weekday from seven
pm to ten pm Eastern four to seven Pacific on
Fox Sports Radio. Find your local station for The Odd
Couple at Fox Sports Radio dot com, or stream us
live every day on the iHeartRadio app by searching fs R.
(00:22):
You're listening to the Best of the Odd Couple with
Chris Brush and Rod Harker. The big story everyone's talking
about is the Lakers. And look right now, they're five
and a half games out of eighth place and San
Antonio has the tiebreaker eighth place Spurs, so they're really
(00:43):
six and a half games behind the Spurs, and they're
six games behind the LA Clippers, so they're essentially out
of it. Not mathematically, but again they would almost have
to run the table to go ahead and make the playoffs.
He said that they would need to win four six games, right,
Is that the number forty six? Yeah, I'm not sure
(01:04):
if it's like for what I heard it right, Number
one likes to have thirty six. They said that it
was like a four you had to get forty six wins,
and forty six would me and you have to go
sixteen and two in the last eighteen Yeah, I mean,
they obviously have a long road ahead of him. But
the thing is, where do you place the blame. Right now,
it's it's in vogue to place virtually all the blame
(01:27):
on Lebron James, and obviously he deserved some blame. He
hasn't had, you know, the typical Lebron James seasons. He's
had some bad optical moments sitting on the bench away
from his teammates and things. Even though that really wasn't
that big of a deal, it looked bad calling out
some of the teammates. But I rob I think people
(01:49):
are going overboard with that and not get it. You're
the best player on the team, You're arguably the best
player in the world. If you get if your team's winning.
When they were the fourth seed, Lebron was getting the
lion share the prayer. So I get why you get
a lot of criticism. But if I had to pick
out two things, and I was on the Herd today
and I talked about it, if I had to pick
(02:10):
out two things that I would really focus on the
blame on this season, One would be the injury to
Lebron because you can poop what all you want. And
it was relative pools Christmas pool. They were fourth. It's
a fact. You can you can mock it all you on,
but it's a fact. They were the fourth seed. But
(02:32):
they weren't that man stop entrenched or not. They were
the fourth game, but they were two games from the
nice spot. I mean, they were the fourth seed. Though
I know that munty problem is can you finish my statement?
I let you go out for five minutes about the
guards go off? All right, they were the fourth seed
(02:56):
when Lebron got hurt dismantling the defending champion Golden State
Warriors in a big Christmas Day game, all right, So
that injury derailed them. They went six and twelve after that,
or six and eleven while Lebron was out during that
one stretch. And then the other injuries to Rajon Rondo
missing thirty four games, Brandon Ingram missing, Elevin Linzo Balls
(03:20):
still out. He's missed about eighteen games. So sometimes no,
but the injuries are a factor. That's what I blame
one thing on, particularly to Lebron. Secondly, Rob the front
office and Magic Johnson and Rob Pelinka. Now Lebron had
a lot of input on this roster. Go and get
(03:42):
these playmakers, these defenders, these tough guys who can't shoot
all right. But at the end of the day, the
buck stops with Magic Johnson and Rob Pelinka because they
run the front office and they chose to put together
this disjointed team that really doesn't implement Lebron. And beyond that,
the thing that really sent the season off the rails
(04:07):
was the Anthony Davis trade. Soaka, and it's been everybody's
talked about how Old New Orleans was leaking all the
trade names and this and that, and they wanted to
get back at the Lakers and all that, and some
of that may be true. I'm sure there were leaks
coming out of New Orleans. But there were also leaks
coming out of the Los Angeles Lakers. And that's where
(04:29):
Magic and Pelinka have to answer. For two, it wasn't
just the Pelicans. And what I was told today by
a good source is that the Lakers were also leaking
the names of who they were willing to trade, and
that was essentially everybody not named Lebron James for Anthony Davis.
(04:50):
And here is why. Because the last year or so,
Rob we know, the Lakers have been crucified because they
didn't go hard after Paul George and Kawhi Leonard. They
thought they had Paul George wrapped up, so they didn't
offer anything in a trade. They said, well, get him
(05:10):
in free agency. They could have tried to trade for
Kawhi Leonard last summer, they didn't. I don't think Papovitch
would to send him there. But they didn't do that either,
And so they wanted their fans to know, we are
not doing the same thing, we are not making the
same mistake again, and we are going all in on
getting Anthony Davis. So they leaked a lot of the
(05:34):
trade stuff so their fans would know we're all about this.
We're not sitting on our hands, we're not resting on
our laurels. We're going to get Anthony Davis now, not
in free agency. And that backfired on them, rob And
when Lebron James came back, he came back to a
team that was mentally and emotionally wasted, spiritually dead because
(05:58):
of all the trade aid rumors and trade talks. So
that's a big part of the problem too, all right.
I don't disagree with some of that but I put
all the blame on Lebron James. And he came to
Los Angeles knowing that this was a young team, so
he signed up for this. You can't act like once
you get here, oh my god, they haven't won anything. No,
(06:21):
they haven't made the playoffs. This is a young team
with a lot of unproven people. As far as putting
together the team, you can blame Magic and Rob Pelinka.
Lebron James wanted Land Stevenson, and wanted Javel McGhee, uh
and wanted Umu Rondo. He's the one who signed off
on who gets the final blame. I'm just stops general
(06:45):
manager in the NBA. Let him be the general manager, Okay,
but that's because you still you, pat Riley, didn't let
him be the general manager when you signed Lebron James.
At this point, that's what teams do. And in the
last is that what Miami did. That's what That's what
you're ating for four years. That's how desperate they were.
And the last thing is he derailed the team with
(07:06):
it with the ads that he needed to have a
d and have his agent Rich Paul put this out
publicly with a year and a half left on a
d's contract. He wasn't going to be a free agent
after this year, and they were trying to make it
happen before the de trade deadline. This is he had
another year on his contract. And here's the other part, Chris,
(07:26):
when he's come, let's let's let's say me just ask
one more thing. Here's the other part, and then watch Lebron.
In that Sun's game, he bricked two free throws at
the amend of the game, at the end of the game,
which would have made the game a one possession game.
He missed both free throws. The other day in Phoenix,
(07:48):
he on an inbounds pass he hit the back of
the backboard for a turnover, which I've never seen in
my thirty three years of covering NBA basketball, or college
basketball or high school basketball, I have ever seen that happen.
That's focused. What is that? So all I'm saying is,
along with all that other stuff, Lebron James hasn't lived
up to what he was supposed to live up with
(08:11):
as being the greatest player on the planet. He has been.
He hasn't done. But you you didn't say along with
those other things you said, it's no name fourth thing
le Bron James. You said it's all on Lebron. I
named the four things that he knew what he was
coming back, but you still say it's all on him.
He's the reason for the bad Lakers season. He is.
(08:33):
None of it on the young players who win six
and eleven without him, on the front office, who put
together this roster and who leaked the Anthony Davis trade stuff.
None of it on that, none of it on the injuries.
Just on Lebron. Juries and I'll give you he's being
shot poorly from the line. He hasn't played good defense,
but you're gonna put it all on him. Injuries are
(08:55):
part of the game. We can't make an excuse just
for Lebron saying it's an excuse. I'm just saying it's
a fact. Toronto has one of the best records in
the league. You know what they're best players miss sixteen games.
