March 19, 2019 • 40 mins
Chris Broussard and Rob Parker cover all things sports, beginning with MLB Superstar Mike Trout and the historic contract extension that he just signed with the Los Angeles Angels. The crew debates whether or not Trout made a mistake of not asking for an opt-out clause, and if the Angels losing culture hurt Trout’s future MVP chances. With Luke Walton all but gone as the Los Angeles Lakers Head Coach, rumors have it that LA is interested in bringing in Hall of Fame Coach Doc Rivers. The guys discuss which franchise Doc Rivers should stick with, the Lakers or the Clippers? Our guests tonight, NBA Champion/Fox Sports NBA Analyst Antonio Daniels and USA Today Sports MLB Columnist Bob Nightengale join the show to discuss Mike Trout’s historic payday and everything NBA.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to the Best of the Odd Couple podcast.
Be sure to catch us live every weekday from seven
pm to ten pm Eastern four to seven Pacific, or
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Couple at Fox Sports Radio dot com, or stream us
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(00:21):
s R. You're listening to the Best of The Odd
Couple with Chris Brusso and Rob Harker. First, let's get
its started by welcoming in the Odd Couple crew. Wouldn't
be able to do this fine program without them. Lee
is our producer filling in for Rob g and of
course Alex is our engineer. Deb Carson our sports anchor.
(00:43):
She'll keep us updated throughout the show. Our is our
intern and of course Elijah is our social media guru.
They're all on the other side of the glass. Chris
Bruchard on this trash talking Tuesday, Let's kick some masks,
Let's do it. All I know is I woke up
with a wild factor this morning. Yeah. Anytime you see
(01:04):
four hundred and thirty million dollars, never seen it. Twelve
years four hundred and thirty million dollars from Mike Trout
dwarfs the previous record that Bryce Harper said was three
three weeks ago. Didn't take law thirteen years, three hundred
thirty million. And it's huge. It's the biggest sports contract
(01:26):
in American sports history. Yes, it was Canelo Alvarez with
the Zone his boxing deal, which was sixty five million
dollars short of what Mike Trout just banked. And good
for him. And what are your thoughts. You're the baseball guy.
When I think about I was blown away, and you
know what, I think there's a lot of factors that
(01:47):
go with the Chris First of all, when you talk
about analytics, and you know we talk about all the time.
He checks all the boxes. He does everything, tessional stats, analytics, everything,
So there's no like whether or out he's the best
player everybody most people who know baseball, No, he is.
He can run, he can throw, he can catch, hit,
(02:08):
he can hit the power, he get the average, he walks,
he does everything that you would want. So so there, man,
he's good with the fans. He's not a charismatic personality,
but locally, locally they love him. So when you add
all that and he's a clean cut kind of guy,
he's somebody you want to be the face of your franchise.
And I just think moreno the owner of the h
(02:31):
Angels because and I do give Bryce Harper a little
bit of credit here when he went public, Chris and
was like, yeah, well you're gonna backfire, yes, but but
but but I think it's sparked the Angels to say,
oh no, not for the next two years. Are We're
gonna let this guy woo our player and then we
(02:52):
won't be able to resign him. So they didn't wait,
and they gave you know you hear this all the time. Oh,
they offered me. I couldn't. I couldn't refuse. No, they
offered him. When they didn't say, well, Pryce Harper got
three thirty will give you three fifty or three thirty five,
they said, no, we'll give you one hundred million more
(03:14):
in fewer years. Yes, and then the best deal that
was out there. And if you're Mike Trout, you can't hesitate.
I don't hesitate about what four hundred and guarantee could hesitate.
And I'm gonna tell you why, No, you can't hesitate.
He doesn't Now apparently he doesn't want one. But it
was the same thing with Bryce Harper. Why are these
(03:36):
players not getting opt outs? This isn't the enemy say,
I don't care what it is. Get if you've lost.
First of all, they haven't made the playoffs in seven
of his eight years, so what if they make the
playoffs once in the next five years get bounced early again.
He's yet to win a playoff game, and at some
point five six years from now, he's like, you know what,
(03:59):
I want to chay it to win. I'm not saying
you get one after three years, but getting opt out
after seven or eight years. But I think that the
other it's the other way around that teams have made
this financial commitment and either you're all in or you're not.
You're looking at it as Chris, you know this being
married when you just hear me marriage. When you get married,
(04:22):
you don't go win. And a lot of people you
don't try to think about, well, let me get an
opt out after six years or seven years if it
doesn't work now. I actually people do use I use
my opt out after five but most of the time,
you know, you know the prenup. No, we didn't have
a preedup. I didn't get a prenup but people do
get prenups. No, no, no, but that doesn't marriage. I mean,
(04:43):
I'm just that's that's not a good enounce My marriage
is different. No. But to me, it's like, you have
you want to believe that this is what where you
want to be. You've made a commitment. They've made it
a commitment. You're not looking on the outside saying, oh,
this is not gonna work in five You don't want
to go into it feeling that way. So I'm just
saying I understand why a team would say either you
(05:05):
want this or you don't. I believe that to be
the case because if a player could probably get an
escape clause at some point, it's always safe to have one.
But if a team told me no, either you're in
with us or you're not. And this is the deal.
We're gonna We're in this together. We're going to where
our goal is to try to win. I'm signing you
(05:28):
as the cornerstone of this franchise and I'm gonna put
other pieces around you. And my goal as the owner
of the Count of the of the Angels is to
win a championship. That's what I'm here for. And if
you feel convinced that this guy is trying to win.
Then that's why I'm saying send for the past seven years. Yeah,
(05:50):
but when it made it once see it, but it
didn't work. I'm not saying what I'm saying. I'm just saying, Look,
Mike Trout has the cloud to be like I don't
think I don't. He asked what, No, if he went
on the market in two years, he might give five
hundred millions. And if he gets hit in the face
tomorrow in the preseason, the spring training again, No, but
the christ hold on, you didn't say that when when
(06:12):
if an NFL player sits out? I mean, and you
know that was the reason I agree with lebya Belt
for sitting out. It's because if he got hurt, he
wouldn't have got the money. This is right in line
with what I'm talking about. If somebody puts four hundred
and thirty, this isn't all NFL players all over the
country today. You know what they said, how much is
that is guaranteed? Hello, all of it, all four hundred
(06:36):
and thirty. There ain't no phony, funky numbers where they're
telling you, well, Steve, I mean, Mike Trout has three
hundred guaranteed, and then no, it's all guaranteed. So my
point is getting nobody out. When somebody puts that money
on the table, you gotta grab it. If you know
one player in the league, you're argue you're on pace
(06:56):
to arguably be the best player ever. Like you said,
they were afraid eight They didn't want him going to Philly.
They didn't certainly didn't want him going to the Dodgers
in a few years. Eight years, eight years give me
an option. Came up with an arbitrary number, doesn't mean anything.
Eight years old mean something. You got me locked up
for eight years or what is that? If we can't
(07:16):
win in eight years, then maybe we need to part
with what happens if they win next year. I'm just saying,
so they have to take the opt out. He's good
enough where he deserved an opt out. Now he doesn't
want it. That's his parigal. But that's what I say.
I don't get. Well, actually you're saying maybe did one
and then the team was like, I'm just telling you,
if i'm a team owner and I'm giving up that
(07:39):
kind of money and that kind of commitment to just
like Bryce Harper didn't get one I'm committing. Harper didn't
want one. I don't know why. That's what he said.
Money on the table, that's what he said. I'm not
so sure when they say that publicly that that's the case.
I'm just saying, if someone that if I'm giving you
the money and I'm commitment making this kind of commitment
to you, I want you to be fully invested, fully committed.
(08:01):
If I don't want, if you haven't opt out and
you can bounce, Just like Lebron went to Miami for
four years and he decided Dwayne Wade's old I don't
know about Chris Bosh, pat Roley won't let my let
my partners do what they want to do. So now
I'm a bounce from Miami. That that's why you want
there years? Right, No, but that's not a commits eight years.
(08:22):
The Lakers just signed Lebron for four years. I'm not
talking about getting opted out after four eight years. Yeah,
but the different heck, he could work out for the team.
Maybe he's declined by them. All I'm gonna say, is
hear me out. Sports America, major League Baseball is the
money king of the world, king of the world. That's
(08:44):
what I just can't get over because we sat here,
Chris and talked about how slow it was for these
free agents to get signed, that's all. And you remember
Tony Clark, the union president, was questioning, you know what's
going on here? And all I gotta say is the
owners have come around, not everybody, and there's other things
that other players need to be worked out so that
(09:06):
they get deals. But you can't say anymore that they're
not willing to pay for the talent in the league,
because they just blew away with three signings in the
last month or what has been three weeks, I mean
money wise, it's some incredible that I'd never been blown
away by money than I was today. I really did.
Four thirty guarantee well shocked. He's worth it individually number
(09:31):
the money number, I mean, the money man, the money.
