LeBron's Biggest Fear...The Black Mamba

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to The Odd Couple podcast. Be sure
to catch us live every weekday from seven pm to
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(00:26):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio. All Yeah, that's right,
that's right, it is The Odd Couple. I am Chris
Brussard alongside my partner Rob Parker, and we're coming to

(00:50):
you live from the Geico Fox Sports Radio Studios. Fifteen
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And what a three hours we have planned for you.
Do yourself a favor and keep it locked all three

(01:13):
hours because the story, the gift I should say that
keeps on giving is the Los Angeles Lakers woes. Another
bad performance last night, another horrible loss last night to
the LA Clippers has them teetering. I mean, it would
be basically a miracle, a basketball miracle, for them to

(01:38):
get into the playoffs, even though they're not mathematically eliminated.
So we will of course, talk a lot of Lakers,
talk a lot of Lebron and we got some great
guests to help us out with that. In about thirty minutes,
former NBA general manager nowa an NBA analysts for CBS
Sports and NBA TV, Billy King will join us to

(02:01):
talk about the Lakers, the Celtics, and much much more.
At five thirty. Speaking of the Celtics, Kevin O'Connor, great
NBA writer and podcast host for The Ringer. He just
wrote an insightful story about the Boston Celtics and their
trials and tribulations, so he'll join us in the second

(02:21):
hour to talk about that, and in the third hour
Long Time Los Angeles Sports Radio personality television as well.
He's the co host of the Lunch Time with Rogan
and Rodney, which is weekday afternoons on A and five
seventy in La LA Sports. That's Fred Rogan, friend of

(02:43):
the show, so it'd be great to have him on.
And of course it is a trash talking Juesday, So
at the end of the show, the last hour, last
fifteen minutes, it's all about you. You could trash anyone
or anything, even Rob Parker if you want, or Chris Broussard.
How about that? Anybody anything in the world a sports

(03:07):
You heard him? He's here. I'm gonna turn it over
to my man. What's up, Chris Broussard. How are you?
I'm great, man. How are you doing? Doing great? Oh?
I just can't wait. I've been in the parking lot
since eight o'clock last night Pacific after the Lakers lost
that game. I was just waiting to come on the
air with you. Couldn't wait. But yes, we wouldn't be

(03:28):
able to do this fine radio program. Of course without
the odd couple crew. Rob g is our producer, Alex
is our engineer. Of course, Deb Carson is our sports anchor.
She keeps us updated throughout the program. Our intern is Aura,
and of course our social media guru is Elijah. Yes,
they are all in full effect on the other side

(03:50):
of the glass. So come on, Chris Broussard, let's kick
some ass on this trash parking Tuesday. It's amazing how
much better you've been with that since the Lakers started foundering. Well,
I just I told you it was coming. Just uh,
you know, Chris, I've been trying to get you on
board for a long time. I know you've been covering

(04:11):
the NBA and you're an expert in the NBA, but
I got a few years on you when it comes
to the National Basketball Association. And I saw this coming
from a mile away. I am not surprised. I'm gonna
stick my chest. It's not gonna act like ye like
and strategic or whatever. Go ahead and glow. You deserve it,

(04:33):
he after the whooping you took every Friday in Pigs
getting picked. Hey, football so old. We're talking about right here,
right now. And Chris, I know you must have been
watching in Dismay and couldn't believe, like, here's a game
you need to win. And I get it, Brandon Ingram

(04:53):
didn't play, and but but you said it. This is
the one thing I'm gonna I'm gonna, you know, go
off on you on this, and I think it's fair.
I remember one of the reasons you thought the Lakers
would still make the playoffs was because the Clippers had
traded away their best player, one of their best players
in Tobias Harris got traded to Philly. And then they

(05:16):
also can lose a pick if they make a starter,
Avery Bradley exactly, And you said, no, no, No, the
Clippers don't want to win because, ay, they gave up
by giving up their you know, Tobias Harris, and they
have a chance of losing a pick, So why would
they do that? And I told you right then and

(05:38):
there when they came back from twenty eight points against
the Celtics in Boston, I said, that's not a team
that's trying the tank. Ownership might want them to tank.
And the owner even came out and said it's not true.
But when you look at this team and what they've done,
Chris the last three weeks, it's amazing. And they did

(05:58):
it again last night. They were down, they looked like
maybe they weren't gonna win early on, and they turned
it on and they won another game. All they've done
is win even after giving up their best players. So
I'm impressed big time with what the Clippers are doing.
And it speaks volumes about the Lakers and Lebron's been

(06:18):
playing that people could talk about all the other stuff
that's gone on since he came back from injury, or no,
since he came back from the All Star Game. Remember
I'm gonna activate and all this other stuff. They're two
and five and they've lost to some really bad teams
in those five games. It's bad, no question, And you're right.
I was thinking logically as I talked about the Clippers losing,

(06:43):
but I talked to some people up there and they
were like, no, no, no, we really want to win.
They feel it's good for their brand, which it is,
and they feel like this draft isn't that deep that
getting what the thirteenth, twelve, fourteenth pick, whatever it might be.
They already have some young players Mintrez Harold, you know,
Shaye Gilji, Alexander, you know, some some good young pieces,

(07:07):
and it's hell. They think it's going to help them
in free agency. Obviously they want to get Kawhi Leonard.
I think they got a great chance to do that.
I know what, Chris, they do get him. They make
a playoff, They make the playoffs without a big star,
if your star saying, look, they got a nice nucleus.
They made the playoffs, you know what I mean? Like
that is a selling point. No, it could be good

(07:29):
for him, It could be good for him. So so
they look good. But obviously 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
six and a half games behind the Spurs, and they're

(07:49):
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 forty six games, right,
is that the number forty six? Yeah, I'm not sure
if it's like for what I heard it right, Number
one likes to have thirty six. They said that it

(08:11):
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
on Lebron James. Uh And obviously he deserves some blame.

(08:35):
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 are going overboard with that and not get it.
You're the best player on the team. You're arguably the

(08:56):
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, 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
out two things that I would really focus on the

(09:17):
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 they
were entrenched or not. They were the fourth game, but

(09:41):
they were two games from the nice spot. I mean,
they were the fourth seed though I know you that.
But Monty, problem is, can you finish my statement? I
let you go out for five minutes about the guards
go off for fish. All right, they were the fourth
seed when Ron got hurt, dismantling the defending champion Golden

(10:04):
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 still out. He's missed about eighteen games. So

(10:26):
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 these playmakers, these defenders, these tough guys who

(10:48):
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 the disjointed team that really doesn't compliment Lebron. And
beyond that, the thing that really sent the season off

(11:09):
the rails 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 that. 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.

(11:32):
And that's where 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

(11:52):
Anthony Davis. And here is why. Because the last year
or so, rob we know, the Lake 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

(12:13):
him 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

(12:37):
of the 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, spirit rich,

(13:00):
elite dad because of all the trade 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

(13:21):
you get here, oh my god, they haven't won anything. No,
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 Javelle McGhee, uh
and wanted Umu Rondo. He's the one who signed off

(13:42):
on who gets the final blame. I'm just Stops Horst,
general manager in the NBA, letting me be the general manager. Okay,
but that's because you still knowing 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 they is that what Miami did. That's what that's

(14:03):
for four years, that's how desperate they were. And the
last thing is he he derailed the team with 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

(14:25):
trade deadline. This is he had another year on his contract.
And here's the other part. Christ when he's come out,
let's let's let's say 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 end of the game.
At the end of the game which would have made

(14:46):
the game a one possession game. He missed both free throws.
The other day in Phoenix, he on an inbound 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 ever seen that happen. That's focused. What is that?

(15:06):
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 as being the greatest player on
the planet. He has been, he just 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

(15:28):
he knew what he was coming to it. But you
still say it's all on him. He's the reason for
the bad Lakers season. He is. None of it on
the young players who win six and eleven without him,
None of it 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.

(15:49):
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
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 mixed sixteen, Lebron miss eighteen, and then where

(16:13):
are they? So don't tell me it's just about miss sixteen.
Layers held up but plays 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 a
Lebron's back? Is what I'm saying. Why are they lose? No,
I'm not Look, I'm not absolving him. I'm just saying

(16:35):
there are other factors. That's all I'm saying. You're you're
saying it's all him. I'm saying that he's to blame,
no doubt, 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

(16:56):
for the Lakers demise this season? Eight seven seven ninety
nine On Fox, we will continue the conversation with you. Next,
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(17:40):
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a more confident car buying experience. And Rob Parker, we
started the show off talking about the Lakers and where
does the most blame lie. What is to blame for

(18:49):
this lost season. Let's see what the fans think, Let's
see what the listeners think. Rob. Let's hit the lines.
All right, let's do it. We'll start with Kyle in
Saint Lewis. You're on the odd couple of Fox Sports Radio.
What's up, Kyle? Yeah? What's going on? Hey? Number one?
I want to say, what's up to? Chris Yosa the
brus Rob? What's happening? Rob? Yes, you're a hater man?

(19:12):
No old battle. Let let's just get let me get
a couple of things out. Number one, they got four
out of five. What NBA team is successful with four
out of five starters injured almost an average of twenty games.
All right, so hey, Kyle hold on, let me give
him my feedback. So now he's healthy, he's back. Why

(19:33):
aren't they winning? Kyle, tell me, tell me why? Why
aren't they getting Why aren't they beating? Why aren't they
beating the Phoenix Suns, the Memphis Grizzlies, that the New Orleans,
New Orleans Pelicans without a d Answer me that. Number one,
you're not gonna have chemistry when you got four out
of five of your starters injured for more than twenty games.

(19:56):
That's almost that's almost eighty games that they aren't able
to have a start I'm talking about now, I know now,
So I'm gonna go to this. Walton is starting. It
is starting with a small lineup. They're average of thirty three.
They're giving up thirty three points a game in the
first quarter, thirty three points a game, and in ninety
percent of that is happening inside the lane. That's terrible coaching.

(20:17):
That's horrible. I can coach better than that. To say
we're averaging third, we're giving up thirty three points a game,
and then it's happening in the paint in the first
quarter and you're starting a small you got Lebron running
the point, but yet he's defending the five. That doesn't
make any That's terrible coaching. That's horrible coaching. Number two,
Lebron James. You're talking about him not making the playoffs,
and that is his fault. Kobe Bryant average twenty was

(20:40):
it twenty eight and six and didn't make it to
the playoffs? Facts, So, but what does that have to
do with Lebron. Lebron's the greatest player on the planet.
But but what do you have to do with it? No?
Never or never? He was never considered the greatest player
on the planet. No, Lebron, is that guy? Stop making
excuse since he came here to LA not to win.