Kawhi letters mix sixteen, Lebron miss eighteen, and then where
are they? So don't tell me it's just about miss sixteen.
(09:15):
The players held up play well without Kawhi. I'm not
buying the Lakers players didn't. That's that's the difference. What
what don't you understand why are they losing that on
Lebron's back? Is what I'm saying. Why are they't lose? No,
I'm not Look, I'm not absolving him. I'm just saying
there are other factors. That's all I'm saying. You're you're
saying it's all him. I'm saying He's to blame, no doubt,
(09:39):
but there are other factors as well. So let's see Rob,
what the listeners think eight seven seven ninety nine on
Fox eight seven seven nine nine, six sixty three sixty nine.
What has been the biggest reason for the Lakers demise
this season? Eight seven seven ninety nine on Fox. We
will continue the conversation with you. Next, it's The Eye
(10:01):
Couple Fox Sports Radio. Be sure to catch live editions
of The Odd Couple with Chris Broussard and Rob Parker
week days at seven pm Eastern four pm Pacific on
Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio app. As we're talking
about the NBA, We've got a great guest to delve
into that topic even more deeply. Its former NBA general
(10:24):
manager now and NBA analysts for CBS Sports and NBA TV,
Billy King. Billy welcome to the eye couple. How you doing?
What's happened? Glad to be Glad to be here, guys,
How you guys doing. We're great, man, we're great. And
like we can't agree on this Lebron the Laker thing,
but well that that's where we'll start. That's the story
of the NBA right now. Billy, what what do you
(10:48):
attribute this mess in Los Angeles too, where the Lakers
look like they're not going to make the playoffs? Well,
I think it goes back to Lebron's injury because I
think they were starting to jail, starting to figure out
how to play with Lebron because it's you know, he's
a unique player, and I think once he got hurt,
you know, they lost their engine. He you know, he's
(11:09):
the glue they all came there that the veteran guys came.
And I think also Rondo being hurt, because I think
Rondo can handle the ball in and facility people. When
those guys were out for as long as it were,
it's hard to come back and now try to get
that rhythm because some of those young guys, you know,
they've never won, they've never been in this position where
you know where you fight for playoffs. But so I
(11:32):
just think that the injury with Lebron took them out
of the rhythm and they couldn't get it back because
it's time. You don't have time to practice, and so
now all little things whether it's missing assignments or defense
or a shot selection or rebound boxing and all those
little things come about. Well, Billy, I have to push
back from this damn point. I get. I get the injuries.
(11:54):
Injuries happen in the NBA, all sports, and you got
to bounce back. They still had a chance to make
the playoffs. When you look at this team, Lebron hasn't
played defense. They've lost to some of the worst teams
in the league. This team, even with Lebron on the
on the court, they just lost to the Suns, who
had won one game in six weeks. They lost to Memphis,
(12:16):
They lost to New Orleans without Anthony Davis. How can
that be that we're looking at these losses now with
Lebron putting up triple doubles but not playing defense, and
the reason that they're that they're not going to make
the playoffs is because of the eighteen games that he missed. Yeah,
because I think a lot of that is timing, and
I think you can't. Yeah, Lebron may not be playing defense,
(12:39):
but the one thing, like he's looked back in Cleveland,
they had guys like Tristan Thompson back that we're gonna
play defense, Guys that understood the rotations to do that.
The Laker team, lot of the guys that you know,
they weren't built to play defense. Last year it was
about an offensive game. And so now yeah, yeah, Lebron
has to play defense. But I just think when you
when you're not in practice, the defense to time as
(13:00):
the rotation almost are, you don't have time to work
on them because you don't have time to practice. This
time of year, teams aren't practice so much. You look
perfect example, look at the Sixers. They're Brett Brown the
other in the other game last night, they're up three,
they take a file, they have bad turnovers because they
have that chance to practice. As they've added all these
new pieces. It's very easy to throw in pieces into
(13:24):
it's going to work in basketball when you make these trades.
But if you don't have time to get on the
court and practice, and this time you don't, it's very
hard to make it work. We traded for the Kim
Babem Tumble in two thousand and one. Well, we had
the best record in the EASE at the time, and
after that trade, counting playoffs, we were a five hundred
team and even got to the NBA Finals, And before
that we were we were I think at forty one
(13:46):
to fourteen. Well, Billy Luke Wall and near reports that
he's going to be the be fired at the end
of the Sea the fall, I think they're true. Yeah,
I think he'll be the scape go What is the
you of him around the league. Do you think he'll
get another NBA head coaching job in the future or
people look at him as maybe just an assistant or
(14:08):
maybe somebody that goes to college to coach. No, I
think I think he'll get a job. If he gets
fired in this season, he'll probably get a job next
season because I think Bill look at what he did
with Golden State and Mike D'Antoni said something that is very,
very unique and not very prophetic about coaching NBA. When
he was at Denver his first NBA coaching job, they
(14:29):
didn't win and people said he couldn't coach. When he
got to Phoenix and they had Nash statomy. People said, oh,
the guy's the greatest coach, and he said, Billy, I'm
the same coach has got better players. So sometimes coach
has become better coaches when they have better players, and
when they don't, they've got to try to figure out
and make it work. I think Luke is in a
tough situation, so they're bringing in a guy like Lebron,
(14:52):
who you know. I think Luke wants a player, a
certain one like they did a Golden State, and Lebron
has played a certain way that has been very successful,
playing as way in Miami and Cleveland winning championships. So
I just don't think the two styles mashed together. And
so I think local Bill would go somewhere else and
be okay, Billy. Some former I mean anonymous GM I
(15:13):
think around the league said that they thought that the
chemistry was destroyed on this team because of you know,
basically the trade rumors and all end names were leaked
out that basically Lebron was willing to give up anybody
on the roster in order to get Anthony Davis. Can
that affect the team when when people see their names
out or they're not wanted by a star player. How
(15:36):
do you think that that affected the Lakers after the
author all that got out, Well, I mean, I think
it probably affects him once it was out there, but
it was out there for so long. And one thing
I think Magic said he when he talked to guys,
you know, if they're gonna play in as NBA, their
names are gonna be out there. Not unless you you're
a great players, your name is gonna be out there.
That's just the nature of the beast. It's you're in
(15:57):
and it's a profession that you've chosen. So you still
got a job, did it? Whether you're gonna be traded
or not, you still got a job. Did it? Because
end of the day, people are judging you of how
you play individually. So if you're gonna go out there
and lay down and I play, well, it's not just
gonnaffect the Lakers, It's gonna affect you as an individual player.
So um, But it's ironic that the two teams that
(16:18):
people were talking about, was it the Celtics for Anthony Davis,
you know, they couldn't do till after the season and
the Lakers. Both those teams are not funk and you
and you look at the Celtics and they've got I
don't believe the talent that have been together and now
they're not playing well. But I think it affected those
guys for period. But it shouldn't have It shouldn't have
been a hangover effect, especially after the trading line, because
(16:38):
now you know you're there. It's the eye. Couple were
joined by former NBA general manager Billy King. Billy, I'm
glad you brought up the Celtics. It's like you said,
they are in a funk? Is it fair you You
worked in NBA a long time, worked with a lot
of coaches. Is it fair to wonder if Brad Stevens
is just one of those coaches that he maximizes like
(17:00):
mediocre or pretty good talent, but he asked trouble hand
in the superstars and the egos and things like that.