All these contracts are crazy. So I wasn't like I
walked off my feet. It was huge. I didn't think.
I didn't think he would get I thought that they
would offer three fifty three sixty. I just didn't think
that they would go to that extra hundred right out
the bat before that's anybody else bidding against them, because
so technically he has that bidding against themselves in two years,
(09:56):
he may have been able to get five hundred million.
So that that's why I'm saying I wouldn't. I wouldn't
trust that I could go. I could get out and
get hit by a car tomorrow. I'm just say, of course,
we can both want out of here and get hit
by a car. No, But the difference is when you
have but when you have a deal on the table.
It's different to say I'm an hold out and there's
no deal on the table, then I might bet on myself.
(10:17):
But once somebody commits that money and puts it on
the table in front of me, I'm grabbing it. I'm
not gonna have anything. What if Mike trust stinks the
next two years. I'm just saying the all possibilities by
Harper is they're all possibilities. Harper. I'm just saying, dude
bats three hundred every year. But people have bad years,
and maybe I'm a bad year right before your contractor well,
(10:40):
Bryce didn't he still got three thirty. He didn't. He
didn't get four thirty though. Be sure to catch live
editions of The Odd Couple with Chris Brussar then Rob
Parker Weekdays at seven pm Eastern four pm Pacific on
Fox Sports Radio and the iHeart Radio app. We want
to bring in an NBA champion of Fox Sports in
(11:00):
be a analyst and also a birthday boy. Birthday to you.
Happy birthday to you, Happy birthday, Happy birthday to you.
Happy birthday, Antonio Daniel just birth Yes, Antonio, Happy birthday. Brothers. Hey,
(11:22):
you know what y'all can do, Rob Machriff, y'all can
both pitch in and give me the same thing that
they gave my cloud. I know you want that deal, man,
I don't need to opt out. We don't want to
get you forty three dollars though, but I don't know
about four unren thirty millions. When you heard that money
(11:42):
to today, were you like, wow, man, I'll call my
I'll call my wife. I said, look, let's take all
the basketballs out of my house. And you know we
got a nine year old boy hit him about Baba
back baseball back in the globe. Hey, that's real, that's real.
The lead. Well, basketball is not dangerous either, but you
know what I mean, it's not football. We're not getting
(12:04):
smacked up bid the head. So Major League Baseball got
a heck of a union boy. Wow, dude, let me
let me ask you this, Antonio. If you were in
Kyler Murray, I don't know if you played other sports
other than basketball coming up, but if you did, you
number one and two, if you were in Kyler Murray's position,
would you have chosen baseball or football? Well? I didn't
(12:26):
play anything else coming up. You know, street football don't count, right,
we all played, We all played that don't count. But
for me what Kyler Murray? You know? For me, it
was about wherever his passion in his hartball, right, I
can't tell it. I can't tell a young man he's
wrong because he went with what he was passionate, no
doubt where his heart let him. Yeah, we look at that.
(12:49):
We look at the financial side of things, and I'm
just joking about all of the finances. I mean, it's
obviously fantastic for Mike Trout and Bryce Harper and no guys,
But if you're Kyler Murray, you gotta go with your
love of this and where your passion is and whatever
that cakes you. I'm okay with no doubt about it. Definitely,
we got so much NBA to get to us. Well,
you'll try to get to a little nc DOUABAA tournament
(13:10):
stuff too, But let's start with the NBA. Look, Yannis
is out tonight, Lebron is out. I want to refund
if I was in Milwaukee, right, I want to refund Antonio.
I'm an MVP voter and I'm waiting till the last
minute between Yannis and Harden. But right now I'm leaning
towards Yannis, leaning pretty pretty strong toward n I'm not gonna, okay,
(13:32):
I was gonna ask you who's your guy and why? Well,
for me, it's Yannis, And you know, we've had this
discussion and it's tough to credit somebody without discrediting someone else. Right,
So when I say I'm leaning toward m Yannis, that
doesn't mean I'm saying James Harden is having a past
teaser but no stretch of the imagination. But what Yannis
is doing, first with his stat across the board, and
(13:55):
second what his team is doing, playing on the best
team in the league. Man, you have to reward that.
You have to reward that because winning, to me, winning
counts up to mean what James Harden had done, you know,
going plus thirty points in thirty two or thirty three
straight games. I completely get it, and I understand it.
But what Yannis is doing in the NBA right now,
(14:16):
across the board, points, rebounds, assists, skills, the block, and win,
that's what really counts for me. Now, let me ask
you about the guy in Denver. Obviously they're having a
tremendous year. That are the first, you know, tied with
Golden State for the top seed in the West. NICOLEA.
Yokich leads him in points, believe, leads him in rebounds
almost eleven, leads him in assist seven and a half,
(14:38):
leads him in steels like and he's not going to
win it. I'm a voter, Like I said, he'll be
fifth or fourth or something like that on my ballot.
Why aren't we hearing more about him though, at least
being in the MVP race, you know, honestly, and it's
not a popular opinion, but it's because he's not and
(14:59):
not him His game is not sexy, right, No, you're right,
he's not. He's not jumping up the gym, he's not
incredibly incredibly athletic. You know he does it, He's not.
You know, Yonnes is bil cut up and strong, and
you know, m Nicola, Jokis looked like he could be
somebody's dad right now. It's but that doesn't take away
(15:21):
from what he's doing though, And I agree with you guys,
because if there's a conversation to be had, he should
be in that conversation. Right now, they're tied from the
top seat in the West. Like you said, he's leading
Denver and points, rebounds, assists, and steals, so he's filling
up to Thatchy and his team is winning. I'm not
saying that he is one of the top two or
(15:42):
top three, but he should definitely be in the conversation.
I think you hit it on the money. His game
isn't sexy, and even with the heart and Yannis and
obviously Yann's his game is exciting, but he doesn't have
those wild moments late. It's not as many as Hardened
because Harden was, you know, hitting all the threes and
had all the thirty point games. But I do think
(16:02):
that's the issue with Jokis, and I think he's probably
gonna have to get them deep, like the Western Conference
finals or something for him to begin consistently being viewed
in that light, you know, like if he gets them
to the conference finals this year. Then I think next
year people may start to look at him as Okay,
he's got to be in that MVP race, assuming they
(16:23):
still do well. It's the Eye Couple. We're joined by
NBA champion Antonio Daniels. Antonio, we got about a minute
or so. I want to find out that if you
heard the story about maybe Doc Rivers might be interested
in coaching the Lakers, do you would that be a
smart move to leave the Clippers where they are, what
position they're and you know, to be able to get
a couple of free ages the team that they have,
(16:45):
which is gonna make the playoffs this year, to go
to the Lakers. Or do you see someone who would
you see as maybe the front runner for the Lakers job.
You know, I don't know who the front runner for
the Lakers job will be. I have no idea, but
it has to be somebody with some cache that Lebron
respects first and foremost. It has to be somebody that
you're going to bring in there, and Lebron actually respects
(17:09):
the resident of that person. If I'm Doc Rivers, I'm
standing where I'm at. If I'm Doc Rivers, I'm staying
right in the situations that I have with the LA Clippers.
Like you said, this is the playoff basketball team, and
they have two Max Votos, yes, yea, and they got
Jerry West too. They're gonna get Jerry West making decisions.
So this team has nowhere else to go. But and
when I say that, it doesn't mean they hit rock bottom,
(17:31):
meaning next year and the year after they're going to
continue to get better. Antonio birthday, boy, I'm gonna ask
you your age. I can just look it up. I
tell you. I mean, I'm in I'm in great shave.
I'm forty four years old, all right, I mean I
ask you. I'm sure I think I know the answer.
You still dunking? Yeah? Okay, you still play much all
(17:53):
the time? Three? Yeah? Really? Now, I've talked to some
former NBA players and they've talked about how you know,
when they go plus, the dudes want to challenge them,
you know what I mean, They want to get it.
Do you get that? Yes, all the time, and you
have to put them in their place or you just
I'm not bet no, no, no, no, I don't do
(18:14):
that no more. Like I'm my thing now is when
I'm done playing pickupball. I just wanted to leave healthy.
Can go all out against me, try and block my
I'm okay, I didn't. I didn't played my basketball. I
didn't prove what I had to prove. You want a
championship as well? Happy birthday? Enjoy it. We appreciate you
input as always. Oh for sure? All right, thanks guys.
(18:36):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Odd Couple
with Chris Brussard and Rob Parker weekdays at seven pm Eastern,
four pm Pacific. Peter Vessey, long time NBA writer, uh
NBA Hall of Fame writer who's broken a lot of
stories over to. Used to write for the New York
Post for a long time and any Win national member
(18:57):
at USA today. He was a ye NBA relationship I
did because most writers he was at odds with. I
was always cool with him. We were cool, but you know,
I mean were like some dudes are afraid of him,
and he would just go at dudes other writers in
his college. Oh no, he used to rip up Philip
Bondi from the New York Dealer News called King Kong
(19:19):
Bondi and all that. But we had we had a
cool relationship. He used to tell me and I'll never
forget it. Like I'm a young writer, I'm covering the nets.