(21:03):
It shows every day is he not trying to win?
Not saying he came here for other reasons? Chris, But
none of it was winning. I didn't think he it was.
It was on his his number one thing to win
a championship in LA. If he won one, great, But
I don't believe that. I don't know that you can
say he didn't come here to win. Now, you can
say he had other things on his mind, but I

(21:26):
think he also came here to win. Look at the
impatiency showing. I mean, just you you said earlier. He's
the one that led them to go after Anthony Davis.
There's no doubt if he if he didn't want to win,
why would he do that? Well because he felt like
he had no chance with the guys he has. He
wants to give me something, he wants to win. But
but I'm not buying what you're saying. I mean, he

(21:46):
certainly came here to do other things, but I'm not
gonna say he didn't come here to win. All right,
Tony in Seattle, you're on the odd Couple of Fox
Sports Radio. What's up, Tony, Hey, thanks for having me
on the show. First, I want to say, Rob, you
are not a hater. You are keeping it real. Chris,
you being a fanboy a little bit? Really? What did
I say that wasn't a fact? Tell me one thing

(22:08):
I said that wasn't a fact. The first thing in
your first five minute you say, you say, arguably the
best player in the NBA, Lebron is nowhere near close
to the best player in the NBA who only could
play heart in Spurts or is only willing to play
heart in Spurts. He plays no defense. But I'm not
even getting his defense. He hasn't played defense. If you
got if you're really paying attention to and really watching Lebron,

(22:31):
he hasn't played good defense since his last year in Miami.
He's been playing this way. I don't know why has
he not been viewed. Has he not been viewed for
the past four years by most people or most pundits
with a mic in their face as the best player
in the world, and he has been viewed? Is that?

(22:54):
But Chris, let's say why because he was taken he
was taking his team to the finals in the East.
Now he's in the West and you can't play. You
can't play in the West, and he's getting exposed. And
his leadership it's come he's he's been I know everybody
wants to say he's the best leader in the NBA.
Lebron hasn't been a good leader in the last three years.

(23:15):
And let's keep it real. In the first game in
that in the in the NBA Final last year, he
didn't play. He didn't just play good leadership at the
end of the game, and he kind of suck. So Smith,
you know that. You know, did he dropped? He dropped
fifty No, no, no, but that's how he laft. They
still had a chance to win that. They didn't even
lose the game. On the Jr. Smith plunder and Lebron

(23:38):
called up into a ball and rolled into the corner. No,
I look it was it wasn't. No, he didn't respond correctly.
I'll give you that, no doubt, but he dropped fifty one.
But the big difference between him and Kobe Bryant and
Michael Jordan. This is why I say so, it's so
blast for me for for people to say what Lebron
is is because in these last games right here where

(23:58):
the Lakers, when he was supposed to be activated. In
these last games, Kobe Bryant would have shopped the ball
sixty times to give to Willis team and win. Let
me ask you this, did Kobe shoot his sixty times
in the second half of that game seven against Phoenix?
You're always gonna I'm just asking. I don't bring facts.

(24:19):
Did he Okay, yeah, he hung up after that one, right, No,
I'm just asking Rob No, I'll go to that Kobe
game all the time saying, all right, how much blame
does Magic Johnson deserve for the Lakers failures this season.
Former NBA g M Billy King has the answer next,
but first let's get the dab Carson for the latest
in sports. Damn baby, Hello, gentlemen, how are you today?

(24:43):
Doing great? Very good? All right and well? No, Zion
Williamson still he remains out with the knee spring, his
fourth a straight miss for the Blue Devil's fourth rank
Duke right now hosting wake for US. The two sides
knotted up at twenty six apiece six fifty to go
in the first half. Also have ninth rank Michigan State
underway with a thirty to fourteen home lead over visiting
Nebraska with seven to go in the first. Three guys

(25:06):
tried in college basketball's federal fraud and corruption scandal were
sentenced earlier today. Former Adidas executive James Gatto was sentenced
to nine months in prison. Former Adidas consultant Merle Code
and runner Christian Dawkins were sentenced to six months apiece.
Have baseball news the Yankees are shutting down pitcher Louis
Severino for two weeks because of rotator cuff inflammation. Bryce

(25:28):
Harper already doing a little recruiting there for his new team,
the Phillies. You don't think I'm not going to call
Mike Trout in twenty twenty to have him come to Philly.
You're crazy. So that was Bryce Harper and ninety four
w ip of Philadelphia and watch out Angels there and
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(25:48):
you'll pay for your next carve is it True Car
to enjoy a more confident car buying experience. Well, the
deadline has come and gone for NFL teams to use
their franchise tag. All six teams sixteen in all utilize
that tag not using their tag. Ravens released or veteran
Pro Bowl safety Eric wettele La Rams released linebacker at

(26:08):
Mark Baron. Rams also didn't pick up the twenty nineteen
option on starting center John Sullivan, and the Giants officially
informed safety Land and Collins that he will not be tagged.
We'll be back with the odd couple in ten seconds.
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(26:31):
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(26:54):
The only hard part is figuring out which way is easier.
And as we're talking about the NBA, we got a
great guest to delve into that topic even more deeply.
It is former NBA general manager now an NBA analysts
for CBS Sports and NBA TV, Billy King. Billy, Welcome
to the Eye Couple. How you doing, what's happened? Glad

(27:15):
to be Glad to be here, guys, how you guys going.
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 attribute this mess in Los Angeles too,
where the Lakers look like they're not going to make

(27:36):
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
the globe. They all came there with the veteran guys
came and I think also Rondo being hurt, because I

(27:56):
think Rondo can handle the ball in and a little people.
When those guys are 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're fighting for a playoffs. But so
I just think that the injury with Lebron took them

(28:17):
out of the rhythm and they couldn't get it back
because there's time. You don't have time to practice and
so now all little things whether it's missing assignments or
defense or shot selection or rebound boxing, all those little
things come about. Well, Billy, I have to push back
from this damnpoint. I get. I get the injuries. Injuries

(28:37):
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 went Lebron on the on the court.
They just lost to the Suns, who had won one
game in six weeks. They lost to Memphis, they lost

(28:59):
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. Well, yeah,
because I think a lot of that is timing, and
I think you can't. Yeah, Lebron may not be playing defense,

(29:21):
but the one thing, like he's looking 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 a lot of the guys. 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 defensivesignments, the rotation, all

(29:43):
those these are you don't have time to work with
them because you don't have time to practice. This time
of year, teams aren't practicing much. You look perfect example,
look at the Sixers. They're Brett Brown the other the
other game last night, they're up three, they take a file,
they have bad turnovers because they having that chance to practice.
As they've added always new pieces. It's very easy to

(30:05):
go in pieces into 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 Baby Mutumble 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 he even got
to the NBA Finals. And before that we were we

(30:27):
were I think at forty one to fourteen well, Billy
Luke wall 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 view of him around the league.
Do you think he'll get another NBA head coaching job

(30:47):
in the future or people look at him as maybe
just an assistant or 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 look at what
he did with Golden State and Mike D'Antoni said something
that is very, very unique and not very prophetic about

(31:09):
coaching NBA. When he was at Denver his first NBA
coaching job, they didn't win and people said he couldn't coach.
When he got to Phoenix and they had Nash Stattomier,
people said, oh, the guy's the greatest coach, and he said, Billy,
I'm the same coach. Has got better players. So sometimes
coaches become better coaches when they have better players, and
when they don't. Dave tried to try to figure out

(31:30):
and make it work. I think Luke is in a
tough situation. They're bringing in a guy like Lebron, who
you know, I think Luke wants a player, a certain
one like they did a Golden State, and Lebron has
played a certain winning has been very successful playing his
way in Miami and Cleveland winning championships. So I just
don't think the two styles nashed together. And so I
think Local Bill would go somewhere else and be okay, Billy.

(31:52):
Some former I mean anonymous GM I think around the
league said that they thought that the chemistry was destroyed
on this team because 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

(32:14):
when when people see their names out or they're not
wanted by a star player. How 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
this NBA, their names are gonna be out there. Not

(32:35):
unless you you're a great player, your name is gonna
be out there. And that's just the nature of the beast.
It's you're in and it's a profession that you've chosen.
So you still got a job did. Whether you're gonna
be traded or not, you still got a job did.
Because end of the day, people are judging you how
you play individually. So if you're gonna go out there
and lay down in that play, well, it's not just
gonna afect the Lakers's gonna affect you as an individual player.

(32:57):
So but it's ironic that the teams that people were
talking about, was it the Celtics who Anthony Davis, you know,
they couldn't do too alfter the season, and the Lakers.
Both those teams are not funk And yeah, and you
look at the Celtics and they've got a nutbelieve with talent,
they've been together and now they're not playing well. But
I think it affected those guys for period. But it shouldn't.

(33:18):
It shouldn't have been a hangover effect, especially after the
trading line, because 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 is 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

(33:39):
is just one of those coaches that he maximizes like
mediocre or pretty good talent, but he asks 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 Brad because he's the head coach. But
I made the statement I think a couple weeks ago

(34:01):
about Boston. I think a lot of the players are
so worried about next year or not this year. You know,
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

(34:22):
worry about playing now. I do think when they get
in the playoffs. They have enough talent, and you know,
cream tends round 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 US year a new contract. It's all about the
future or not the president. They would face Philadelphia in

(34:46):
that first round. They are the four and five seeds.
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

(35:08):
do it, they've got to go with Boston because they
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
gonna be a lot of chemistry issues. I think with
this group, adding Joel back, trying to figure out Tobias Harris,

(35:29):
and I think for Brett Brown to figure out who
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 last year. I remember they had that great
run with it eighteen nineties straight and Joel was out
and then he came back, and the style play changed

(35:51):
because before without Joel they were running and pushing and
shooting threes, playing at their high pace. You bring Joel back,
you know, you got to slow it down a little bit,
and I think that a different pace than he had
played with before. Billy, great stuff. We should shake the knowledge.
You welcome, you walk ready time, guys? All right, thanks Billy.
We're playing the Lakers blame game. Next, it's The Eye

(36:12):
Couple of Fox Sports Radio. Who me be sure to
catch live editions of The Odd Couple with Chris Brussard
and Rob Parker weekdays at seven pm Eastern four pm
Pacific at Farmers Insurance. We know the sound of a
perfect hot air balloon landing and a Leston perfect one.
We've seen it, covered it. Doctor farmers, we are farmers underwritten.