Is is it fair to wonder that with Boston? Well,
I don't think. Yeah, some of the responses he has
to go to brat because he's the head tears. But
I've made the statement, I think a couple weeks ago
about Boston. I think a lot of the players are
so worried about next year, not this year. You know
(17:23):
is Kyrie's you know, and the people are asking a question,
is he going to stay in Boston or is he
going to New York? You know? Are they trading guys
for Anthony Davis? And so they've been so focused on
the future and not the president. And I think that,
you know, as a as a unit, they need to
worry about playing now. I do think when they get
in the playoffs, they have enough talent and you know,
(17:45):
Cream tends to rounds at the top. I think they
can do it when they get there because they are
so talented and playoffs is a different season. But I
just was worried that they are. They've been so focused
on whether or his year a new contract. It's all
about the future or not the president. They would face
Philadelphia in that first round. They're four and five seeds.
(18:05):
They've owned Philadelphia beat him last year for one in
the playoffs, have won like seventeen of their last twenty matchups.
Do you would you pick Boston right now over Philadelphia
in that series? Well, I probably would, just because of
what I've seen how they've played. I just haven't seen
Philadelphia proved that they can beat them. And until they
do it, they've got to go with Boston because they
(18:27):
have played so much better than than the playoffers. The
thing with Philadelphia, now you wear Joel and bees missing
a sixth game tonight. You know, now he's going to
come back, and now they's got to get him back
in the rhythm in they're adding Tobias Harris. So it's
probably a lot of chemistry issues. I think with this
group adding Joel back, trying to figure out Tobias Harris,
and I think for Brett Brown, just figure out who
(18:48):
do you go to into the game when you need
a big bucket, if you're up five with two minutes,
what are you doing so? And when you don't have
these regular season game to figure it out, I think
it's going to be kind of difficult. It was like
they were remember they had that great run with it
eighteen nineties, trade Ye and Joel was out and then
he came back, and the style play changed because before
(19:09):
without Joel they were running and pushing and shooting threes,
playing at the high pace. You bring Joel back, you know,
you got to slow it down a little bit, and
I think that was a different pace than they had
played with before. Billy great stuff. We should ship the knowledge,
You welcome, you walk ready time, guys, All right, thanks Billy.
Be sure to catch live editions of The Odd Couple
with Chris Broussard and Rob Parker weekdays at seven pm Eastern,
(19:33):
four pm Pacific. Rob. As bad as things are in
Los Angeles, to some degree, they're just as bad across
the nation in Boston, the two making it to the playoffs. Yeah,
at least that's why it's not as bad. That's why
(19:53):
I said, to a degree, Celtics are going to be
in the playoffs. But these are the two flagship franchises
in the NBA, the two best franchises easily in the association,
and both have drama galore, and both of them are
led by former Cleveland Cavaliers Lebron James in LA and
(20:13):
Kyrie Irving in Boston. And Kyrie Rob almost seems to
be at war with the me. I shouldn't say at war,
because he did talk. You know, he some games afterwards
he's given one word, two word answers, But when he talks,
he says a mouthful. And he talked recently, and here's
what he had to say. I didn't really come into
(20:35):
this game to be cameras in my face, you know,
be famous, to be a celebrity wherever embodies that. So
it's it's a little hard for me, you know, one
of those things that I was younger, but now at
this point in my career, I just wanted to play basketball.
A very very highlight he did has just gotten just outrageous,
you know what I mean, Like I just saw some
of his the other day, where you know, he's the
greatest player playing in our game right now, but even
seeing somebody question like Brown's body of work, like my
(20:57):
body of work, Katie's body of work, and you know,
the team's success balls, I'm the best player, and then
whether call it fair on unfair, but nobody should ever
question what type of winner those guys are, you know
what I mean, what type of winner I am, or
whether or not I have the team in first mentality,
I think he's questioning you, Rob, That's fine. That's what
we do for calling our bron for not wanting to win.
(21:21):
Go on, I ask you, boy, I know you're gonna go.
He's wrong. Kyrie's wrong. Now come on stop that. Turn
that off because he's wrong and the problem that I have.
Stop stop, Come on, alex rob Park girl, stop go here.
(21:41):
This is the same guy who didn't want all that,
but he made a movie. Right. Oh wait, right, you
don't want all that, but you made a movie. Unless
he just loves being, unless he just loves the thess
being arts, then you did that to be famous. Yes
you did right, Yes, you didn't make a Shakespearean movie
some great literature. You're not just down there. You made
(22:04):
some library brands, acting in local plays. Row you made
you made some yuck yuck film called Dug Uncle Drew. Right,
stop it. Come on, man, you can't have it both ways.
When you want people to go buy your your sneakers,
you're out in the media and you're doing TV commercials
and you're putting stuff out. He said, Well, I wanted
(22:24):
that in the beginning, but I don't want that now.
That's what you signed up for. I hate to break
it to you, Kyrie. You could play basketball and nobody care.
Go to the Why. Go play basketball at the Why
and have fun. You're on national TV. Stop it. You
(22:45):
get paid millions. These god they want it. They want
any animentity amanity, that's what they want, and they want
twenty million dollars to stop it. Who are you kid?
Answer the damn questions. I keep telling these athletes, Chris,
(23:06):
you don't care. I don't care. We're there for the fans.
We're not there for ourselves. So every time you turn
your nose up up at us or don't give us
any answers, you know what, you're doing that to the fans.
You're not doing that to us. It's our job. We
don't care if you win or lose. I still gotta
(23:29):
write a story either way. Stop it. It's not about us.
Whenever you do that, you're dumping on the fans. I'm
so tired of athletes doing that. What's wrong with these guys.
They want the attention, they want the money, but they
don't want the responsibility that comes with it. You're right,
(23:49):
I give you applause. You were not, mister Softly on that.
I mean, look, we get it from a human element.
We get the front stration, when your psycho analyzed, when
you're criticized, Okay, nobody likes being criticized. However, as you said, Rob,
it comes with the job description any job in the
(24:13):
public eye. First things first this morning, and Nick right,
our colleague here at FS one, he said, when he
first started his radio show. He was always reading I
think even at that time it was emails, not you know,
they didn't even have Twitter, and he's reading emails and
people are killing him, slaughtering him, and he said it
(24:34):
just made him depressed. And he went to the guy,
one of his colleagues, and said, I don't know if
I can do this. And the guy said, look, you
chose a job in the public arena. Yes you did.
If you want to do it, you get paid nicely,
not as much as Kyrie Irving and NBA players, but
you get paid nicely. You get many perks and benefits.
(24:56):
Do you want the job or not? This comes with it.
We could go all the way down the line, Rob,
you and I we get criticized. The New England Patriots
hated on you. Yes, they sent out a video and
they put it out there right on Instagram and Twitter.
It's fine. Did I did I roll into a ball
(25:17):
and cry? No? I have my opinion. That's what I
do for a job, and I respect him from pushing back.