I'm at the All Star Game in Miami. I think
he's before you started, yeah, early on Miami All Star
Game and Vesty's on a moving sidewalk and I'm going
the other way at the Biscaye Bay Mario. I'll never
forget this moment because he's a big yeah, yeah, big guy.
(19:43):
And he says hey Rob And I said hey Peter,
and he goes, I read your stuff when it comes
to the net. You're doing a good job on the nets.
And that made mine, you know what I mean, Like, yeah,
he said you got good stuff. And he wouldn't just
say no. He wasn't that guy. Yeah, but anyway, he
wrote a story or you know, he's got like a
(20:04):
I can I don't even know the outlet. It's called Antreona,
like that Patreon. But he said that there's mutual interest
between the Los Angeles Lakers and Doc Rivers to be
their next coach. And also remember he was the guy
who put out the lebron that he was the one
who said no doubt about that. A lot of people
like he was the most definitive of anybody I saw
(20:27):
and then it happened. Yea. So for what it's worth,
that is out there. So Rob, I want to ask you,
and we talked about it with Antonio Daniels, if you
were Doc Rivers, would you consider going to the Lakers?
I would not. Let's take money out of it because
for that question, But would you consider going to the Lakers?
I wouldn't. I just wouldn't. I think that they're in
(20:50):
a position where they are. I get it. The brands
are different. The Laker brand is bigger question then the
Clipper brand, just like the Yankees up get in the Mets.
I get it. There's no doubt about the bigger than
the net. Right. The clubs are better than the White
Sox brand I'm talking about right, But when you talk
(21:10):
about where the Clippers are, the job that he's done,
the roster that they have already without the stars that
they could add, the money they have set up they
have Jerry West there is gonna help get everything there.
They got a billionaire owner who can woo people and say,
not only could you come and play for my team,
(21:30):
I'll get you set up down the road with some
other stuff. So you're all that and you don't have
to deal with the Lebron stuff, the toxic atmosphere, Genie
Bust and what's going on and Magic and Plinka. It
just seems to be like more of a mess going on.
(21:51):
They don't know what they're doing with the young guys
or you know, does anybody want to come play? If
you're doctor, would you say we got a chance of
Kauai if I go to the Lakers, we have no
chance for Kauhi? Or it doesn't feel like that at
least I think you might get Anthony Davis. You know
what I'm saying, right, Yeah, I don't think you're getting
a big time free agent. So when you put all
that stuff together, if i'm Doc Rivers, I know it's
(22:14):
not as sexy as being the coach of the Lakers.
And I get it. I'm not kidding myself. But with
what they were able to accomplish the coaching job he did, Chris,
with this team and the players, when you enhance and
add a star or two to the mix, already you
got a shot. Yeah. I agree with most of what
(22:37):
you said. Um. First of all you talked about, Jerry
was let me throw this out there for the young
people who hear us talk about Jerry West, but you know,
they don't know Jerry West is Jerry West. Forget the
playing career, which was outstanding. I think he's the third
best shooting guard ever after Michael Jordan and Kobe bryant Um.
But forget about that. He wached nine finals, lost date
(23:00):
but won one. But as an executive, he built the
showtime Lakers Number one. He then built the shot Kobe Lakers.
Then he goes to Memphis, which was an expansion team
and puts them on the MAC. They were winning fifty games,
making the playoffs when he was there. And then he
(23:22):
also built the Kobe pau Gasal team at Won too.
He built that because he traded Paul Gasal to the
Lakers and helped the Lakers out again. He did again.
He couldn't help it. He helped his seat, all right, No, No,
that deal was like, wait a minute, what did you
just do? You just helped Kobe out right. Then he
(23:44):
was in Golden State as a consultant, you know, and
then one Bright but he was a consultant there and
he was adamant. He was the most adamant voice in
that organization saying we cannot trade Klay Thompson for Kevin
Love because there was thought it's about that, and think,
I Kevin Love is a good player, but I don't.
(24:05):
They're certainly not what they are. Maybe they don't even
win the championship with Kevin Love instead of Klay Thompson.
And now he's with the Clippers, and he's well respected
even with the today's players. They know who he is
and people call him the logo. When you look on
the NBA logo, he dribbles. He dribbled left handed, and
it's not like all the logos are after other players.
(24:26):
I think Harmon Killerbrue is the baseball player with the
bat up like it was like it wasn't picked by
any like real. It was just kind of strange. Yeah,
it was that he dribbled left handed and the way
that they did the logo the art, they needed somebody
who dribbled left handed. That's really what they say. And
what he wasn't picked because he was a great player,
(24:46):
right but that but if it wasn't, that wasn't the reason. Yeah,
So he is well respected. He's clearly the best NBA
executive of all times. So they have him the Clippers
and look if they add, which most people think they
will Kawhi Leonard. They're the Toronto Raptors, and I mean
that in a good way. They're contendered their immediate contender
(25:08):
because what the Clippers have right now is comparable to
what the Raptors have around Kawhi. Kyle Lowry's made a
few All Star teams, but he's getting a little older.
But I'm talking Montrez Harrold, Lou Williams. Williams is a
very good player, Shane Gilgi, Alexander nice young point guard.
Like they've got something now if they can add too,
(25:30):
who's kid they got from Philly who's knocking out all
the threes for the Clippers. I'm talking about um uh
the young boy, the little point guard, Matt Shammid, Yeah,
Andrew Shamatt or something like that. Yeah, he can shoot
Chris Yep, yep. Now he's nice. So they've got something
(25:52):
that if they put uh, Kawhi Leonard in there, they're tough. Now.
The only thing, and I'm with Clippers, is a better job.
And I think this what the Clippers are looking at
now is they're probably gonna come out and give Doc
a big extension to keep him from going to the Lakers,
because that's the last thing they wanted for him to
(26:12):
league and go across the hall. And you can't wait,
Like if I was Doc, ideally, I'd want to wait
and see if the Lakers, hey, if you get Anthony Davis,
maybe I'm coming, you know, and see who or or
if the Clippers get not only Kawhi Leonard, but a
Kyrie Irving with him or Kevin Durant, although I'm hearing
those two don't really know beef but that they don't
(26:34):
really want to play together Kawhi and kd then you know,
maybe you stay. But I was talking with somebody to
day in the league and they said, we're texting. I
asked him about Doc and Lebron and how he would
deal with him. He said, you would see a different
Lebron with Doc Rivers really and I think, yeah, he said,
(26:57):
and he said the way Doc would coach him. He said,
you would get much more out of Lebron. That intrigues
me because Lebron still is balling. This is the thing,
in my opinion, with Lebron James. We know the numbers
twenty seven, eight and eight, but he can no longer
control a game like he used to even just a
year ago, you know. And so I think what they
(27:22):
should do is make him I would prefer making him
just more of a traditional small forward. I think he
could challenge for the league scoring title because he still
can clearly score at will, and don't have him bringing
the ball up. Like even against the Knicks, he was
playing more like a traditional small forward, moving without the ball,
getting his points. And then at the end of the
(27:44):
game they start having him bring the ball up and
he probably just start doing it on himself. Right, I
think you need to get away from that or just
make him a true point guard. But he it would
take less wear and tear on him because at this
stage he doesn't need to be doing the entire offense,
you know what I mean. So, and I think it
would maybe Doc would do that, and so um it
(28:06):
would be that intrigues me if Doc could get through
to him to the point where, because Lebron hasn't really
let people just coaching, can you teach an old dog
new tricks? We gotta remember now his way too, So
sixteen years it's hard to go and tell somebody, Okay,
now we're gonna do this right. And I don't know
if that's always doable when somebody stuck in their ways,
(28:31):
and like you say, has had success. If Lebron was
only getting more rings than Doc, he can say it was.
If it was if it was your sixteen and he
hadn't won, then maybe you might be able to get
through and say, dude, are you trying to I'm trying
to help you win, and then you might be more
apt to do it. But I agree with you, it
would be hard to get him to change now because
there are those and some people even in Lebron's camp,
(28:52):
were saying, and I talked about it when he might
go to Philly, he wants to play off the ball,
you know, and then he wanted to and League, and
he wanted to in LA supposedly. But his nature is
to get that ball. See. I thought that was gonna
happen with lonzof if you, if you were played, that
was the talk. I think when Mathenic and Lebron met,
(29:13):
I think they talked about Lebron playing off the ball.
But like I said, his natural instinct is if things
aren't going well, let me go get the ball. And
the other thing too is Lonzo didn't start off that
grade if you remember, so maybe now Linzo has become
a Hall of Famer. The less he plays, He's like,
oh my god. If Lonzo played, they would have made
(29:33):
the playoffs. If Londo played, Lebron would be the MVP
of the league. Oh man, if Lonzo played, I don't know.
You know, I've never seen an eight point scoring. It's unbelievable.