(36:36):
My farmers took fire insurance exchanges and affiliates product unavlable
in every state. All right, It's the eye couple of
Chris Brussard and Rob park And you can check us
out on Twitter. I am at Chris underscore Brussard, Rob
is at Rob Parker FS one and we are asking
you who is to blame for the Lakers demise this season?
Eight seven seven ninety nine on Fox eight seven seven

(36:59):
nine sixty three sixty nine. Rob. Let's let the listeners
weigh in. All right, how about Vicky and Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
You're on the odd couple of Fox Sports Radio. What
you got, Vicky? Okay? What I got? Thanks for taking
my call first time callers. Oh yes, thank What I
have is uh magic. Johnson and Rob didn't have a

(37:20):
plan in free agency when they didn't sign Randall. They
replaced him with Beasley in the power forward position. And
Beasley is not a replacement for Randall. So I feel
that they didn't have a backup plan when they didn't
sign Julius and they always seemed to last depth at

(37:41):
the five position. It's like it's like the last thing
the Lakers think about is the center, and Randall was
given them double doubles. So to me, I look at
Magic and Rob and I say, you didn't give us
two guards. You didn't give us a backup power forward.
You kind of threw me Ye in there. And he
was great when he was healthy, but then it just

(38:04):
kind of all fell apart when Lebron didn't have another
banger under there with him, and I think Julius would
have been a wonderful compliment. Well is it because they
had the three centers Javail McGee, Tyson Chandler and I
Vica Zubach, and Zubach was playing the best out he
was playing well, I know, and then Mascalar is barely

(38:24):
even getting any minute. So it does seem like there's
a randomness to some of the things they're doing. So
you know that their plan has been a little bit shaky.
I'll give her that. Yeah, Mascala has been more like
a mascato. But that's another story. Okay, So I like
that one. Thank you all right, Arthur and Houston, you're

(38:46):
on the couple of Fox Boards Radio. What's up, Arthur. Hey,
how y'all doing? Man? Thank's taking my call? No problem,
You're right, you're right on point. Chris stopped using the
injury thing as an excuse. I'll give you a promise.
Up in the NBA right now, the Houston Rockets, there's
three out of five of their starters about twenty twenty
five games, and they're fifth in the conference. Oh, that's funny.

(39:08):
The Lakers, right, that's that's interesting. I'm sorry, I like
the embellish. I agreed nobody he's right to do it
by twenty something, but Harden had to do it by hisself.
You're right, that's why he and I'm not using that

(39:30):
as an excuse. I'm saying it's a factor, and that
is the factor that killed their season. Look when did
to kill Houston season? Because Martin was still healthy, Chris Paul,
Chris Paul got hurt, Click Capella got hurt, but Harden
was still healthy. If Kyle Kuzma and Brandon Ingram got
hurt but Lebron was still healthy. With us seventeen games,

(39:54):
I think they would have been with table to withstand it.
That's all I'm saying. So why are they losing now though,
because now you throw on the Anthony Davis saga which
sapped these guys in their trust, and let me throw
it out this way, Rob Offensively, Kuzma and Ingram are
still playing well because offensively, everybody likes to score. If
you can score, you're gonna keep scoring no matter how

(40:15):
much you're in your field. They are playing well right.
But defensively, and I'm putting some of this on Lebron.
Don't give me his defense has been horrible. But defense
is where you recognize the team's trust, their chemistry, their
camaraderie and all that. When that's not there, you're not
going to play good defense. And it's not there for
the Lakers. They were covering up for Lebron's defensive lapses

(40:39):
earlier in the year once they lost the trust because
of the Anthony David saga. Now they're not covering up
for him. They're just letting him get exposed, no doubt
about it. A Mitch, we got thirty seconds, Mitch in Chicago.
You're on the odd couple of Fox Sports Radio. Thirty seconds. Okay,
I've always I've always said, you know, the something magic,

(41:00):
death and problem stay tuned folks. Okay, so, but but
but I'm fascinated by the fact. Thank god for Billy
Milly King and and for Crisp an objective because I
love you, but you're drinking too much hater wan Man,
not at all. Thanks, he lives on that lives on it.

(41:21):
I'm with him every yes, because you just just because
he disagrees with me, I'm on hater rage. It's the
odd couple. Keep it locked. Fox Sports Radio has the
best sports talk lineup in the nation. Catch all of
our shows at Fox sports Radio dot com and within
the iHeart Radio app. Search f s R to listen live. Yes, indeed,
it is the odd couple. I'm Chris, he is robbing

(41:43):
is always. We're coming to you live from the Geicoe
Fox Sports Radio Studios. Fifteen minutes could save you fifteen
percent or more on your car insurance. Visit gecode dot
com for a free rate quote and Rob. As bad
as things are in Los Ange Angeles, to some degree,
they're just as bad across the nation. In Boston, the

(42:07):
two making it to the playoff. Yeah, at least that's
why it's not as bad. That's why 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

(42:30):
former Cleveland Cavaliers Lebron James in LA and 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,

(42:50):
he says a mouthpul And he talked recently and here's
what he had to say. I didn't really come into
this game now 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 want to play
basketball at a very very highlight. He did has just
gotten just outrageous, you know what I mean, Like I

(43:10):
just saw some of the other day where you know,
he's the greatest player playing in our game right now,
but even seeing somebody question like Bron's body of work,
like my body of work, Katie's body of work. And
you know, the team's success falls on the best player.
And then whether call it fair unfair, But nobody should
ever question what type of winner those guys are. You
know what I mean, what type of winner I am?

(43:30):
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, calling our bron for not wanting to win.
Go on, I ask you, a 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

(43:53):
I have. Stop stop, come on, Alex, Rob park girl. Stop.
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 Thespian arts,

(44:15):
then you did that to be famous. Yes you did right, Yes,
you didn't make a Shakespearean movie, right, some great literature.
You're not just down? And you made some library brands
acting in local plays. Rw you made you made some
yuck yuck film called Doug uncle Drew right, stop it.
Come on, man, you can't have it both ways. When

(44:37):
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 you said, well, I wanted 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

(45:00):
and have fun. You're on national TV. Stop it. You
get paid millions these god they want that. They want
any animentity, amunity, that's what they want, and they want
twenty million dollars to stop it. Who are you kidding?

(45:22):
Answer the damn questions. I keep telling these athletes, Chris,
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.

(45:44):
You're not doing that to us. It's our job. We
don't care if you win or lose. I still got
to write a story either way. Stop it. It's not
about us. Whenever you do that, you're been on the fans.
I'm so tired of athletes doing that. What's wrong with

(46:05):
these guys. They want the attention, they want the money,
but they don't want the responsibility that comes with it.
You're right, I give you applause. You were not mister
Softly on that. I mean, look, we get it from
a human element. We get the frustration when you're psycho analyzed,

(46:28):
when you're criticized. Okay, nobody likes being criticized. However, as
you said, Rob, it comes with the job description any
job in the 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

(46:49):
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 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.

(47:12):
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.
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

(47:32):
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
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

(47:53):
understand it's a part of the job, and you hit
it on the head. If Kyrie Kevin Durant of these guys,
if they want to just play ball, as they both
have said, then go to the open gym. Yes, there's
plenty of guys just playing ball. Go work in the
post office, Go work at the autobody shop. Yes nobody.

(48:16):
If 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 to 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.

(48:36):
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 these guys don't understand
that part of what you have has to do with billing,
being able to be in the media and people looking
at you and hearing what you sound like. Chris. The

(48:57):
reasons some guys don't get it is that they don't
have an appeal right once people interview them, Oh, this
guy's draw this god doesn't have anything to offer. Those
guys don't get picked up. Those guys don't get everybody
in the league another 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

(49:20):
we do or overstated, Okay, but media is important. These
guys are tremendous athletes. They're incredibly gifted, and they have
worked incredibly hard to 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,

(49:42):
YouTube is media. Yes, the newspaper, the radio, the podcast,
all of that is media. 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

(50:05):
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 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 the

(50:26):
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 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

(50:48):
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 Durant maybe
going to New York. We're not stating that as a fact,
but that's certainly on the rights out there. This guy
told me today that one of the things that was

(51:11):
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 are that
sensitive and that worried about the media in Boston and
in Golden State or the Bay Area, San Francisco and Oakland,

(51:34):
and for Kevin Durant Oklahoma City before that, then New York.
You better have some thick skin in 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 talk about Eli Manning all the time, Chris won

(51:56):
two Super Bowls. Derek Jeter short stuff up of the
New York Yankees. All right, most people are critical of
that team forever won five championship. I could go on
and on. Patrick Ewing you had 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

(52:17):
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 all right.
They were frustrated Chris, but they knew he worked hard
and he tried to win. I would say to some
of these guys. They some of these guys because they

(52:37):
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
what 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

(52:57):
interview recently with local porters in Boston that he has
disconnected from social media. But remember Adam Silver, the commissioner,
said that a lot of these players are unhappy. I
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

(53:20):
see the players now, they 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 next to them they don't. There's no there's no connection.
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.

(53:43):
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
say this, Look, because of technology. Now there's a lot
of you know, New York's known for tabloid journalism and
sensationalism and all that, and hard nos journalism as well.
That's across the country now, you know, because of the Internet.

(54:07):
Now you can read New York papers 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. 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.

(54:27):
But I'm told that that might be something 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 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,

(54:48):
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
who you are too, Like Michael Jordan Tom Brady, they've
talked about being fueled by criticism, by doubters, by haters.

(55:08):
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
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

(55:30):
of like telling us Rob don't watch TV, 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,
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

(55:52):
own teammate, unsolicited, Jalen Brown, went back at him, He saying, hey,
we gotta stop pointing fingers or everybody's gonna go into
a shell and we're all being on our own little
silos as a paraphrase. But and then Kyrie came back with,
you know, the Lebron's story, how he called to apologize
and he didn't listen to him either as a youngster.

(56:15):
And then July, you know, ask 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 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

(56:37):
weigh in eight seven seven ninety nine on Fox eight
seven seven nine nine six sixty three sixty nine. It's
the I Couple of 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.

(57:00):
At Farmer's Insurance, we know the sound of a perfect
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(57:21):
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Just sign up online at discover dot com Slash free alerts.
Limitations do apply. And Rob, we're talking about Kyrie Irving
and his issues with the media that covers the Boston

(57:42):
Celtics and the NBA. We talked about how look, it's
just a part of the business. We get criticized, not
to the degree that he does because he's on a
higher profile and a higher profile job, but anyone in
the public eye gets criticized, including us, including the President
of the United States. Including politicians, broadcasters whoever, if you

(58:03):
have a public job in the higher profile usually sometimes
even the better you are, the more criticism you get.
So these players have to understand that and hopefully they
can just focus on their blessings rather than their detractors.
But let's see what the listeners think. Rob let's go
to the phone lines eight seven seven ninety nine on Fox.