I got no issue. Chris, Yep. Now you're right. You
understand it's a part of the job, and you hit
it on the head. If Kyrie Kevin Durant. Any of
these guys if they want to just play ball, as
(25:39):
they both have said, then go to the open gym. Yes,
there's plenty of guys just playing ball. Go work at
the post office, Go work at the auto body shop. Yes,
nobody give you. You're smart. Go get a good job
in corporate America, and then go play ball in your
free time. And nobody will care about who you talk
(26:00):
too in the hallway, no doubt about. Nobody will care
about you. Know, every little word you say it it
won't get analyzed, it won't get talked about on TV
shows in the morning. But guess what, you won't make
twenty five million dollars a year. Either, you won't have movies,
you won't have a shoot deal. No, you won't have
any of that stuff. And I just can't understand why
(26:20):
these guys don't understand that part of what you have
has to do with Bill being able to be in
the media and people looking at you and hearing what
you sound like. Chris. The reasons some guys don't get
it is that they don't have an appeal right once
people interview them. Oh, this guy's dryed, this god doesn't
have anything to offer, those guys don't get picked up.
(26:41):
Those guys don't get everybody in the league, don't never
sneaker deal Rob. They've got to understand, and I've told
this to some of them. The media, and I'm not
trying to overshoot what it is that we do or overstated, Okay,
but media is important. These guys are tremendous ass leads.
They're incredibly gifted, and they have worked incredibly hard to
(27:04):
get where they are and they deserve the props and
everything they get. However, if it wasn't for the media,
because guess what television is media? Okay, YouTube is media, Yes,
the newspaper, the radio, the podcast, all of that is media.
(27:25):
If nobody televised your games, you just be a bunch
of brothers running around playing basketball like millions of other guys.
You might do it at a higher level, but if
nobody knew about it because the media didn't promote it,
then you who would care. It's we work hand in hand.
We need them in for something to report about, and
(27:47):
they need us to publicize it, no doubt about it.
But I just think that they really lose sight. They
think it's they really believe that it's about us, Chris,
and we're just a condoing to the fans. It's not
about us, all right, it's not. I know they believe so,
but it's about the fans. The fans are interested. That's
(28:08):
why they watch Undisputed Chris every morning. Right, Because the
fans are interested, that's why they watch. And let me
say something else, Rob I was talking to somebody in
the league today and that's just one person, but he
knows what he's talking about. And he said that we know,
we've all heard the rumors about Kyrie Irving and Kevin
(28:30):
Durant maybe going to New York. We're not stating that
as a fact, but that's certainly on the right's out there.
This guy told me today that one of the things
that was making them apprehensive about that was the media.
And we've said I think we've said, I know I've
said that on the radio show and television. If you
(28:54):
are that sensitive and that worried about the media in
Boston and in Golden State or the Bay Area, San
Francisco and Oakland, and for Kevin Durant Oklahoma City before that,
then New York you better have some thick skin in
(29:14):
New York and Can I tell you something. There have
been players who played in New York who excelled who
were getting beat up. We talked about Eli Manning all
the time. Chris won two Super Bowls. Derek Jeter, shortstop
of the New York Yankees. All right, most people are
(29:35):
critical of that team forever won five championship. I could
go on and on. Patrick Ewing, you have to and
got beat out here all the time, right, and took
the team to the finals twice they didn't win. But
he weathered the storm. You gotta have thick skin and
you gotta be about your But you know what, nobody
in New York ever said, Patrick Ewing didn't give us
(29:56):
all right. They were frustrated Chris, but they knew he
were hard and he tried to win. I would say
to some of these guys. They some of these guys
because they say media, but it's also social media. Social
media is far more critical of them. That's not media, yes, no,
but you know what I'm saying, But that's part of
(30:18):
what it bothers them. Get off your mentions and get
off your you know, the comments section and reading about
everything people are saying about you. Kyrie did say in
this interview recently with local reporters in Boston that he
has disconnected from social media. But remember Adam Silver, the commissioner,
said that a lot of these players aren't unhappy. I
(30:39):
think that's one of the issues. I think he is
one hundred percent right. I think that there is a
disconnect up from human beings. Chris, think about this. You
see the players now that used to be a camarader
where you're on the bus. Everybody has their own headsets,
everybody's into their phone. They don't even know that the
guy that to them. They don't there's no there's no connection.
(31:03):
And I think that's the life they're living. So they're isolated.
They're rich, they got their houses and their mansions and
all this other stuff, and they don't connect with people.
Now that's real. That's that's real talk. And uh, you know,
look they that's something that they need to weigh. And
I'll say this, Look, because of technology now there's a
(31:25):
lot of you know, New York's known for tabloid journalism
and sensationalism and all that and hard knows journalism as
well that that's across the country now, you know, because
of the Internet. Now you can read New York papers
and and all that all over the country and even
the world, So you get a degree of that wherever
you're at, but it is still worse in New York.
(31:49):
And I would hate for Kyrie and Kevin Durant if
they really want to go to the Knicks, not to
go because of the media. But I'm told that that
might be something in that they're looking at. Is they
wait where they want to go. That's crazy to me.
It's just crazy. If you where do you want to go?
You want to go to Phoenix where they won't bother
(32:09):
you just got to worry about the Arizona Republic. Is
that where you want to go? Right? Right right? That's
the only paper in town. They won't bother you. Look,
if you go to New York, just don't read the papers.
You're gonna hear about some of the papers, not for them.
Who's the paper for Chris the fans? Yes, that's who
the papers for radios for. And you have to know
(32:31):
who you are too, Like Michael Jordan time Brady, they've
talked about being fueled by criticism by doubters, by haters.
Some players aren't though some players it gets in their head.
They got voices in their head, they start doubting themselves.
I give it to Kyrie and durant their game. They're
still able to play at a high level even though
(32:51):
this stuff bothers them. But I would just leave it alone.
I would get rid of it and don't pay attention
to it. I know that's hard for millennials. That's kind
of like telling us Rob don't watch TV, right, you know,
but if it's bothering you that much, it's something you
need to consider. Finally, last thing I'll say about Kyrie.
A lot of this Kyrie brought on himself. You know,
(33:13):
this kind of started in mid January when he said
that not all of our young players know what it
takes to play at the championship level. And then his
own teammate, unsolicited, Jalen Brown, went back at him. He said, Hey,
we gotta stop pointing fingers or everybody's gonna go into
a shell and we're all being on our own little silos.
(33:34):
That's a paraphrase. But and then Kyrie came back with
you know lebron story how he called to apologize and
he didn't listen to him either as a youngster. And
then July, you know, asked me in July whether I'm staying,
you know, with the Celtics or not. I don't owe
anybody bleep. So that's when a lot of this started
(33:54):
with Kyrie, and so you know, you gotta look at
some of the comments you've made too, all Right, how
much blame does the media deserve for the unhappiness of
NBA players like Kyrie Irving. It's your chance to weigh
in eight seven, seven ninety nine on Fox A seven
seven nine nine six sixty three sixty nine. It's the
I Couple Fox Sports Radio. Fox Sports Radio has the
(34:17):
best sports talk lineup in the nation. Catch all of
our shows at foxsports Radio dot com and within the
iHeartRadio app. Search FSR to listen live.
Thanks for listening to the Best of the Odd Couple podcasts.