They're looking, they're grasping for straws. You know that, no question.
Be sure to catch live editions of The Odd Couple
(29:53):
with Chris Brussar then Rob Parker week days at seven
pm Eastern four pm Pacific on FI Sports Radio and
the iHeart Radio app. Let's bring in USA Todays my
Man b columnist Bob Nightingale to talk about it. Bob,
Welcome to the Eye Cup. What's up, Bob? Yeah, doing
very day, Robert, Chris, Hey, let's get right to it.
(30:15):
Why now for the Angels, I mean we Rob and
I were kind of joking, but maybe it was serious,
you know, with Bryce Harper throwing out how much you've
got to recruit him? Yeah, Mike Trout did that have
anything to do with the timing of this? She reported
that still Mike Trout was very, very comfortable there he
didn't want to leave. He really did it. And I
(30:35):
know if she reported as hum, you know, twelve years
for you know, four hundred and twenty six and a
half million, but he already had a bunch of money
on it, right for really it's you know, ten years
at three sixty. Yeah, I think Angels, to tell you truth,
thirty six million dollars a year for what he does.
I thought he would get forty million a year. So
he wanted to stay. He likes Orange County, he can
(30:59):
standle a good the beach. Nobody knows who he is,
no pressure there, never gets booted there, so he was
never gonna leave. He was too comfortable. But Bob, here's
the other thing too, is you know, yeah you couldn't.
You could have tested the water, say, if he just
wanted to and to see how much more he could get.
But when you talk about that kind of cabbage, all guaranteed,
(31:22):
the total package four hundred and thirty, that's ridiculous. You
can it's an offer you can't refuse, right yeah. I
mean when you think about it too, I mean, is
it still for the Angels. I'm they were repaying this
guy thirty two and a half million dollars. So you know,
game a three million dollars a year raise, just tack
some years onto it. So you know, thirty six million
(31:43):
dollars a year, ten years at three to sixty. Uh,
you know, great deal for the Angels too. Now he's
going to retire as an angel, has given a hall
of fame as an angel. He's gonna make that franchise
a ton of money, get sales, merchandising, TV ratings. How
about that? I wonder why in Bryce Harper's case and
(32:04):
in Mike trous I get that they want to stay there,
they're happy and all that, but why not get the
player option after I don't know, seven eight years or
something like that. I think Trout's so uncomfortable there. He said,
you know what, I don't want to leave. So why
bother Harper's case wanted it? Uh you know, it's portrayed
that he said he didn't want it. But I think
(32:25):
the Philly and said, hey, if you think, hey, yeah,
you know, no opt out, We'll give you more money here,
you'll be the highest bad guy. You know, only lasted
about a week or show, right, But yeah, I mean,
you know, I mean there's no player that doesn't want
that just because you know, if things are going bad,
you got the option to leave, or money gets really crazy,
you can opt out, and you know, come right, I'm back, right, Bob.
(32:48):
What about the Dodgers. Did they miss a window here?
I mean they were saving up their money. They didn't
want to know they'd offered the Harper four year deal
for you know, not a as much as people were reporting,
I guess forty five million or whatever. But my point
is who who can the Dodgers sign? I mean, who's
big that's coming out? Not at all? These players have
(33:10):
really been locked up. Did the Dodgers miss the boat? Well,
I think that's a pitching coming out next year and
win us a Berlinder, Garrett Cole. And they missed a
boat they should have trade for Berlinder. They should have
traded for you know, a few guys Cole Hamill's the
last two years. So they missed a boat there. The
one thing about Harper, I don't blame him for not
(33:30):
going after Harper or you know, just you know, going
to small term contract. Just in this sense that you've
been in the World Series back to back years, you know,
you draw more fans in any franchise in baseball. But
you haven't won a World Series in thirty one years though, Bob. No,
but you know, but you've been in the World Series.
I mean, is it worked it to spend you know,
twenty five thirty million dollars a year. We can probably
(33:52):
just grasp some guys at trades on mine and do
it anyway. You know, he needs a lot more for
Phillies than he went to Dodgers, Bob with the Angels.
I mean, look, we obviously know one player can't win
a World Series in baseball, but how close are they?
What do they need, you know, to turn in this
thing around and at least making the postseason? Or is
(34:13):
he still gonna be a slow rebuilding process. The lineup
is not bad, no lives, it's fine. You know, they've
always had the line They've never had the pitching. I
mean today Brian Aspens would not answer any questions about
Trout because the contracts help by about forty hours from
being finalized, right, but he announced that you know, the
open day starters, Key Hill, Trevor, Ky Hill, nice guy.
(34:36):
He should not be Why not Matt Harvey. I don't
know if they want to not take you take the
pressure off him or what U. But yeah, I mean
they even you know, very weak and very thin rotation.
They try to get Jay half and some letter guys
fell short. But you know, the pitching's given me the
you know downfall once again. Yeah, because it is about
(34:56):
about pitching. Well, how surprised this one? Another thing? How
surprised were you that Bryce Harper's jersey, like when he
went to the Phillies, Bob and his jersey outsold Lebron's
Lakers jersey online it was online sales. And the other
thing that they sold one hundred, one hundred thousand tickets
in twenty four hours. Were you shocked by that response
(35:19):
from Philadelphia? A little bit? All of the sins from
I did. I did a caller in November. I went
way out there and said, hey, bank on it, the
Phillies are going to sign Harper. So every day I
was just getting bombarded by you know, emails and Twitter
things about hey, when's they gonna signed this and that?
And every time I mentioned the Dodgers or you know,
(35:41):
or the Giants, they stepped and you know, hey, you idiot,
you said they were going to the fifty right. So
I underestimate just how how persuasive they are, and just
how aggressive they are. So, you know, talking to John Middleton,
he said, hey, they were kind of leaning on, you know,
Manny Machada for a while, but the fans made it
so clear they wanted Harper. They pivoted completely. Wait from Mancado,
(36:05):
gain Harper. So we'll see how long it last. I
remember asking Larry Boa a week ago and say anything
the first time against Bood. He says, well, maybe steps
with the plate. I'm hoping day strikes out with the
basis load here right there, boom day one. You know
how Phillip fans are. The other thing is with baseball.
I mean remember the union chief Tony Clark had some
(36:26):
questions when it would seem like it was slow moving
for these guys to get the contracts before Machado and
and and Harper signed and and uh, now we see
all these, you know, these three big contracts and all
this money flowing, and I know there were other players
who haven't gotten deals and there's some other issues. Uh,
but do you think this smooths out? You know, the
(36:49):
labor negotiations coming out. I know, what is it after
twenty twenty, But well, let's smooth things out or no, Bob,
they still got a lot of issues, still issues. You're
so we have the issue like, you know, ten twelve
teams not trying to win. That hurts when you know,
you know, cutting a third of the teams, the way
they're being on free agents. You know what's getting squeeze
(37:09):
shirts at middle class. Uh, there's now Hey, I love
Iner McCutcheon, but it's hard to say, Hey, Ander McCutcheon
is worth forty seven million dollars more than Adam Jones
and there's no win in the world. And I'm Jones
should be signing for three million dollars right, Uh, an
all star caliber player. I mean some of these contracts,
guys getting sign jilgnsalats and stuff, saying merrily contracts, how
(37:31):
did he sign a wild league deal? Oh my god,
the Yankees got to steal if he works out. Yeah.
So a ton of mere league deals, a ton of
just small contracts, tystick and massive pay cuts. So it's
a middle class here. You know, if you're over thirty
years old, you're done. Wow, Bob is there? We saw
(37:51):
last year when the commissioner, Rob Manfrey came out and
you know, talked about Mike Trout needing to promote the
game more and they can help him build his brand
and all that. Is it a problem when the best
player in the league just is it that marketable or
I don't know, have problems the right way? But you know,
is this kind of an issue with personality? Well, I
(38:14):
frustrates baseball, but that's who Mike Trout is. I mean,
that's why he signed with the Angels. He doesn't want that.
He doesn't want New York. He doesn't want that pressure
in Philadelphia. He loves being Orange County where nobody knows
who he is. And when that season is over, he
goes to Millville, New Jersey, whaps his fishing rod and
honey rifle and that's all he does. But that's his personality,
(38:37):
you know. I know he does some sandwich commercials, but
that's about it. I can't get him to do anything.
One last thing, we got about thirty seconds. How much
money if Aaron Judge gets on the free market. I
don't know. He still has a few number of years,
but will he get over four hundred million? Is he
(38:59):
possibly that guy? Because he has along with the talent,
he also has that it factor or star factor that
people love he does, but you still got two years here.
He remember, he's twenty seven already, know so I don't.
I don't think he'll get that money. I think that first,
you know, the first true for her million dollar guy
is gonna be Mookie Bets. He's got two years famous
(39:20):
for out before free agency means everything in the role
of the red side, right, Yeah, baby deserves I think
it's Mookie Betsy. My money is a Mookie Okay, great stuff, man.