(58:24):
All right, Ryan and Austin Texas. You're on the odd
couple of Fox Sports Radio. What's up, Rian, Hey, guys,
how's it going. I love the show. Yeah, of course,
just wanted to say, in my opinion, you know, y'all
don't y'all shouldn't take much of the blame because it's
ultimately up to that players kind of decisions of what
they do. This all started when Kyrie kind of left

(58:46):
from Cleveland and demanded a trade. But you know, growing
up in Texas, my idol was Tim Duncan, and you
look at Tim Duncan with the media. He never really
had a problem with it. He never really said much.
You know, the media never never gave him too much grief.
And the point I'm trying to make with that is,
if Kyrie wants to go somewhere where there's no no
media backlash or anything like that. We will gladly welcome

(59:09):
him in San Antonio and he can be a star
and they can go to the playoffs with no backlash.
That's all I gotta say that. That's you know, Rob,
that's an interesting call, just because you know that certainly
is open to all players. But they want more of
a limelight, right, Yes, yes they do. And that's the
part that's just it's comical. It would be one thing, Chris,

(59:31):
if you could really point to it and say, playing
in New York, nobody wins. Playing in Los Angeles, nobody
ever wins, right, But that's not true, right, Playing in Chicago,
nobody wins Los Angeles. You know, a you know the
media in Philadelphia. Philadelphia is one of the toughest cities
to play in, right, right. And didn't they win the

(59:51):
Super Bowl? Yep? Yes, the World Cities won the World Series,
the Broad Street Bullies, the Flyers of One Stop. Doesn't
it doesn't compute, no, no question about it. And uh,
you know it looked in the NBA. You want to
go play in you know, just play ball at a
high level. Utah, San Antonio, you know, Oklahoma City cities

(01:00:16):
like that, and you won't get the intense media scrutiny
that you get in some of these big cities, no doubt.
Hey Lewis in Virginia, you're on the odd couple of
Fox Sports Radio. What's up, Lewis, Hey, what's up? Yeah?
I might say in PA. But yeah, I just wanted
to say two things, like one on the media, one
on your Lebron conversation. But you know, I think these kids,

(01:00:37):
you know, they don't understand that that's just what comes
with the territory. You have to take the good with
the bag. But I also do think the media sometimes
is dishonest, and if they honestly analyze their journalism, you
could tell the in today's media, there's more bias and
bully in the media than there has ever been before.

(01:00:58):
They like, somebody, hold on, Lois, let me let me
just say something to this. There's a difference between being
a beat reporter who covers games, an analyst who give
their opinion, or people who write columns. That's that's what
you see now more with the debate television. It's not

(01:01:18):
a job where you're supposed to give both sides. It's
an opinion on what you see. So sometimes people think, well,
that's not a journalist, that's not what that's not being
a reporter. When Chris Bussard covered the Knicks or when
Rob Parker covered a team, and your opinion wasn't based
and that's not what the story was about. It was

(01:01:39):
just what happened in the game from the player's perspective,
though they're looking at it like, look, these guys have
such a powerful influence on how I'm perceived and fans
are when they look at TV, when they look at radio,
they don't understand between the difference between a journalist and
an analyst. They just call it the media. If I'm
listening to the radio or I'm watching uh Fox TV

(01:02:03):
shows like Undisputed or something. To me, that's all media.
And so what we hear about these players that we
really don't keep up with on a day to day basis,
that's how we get our perception. And the players are
sensitive to that perception because they don't feel like they
can be themselves sometimes when they're boxing too a narrative
or when they're boxed into a particular bias or bullying

(01:02:25):
of the media. But that's that. But you still got
to still deal with that. As a famous athlete, you
have to accept it. Kobe accepted it. You really believe
Kobe Bryan's the two best player ever? No, but that
was one of the biggest insults ever. But hell good.
I think he's making good points, Rob. But I'll give
you you and I let me and you were right.
I mean, you were right. But he makes a point

(01:02:47):
that your average fan doesn't know the difference. That's not
our fault. We still do our jobs. Like at ESPN,
I was just a reporter and I was more stating
the facts and what's now at five I'm an analyst, commentator, opinionist,
and I get more of my opinion. But Rob, I
think he makes a decent point. Like if you and

(01:03:08):
I have a detractor, say in the media, say, because
they do have guys that cover the media now and
they's a guy that's always hating on one of us,
I'm not necessarily gonna like him now. I'm not gonna,
you know, say what some of these players have said,
and you know, go off on him and all that.
But I may not like him, and maybe if he

(01:03:29):
comes up in my face, I may not want to
deal with him. You know, I get that from a
human perspective, but I would say from people who are
in uh music critics, movie critics, you know what I mean. Yep,
everything's in. It's in every business that you would when
you're in the public eye. So it's part of it.
And you're not gonna like everybody. Everybody's not gonna like

(01:03:50):
your work. But there's also those people who say Crystal
Sard is one of the most honest uh NBA guys.
You know, sides, you get both sides. It's like when
we were talking with DJ Klue on Friday and he said,
you know, sometimes you guys are hard on guy, but
then we're like, hold on, you critique albums, yes, and
artists now, and he said, he tells the truth. So

(01:04:11):
if you say a dude's lyrics or his beats good flow,
his garbage, he's probably gonna be mad at you. But
that what are you gonna do? Right? You give your
opinion and it is what it is, so good call,
but good. I like this discussion because it kind of
needs to be high robbed in today's day and age.

(01:04:32):
I don't disagree. I think it's a good discussion, all right,
What is really wrong with Kyrie and the Boston Celtics.
Kevin O'Connor from The Ringer did a deep dive this
week and he has the answer next. But first let's
get the dab Carson for the latest in sports. Dam
Hey guys. Fourth Ring Duke has just regained the lead
over Wake Fours fifty three fifty one with eleven and

(01:04:52):
a half to go in the second half. Also underway
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with a twenty eight sixteen lead over the Eagles nine
to go in the first half. Also have some NBA
action underway. Pacers with a sixty two fifty nine home
lead over the Bowls six to go. Third quarter Sixers
are at home with an eight point lead over the
Magic eighty nine eighty one, two to go in the

(01:05:15):
third Rockets are just underway at Toronto. They have a
five point lead on the Raptors. In NBA news tonight,
Warriors guard Clay Thompson out against the Celtics because of
a sore knee. That game gets underway at ten thirty
eastern tonight. Your check engine like can signify a variety
of different issues with your car. The autosone fixed Finders
service will help you troubleshoot the issue for free and

(01:05:36):
it'll save you time and money. NFL Network is reporting
that the Jets have made contact with the Steelers to
express their interest in trading for disgruntled receiver Antonio Brown
and a Jet story. Kansas City Chiefs are looking to
lock up Tyreek Hill with a record setting deal, and
the Ravens are releasing veteran Pro Bowl safety Eric Weddle. Finally,

(01:05:59):
the xfls up of a franchise has hired former Bearers
head coach Mark Tressman as its head coach and GM
we'll be eactly the odd Couple in ten seconds. But
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(01:06:23):
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call eight hundred nine four seven Auto. The only hard

(01:06:43):
part figuring out which way is easier. We were just
talking about Kyrie Irving, so nobody better to bring in
than Kevin O'Connor, the NBA writer and podcast host at
The Ringer. He just did a great story on what's
going on in Boston with the Celtics, Kyrie, Brad Stevens,
all the other players, so we wanted to bring him

(01:07:04):
in to talk to him. Kevin, welcome to the odd
cuts happening. Thank you guys having me out tonight. How
you doing today? We're great, We're great. We're doing better
than the Celtics. Let's put it that way. No, no,
not harder to be doing better than them right now.
Oh my gosh, So you did a deep dive on them.
What did you come away feeling like was the biggest

(01:07:27):
problem I guess that they're having this season? I mean,
I think I think with this team it's really a
culmination of a bunch of little problems. I mean, I
think it's really unfair to say it's just one problem.
It's not just Kyrie It's not just the fact Gordon
Hayward's not on. It's not just the fact that maybe
Brad Stevens is running a little bit of a vanilla

(01:07:49):
system right now. It's it's all of these combining forces.
But I think ultimately the underlying problem right now is
just a lack of cohesive missal, lack of chemistry. It
seems to me that this is more like a group
of individuals more so that team. And there's time for
that to change before the playoffs, but right now and
the past couple of months and just has not been
there at all. Hey, Kevin, what about the Kywee asked

(01:08:12):
me July first comment that maybe might have thrown a
monkey wrench into the season, and people don't know if
he's committed, if he's going to be here, if he's
not going to be here. Do you think that had
something to do with it? Yeah, So what I had heard,
you know over this weekend is that it seems like
Kyrie tune seemed to change around early seb Rury. I'm

(01:08:34):
not sure it had anything to do with that. That
mixed the media. The question from New York Media asking
her about the rumors about him going to the next summer.
But it does seem like maybe that's where Kylie's frustration
with the media really started, with how that was covered,
and then the thing at All Star Weekend with that
video that was taken him of him in the hallway,

(01:08:56):
that and you know a number of other US things.
I think that's just been an annoying factor for him. That,
in combination with all the losing the Topics have experienced
that month of us past month, I'm sure has made
things incredibly annoying for him. You also mentioned that Kyrie
his only friend on the team, might be according to
some sources, Jason Tatum. Is there that type potension where

(01:09:19):
guys aren't really getting along or Kyrie really doesn't you know,
talk to or deal with a lot of his teammates.
Would I would read that more so that like Tatum
just seems to be his closest friend and the the
the the strong relationships aren't really there as much with
other guys. And that's okay, I mean, like guys in
NBA locker rooms can can go exist. But you know,

(01:09:42):
when it comes to his chemistry with his other players,
something that came up as a couple of years ago,
and there was that story in Cleveland where he wasn't
talking to teammates for a long period of time, and
that was that's not happening in Boston. But it's just
kind of a maybe a continuation of that. What about
when it comes to Brad Stevens, is this too big

(01:10:05):
for him to handle? You know, he's used to not
having the big stars, you know, and not having to
deal with with this kind of thing. You know, this, this,
this could spiral a lot of out of control if
you don't have the right coach in the in the
situation to kind of fuse the big star with the
with the younger players, you know what I mean, not
as a they had to deal with a lot of

(01:10:26):
superstar egos, right, Yeah, I mean I think with Brad
Stevens that's always been the question with him, Like he's
he's always been a coach that can elevate average players
to make them good, make good players and make them great,
but managing stars and egos, I'm sure for him and
like he admitted when he was first hired in Boston
that he has a lot to learn as a coach

(01:10:48):
and maybe for him this is a little bit of
a learning experience and how to deal with these egos
and how to manage Kyrie Irving and everything else. I think, ultimately,
for Brad Stevens, I still would like to see him
make some minor tweaks to the system and the offensive end,
more creativity using Al Horford, like maybe how the Nuggets
feeds Yokich or the the warriorss Draymond Green as a