Be sure to catch us live every weekday from seven
pm to ten pm Eastern four to seven Pacific on
Fox Sports Radio. Find your local station for The Odd
Couple at Fox Sports Radio dot com, or stream us
live every day on the iHeartRadio app by searching fs R.
(00:22):
You're listening to the Best of the Odd Couple with
Chris Brush and Rod Harker. The big story everyone's talking
about is the Lakers. And look right now, they're five
and a half games out of eighth place and San
Antonio has the tiebreaker eighth place Spurs, so they're really
(00:43):
six and a half games behind the Spurs, and they're
six games behind the LA Clippers, so they're essentially out
of it. Not mathematically, but again they would almost have
to run the table to go ahead and make the playoffs.
He said that they would need to win four six games, right,
Is that the number forty six? Yeah, I'm not sure
(01:04):
if it's like for what I heard it right, Number
one likes to have thirty six. They said that it
was like a four you had to get forty six wins,
and forty six would me and you have to go
sixteen and two in the last eighteen Yeah, I mean,
they obviously have a long road ahead of him. But
the thing is, where do you place the blame. Right now,
it's it's in vogue to place virtually all the blame
(01:27):
on Lebron James, and obviously he deserved some blame. He
hasn't had, you know, the typical Lebron James seasons. He's
had some bad optical moments sitting on the bench away
from his teammates and things. Even though that really wasn't
that big of a deal, it looked bad calling out
some of the teammates. But I rob I think people
(01:49):
are going overboard with that and not get it. You're
the best player on the team, You're arguably the best
player in the world. If you get if your team's winning.
When they were the fourth seed, Lebron was getting the
lion share the prayer. So I get why you get
a lot of criticism. But if I had to pick
out two things, and I was on the Herd today
and I talked about it, if I had to pick
(02:10):
out two things that I would really focus on the
blame on this season, One would be the injury to
Lebron because you can poop what all you want. And
it was relative pools Christmas pool. They were fourth. It's
a fact. You can you can mock it all you on,
but it's a fact. They were the fourth seed. But
(02:32):
they weren't that man stop entrenched or not. They were
the fourth game, but they were two games from the
nice spot. I mean, they were the fourth seed. Though
I know that munty problem is can you finish my statement?
I let you go out for five minutes about the
guards go off? All right, they were the fourth seed
(02:56):
when Lebron got hurt dismantling the defending champion Golden State
Warriors in a big Christmas Day game, all right, So
that injury derailed them. They went six and twelve after that,
or six and eleven while Lebron was out during that
one stretch. And then the other injuries to Rajon Rondo
missing thirty four games, Brandon Ingram missing, Elevin Linzo Balls
(03:20):
still out. He's missed about eighteen games. So sometimes no,
but the injuries are a factor. That's what I blame
one thing on, particularly to Lebron. Secondly, Rob the front
office and Magic Johnson and Rob Pelinka. Now Lebron had
a lot of input on this roster. Go and get
(03:42):
these playmakers, these defenders, these tough guys who can't shoot
all right. But at the end of the day, the
buck stops with Magic Johnson and Rob Pelinka because they
run the front office and they chose to put together
this disjointed team that really doesn't implement Lebron. And beyond that,
the thing that really sent the season off the rails
(04:07):
was the Anthony Davis trade. Soaka, and it's been everybody's
talked about how Old New Orleans was leaking all the
trade names and this and that, and they wanted to
get back at the Lakers and all that, and some
of that may be true. I'm sure there were leaks
coming out of New Orleans. But there were also leaks
coming out of the Los Angeles Lakers. And that's where
(04:29):
Magic and Pelinka have to answer. For two, it wasn't
just the Pelicans. And what I was told today by
a good source is that the Lakers were also leaking
the names of who they were willing to trade, and
that was essentially everybody not named Lebron James for Anthony Davis.
(04:50):
And here is why. Because the last year or so,
Rob we know, the Lakers have been crucified because they
didn't go hard after Paul George and Kawhi Leonard. They
thought they had Paul George wrapped up, so they didn't
offer anything in a trade. They said, well, get him
(05:10):
in free agency. They could have tried to trade for
Kawhi Leonard last summer, they didn't. I don't think Papovitch
would to send him there. But they didn't do that either,
And so they wanted their fans to know, we are
not doing the same thing, we are not making the
same mistake again, and we are going all in on
getting Anthony Davis. So they leaked a lot of the
(05:34):
trade stuff so their fans would know we're all about this.
We're not sitting on our hands, we're not resting on
our laurels. We're going to get Anthony Davis now, not
in free agency. And that backfired on them, rob And
when Lebron James came back, he came back to a
team that was mentally and emotionally wasted, spiritually dead because
(05:58):
of all the trade aid rumors and trade talks. So
that's a big part of the problem too, all right.
I don't disagree with some of that but I put
all the blame on Lebron James. And he came to
Los Angeles knowing that this was a young team, so
he signed up for this. You can't act like once
you get here, oh my god, they haven't won anything. No,
(06:21):
they haven't made the playoffs. This is a young team
with a lot of unproven people. As far as putting
together the team, you can blame Magic and Rob Pelinka.
Lebron James wanted Land Stevenson, and wanted Javel McGhee, uh
and wanted Umu Rondo. He's the one who signed off
on who gets the final blame. I'm just stops general
(06:45):
manager in the NBA. Let him be the general manager, Okay,
but that's because you still you, pat Riley, didn't let
him be the general manager when you signed Lebron James.
At this point, that's what teams do. And in the
last is that what Miami did. That's what That's what
you're ating for four years. That's how desperate they were.
And the last thing is he derailed the team with
(07:06):
it with the ads that he needed to have a
d and have his agent Rich Paul put this out
publicly with a year and a half left on a
d's contract. He wasn't going to be a free agent
after this year, and they were trying to make it
happen before the de trade deadline. This is he had
another year on his contract. And here's the other part, Chris,
(07:26):
when he's come, let's let's let's say me just ask
one more thing. Here's the other part, and then watch Lebron.
In that Sun's game, he bricked two free throws at
the amend of the game, at the end of the game,
which would have made the game a one possession game.
He missed both free throws. The other day in Phoenix,
(07:48):
he on an inbounds pass he hit the back of
the backboard for a turnover, which I've never seen in
my thirty three years of covering NBA basketball, or college
basketball or high school basketball, I have ever seen that happen.
That's focused. What is that? So all I'm saying is,
along with all that other stuff, Lebron James hasn't lived
up to what he was supposed to live up with
(08:11):
as being the greatest player on the planet. He has been.
He hasn't done. But you you didn't say along with
those other things you said, it's no name fourth thing
le Bron James. You said it's all on Lebron. I
named the four things that he knew what he was
coming back, but you still say it's all on him.
He's the reason for the bad Lakers season. He is.
(08:33):
None of it on the young players who win six
and eleven without him, on the front office, who put
together this roster and who leaked the Anthony Davis trade stuff.
None of it on that, none of it on the injuries.
Just on Lebron. Juries and I'll give you he's being
shot poorly from the line. He hasn't played good defense,
but you're gonna put it all on him. Injuries are
(08:55):
part of the game. We can't make an excuse just
for Lebron saying it's an excuse. I'm just saying it's
a fact. Toronto has one of the best records in
the league. You know what they're best players miss sixteen games.