We appreciate the knowledge. Always my pleasure. Yeah, thanks christ,
thanks thanks so much. All right. The Mike Trout signing
begs the question does baseball have a marketability problem? Hell no,
(39:45):
in with other sports as well. Coming up next is
the acable Fox Sports Radio. Fox Sports Radio has the
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the iHeartRadio app. Search FSR to listen live.
Thanks for listening to the Best of the Odd Couple podcast.
Be sure to catch us live every weekday from seven
pm to ten pm Eastern four to seven Pacific, or
Fox Sports Radio. Find your local station for The Odd
Couple at Fox Sports Radio dot com, or stream us
live every day on the iHeartRadio app by searching f
(00:21):
s R. You're listening to the Best of The Odd
Couple with Chris Brusso and Rob Harker. First, let's get
its started by welcoming in the Odd Couple crew. Wouldn't
be able to do this fine program without them. Lee
is our producer filling in for Rob g and of
course Alex is our engineer. Deb Carson our sports anchor.
(00:43):
She'll keep us updated throughout the show. Our is our
intern and of course Elijah is our social media guru.
They're all on the other side of the glass. Chris
Bruchard on this trash talking Tuesday, Let's kick some masks,
Let's do it. All I know is I woke up
with a wild factor this morning. Yeah. Anytime you see
(01:04):
four hundred and thirty million dollars, never seen it. Twelve
years four hundred and thirty million dollars from Mike Trout
dwarfs the previous record that Bryce Harper said was three
three weeks ago. Didn't take law thirteen years, three hundred
thirty million. And it's huge. It's the biggest sports contract
(01:26):
in American sports history. Yes, it was Canelo Alvarez with
the Zone his boxing deal, which was sixty five million
dollars short of what Mike Trout just banked. And good
for him. And what are your thoughts. You're the baseball guy.
When I think about I was blown away, and you
know what, I think there's a lot of factors that
(01:47):
go with the Chris First of all, when you talk
about analytics, and you know we talk about all the time.
He checks all the boxes. He does everything, tessional stats, analytics, everything,
So there's no like whether or out he's the best
player everybody most people who know baseball, No, he is.
He can run, he can throw, he can catch, hit,
(02:08):
he can hit the power, he get the average, he walks,
he does everything that you would want. So so there, man,
he's good with the fans. He's not a charismatic personality,
but locally, locally they love him. So when you add
all that and he's a clean cut kind of guy,
he's somebody you want to be the face of your franchise.
And I just think moreno the owner of the h
(02:31):
Angels because and I do give Bryce Harper a little
bit of credit here when he went public, Chris and
was like, yeah, well you're gonna backfire, yes, but but
but but I think it's sparked the Angels to say,
oh no, not for the next two years. Are We're
gonna let this guy woo our player and then we
(02:52):
won't be able to resign him. So they didn't wait,
and they gave you know you hear this all the time. Oh,
they offered me. I couldn't. I couldn't refuse. No, they
offered him. When they didn't say, well, Pryce Harper got
three thirty will give you three fifty or three thirty five,
they said, no, we'll give you one hundred million more
(03:14):
in fewer years. Yes, and then the best deal that
was out there. And if you're Mike Trout, you can't hesitate.
I don't hesitate about what four hundred and guarantee could hesitate.
And I'm gonna tell you why, No, you can't hesitate.
He doesn't Now apparently he doesn't want one. But it
was the same thing with Bryce Harper. Why are these
(03:36):
players not getting opt outs? This isn't the enemy say,
I don't care what it is. Get if you've lost.
First of all, they haven't made the playoffs in seven
of his eight years, so what if they make the
playoffs once in the next five years get bounced early again.
He's yet to win a playoff game, and at some
point five six years from now, he's like, you know what,
(03:59):
I want to chay it to win. I'm not saying
you get one after three years, but getting opt out
after seven or eight years. But I think that the
other it's the other way around that teams have made
this financial commitment and either you're all in or you're not.
You're looking at it as Chris, you know this being
married when you just hear me marriage. When you get married,
(04:22):
you don't go win. And a lot of people you
don't try to think about, well, let me get an
opt out after six years or seven years if it
doesn't work now. I actually people do use I use
my opt out after five but most of the time,
you know, you know the prenup. No, we didn't have
a preedup. I didn't get a prenup but people do
get prenups. No, no, no, but that doesn't marriage. I mean,
(04:43):
I'm just that's that's not a good enounce My marriage
is different. No. But to me, it's like, you have
you want to believe that this is what where you
want to be. You've made a commitment. They've made it
a commitment. You're not looking on the outside saying, oh,
this is not gonna work in five You don't want
to go into it feeling that way. So I'm just
saying I understand why a team would say either you
(05:05):
want this or you don't. I believe that to be
the case because if a player could probably get an
escape clause at some point, it's always safe to have one.
But if a team told me no, either you're in
with us or you're not. And this is the deal.
We're gonna We're in this together. We're going to where
our goal is to try to win. I'm signing you
(05:28):
as the cornerstone of this franchise and I'm gonna put
other pieces around you. And my goal as the owner
of the Count of the of the Angels is to
win a championship. That's what I'm here for. And if
you feel convinced that this guy is trying to win.
Then that's why I'm saying send for the past seven years. Yeah,
(05:50):
but when it made it once see it, but it
didn't work. I'm not saying what I'm saying. I'm just saying, Look,
Mike Trout has the cloud to be like I don't
think I don't. He asked what, No, if he went
on the market in two years, he might give five
hundred millions. And if he gets hit in the face
tomorrow in the preseason, the spring training again, No, but
the christ hold on, you didn't say that when when
(06:12):
if an NFL player sits out? I mean, and you
know that was the reason I agree with lebya Belt
for sitting out. It's because if he got hurt, he
wouldn't have got the money. This is right in line
with what I'm talking about. If somebody puts four hundred
and thirty, this isn't all NFL players all over the
country today. You know what they said, how much is
that is guaranteed? Hello, all of it, all four hundred
(06:36):
and thirty. There ain't no phony, funky numbers where they're
telling you, well, Steve, I mean, Mike Trout has three
hundred guaranteed, and then no, it's all guaranteed. So my
point is getting nobody out. When somebody puts that money
on the table, you gotta grab it. If you know
one player in the league, you're argue you're on pace
(06:56):
to arguably be the best player ever. Like you said,
they were afraid eight They didn't want him going to Philly.
They didn't certainly didn't want him going to the Dodgers
in a few years. Eight years, eight years give me
an option. Came up with an arbitrary number, doesn't mean anything.
Eight years old mean something. You got me locked up
for eight years or what is that? If we can't
(07:16):
win in eight years, then maybe we need to part
with what happens if they win next year. I'm just saying,
so they have to take the opt out. He's good
enough where he deserved an opt out. Now he doesn't
want it. That's his parigal. But that's what I say.
I don't get. Well, actually you're saying maybe did one
and then the team was like, I'm just telling you,
if i'm a team owner and I'm giving up that
(07:39):
kind of money and that kind of commitment to just
like Bryce Harper didn't get one I'm committing. Harper didn't
want one. I don't know why. That's what he said.
Money on the table, that's what he said. I'm not
so sure when they say that publicly that that's the case.
I'm just saying, if someone that if I'm giving you
the money and I'm commitment making this kind of commitment
to you, I want you to be fully invested, fully committed.
(08:01):
If I don't want, if you haven't opt out and
you can bounce, Just like Lebron went to Miami for
four years and he decided Dwayne Wade's old I don't
know about Chris Bosh, pat Roley won't let my let
my partners do what they want to do. So now
I'm a bounce from Miami. That that's why you want
there years? Right, No, but that's not a commits eight years.
(08:22):
The Lakers just signed Lebron for four years. I'm not
talking about getting opted out after four eight years. Yeah,
but the different heck, he could work out for the team.
Maybe he's declined by them. All I'm gonna say, is
hear me out. Sports America, major League Baseball is the
money king of the world, king of the world. That's
(08:44):
what I just can't get over because we sat here,
Chris and talked about how slow it was for these
free agents to get signed, that's all. And you remember
Tony Clark, the union president, was questioning, you know what's
going on here? And all I gotta say is the
owners have come around, not everybody, and there's other things
that other players need to be worked out so that
(09:06):
they get deals. But you can't say anymore that they're
not willing to pay for the talent in the league,
because they just blew away with three signings in the
last month or what has been three weeks, I mean
money wise, it's some incredible that I'd never been blown
away by money than I was today. I really did.
Four thirty guarantee well shocked. He's worth it individually number
(09:31):
the money number, I mean, the money man, the money.
All these contracts are crazy. So I wasn't like I
walked off my feet. It was huge. I didn't think.
I didn't think he would get I thought that they
would offer three fifty three sixty. I just didn't think
that they would go to that extra hundred right out
the bat before that's anybody else bidding against them, because
so technically he has that bidding against themselves in two years,
(09:56):
he may have been able to get five hundred million.