(01:11:11):
ball handler and pick a roll situations, just little things
on the offensive end. But managing he goes, I think
it's hard to It's hard to say, like everything that's
being set behind closed doors, you know, in film sessions
and in practices on court, he doesn't need to be
fiery necessarily. I don't think that visible display of fire

(01:11:32):
and attitude is necessary for him. But but I do
think there are probably little things that he can do
behind closed doors are improved. It's the eye couple would
joined by Kevin O'Connor, the NBA writer and podcast hosts
for The Ringer Kevin. A lot's been written and talked
about how the Anthony Davis trade rumors and saga kind

(01:11:53):
of ruined the chemistry and trust within the Los Angeles Lakers.
But the Celtics, I mean, all their names were thrown
out there as well. Everybody outside of Kyrie, Jason Tatum,
Jalen Brown, all the young players, has that had any
effect on them, And it's similar to what it did
with the Lakers. You know, it is kind of funny

(01:12:13):
how that hasn't been a conversation in regard to the felpings,
isn't it right? I mean, it seems like that's been,
you know, kind of just put to the side. My
impression is, you know, it hasn't been as big as
a factor. I think it maybe it has been even
a little bit overblown, even with the Lakers for that,
and then Early Ingram is playing the best basketball of
his life the last twenty games or so during during

(01:12:35):
those trade conversations, and then since Kuzman is still playing
well also for the Lakers and for Boston, Tatum his
production is pretty much the same as are other guys
that were that could be involved in those discussions of summer.
I'm not sure if that's been as much of a
factor as much as just what's been building over the
course of the full season. And that's just being another

(01:12:57):
another little sub storyline. What about the Lakers and what's
happened there. I know, a lot of people have pointed to,
you know, when Lebron was out and the team, But
I just think since Lebron's come back, they're two and five,
They've lost some horrific games to some bad teams, and
Lebron continues to put up numbers. So it's not just

(01:13:18):
totally that and I know he's not playing defense. But
when you look at what's happened here, what do you
make of the mess that is the Los Angeles Lakers.
I think it's similar to the Celtics in the sense
that it's a lot of different factors playing into this.
Just absolute collapse over the past couple of weeks. Because

(01:13:38):
at one point you could have said Lebron's out, that's
the issue, But as you said, they're struggling even since
he's returned. But in addition of that, it's the fact
that Lonzo Ball, their best perimeter defender, has been out
for weeks, that Ingram in the past two games has
been out as well, and he's been really good for them.

(01:13:59):
With the Lakers, I think it's just a lack of
connectedness on a difference of ending the floor, lack of
communication like you saw the last night with KU's gonna
push Lebron to close out on our shooter. These these
guys just don't seem to be playing with the spirit,
in the connectedness necessary to have a good defensive unit.
And Lonzo not being there plays into that. But more

(01:14:20):
so than anything else, it just seems to be a
lack of spirit that this team is just not playing
with it on the defensive end, and they need that
to Getting stopped on defense allows them to play their open,
faster placed offensive they prefer to play. If Lonzo Ball
was on, the team really would just not be happening.
I mean, and I'm not taking I'm not taking away seriously,
I'm not taking away. But Lebron James has been missing

(01:14:43):
free throws at the end of games. Lebron James threw
threw up how to turnover where he hit the backboard
with an in bounced pass. Some of the stuff that
I've seen, and I'm not I'm not saying that that
Lonzo couldn't help, because my god, defensively too awful, but
but this it's just something wrong that's even bigger and
and and I don't know, was it the trades, was it? Uh?

(01:15:06):
He doesn't like you go out to be Dennis right now,
it's become like that's where he is now. Look, yeah,
you're right, like that a lot of these issues would
still be happening. There's the funny thing is with the Lakers.
Obviously it's a failure of a season for them to
miss the playoffs. When you have Lebron James, regardless of

(01:15:26):
the amount of games that he missed, it's a failure
to miss the playoffs, wouldn't that said? The crazy thing
is here is this they do continue to lose games
and managed to get increase lottery odds that could end
up helping them come May on draft lottery night when
maybe they luck out and end up wearing a top
four pick that they could use for Anthony Davis the

(01:15:47):
summer or for another star player that could potentially be available.
So like, even though, hey, the season is a missed
opportunity and a failure one one year of Lebron prime gone, uh,
maybe for them losing some games could help increase their
good luck on that. keV Kevin. Last question we got

(01:16:08):
about forty five seconds. Gordon Hayward, m how big of
a pride He's obviously not what he was before the injury.
How big of a problem is that he should his
minutes be cut and his Brad just have a soft
spot for him because he's known him since high school
and that makes it tough for him to maybe do
the right thing and put him on the bench. Well,

(01:16:28):
this past month or so, you know, Hayward's minutes have
not continued to go up like did it earlier in
the season when he was playing twenty five minutes from
twenty eight minutes. He's around twenty four twenty five still
this month, Haywards just not close to the same I
think with him that he had been minuted in this
week in the interview with Jackie McMullin that he's working

(01:16:49):
with a mental skills coach to help himself get that
aggressive mindset back, because right now he just looks like
an expensive heaven turner, a playmaker who could a solid defender.
But the shooting has not come back in and the
atom finishing is just not even close to what it
was in Utah. All right, Kevin O'Connor, great stuff man,
keep up the good work for the Ringer. Thank you guys,

(01:17:12):
appreciate it later, all right. Luke Walton appears to be
on his way out as the Lakers head coach and
Magic Johnson has his eyes on a big name replacement.
We'll tell you all about it next. It's the Eye
Couple of Fox Sports Radio. Be sure to catch live
editions of The Odd Couple with Chris Brussard and Rob
Parker weekdays at seven pm Eastern four pm Pacific. At

(01:17:33):
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(01:18:18):
and get your confidence up. All right, Rob The Reports
are out. Luke Walton is expected to be fired at
the end of this regular season. I don't think that
surprise is either one of us. And the question is
who is going to replace him. Now I've been told
that Lebron James will choose the next coach. They're not shocked.

(01:18:42):
Talk there bebel Lebron for three more years. Well, and
let's be honest, the Lakers have done this. There was
a good article Ramona Shelburn wrote to the ESPN dot
Com about how the Lakers have been attached to stars.
You know, Magic Johnson got Paul west Head fired that

(01:19:03):
time ago, and I remember that it was such shock
ways because Magic right went to Buston, won a championship
with west Head, their first championship, and he got him fired.
Of course Kobe you know, and you know he had
a lot to say within the organization. So this is
not that new with the Lakers. But I'm being told

(01:19:26):
that Tylu is on the list, and he's at the
top of the list, and I'm told that it's gonna
take big money to get Ty Lou, maybe to the
tune of eight or nine million a year, because he knows. Look,
he's got a great relationship with Lebron. But even so,
it's still a challenge to coach Lebron James because as
much as he holds himself to a high standard, he

(01:19:49):
holds the coaches and teammates to a high standard as well,
and all the pressure, you know what I mean that
comes with it. I've also heard Doc rivers his name.
A few few reporters have mentioned him, but I think
if the Clippers get Kawhi Leonard, which I think is
going to happen, I don't think Doc will do it.
Um Some people might think that'd be great for him
with Lebron, but I think Doc would stay with the Clippers.

(01:20:12):
They got some good stuff going, and if right, and
if I'm Balmar, I would do whatever to keep Doc.
I don't know what's done a great job. Look, I
was very critical of Doc when he had Chris Paul, Blake,
Griffin and DeAndre Jordan because I think they underachieved. But
now he's overachieving with these role players and they got
a good thing going. A couple other names that have

(01:20:33):
been tossed out to me, but like I said, I
think Doc and more so tylw are the bigger name
or the top names on the list, Jason Kidd and
Mark Jackson. I gotta be honest, Rob, I would love
to see Mark Jackson get another shot. Yeah, I don't
understand how Mark has really been been put out. You've

(01:20:54):
been black ball. I'm trying to be nice, but I
think you're right. That's in blackball. When you see some
of the guys who have gotten jobs and other chances. Yeah,
I mean, look, Steve Kerr obviously went to Golden State
and took that team to another level. However, Mark Jackson
did a really good job with them. I mean they
were they won fifty something games, and you know, the

(01:21:16):
years he was there, they would beat the Clippers in
the playoffs. You know, they got to the second round
sometimes and you know, again, Kurt took him to another level.
But we've seen that happen before. Doug Collins did a
good job with the Bulls, but Phil Jackson steps in
and takes him to another level, and Collins was able
to get other jobs after it. So because Doug Collins

(01:21:37):
is one of those Jackson deserves. Yeah, Doug Collins is
a smart basketball coach man. He really, he really really is.
And uh didn't work out in Chicago and and everybody
thinks that had something to do with Jordan, but I
think he had something more to do with the owner
than it was Jordan. But anyway, because Jordan remember hiring
him back in Washington, but he looked I think he

(01:21:58):
loved him. I don't think it would I don't think
it was Jordan because that would have never happened. But
I do think this. I don't know about eight or
nine million, I'd be shocked. Well, I think he was
getting seven. He had a five year, thirty five million
dollars deal with the Calves, so you know it's big money.
But the Lakers got it to burn. So we'll see.

(01:22:18):
It'll be interested though, and that'll take away one of
the excuses that the Lakers want to use this year
as the coach, you know, when they hand picked their
own guy. All right, it's the Eye Couple, Christen Rob
keep it locked. We got one more hour left. Fox
Sports Radio don't go nowhere. Fox Sports Radio has the

(01:22:39):
our shows at foxsports Radio dot com and within the
iHeart Radio app. Search f SR to listen live. It
is the I Couple. I'm Chris Brusard, alongside my partner
Rob Parker. We're coming to you live from the Gueco
Fox Sports Radio Studios. Fifteen minutes could save you fifteen
percent or more in your car insurance. Visit Geco dot
com for a free rate quote. And we've been spending

(01:23:01):
a lot of time talking about the biggest story in
the NBA, and there are always lots of stories in
the association, but none bigger than the Los Angeles Lakers
on the verge of missing the playoffs for the sixth
straight season in Lebron James first year with the team.
And one of the interesting I guess developments robbed from

(01:23:24):
this is that at least some Lakers fans are really
beginning to turn on the team and Kobe. It's almost,
in some ways, Kobe's image among some people is actually
getting a boost because of the struggles they're having with
Lebron on the team. It started with recently with Snoop

(01:23:48):
Dogg going on I don't know if his Instagram, Twitter,
some social media we have them, yeah, and talking about
the Lakers. He didn't mentioned specifically Lebron, but he is
out on these Lakers say and it's terrible watching my
Lakers playing Somebody gotta go. Somebody gotta go. A matter
of fact, I gotta go, starting with the coach. Well,

(01:24:13):
this is gonna work. So this is not the La way.
He's sorry nothing. Get Lebrons hill because these goofballs ain't
gonna do. They're sorry, suck. I'm selling my boot right now.
I got a boot for the next two years, three years.