Kawhi letters mix sixteen, Lebron miss eighteen, and then where
are they? So don't tell me it's just about miss sixteen.
(09:15):
The players held up play well without Kawhi. I'm not
buying the Lakers players didn't. That's that's the difference. What
what don't you understand why are they losing that on
Lebron's back? Is what I'm saying. Why are they't lose? No,
I'm not Look, I'm not absolving him. I'm just saying
there are other factors. That's all I'm saying. You're you're
saying it's all him. I'm saying He's to blame, no doubt,
(09:39):
but there are other factors as well. So let's see Rob,
what the listeners think eight seven seven ninety nine on
Fox eight seven seven nine nine, six sixty three sixty nine.
What has been the biggest reason for the Lakers demise
this season? Eight seven seven ninety nine on Fox. We
will continue the conversation with you. Next, it's The Eye
(10:01):
Couple Fox Sports Radio. Be sure to catch live editions
of The Odd Couple with Chris Broussard and Rob Parker
week days at seven pm Eastern four pm Pacific on
Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio app. As we're talking
about the NBA, We've got a great guest to delve
into that topic even more deeply. Its former NBA general
(10:24):
manager now and NBA analysts for CBS Sports and NBA TV,
Billy King. Billy welcome to the eye couple. How you doing?
What's happened? Glad to be Glad to be here, guys,
How you guys doing. We're great, man, we're great. And
like we can't agree on this Lebron the Laker thing,
but well that that's where we'll start. That's the story
of the NBA right now. Billy, what what do you
(10:48):
attribute this mess in Los Angeles too, where the Lakers
look like they're not going to make the playoffs? Well,
I think it goes back to Lebron's injury because I
think they were starting to jail, starting to figure out
how to play with Lebron because it's you know, he's
a unique player, and I think once he got hurt,
you know, they lost their engine. He you know, he's
(11:09):
the glue they all came there that the veteran guys came.
And I think also Rondo being hurt, because I think
Rondo can handle the ball in and facility people. When
those guys were out for as long as it were,
it's hard to come back and now try to get
that rhythm because some of those young guys, you know,
they've never won, they've never been in this position where
you know where you fight for playoffs. But so I
(11:32):
just think that the injury with Lebron took them out
of the rhythm and they couldn't get it back because
it's time. You don't have time to practice, and so
now all little things whether it's missing assignments or defense
or a shot selection or rebound boxing and all those
little things come about. Well, Billy, I have to push
back from this damn point. I get. I get the injuries.
(11:54):
Injuries happen in the NBA, all sports, and you got
to bounce back. They still had a chance to make
the playoffs. When you look at this team, Lebron hasn't
played defense. They've lost to some of the worst teams
in the league. This team, even with Lebron on the
on the court, they just lost to the Suns, who
had won one game in six weeks. They lost to Memphis,
(12:16):
They lost to New Orleans without Anthony Davis. How can
that be that we're looking at these losses now with
Lebron putting up triple doubles but not playing defense, and
the reason that they're that they're not going to make
the playoffs is because of the eighteen games that he missed. Yeah,
because I think a lot of that is timing, and
I think you can't. Yeah, Lebron may not be playing defense,
(12:39):
but the one thing, like he's looked back in Cleveland,
they had guys like Tristan Thompson back that we're gonna
play defense, Guys that understood the rotations to do that.
The Laker team, lot of the guys that you know,
they weren't built to play defense. Last year it was
about an offensive game. And so now yeah, yeah, Lebron
has to play defense. But I just think when you
when you're not in practice, the defense to time as
(13:00):
the rotation almost are, you don't have time to work
on them because you don't have time to practice. This
time of year, teams aren't practice so much. You look
perfect example, look at the Sixers. They're Brett Brown the
other in the other game last night, they're up three,
they take a file, they have bad turnovers because they
have that chance to practice. As they've added all these
new pieces. It's very easy to throw in pieces into
(13:24):
it's going to work in basketball when you make these trades.
But if you don't have time to get on the
court and practice, and this time you don't, it's very
hard to make it work. We traded for the Kim
Babem Tumble in two thousand and one. Well, we had
the best record in the EASE at the time, and
after that trade, counting playoffs, we were a five hundred
team and even got to the NBA Finals, And before
that we were we were I think at forty one
(13:46):
to fourteen. Well, Billy Luke Wall and near reports that
he's going to be the be fired at the end
of the Sea the fall, I think they're true. Yeah,
I think he'll be the scape go What is the
you of him around the league. Do you think he'll
get another NBA head coaching job in the future or
people look at him as maybe just an assistant or
(14:08):
maybe somebody that goes to college to coach. No, I
think I think he'll get a job. If he gets
fired in this season, he'll probably get a job next
season because I think Bill look at what he did
with Golden State and Mike D'Antoni said something that is very,
very unique and not very prophetic about coaching NBA. When
he was at Denver his first NBA coaching job, they
(14:29):
didn't win and people said he couldn't coach. When he
got to Phoenix and they had Nash statomy. People said, oh,
the guy's the greatest coach, and he said, Billy, I'm
the same coach has got better players. So sometimes coach
has become better coaches when they have better players, and
when they don't, they've got to try to figure out
and make it work. I think Luke is in a
tough situation, so they're bringing in a guy like Lebron,
(14:52):
who you know. I think Luke wants a player, a
certain one like they did a Golden State, and Lebron
has played a certain way that has been very successful,
playing as way in Miami and Cleveland winning championships. So
I just don't think the two styles mashed together. And
so I think local Bill would go somewhere else and
be okay, Billy. Some former I mean anonymous GM I
(15:13):
think around the league said that they thought that the
chemistry was destroyed on this team because of you know,
basically the trade rumors and all end names were leaked
out that basically Lebron was willing to give up anybody
on the roster in order to get Anthony Davis. Can
that affect the team when when people see their names
out or they're not wanted by a star player. How
(15:36):
do you think that that affected the Lakers after the
author all that got out, Well, I mean, I think
it probably affects him once it was out there, but
it was out there for so long. And one thing
I think Magic said he when he talked to guys,
you know, if they're gonna play in as NBA, their
names are gonna be out there. Not unless you you're
a great players, your name is gonna be out there.
That's just the nature of the beast. It's you're in
(15:57):
and it's a profession that you've chosen. So you still
got a job, did it? Whether you're gonna be traded
or not, you still got a job. Did it? Because
end of the day, people are judging you of how
you play individually. So if you're gonna go out there
and lay down and I play, well, it's not just
gonnaffect the Lakers, It's gonna affect you as an individual player.
So um, But it's ironic that the two teams that
(16:18):
people were talking about, was it the Celtics for Anthony Davis,
you know, they couldn't do till after the season and
the Lakers. Both those teams are not funk and you
and you look at the Celtics and they've got I
don't believe the talent that have been together and now
they're not playing well. But I think it affected those
guys for period. But it shouldn't have It shouldn't have
been a hangover effect, especially after the trading line, because
(16:38):
now you know you're there. It's the eye. Couple were
joined by former NBA general manager Billy King. Billy, I'm
glad you brought up the Celtics. It's like you said,
they are in a funk? Is it fair you You
worked in NBA a long time, worked with a lot
of coaches. Is it fair to wonder if Brad Stevens
is just one of those coaches that he maximizes like
(17:00):
mediocre or pretty good talent, but he asked trouble hand
in the superstars and the egos and things like that.