So that that's why I'm saying I wouldn't. I wouldn't
trust that I could go. I could get out and
get hit by a car tomorrow. I'm just say, of course,
we can both want out of here and get hit
by a car. No, But the difference is when you
have but when you have a deal on the table.
It's different to say I'm an hold out and there's
no deal on the table, then I might bet on myself.
(10:17):
But once somebody commits that money and puts it on
the table in front of me, I'm grabbing it. I'm
not gonna have anything. What if Mike trust stinks the
next two years. I'm just saying the all possibilities by
Harper is they're all possibilities. Harper. I'm just saying, dude
bats three hundred every year. But people have bad years,
and maybe I'm a bad year right before your contractor well,
(10:40):
Bryce didn't he still got three thirty. He didn't. He
didn't get four thirty though. Be sure to catch live
editions of The Odd Couple with Chris Brussar then Rob
Parker Weekdays at seven pm Eastern four pm Pacific on
Fox Sports Radio and the iHeart Radio app. We want
to bring in an NBA champion of Fox Sports in
(11:00):
be a analyst and also a birthday boy. Birthday to you.
Happy birthday to you, Happy birthday, Happy birthday to you.
Happy birthday, Antonio Daniel just birth Yes, Antonio, Happy birthday. Brothers. Hey,
(11:22):
you know what y'all can do, Rob Machriff, y'all can
both pitch in and give me the same thing that
they gave my cloud. I know you want that deal, man,
I don't need to opt out. We don't want to
get you forty three dollars though, but I don't know
about four unren thirty millions. When you heard that money
(11:42):
to today, were you like, wow, man, I'll call my
I'll call my wife. I said, look, let's take all
the basketballs out of my house. And you know we
got a nine year old boy hit him about Baba
back baseball back in the globe. Hey, that's real, that's real.
The lead. Well, basketball is not dangerous either, but you
know what I mean, it's not football. We're not getting
(12:04):
smacked up bid the head. So Major League Baseball got
a heck of a union boy. Wow, dude, let me
let me ask you this, Antonio. If you were in
Kyler Murray, I don't know if you played other sports
other than basketball coming up, but if you did, you
number one and two, if you were in Kyler Murray's position,
would you have chosen baseball or football? Well? I didn't
(12:26):
play anything else coming up. You know, street football don't count, right,
we all played, We all played that don't count. But
for me what Kyler Murray? You know? For me, it
was about wherever his passion in his hartball, right, I
can't tell it. I can't tell a young man he's
wrong because he went with what he was passionate, no
doubt where his heart let him. Yeah, we look at that.
(12:49):
We look at the financial side of things, and I'm
just joking about all of the finances. I mean, it's
obviously fantastic for Mike Trout and Bryce Harper and no guys,
But if you're Kyler Murray, you gotta go with your
love of this and where your passion is and whatever
that cakes you. I'm okay with no doubt about it. Definitely,
we got so much NBA to get to us. Well,
you'll try to get to a little nc DOUABAA tournament
(13:10):
stuff too, But let's start with the NBA. Look, Yannis
is out tonight, Lebron is out. I want to refund
if I was in Milwaukee, right, I want to refund Antonio.
I'm an MVP voter and I'm waiting till the last
minute between Yannis and Harden. But right now I'm leaning
towards Yannis, leaning pretty pretty strong toward n I'm not gonna, okay,
(13:32):
I was gonna ask you who's your guy and why? Well,
for me, it's Yannis, And you know, we've had this
discussion and it's tough to credit somebody without discrediting someone else. Right,
So when I say I'm leaning toward m Yannis, that
doesn't mean I'm saying James Harden is having a past
teaser but no stretch of the imagination. But what Yannis
is doing, first with his stat across the board, and
(13:55):
second what his team is doing, playing on the best
team in the league. Man, you have to reward that.
You have to reward that because winning, to me, winning
counts up to mean what James Harden had done, you know,
going plus thirty points in thirty two or thirty three
straight games. I completely get it, and I understand it.
But what Yannis is doing in the NBA right now,
(14:16):
across the board, points, rebounds, assists, skills, the block, and win,
that's what really counts for me. Now, let me ask
you about the guy in Denver. Obviously they're having a
tremendous year. That are the first, you know, tied with
Golden State for the top seed in the West. NICOLEA.
Yokich leads him in points, believe, leads him in rebounds
almost eleven, leads him in assist seven and a half,
(14:38):
leads him in steels like and he's not going to
win it. I'm a voter, Like I said, he'll be
fifth or fourth or something like that on my ballot.
Why aren't we hearing more about him though, at least
being in the MVP race, you know, honestly, and it's
not a popular opinion, but it's because he's not and
(14:59):
not him His game is not sexy, right, No, you're right,
he's not. He's not jumping up the gym, he's not
incredibly incredibly athletic. You know he does it, He's not.
You know, Yonnes is bil cut up and strong, and
you know, m Nicola, Jokis looked like he could be
somebody's dad right now. It's but that doesn't take away
(15:21):
from what he's doing though, And I agree with you guys,
because if there's a conversation to be had, he should
be in that conversation. Right now, they're tied from the
top seat in the West. Like you said, he's leading
Denver and points, rebounds, assists, and steals, so he's filling
up to Thatchy and his team is winning. I'm not
saying that he is one of the top two or
(15:42):
top three, but he should definitely be in the conversation.
I think you hit it on the money. His game
isn't sexy, and even with the heart and Yannis and
obviously Yann's his game is exciting, but he doesn't have
those wild moments late. It's not as many as Hardened
because Harden was, you know, hitting all the threes and
had all the thirty point games. But I do think
(16:02):
that's the issue with Jokis, and I think he's probably
gonna have to get them deep, like the Western Conference
finals or something for him to begin consistently being viewed
in that light, you know, like if he gets them
to the conference finals this year. Then I think next
year people may start to look at him as Okay,
he's got to be in that MVP race, assuming they
(16:23):
still do well. It's the Eye Couple. We're joined by
NBA champion Antonio Daniels. Antonio, we got about a minute
or so. I want to find out that if you
heard the story about maybe Doc Rivers might be interested
in coaching the Lakers, do you would that be a
smart move to leave the Clippers where they are, what
position they're and you know, to be able to get
a couple of free ages the team that they have,
(16:45):
which is gonna make the playoffs this year, to go
to the Lakers. Or do you see someone who would
you see as maybe the front runner for the Lakers job.
You know, I don't know who the front runner for
the Lakers job will be. I have no idea, but
it has to be somebody with some cache that Lebron
respects first and foremost. It has to be somebody that
you're going to bring in there, and Lebron actually respects
(17:09):
the resident of that person. If I'm Doc Rivers, I'm
standing where I'm at. If I'm Doc Rivers, I'm staying
right in the situations that I have with the LA Clippers.
Like you said, this is the playoff basketball team, and
they have two Max Votos, yes, yea, and they got
Jerry West too. They're gonna get Jerry West making decisions.
So this team has nowhere else to go. But and
when I say that, it doesn't mean they hit rock bottom,
(17:31):
meaning next year and the year after they're going to
continue to get better. Antonio birthday, boy, I'm gonna ask
you your age. I can just look it up. I
tell you. I mean, I'm in I'm in great shave.
I'm forty four years old, all right, I mean I
ask you. I'm sure I think I know the answer.
You still dunking? Yeah? Okay, you still play much all
(17:53):
the time? Three? Yeah? Really? Now, I've talked to some
former NBA players and they've talked about how you know,
when they go plus, the dudes want to challenge them,
you know what I mean, They want to get it.
Do you get that? Yes, all the time, and you
have to put them in their place or you just
I'm not bet no, no, no, no, I don't do
(18:14):
that no more. Like I'm my thing now is when
I'm done playing pickupball. I just wanted to leave healthy.
Can go all out against me, try and block my
I'm okay, I didn't. I didn't played my basketball. I
didn't prove what I had to prove. You want a
championship as well? Happy birthday? Enjoy it. We appreciate you
input as always. Oh for sure? All right, thanks guys.
(18:36):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Odd Couple
with Chris Brussard and Rob Parker weekdays at seven pm Eastern,
four pm Pacific. Peter Vessey, long time NBA writer, uh
NBA Hall of Fame writer who's broken a lot of
stories over to. Used to write for the New York
Post for a long time and any Win national member
(18:57):
at USA today. He was a ye NBA relationship I
did because most writers he was at odds with. I
was always cool with him. We were cool, but you know,
I mean were like some dudes are afraid of him,
and he would just go at dudes other writers in
his college. Oh no, he used to rip up Philip
Bondi from the New York Dealer News called King Kong
(19:19):
Bondi and all that. But we had we had a
cool relationship. He used to tell me and I'll never
forget it. Like I'm a young writer, I'm covering the nets.
I'm at the All Star Game in Miami. I think
he's before you started, yeah, early on Miami All Star
Game and Vesty's on a moving sidewalk and I'm going
the other way at the Biscaye Bay Mario. I'll never
forget this moment because he's a big yeah, yeah, big guy.