(01:24:35):
Y'all can have it. Five dollars for boot to the
Laker games. Five dollars at the price anybody can have
it all at home? Is hitting me? Blow me up
right now? Five dollars for sweet at the Staples Center?
Is that what he's saying? Yeah, Stipher with all the beeps.
But but he's salty. He's salty, and he put the

(01:24:58):
blame on the rest of the Lakers. I've lee, he said,
Lebron needs some help. But there are some fans putting
the blame on Lebron. You're you're in that. You're not
a fan, but you're in that camp, rob And last
night at the game against the Clippers, there were actually
some fans chanting in a section, we want Kobe, we
want Kobe. When Lebron missed a few free throws late

(01:25:21):
in the game. That that cut Lebron could say, didn't
hear it. I don't know even know if they asked them,
cut that cuts you, man, I'm sorry that is I
would put that on par with the fans. Now. The
difference is this are the home fans, right, But I
would put that type of chant as far as like

(01:25:42):
just painful for the people that it's addressed to or
the person it's addressed to. Similar to when Brandon Ingram
was on the foul line in Indiana and they're chanting
Lebron's gonna trade you, you know like those I mean,
you're right, that had to hurt Lebron. Uh, he'll deny it,
of course, but he's human. He's human. There's no way

(01:26:03):
that that didn't hurt you a guy, And I get it.
Kobe won five championships here. He won with Shaq, he
won with Pau Gasol. I get it. He was a
tenacious player that that gave his all twenty four seven,
three hundred and sixty five day. I get all that.
But for Lebron to be in the first year of

(01:26:25):
a four year deal in LA and don't forget they
already defaced that mural, the couple of murals with his
face on this season even started. He even got a
chance to play exactly yep twice right, two of his
murals were defaced. And now Rob, there is this. A
fan made a song all right, baby, come back? Any

(01:26:48):
type of who was that that was? It was a
good song. I can't remember who it was. I don't
you know what I think I know Kenny Loggins or
then Hall of Notes, the Notes. It was Hall of Notes.
It wasn't their original song. Or did they remake it?
I ain't might have remade it, but it was. They
did do a remake. They did a rema writing about

(01:27:08):
his hall and all the notes. Yeah, but anyway, some
guy made I hoping to come back, and here it
is Rob spending all my mates on my money watching
us to night doing that thing. Just to get you up,
my Ron James, Please, I'm right back where I started again,

(01:27:36):
trying to forget that you it's just the waster time.
Try come back kind That was something about you. You

(01:27:57):
can't play you last war. You can't blame it on Kuai. Yes,
I saw that looks like Lebron that's on the ringer.
But that that's well done. Tipic cap for being creative
and picking a perfect song because that is great? Yeah? Yeah,
but what do you think about this? Look, I get

(01:28:21):
it you you brought up all the reasons you know
for fans to Christmas Kobe. Let's just say that the
original was player they they originally did it beholding us today?
Remake it or you didn't see that they did? Ye? Yeah, right,
the originally play Yeah. I don't even know who that is.
But okay, but anyway, we rob you and I went

(01:28:41):
to the home opener against Houston lost right right, and
there were fans where we were sitting. You know, we
were down low, but we were near some fans, and
a few fans said to me, man, because Lebron, look,
he's a different player than Kobe. And that's what fans
need to get. He's Kobe is was tenacious and he

(01:29:04):
was always in attack mode. That's not Lebron. Even when
Lebron is just playing great, he's not the same type
of player as Kobe. That's one reason he is the
only player in NBA history to be in the top
ten and assists top five and scoring points. You know,
he plays a different style of game, not quite as

(01:29:24):
tenacious as Kobe. But Lakers fans were saying to me, like, wow,
what is going on, Like we're we're used to our
superstar Kobe just totally being an attack mode. That was
game two, yes, first home game of the season, and
as the losses have piled up, now more and more
fans are thinking that. But I would personally, I would say, look, relax,

(01:29:48):
it's the first year, and look it's a disappointment, and
it is a failure, straight up failure on Lebron's part
and on the Lakers part in general to not make
the playoffs. However, at best, nobody thought this team was
going very deep. A few people stephen A. Smith, thought

(01:30:09):
they'd go to the conference finals. I thought they win
fifty three games, have a chance to get to the
conference finals. But nobody was thinking finals or championship anything
like that. So I would just say give it a
little time before you totally pooh pooh Lebron James. I
just can't buy into that, only from the standpoint, and

(01:30:29):
somebody just called up and gave us a great example.
I know everybody wants to put it on the injuries
and where they used to be and all that, but
we saw the same thing in Houston this season was collapsing.
They had all these injuries, and you know it in
a hard Western conference with some tough teams to have
to play hard and put the team on his back

(01:30:51):
and was hurt. But that was their best I get it,
but he did. The Lakers best player was hurt. Okay,
But the only problem is he's not hurt now. And
the losses that they've had, you just can't you can't
defend it. The losses that they had, you can't defend.
And that's the part that I have an issue with.
Lebron James missing free throws at the end, Lebron James

(01:31:13):
having terrible turnovers, including hitting the backboard. I just the
stuff that I've seen Lebron James waving at defenders going
by him, Lebron James not closing out three three point
shooters that are his men, and lake look, Lakers fans
don't want to hear this, and I and I get it,
but this is Lebron James in his sixteenth year and

(01:31:36):
they're not comparing him to Kobe in his sixteenth year. Now. Granted,
Kobe still was tenacious. His last game of his twentieth season,
he scored sixty Okay, So Kobe was just a different personality, right.
But my point is they're comparing him Lebron James in
his sixteenth year to Kobe, you know, in his heyday.

(01:31:59):
And I get it they're fans, but this the sad
thing for the Lakers might be like sixteenth, seventeenth, eighteenth,
nineteenth seasons. We'll see what type of Lebron James they
get next year. But this year he has looked like

(01:32:20):
he's lost something and he even when they were winning earlier,
he's still gonna be a great player, but he doesn't.
I don't know if it's age. I don't know if
it was the injury. I don't know. We're in tear.
But he's gonna get a long rest this summer. And
if he comes back and can't lift this team the victories,

(01:32:41):
and look, they can get Anthony Davis, it'd be great
for the NBA if they do, but I look, I
still don't think that would make them the champions necessarily,
but he had to put even more pressure. And if
he can't deliver this team to victories, to postseason victories,
then what we just heard with the Kobe come back,

(01:33:01):
it may get worse than that. And let's not forget though,
And I understand you're talking about their they're looking remembering
Kobe and when he was younger and whatnot. But he
was thirty four years old when he put the Lakers
on his back with that group and they and they
and they won all those games that down the stretch
and they got to the playoffs. But he was but
that was his last really great year because he got hurt.
He's that was That was his seventeenth season. So it's

(01:33:25):
very comparable to Lebron. And people can't understand why Lebron
or even even not you know, can't win by yourself,
but can't lead a team over some of the teams
that they lost to when we when we stack them
up now, it's it's mind boggling. Am I right? Chris? No,

(01:33:45):
I still think injuries and role. But if you come
back and you win those games, you're right there in
the hunt. Yes, you just win the games you should
have won. Nobody's asking the hunt. Nobody's asking to be Milwaukee.
I get it, But we're asking you to beat Atlanta
and Memphis in New Orleans without a D and Phoenix

(01:34:11):
at yeah. Right, I think Look, you even said yesterday
if they beat the Clippers. They have two games that
they could right, no question, no question about it. As
much as you can look at some other things, these
last what twelve games or whatever they've they've looked terrible.
There's no excuse for that. And we said it, Rob,

(01:34:34):
I know, I said it on the herd, I said
it on the radio. I'm sure you probably said it too.
You come to the Lakers as a superstar and they're
expecting championships, no expecting championship. Every other superstar on Lebron's
level who has come here, Wilt Chamberlain, Shaquille O'Neill, Kobe Bryant,

(01:34:58):
Kareem abdul Jabbar, Magic Johnson, they brought at least one title,
Kwame Brown. Okay, no, wait a minute, that's a mistake.
So Lebron's gotta do it and we'll see if he can.
They got they got three years left on his deal.
But it's not off to a good start. And fan,
you know it's it. That's the interesting by product. Is

(01:35:19):
it actually raising Kobe stature among Laker fans? That's the
interesting thing, all right? Is it surprising to see Lakers
fans turn on Lebron this quickly? It's your turn the
way in eight seven, seven ninety nine on Fox eight seven, seven,
nine nine six sixty three sixty nine. We will continue
the conversation with you. Next it's The I Couple of

(01:35:41):
Fox Sports Radio. Be sure to catch live editions of
The Odd Couple with Chris Brussard and Rob Parker weekdays
at seven pm Eastern four pm Pacific on Fox Sports
Radio and the iHeart Radio app. At Farmer's Insurance, we
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(01:36:02):
an airborne car. Seen it covered it Doctor Farmers, we
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(01:36:24):
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dot com and see how much you can save. Rob
is Kobe experiencing resurrection resurger, revitalization, resurgence as the Lakers
and Lebrons struggle through this season. Let's see what some
of the callers think. Eight seven, seven ninety nine on Fox.

(01:36:48):
That's right, very nice. We got that Kobe come back.
How about in this in New York. You're on the
odd couple Fox Sports Radio. What you got in is, hey, guys,
how you doing, Rob? I'm for in PS one seventy
nine now in Kensington. I know Chris doesn't like him, No,
I know he doesn't game. I went to elementary school,

(01:37:10):
no PS public school, fifty public elementary school or something
like that. That's only when you grew up in Iowa,
where they only had to I'm sure time. Hey, uh Rob.
So yeah, I've always been a huge Lakers fan, and
the last three years of Kobe tenure, I felt like

(01:37:33):
he hijacked the team and I didn't appreciate the good
times he had. You know, I understand that Game seven
in Phoenix, how we quit, and how we quit in
the finals against Detroit, and I'm fully aware of how
Lebron quit on the CALVS and that, you know, twenty
ten playoffs. But when Lebron came, I thought, you know,
he doesn't have everything in his favor. He doesn't have

(01:37:54):
Wade and Bosh and they're Fron. He doesn't have Kyrie
and Love in his prime. Maybe he might be able
to do something, and he's been able to do nothing.
There only two games about five hundred when he's in
the lineup, and all the bad teams they've lost against.
He doesn't. He just doesn't have it anymore. He's done.