Is is it fair to wonder that with Boston? Well,
I don't think. Yeah, some of the responses he has
to go to brat because he's the head tears. But
I've made the statement, I think a couple weeks ago
about Boston. I think a lot of the players are
so worried about next year, not this year. You know
(17:23):
is Kyrie's you know, and the people are asking a question,
is he going to stay in Boston or is he
going to New York? You know? Are they trading guys
for Anthony Davis? And so they've been so focused on
the future and not the president. And I think that,
you know, as a as a unit, they need to
worry about playing now. I do think when they get
in the playoffs, they have enough talent and you know,
(17:45):
Cream tends to rounds at the top. I think they
can do it when they get there because they are
so talented and playoffs is a different season. But I
just was worried that they are. They've been so focused
on whether or his year a new contract. It's all
about the future or not the president. They would face
Philadelphia in that first round. They're four and five seeds.
(18:05):
They've owned Philadelphia beat him last year for one in
the playoffs, have won like seventeen of their last twenty matchups.
Do you would you pick Boston right now over Philadelphia
in that series? Well, I probably would, just because of
what I've seen how they've played. I just haven't seen
Philadelphia proved that they can beat them. And until they
do it, they've got to go with Boston because they
(18:27):
have played so much better than than the playoffers. The
thing with Philadelphia, now you wear Joel and bees missing
a sixth game tonight. You know, now he's going to
come back, and now they's got to get him back
in the rhythm in they're adding Tobias Harris. So it's
probably a lot of chemistry issues. I think with this
group adding Joel back, trying to figure out Tobias Harris,
and I think for Brett Brown, just figure out who
(18:48):
do you go to into the game when you need
a big bucket, if you're up five with two minutes,
what are you doing so? And when you don't have
these regular season game to figure it out, I think
it's going to be kind of difficult. It was like
they were remember they had that great run with it
eighteen nineties, trade Ye and Joel was out and then
he came back, and the style play changed because before
(19:09):
without Joel they were running and pushing and shooting threes,
playing at the high pace. You bring Joel back, you know,
you got to slow it down a little bit, and
I think that was a different pace than they had
played with before. Billy great stuff. We should ship the knowledge,
You welcome, you walk ready time, guys, All right, thanks Billy.
Be sure to catch live editions of The Odd Couple
with Chris Broussard and Rob Parker weekdays at seven pm Eastern,
(19:33):
four pm Pacific. Rob. As bad as things are in
Los Angeles, to some degree, they're just as bad across
the nation in Boston, the two making it to the playoffs. Yeah,
at least that's why it's not as bad. That's why
(19:53):
I said, to a degree, Celtics are going to be
in the playoffs. But these are the two flagship franchises
in the NBA, the two best franchises easily in the association,
and both have drama galore, and both of them are
led by former Cleveland Cavaliers Lebron James in LA and
(20:13):
Kyrie Irving in Boston. And Kyrie Rob almost seems to
be at war with the me. I shouldn't say at war,
because he did talk. You know, he some games afterwards
he's given one word, two word answers, But when he talks,
he says a mouthful. And he talked recently, and here's
what he had to say. I didn't really come into
(20:35):
this game to be cameras in my face, you know,
be famous, to be a celebrity wherever embodies that. So
it's it's a little hard for me, you know, one
of those things that I was younger, but now at
this point in my career, I just wanted to play basketball.
A very very highlight he did has just gotten just outrageous,
you know what I mean, Like I just saw some
of his the other day, where you know, he's the
greatest player playing in our game right now, but even
seeing somebody question like Brown's body of work, like my
(20:57):
body of work, Katie's body of work, and you know,
the team's success balls, I'm the best player, and then
whether call it fair on unfair, but nobody should ever
question what type of winner those guys are, you know
what I mean, what type of winner I am, or
whether or not I have the team in first mentality,
I think he's questioning you, Rob, That's fine. That's what
we do for calling our bron for not wanting to win.
(21:21):
Go on, I ask you, boy, I know you're gonna go.
He's wrong. Kyrie's wrong. Now come on stop that. Turn
that off because he's wrong and the problem that I have.
Stop stop, Come on, alex rob Park girl, stop go here.
(21:41):
This is the same guy who didn't want all that,
but he made a movie. Right. Oh wait, right, you
don't want all that, but you made a movie. Unless
he just loves being, unless he just loves the thess
being arts, then you did that to be famous. Yes
you did right, Yes, you didn't make a Shakespearean movie
some great literature. You're not just down there. You made
(22:04):
some library brands, acting in local plays. Row you made
you made some yuck yuck film called Dug Uncle Drew. Right,
stop it. Come on, man, you can't have it both ways.
When you want people to go buy your your sneakers,
you're out in the media and you're doing TV commercials
and you're putting stuff out. He said, Well, I wanted
(22:24):
that in the beginning, but I don't want that now.
That's what you signed up for. I hate to break
it to you, Kyrie. You could play basketball and nobody care.
Go to the Why. Go play basketball at the Why
and have fun. You're on national TV. Stop it. You
(22:45):
get paid millions. These god they want it. They want
any animentity amanity, that's what they want, and they want
twenty million dollars to stop it. Who are you kid?
Answer the damn questions. I keep telling these athletes, Chris,
(23:06):
you don't care. I don't care. We're there for the fans.
We're not there for ourselves. So every time you turn
your nose up up at us or don't give us
any answers, you know what, you're doing that to the fans.
You're not doing that to us. It's our job. We
don't care if you win or lose. I still gotta
(23:29):
write a story either way. Stop it. It's not about us.
Whenever you do that, you're dumping on the fans. I'm
so tired of athletes doing that. What's wrong with these guys.
They want the attention, they want the money, but they
don't want the responsibility that comes with it. You're right,
(23:49):
I give you applause. You were not, mister Softly on that.
I mean, look, we get it from a human element.
We get the front stration, when your psycho analyzed, when
you're criticized, Okay, nobody likes being criticized. However, as you said, Rob,
it comes with the job description any job in the
(24:13):
public eye. First things first this morning, and Nick right,
our colleague here at FS one, he said, when he
first started his radio show. He was always reading I
think even at that time it was emails, not you know,
they didn't even have Twitter, and he's reading emails and
people are killing him, slaughtering him, and he said it
(24:34):
just made him depressed. And he went to the guy,
one of his colleagues, and said, I don't know if
I can do this. And the guy said, look, you
chose a job in the public arena. Yes you did.
If you want to do it, you get paid nicely,
not as much as Kyrie Irving and NBA players, but
you get paid nicely. You get many perks and benefits.
(24:56):
Do you want the job or not? This comes with it.
We could go all the way down the line, Rob,
you and I we get criticized. The New England Patriots
hated on you. Yes, they sent out a video and
they put it out there right on Instagram and Twitter.
It's fine. Did I did I roll into a ball
(25:17):
and cry? No? I have my opinion. That's what I
do for a job, and I respect him from pushing back.