(19:43):
And he says hey Rob And I said hey Peter,
and he goes, I read your stuff when it comes
to the net. You're doing a good job on the nets.
And that made mine, you know what I mean, Like, yeah,
he said you got good stuff. And he wouldn't just
say no. He wasn't that guy. Yeah, but anyway, he
wrote a story or you know, he's got like a
(20:04):
I can I don't even know the outlet. It's called Antreona,
like that Patreon. But he said that there's mutual interest
between the Los Angeles Lakers and Doc Rivers to be
their next coach. And also remember he was the guy
who put out the lebron that he was the one
who said no doubt about that. A lot of people
like he was the most definitive of anybody I saw
(20:27):
and then it happened. Yea. So for what it's worth,
that is out there. So Rob, I want to ask you,
and we talked about it with Antonio Daniels, if you
were Doc Rivers, would you consider going to the Lakers?
I would not. Let's take money out of it because
for that question, But would you consider going to the Lakers?
I wouldn't. I just wouldn't. I think that they're in
(20:50):
a position where they are. I get it. The brands
are different. The Laker brand is bigger question then the
Clipper brand, just like the Yankees up get in the Mets.
I get it. There's no doubt about the bigger than
the net. Right. The clubs are better than the White
Sox brand I'm talking about right, But when you talk
(21:10):
about where the Clippers are, the job that he's done,
the roster that they have already without the stars that
they could add, the money they have set up they
have Jerry West there is gonna help get everything there.
They got a billionaire owner who can woo people and say,
not only could you come and play for my team,
(21:30):
I'll get you set up down the road with some
other stuff. So you're all that and you don't have
to deal with the Lebron stuff, the toxic atmosphere, Genie
Bust and what's going on and Magic and Plinka. It
just seems to be like more of a mess going on.
(21:51):
They don't know what they're doing with the young guys
or you know, does anybody want to come play? If
you're doctor, would you say we got a chance of
Kauai if I go to the Lakers, we have no
chance for Kauhi? Or it doesn't feel like that at
least I think you might get Anthony Davis. You know
what I'm saying, right, Yeah, I don't think you're getting
a big time free agent. So when you put all
that stuff together, if i'm Doc Rivers, I know it's
(22:14):
not as sexy as being the coach of the Lakers.
And I get it. I'm not kidding myself. But with
what they were able to accomplish the coaching job he did, Chris,
with this team and the players, when you enhance and
add a star or two to the mix, already you
got a shot. Yeah. I agree with most of what
(22:37):
you said. Um. First of all you talked about, Jerry
was let me throw this out there for the young
people who hear us talk about Jerry West, but you know,
they don't know Jerry West is Jerry West. Forget the
playing career, which was outstanding. I think he's the third
best shooting guard ever after Michael Jordan and Kobe bryant Um.
But forget about that. He wached nine finals, lost date
(23:00):
but won one. But as an executive, he built the
showtime Lakers Number one. He then built the shot Kobe Lakers.
Then he goes to Memphis, which was an expansion team
and puts them on the MAC. They were winning fifty games,
making the playoffs when he was there. And then he
(23:22):
also built the Kobe pau Gasal team at Won too.
He built that because he traded Paul Gasal to the
Lakers and helped the Lakers out again. He did again.
He couldn't help it. He helped his seat, all right, No, No,
that deal was like, wait a minute, what did you
just do? You just helped Kobe out right. Then he
(23:44):
was in Golden State as a consultant, you know, and
then one Bright but he was a consultant there and
he was adamant. He was the most adamant voice in
that organization saying we cannot trade Klay Thompson for Kevin
Love because there was thought it's about that, and think,
I Kevin Love is a good player, but I don't.
(24:05):
They're certainly not what they are. Maybe they don't even
win the championship with Kevin Love instead of Klay Thompson.
And now he's with the Clippers, and he's well respected
even with the today's players. They know who he is
and people call him the logo. When you look on
the NBA logo, he dribbles. He dribbled left handed, and
it's not like all the logos are after other players.
(24:26):
I think Harmon Killerbrue is the baseball player with the
bat up like it was like it wasn't picked by
any like real. It was just kind of strange. Yeah,
it was that he dribbled left handed and the way
that they did the logo the art, they needed somebody
who dribbled left handed. That's really what they say. And
what he wasn't picked because he was a great player,
(24:46):
right but that but if it wasn't, that wasn't the reason. Yeah,
So he is well respected. He's clearly the best NBA
executive of all times. So they have him the Clippers
and look if they add, which most people think they
will Kawhi Leonard. They're the Toronto Raptors, and I mean
that in a good way. They're contendered their immediate contender
(25:08):
because what the Clippers have right now is comparable to
what the Raptors have around Kawhi. Kyle Lowry's made a
few All Star teams, but he's getting a little older.
But I'm talking Montrez Harrold, Lou Williams. Williams is a
very good player, Shane Gilgi, Alexander nice young point guard.
Like they've got something now if they can add too,
(25:30):
who's kid they got from Philly who's knocking out all
the threes for the Clippers. I'm talking about um uh
the young boy, the little point guard, Matt Shammid, Yeah,
Andrew Shamatt or something like that. Yeah, he can shoot
Chris Yep, yep. Now he's nice. So they've got something
(25:52):
that if they put uh, Kawhi Leonard in there, they're tough. Now.
The only thing, and I'm with Clippers, is a better job.
And I think this what the Clippers are looking at
now is they're probably gonna come out and give Doc
a big extension to keep him from going to the Lakers,
because that's the last thing they wanted for him to
(26:12):
league and go across the hall. And you can't wait,
Like if I was Doc, ideally, I'd want to wait
and see if the Lakers, hey, if you get Anthony Davis,
maybe I'm coming, you know, and see who or or
if the Clippers get not only Kawhi Leonard, but a
Kyrie Irving with him or Kevin Durant, although I'm hearing
those two don't really know beef but that they don't
(26:34):
really want to play together Kawhi and kd then you know,
maybe you stay. But I was talking with somebody to
day in the league and they said, we're texting. I
asked him about Doc and Lebron and how he would
deal with him. He said, you would see a different
Lebron with Doc Rivers really and I think, yeah, he said,
(26:57):
and he said the way Doc would coach him. He said,
you would get much more out of Lebron. That intrigues
me because Lebron still is balling. This is the thing,
in my opinion, with Lebron James. We know the numbers
twenty seven, eight and eight, but he can no longer
control a game like he used to even just a
year ago, you know. And so I think what they
(27:22):
should do is make him I would prefer making him
just more of a traditional small forward. I think he
could challenge for the league scoring title because he still
can clearly score at will, and don't have him bringing
the ball up. Like even against the Knicks, he was
playing more like a traditional small forward, moving without the ball,
getting his points. And then at the end of the
(27:44):
game they start having him bring the ball up and
he probably just start doing it on himself. Right, I
think you need to get away from that or just
make him a true point guard. But he it would
take less wear and tear on him because at this
stage he doesn't need to be doing the entire offense,
you know what I mean. So, and I think it
would maybe Doc would do that, and so um it
(28:06):
would be that intrigues me if Doc could get through
to him to the point where, because Lebron hasn't really
let people just coaching, can you teach an old dog
new tricks? We gotta remember now his way too, So
sixteen years it's hard to go and tell somebody, Okay,
now we're gonna do this right. And I don't know
if that's always doable when somebody stuck in their ways,
(28:31):
and like you say, has had success. If Lebron was
only getting more rings than Doc, he can say it was.
If it was if it was your sixteen and he
hadn't won, then maybe you might be able to get
through and say, dude, are you trying to I'm trying
to help you win, and then you might be more
apt to do it. But I agree with you, it
would be hard to get him to change now because
there are those and some people even in Lebron's camp,
(28:52):
were saying, and I talked about it when he might
go to Philly, he wants to play off the ball,
you know, and then he wanted to and League, and
he wanted to in LA supposedly. But his nature is
to get that ball. See. I thought that was gonna
happen with lonzof if you, if you were played, that
was the talk. I think when Mathenic and Lebron met,
(29:13):
I think they talked about Lebron playing off the ball.
But like I said, his natural instinct is if things
aren't going well, let me go get the ball. And
the other thing too is Lonzo didn't start off that
grade if you remember, so maybe now Linzo has become
a Hall of Famer. The less he plays, He's like,
oh my god. If Lonzo played, they would have made
(29:33):
the playoffs. If Londo played, Lebron would be the MVP
of the league. Oh man, if Lonzo played, I don't know.
You know, I've never seen an eight point scoring. It's unbelievable.
They're looking, they're grasping for straws. You know that, no question.
Be sure to catch live editions of The Odd Couple
(29:53):
with Chris Brussar then Rob Parker week days at seven
pm Eastern four pm Pacific on FI Sports Radio and
the iHeart Radio app. Let's bring in USA Todays my
Man b columnist Bob Nightingale to talk about it. Bob,
Welcome to the Eye Cup. What's up, Bob? Yeah, doing
very day, Robert, Chris, Hey, let's get right to it.