(01:38:15):
He is not. Wow out are you coming hard on him?
But Chris just he's out of the best player in
the world. Conversation. Even last year he wasn't because last
year in Cleveland he played in a system where it
was just give me shooters, let me dominate the ball.
That's why his stats are so good. Russell Westbrook average

(01:38:35):
is a triple double. But he ain't better than stuff
n Lebron would win. And I look what I've said
about Lebron as far as the mythical best player in
the world, because obviously he hasn't been the best player
in the league this season. He's not gonna be first
team All NBA. He might not even be second team

(01:38:56):
All NBA. He might not. You're right, yeah, he might not.
You know, I mean, I gotta look at it closely
to see. But but they might respect though, you know
what I mean, like, I don't think about it right
where I mean, because you gotta pick my position. I'm
a voter. The two forwards on the first team are
going to be Kevin Durant and Jannis add, no doubt

(01:39:17):
about it. Then you got so second team is between
Kawhi Leonard, who's playing great and his team is doing well,
and Paul George and Lebron. Wow. So I gotta be honest,
I probably go with those two over Lebron this year,
and so he might be third team. I don't disagree.
I think you're right when you lay it out like that.

(01:39:38):
How could they possibly play Lebron, whose team won't make
the playoffs, over those other four guys you just mentioned,
right right, So, But anyway, what I've said is, look,
he's earned in my view. In my view, he's earned
the benefit of the doubt or the the you know,
I'm gonna respect him enough to say, Look, I'm not
gonna judge him, Bodise what thirteen fourteen games, whatever it is,

(01:40:01):
since he's been back from injury. I'm gonna let the
season play out now if they shut him down or whatever.
But if they don't make the playoffs, he's not the
best player in the world anymore. And that looks like
what's going to happen, and then that title will go
to We'll see who takes it. We'll see who takes
it in the playoffs, Right, does Yiannis take it? Does

(01:40:23):
Harden take it? Does Durant take it? You know, those
are probably the three it's between. But the caller Rob
says something interesting because again fans don't want to hear it.
But maybe Lebron, like this is sixteenth year and if Kobe,
we're remembering the good times now. But those last three

(01:40:45):
years with Kobe largely because of injury. But again that
that kind of happens as you get older. He wasn't
the same they you know, they didn't make the playoffs,
and you know, the people said, you know, players didn't
want to play with them, and he was over were paid,
and you know it was they thought he was shooting
too much, his percentage was low. They're not remembering that Kobe.

(01:41:08):
They're remembering the greatness of Kobe early in his career,
and uh, that's who they're thinking of when they look
at Lebron. But hopefully Lebron doesn't go go that route
that Kobe's last few years did but um, it might
be the case. Well you remember Kobe couldn't get anybody
to come play with him. You remember that they had
money available and nobody would come play with Kobe because

(01:41:30):
he had turned into this It was more than just
you know, I demand a lot and I want to win.
It turned people off. Well, Rob, I've said it, and
I said it on the Herd this week earlier. Look, people,
you know because Colin was saying Lebron hasn't had a
good year as a leader, which is true. You know
they're been He's had some some foibles, no doubt, he's
the will load. Okay, listen to listen to what I

(01:41:55):
say because you you we talked about that last week.
When I look, when you talk about in a leadership,
it really boils down to one thing because everybody's a
lot of these guys have a different style. Do you win? Period?
Jordan punched out Steve Kerr. Jordan told Bill Cartwright or
his teammates, don't pass the ball to Bill cart Right.

(01:42:18):
Jordan's teammates thought he was a ball hall at times initially,
but he won, and so everybody jumped on the bandwagon
and said, hey, let's be a part of the circus.
And then when he went to Washington, he was the
same guy. And the players, the young players there who
grew up idolizing him, couldn't stand him because he no

(01:42:38):
longer was good enough to lead you to championships. We
saw it with Kobe you mentioned nobody wants to come
play with him. No, you know, because at that point
he was no longer good enough to lead you to championships. Right,
Isaiah Thomas, you were in Detroit how to fight with?
Bill Cartwright ran Adrian Danley out of town for his buddy.

(01:43:00):
Who'd I say, Oh yeah, Bill Lambier. You know it
had beef with a great Adrian Danley. Danley was great,
you know that, and brought in his best friend Mark Aguire.
Now it worked out they won. But I'm just saying,
like Isaiah was tenacious too, and everything wasn't peach keen
with all the teammates all the time. But he was

(01:43:20):
a winner, and we viewed him as a great leader
because he won. And when Lebron look, let's be honest,
go back to Cleveland. The last few years it was
drama central. Kevin Love, Kyrie Irving tweets Instagram, David Black
but Lebron got him to the finals every year one
one time, so it looked like great leadership. Now it's

(01:43:42):
the same old stuff. But you're losing, and it looks
like a message that is that at least does they
have some credence with you? Uh Ron Parker, No, I'm listening.
I'm trying. You go ahead. I'm just trying to figure
out what's what's the best way to really, uh look

(01:44:05):
at them. You're talking about the difference between Kobe and him. Well,
I'm just saying that leadership a lot of like a
lot of these guys have had issues with leadership. But
because they won, Okay, I got you. No, we looked
at it. Oh, they punched the teammates, So what they
were a great leader? They won? No, no, no, when
you don't think when you don't win, absolutely, it's just

(01:44:28):
like it's just like Bill Belichick could be the sour
puss coach and not deal with the media. Not what
I mean because why he won when he was in
Cleveland and he wasn't winning, he was soler puss. What happened? Right?
My right point? Grand Popovich, he can you know, give
these short terse answers with the media, when they win,

(01:44:49):
let him start losing and try that. That's what I mean.
They were. That's a great point. That's a great point,
all right, LA radio host Fred Rogan, friend of the show. Yeah,
he made a crazy rob He had a hot take
that rivaled your best. And Fred Rogan, it's gonna owe

(01:45:10):
me six hundred wings. I can't wait. We will talk
about that. He says, Lebron's nothing more than a complimentary
player at this stage of his career. I don't even
think you've gone that far. No, he'll explaining why next,
But first let's bring in deb Carson for what is trending?
Debb all right, Jens, have a couple of fun games
going on right now. Houston leads Toronto fifty forty two,

(01:45:32):
nine forty two to go third quarter, and North of
the Border Thunder are at the Tea Wolves, Minnesota with
an eighty to sixty five lead over Oklahoma City nine
nineteen to go in the third quarter finals for you,
Mgganovitch with twenty seven points for the Pacers, they beat
the Bulls one oh five ninety six six Ers with
a one fourteen one oh six win over the Magic

(01:45:53):
College Hoops fourth ring Dukes survived Wake four as seventy
one seventy RJ. Barrett with twenty eight for the Blue Devils.
Ranked Michigan State beat Nebraska ninety one seventy six, and
an overtime win for fourteenth ranked Florida State over fifteenth
ranked Virginia Tech. On the ice, Carolina Hurricanes take on
the Boston Bruins in Tuesday's Discover card key matchup. Bruins

(01:46:14):
will lead the Hurricanes three to two right now midway
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Major League Baseball in the Players Union are close to
an agreement to expand active rosters from twenty five to

(01:46:37):
twenty six players in twenty twenty. And finally, in NFL news,
the Jets have made contact with the Steelers to expressed
interest in trading for disgruntled receiver Antonio Brown. Ravens are
releasing veteran Pro Bowl safety Eric Weddle. We'll be right
back with the odd couple in ten seconds. But first
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(01:47:00):
perfect one covered to farmers. We are farmers underwritten my
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every state. This is Fox Sports Radio's the Odd Couple.
Chris Brussard, Rob Parker back to you, dab dude. Do
you know who Fred Rogan is? Of course I do.
I've been watching Fred for decades. Anybody who grew up

(01:47:21):
in Los Angeles knows who Fred Rogan is. The Dean
of La Sports, no doubt. He's the Dean of La Sports,
no doubt. All Right, before we get to the Dean
of La Sports, I gotta tell you we are coming
to you live from the Geico Fox Sports Radio studios.
It's easy to save fifteen percent or more on your
car injurers with Geico. Go to Geico dot com or

(01:47:42):
call eight hundred nine four seven Auto. The only hard
part is figuring out which way is easier and without
further ado. He is the co host of Lunchtime with
Rogan and Rodney weekday afternoons on A and five seventy
LA Sports. The dean of Los Angeles Sports, Fred Rogan,

(01:48:04):
Mister Rogan, how are you, gentlemen? Thank you for having me,
And yes, I am the dean. There you go. And he,
of course is the lead sportscaster on k NBC Los
Angeles and Fred I always marvel at it. Give me
the exact years, thirty seven years or thirty eight years. Rob,
when you get to your aid, you forget numbers. In

(01:48:27):
thirty nine years, he's been on He's been on Show
Ford in Los Angeles for thirty nine years. That's what's incredible.
That's incredible. We love Fred Rogans. We both co hosted
with him on his show and it's just a wonderful time.
But Fred, I have been told hot takes that you
had a take that would make Rob Parker envious. Yeah, well,

(01:48:52):
let let's hear it. Let's let's hear the hot take
Lebron take. Well, all right, let me ask you guys, something.
Is Lebron Games not the best basketball player on the planet?
Is that fair to say? Yeah, I mean I've said,
I just said it. Look, I'm gonna give him to
the end of the season. But there's no doubt. Yeah,

(01:49:13):
he has not been He does not look like the
best player in the world. And the thing is, at
thirty four, sixteenth year you don't usually get better, So
right now he certainly hasn't played like the best player
in the world. All right, But coming in, coming in,
he was the best player on the planet. He's Lebron James,
the best player on the planet. Could put guys on
their back. The best player on the planet didn't get

(01:49:35):
guys going somewhere. But from the very beginning we were
told here that Lebron needs help. Everybody kind of does.
But if you're the best player on the planet in
this environment, you are expected to at least get the
team to the playoffs. Yes, you suffered an injury. Nonetheless,
you're the best player on the planet. You should be

(01:49:56):
able to mold people, you should be able to get
able to follow, you should lead. But the point being
it's the best player on the planet openly needs help
just to reach the playoffs. That maybe he's the best
complimentary player on the planet. Wow, I could warm up

(01:50:18):
with that. Take No, I mean about I'm gonna I
throw out a theory earlier in the week, Fred that
obviously Lebron is not quite what he used to be. Okay,
And what he does is pace himself, and he does
it on the defensive end, and so he saves it
for offense. And throughout Lebron's career, I think one of

(01:50:40):
his greatest strengths has also been somewhat of a weakness
when it comes to winning championships, and that's that Lebron
does everything. You know. He brings the ball up, he
posts up, he plays on the wing, he scores, he passes,
he creates everything for his teammates. And one player who
won championships told me a few years ago. He said,

(01:51:00):
if Lebron would pick one thing, either be the point
guard like Magic Johnson and give give your team twenty
three points in twelve assists to night, or be it
the small forward and lead the team and score the
league in scoring and get nine or ten rebounds a game.
He said that would make it easier for his teammates