I got no issue. Chris, Yep. Now you're right. You
understand it's a part of the job, and you hit
it on the head. If Kyrie Kevin Durant. Any of
these guys if they want to just play ball, as
(25:39):
they both have said, then go to the open gym. Yes,
there's plenty of guys just playing ball. Go work at
the post office, Go work at the auto body shop. Yes,
nobody give you. You're smart. Go get a good job
in corporate America, and then go play ball in your
free time. And nobody will care about who you talk
(26:00):
too in the hallway, no doubt about. Nobody will care
about you. Know, every little word you say it it
won't get analyzed, it won't get talked about on TV
shows in the morning. But guess what, you won't make
twenty five million dollars a year. Either, you won't have movies,
you won't have a shoot deal. No, you won't have
any of that stuff. And I just can't understand why
(26:20):
these guys don't understand that part of what you have
has to do with Bill being able to be in
the media and people looking at you and hearing what
you sound like. Chris. The reasons some guys don't get
it is that they don't have an appeal right once
people interview them. Oh, this guy's dryed, this god doesn't
have anything to offer, those guys don't get picked up.
(26:41):
Those guys don't get everybody in the league, don't never
sneaker deal Rob. They've got to understand, and I've told
this to some of them. The media, and I'm not
trying to overshoot what it is that we do or overstated, Okay,
but media is important. These guys are tremendous ass leads.
They're incredibly gifted, and they have worked incredibly hard to
(27:04):
get where they are and they deserve the props and
everything they get. However, if it wasn't for the media,
because guess what television is media? Okay, YouTube is media, Yes,
the newspaper, the radio, the podcast, all of that is media.
(27:25):
If nobody televised your games, you just be a bunch
of brothers running around playing basketball like millions of other guys.
You might do it at a higher level, but if
nobody knew about it because the media didn't promote it,
then you who would care. It's we work hand in hand.
We need them in for something to report about, and
(27:47):
they need us to publicize it, no doubt about it.
But I just think that they really lose sight. They
think it's they really believe that it's about us, Chris,
and we're just a condoing to the fans. It's not
about us, all right, it's not. I know they believe so,
but it's about the fans. The fans are interested. That's
(28:08):
why they watch Undisputed Chris every morning. Right, Because the
fans are interested, that's why they watch. And let me
say something else, Rob I was talking to somebody in
the league today and that's just one person, but he
knows what he's talking about. And he said that we know,
we've all heard the rumors about Kyrie Irving and Kevin
(28:30):
Durant maybe going to New York. We're not stating that
as a fact, but that's certainly on the right's out there.
This guy told me today that one of the things
that was making them apprehensive about that was the media.
And we've said I think we've said, I know I've
said that on the radio show and television. If you
(28:54):
are that sensitive and that worried about the media in
Boston and in Golden State or the Bay Area, San
Francisco and Oakland, and for Kevin Durant Oklahoma City before that,
then New York you better have some thick skin in
(29:14):
New York and Can I tell you something. There have
been players who played in New York who excelled who
were getting beat up. We talked about Eli Manning all
the time. Chris won two Super Bowls. Derek Jeter, shortstop
of the New York Yankees. All right, most people are
(29:35):
critical of that team forever won five championship. I could
go on and on. Patrick Ewing, you have to and
got beat out here all the time, right, and took
the team to the finals twice they didn't win. But
he weathered the storm. You gotta have thick skin and
you gotta be about your But you know what, nobody
in New York ever said, Patrick Ewing didn't give us
(29:56):
all right. They were frustrated Chris, but they knew he
were hard and he tried to win. I would say
to some of these guys. They some of these guys
because they say media, but it's also social media. Social
media is far more critical of them. That's not media, yes, no,
but you know what I'm saying, But that's part of
(30:18):
what it bothers them. Get off your mentions and get
off your you know, the comments section and reading about
everything people are saying about you. Kyrie did say in
this interview recently with local reporters in Boston that he
has disconnected from social media. But remember Adam Silver, the commissioner,
said that a lot of these players aren't unhappy. I
(30:39):
think that's one of the issues. I think he is
one hundred percent right. I think that there is a
disconnect up from human beings. Chris, think about this. You
see the players now that used to be a camarader
where you're on the bus. Everybody has their own headsets,
everybody's into their phone. They don't even know that the
guy that to them. They don't there's no there's no connection.
(31:03):
And I think that's the life they're living. So they're isolated.
They're rich, they got their houses and their mansions and
all this other stuff, and they don't connect with people.
Now that's real. That's that's real talk. And uh, you know,
look they that's something that they need to weigh. And
I'll say this, Look, because of technology now there's a
(31:25):
lot of you know, New York's known for tabloid journalism
and sensationalism and all that and hard knows journalism as
well that that's across the country now, you know, because
of the Internet. Now you can read New York papers
and and all that all over the country and even
the world, So you get a degree of that wherever
you're at, but it is still worse in New York.
(31:49):
And I would hate for Kyrie and Kevin Durant if
they really want to go to the Knicks, not to
go because of the media. But I'm told that that
might be something in that they're looking at. Is they
wait where they want to go. That's crazy to me.
It's just crazy. If you where do you want to go?
You want to go to Phoenix where they won't bother
(32:09):
you just got to worry about the Arizona Republic. Is
that where you want to go? Right? Right right? That's
the only paper in town. They won't bother you. Look,
if you go to New York, just don't read the papers.
You're gonna hear about some of the papers, not for them.
Who's the paper for Chris the fans? Yes, that's who
the papers for radios for. And you have to know
(32:31):
who you are too, Like Michael Jordan time Brady, they've
talked about being fueled by criticism by doubters, by haters.
Some players aren't though some players it gets in their head.
They got voices in their head, they start doubting themselves.
I give it to Kyrie and durant their game. They're
still able to play at a high level even though
(32:51):
this stuff bothers them. But I would just leave it alone.
I would get rid of it and don't pay attention
to it. I know that's hard for millennials. That's kind
of like telling us Rob don't watch TV, right, you know,
but if it's bothering you that much, it's something you
need to consider. Finally, last thing I'll say about Kyrie.
A lot of this Kyrie brought on himself. You know,
(33:13):
this kind of started in mid January when he said
that not all of our young players know what it
takes to play at the championship level. And then his
own teammate, unsolicited, Jalen Brown, went back at him. He said, Hey,
we gotta stop pointing fingers or everybody's gonna go into
a shell and we're all being on our own little silos.
(33:34):
That's a paraphrase. But and then Kyrie came back with
you know lebron story how he called to apologize and
he didn't listen to him either as a youngster. And
then July, you know, asked me in July whether I'm staying,
you know, with the Celtics or not. I don't owe
anybody bleep. So that's when a lot of this started
(33:54):
with Kyrie, and so you know, you gotta look at
some of the comments you've made too, all Right, how
much blame does the media deserve for the unhappiness of
NBA players like Kyrie Irving. It's your chance to weigh
in eight seven, seven ninety nine on Fox A seven
seven nine nine six sixty three sixty nine. It's the
I Couple Fox Sports Radio. Fox Sports Radio has the
(34:17):
best sports talk lineup in the nation. Catch all of
our shows at foxsports Radio dot com and within the
iHeartRadio app. Search FSR to listen live.
Hosts And Creators
kelvin washington
Rob Parker
Popular Podcasts
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.