(30:15):
Why now for the Angels, I mean we Rob and
I were kind of joking, but maybe it was serious,
you know, with Bryce Harper throwing out how much you've
got to recruit him? Yeah, Mike Trout did that have
anything to do with the timing of this? She reported
that still Mike Trout was very, very comfortable there he
didn't want to leave. He really did it. And I
(30:35):
know if she reported as hum, you know, twelve years
for you know, four hundred and twenty six and a
half million, but he already had a bunch of money
on it, right for really it's you know, ten years
at three sixty. Yeah, I think Angels, to tell you truth,
thirty six million dollars a year for what he does.
I thought he would get forty million a year. So
he wanted to stay. He likes Orange County, he can
(30:59):
standle a good the beach. Nobody knows who he is,
no pressure there, never gets booted there, so he was
never gonna leave. He was too comfortable. But Bob, here's
the other thing too, is you know, yeah you couldn't.
You could have tested the water, say, if he just
wanted to and to see how much more he could get.
But when you talk about that kind of cabbage, all guaranteed,
(31:22):
the total package four hundred and thirty, that's ridiculous. You
can it's an offer you can't refuse, right yeah. I
mean when you think about it too, I mean, is
it still for the Angels. I'm they were repaying this
guy thirty two and a half million dollars. So you know,
game a three million dollars a year raise, just tack
some years onto it. So you know, thirty six million
(31:43):
dollars a year, ten years at three to sixty. Uh,
you know, great deal for the Angels too. Now he's
going to retire as an angel, has given a hall
of fame as an angel. He's gonna make that franchise
a ton of money, get sales, merchandising, TV ratings. How
about that? I wonder why in Bryce Harper's case and
(32:04):
in Mike trous I get that they want to stay there,
they're happy and all that, but why not get the
player option after I don't know, seven eight years or
something like that. I think Trout's so uncomfortable there. He said,
you know what, I don't want to leave. So why
bother Harper's case wanted it? Uh you know, it's portrayed
that he said he didn't want it. But I think
(32:25):
the Philly and said, hey, if you think, hey, yeah,
you know, no opt out, We'll give you more money here,
you'll be the highest bad guy. You know, only lasted
about a week or show, right, But yeah, I mean,
you know, I mean there's no player that doesn't want
that just because you know, if things are going bad,
you got the option to leave, or money gets really crazy,
you can opt out, and you know, come right, I'm back, right, Bob.
(32:48):
What about the Dodgers. Did they miss a window here?
I mean they were saving up their money. They didn't
want to know they'd offered the Harper four year deal
for you know, not a as much as people were reporting,
I guess forty five million or whatever. But my point
is who who can the Dodgers sign? I mean, who's
big that's coming out? Not at all? These players have
(33:10):
really been locked up. Did the Dodgers miss the boat? Well,
I think that's a pitching coming out next year and
win us a Berlinder, Garrett Cole. And they missed a
boat they should have trade for Berlinder. They should have
traded for you know, a few guys Cole Hamill's the
last two years. So they missed a boat there. The
one thing about Harper, I don't blame him for not
(33:30):
going after Harper or you know, just you know, going
to small term contract. Just in this sense that you've
been in the World Series back to back years, you know,
you draw more fans in any franchise in baseball. But
you haven't won a World Series in thirty one years though, Bob. No,
but you know, but you've been in the World Series.
I mean, is it worked it to spend you know,
twenty five thirty million dollars a year. We can probably
(33:52):
just grasp some guys at trades on mine and do
it anyway. You know, he needs a lot more for
Phillies than he went to Dodgers, Bob with the Angels.
I mean, look, we obviously know one player can't win
a World Series in baseball, but how close are they?
What do they need, you know, to turn in this
thing around and at least making the postseason? Or is
(34:13):
he still gonna be a slow rebuilding process. The lineup
is not bad, no lives, it's fine. You know, they've
always had the line They've never had the pitching. I
mean today Brian Aspens would not answer any questions about
Trout because the contracts help by about forty hours from
being finalized, right, but he announced that you know, the
open day starters, Key Hill, Trevor, Ky Hill, nice guy.
(34:36):
He should not be Why not Matt Harvey. I don't
know if they want to not take you take the
pressure off him or what U. But yeah, I mean
they even you know, very weak and very thin rotation.
They try to get Jay half and some letter guys
fell short. But you know, the pitching's given me the
you know downfall once again. Yeah, because it is about
(34:56):
about pitching. Well, how surprised this one? Another thing? How
surprised were you that Bryce Harper's jersey, like when he
went to the Phillies, Bob and his jersey outsold Lebron's
Lakers jersey online it was online sales. And the other
thing that they sold one hundred, one hundred thousand tickets
in twenty four hours. Were you shocked by that response
(35:19):
from Philadelphia? A little bit? All of the sins from
I did. I did a caller in November. I went
way out there and said, hey, bank on it, the
Phillies are going to sign Harper. So every day I
was just getting bombarded by you know, emails and Twitter
things about hey, when's they gonna signed this and that?
And every time I mentioned the Dodgers or you know,
(35:41):
or the Giants, they stepped and you know, hey, you idiot,
you said they were going to the fifty right. So
I underestimate just how how persuasive they are, and just
how aggressive they are. So, you know, talking to John Middleton,
he said, hey, they were kind of leaning on, you know,
Manny Machada for a while, but the fans made it
so clear they wanted Harper. They pivoted completely. Wait from Mancado,
(36:05):
gain Harper. So we'll see how long it last. I
remember asking Larry Boa a week ago and say anything
the first time against Bood. He says, well, maybe steps
with the plate. I'm hoping day strikes out with the
basis load here right there, boom day one. You know
how Phillip fans are. The other thing is with baseball.
I mean remember the union chief Tony Clark had some
(36:26):
questions when it would seem like it was slow moving
for these guys to get the contracts before Machado and
and and Harper signed and and uh, now we see
all these, you know, these three big contracts and all
this money flowing, and I know there were other players
who haven't gotten deals and there's some other issues. Uh,
but do you think this smooths out? You know, the
(36:49):
labor negotiations coming out. I know, what is it after
twenty twenty, But well, let's smooth things out or no, Bob,
they still got a lot of issues, still issues. You're
so we have the issue like, you know, ten twelve
teams not trying to win. That hurts when you know,
you know, cutting a third of the teams, the way
they're being on free agents. You know what's getting squeeze
(37:09):
shirts at middle class. Uh, there's now Hey, I love
Iner McCutcheon, but it's hard to say, Hey, Ander McCutcheon
is worth forty seven million dollars more than Adam Jones
and there's no win in the world. And I'm Jones
should be signing for three million dollars right, Uh, an
all star caliber player. I mean some of these contracts,
guys getting sign jilgnsalats and stuff, saying merrily contracts, how
(37:31):
did he sign a wild league deal? Oh my god,
the Yankees got to steal if he works out. Yeah.
So a ton of mere league deals, a ton of
just small contracts, tystick and massive pay cuts. So it's
a middle class here. You know, if you're over thirty
years old, you're done. Wow, Bob is there? We saw
(37:51):
last year when the commissioner, Rob Manfrey came out and
you know, talked about Mike Trout needing to promote the
game more and they can help him build his brand
and all that. Is it a problem when the best
player in the league just is it that marketable or
I don't know, have problems the right way? But you know,
is this kind of an issue with personality? Well, I
(38:14):
frustrates baseball, but that's who Mike Trout is. I mean,
that's why he signed with the Angels. He doesn't want that.
He doesn't want New York. He doesn't want that pressure
in Philadelphia. He loves being Orange County where nobody knows
who he is. And when that season is over, he
goes to Millville, New Jersey, whaps his fishing rod and
honey rifle and that's all he does. But that's his personality,
(38:37):
you know. I know he does some sandwich commercials, but
that's about it. I can't get him to do anything.
One last thing, we got about thirty seconds. How much
money if Aaron Judge gets on the free market. I
don't know. He still has a few number of years,
but will he get over four hundred million? Is he
(38:59):
possibly that guy? Because he has along with the talent,
he also has that it factor or star factor that
people love he does, but you still got two years here.
He remember, he's twenty seven already, know so I don't.
I don't think he'll get that money. I think that first,
you know, the first true for her million dollar guy
is gonna be Mookie Bets. He's got two years famous
(39:20):
for out before free agency means everything in the role
of the red side, right, Yeah, baby deserves I think
it's Mookie Betsy. My money is a Mookie Okay, great stuff, man.
We appreciate the knowledge. Always my pleasure. Yeah, thanks christ,
thanks thanks so much. All right. The Mike Trout signing
begs the question does baseball have a marketability problem? Hell no,
(39:45):
in with other sports as well. Coming up next is
the acable Fox Sports Radio. Fox Sports Radio has the
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the iHeartRadio app. Search FSR to listen live.
Hosts And Creators
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