(01:51:21):
to understand their roles rather than Lebron doing different things
on different possessions. And I wonder if as he declines
a little bit, maybe he'd be more likely to do
that and just be either a point guard or be
either a small forward and score. Yeah, but Chris, everybody
does understand their role. Here's their role. Give me the ball,

(01:51:44):
get out of the way, go spot up. Well, not
this team because they can't. This team can't spot up
because they don't have any shooter. That's the problem, no
doubt about it. But friend, you were very confident about
the Lakers when Lebron came to town. Me and you
we have talked about it on your radio show, and

(01:52:04):
we decided to make a bet. Fred Rogan said that
they would win fifty three games and that they would
make it to the second round of the playoffs. Chris
I offered him a buyout twice on the radio where
he could just pay me three hundred wings and not

(01:52:25):
have to pay the full bet, which he stands at
six hundred wings right now, right, and I will pay
the six hundred wings, and I'm going to order them
all at one No, no, hey, Chris, Chris, Fred robins
that the six hundred wings could last the rest of
his life. No, I don't want six hundred wings at

(01:52:49):
one time. That's not how I wanted to beta for life.
Every month every MONDY bring him fifty wings. Don't shovel
because gonna be shove right. We can't do that let's
buy three hundred at one time and I'll take the
rust on the gift card. All right, I'll do it, Rob, alright,

(01:53:11):
let me Fred. It's Fred Rogan, co host of Lunchtime
with Rogan and Rodney joining the Eye Couple, and his
partner is Rodney Pete. You should mention that, yes, yes, Fred,
let me ask you this. Uh. I don't know if
you saw the song on the ringer, Uh Kobe come
back that some fan did. Did you see that? Yeah?

(01:53:31):
And then you had the fans a section of fans
last night. What do you make a chanting? You know,
we want Kobe? When Lebron was at the foul line,
it's Kobe experience. I mean, look, he's obviously one of
the all time greats, but it's his reputation even being
boosted among Laker fans because of the struggles that the
team's happen right now with Lebron. Oh. Absolutely, look at

(01:53:55):
it like this. Chris, there's the guy that's covered the
NBA forever and Rob you covered everything forever. Look at
it like this. There's a level of expectation when you
play on the stage at Staples Center under the bright lights,
or you played at the forum. When you play in LA,
one thing matters winning. If you come in here as
someone who was supposed to get the team through that

(01:54:17):
next level and you don't show, if the optics don't
indicate you're all in. Because there's that level a Kobe Bryant,
a Shack, Jerry West, Wilt Chamberlain, Kobe, I mean magic, Kareem.
There is a level of expectation. And when people when

(01:54:37):
they first signed Lebron James and they called him the King,
that insulted many people in Los Angeles. I said, wait
a minute, the guy's the best player on the planet.
And the comparisons to Kobe immediately started. The difference between
the two of them. I gotta tell you, even in
the worst days, aside from the game, in the playoffs,
or Kobe decided not to shoot when he quit, when

(01:54:59):
he quit on his team, well he just didn't take
any shots. It's nice. Always he became a passer, he
was a facilitator. He was he was playing hot potato
in that fourth quarter. He was trying to assist. That's
as you're trying to share the ball. But aside from that,

(01:55:21):
there's no way what's happening here would have happened under
Kobe's watch. No way, no way, and people know that.
So you're saying that they would they would that they
wouldn't have made the playoffs because obviously they missed the
playoffs once during Kobe's prime. Yeah, but I'm saying with
this roster, he would have made the playoffs because he
would have taken every shot, because he would have done

(01:55:43):
what was necessary to get there, and he would have
forced those guys by force of wintle to follow. So yeah,
do I think that memories of Kobe have been enhanced? Absolutely? Hey, Fred,
we got we got thirty seconds. I want to ask
one last thing. Yeah, how would you look at Lebron
if if he shuts it down, say, say they get eliminated,
he doesn't, He doesn't play like the last five or

(01:56:05):
seven games and just says I'm not gonna play. Would
that bother you or not? Once they were eliminated officially,
it wouldn't bother me at all because half the time
he hadn't play defense all the years, and what's the difference. No,
And you know what, at this age and the miles
on him probably would be good to save itself. It's
a last season, it's a last season. It really doesn't matter,

(01:56:27):
all right, Fred Rogan, the Dean of La Sports. Fred,
thanks a lot man. We appreciate your friends, got appreciate
you take it either, all right, brother, see it disgruntled
sports fans, This one is for you, Oh trash Talking Tuesday.
You're seven seven ninety nine on Fox eight seven seven

(01:56:51):
nine nine six sixty three sixty nine. You can trash
anything any one one in the world of sports. It's
the Eye Couple of Fox Sports Radio. You are next.
Be sure to catch live editions of The Odd Couple
with Chris Brussard and Rob Parker weekdays at seven pm Eastern,
four pm Pacific. At Farmers Insurance. We know every windshield

(01:57:13):
collision has a unique sound. Beetle bird, booper, drone, seen
it covered it. Talk to Farmers. We are farmers under
written my Farmers truck Fire Insurance exchanges and affiliates products
unavailable in every state. It's the id Couple of Chris
Brussar and Rob Parker, and we're wrapping up another three
hours show with you. It's your chance to weigh in

(01:57:35):
on what Rob Trash Talking Tuesday. Let's get to eight
seven seven ninety nine on Fox eight seven, seven nine
nine six sixty three sixty nine. Trash talking Tuesday. All right,
don't you what we're talking about? Me? It's trash talking Tuesday.

(01:58:02):
I don't know whether to smile. Let's you kick a
field goal, right, hey, let's throw the number out one
more time, one eight seven seven ninety nine. Fox. I'm
about to give out another number. One eight seven seven
ninety nine off Fox. All right, Chris, you're ready. Let's
do it? All right? Mace in San Diego? Who's your trashing?

(01:58:22):
The San Antonio Spurs the boat boringest of all time?
This team puts me to sleep. I've seen more excitement
watching paint dry in the wall. This team has never
won back to back championships, therefore can't be classified as
a dynasty. They're bad for the end of the NBA
because they generate the worst ratings whenever they make the finals.

(01:58:43):
Not to mention, their head coach, Red Popovitch is in
the running with Belichick for the dogs two hiest of
all time, and not playing your star players on prime
time games is an absolute disgrace. They make millions of
dollars to play basketball. Grow a damn pair. They're not
doing construction gonno a burning building or fighting in a war.
A word of advice, Gregory, stop refunding to Tim Duncan

(01:59:05):
is Timmy sounds very Michael Jackson esque. And the same
goes to you, Tony Parker, the idiot who cheated on
Eva Longoria, And thank you for concunding in the sport
gnably with all your flopping acting like a pansy, which
is an automatic removal of your man card. If you've
put in as much effort to actually play defense as
approach to flopping, you might have been able to guard

(01:59:26):
Derek Fisher in two thousand and four with zero park
four seconds left. And I got to do for the FDA.
There's actually a chirper insomnia. It's called the boring as
san Antonio spurs rang them. Mace, Mace, he brings it
every week. Man, good job. What about Tory in Mississippi.

(01:59:46):
You're on the odd couple Fox Sports Radio? Who you trash?
And Tory Man on Chess and Lebron Giants and the
whole Lakers franchise. Man is garbage time. I'm sick of it, man,
As far as I gotta get on, Magic Johnson, Jenny Bush,
the whole organization family for one, y'all. Let Lebron James
come to y'all organization and get away with the same thing.

(02:00:08):
He goes everywhere and DoD I mean, come on, man,
get a hold of y'all. Can't let this man control
everything everywhere he goes. Man, and then he's not even
locked in the basketball. I mean, the guy's got TV shows,
which the shot my little shop, I'm not talking about it,
but he's not locked in on basketball, man, He's not
so much other stuff for you made the two Day

(02:00:29):
albums with I like the album to like, but I'm
not saying you're waiting to get out work. You're just
going to the game waiting to get out work like me.
I mean, he's did cocking in the cart out. He
said no basketball because you're not playing work for dame.
You see what I'm saying. I got you. That's a
good one. That's no good, no doubt too. I like
the shop. I like that, but I want you to

(02:00:49):
play basketball, right, t J and Maryland, you're on the
y'all couple of Fox Sports Radio. Hey, TJ, who you trashing?
S every to say? Christmas? Sut, I'm trashing the los
Angeles waker. Wow, I thought he was gonna trash me.
I was like, okay, no, no, no, no, christ So
I did that a couple weeks ago when I hit
you with that fanboy pressoneration. Okay, so I am twenty

(02:01:15):
years old. I don't I have a favorite NBA team,
but the Lakers. I mean you was into the Charlie
teams and this is vad the Knicks, Rob the New
York Creaking Knicks, Rob, I know, without Lebron. But before
I go rob these boats, you got you gotta cut

(02:01:35):
it out. Well, I understand that, but that's like you
saying Anita Baker's the report? What the former of all time?
Oh wow, how are you gonna say that about Anita Baker?
T J he's saying she's not. I think he's saying
she's not. Oh and so Lebron's not the will load?

(02:01:56):
Oh I got it, he said, calling Lebron that will load.
He is like calling Anita Baker to report. Okay, all right,
I was gonna say, you can't Baker haircut like Anita Baker.
You don't remember that, CHRISTI PMD. You gotta trash because
we got um. You know what I got an old
when I'm gonna trash Pittsburgh Steelers GM Kevin Colbert, you know,

(02:02:17):
for calling his players kids. Yeah, fifty two kids under
Ben Roethlisberger. Terrible, terrible decision by him. Uh he needs
to come out and apologize straight up and UH say
he made a mistake. You're putting them under a guy
Ben who has acted childish before and not just in
the past, but even in the present. So I gotta

(02:02:40):
trash him for that. Hey, deb you got a quick one.
We got thirty seconds, all right, I'm gonna I'm gonna
trash players who decide they don't want to play into
the franchise tag. Your union is the one who agreed
to the deal and the setup and h and so
you need to take that up with your union as
the next bargaining agreement to approaches the table. But you
gotta you gotta play by the you know what. That's

(02:03:01):
a great point. That's a great point, and they agreed
to it. That's why I always say, like some of
these players are complaining, read your union stuff and your
CBA before you sign it, right right, no question, you
got one, Rob, No, no, no, I'm gonna let it
go tonight. Tonight, we don't have to Rob g quickly
trashing both the odd couple Chris and Rob Chris, who

(02:03:23):
had the softest trash talk in trash talk history, and
then Rob Parker, who doesn't have the hangy down things
to even trash anybody issappointing mister softy. That's Rob. We're
going out to mister Softy. Fox Sports Radio has the

(02:03:45):
our shows at Fox Sports Radio dot com and within
the iHeartRadio app search f s R to listen live.

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